Shelton School Board Nov. 12, 2025

001Stand 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? >> Yes. I move that we approve tonight's agenda. >> I second the motion. >> All in favor? >> I >> Okay, we have an agenda. On to superintendent report. Mr. Jesse. >> Thank you. board president Wheelander, other board directors, student representatives, students, family members, community members, and staff. Um, going to keep it pretty short. I got a presentation coming up for the state of the district. Uh, one, I would like to just thank our, uh, student athletes for showing up today. I know that's a lot. They

002have very busy schedules as a typical high schooler and their parents for showing up. At the same time, I'd love to recognize you and your efforts. Being a scholar athlete is a serious commitment that I think leads to a lot of really good positive uh social skill development, how to play on a team and well also getting your schoolwork done. So, not always easy. So, really glad they're here. Um uh want to really just uh yesterday was Veterans Day. Want to recognize all of our staff uh and our family members that served in the armed forces. Um we have a number of uh staff who did served in in the various um uh sections of the armed forces. So um I also is a good time to recognize our NJOTC program. Um something I'm very

003proud of. They win a lot of awards, play a lot of things. I love going to their events. Um and uh I think when you have almost a hundred students that are committed to doing that at the high school level and all the things that they have to do to prepare and um a lot of them go on to uh to one one of the fields um and I just uh I think it's just a reminder about why it's so important to celebrate being American and all that they give to honoring those who have fallen um and who's have represented um the United States of America. So, thank you so much for the NJOTC program. I know they're not here. Hopefully, they hear this. And um also again to all especially all of our staff

004who have served and I'm sure we'll have many students who move on. Um so, with that, that will conclude my comments. Thanks. >> Okay. Thank you. On to community comments. Uh, 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 comments displayed on the screen above. And first up will be Amy Devon. Hello. Um, [clears throat] sorry. I'm Amy Devon, a science teacher over at Sheldon High School. But the role I'm here for today is I'm co-director for our fall play. Uh, Christina Lawson is over at the pack with Joey Seard running our rehearsal because we open this weekend. Um, I'm really bad about reaching out to

005get onto the agenda. So, um, I'm here with one of our actors to tell you a little bit about our play. >> Um, yeah, this year we're doing the play that goes wrong. Uh it's a comedy. Uh it has about seven cast members in it in not including our stage hands. Uh and we're doing it for two weekends and uh our opening night is this Friday. >> So if you guys were available and able, we'd love for you guys to come. Marion is part of castmore. >> Hoversham. We had so many kids audition. We were able to fully cast um two. We were able to double cast the show. So, we have one cast performing this weekend and the other cast performing next weekend. If you guys are able, we're performing Friday at 7 and

006then Saturday there's a matinea at 2 and an evening performance at 7 both weekends. So, if April and you want to see a really funny show, you'll get to see Mary next weekend. You'll see our other cast this weekend. So, thank you guys. Yeah. >> Thank you, Donnie Rooks. Hi. Uh, my name is Donnie Rooks. I have uh two kids that attend Shelton High School. Um, I saw something that really bothered me today. um that apparently a teacher wore a shirt to school, a Charlie Kirk shirt, and apparently was told that it offended people and was made to put tape over the name Charlie Kirk. And I think it is absolutely appalling that we are that we have a school district where if people are offended, we capitulate to them to almost no end. It

007seems like, you know, instead of raising students and children and having staff that are resilient and [clears throat] teach our students that they will see things in the world that bother them, that um they may not agree with and having conversations. Instead, they capitulate and make this teacher cover up a name. A name of someone whose only hope in this world was to create more dialogue between people and was assassinated for doing just that. Talking wasn't didn't harm people, said things that people didn't like. And I don't see how I can vote yes on a levy to give more money to people that don't seem to want to actually build resilient students. Um, so at this time I see no I see no hope for me voting yes on your levy or even [clears throat]

008being open to the idea of giving you more money until you kind of change some of these policies and instruct your staff to to do just that. You know um they said that it was multiple people that were offended and I don't really know what that means but you know my son sees a lot of things throughout the day that he doesn't like. So, does that mean that if he become if he sees something he doesn't like, he comes home, he talks to me, and maybe I don't like it and then I can call Bruce Kipper and I can get whatever that is taken away or taken down. I I don't think that's right. So, um I hope this is something you look into and I hope it's something that you guys fix. Thank you.

009>> Thank you, Dean Jwitt. It's been a minute. It's good to see you guys. Going to chat about exactly the same thing. It's in a podcast labeled Unbelievable. Can you believe it? Unbelievable. Uh I'm here tonight to address two deeply concerning issues with our district. Transparency and public records and censorship within our schools. Uh, first let's talk about public records requests. When you have a board member that asks for information from the district office and the admin and they don't get it and then they have to fill out their own public records request to get that data makes me raise an eyebrow like Mr. Wheelander just did. Uh, it's unacceptable. Okay. You should be transparent with the information without having to do a public records request. So when I leave tonight, I'm sure that the

010admin office is going to get several of them from me and they'll they'll go public. Absolutely. Uh so transpar transparency isn't optional. It's a legal and ethical duty. When a school district refuses to provide information, it undermines public trust and signals that there's something to hide. We cannot claim to serve our students and community while operating behind closed doors. Second, and equally troubling, is what occurred this afternoon. A teacher was directed to place tape over the name Charlie Kirk with the Freedom Foundation. Uh so whether or not anyone agrees with Charlie Kirk or the Freedom Foundation is irrelevant. The question is who decided that one political or ideology name must be covered up while others are allowed to remain? Who made the call on what authority? Because that's not education. That's viewpoint discrimination. In a

011public school, students and teachers should be encouraged to think critically and not be shielded from names or ideas that someone in the admin administration finds uncomfortable. Once we start censoring one side, we've abandoned fairness, open discourse, and the fundamental principles of education. The board must demand accountability. Who directed that censorship? Why was it done? and what steps will be taken to ensure that it never happens again. Uh the Shelton do these are a couple things I'd like to see is that the Shelton School District will honor all lawful requests without having to do a public records request. Uh that no staff member or student will be subjected to ideological censorship under the district's authority. Our schools belong to the community and the truth, transparency, and open exchange of ideas that are not negotiable. Pretty pretty

012cut and dry. But take a look. Unbelievable. Brandy Cruz about 45 minutes in. Okay, there's probably 1,200 comments now and probably another 300 on the Shelton side of it. You guys screwed up. So if that was you, Wes Jesse, good luck. >> [bell] >> Okay. On to item number five, reports and recognition. 5.01, Shelton Athletics Recognition, Scott Chamberlain. >> I'll be your test guy. >> Check. Check. Perfect. Uh, good evening. Thanks for uh having us here tonight. Um I brought a couple programs with us. Uh we just are wrapping up the fall seasons. Um getting ready to start winter sports here on Monday at uh the junior high and the middle school. We've already started uh winter sports. Um but at the high school, we've had um some programs that are having some success and

013we want to bring them up. So the first program I want to bring up is our volleyball program. Come on up, ladies. while they're coming up here, I'll just kind of tell you um [applause] I traveled to Boise this weekend to uh visit a relative and uh when I got back uh yesterday, I traveled down to Vancouver to watch our lady volleyball team uh play in the first round of the district 43A tournament and it was an exciting night. They won 3 to one. Um advancing to tomorrow's game when we get to go to Prairie High School. Um at this point, what we need to do is win two more matches to qualify for state. Um it's not a traditional double elimination. It looks a little different. Um but they're going to travel to Prairie

