001All right, it's six o'clock. It's time to get the meeting going. If we could all [snorts] 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. All right. Has everybody had a chance to look at the agenda. >> I move that we approve tonight's a agenda. >> And I second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. We have an agenda. Item number three, administration of the oath of the three school board members that were just elected. Good evening. Hey, this is a big night and I want to thank thank you guys, thank the board, and thank everybody here for giving me the honor to swear in
002your new school board directors. This job, in my opinion, is one of the most important elected offices in local government. And we all count on them, right? Because the work that this board does affects our our kids and that affects our future. So, we're counting on you. Parents are counting on you. The kids count on you. Teachers count on you. So, thank you for running for this office and and congratulations on your victory. So, I'm going to swear all of them in at one time, which could be kind of confusing. I warn them up front. You got to make sure you repeat your own name because if you swap names, it doesn't count. So, and so, um, it's a fairly short oath and I'll I'll break it up into small chunks. And so, we'll just
003begin by raising your right hand. And we'll start by saying, I state your name. I >> do solemnly swear or affirm >> domly swear or >> that I am a citizen of the United States of United States >> and state of Washington state of Washington >> that I am legally qualified >> qualified >> to s to assume the office of Shelton school district 309. And we have a director position one, director district three, and director district one. I'll cover that part. That I will support the constitution of the United States. >> I will support the constitution of the United States >> and the state of Washington >> and the laws of the state of Washington >> and to faithfully discharge the duties of this office. to faithfully discharge the duties of this office >> according
004to the best of my ability. >> Congratulations. Well done. Congratulations. [applause] So, we have here um certificates that are suitable for framing and then we have the oaths for each of you which I need you to sign. And I brought the golden pen. But the deal is I get to keep the original. >> And so, yep. >> Thanks, Chief. very good. Well, once again, congratulations to y'all. Let's give them one more round of applause [applause] and thanks again for the opportunity. Okay. Up next is superintendent report. Mr. Jesse. Thank you, board president Wheelander, other board directors, student representatives, staff, community members, and students. Uh I will keep it relatively short. Um we have some presentations uh this evening. We'll start off with a tour today of SHS. So thank you again directors Wheelander and Davidson
005for accompanying me. We were able to be in two college and college and career technical ed classes specifically car car carpentry and automotive. It was really nice to have them see the word directly. students were uh hands-on um in both of the courses that we saw um really cool about some of the differentiation going on specifically for carpentry uh when students are at different levels um along the pathways um in his course uh anywhere from just understanding three three-dimensional objects and how to design them um to larger projects in scale and then we just talked about also um a really cool project they have coming up about uh manufactur uring curbage boards. So, um, check out the website. If you want to borrow a curb board designed by, uh, Shelton High School students, you too
006can get your hands on one and they are pretty, pretty cool. So, and then automotive, I think, is just a continued conversation like carpentry is just making sure that the skills that we are teaching our students are up to date and they need up-to-date equipment and facilities. So uh it was nice to have the directors along just thinking well into the future things don't just happen overnight. So what does it mean for us to again make sure that we are preparing our students and they have those experiences and so it was nice to talk to both instructors some ideas that they were providing us um and so we can take those and think um as we you know have strategic vision planning. Uh I also today visited Olympic Middle School with a local business leader.
007She took me up on my offer. I say, "Hey, come on. Come visit the schools. Um, I'd like to see what's going on uh for myself." And so, that was really nice to get out. Um, I believe she was thoroughly impressed. That's what her words were to me about seeing all the things going on. Um, specifically at Olympic Middle School, it's like very well organized. There's no one roaming the halls. You're inside the classes. Kids are absolutely focused on their instruction. um teaching a variety of skills not just core academics but obviously social and emotional skills as well. Uh really powerful a lot of engagement with some kids. Um really cool. Uh always love to show off uh especially since one of our focus on the strategic plan is on literacy to show all of
008the investment that we've done in books. Well over a 100,000 books are sitting there inside our classrooms. kids were making notes, reading, making jots um on postits connected to their books that are at their reading level and their interest. Um and just, you know, when even kids had downtime, she's like, "Wait, those kids pulling out books just even in some downtime in their advisory class." And I was like, "Yeah, that's the culture we're trying to to build here." Um so neat to see fifth and sixth graders working so well and the instruction and the work that's been going on at that school and to showcase it. If you too would like to visit one of our schools, send me an email. Love to have you tour the schools and we have a lot to be
009proud of. Uh for sure. Uh this last Friday, uh the board was recognized as a board of distinction um for the state of Washington. I thought a lot of the presentations that I was able to see really talked about three particular things that I think are key for the success for this particular school board, which is alignment. We have a strategic plan. and it was created four years ago and we've stayed to it. Continuity, I love continuity of leadership. I I think of also director Davidson um and then um just because she's been here well now um for two over two terms and so that's that is help that helps that leadership the stories behind things why we do things or how we do it. We have some new a new director on board. I
010know some folks have uh have a couple years experience um and director wheelander is going on his second term. So those things when you see successful school districts, they are behind successful leadership and that does start with the school board. So to them, thank you very much. Um lastly, it's Native American Heritage Month. Um wow. Uh it only shows that 2.7% of our population identify as Native youth. We are well beyond that. Uh and unfortunately the way we keep statistics it is um a lot of kids get caught underneath the category of two or more races. Um and we have a lot of native youth here in our schools. It is well ingrained into what we do. We have changed a lot of our ways over the last four years about how we talk, treat
