001All right, everybody. 6 o'clock. If we could 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. Have all the board members had a chance to look at the agenda? >> I will make a motion to approve the agenda. >> I second the motion. >> All in favor? >> I >> Okay. And we have an agenda. Next up is superintendent report. Mr. Jess. Thank you, board president Wheelander, other board directors, student representatives, community members, students, and staff and families. Uh, happy new year. Uh, I've got three items. Uh, I'll start off with we have six students headed to the state competition for DECA. They um they
002you have to place sixth or better in your particular uh event. And um those students um did an excellent job. Uh we have one particular student working on a like 50 page uh 50 page plus report specifically um to the student store. So that should be pretty cool and trying to get into nationals which will be in Georgia. Um if you recall we've actually had student reps go to nationals from DECA here in the Shelton school district. uh a rich history with DECA I guess would be really for what people need to hear. Um but also just the diversity of what DECA offers in these events because we have some students working on marketing. Uh Lelo who was one of our speakers student uh speakers last um board me uh about marketing and then we
003al also about like how do you run a business? How do you run a restaurant in a competition about um their their business? How do you run the business proposal, right? So good on them. Um congratulations to our DECA team and so I just wanted to highlight um their efforts. So that was just happened this last week. Uh and um I uh so there was a presentation today by the state uh superintendent of public instruction uh Chris Reichdoll. Um, occasionally, um, I get some information that I'm like, this is pretty helpful pieces of information where I'm like, the data helps tell a story. And so, I have two slides I would like to present because I think it's important for the public to know what are we doing to fund public education. I find myself
004as a superintendent, previously a principal, previously a teacher, uh, and a taxpayer who, um, really wants to know like what is our investment in public education? What does that look like for Washington state compared to other states? And I think that's good to get a good perspective of like let's compare apples to apples and apples to oranges here in this particular situation. So let me uh introduce you to this particular slide. This slide is going to tell you about what is the percentage of the state's overall gross state product. So that means all of the revenue generated by the state. Uh and then what does that look like as far as the percentage that that state invests into uh public education. So the top line, the green line, the dark, very dark, uh I can't
005even see it as green personally, but it looks um is the state a uh is this the average across the United States. So uh starting all the way back in 2007, you know, the the average across the United States for the percentage of each state's amount of gross uh state product or the revenue they generate was 3.66% in 2007. for Washington state, which is the yellow line, was 2.76%. So you can already see all the way back from 2007, there's a gap between what is the average across the United States versus what we contribute as part of the revenue that we generate towards public education. So fast forwarding you can see the the trend line here uh and what are the percentages and you can see now as it stands in 2020 23 uh the
006gap is $4.17 billion between what is the average across the United States and what is Washington and so that places at 40th. Um why do I think that's important? Because one uh those what you invest into your future which are our students is what you get out. It is clear when you invest in a quality public education students can gain those great skills and it contributes to the economic growth of here. So Washington state for example, we actually a lot of the a lot of the people um the employees actually come from a lot of other states and they move to Washington for employment. I from my own lens um again as a superintendent been in public education for 25 years. I say we need to invest more into our students. We can do better
007by them. And also I would say off this graph you can also see and go why do we have such a gap and why is so much of that reliant on the levy? We're a state that has a lot of levy dollars and so what would that look like? That's 4.17. Let's just say Washington state decided to invest the same percentage of their gross state product as the national average. What would that mean for Shelton? So for Shelton, that would generate $3,790 per student. That would equate to $15.9 million a year. That far surpasses any of the money that you we would be asking the taxpayers locally for the levy. So I think it's one thing to say why are we structured this way in funding public education. I don't have any answers to that.
008I think it's just good to be educated on this topic. But it's also about what is important and how do we fund public education in Washington state versus other states. So it's food for thought. You can think about it. I think it could generate some conversation. Um and that's what the point of this slide is to do. Um, but most certainly as a champion for public education, a product of public education, I know I'm happy that someone invested enough in me to get allow me to get an education even though I didn't come from somewhere of of privilege um, but of actually of poverty. And so the population we serve here in Shelton, I think deserve the best. I think that's an investment. I don't think actually if we could have to rely so much
009on a levy and really is something that should be generated more at the state level. That again is my position. The slide the slide tells you something else. So what does that look like as far as uh per pupil funding um that is adjusted for inflation. So this is the state uh monies that we receive plus your local levy. This is obviously an average because across um Washington state, the EPO levies, these operational levy, the one that we have on the ballot next month, is uh different. We're actually out of the 270 odd uh school districts that are having are actively seeking monies through their levy this this session coming up in February, uh we are in the bottom 10%. So other districts are trying to generate more money than we are off their levy.