014tomorrow and uh hopefully have the same energy they had last night. It was fun to watch. other than the third set, ladies. But that's okay. It happens, right? It's why we play five. Um, but it was a great night and they did a great job and it's been a great season. Congratulations and good luck and thank you for um a great season so far. Let's give them a round of applause. [applause] Superintendent Jesse mentioned the time commitment. Uh these ladies last night were on a bus for probably what 5 hours total and uh then they're here tonight and then tomorrow they'll get to be on a van for probably more like four hours. So um anyways uh the next group of people I'd like to bring up is our state cross country participants. So if

015they would come up, they participated at the state cross country meet on Saturday in Pasco. [applause] It's funny when um I start telling coaches that we're going to bring these people here, inviting them there, they're like, "Do we have to speak?" So, if you ever want them to speak, just let me know. Um but Coach Schultz and Coach Low uh this season had a had a great season. Had uh quite a few kids out. I'll tell you a couple things before we get to the individuals. Uh this is not exact, but I know that um board member Wheelander always talks about academic team academics. Um our girls uh cross country team had a 3.9 something. I don't remember off the top of my head. But what we don't know is we don't know what the

016results are. They haven't shared those with us yet. Um at one point I remember walking down to Coach Schultz's uh classroom and saying, "Are you sure that these are the five girls? because we're probably in contention for a state championship. I'm going to assume we didn't get that because they presented it last weekend. Um, but that's pretty impressive. I want to say it was a 394. I I don't want to quote that though cuz I don't remember off the top of my head. But, uh, academically, our our girls team did great and our boys team had a very good GPA as well. Um, these individuals that are up here, we're missing one. Addison Aldrich is not with us. She's traveling still from Pasco. I guess she took a long route to get back. Um but

017uh on the girls side we have uh Madison Lommire and Haley Nadau and then Addison um Aldrich who traveled over to Pasco and and represented the high climbers in the state cross country meet at Sunwillows Golf Course. Um I asked them if they wanted me to name their placings, but um what I don't know is how many athletes, coach, do you know how many athletes were in the race? >> At least I think 200 >> 250 300 >> probably 250 runners. Um, and our three girls, Madison placed the highest at 158, Haley at 178, and Addison at 181. And then Trac Bartholomew represented the boys um for the second year in a row. Correct. >> Yeah. Um, and he placed 152nd. So, congratulations. Great season. [applause] Go ahead. You guys are good. And uh once

018again, we're just starting into fall sports. Um we do have one that we withheld that we learned about Saturday. Uh but we weren't able to pull that together with Veterans Day and bring them here. And I and I didn't really want to try to surprise anybody. So, um I'll be back here soon uh with another success from our false fall sports. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good job, guys. Serious. That's uh super neat. Item uh 5.02, our budget update with Clinton Sherman. First, I just wanted to uh thank you. Is this working? He's not going to be here when I say it, but uh Coach Schulz ran past my house in what to me looked like a dead sprint, but he was like, "See you there tonight." And it was so fast. Uh so that

019was impressive. Um tonight I want to walk through a quick uh budget update as we do every meeting. Um this graph has shifted a little bit um since last, but the real news is well two things. One, uh you'll see a solid line forming. Um we're going to continue to have um the projected line there, those dotted lines are going to remain all year. Uh last year I was updating it and the line was taking over, but now you'll see how close we are to our projections over time. That's the goal of that. So, we'll have a solid line showing with actuals and the dotted line of what we earlier projected. Um, again, we outperformed our uh initial Indian fund balance for last year, which was negative 2.2 to we had negative 1.8. We understand

020that's negative still. Uh, but that created a a a cushion and a buffer for us that we our fund balance will now be around 2 million instead of 1.6. Um, all things being equal, we still are uncertain with what's going on federally. if more cuts are coming. Uh enrollment can always kind of be up in the air. So we'll make adjustments and this will be reflected on this chart that we'll see over and over again. Uh I also want to let you know that our aortionment advance was awarded today. Um so that'll come in November which is when we need it. There was seven or eight advances done um commissioned to the state this year. Um I think the high one was like 20 million. So us asking for 1.7 was not a huge deal

021in in the eyes of the state right now because there's like I said this is statewide issue and and pretty large dollars are are happening moving. And that's all I had for the update. Uh October enrollment we'll have at the next um meeting and then that's all I have. What questions do you have for me? >> No great anybody? >> We'll keep it coming. Yep. >> Thanks. uh levy renewal options. Clinton chairman. >> Great. Uh we talked uh quite a bit at the last meeting around how the levy is a replacement levy, how it's not a new tax, how Shelton has a long-standing history of passing a levy. I only went back 25 years and they all passed those 25 years. Um how reduced the uh local control, how the tax rate used to be

022above 450. Uh now the cap is 250. uh how the current tax rate will be 225 is what we're looking at now. Um and when the when the community passes the levy, it brings our tax dollars back in the community for around 2.7 over $3 million. So, it's projected to um and that the levy touches every student. It has a positive impact all over the place. Um we walked through um all the different areas, teachers, counselors, nurses, just athletics, all the stuff that was happening up here earlier. Um, and uh, an increase. We did a little exercise about how an increase in your property value does not automatically mean we collect more taxes. That's just not how it works. You guys will set a rate. We'll calculate an amount and that amount will be the

023amount that's collected no matter what happens um, to their assess valuations. So, in summary, uh, that was I think 15 slides from last time into two slides tonight because we spent about a half hour talking about it last time. Uh this is what it looks like and I just wanted to open it up for you guys have the discussion on where you wanted to set the rate later in the meeting and in the board packet uh if you took a look at it it had like 27 rate 28 all these are um placeholders. So once you make a decision here I'll hop on my computer update that resolution and bring it back to you later in the meeting. So I just want to open to your own discussion around what you guys are thinking and

024feeling. Um, I know that that the 225 that you've got up there that kind of keeps us where we're going, barring nothing bad happening ever at the state, the Fed, and anything else. Um, I also look at that I would like to get us to a better positive fund B balance that is also more uh consistent with our current policy, um, which is above obviously where we need to be. Um, you guys, I know I've reached out. I would like to do uh 236 and that would put us right at um 9,27. So, I don't know how you guys feel about that looking at this sheet, but that's where I'm at. Yeah, I think um there's this balancing act right now between what what really we need, which is probably ideally that 250 number, and

025what is doable in this climate and economy and in our community. If we're just being honest, we saw two levies fail this last week. And so, um, our goal is to be out of these financial troubles as fast as we can while maintaining reasonable levy rates because this is not a new tax. So, I I appreciate your recommendation and I see that 236 number as it's kind of in between those places and hopefully something that the community can get behind without putting too much pressure on each household because as you pull back, if if we don't support our school districts, the the fallout is so much more significant than what we saw last year going into the budget cuts. So, so I support that number. And I agree with both of you. I know we've

026talked about this quite a bit. Um we don't want to add an extra burden to our community and so I don't want to go to that top rate even though we could use those funds. It is very concerning that two similar communities which would be North Mason and Yelm did not pass their levies. And I believe it was either the second or third time third time for Yelm third time for North Mason as well. second time. And I know people in those communities and the impacts that those have. We have these wonderful sports programs. We saw two of them tonight where our athletes are doing really well academically and balancing getting to even postregular season success. And those programs get impacted 100% by levies not passing. Um so that is really concerning to me. But

027I also know that if we just stick with the same rate that we've had that um with these looming funding cuts from both the state and the fed that that's where I am in agreement with a more middle-ofthe-line approach where it is above that but not the top amount. So I would agree also with the 236. Thank you for your comments. Um, I agree on the same rate area and I'm just really hopeful that with all the efforts from our staff and going out throughout the community and really putting the information out there and helping share with families and our community members that the the levy is really important to the the basic functioning of our district and and >> go for it and hope for the best. >> It isn't even the the basics.