011and educate our native youth. and it is really powerful and it shows by the outcomes that are going on. Um, so they usually outperform our district average in the core academics. Um, I know we've dropped some of the discipline rate specifically for native youth. I know we're still working on trying to drop that rate as well as increase attendance. So, we got more work to do, lots of celebrate, really cool, a lot of not only just uh some of the performances, but just also really about telling story, strength, and need inside the classrooms from an individual students perspective. So, I really think that's something district should be proud of. Um, please join me in recognizing Native American Heritage Month here in the Shelton School District and all things that we can do to um link
012with our greater community. 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/or by phone as conditions allow. Please see the full script with call-in instructions and guidance for community comments displayed on the screen above. First up will be Donnie Rooks. So, I spoke last week, sorry, my name is Donnie Rooks. I got two kids to go to Sheldon High School. Um, I spoke last meeting about the Charlie Kirk shirt. And I came up this today because I realized I showed up without all the facts. And I guess I owe you all an apology for doing that because I originally assumed that it was students who complained and this
013was a student issue which was sad to me. It was very disheartening. But then when I found out that these were teachers, teachers who complained makes it pathetic that these teachers could not do their job if there was somebody in their building who had a differing view from them. And these are the people that we've hired to cultivate the minds of the next generation. That is sad. I don't understand how you can, you know, let this go on any further. You ask for more of our money, but yet the end product is not up to standard. No matter how much you want to pat yourselves on the back for being a board of distinction, you know, look at the end product. look at what they're doing and what they're who's teaching them. You know, you
014guys really need to open your eyes. I hope the new board members will take a look at this and and think what are we doing? You know, my my other question, I understand you guys can answer questions, is who is the arbiter of what is political and what is not. I find that it if someone doesn't agree with it, it becomes political. But if I do agree with it, it's okay. That that really needs to be addressed. And um I hope maybe uh we lander will reach out to me and just let me know what who is the arbiter, what standard do you use to determine that something is political or is not political and it will be allowed. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Marilyn. Amen. Good evening. Um, I kind of tossed back
015and forth on what I was going to talk about specifically, but uh, I think one of them I'll just share on social media because I don't have enough time to say it, but you might want to double check your social posting when you referred to the RCWs and the district policy because what was referenced is not what in actuality is truth. So, first I want to begin with something that's been troubling many of us. A staff member was told she could not wear a shirt that simply said the word freedom. One word, no slogan, no candidate, no campaign, no message targeting anyone, just freedom. We were told the shirt was deemed political because Charlie Kirk used that word on merchandise. If that's the standard now, then we need to be honest and apply it evenly.
016Because by that same logic, every transgender flag, every pride poster, and every display using terms like inclusion, equity, or any other buzzword often championed by one political party would also need to be removed. You cannot call one thing political because you disagree with a perceived association yet openly allow another with clear political connotations simply because it aligns with the beliefs of those in charge. That's not neutrality. That's selective enforcement. People have the right to stand. [clears throat] Sorry, I'm going out of line. There is a teacher uh in the district that sits for the pledge of allegiance. I mentioned it to the superintendent after the last board meeting. [snorts] While people have the right not to stand yes, but in a school setting for an adult leader who is supposed to model professionalism and respect,
017what message does that send to the children watching her? What are our students supposed to think when the very person meant to guide them, support them, and set an example refuses to acknowledge the symbol of our country? The same symbol tied to the freedoms and sacrifices that allow all of us to even be here. Children remember these moments. They absorb what they see, adults do. And whether we like it or not, it shapes their understanding of respect, responsibility, and community values. And if we're going to start scrutinizing staff over what they wear, [clears throat] we need to take a serious look at what has actually impacted student comfort and safety in this district. Were students asked if they felt safe after a counselor groomed a student and entered a relationship with her? Were they asked
018if they felt safe when multiple students were injured in PE while a group of tough guy coaches seemed more focused on boosting their own egos than protecting student safety? where they asked how they felt when their two high school counselors got into a physical fight over the weekend and then one of them posted about it publicly on her Facebook. These are not minor concerns. They are real incidents involving adults in positions of trust. And while we're talking about safety, let's talk about a few years ago when there was an 18-year-old senior male student vaping in the bathrooms. This student wasn't transgender. He just regularly hung out. This was addressed multiple times and by concerns, but imagine being a female student and walking into a space that was supposed to be private and safe, not only
019to be confronted by him. For girls who have experienced sexual abuse, that situation wouldn't just be distressing, it would be traumatizing. >> Thank you, >> Dean J. Dean Jwitt, thank you for allowing me to be here. Uh, I'm just going to kind of reiterate everything that's already been reiterated. All of you guys sitting up here need to understand one thing that the tail does not wag the dog. Meaning that you have the power. Your superintendent does not. So if you don't agree with how he's leading you, remove him, please. So let's talk about uh political. Is the LGBTQ movement considered a political movement? I heard from your HR director that you know she made a post about that it was not. Same with Black Lives Matter that it was not political. Okay. Then turned off
020all the comments so nobody could post. Is that transparency? Absolutely not. Uh is the LGBTQ movement considered a political movement because is at it advocates for civil rights, equal protection under the law and so social change through various strategies like lobbying, protesting, voter engagement. It is a political coalition that seeks to gain the rights and recognitions for its members. You guys can use the AI. You know, all know how to use Google. Look it up. Black Lives Matter. Is Black Lives Matter a political movement? Yes, it is. That advocates for anti-racism and policies to address racial in inequality. While it is de a decentralized movement with no single hierarchy, specific organizations under the Black Lives Matter movement uh like Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, a formal political organizations that work towards political and social