010This particular slide is just showing you what is the averages across Washington state for what is uh how much funding per pupil is being provided and um you're going to have a natural increase just because costs go up but you're also going to be just overall inflation adjusted. Okay. So, um, coming back $1819 right before, uh, uh, the pandemic, you know, you have $18,198. Inflation is adjusted. Obviously, we've hit a a large amount of inflation over the last couple two or three years. And so, now we're just slightly below that. One of the things that that does generate though is that when you are off just by $250 per student, so right, it's less. That does equate for a place that has 4,500 students like us, that's like $1.2 million. And so all these numbers
011start to add up when you start to look like when um we no longer qualify for the MIGA grant that was cut by the federal government. We also no longer qualify for McKenna Vento. So that's for homelessness. Um and that's because those monies were cut by the fed that are clear through through the state. So we are a high needs district. We don't even get any monies uh specifically to help kids that um are experiencing homelessness uh or that um you know they're uh temporarily having to uh reside with relatives or friends, right? And so, uh, we pay for that transportation and we also have some emergency assistance. We have to do that irregardless if we get the grant or not. And so, when you think about $250 per student, we need monies like that,
012uh, even adjusted for inflation to help assist that $1.2 million means a lot. Uh again, one of my the key areas uh that I think is also for the education is like a key thing also for is like students with IEPs, special education services, never been fully funded by both the state and the federal uh government. And so we're well over a million dollars in what we have to draw off our levy to just educate those youth. So I just think that these couple slides kind of give a backdrop to a bigger picture. We get lost in a lot of things here about specifically to levy and what is a fund, but in conjunction to what what what is the real cost for Shelton compared to kind of what's going on for the state? Um,
013and then also just what does the state look like at the national level? Okay? Because I think if you're a taxpayer and you're like, where does the money go and what's what's the bigger picture here? my being asked to do what with to educate for what what does that look like for us at at the state and also at the national level. Um my next topic uh will be uh just today uh so once a month we have what we call an all administrative meeting uh in the morning I bring together the principles and uh department leaders for the district uh and we do now school visits. So, we visit each school, uh, get into classrooms and kind of see what and see what's going on. Um, and in particular, the principal presents, you know,
014like, hey, here's what's going on and here's what we're trying to do on our school improvement plan. And they get feedback from other leaders. Um, that's how we we try to grow our own leadership skills across the district. Um, one of the key things that we do today, we were at Evergreen Elementary and I uh just really wanted to quickly highlight uh why that visit was I think really um kind of a sentimental moment for some of our uh leaders because they had not been in Evergreen. uh they had some of them have never been in Evergreen Elementary and I was a a little surprised but you know if you're at the secondary level why why would you go to Evergreen and um in an era where there is sometimes disinformation or that there's a
015stereotype on a school evergreen I think when I got here had a reputation like oh my gosh Evergreen like I would I heard a lot of people in this community I would never send my kid there. And today I had multiple school leaders simply state, I am absolutely shocked at what I saw today. This is an amazing school and I would send my kid there. And I absolutely believe that to my heart. I think those people work really hard and I'm glad they're here. Thanks, All right, thank you very much. Uh, on to item number four, community comments. As part of the regular school board meeting, the board welcomes community members to make public comments in person and/or by phone as conditions allow. Please see the full script with call-in instructions and guidelines for community
016comments displayed on the screen above. We do have one, Nick Sanders. All right. Good evening everyone. My name is Nick Sanders and I'm the Shelton Education Association President. I teach at Oakland Bay Junior High. I'm here tonight to speak to the community and especially to voters. I wanted to serve as the teachers union president because I want to make the Shelton school district a great place to learn, great place to work, and a great place to live. But now I need your help. Unfortunately, funding for our schools in the state of Washington requires local levies. [clears throat] At the local level, the good news is that when a levy passes, the state then matches the amount at about 25% free money that the state kicks in when our levy passes here in Shelton. That's about
017an extra $3 million from the state that we only get when the levy passes. I also want to stress that the upcoming levy is a replacement levy, not a new tax. It's a continuation of what's currently in place. Passing this levy is the only way our district can operate while offering the current programs, activities, and sports. The students are the ones who need this levy to pass. Perhaps you're not happy with the way the district currently operates. Withholding the levy though isn't the way to stick it to the district. If you have issues with how the district, school board, or maybe your child's school operate, come speak at a board meeting. Contact your school or the district office. Email a board member. Or you can also come talk to me. I'm happy to help find
018a solution to anything that you think needs improvement. Our community has amazing kids and with great potential. Maintaining the programs and sports we currently offer is imperative to our schools uh to our students success now and in the future. Passing the local levy in the next couple weeks is a vital step in this process. I ask that you cast your ballot with a yes vote for the Shelton School District levy. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. On to reports and recognitions. Uh 5.01, the budget update. Mr. Sherman. Good evening, board. I have a quick budget update. Um in a second we'll have a the regular graphs up. We did re um forecast our ending fund balance. One of the things that you'll see uh on the chart I'll just give it a second. I don't