028It's the stuff that really makes a difference. We're watching a cross country team with a 3.9 GPA. Um, I've been here after a nurse has literally saved lives and we cannot afford to lose these programs. So, we have to pass this levy. I think this is a a conservative number that gets us where we need to be, but it's not um all the way to the top. So, >> yeah. And I think um as we go into this, we're all available for those questions. Clinton will answer any question about any financial things. There's never been a locked door or you can't know that in my experience with him. In fact, eagerly wants to talk about numbers maybe more than you want to talk about them. And so I appreciate the transparency at the district level,

029but an invitation particularly to those um listening online or later, please reach out with those questions. So there are frustrations that you can have at the district level, but this is an avenue to keep funding our students and and this is probably not that way to voice disappointment in other areas. This is about keeping our basic school needs going and it would radically change the district should we not fund this? >> Yeah. To clarify that, isn't it about a $10 million loss if we do not pass this levy? Yeah, it would be it'll end up being if you forecast it out10 to12 million because um LEA will be $3 million next collection period for it where now right now it's only 2.7 so it's actually going to go up a little. So yeah, it'll be

03010 to12 million loss. It will it's um a catastrophic amount of money to lose from a system like ours our size for sure. >> Is does that include equalization or is equalization? >> Uh yeah. Yeah, the levy rate itself u the levy amount itself would be roughly 9 million and then threeish million from LEA or levy equalization. >> Yeah. Also, anecdotally, I spent maybe 50 minutes on the phone with a family uh answering questions the last week and it was the highlight of my week. So, I'm happy to spend time with folks and provide information. So, >> okay, I would take a motion You don't need a motion for this yet. I'll go set I'll go I'll go draft the resolution and you'll approve the resolution later in the meeting. >> Okay. >> I was

031going to say it's not in Yeah. discussion and action items. >> Everybody good with 236? Then >> yes. >> Okay. 236 is Thanks. >> We'll go do that. >> All right. Thank you. [snorts] Of course. >> Okay. Now for the state of the district with Mr. Jesse. again. A little Is it working now? >> Is it working? Sorry. Like this echo in here, so it's hard to tell if it's even on. All right, great. Uh a lot less people here all of a sudden. Um anyway, so [clears throat] uh every year, uh we get together and present, uh what's going on for the Shelton School District. I think it's a really excellent opportunity to uh really kind of summarize what's going on for us. We get lost in these like little issues. We have obviously

032uh the levy is a huge issue. And so you're like, "All right, let's take a couple steps back and let's look at what's going on for the Shelton School District and in particular, what are the experiences our students are having?" This is about the students we're serving. They're here, our reps. we had them here. And so I want to make sure we capture some of our history, what's going on now, and some things going on in the future. So with that, I want to get us going. So we've had um prior to co a lot of our graphs usually go back, we get any more information, you can't squeeze it into a slide and make it uh visible. So go back to 1718 and there was a lot going on. I mean there was a

033bond passed. I mean this this building itself, right? So, a lot of our facilities, the community came through, wanted to invest further in the education and the experiences for our students and having nice facilities is obviously part of that. Um, I know my for myself playing on a really bad gym floor is never that much fun. Uh, improper lighting. We have to worry about things like leaky roofs. I mean, some of the students I know at SH SHs could easily tell me about when um the floor heaters are not working, right? So we want facilities that and technology and all those other things, right? Because those things do get wrapped up into those bonds. So thank you so much for the community for that. We also took off in our academyy's model all the way

034back then. So that was something that I'm going to highlight a little bit more on. But we started it, it moved through um and uh really changed about how services were going to be provided for students. um instead of kind of thinking about uh your own experiences in life, you don't have it isolated into one content area. So it's a crosscontent experience uh also with an applied aspect. So if you're wanting to go the health sciences for example, that experience isn't like oh I'm just going to take biology, chemistry or physics or environmental or environmental science and go through and just have my isolate experience. Now I can take courses that lend itself to looking at health sciences and what is it to work in a lab uh at in a in the health industry.

035what would that mean for me to draw blood or have things or safety tips all some of the basics right where that's fine at the same time doing the science so we can able to wrap that experience around as students are doing that and they can do projects and they can do internships and I think that's really powerful for the experiences students have now those co years were something special but the bond came through built buildings it was that's awfully a nice time to finish some things up for us. We also launched Cedar High School, right? I hear it's still pretty popular, right, Alan? Oh, yeah. Big cheerleader here. Um, and even when I got here, um, in 2122, they're like, "Oh, Cedar, why do we have a third high school?" And I had some

036wonderings myself. If you go to Cedar and you see what's going on, you can really see that it is a different experience. It's project truly project-based learning, very, again, crosscontent. Um and then they also have this uh since it is project based learning they do a lot of teamwork in that. So um they kind of it's very much like a family kids have to work together um in a smaller setting and it feels really intimate uh for them and some of their connections obviously they do a lot of stuff around the environment too. They've won some awards so I think that's excellent. Um and then the Met Academy opened here for that kickoff. One kid can only has to go there to see be in awe. We kicked off our um our uh strategic plan

037in 2223. We have four particular focus areas. That's really the basis um of this particular presentation. Um really wanted to say, hey, we are focused on high quality literacy. How are we doing on that? College and career readiness. What are we doing to support our students at graduation and nth grade on track? Effective educators and leaders. What's the professional development? the things that we're trying to do to develop uh obviously our leaders and our educators. And then the last one is safe and welcoming environment thinking about attendance and discipline. So those are really the traditional measures we have for us. We've been focused on it. We're in our fourth year for this strategic plan. I can't believe I'm saying that I'm in my fifth year here in the district. Um and it leads to wonderful

038classroom experiences. All the increases that we have in climbing literacy scores which I will be covering up. So I think it's just good to go back when people invest and they kind of you know you forget about everything is so so much in the here and now. What is what is going on today? Here's my issue. Here's my thing. Forget about that all the way back even just a 17 18 there was investments made in the Shelton school district. And along the way those investments started to build and change the experiences our students had to what we have today. And I think that bores out into the um in right into the data um itself. Uh one more thing I I just want to kind of go back um since 2021. I mean COVID is

039is a natural benchmark. A lot of things uh in education uh K12 education changed uh prior to our strategic plan. We had a 100% graduation goal. So we didn't have a comprehensive strategic plan. We had a goal. It was 100% uh high school graduation. That moved to a four-year strategic plan with the four initiatives that I've already and accountability metrics I measured and will be coming up and talking more about. We had three separate high schools. They were very distinct. We didn't share students. We didn't actually share courses. We had a lot of different courses and different codes for them. Different ways to get different credit for the same course. In fact, um things that we don't always talk about sometimes, but we did. And now we have coordinated services. Some of our students literally

040are going to to both schools during their day. Some want to do something within the pathways, for example, or someone to do project- based learning. And Abigail is my model for Abigail. Go ahead. Go ahead. Say let a little louder in there and so everybody can hear you. Abigail, >> I go to Cedar and then I go to Choice and then I go to New Market. Thank you for taking my phone call last night, Abigail, to get you to say that just right on time. But that's just a that's just what's going on here. We have so many good stories and Abigail's providing it because that's what you want, right, Abigail? You want some of these different experiences. You crafted that and so that's what we're able to do. Really proud of the high school

041staff at each of the schools working together because it's not so easy. You have different cultures, different expectations, different course cataloges. And so when you do that work, again, the students benefit and Abigail's our model here. Uh books were unleveled and they were also dated. Uh a lot of students don't necessarily like to read things that are usually out of date. Uh they like things that are more updated uh and that are aligned to their own interest and their own reading level. So now we have over spent over $100,000 in books purchased and are read. We have books flying out the door. You can see it. I mean, there's just so much. I was in the library today at SHS because I was meeting with the staff. I mean, they just already have a whole