021change. So pretty much that should answer everything that you needed to answer, right? Uh yeah. And then let's talk about why would even the question be, do you feel safe? You got a a 30-year plus teacher, excellent teacher, and she didn't even want to come forward. I think that she was semi forced to or she kind of felt an inner power telling her that she needed to bring this forward. I believe that there are a bunch of conservative and moderate teachers that are afraid to speak up for retribution. Have y'all ever heard of Survey Monkey? You can do an anonymous survey, send it out to your staff and your workers and find out what they feel about each one of you and our superintendent. It's very easy to do. I used to do it when
022I ran telecom companies with two, three, 400 employees in six, seven states. So very easy to do. Gives you a lot of good data. Give it to your HR generalist and then let her dissect it and give the information to you guys. Maybe it gives Jesse something to to read on his drive home to Seattle. Terara Smith. Hi. This is really weird. Hi. Um I am Okay, my time started. I'm up here because um we have a levy we need to pass and I'm very excited about it. And the future of Shelton can be anything we want it to be if we pass the levy. Um, I talk about it with my own personal children. I talk about it with my friends and family. And I've been talking a lot about it um with my
023six-year-old and she is very well aware of what the levy is and what it means if we pass it and what it means if we don't pass it. Um, I'm very transparent with my children. I believe education is power and the more I teach my kids, the more that they can know and grow in this community. So, she is here tonight and she needs full three minutes because she is six years old and she is reading but she needs the full three minutes. So, I wanted to introduce her for my time. Um, so I am now done and I would like to introduce her. She's very nervous. If her time ends at three minutes, the buzzer might kind of scare her. show cuz she's not aware of that. But I did tell her she has
024three minutes, so she's going to try to talk as fast as she can. That's it. >> Okay. Thank you. And she will have three minutes. >> She She's aware. >> Isa Smith. >> Yeah. Get her a chair to stand on. >> Go ahead. Put it down here. >> Use your finger. Okay. >> Hi, my name is Isla. I am 6 years old. I am a first grader here at Mountain View School. Um, I love reading art and music and playing with my friends. My teacher helps me learn new things and I feel safe and happy here. I learned that adults get to vote for the levy soon. It isn't a ve It isn't a new levy. It helps our school keep things we already have. It learn the levy helps helps pay for music, art,
025and sports. [snorts] buses, computers, nurses, counselors, and helpers in our classroom. Also, the lovey Also, I love playing soccer. It makes me feel happy and proud when I get better, bigger. I want I want to join choir. But if I But I worry these things won't be there. If school doesn't have enough money, I I want all kids to have chances to try the the things they love. If our school doesn't get money, [snorts] this money we might have less helpers, less art and music, and are less fun activities. We might not have enough money for good computers or safety things. Did you know state could take our state the state could take away extra money it gives us only when the we pass the levy it makes us feel it makes me feel very
026sad I don't want I I I do not I don't know everything about money, but I do know my school is important. I want kids to keep learning and feel safe. And I want teachers to have what they need. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you, Isa. That was quite possibly the most awesome thing today. Yep. With that, we will move on to reports and recognition. 6.01 present presentation of the Washington Association of Career and Technical Administrators. Uh, wa uh outstanding administrator for the year. Gretchen, come on up. I have to follow that. Great job, young lady. Um, members of the board and Superintendent Jesse, thank you for allowing us to come and and award this wonderful award to Gretch Melissa. I'm Brad Duper. the CT director in North Public
027Schools, but I'm I'm uh representing WACA Washington Association of Criminal Technical Administrators. And uh your very own p person right here uh received the outstanding administrator of the year award for 2425 school year. And we we felt it's so important to come live and and and really u show off what you have here in in Shelton. and thank you very much for visiting your your carpentry and your auto. Um, I've toured it as well multiple times over the years and it is very high class here. So, keep supporting the CTE programs here because they're very high level and a big part of that is Gretchen. A very big part of that is Gretchen and she's a very valuable member and I'm the CTE area group leader for WACA and she's a very big part of
028our association. But we wanted to give her the the live award um since she wasn't able to be there at our at our awards assembly. But this is even better because it gets in front of your whole community on a great honor that you have here in in Gretchen and she's very valued in our community. But you got to keep her around because you're you're flying high and you don't want that to drop. And great job Shelton because you have a wonderful CTE program. Congratulations, Gretchen. [applause] >> Thank you. I uh I stand here very humbly on the shoulders of people who have been here before me. Shelton had an academy model um that was established and I have been given a really great opportunity to continue to grow that. Um, so I am extremely
029thankful for those who came before me, the leadership team that I have now, and those who will come after me. I'm so grateful to be part of Shelton School District and everything that we've built and everything that will come later. Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you. Up next, the Shelton High School District three or District 4 3A champion girls swim team recognition, Scott Chamberlain. Well, thankfully you're not tired of me yet, right? Um, I just want to give an update before I get to the swim team. Last time or last meeting when I was here, we had our cross country girls cross country team. I mentioned their uh academic GPA, team GPA. It was 3.954, which placed fourth in the 3A cross country. So, that was a number I didn't have last time and I
030made sure I had it so I could share that with you. At this time, I'd like to invite the girls swim team up, please, and their coaches. Come on up, ladies. [applause] I'll be back. Also, as promised from our last meeting, um that was the Tuesday after the Saturday of their district meet down at Kelso where uh these ladies and coaches, but these ladies um performed at the district 4 uh swim meet. Uh tough swim meet to get out of. Only the winner of each event advanced to the state swim meet. Um, however, our team as a team won the district championship. So, this is your 2025 District 4 3A uh champions. Let's give them a round of applause. [applause and cheering] >> Congratulations, ladies. Great job. Thank you. >> Nice work, ladies. Thank you.