019have to keep talking over nothing. That's all right. Really the what you'll see is that due to the aortionment advance as we planned there is more cash in the bank right now. So our fund balance is way higher than the projection because we've pulled some of that money from July and August into now. So we're holding on to that over the next couple months. So that that'll that'll drain down and and get back in the line around Aprilish is our hope. Um, other than that, we're projecting ending the uh Thank you, sir. Could you forward it for me as well? >> All right. All right. So, what we normally see is a a long a large graph ended at 1.6 million. We talked about before how we outperformed the end of last year and had
020$400,000 more, but we also know some uh enrollment isn't quite where we forecasted with some extra costs coming in. And so we used that cushion and what we're projecting now at the end of the school year is a neg a positive $ 1.5 million fund balance. If you looked at it now, it's it's a little higher than that, but that's because of the aortionment advance we received uh a couple months ago. Other than that, that's really all I have for you. We're on track. The graph looks updated. You've seen it in your board packet. And we'll continue to, like I said before, continue those two lines because we're really trying to bring our forecast and our actuals uh in closer alignment they have been in the past. That's all I have. What questions do you
021have for me? >> Oh, thank you. I uh have a lot less stress talking about this than uh about a year ago. So, thank you for all your hard work. >> Yeah, I appreciate that. Go ahead. Sorry. >> Uh I guess the one question I had and it's just a matter of semantics. If we have this money ahead of time, are we >> uh able to collect interest on where it's sitting or we is there any way that we have to pay interest on having it? >> Great question. Both are true. We pay a little bit interest of having it earlier, but we also have in the bank earning interest as we use it. And so and that aortionment repayment will happen in April uh uh when the tax collection comes in. That's how that's
022structured to happen. U one of the things I want to talk about too is that the importance we talk a lot about this the importance of fund balance and and one of those things are um as W speaking to that the state is about uh $4.1 billion lower in percentage if you if you calculate that against the national average because of that mechanism exists. We really need to have a healthier fund balance so we're not living paycheck to paycheck. And that's why our goal isn't the current 4 percent policy. We kind of outperform that as the economic landscape in Washington shifts. And so in our three-year plan for this, we're trying to get to like 6 million7 million at the end of this. And the levy is a big part of that process. So >>
023yeah, I really appreciate you explaining that. I think for me sitting on a board for going on 11 years now, my concern is always some big maintenance issue that we can't foresee. >> And so then if we have such a thin balance, you know, whatever that might be that comes up, you know, that will take a hit. And so I really appreciate hearing that you've got the three-year plan. I'm I'm glad that we are on track to being in the positive and continuing to grow that. Um, and so I'm like Lauren had said, I I do feel a lot less stressed than where when we were in the negative. >> Really appreciate your reports. Appreciate the communication you've had with our community on bills that have been needed to be paid for outstanding things. Um,
024it sounds like those things are on track. You've been in communication. >> Yeah, we Yes. Uh, trying to be in constant communication with all the different vendors and we've done a couple different mechanisms to get to this point. We sold that real property next to Bordeaux. We sold some portables to another school district. We're selling some other portables to OC. And we're utilizing those dollars not only to help pay those bills and also to keep uh to kind of catch up to some outstanding maintenance. Like there's there's no secret there's some HVAC issues at the pack that's being remedied and at the um the mini dome. We're using some of those dollars influx of revenue to help address those while we kind of balance out the rest of this year. And so, and as always,
025if folks have questions or concerns, feel free to reach out and call me, send me an email. Happy to chat about whatever the issue or question or concern is. For sure. >> Yeah. Thank you. And I I will say you really mean that. When people call you and email you, you are open to talking to them. So, if anybody is listening to this or you're out here in the audience and you really do have a question, Clinton is wonderful about taking the time to answer those questions for us on the board or for community members. So, thank you. Of course, I think it's just really important for folks to have context and clarity. It's a lot of complicated issues and a lot of moving pieces in any organization and education is no different and so
026h happy to provide that service. >> All right. And >> Sam's slides. I feel pretty good about it. All right. >> Enjoyed the explanation. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We can post that graph. We can post we'll post that graph onto the the website just so that people can access it because I know I usually get one or two emails about can I see that information. Unfortunately, the computer froze that had it. Um but we'll get it uh up onto our website. So, we'll get that done in the next 48 hours. Thank you. Up next is the best part of the meetings, elementary school presentation, Adrien Minry. Can I get started? Perfect. Thank you. >> It's perfect. You can put it here though if you want. >> Okay. >> All right. Good evening, uh,
027board president Welander, other esteemed board members, student board representatives, and superintendent Jesse. Really excited to be here tonight to present to you all on progress towards the first uh area in our strategic plan, first priority area of highquality literacy instruction. I've brought tonight um majority of the evening will be our amazing teachers and students presenting to you um on progress towards our SIP goals at third grade. So we have a representative from each school here tonight. Here we go. And uh so to introduce them by name. So we have Alyssa Trog's dad, Brie West, uh Melissa West, not related, uh Rainey Bullplum, Ethan Seltzer, and Oliver Cells. So really appreciate all of them making time and their families to be here tonight and colleagues from their schools as well. So I'll do a quick review.