042bunch of new books out there to keep interest and up because kids are just going through volumes and volumes of books. I mean, books are now in kids' heads literally as they walk down the hallway as I was with director Dale at MS um earlier today. I mean, there's multiple kids. They get their book baggies, but they also do bring them at lunch. I mean, that's that's where we're like, this is cool. at least as a super from a superintendent's perspective sometimes I get that uh ineffectual professional development a lot of things um a lot of the teachers union really was coming to me as a collective uh bargaining unit saying hey we want better professional development seems kind of like fly by night in many ways wasn't coordinated maybe yeartoear at best um but

043we've built out a multi-year platform focused on really a lot of the things um that are going to help our learners um you can see it when you go inside the classrooms are very engag engaged. They do tons of things, a lot of really like fun things for the students because they're learning from each other. A lot of staff present to other staff. And then we do have our TOSA model to provide coaching for our novice staff, which I think is really I just want to touch also on adult learning principles. Why the coaching is so important? because over 90% of the learning that adults do that they apply comes through coaching, not sitting through a session. And I'm sure many of us can think about that. If you're into training, you're like, it's hard

044to remember all the things. It's totally a different experience if you get ongoing coaching and helping out. Just like the students, right? It's really better when my teacher sits with me and goes over this with me and worked me through, touches base with me later on than it is like, hey, let me talk to you for 25 minutes, get this information, and then you're good to go. I can see that the students are rolling their I guess no, you don't want to be told, you want to be taught. And this that's how we've changed. That's literally the experiences you can see in our classrooms. Very proud of our educators and our building leaders because they've been doing that work together. And then uh a lot of rollover budget and staffing in the summer. We did

045most of our hiring in the summer. That's a real problem. Rollover budgeting was some of our problems that that's why when Clinton puts up those graphs and you can see here's our plan budget versus what is ultimately our end fund balance. We want to do that. That's just smart accounting. Uh so with it, have you seen these numbers? Yes. Amy's like yes. I think Amy said that already earlier today. And um I I think they're just I think it's been a bit a little delayed. We've had really good things going on here in the Shelton school district, but for this this is just that year where a lot of people are starting to look up and go, "Yeah, I've heard a lot of really good things here." Our educators are really working hard. Our students

046are working really hard and we're increasing our literacy scores. Ninth grade on track, attendance, and our discipline going down. A lot of other districts are having a struggle just getting any growth right and I think it's a testament that we've been working really hard on a narrow focus. We can't be everything to everyone but these are really important things and benchmarks most districts measure and attain to. Um and I think that's that's u super powerful for us. So it's just our um uh smarter balance assessment. That's a state assessment. These are some of the benchmark scores for ELA percentage met. So when you have things here particularly and you can see in 2022 and third grade you know only a quarter of our third graders meeting uh standard in reading writing that to me is

047embarrassing we've done a lot of work on that even in 2024 we had up to 43% we had a little uh step back I I know why uh in particular we we've identified what the challenge was and we're working to um address it um and that's what happen. You don't always have a line to progress. There's sometimes some dips. Um we will experience that. Um but our alult ultimate trajectory line needs to keep continuing. I really do expect us uh within the next couple years to have over 50% of our third graders meeting standard in reading and writing. That'd be really good for a district like ours. Um most mo I'll get a little bit more into literacy in a minute. The middle grades have been really tough. I'm going to highlight that. I'm actually

048going to go a little bit more in depth for you in a minute on that as well. And then 10th grade, hey, you had 49% but then 43 43 and now we're back up to 49. Uh SHS in particular, I would like to call out they've had a uh man, I'm challenged about what the exact number is, but I they had eight 8 percentage uh point increase in ELA scores just this last year. Um and you can see that in that environment uh for sure. today is like I was part of that. All right. So, we're number one in the state for early literacy growth. So, what that what does that mean? It really means that since COVID, which which school districts uh across the nation and here in Washington state had the most consistent

049growth year end to year about growing the literacy rate for students? Um, and that's us. Uh, we're number one in it. I mean, when you when you can do something like moving from 20 25% to 43%. That's really good. When we have 70 70% free and reduced, 26 of% of our students qualify for multilingual services, right? And uh I think we're now close to 16% for students who qualify uh for special education. You know, we've gone from when literally one cohort, I think in 2022, only one student who qualified for multilingual services met standard. Now we had seven and then I bet we double that. I mean, you're going to see some really incredible things. That's the direction we're moving. Um, that's how we're going to close these gaps. So, I think that's really a

050great I mean, number one out of 295 districts. A lot of work, a lot of focus. Why does that matter? Uh I just wanted to really highlight I want to double down. I know maybe the board might used to this. I don't know you know like when I say why third grade reading is and writing is so important. Well it's flat over the since co it's been flat across the United States. So typical third grader what they can experience for growth in reading and writing uh they can expect to have a flat growth. That means there's really across the United States they're not making progress in their reading and writing skills. That is actually holds for Washington state. You can see up there 2%. That's flat, right? Uh but us, for us, when you think

051about flat, we're not only we went from 25% all the way to 43% in that time period. That's really incredible. And we have readers and writers all over our schools. But students who aren't proficient in reading and writing in third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school. Not a surprise. Not a surprise at all. Right? got to have those foundational skills. Students who read and write at third grade, they shift from learning to read to reading to learn, right? You got to have I mean, if you don't know how to read, you're just so focused on reading and then you're missing all that other content in critical grade levels. And our data bores that out. Our data does bore that out. I'll show you that in a minute. And then

052fostering level literacy is just empowering really our students to choose their own pathway, do their own things. They're they're more educated and ability to access more information and sometimes it's very technical. Even if you're in welding, there are technical guides. If you're in Mike Buyer's auto class, yeah, there's some technical guides that you're going to have to be able to do to fix whatever transmission or even putting on the brakes. Like you're and all all the technology now with those whatever Aztec pads that they put with the cars to read them and figure out what the problems are, right? Like so there's no escaping it, folks. You do need to learn how to read, right? and we're doing that here in the Shelton school district. But what does that mean for some of our uh

053race and ethnicity here? Just a little background. So for third grade, you can see those scores are up um from 23, even from 2023 to 2025. Um things are going to dip a little bit. Um students who identify as white went down a little bit this last year. Uh but if you have two or more, then you're up you're over double just over a two-year period. So, uh 10th grade, uh you can see pretty prog uh steady progress moving up uh ELA scores. That's great. Seventh grade, you can see that they're really low. You can see that that is an area of focus. And you're kind of like, well, why? Like, what what is that? Where were those sixth and seventh graders at five years ago? online. Do you know what it's like to learn

054online to know how to read? Not so easy, right? That's not really difficult to teach reading when you don't have them in front of you. Students are social learners, especially really young ones. And so I really, you know, that's just a really tough thing for us. And I know I talked to the other districts here in Mason County. That's a that's a tough age group. We did have a lot of growth uh coming in from fifth to sixth grade, but our seventh graders last year who are now eighth grade has some real challenges. So we've been really working on it, doubling down, changing some of our models. Um and so uh for us especially for those students who are well below grade level in reading uh we this uh starting in the summer and into

055the fall did a deep data dive and what we realized that a lot of students were flatlining in their own growth. And so we noticed that they're not in the right reading book that and then we're not teaching them more higher reading skills than they can be taught. So, we're going to make some adjustments now. It's like a do now literally when I say that like we started last week and every day we're going to be working on this so that when we get to the beginning of December, kids will have truly their destroyed book and when teachers are conferring with them can ask them questions and talk about literary elements that are more aligned to where they're at developmentally. So, it's good news. I think that's the really good news. Um a lot of