031the Oakland Bay uh junior high school improvement presentation. Miss Marshall, good evening. Board President Welander, other directors of the board, Superintendent Jesse. I'm here today just to give you an update on Oakland Bay Junior High and share where we're at this year and reflect on last year's work. So currently I get the privilege of serving 5if or 553 students and 55 wonderful staff members and this makes up Oakland Bay Junior High for the 24 25 26 school year. So let's reflect on last year's SIP goal in ELA. We had the hopes of taking our incoming seventh graders from passing the ESPback at 30.3%. We had a high goal. We wanted them to improve by 5%. We didn't make the goal. Not okay. But some good things came out of it. Our average growth on the
032SBA in seventh grade, our average growth was 3%. So, it doesn't always tell the whole story when we're looking at the data. Also at Oakland Bay Junior High, we were working on reducing um the number of ab average average absences for the year. We did make some growth there. We lowered it to 25 days um for the average student at Oakland Bay. Still not okay and we need we have some work to do in front of us. So moving on to ELA for this year, we took what we learned and what we knew and we made some adjustments. And again, we want to grow our seventh graders this year another 5% in ELA. And so looking at our data, we know that students spend a lot of time with their mobile devices, not during the
033school day, but when they're outside. And so our students need to learn how to talk talk to one talk to one another. And so we're doing that in our classrooms through think alouds. This just isn't just happening in the ELA classroom. Our staff have made a commitment in every single classroom to provide turn-in talks and discussion time for students and they're modeling and they're teaching students that skill. We also know that when students know when they're at where they're at academically and set growth goals, they're more likely to be successful. And we want to take time to celebrate that uh growth with our students. One of the more powerful moves that we made this year is taking time to personally conference. We were doing this last year, but more intentionally conferencing with our students um
034about their reading. Um just recently we took our data that we had um and we had multiple data points and again we spent time going through each and every seventh grade student and eighth grade student looking at the data and making sure are our students in just right books and for the students that weren't we're going back we're conferring and we are getting them in um the just right books. So, we're continually looking at the data, looking at what the levels that students are reading and adjusting based on what we know. So, that's a new move we're doing this year. Next up, we're continuing our work with claim, evidence, reasoning in all of our classrooms to set students up with um success because in the on the ESPback, they do have to write. And so,
035we are practicing this skill in all of our classrooms. Next up, we are continuing our growth around attendance. And because it is Native um American Heritage Month, I am happy to say that last year at this time, our attendance for our Native Americans at Oakland Bay Junior High was 69%. We have intentionally changed what we're doing and as of last month, that group was at 89% average for their attendance. So, that is a huge growth and it is because of the work that we're doing at Oakland Bay. So, this year we're continuing our celebrations around student attendance, but we're tightening that up a bit. You have to have 100% time um on class and no absences. Um advisory teachers, again, we're setting goals with students. We're checking in on their academics. So, every Monday, they're
036looking at their grades and they're setting goals. And last up, we're engaging students immediately as soon as they get into the classroom with some do now activities. that's easy, accessible, but it gets their brains moving. I'd like to invite my seventh grade teacher, Miss Smith, up to introduce you to two wonderful students. Thank you, Miss Marshall. Um, I've had the opportunity to work at Oakland Bay Junior High for the last seven years and I have to say the changes we're making this year are going in a really positive direction with the help with Miss Marshall, Miss G, and Miss Pingle. I've been very encouraged by the intentional moves we're making. And one of those moves we've been making is that in our literacy classes, we are taking o ample opportunity to encourage students in their
037writing goals. We are having them share their workout in class and students are giving feedback and celebrating the accomplishments that they're doing. What you're going to be hearing tonight is from two students who they worked on a performance task last week in class. They wrote the essay in two 45minute class periods. And what they did was they got a prompt that looked like the SBA where they had to read three sources about Mount Everest. And after reading the sources, they had to create a narrative story with a beginning, middle, end, conflict, and problem resolution um and use descriptive language and dialogue. And what I'm encouraged by the two stories I see here is that they took opportunities to edit, share, um get feedback, and they were even part of our morning writing group to improve
038their story. So, I'm really excited for you to hear Karina Martin and Keith Hall. Karina. Hello, my name is Karina Martin and this is my essay. It is a fresh cold morning at the foot of Mount Everest. Annabella is still half asleep after the two long week drive to the mount. Her father talking to the climbing crew outside. How long is it going to be? her father says to the crew. The climb is about two weeks, climbing about 8 to 12 hours a day. One of the climbers says to her father, her father groans, going to the truck to wake her. Hun, wake up. It's almost time to go start going. Her father shakes her shoulder, already knowing she won't be happy with the long how long it's going to take. A week later, Annabella