028This slide you've seen for the last few years. This is really outlining components of literacy instruction that are evidence-based under what is popularly called the science of reading. Sometimes what's out there in the media is really focused just on the f first two components phmic awareness and phonics which are incredibly important and we include we'll talk about that tonight. Um but the others are as well. So fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. So that's why we say that we have a comprehensive approach to literacy instruction here in the district and very proud to report that um I believe that that comprehensive approach to literacy plus our amazing staff, our amazing students and the collaboration of everybody working together has led to some pretty amazing outcomes for our students. So being recognized in a national report as being
029the first uh number one in Washington state for growth in early literacy since co and again it's that alignment and collaboration really around thinking about our school improvement plans. So cohesion between our district schools how central office works with uh our schools with teachers with students. You can see the trajectory of our outcomes there. Um, we did take a little bit of a dip. It still has a 4.5% trajectory over that length of time, over those three years. Um, which still is actually the number one in Washington state. Um, we've done some analysis and we uh we think we're on track for this year to really have some great results. And then one more slide with numbers here. Just wanted to show this. Another assessment that our students take is the MAP, which is the
030most widely used standardized test in the United States. We do it three times a year. It's a quick assessment to benchmark. And because it's the most widely used, it both measures achievement and then growth. So, how does the growth that students made from fall when they entered to spring compare with other students and other schools that took the assessment in other places? So, you can see the growth from fall to spring when we first started under the strategic plan was in the 50th percentile dead average. So, that means that at 49 this half would be here, half would be here, we'd be right in the middle. So then next year of our approach all coming together working together on this um in collaboration we jumped to the 65th percentile in the 232 24 school year.
031Last year in the 2425 school year the growth from fall to spring was the 79th percentile. So we think that's a really exciting uh trajectory for our kids. Really a testament to the work of our teachers and our students and their families who are supporting them. Um and we just envision really amazing things to continue here. So with that we are going to present on three major components of our approach to literacy tonight. Each teacher will um introduce it to you and then a student will come to share their work. uh in literacy in relation to that area of study. All right. So, first I'd like to invite Melissa and Rainey to come up. Hello, my name is Melissa West and I'm a third grade teacher at Evergreen Elementary. I wanted to give a brief
032explanation of readers workshop and how it looks within our own schools right here in Shelton, especially from a teachers perspective. I want to start off by explaining how we got to where we currently are. The curriculum and the unit plans that we use across our classrooms has been developed over time in partnership with both district leadership and teacher leadership. I have been fortunate enough to be part of this work. The curriculum that we use is rooted in both common core standards and is also contentbased where we have been able to incorporate science and social studies where it fits into um the curriculum and the strategies used in each lesson are both researchbased and very skill driven so that we're really focusing on one particular piece and one skill to help break it down for our
033students. Readers workshop has many components to it. It starts with a very skill-driven teacherled mini lesson where there's plenty of modeling and scaffolding done by uh the teachers of the targeted skill. Then there's time for independent reading where students then apply those skills that they just learned but in their own books, the books that they're actually reading. During this time as well, students are also getting one-on-one one-on-one conferring sessions where they each get a chance to read with a teacher throughout the week and really work on goal setting and um helping them apply those skills that they're learning. Um, finally, reader workshop also includes small groupoup learning where students work on refining and accelerating skills based on their needs. With that, I would like to introduce my fabulous and amazing student, Rainey Bullplume. She's a
034third grade student at Evergreen Elementary, and she's made so much growth and progress, and she's going to share her thoughts and her perspectives of reader workshop. on the on the next screen. Yep. On the on this screen, you're gonna also see uh little snippets, little pictures of her notebook. And that's her applying those skills that I was just talking about within the context of her book. So, they're her thinkings and her jotss about what she's been reading. Are you ready? Okay. When you ready? Okay. Sorry. Let me help you. Okay. Ready? So, this is something that she wrote herself. So, these really are her thoughts. She's obviously a little nervous even though we practiced this. So, it says, you ready? I like reading and readers workshop. I like reading because >> when I read I
035>> I think I'm in the book. I feel like I'm on a quest. I imagine myself in the books. For example, I close my eyes. I feel like I'm under the water with the character. And sometimes in my quest, I feel like I'm also learning new things like about sharks. In Reader's workshop, we go to the carpet. Then we learn a lesson with a book. Miss West shows us a book with the camera and then teaches us something using a book. Then we go to our seats. Miss West goes around helping us read read words and checks our jotss and in our bags. And that's how I got here. Just in case you don't know what jot means, it means writing something something down you are thinking about in your book. She helps us return
036and check out books. We have a full library. I'm ready to my mom and dad. >> Thank you, Reie. >> [applause] >> Okay, mine's a little bit shorter, but um I'm Melissa Trogstad. I teach here at Mountain View, and this is my friend Ethan. So, he is going to also tell you about word work. But word work in K2 is more of a whole group approach where all of the kids are learning together the same skills where in third grade, we actually just assess all of our kids and we put them into skill level groups. so that they're all getting what they need. Some kids are learning to read and some kids are starting to read to learn. And he is gonna tell you all about his word work. >> He knows. He's a professional.