056our students are in good reading and getting if you are nearing grade level uh no matter what grade if you're approaching uh grade level standard we seem to be doing really well by those students pushing them over the ones that are far below multilingual services um or IEPs. Those are the students that we are having to work more on and our approach needs to adjust to have more rigor to it where it wasn't appropriate but can do better. So let's talk about exclusionary actions. So those are suspensions or expulsions as people would know them. We've had a 77 uh 77% decrease um over the course of this strategic plan. Um we're down down to 201. I feel like we're that's pretty much where we're going to land. Um I don't think we're gonna we'll probably

057go up. We're down about 30 suspensions. Um we don't do a lot of expulsions. Um so I feel like this is kind of our our sweet spot. You're going to have things where students make mistakes and go home, regroup, and come back. Our suspensions are a lot less long in in duration. Uh that's for sure. Uh so um we want them come and we want to teach them and we want natural consequences and sometimes that is going home especially for more severe situations. Other situations we want natural consequences. You tear something down. Well then you're going to have to pay back to the community by cleaning some things up and rebuilding, right? Um and that may be a lot of time and that may not make some students so happy, but um as we say,

058you know, that's uh love and logic, right? That's some love and some logic to it. um I love you so much that I I'm going to have you do what I need you to do to make amends to this community, right? Discipline. So, let's do some comparisons. So, people ask me this all the time like what what is it like us versus other like districts? And when I say like districts, I'm talking about districts that are similar in size as well as I'm talking about uh districts that have a free and reduced lunch number around ours, which is 70% again, and a multilingual population that is somewhere higher. Ours is going to be higher than any like any of our comparables. Uh just to put us in that zone, we're 26%'s a lot, even more

059than the the ones from Eastern Washington, which I think surprises a lot of people. So going back uh 2122. So that's the dark bar. Um you can see the percentage of students suspended or expelled um out of your entire population. So it was you know 5.5 or percent um in 2122 for district A, 5.8% for district B, 4.2 for district C, and for us it was 5.2. So we're not far off. We're probably right the average right all the way back then. But what happened since then? Ours went down, but what happened to everybody else's? Theirs went up and there they we took a very proactive model and you can see it when you come inside our schools. Yes, I always get these questions. I have all those things. Uh I think there's this thing

060called um social media and Shelton talks. People put things on there. All right. So, you put things on there about students who made mistakes. That isn't going to happen um here in forever. That that's been going on my entire 25 year career. Kids are going to make mistakes, sometimes really bad mistakes. Um but uh and they may be very salient. They may be something that people can see or or in the hallway. You know, sometimes kids just lose it in a hallway and become explosive. Um, I'm pretty sure most people know about some of the students and the families we serve here. They they can be high needs. There's a lot of things going on in some for some of our families. And when that stressors and they can come and students will manifest those

061behaviors instead of punishing them again, our job is to teach them and teach them how to how to redirect. And we've been taking a lot of our time to do that. really teaching those social skills, really providing structured routines, really engaging kids in lessons, problem solving, and building relationships with them and their families. That's hard work that's been going on and it pays. I know director Dale uh today we were uh I know I've gone to other schools with other staff. You can see it at play. Doesn't mean that there's not going to be a situation we saw. We came up on a situation. I explained I knew that student and I was like, "Yeah, that student has disabilities and it's actually an area they're working on. I know for the for that young man

062and but you know what, you can also see him the next day and he's so polite and he wants to really try really hard. Sometimes it's going to be a day where he's on. Sometimes it's not maybe so much because there's a lot of things they carry in they carry in off of from their own life." Go ahead, Abigail. Right. And that's that's the kind of atmosphere we're trying to create, not just with adults to students, but student to student, right? Because we need the students in leadership. And Na and I have had this conversation multiple times. Hey, I want to get some help with the bathrooms. I said, "Oh, me too. Me too. I can't chase everyone. I don't know where to get all the vapes and all the things. Mostly a vape like

063a vape issue, but if we want to get that issue, there's going to have to be a culture and a peer pressure to not do that. but also an education thing early enough which I I want to work I'm working on right now is to get more um education to kids that back in at MS right when they're in fifth and sixth grade about drug and alcohol and obviously tobacco use so that those are things that help us then now we're being a little reactive not my favorite situation but I think we can get there I think we can get there with the plans that we have like I said all the way back my beginning slide things are built over years. I would love to have this to be the most amazing district that

064has everything nailed down and we got it and it's predictable if we were truly well funded and uh for us to make sure that we can provide anything we want for the students. But that's going to have to be built over time and we are on that journey. So I just want to call that out. I one of the key things that I hear about and I see that is posted. Yes, there's going to be students who are going to have behavior issues. Yes, we're going to work on it. We've decreased those. Um I just know that we're still going to have them. Office referrals uh down 58% over three years. Um I think that would that number will continue to go down um because more things are getting prevented right inside the classroom. Um

065so when you build a relationship got struct things are a lot of our students do respond very well to that and they have. So that's good. and students like our student representatives, be able to engage other kids, help them out when they're having a bad day also makes a difference. Attendance, uh, so attendance has gone up over the last couple years. Um, that's good news. Uh, bad news on my next slide. Sorry. So, let's do a comparable to other districts. So all the way back in 2122 uh the percentage of students who have two or less absences per month 54% in district A 55 in B 66 in district C 44 in Shelton. So this is where we started lower than our comparables but you can see that we've had really strong growth that equals

066or even exceeds some of the other comparable districts. So we've been doing really hard work. I know our educators are, but every time I talk to them, they're always like, "It's really hard to sometimes to get these kids to come to school all the time." And we have a lot of kids that miss 30, 40, 50 days out of a school year. That's hard. So, we're working on it. And you're like, "Well, how and in our data this this so far this school year, it's pretty flat to be honest with you." Um, so we're going to double down. I want to talk about some strategies this month. Make some some uh strategic changes in adjusting using the data to try to get students to we're never punishing. We're always trying to do outreach and welcoming

067students. It's just sometimes that challenge can be real and there's a lot of things usually behind it for why students don't come to school. I wish it was easy. And I know uh the board's asked some really good questions at the um when kids are uh staff are presenting at the SIPs. Um you can hear everybody's focused on it. So, we'll keep working on it. It is it is hard work. It's an area where we're really trying to focus on and do better. But we have success stories like Kai at Bordeaux. He missed a couple. He's missed a like two years in a row. He missed like 50 days. Like 51 in 2022. I think it was almost the same number the next year. But, uh, this last year 12 miss 12 days and met

068standard in third grade on his um reading writing section of the Smarter Balance Assessment. So, um, we do need you to come. Does benefit them when they're here. Uh, misses school that many days is hard to build a relationship, but this young man worked, uh, really hard and has a job. One of our key things was to get a student job, so he had purpose, a little bit more purpose, and it's one of the things that worked out very well for him. All right, ninth grade on track. Uh, almost 10% up on that. I think we're definitely going to exceed that this year. Uh we have our freshman academy. We've got orientation experiences, building a better culture. We have better support network if you're not on track. Um I mean it's just so many things

069going on. We've heavily invested. It was one of the key areas when we built the strategic plan. Maybe director Davidson remember hearing that like transition high school is really scary and really tough and our data said that. I mean, so changing that experience and how kids get supported has yielded really good results. That's one of those things where oh yes, in three years when you see the graduation rate, it will reflect that because we know that when students have six or more credits at the end of their freshman year, way more likely to graduate uh high school on time with access and opportunity. So graduation rate just slightly up. I think the number hasn't come out from last year. I think it's going to go down. My story again is mostly because we have highly

070expanded open doors. Our open doors program is at choice. It's there. It serves students for who have uh want to getting a a GED, get a GED or a high school diploma. It's very personalized, very flexible hours. Uh just really trying to help some students. A number of those students have not been enrolled in public schools since COVID or have a very checkered history about attendance um and engagement with public schools. So that program is really nice to get them in. At the same time, you're not going to have an on-time graduation rate. So that's one of those things where the statistics don't tell the whole story, and I want to make sure that we tell that story on it. Graduation rate is really important for us. Um and I'm going to dive just a