039and her father are hoisted up to 26,000 feet in the air on a cliffside. Annabella swinging around, teasing her father. Annabella, stop. You're going to fall. Her father warns through the mic in his mask. Come on, don't be a buzzkill. Suddenly, the rope snaps from the cold and the tension of her swing. She screams. Her screams can be heard through the mic and the wind and the layers of gear till they can't be no more. Her father sobs, having thinking he just lost his only daughter. Little does he know she's hanging by just two ice picks and krampons alive. Hours later, she still hangs cold, tired, hungry, scared. She eats the snow for liquid, her breath a blinding fog. Her She wants to cry, but her tears freeze. She regrets everything. Wishing she just listened
040to her father, she finally moves after hours of still. It hurts, but the fire in her determined not to be put out. She climbs sideways trying to find a path to get back down. After hours of searching, she finds a rope, meaning she found people and a path home. She tugs on the rope trying to see if anyone is on it. Her walk the walkie and her mass statics as if it was trying to connect to a line. Hey, who's tugging on the rope? A man's voice says slightly annoyed. Me, she cries. I feel I fell from just above camp 3. She starts sobbing again. Hey, calm down. What's your name? The man's voice says or the man says. Annabella, she says still crying. How old are you, Annabella? I'm 16. The man comes down
041helping her to the camp. She stays there for a few days. One day, her father's father's group makes it to the camp after going to the summit and back. She's sleeping on a cot. Her father, who was just thinking of how he's going to tell her mother she died, rushes to her, hugging her hard. They go back down, getting into the truck and driving home. Annabella having a story to tell. [applause] And next, you'll hear from Keith Hall. Hello, my name is Keith Hall. This is my Mount Everest essay. I walk up the cold frosted mountain, my face burned from the cold. Callos, Damen yelled from behind me. Wait for me, the crunching of the frozen snow under my boots as we walk. Abigail, our guide, and Jordan the Sherpa walked through the cold desert
042with us as we reach what seems to be a cliff. I look down the white foggy void, only faint outlines of trees visible. I lean a little farther forward and crack. The ground shifts as I fall. I grunt as I grab onto a ledge hanging off the cliff, climbing up onto it. Kalos, are you okay? Jordan exclaimed, looking down the cliff. Yeah, I'm fine. I could hear the sigh of relief from all three of them. All right, Kos, we're going to pull you up, Abigail said, grabbing onto the rope, securing it in place. I felt the tug as I hooked my Jumar up to my hands. I looked at the tiny device on my wrist. "All right, are you guys ready?" I yelled up, looking at the blurry white fog, the goggles on my face
043obscuring my vision. "Yeah, we're ready," Abigail yells as I feel the tugging of my rope. I put my right foot on the rocky side, securing my Jumar and harness as I slowly climb my way up the rocky cliff. A rock slips and topples down, making me lose my balance, but I regain it. "Everything okay down there?" Jordan yells. "Yeah, yeah, everything is fine," I say. I finally reach the edge of the cliff and climb over the rocky ledge. "How you doing?" I say, smirking. "All right, let's continue going. We still have a long way to go," George says, looking towards the path that we must follow. "Okay, let's go," Abigail says quietly. We continue climbing the mountain. I now made sure to pay attention to where I was at all times. We climbed for about
0443 hours, reaching campsite 3. "We're nearly there," I said, breathing heavily. while we rested at the campsite. "Yeah, it's almost over. It's kind of sad." "What do you mean? I'm excited for it to be over," I said to Jordan's surprise in my voice and expression. "I'm talking about that once we reach the summit and come back down, we won't see each other again." Jordan's voice sounded sad. I felt bad now. "Well, hey, at least we'll remember this crazy adventure." I stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. Damen walked towards us. "We should start heading back out." his thumb shot out, pointing behind him. "He's right. We should continue if we want to reach the summit," Abigail said after walking towards us, talking to another tour guide. "After a long, painfully agonizing climb, we
045finally made it to the summit, reaching our destination. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous. The orange red light dancing across the pink clouds shining on the ice and snow. "It was a dream come true. "It's beautiful," Damon whispered, his gloved hands resting at his side. It sure is. Abigail's arms raise up as she stretches. So worth it, I say. I feel to tears of joy pricking out the corners of my eyes. The end. [applause] Does the board have any questions for me? >> Anybody? I just wondered how um the conversation the turn and talk I know we're still early in the year but have you seen a positive results from that? Can you speak a little more to that? >> I think one of the things that we know that is going to be successful for
046successful for us is with junior high students we have to constantly model and remind them of the expectations. So when you come into OBJ during that mini lesson before they release students into a turn and talk is they remind them of the anchor chart or they have a slide of the anchor chart up then they model the expectation and then they release. So they're continuing to practice but that it's nice to see that that's happening in every single classroom every day. >> And I just want to say congratulations on that increased attendance among our Native American population. I know that's a emphasis and it's really great to hear that number. Thank you. Yeah, we're really excited about that, too. >> Anyone else? >> Yes, thank you for your presentation. Um, I was curious what a