037>> What is words their way? Words their way is like studying words that you probably didn't know. We get to learn words we don't know and get learn what they mean. We have to speed sort the words we get. Write definitions, sentences, and write the words in our words their way journals. What I've learned in Learn Their Way. I've learned a lot in words their way. From spelling art words to speed sorting as fast as I can. Words their way is my third favorite subject. From spelling words like lavatory and dormatory too. There's a lot of words. We are currently working on adding and identifying suffixes in words. To wrap things up, words their way has helped me learn new words, prefixes and suffixes, writing definitions, and challenging myself to create paragraphs containing my sort
038words. Words their way is totally the number one subject in the world. [applause] I'm gonna go first. >> Okay. >> Good evening. My name is Bri West and I am a third grade teacher at Bordeaux. I'm here with my friend Oliver. And um we have the privilege of talking to you about something that we are both very passionate about and that is writer's workshop. And um one thing that I think is really important for everyone to know that with our comprehensive approach to literacy, our readers and our writer workshop along with our words their way, all of these things are um intertwined and connected through content and standards. And so oftentimes what we're doing in writer's workshop is um just a continuation of content and material of what we've been reading in reader workshop. Um,
039we also have leveled readers. Um, I have an example I'll show you in just a little bit that we have that um also relate to our readers and writers workshop that are leveled so that all students, no matter what reading level they're at in grade level, they have access to the same content as grade level students. Um, but one of the big things about our writer's workshop that is super important um that I want to touch on is standardsbased. Um, as a teacher that teaches um, in a grade level that is celebrated with the SIP plan and looked at heavily with test scores, um, we really really make sure that what we're teaching the students is preparing them for those state assessments and then um, onwards into college and career readiness. Um, especially with writing.
040And I think it's very important that um we all understand the rigor in which um we teach our students in third grade and I think it's very surprising the expectation that we have for them for writing. So um on the slide you can see um the progression from kindergarten to third. Um so in kindergarten you'll see writing samples um that is very intentional. They're using graphic organizers. um you can see that they are using the same vocabulary as per um that we are in the upper grade levels. And so even in a kindergarten grade, they know what a personal narrative is. Um and then you can see the next snapshot is just a little snippet of a third grade essay. Um actually Oliver's essay that he'll read you in just a little bit. Um and
041so you can see the drastic difference in um the learning progression that students have to make between kindergarten and third. Um our students do great and um they they perform really well even though it seems um I think that's probably the level I wrote when I was in like middle school. So click click. Um so this slide here is just a quick um snapshot of a writer's workshop journal. Um so at the beginning of the year we really um scaffold our teaching to students. And when we're teaching them the writing process, we're teaching them um how to use graphic organizers and kind of that prewriting process. And so at the beginning of the year, I give them the organizer. And so they're kind of filling that out. That goes in their notebook. But as time
042goes on, we are gradually releasing that responsibility to them. And so you can see that progression. Um these are actually examples of Olivers. So you can see at the beginning of the year, he's got the organizer in there. And then this last one, um I pulled that organizer back from him and now he's doing it completely independently on his own. Um so Oliver is going to read you anformational narrative. And in my opinion, I think this is one of the hardest things that we do in third grade. Um the students are required to write a story, but in that story, they need to use non-fiction sources. So there um two sources. And so within a fiction story, they have to include facts. Um which gets really um it requires the students to get very creative
043in merging both of those genres. And so, um, Oliver did a wonderful job and he is here to read hisformational narrative to you. Okay. Okay. The ISS adventure by Oliver Cells. It was a nice calm morning and everybody was asleep. The birds were chirping, but Oliver and his best friend Henry were wide awake, planning to sneak into a food crate. Oliver's dad would take them to a ship and it was the day they were waiting for. We have been planning for several months and it was finally time to do it. They were doing this so they could go see the International Space Station. Oliver's dad said that two people can live on the ISS at the same time. But something interesting is when you take a shower, the water floats because there's no gravity in
044space. The next day, Oliver and Henry put their plan into action. They slowly crawled into the crate. It was pitch black with several air holes. All of a sudden, they heard something coming. Through the air hole, they saw Oliver's dad in his space suit, and he lifted them into the back of his trunk and drove away. Oliver and Henry couldn't believe that they actually pulled it off as they made their way to launch site where they would launch into space and float around freely. When they got to launch site, they car they got carried to the ship and put in the main room. They heard the countdown again. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 go. With a blast, the ship lifted off and began soaring above the clouds into space. Soon,
045Oliver and Henry were climbing out of the cramp box. They rose into the air and flew around like birds because there's no gravity in space. Oliver and Henry were ready to explore the spaceship. They were hungry, so they tried eating. Did you know in space the food floats around? Next, they dug in Oliver's dad's bag and found the package of jelly beans. The second V opened the jelly beans went floating away because of zero gravity. After Oliver and Henry finished with their snack, we need to take a shower. In space, the water just floats around. So, they had to shower in a strange capsule. When Oliver got inside, water shot out, and to his surprise, it floated through the air. He rubbed the water on his body like so. After eating and showering, they decided
046they needed a nap. They didn't realize that they would float around while sleeping. Henry was sleeping upside down like a bat in a cave. And Oliver had his legs out like a spider. When they finally woke up, they couldn't tell if it was day or night because it was pitch black outside. Space has no light. After Oliver and Henry tried out all the cool things in space, they were ready to go back home to Earth and see their families. They wanted to relax with gravity and not have to worry about their food floating away. They disconnected from the space station and headed home to Earth. It was a rough journey, but they finally made it back to Earth. When they got back to the car to drive home, Oliver and Henry were so amazed. They
047were the first kids in outer space. The next day at school, they told everyone about what had happened on the space station, but no one believed them. So, they showed them a picture of them eating jelly beans while floating around in the spaceship. And then everyone believed them. [applause] That's why I love my job. Like, who gets to do that during the day? Me. Okay. Oh, whoops. Sorry. Did I skip one? Perfect. Um, okay. So, this slide is really um kind of our way of kind of bringing it all back together. Um our previous unit we were working on um life cycles and we had the privilege of working with um community members um the South Pit Sound Salmon enhancement group and then also bringing in our local tribes from Skookcomish and Squaxon and working
048with them and bringing in the cultural benefits and things that they do with salmon. And then our students were able to study this in their readers and writers workshop. And then as a culmination project, we were able to go to Kennedy Creek where they got to observe all of the spawning salmon. Um, which is always like a huge highlight to kind of give them that kind of um application to all the classroom learning that they've been doing. Um, we can also talk about how you can see the life cycle of a sample on the on the bottom there. So that's an example. Someone was saying earlier something about access to all students. And so that's one of the articles that was written at a like a a more accessible level for all the kids to
049be able to learn about the life cycle on their own, not just being told about the life cycle. And all of those um leveled texts are um texts that have been created by our district and teacher collaboration teams. And so those aren't um something that we just pulled from somewhere. They're actually um developed by teachers and admin to kind of make the units a little bit more robust. Is that it? >> Yeah. Okay. Okay, so our very last slide is just kind of bringing it all together in the sense of um looking at investing in our students and understanding um the work that goes in to developing all of these things. And I really want to kind of talk about just the collaboration and the vision that um our district is currently experiencing. Um it's
050very difficult to get a foothold when you are in a constant curriculum change. Um, it takes a very long period of time to train staff, for staff to become efficient in the curriculum. And then it also takes a very long time for that to trickle into our students. And it's very difficult when a student is entering into a different classroom each year or or even throughout the day and um teachers are doing something different or they're following different curriculum. Um, and it it you can't get a hold on that. And so I really want to acknowledge kind of the vision that has been brought into Shelton School District in collaboration with teachers and the district office and our administration and making sure that students all have equal access and are being taught the same thing
051year after year in a spiraling manner so that they walk into each classroom knowing the routines and knowing the graphic organizers. ers in the readers workshop process. They know the journals and um annotating and so it really does give a leg up for education staff but also for students because they walk in every single year with a huge foundation that then we have the ability to just build upon versus when you are in a constant change. you are just teaching basic skills each year and and you never get that hold and so I think it's really important to acknowledge just the the training that we are being given and the time that we are being given to collaborate with colleagues and not just colleagues from like our own school but like being able to work
052with the teachers at the other schools is huge because they're so valuable to me and you know you you tend to get stuck in your building and not have the opportunities to talk to other schools and the fact that we're being um encouraged to do that and being given the time to do that. I'm very appreciative of and I was just thinking but then it split my mind. Hold on a second. Oh, when we when we're thinking about to like the growth percentiles and how we were in the 79th percentile, it just shows that what we are doing in the third grade is making sure that all kids are learning rather than just some kids in pockets of classrooms. >> It's all yours. >> I was actually just going to add the exact same thing.