071little bit more into that why that is. So let's see that. So uh a lot of students usually um graduation rate uh back in 2022 uh four year was 78.8%. But if you give them a little bit more time and they need some more things it climbs up to 83%. Uh well if you look at the class of 2023 here goes from 84% to 87.5%. And now, you know, we keep creeping with 2024. I don't have all the numbers, but um 81 on 81% to 84%. So, you know, the four-year rate keeps is helping us and with less number of years needed afterwards to get their diploma. So, those are good things. And the the table on the right tells a little bit of that story about uh withdrawn or reenrolled um and unknown. So

072we have a number of students as you can see here that we have uh less we have a still a high number of kids that withdraw but less students are reenrolling which is a problem and unknown so I don't know where they always go we don't we can't track them they might have just dropped out and so because we get information if they go and enroll in another school anywhere in the United States so that's a number of unknowns and then 15 dropouts. So, we're having this issue where we're graduating more, having a harder time keeping them and reenrolling them. Um, but we are able to at the same time those have been gone for a long time able to pull them back and get them into uh open doors. All right. Talked about them

073and pathways really good. over a hundred internships last year. We had eight students uh participating this last month uh with the county. So, thank you Mason County for taking in our students. Um nice to have experiences including in the like the permitting office for example. Um and so um they're getting a whole wide range of experiences kind of going through finance so on and so forth about how it works. I personally think they're really good exchange because our students get a chance to see the bigger world and how things apply, but at the same time, our employers in this county and in the region can also see about such the sharp skills our students have. One of the complaints I got when I hear is like, "They're not showing up on time. They can't give

074me eye contact. They don't have some basic skills to fill out an application." I go, "Well, we're going to work on that." and we have worked on it and it's showing up and I hear that consistently that we're doing better with that from our local employers. We have students no matter what some of their their challenges. We reach out and we wrap around our students. Uh here's a story of Bethany. She comes around. She's we got her back on track again. That's the advantage of having three distinctive high schools that can meet the needs of our students fluidly. and then um with uh Shelton Promise. So go tuition free. So if you didn't know uh you know stories like this are really nice and it's really nice to have our relationship with Evergreen State. You

075can go tuition free if you graduate last year or this year. Last year um uh two years ago uh we graduated only three students went from Shelton to Evergreen State. Three. this last year. 53. That's a lot. And they're cool because it's I just get these updates. They're hanging out together. They're coming their own little Shelton cohort, helping each other, navigating college, helping each other with life. Um, and that's the magic sometimes about, you know, getting together in college. So, it's really neat. Um, and I love to hear those stories. Um, for sure. Again, Shelton Promise goes on for this year. This will be the last year. There's just a two-year grant that the state ledge funded. He's talking to um the president of Evergreen State. So, he's working on some ways to continue providing

076some tuition free or reduce tuition for students coming from Shelton. I'll let you know when we learn more about that. Uh so, so that can continue hopefully maybe in the state ledge will decide to continue to fund it such an successful program for our students uh coming from um the Shelton school district. So this is my last slide before I I take questions. Sorry this gets long but I want to make sure I we have a lot going on here. Here's our continuous improvement efforts. Uh right here um I already talked about the books. Uh we are uh working on our updated approach to math. It's going to be a long journey. Um any kind of different uh approach to math requires uh different materials and also more professional development which we're short on. Uh

077but it doesn't mean we're going to just stop. So, we'll be ready as we keep increasing our overall uh general fund balance. Hopefully, the state continues to think about funding K12 education more so we can do that. Um, it's kind of the sad sad state of affairs when school districts don't have enough money for a new math approach to be more effective, but that's just me and my being straight and direct. Uh, we weren't clearing the hallways and utilize the passes. So, our passing systems that we've been using at the schools, uh, the secondary schools have gone really well. So, we're going to continue working on that. Uh, there's always a handful of students that we have to get on our what we call behavior support plan, working on that so that they can get

078to class where they need to be. And I know the students appreciate that because I've heard from them too when we help them get to class so they're not a distraction for them either. Um, reinvest reinvisioning special education. There's some things that we need to work on. um within special education to better serve our students get better outcomes right now. Uh our outcomes don't always look so good for them um including around discipline. So it's something the data boards out and so we've already taken some steps to address that um starting with their school administrators uh increase college high school skill that's changed so a lot of people are used to advanced placement or AP courses. College and high school is a nice way to um attract students who are like, I just want a

079straight college credit. I don't want to have to take like a really hard AP test. Like I'm just going to be honest, those are really hard test. I get it. Um lots to study for. You can do this. So it's kind of meeting families and students halfway without college and high school. Uh most of that's through Central Washington uh University. I already talked about Shelton success. We'll keep uh working on that closely monitor enrollment budget. Uh, no lie. Keep working on that. I think I've said this. I just want to really call this out. Districts are increasingly experiencing a decrease enrollment. The birth rate in the state is going down. That means enrollment is going to go down for almost everyone except for if you built a thousand uh houses maybe here and they're more

080affordable. That might get us some more students. Fingers crossed. Uh could help us. Sheriffax on the renewal levy. Um, yep. just gonna continue to work on that and then continue celebrating our students. We have amazing kids. Check us out. I I am so excited about all the things they do. Um if you ever like wonder like oh those you know I know some people that are out there community are maybe not be in touch with a teenager. Try them out. Ask them some questions. I think you'll be impressed uh about all the amazing things they know and all their wonderful thoughts. Um I know I'm continuously impressed. I love talking to our students. Um I do almost every day. And so um I thank them. I think I think our community. I thank our staff.

081I think [snorts] the board. Uh we're doing really good things here. We got a lot of work to do, but we're definitely on the right track. So with that, I'll take questions. Thanks. >> Anybody got any questions? >> Not so much a question, just a celebration of some of those significant numbers. the um increase in literacy is is a big deal. And so that's statewide that number that we were how do they calculate that? Is that just basic um off a particular test or how's that calculated? >> Yeah, it's it's third grade. So the smart the state test smarter balance assessment. How did you do? And so that growth um is really about um yeartoear for three years. >> And so were you able to get growth with that population or not? And there's only

082two districts, US and Stilicum were the only ones who consistently had growth that was three over three to four percent ultimately on your trend line. That's really what that means. >> I just want to echo something you shared. I got to visit MS today and I got to see the the really exciting part, students learning together, really engaging teacher. I do not recall his name, but everybody's eyes were on him. They're working through literacy. And I did have the opportunity to see a student who was having a hard day and watch the discipline there. And so I know for a lot of parents out there that don't get to walk the halls one, they can call you and set up an appointment. >> They can, >> but the halls were not lined with students that

083shouldn't be there. They were in their classes. It was so organized, so um watching the students walk in in line back to classrooms. just great things happening I got to see at that particular school that re um affirms everything you just shared here. So I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Anybody? >> I don't have any questions. It was a lot of information and I really appreciate you going through all of that and I'm glad that uh Mason Web TV actually captures this in case anybody like myself wants to even go back through because there really is a lot of information and a lot of great things are going on at the school and it does break down, you know, the timeline of going from I was on the board when the goal was 100% graduation

084and we had community members that would say that's really kind of unrealistic. How do you expect to have everybody graduate? But that's always the goal is to make sure that every kid does graduate and has all the opportunities that they can have after high school. But then that, you know, the wonderful inclusion of community and teachers um to do the strategic plan and now we are seeing all of that hard work that has gone into the strategic plan and building literacy and like director Dale said, the celebration of seeing our scores. um you know it's not a small thing to be number one in growth on the smarter balanced assessment. It's not just some random you know cherrypicked data. So uh I think that that's all you know really wonderful. I do also like that