047do now activity is that those came up in like one or >> um if we're talking about like a math class, it's just a simple math problem that students can solve that just gets that brain going. Yeah. It helps set up that success like they get to start this the class off doing something that's simple but yet uses the brain and gets them ready to learn. >> That's cool. Thank you. >> I don't really have a question, but I did want to thank the students, Karina Martin and Keith Hall and their teacher, Mrs. Smith, for coming up and being vulnerable and sharing your writing with us. That was really amazing. I I wish that everybody that had been here had been able to stay and listen to the students because I think not as many
048people if you don't have kids in school. You don't realize exactly what they're doing and what amazing work and writing that they are able to share with us. So, I really appreciate you highlighting that. Um, thank you for your work, Mrs. Smith, and with your students. I I'm sorry that Karina walked out before I had a chance to to thank them. And then, thank you for your presentation. I really do appreciate that even though you didn't hit the goals that you were trying to achieve that you are setting those high because that's what you want for your students and that's what we want. That's what I want as a board member. And then even if you don't hit them, you still did see growth. It may not have been what we wanted and there's always
049going to be work to do but setting that bar high because that is what we can get. That's that's what we can expect from our students and and doing these walkthroughs in the schools. I do see that um that there's just a lot of good work going on. So even while there are improvements, there's a lot of good that's going on right now. And I just appreciate the way you presented all of that. So >> thank you. Uh yeah, I'll tag on to the the last little bit with the um it was good to see that, you know, even though you didn't hit the targets, you you recognized what some of the issues were. You were willing to, you know, change direction a little bit, uh make those changes, and now you're seeing the the
050positives come out of that, even though we're still not early in the year, but we're certainly not halfway. Um, as far as the kids reading their their stories up there, um, as somebody who's done a little bit of climbing, uh, they did such a nice job of being descriptive to the point where if I closed my eyes, I could see the crevices. I could see the, you know, what was going on. I could look over the cliff. I understood what was happening. And, uh, that's typically a much older skill. Um, I didn't really get good at it until, you know, college and and after. So, uh, kudos to you guys. great job with your staff. Uh, I do appreciate it. Thank you. >> Oh, and down on the end. >> I also wanted to say
051thank you for bringing those examples out. It's been quite a while since I've gone to OBJH and so it's really nice to see the improvements and stuff you guys have made. There's a lot of growth that you guys have made clearly shown in like the graphs and especially in those presentations. I know that I probably couldn't write that well when I was in eighth grade. So, it's not only is the writing impressive, but getting up here and giving those presentations by itself was really impressive, and I wanted to thank you for doing that. >> Thank you. >> Nothing like a firsthand witness to growth. Good job. >> All right. Thank you. >> And on to the budget update with the guy who makes a budget update entertaining, Clinton Sherman. I'm always follow I'm always following
052one of the coolest things ever, but it's fine. Um, great. We have a quick budget update. Uh, the real update is nothing's changed. We're still on track for um, our plan. The only thing that happened this month that is rare is the aortionment advance that we initiated in October came through in November. And so, um, and what we're doing with that that helps again balance our cash flow for the rest of the year. Can you Thanks. Appreciate it. Um, so this graph hasn't updated since I showed it to you last because it was only here a couple weeks ago, but it will update. Um, like I said last time, we are going to keep the projections and the actuals up on there so we can see how close we are in alignment. That's a real
053goal of mine is to try to pull those back uh in line. We are still projected to end the year with a positive fund balance. Um, can you go to the next one? Great. um that jumped up to two million uh because we outperformed our ending year that just finished by about $400,000 which was great. Uh the one thing we are tracking though, if you can go to the next one for me, Erin, appreciate it. Uh is enrollment. It's kind of flattened out a bit. Um which is fine. Um but that's why we have that cushion and we try to work to make sure those projections are falling in line. So, if we had to make adjustments, that $400,000 that we outperformed will be helpful as we close the year. Uh, because we'll still end
054in a positive fund balance. So, what questions do you have for me? >> No question. But while I was at the WASDA meeting and I attended this one with the superintendent, um, it was one of the OSPI financial updates and I think they were saying that those aortionment advancements that there's multiple school districts that are now asking for those. I think that that's really grown. >> Yes. which speaks to some of the financial situation that we're seeing across school districts. >> Yeah, I think they're almost in double digits. And and last year, this is a mechanism we used a year ago and it was about $4 million. This year it was a a little less than two, but their district's going out for 20. Yes. Right now. >> Yeah, that's what they were talking about.
055So, I'm glad we're not going out for $20 million that we're not in that situation. >> But yeah, it it was definitely eyeopening as far as um things like that. But I appreciate your budget updates in that specific session. They were speaking to school board members and and definitely saying that this you know budget updates are things that we should be getting in schoolboard meetings and we always have been doing that. So just really appreciate >> of course I will also add that um a number of districts have capital levies and if they didn't have a capital levy like we don't that that number would be that would be a lot of districts. Uh, I'm sure it would be something probably maybe something closer to 30 40 districts. >> Yeah, there's a lot of them.