053I always like to think about that this is really giving equal access in the sense of every student in every classroom gets the same opportunities. Um and I just in the past four years of doing this the the learners and the students that have been entering my classroom each and every year I've seen such a difference. I mean we could see it in the data but I also just see it on an individual basis every single year and every day. the students that are coming to me um over each year are just the love of learning that they have and the love of like self-driven motivation that these students want to learn. They're excited to learn. They want to read. They want to be able to level up in their reading is just really exciting
054to see. And that's all kind of thanks to this partnership and collaboration with teacher leadership and and admin districts. So, questions. >> So, yeah. Yeah, if you have questions that they Yeah, that would be good. Um, but thank you. That was amazing. Um, we're here uh if you have any questions. >> Okay, I guess your chance. >> I just want to jump in with just some comments. First of all, thank you so much to all three of the students. You guys were truly amazing. It made me want to I was tearing up up here just and it it truly is exciting. Um and it's really hard to get up in front of a group of people in an audience and look at people that are staring at you, whether it's teachers that are used to
055working in a classroom or students that this is one of the first opportunities that you've had to public speak. But hearing your stories was just um the highlight of this whole last week. So that that was wonderful. Um truly loved that. love hearing again for me there's a lot of reflection on the time that I've been on the school board and one of the things that I always used to pick up on was that each school was doing things well but doing things differently and I would always say are we getting together and talking about best practices and sharing those things and now it seems like people are truly on the same page and what you're saying I mean it's exciting to see the data how that's played out but to hear you talk about
056how that is in your classroom and how you see that is so valuable for me to hear as a board member and a mom and just a community member here. I hope others that listen to this or are watching it can hear that too because that just the work that you're putting in in the classroom and I want to thank all of you as third grade teachers. You do have more scrutiny on you. That is a testing year and there's pressure that's put on you for that. And so, Adrienne, I did have a question about that because when you're talking about test, you know, teaching people to standards, how often do those standards change? Because it's wonderful to hear that curriculum isn't changing and so we're able to teach to that and build on that,
057>> but how often does the state change those standards um for people to get a grasp of that? >> That's a great question. So, we've had the Common Core State Standards since 2010. The state right now is in the process of doing revision to standards. So we'll see what they come out with. Um I will say even when we switched from um common core to the standards we had before, there are basic practices that are agreed on um that are evidence-based and a certain progression of skills. So I I would be shocked if there was some grand upheaval to that in literacy. If you think about early literacy, you typically do certain letters in certain orders and then add different letter patterns and then to get to more complex words. That's sort of a simple
058example, but um regardless, I think the the good news is that here, as you could see tonight, we really have built such a high base and high expectation with a level of rigor that I do believe from the bottom of my heart that we're going to be ready for whatever is presented. Yeah, I am so impressed with the students and the stories and the structure of their stories and and just all of the work that you showed it. Like you were saying, I I think many of us go back to when we were in school. I don't think I was doing that in the third grade. So, it's just very impressive and impressive that they're meeting and exceeding those standards. So, thank you all for for what you have been doing. Yeah, I just want
059to echo the the thank you. Uh thank you to the students out there. We appreciate getting up and practicing public speaking at a very young age. Parents, you should be really proud. And and teachers, we love this part. We get to see what all of that work and all of that planning, getting to see that come together. And for community people who are often listening at home, this is what is happening in our schools. There's challenges all over education, but these are those those pictures in that there is so much brightness and and hope for what's coming up and what's going forward and all of the collaborative work having gone into so many schools with Wyatt. Now I get to see that collaboration where you can go to Evergreen or go up to Bordeaux or
060Mountain View and and that's happening at the same place in the same classrooms with the unique personalities of the teachers and their unique gifted. So appreciate all of you. just want to say thank you. >> I want to say it only takes one uh one teacher to make an impression in a child to make them love to read. And my son was uh very stubborn >> and he had one teacher that turned him around and I can't stop him. The volume that he reads now is in is incredible. So, thank you very much for that. Um you mentioned the retraining uh if you go to a different reading curriculum and I 100% understand. I've looked at other reading curriculums and they don't have the outcomes that we have here. Um, so would you say that
061what you're using today is your the most effective or your favorite that you've used over your years? >> Did you want to speak to that? >> Sure. >> Um, yeah, I think so. I think that this is um the most training that I've had on a curriculum. Um, I've been on ELA curricul curriculum adoption committees before and um, when you're purchasing curriculum from I'll just say like a big box store um, I think some of the pitch is the training that they will provide and it doesn't necessarily follow through with that and so you're left with trying to figure it out. Um, and then that's kind of where you get into those shades of gray because out of necessity, people are interpreting certain things a certain way. And so I think with what we're currently
062doing um being provided as much training as we have um throughout the school year, but also um our summer summit that we do has really aided in I think the success of of like you've seen the test scores and stuff that we're doing with our kind of literacy approach. So yeah, >> I just wanted to add to what Bri was saying too. I think what's really nice is when you buy from a box curriculum, it's made by somebody else somewhere else. They're not it's not made for your students. It's not made for your story strength and needs. So, what's nice about it is that we know the intention behind it because we it's a living document that we've been creating and working on and we've been able to go back and say, "Okay, let's make
063this minor tweak and maybe shift this here. This is more effective for what works for our students." It I think has been really helpful and really makes it the most effective and impactful for our students. So, Thank you. That was a great question. >> No. Um, I have the great benefit of having a first and fourth grader at Bordeaux. So, I've got to experience firsthand the last few years our literacy program and how effective it is. Um, you know, when my now fourth grader went through the program, you know, her reading is great. She chooses to read at home on the weekends. She can read anything at this point and uh you know I was so happy and you know relieved. You don't have to you know try to foster that love of reading in
064a child and now my first grader is just going through that same path and it's it's it's just really really great to to witness. And uh today actually I had the benefit of uh or privileged to go on a field trip and talk to a student teacher. Um so they're currently enrolled in a college program for certification but they're working in the classroom. And I asked her about uh you know what she thought about her experience in the classroom and our our programs. and she said she was amazed by the outcomes of students and hadn't expected that and uh she was looking forward to taking things she learned at our district to to other schools to help uh biliteral classrooms and uh I just uh felt really encouraged by that because you know a student
065doesn't have to tell it can very much be truthful to you. So um thank you. >> Thank you. Just a note on that, that same classroom had a student teacher last year who was a Shelton grad, is now a first grade teacher at Shelton High School graduate, now is a first grade teacher at Evergreen, and is doing amazing work. It just blows me out of the water. So, we're really trying to build on the work year after year um and with building the skill and expertise of the amazing teachers we have here. Um, I get to go last all the time, so I'll pick over the last of it. Uh, I I heard a couple of things that I really thought were important. Um, tying it back to our our strategic plan, we talk about
066career and college college readiness. We're talking about third graders and that's coming up. Um, tying this all to science and social studies, uh, being able to do all this stuff. And then because we're creating our own curriculum and materials, we're not tied to anybody else. We're not tied to LA, Missouri, or any of this. We're putting kids in a stream and making them want to learn and then read more about the fish that they just saw. This is incredible. Um, I was not reading, writing, any of that this well at the third grade level. Um, my mom found it an a paper I wrote when I was considerably older. It was not as good. Um, so, uh, you know, when when the kids get up here and read, that's the best part of these meetings.