085we have multiple opportunities for students that we have Cedar that we have Shelton High School that we have Choice that we have the Open Doors program. I know that that's going to cause that graduation rate to go down, but it's pretty incredible that I know the work that the administration has done and staff to find students who really kind of exited uh the public school system or any school once COVID hit and now they're working to get that education where they can then have better opportunities. So, I appreciate all of the work that has been done. It was a lot of information. So there's a lot to process there, but thank you for the presentation. >> And I I cut a lot out. >> I'm sure he did. >> That's the problem with that. >>

086Yeah, >> there's there is a lot. Thank you for the presentation and it's just really exciting to take all the school improvement plans and the scores and the discussions that they have provided us over the last few weeks and just kind of have them all wrapped up in here and get your perspective. And I hope people at home are listening. >> Andy is correct. Uh, I meet with Superintendent Jesse weeklyish and um, he's leaving a lot out. There's a ton other stuff going on out there. A lot of it kind of works together. There's some nuancey type of stuff. Um, but, uh, a lot of good things really are happening. Obviously, there's been speed bumps along the way. That's going to be a thing. Um, just like going to the gym, if you want to

087get better, sometimes it's going to be you're going to be sore. Um, and we've experienced that just like anything else. So, thank you very much for the presentation. It's in line with everything else I can see. So, thank you very much. >> Yeah, I'd also like to echo the sentiment that I do think it's really cool that Shelton School District has these three high schools. You know, that's somebody who goes to Cedar High School. Uh, I think it's important also for the community to recognize that having three high schools open is very expensive. It's a lot of facilities to manage. It's a lot of staff to hire and things like that really can only be possible if the levy passes. That's kind of where the levy comes in handy cuz if it weren't for that,

088it'd be very difficult. I mean, even now, it's very difficult to properly fund all of the three different high schools. So without the levy, it really is like taking away a a crutch that the district has been relying on for decades at this point because it's as uh Clinton Sherman was saying, it's been approved for more than 25 years. So just like to get that out there. I also want to say the with the having the multiple schools is it's really great but I also I'm a student who participates in running start and I want to say that that program has been incredibly beneficial for me especially considering the amount of students who are on free and reduced lunch who probably can't afford that extra two years of of college and I know personally that

089getting my associates when I graduate this year is going to take a huge burden off of me and things like the levy and stuff are what makes those like programs possible. And I don't think I would have such a successful high school career without having that program and I just think that should be known in the community. >> I agree with all that. >> Well, I I just want to say thank you so much. I I I know that um you know right now people are trying to build trust and understanding you know public education and government entities that in and of themselves. Um but like I like to say lean in be be part of the solution. Um it's it is really diff it is really difficult with the means we have to get

090to all the needs that we have. It's hard to look at some of our students and and knowing all the things they could really benefit from and knowing that we can't provide all of it. Um there are obviously limits um but we will try continue to try as hard as we can um though especially for those who are neediest. So um I appreciate it and I look forward to sharing more good stories uh with you the board student reps our community um very soon. Thank you. >> Thank you. And with that we will move on to the report from the student school board representatives and we'll start off with Allan. So, it's been a while since uh I've been here. So, first thing I'd like to open up with is a report on our haunted

091house. It went so it went really good, actually. The students had a lot of fun setting it up and playing their roles. We had some students from Choice show up and uh help us fill in some positions for Scaring Actors. And I saw I don't even know how many people I saw. There was a lot of people there. dozens of families, community members, and I think they were all successfully scared. We had uh we had the principal of Choice and Cedar, Brun, show up with with all of his kids, and I I can't imagine what it was like walking through a haunted house with uh with that many kids. Uh we it was also a pretty successful fundraiser. We were able to fund raise over $400 after the in profits. So that's not including all

092the money that we put in. And so that's going to go towards having fun as a senior class and building a lot of community together. Uh seniors are also we've they've been really proactive in filling out their applications for Evergreen, the college, not the elementary school. And they've also been filling out their FAFSA, too. We have a lot a lot of the senior class has done so already. And another class that's mostly made up of seniors but not entirely, human anatomy. Uh our teacher Colleen, they were able to get in contact with a prosthetics doctor specialist person based in uh I think it was Olympia. And so we're going to have uh we're going to have her come in and teach us about prosthetics. And in that class right now, we're actually designing prosthetics. So

093far, we've got two groups working on upper body prosthetics, so like think arm, and two groups working on legs. So, if we had one more group, we could make a torso and make a whole person. So, I think that's pretty cool. And uh today actually some of the ambassadors got together at Cedar on our working Wednesday to make our friends of Cedar buttons with the new and updated 2025 design which is of course designed by one of our students a senior. >> Thanks Na. >> I'll start with today. So, we had our Veterans Day assembly today, which was put on almost completely by ASB and leadership. We got to see our band perform about four songs, and they're getting really good. If you've heard the Shelton High School band, they're pretty, they know their stuff.

094We also tried a new engagement tactic. We had a little game show that was based on family feud and it was Veterans Day trivia and it really got the crowd engaged which is something we struggle with occasionally at assemblies. A lot of kids tend to zone out especially during like serious assemblies like Veterans Day even though they shouldn't but it got people engaged and also turns out our students know a lot more about Veterans Day than we thought. Our NJRTC is very skilled and they were able to present the colors and rest the colors today and that was really amazing to watch. Again, there is a fall play this weekend that Miss Devon did highlight. It's the play that goes wrong. Please, if you can make it, please show up. Also, we wanted to highlight

095our substance abuse counselor because I feel like she goes unrecognized a lot, but Shelton High School students actually don't really know about her and we want to just kind of give her a shout out. So, there's that. And there is a presentation that will be happening with Mr. Kipper on Tuesday talking more about that. So, I'm sure we'll hear about that at the next meeting. uh inter high communication. We have an inter high ASB representative who would like to connect with the other schools ASBs if possible all the way down to like MS. So if we could get some communication with that that'd be amazing. Starting probably with Cedar and Choice. Um our DECA just got back from their fall learning conference which went really well. We actually went from taking about 10 people last

096year and we took 38 students this year which is a lot of growth. and we are getting ready for our area or our regionals competition to see if we qualify for state and it's looking really promising this year. Our FFA is back from nationals where I would like to highlight again that there was a student chosen from Washington. He was the only student picked to go with the state officer team to go to Indianapolis for nationals and that was Lane Stony and I just think that's really powerful and really cool to highlight. Um, we had a senior class meeting today with Joins's which had all the information about graduation and getting caps and gowns and they threw some tassels actually out at people, some light up rings which he always brings with him whenever he

097gives us his join's announcements. And we had a couple students who got to try on caps and gowns, got to see a lot of our senior class merch, and we have a couple deals actually that are happening. So, you can get your cap and gown for only $62 if you order before December 10th, which I think is pretty neat. And we have a lot of high school like college visits here at Shelton High School and those have been really beneficial. I know we had Udub like I think that was last week. We've had Wazu, Witworth has come and we have so many more planning to come. Uh we are introducing our freshmen to the differentmies at SHS. I know I got to sit in at one of their most recent presentations where they were teaching

098the freshman how to make caramel roses for culinary and that was pretty engaging. Uh tomorrow they have a little agricultural like experience and I get to be a part of that which is going to be pretty neat. Um, they have decided that our senior prom will be in the sub at Sheldon High School, which sounds a little shocking at first, but they're going to put the budget towards making sure the decorations are really good. And all the seniors who go to prom will get a little gift basket and all that stuff to commemorate their senior year. And there is ninth grade. The freshman did their commitment to graduate recently, which I heard went really well. So, yeah. All right, Abigail. >> I'm Abby from Choice and in the Pathway program, students have been working on