056>> There'd be a lot more that take leans off of their capital levy when they come up short. So, our advancement um for us is uh yeah, there's, you know, like 10 districts doing it. Um, but it would be a lot more um if they were in the same kind of financial sit, you know, what they have available as far as funds because we don't have a capital levy and other districts do. >> Yeah. Some context for that is when they did the levy swap, we've talked about this quite a bit, but the levy rate in Shelton used to be over $4.50. Uh, and after McCclary, it dropped to a$150 as the maximum and then 250 was the maximum. That's what it is now. Um, but there's no maximum on a capital levy. And so
057to make up some of that difference, some a lot of districts went out for their regular um educational programs and operations levy and a capital levy to help make up that difference of they lost going from 450 to 250. And so that's why there's a lot of districts with capital levies right now. Just provide that. Go ahead. Anything else for me? No, >> just thanks for making it easy to follow. Appreciate it. >> That's all right. >> Thank you. You bet. Okay. And on to the school board student representatives. And we'll start with Allan. >> Yes. So, uh, at Cedar, we've been having quite a quite a bit of fun. Specifically today, uh, Cedar and Choice collaborated to host a Friendsgiving event. And yeah, we had a lot of fun. A lot of the staff,
058both Choice and Cedar staff. And was there open door staff there, too? Well, basically we just had everybody that in that general area come together and cook a a I guess you could call it a a lunch brunch maybe call cook up a brunch for all of our students. And yeah, we had a great time there. It was really fun. Apart from that, uh the seniors were planning to we hosted the haunted house and now we're going to have a collaboration with uh not specifically the seniors but cedar in general is going to have a collaboration with choice for their uh what do you what's it called for their winter celebration. We're going to be hosting one of the rooms there. So if you are there come check us out. And speaking of seniors, we're
059planning to have some just have some fun events for just for our seniors. We uh we hosted the haunted house. It was a lot of work. And so to reward I guess to reward ourselves, we're going to go on a fun trip. Yeah, that's that's why we raised our money. >> All right, Na. This week has been pretty busy actually considering how short it has been. It is finals week this week. So, we've had a completely different schedule. This today we had finals in our first, third, and I want to say fifth periods. And then yesterday it was the reverse, but a lot of classes are having their end of the trimester parties and whatnot. I know that my leadership class had a Friendsgiving and that was really fun. Our senior class has a few
060updates. They have officially designated the sub building to be our prom venue and they are now coming up with gift basket ideas. Also, they are doing the senior sweatshirt fundraiser now where they are they've come up finally come up with a design for the senior hoodies and they're going to start they're either going to start selling them shortly or they might already be up. I'm not exactly sure. Um, and then also we have our varsity basketball team. The girls basketball team is gearing up to go to Alaska here pretty soon. I know that that's a really big deal. And also, DECA is getting ready to go to their area 8 conference. And ASP is planning our winter assembly and we are going to find a teacher to dress up as the Grinch. It's going to
061be a really good time. But yeah, I think that's about it. Okay, Abigail. >> Hello, I'm Abby from Choice. The Path the Pathway class is learning about empathy and will help four kids in the youth connection with gifts. An officer An officer came to the Pathway program to talk about choices and stuff during a job. The middle school class went to Kennedy Creek to learn about the impact of the earth. The ninth and tth grade did SBA and ELA and math. The 11th and 12th grade had a breakfast Thanksgiving. All programs had a Thanksgiving party today. On December 18th, we are going to have a winter celebration by ASB. Open doors had a student get their high school diploma. Students did their stamp test and passed. One person got their seal of biiteracy. >> All
062right. Thank you. All good stuff. Yep. All right. On to the consent agenda. Has everybody had a chance to look at it? >> I move that we approve the consent agenda. >> I second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right. On to item number eight, discussion and action items. Um, as part of the running levy in February, we did have to put out a uh call for for and against. Um, with that, we did get one for and uh we did not get an against. We'll turn this over to the county and the county will advertise for that, take care of it, and it'll make it into the voter uh pamphlet. Um, and uh do we need to vote on that? Yeah, we just need to So, if everybody wants to take a
063quick look at that, make sure we approve the the way that's going. There's two pieces of paper there. Um, it just basically says we got one for and we got no response on the against. So, like I said again, it'll go to the county. The county will find somebody or not, but they'll have to advertise it uh before the deadline to get into the voter pamphlet. So when you get all done, if we get a motion to accept that or not to a motion, a motion to accept it and move forward with the process. Yeah. >> Uh I motion we move forward uh with the process following the appointment of community members to write levy pro and con statements. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> I I >> I. >> Okay. Get that
064to the county in the morning. Okay. Board member comments. Director Wilford, do you got anything on your first night? >> Wow, it's been a long time coming. I've been coming to these meetings for years now and uh I'm glad to be on this side of the table finally. Uh been serving our community for 10 years, coaching sports uh various sports over the last 10 years. Actually met Naa last year as a coaching her brothers. Um but yeah, I'm proud to be here on this side of the table and serve the community in this fashion now. Thanks, >> Director Dale. >> Yeah, I don't have much of a voice, so I'll go kind of quick, but um I want to congratulate board member member Welander, director, and and Wilfford um on being on the board. Appreciate
065you guys here and all you're doing to serve. Um a big thank you to all of the two students that came from OBJ. My favorite part of these presentations and when the students come and share and step out of what I'd say our comfort zone to share what they're learning and so the community really gets to get a peak into what's happening dayto day in our schools and and I love that that voice gets to be maybe louder than some of the negative ideas out there. Um congratulations to our girls swim team. That's a big accomplishment. I know they're all home but congratulations to them. Um, I will just say we got to spend a couple of days at WAZDA which is the gathering of all of the school directors around the state and and
066what I always walk away from that with is there are about,00 school board members in Washington state school directors and they come from all walks of life. They are people that are giving up often a travel day Thursday, Friday, Saturday to go for for no money to improve their ability to serve their communities. And it's really inspiring to see these men and women around our state come and and just do all they can to ultimately serve the families in in their community. So, I appreciated that a lot. Director Gilmore. >> Thank you everyone who came with us tonight. I uh I'm really glad uh Superintendent touched on uh continuity and leadership in his opening statements this evening. Um I'd like to build on that for you, Carrie. Uh while attending WASDA this weekend, uh I