067I mean, we can listen to teachers yammer on and on and on, and I I do enjoy that. However, um, to truly see the fruits of your labor, um, the smiles on your face, the pride that you see in all of this, to look across the board, and even Andrew smiled, um, that's incredible. the you kids in your reading. Um, everybody gets shy at first. Public speaking is hard. You all did it and you all did it well and I for one am very proud of each and every one of you. Um, thank you again. Uh, this is done with love and uh, it shows. So, uh, again, thank you very much. Anybody else? Okay, you can sit down. >> Thank you. Okay. And now we'll get the report from the student board representatives. And
068we'll start with Allan. >> Uh yes. So I just want to tell everybody happy new year. New year at Cedar. Got some good stuff going on. Uh we collaborated with Choice. I guess now would be last year in December to help with their winter festival, their winter celebration. And we were the ones hosting the Santa room. And it was it was really fun. We we were able to be part of something that's been going on for I think Susie told me it was 20 plus years. And it was just fun to see everybody everybody from the community having a great time there. They took pictures with with Santa, a few pictures with the Grinch, a few pictures with both. And yeah, people just overall had a good time and to um and we our seniors
069have also started working on their high school and beyond presentations in our life after high school class. And a part of that is um in our psychology class, we're actually working with a mental health therapist who's a community member who comes in every once every week and sort of helps us understand that that deeper level of like coping mechanisms, how um how college life is going to affect us and all that. And I just think it's really cool that we get to speak to an sort of an expert in the field about that and help us uh personalize our our high school and beyond presentations. And to go along with that this year, I I really think we're going to have some some truly exemplary uh presentations. Uh because the whole thing is is that
070we it's been explained to us that the High School and Beyond presentation can be as creative as we want it to be. As long as we just cover everything that needs to be covered, we can really make it our own. I've seen some people do skits before where they do sort of like a detective skit where they're interviewing themselves. And yeah, it's overall just pretty cool. And the process has been going by pretty smoothly. Almost the entirety of the class is done with their statement of purposes. Many of us already have our resumes ready and yeah, it's been going well. We also had some of as some people from SHS, the tossas as they're called, visit us to talk about uh the internship internship opportunities and sort of getting that ball rolling. We've also had
071a lot more students join new market this second trimester, which is pretty cool. Very nice opportunity for those students. And on January 15th, uh we're going to be having an in-house ECP just to sort of train our younger students on how to how to do an SCP especially an ECP especially in like uh our new environment. So yeah, overall we've got some some pretty cool things planned in 2026. >> Okay, Abigail. >> Hello, I'm Abby. Hello, I'm Abby from Choice. In the Pathway program is learning how to shop safely online. Social groups is learning how to do interviews. Open door students have made new goals with vision boards. Some students have met the yearly goal. Some students will join a coding class. Middle schoolers learned about POP R and main name tags. Students have also
072been learning about fossils in government. And I read this to my family members. Not fossils about people in government like fossils about dinosaurs. They thought I meant like Abraham Lincoln fossils. No. Um not. That's what I meant. Choice 9th graders is is in SE seminar. They're going to SHS to learn about um opportunities in their future. 10th grade is is going to go to New Market for a day so they can prepare for 11th grade. 11th grade will be taking the ASVAB test. 12th is in seminar to help with their life goals for the future. >> All right. Very good. And I had a good time at the winter festival. It was neat. [snorts] >> All right. Moving on. We have the consent agenda. Does anybody have any questions about that at all? I motion
073to approve uh this evening's consent agenda. >> And I will second. All in favor? >> I >> Okay. All right. On to number seven. Uh annually we uh elect the board chair and vice chair. And first up we'll take nominations for chairman. Anyone? >> I motion to reelect Matt as chairman. I uh think that we could use this year to continue the leadership that we have with the levy and the experience that you bring to the board is uh is helpful in these more difficult times. So, >> thank you. >> I appreciate what you've been doing. >> I would second that >> and agree with what Lauren has said. Appreciate your leadership and you've done it a while and you're doing a great job and I just ask you continue. >> Okay. Any other nominations
074for chair? Uh I guess with that all in favor I >> I >> Okay. Thank you very much. Uh now uh open nominations for vice chair. >> I would nominate Carrie Davidson to continue. You have been here longer than anyone and with that comes experience. You were not a dinosaur nor a fossil. Um but you have been through and seen and I've appreciated the opportunities you had last year to step in and lead and would just ask that you continue. >> Okay. I second. >> All right. Any other nominations at all? All in favor of Carrie Davidson for vice chair. >> I >> Okay, we have a chair and a vice chair. Thank you. Okay. Next up is board comments. Uh and we'll start at the end with Mr. Wilford. >> All right. Uh Wyth
075mentioned DECA earlier today and that's kind of something I forgot. I was actually in DECA in high school and went to nationals way I'm not going to say what year that was. Uh we have a really good history here in in Shelton of uh our DECA program and sending kids to nationals for that. That is an incredible opportunity. Um I wish I would have done more of it honestly when I was in high school. I only did it one year and it was it was fantastic. uh just today uh had job shadows at my place of work from SHS and I got to have this few minutes with them and explain what it is we do at PUB and what I do specifically. Most people don't understand what my job is or even that it
076exists. So that was kind of a neat thing for me to do. Um hope to see more of those in the future come through my shop. And the last thing I wanted to mention was we did have a financial audit from our 232 24 school year and that will be posted to the public relatively soon I think for them to view if they want to take a peek at it. Thank you. >> And thank you student representatives. It's always enjoyable to hear what's happening at your schools. Um speaking of schools, I've got to go to a couple basketball games lately. I know our gals are doing really well and our guys are a lot of close games in there. We have a powerlifting team that just did great. DECA, there's so many great things happening
077around and so um Facebook sometimes can be used for awful things, but Shelton School District puts up some um really amazing celebrations that you might miss if you aren't watching because you can't see everything all at once. So, I recommend getting out to one of the sporting events. go watch the girls play, watch the boys play. Um, we've already said thank you, but thank you to those students that are on their way home for getting up here. Thank you to those teachers that gave a little bit extra to help us see that. Um, we're in that time of of levy and budgets and all of those things. I would really encourage you if you have a question or a doubt or a concern, reach out to school board, to Clinton, to anybody. We will make
078sure you get those answered. I find most of the time when I get a question, there's a little bit of misinformation and if we can point back to what is true, we get that clarified. And so if you have those questions, even the hard ones, please, please ask. >> Director Gilmore, >> good evening. Thank you for being with us. I am going to focus my comments on my uh uh leg legislative representation update. Um, Monday marked the beginning of the 60-day or short legislative session for the bienium. So, looking at mostly continuation of the 2025 bills. Um, if you are unaware, the 2026 outlook is continuing with a significant budget shortfalls with the estimate um coming in at around 4 billion for the four-year outlook. This session is expected to focus mainly on state budget