067had the opportunity to network with our local district five area boards and uh Carrie was one of the most senior members in the room and offered great mentorship and advice and was just sort of peppered with questions. there were uh a lot of uh brand new school board members and there were a lot of people panicking about how and this was across the conference. Um you know in some cases newly elected members were becoming chairs and boards had completely overturned positions and um it just I feel really fortunate to have had your your your mentorship and your continued leadership on this board Carrie >> and you were So, thank you, >> Director Davidson. >> Wow. I thank you. I appreciated that and I appreciated the time with all of you there at the at the
068WASDA meeting. It's funny being the person that's been here on the board for 10 years. When we had to introduce ourselves in that director area meeting, I did realize I was somebody that had more years than than many others. And it also feels like it just went by like that. So, um, enjoy the newness and it will, but sometimes, you know, you just keep learning and growing and, um, I think all of this has just been a really valuable experience. So, I hope that all of you find that now that you've all been reelected, except for Lauren and I, who are still here. But anyway, w the WASDA conference was really wonderful. It was um one of my favorite sessions and I was sharing it with some of the students over there. I I went
069to an an AI studentled conference where the students of the Riverside School District had had created a a student uh committee that worked with their school on kind of their vision and their values around artificial intelligence. And I gave that to our students. It was just the the WASDA conference actually had more students there than I think that they've ever had. And listening to our students get up and present is incredible. I mean, these were not students of Shelton High School. These were high school students, but they are articulate. They are smart. And you start really feeling confident about what the future does hold when you hear these kids speak and think critically. And and I I really, you know, it was one of the best sessions. And during WASDA, they always kept saying to
070us, too, that it's critical that we listen to our student voices. We're here on a school board and we create policies and we work with administration, but it's all for you. But if we don't listen to you, we're missing a key component to what's going on. So, we really value having you as our student reps and hearing you speak for the schools that you represent. And it's wonderful to have the school presentations by the principles and the vice principles because then we do actually hear what's going on in the schools. And I think the more that we can involve our students and hear their voice, um, the better off we're going to be as a school district. Um, I really did enjoy walking through Shelton High School this morning. It was wonderful to see two
071of the CTE um classes and and better. First of all, the students were very engaged. Um like I I think sometimes people have an idea of what you're going to see when you go into a a high school classroom. And they were on point getting ready to work. Everybody was like I mean it was like going into a a welloiled machine office. I mean it was like nobody was just dillydallying. and it wasn't just because we had walked in. Um, and then to hear from the teachers too just what some of those needs are because we are in a building that is older and the facilities um, you know, or some of the machinery that we have. Speaking for the auto shop, they don't have bays that really can facilitate like what you might see
072if you go get your oil changed. You can there's separation between the two cars to safely actually work on two things. But at the same time, these kids are learning amazing skills that then they can take out and translate to jobs right away. And so is there an opportunity for industry partnerships and in ways to improve if we don't have funds ourselves? So it was just a really interesting conversation and it was wonderful to see that. Um, I I've really enjoyed walking through now and Shelton High School and it is finals week, so we were trying to tiptoe around the school and make sure that we were not interrupting everything that was going on. So, to all of the students that have gotten through finals this week and you know, congratulations on completing those and
073to the teachers who now get to grade all of those things. [laughter] It's like good luck uh to all of that. And I guess with that, I just want to say, well, first of all, congratulations to our CTA CTE director, Gretchen. Um, she's a phenomenal CTE director and the programs that she has been creating that give our students those hands-on experiences have just been amazing. and and to see student engagement and to see the opportunities that we get and to see the community partnerships where students can go in and do internships, whether it's the hospital or our community credit union or Sierra Pacific. It's been wonderful that our students are interacting with our business leaders in town, too. So, I I really appreciate all of that. And outside of that, just happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
074Enjoy the break that we get this week with your family and friends. Lastly, um yeah, uh one of the things that I bring up, you know, every year is I really want to see our student representatives u attending the WASDA conference with the other students that are there. Um I'm going to figure this out before I am done. I promise. Uh it's an invaluable thing. um they they get up, they teach, they they all work together and and coordinate and figure out, you know, things. Um we see improvement beyond scale that I've ever seen in kids getting up and speaking publicly, you know, and I've mentioned that before. Uh students going to the WASDA conference would improve that even more. So, uh good job on everybody on finals. Uh again, uh we did attend the
075the CTE classes today. Uh the auto shop is busting at the seams. Um we do need to figure out how to make that bigger, better, uh faster. Um it there's some work to do there. It looks exactly like it did when I attended in well, I graduated in ' 88. Um and they're doing things like adapting a a motor out of a generator to a a go-kart. Um, we need to get them onto CNC machines. We need to get them onto updated equipment. We need to get them into computer diagnostics. And this is all money. And it's all things that we need to invest in our kids. Um, because if we don't invest in our kids, they won't be able to fix my car. And then I will be sad. Um, went into the wood
076shop today and we saw truly store quality work. These are things that I would walk into a store, I would look at the the jewelry box, and I would be very comfortable buying that for any member of my family. Um, it is certainly nothing that I could make myself. Um, and it it it's awesome to see and that they're moving forward with production uh level sorts of things where they're going to take a group of kids and they're going to plan it all out and they're going to produce a product that is of high quality and and value. These are great things that kids need to learn and we're doing that here. Um, the world ain't a perfect place and by all means we certainly have things to learn as a as an organization, as
077a town. Um, and and that and as we hit little bumps in the road, I'm happy that people come and point them out. Uh, that's the only way to know that we we're not doing something um absolutely perfect. Uh, with that, I can't be much more pleased with the progress that we're making as a school. We owe that to our staff. uh the the parents, the students that are are truly buckling down and doing the things that they need to do. So, uh I don't have much else with that. Um we do have an executive session be out for about 15 minutes. Uh so at about 7:25, uh we'll come back. You're welcome to sit around or we'll come back to a journ. Thanks.