079with discussion focused on spending reductions and potential new taxes for state revenue. For education advocates, the priority seems clear. In challenging budget times, K12 stability is key. It's not a lot of big asks beyond what we were already pushing for the previous year. So, as the session continues forward, I will update everyone on the key legislation being proposed that will have the greatest financial impacts on our school district. Uh, throughout the session, thousands of bills will be proposed, but I will be updating us on the key policies our lobbyists and education advocates for the Washington State School District District Association will be monitoring um as voted by the school districts at a general assembly in the fall. Just wanted everybody to have the context of where these decisions come from. This year, uh, WASDA is
080prioritizing three ways to safeguard education for 2026. These are one, fulfilling our legal and moral obligations, to keep K12 education funding at current and inflationadjusted levels and reinvest dollars from enrollment decline equitably back into the K12 system. General enrollment is lower than what was assumed for the state budget this year by about 8,000 fewer students. But while general enrollment is down, given the increases, there isn't necessarily a savings with the increases we see in other areas such as special education and ongoing maintenance cost to districts. Um, another repeat from previously, uh, increase funding for materials, supplies, and operating costs. Uh, this year requesting specifically to increase allocations for each school district by $100 per student or $100,000, whichever is greater, and then fully fund special education and special education transportation. The second portion of this
081is to find uh relief and flexibility for school districts with a pause on new policies and flexibility on existing policies so schools can focus on core academic needs. And then third, safe, healthy, contemporary school facilities by requesting the state fund the remaining project list of the small district modernization grant program. So for Shelton this session I will focus back on the big three impacting our district and share updates on any major legis legislative changes in MSOC material supply and operating costs. Uh those allocation increases are needed. When required costs of running a school district exceed state funding. Local revenues, mostly levies, must be used to fulfill the gap. Reducing local resources for school districts and community expectations. Number two we'll focus on is special education. School districts have a legal obligation to serve all students
082with disabilities in Washington, regardless of cost of services. Entering the 2025 session, the statewide funding deficit for school districts was over 1 billion. And three, pupil transportation. The current student transportation allocation reporting system known as STARS formula consistently underfunds district's actual pupil transportation expenditures. So I look forward to keeping you updated on mostly MSC special education and transportation for this year. >> Thank you and director Davidson. Thank you, Lauren, for that report. And I think with the legislation the legislative session coming up, maybe that's something we could make on the agenda item for her to report on as we go forward because I think it's always really helpful to hear those things. Um, for me tonight, I I did want to first of all take a personal moment to just thank the district office staff
083and the superintendent for the card that you all sent me over the Christmas break when I was experiencing a very difficult time. Your words meant a lot to me. Um, and they still do. So, thank you. And please thank the other people that are not present tonight. It was truly um, very touching to receive that during that time. So, thank you very much. Um, tonight I really appreciated your superintendent report and one of the things that always strikes me about that and what Lauren just kind of mentioned as well too is that when people see the mccclary funding, you always get those comments that the state has fully funded education so why do we need more? And when you see that that gap is there and that even with mccclary funding that didn't fully fund
084it and then we hear what I always call the state's prototypical model whether it's student transportation whatever the categories are that the state wants to fund they don't fully fund education and so when we're looking at just the basics of education there's already a shortfall and that is why it's so important to be educated ated on school funding and the gaps that we have and as a product of the Shelton school district. I graduated from Shelton High School, my husband did, my two daughters are at Shelton High School and will graduate from there. Um, we have all benefited from community members investing in us and teachers like the ones that we saw today. You know, just really brought that to life. Um, you know, this is where it's at. The literacy growth that our school
085district is seeing because of the work that is being done behind the scenes all the time is is just amazing. And to watch it on those little faces like they're you know that my mom was a public school teacher and she always said education is something no one can ever take away from you. And that's what our teachers are empowering our kids to do to learn and be able to take off and do that on their own in whatever field they want to do. and and I think it's amazing. It's amazing to watch it in action and I really appreciated that presentation tonight. Um my whole family is at the girls basketball game tonight. If you all haven't seen they are ranked third in the state right now, which is pretty amazing. I you know,
086so really exciting to celebrate some of our athletes and I saw the DECA stuff. That's just truly amazing. Ellen and Abigail, what you all highlight what's going on in your school with those, you know, those senior reports and all of the things that are going on at Choice for students. Really appreciate getting those reports about what's happening um and the incredible things that are going on with all of the students there as well. And also, thank you to Nick for coming tonight as the Shelton Education Association president. Really appreciate your comments tonight for the public comment. And that's it. >> I say that we need more. We need funding for reasons like this cuz my sister's on dance team and they got a bus ride and because they got a bus ride, she won first
087place in drill down for the very first time ever going to competition. So I say we need more funding so she can win more things. >> Thank you. Um, so, uh, I'll go last. Um, you know, powerlifting is doing great. DECA, we've all heard, is doing big things. Um, girls basketball, uh, I keep reading about them almost daily about the fun stuff they're doing. Uh, they've got a player that's in the top 10 for the state right now. Um, and you know, tonight's uh demonstration of of the reading and writing skills and our third graders is uh prove positive that what is being done um in our schools is working. Uh, and we as a community need to keep that momentum moving forward. Um, there's only one way to do that and I won't violate
088election laws by telling you how. Um, the one thing that I want to say is with the short session going on right now in Congress, um, our local representatives are Griffy, Couture, and Mchuan. Um, they do all answer emails, or at least their aids do, and they need to hear what is important to the people of Washington, specifically the people of Mason County. That is how they get reelected. That is how they keep their cushy jobs in Olympia. and um they would like to stay there. So, let's make them very aware that education is the largest priority for specifically Mason County uh but the rest of the state as well. Uh with that, um we do have an executive session. Uh we are going to retire for about 25 minutes. We'll let you know if
089it's going to be longer and we will come back to adjourn.