099job skills, community gardening, cooking, and something safety. They have been volunteering in the community, Open Doors, did their stamp test, making Whoville for the winter celebration. On November 18th, the middle school class is going to the creek to PE for PBLS. Middle school ELA met an author and learned about their writing. And [clears throat] Choice is going to have picture day. They are going to have their first ever book fair. Middle school is going to do the yearbook photos. And all the programs are coming together on the last Thursday of the month to have a friend's Thanksgiving. Thank you. That's uh good stuff from all three of you. Thank you very much. Moving on to number six, the consent agenda. Has everybody had a chance to take a look at that? >> I motion to

100approve this evening's consent agenda. >> I second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> And there we go. Consent agenda is approved. On to item number seven, 7.01, 01 the proposed uh revised policy number 2195 academic acceleration Adrien Minry. This will be the second reading and recommend approval. >> Good e should I do this one? Good evening. Good evening, uh, board president Welander, other esteemed board members, student board representatives, and superintendent Jesse. I am here to bring forth the recommended um, proposed adjustments to uh, policy number 2195 and then um the other ones that went that then unfolded after that including procedures with 2190. um we are just bringing the policy here but um so to be in line with the updated RCW and then the model WA was policy. So I'm here to answer

101any questions that you might have. Um if you have any >> Did anybody have any questions? It's pretty much just in line with the current recommendation. So I would take a motion. >> A motion we adopt proposed revised policy number 2195. academic acceleration. >> I'll second that. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay, there you go. It's updated. >> Okay, thank you. >> All right. And now 7.02, uh, proposed revised policy number 1111, oath of office. Uh and if you look at that in your board packet, um they added uh some language uh in addition to um uh supporting the constitution, the US and the state of Washington, it'll also be the Washington state laws. And that would be the only thing that has changed is just that one uh one sentence added. So

102um does anybody have any questions about that one? Just to clarify the addition there if somebody's wondering why' we add that in. >> It's just an update in the uh in the laws. >> So that reflects an update in the Washington state law. >> Yeah. >> That was it. >> Okay. >> Yeah. We can do this one for approval unless anybody's got anything that we need a major rewrite on. I've seen it. >> I motion for approval. >> A second. >> All in favor? >> I I >> Okay. And we've updated policy 1111. Now, proposed resolution 259 authorizing levy election on February 10th, 2025. Mr. Clint Sherman. >> Great. A couple things. I have an updated uh resolution that I'll need three signatures on because one goes uh to the county, one goes to the

103attorney, and then we keep one on file. But one of the things that's important around not just setting the rate is the ballot title itself. So I want to walk through that really quickly. Um you only get 75 somewhere in this section after the word would, you get 75 words from there on for the rest of the ballot. So the substantive change um or part of the ballot title itself is this proposition would fund operations not fully funded by the state including classroom teachers, nurses, librarians, safety security, technology, career and technical education, athletics, arts, music, after school programs, ADA access, roof repair, heating, transportation, and authorized levying the follow taxes on the school district. So that's a lot of words, but that's what the ballot will look like when it comes to them in the

104mail in February. So that's part of the it's a big subset of part of the resolution with the rate at 236 uh we talked about earlier um with the amounts and again I wanted to redo what the local tax rates are happenings the that yellow line is the bond rate and that'll continue to go down over time um yeah just it's important to understand that calculation as well that even though your taxes are the will remain the same at this new rate we're go that we're uh sorry you're approving a rate at 236 that rate will still overall score rate will still go down because the bonnet will be going down over time. So when you look at your full tax statement from local taxes, it'll be going down over time and that's all that

105I have. >> And the specific ballot language all be reviewed by the our attorney and everything >> already has been. >> Okay. Super. >> With 75 words, it's a lot of refining and and reduction. You kind of put in everything you want and then pair it all down to how can you capture the most things with the least amount of words is really how it works. >> Okay. Any other questions? I >> of course >> I would take a motion. >> I move that we approve the proposed resolution number 259 authorizing a levy election on February 10th, 2026. This says 2025. >> Yep, it does >> on the agenda, but I'm assuming that we Yes. >> I will second that. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Okay,

106on to item number eight, board member comments. We'll start down at the end with Director Dale. Uh, thank you again as always for public showing up. I appreciate public comments. Um, thank you to parents who came to support their athletes. in particular. Thank you volleyball team and coaches and cross country. That was um incredible, especially hearing that GPA for your cross country um state attendees. That was amazing. Thank you, Superintendent Jesse, for um there's a lot of information there, but I appreciate the in-depth and the look at where we are as a school district. Um just general thank yous to our teachers out there every day doing all of this work. Thank you to our high school representatives. All three appreciated the comments and the questions. Thank you for participating in this. That's it. >>

107Director Gilmore, >> can I'm just going to ditto those instead of repeating them all. They're very well put. Thank you. [laughter] And um that's all I've got. Uh next week we're going to the uh Washington State School Board Association conference and I'm really excited to learn more about schools, engage and network with other school districts and hear about, you know, last year we did a lot on budget and solutions and levies and it was really informative and really helpful and I enjoy doing those that work with with all of you. So look forward to seeing you next weekend. Director Davidson. >> Yeah, I want to thank everybody for coming tonight, especially all of you who decided to stay until the very end as well, too. We do appreciate the public comments. Um, always welcome those

108and it's nice to hear that there is a school play going on this weekend because for sometimes we just miss some of those announcements. So, really appreciate that and all of your student reports that help keep us informed about what is actually going on in the schools. I loved seeing the athletic recognition. I am a little partial to that volleyball team. I think that their GPA, if we had known those, was probably really high as well, too. Um, it's been really special watching them come together as a team. I was down there last night as well in Vancouver. And it was wonderful to see our athletic director, uh, Scott Chamberlain down there rooting the team on, as well as a lot of parents, friends, family, and they'll be right back down there, um, tomorrow night.

109And it's just really exciting to see a team come together. And it's it's been really special. And it's wonderful that our our um cross country team has done as well as they have. And I saw that our girls swimmers, they won districts as well. So, there's a lot of really exciting athletic um you know, things going on. I think boys tennis did really well as well, too. So, there's so many things to recognize with our student athletes and and just like you said, uh superintendent, they really are student athletes. They are balancing many times, you know, heavy course load and difficult class work and they are doing practices that are three hours long or more and they're having to balance all of that out. So, I do also want to recognize all of those coaches

110who spend all of that time working with all of our students because that um it it just really is a wonderful relationship that they have. I appreciate the budget updates and going over all of the different levy um scenarios and that is always difficult because we do want to be really mindful about what we're putting on our community, but it's very very important for the support of our students and I do very much believe in the strong schools, strong community. They are very much go together. So, um appreciate all of that. Thank you for your state of the district presentation. There's a lot of really great things going on um that are benefiting our students. And I one of the things I failed to mention in my comments when you were doing the presentation is

111I really appreciate our community partners and all of those internships that they are giving our students that are hands-on to see if they like that type of career and also give them like you said those skills of you know really getting more than just a few hours but you know a real feel for that um profession and if they want to do that and getting that professional contact with the people that are doing in that job. So, our community partners always appreciate everything that they do. And uh I am also looking forward to the WASDA conference. Always appreciate that. Um congratulations to to all of you and thank thank you to the school district that helped with our board of distinction application. I think that's eight years going on that now. And it really I

112think this year the highlight of that was our literacy and the push for all of that. So, um, that is all of the hard work for of everyone in our school district, our staff, our teachers, and all of our administrators. So, thank you all for everything you do. All right, I'll finish it up with uh the uh kids down here at the end, the student representatives. Uh, one of the things that I love is watching them get better and better at public speaking uh as the year goes on. Allan interjected humor. Um, very good. Uh, I did go to the haunted house. Uh, I ate enough cookies to not feel well and there was some dessert that I didn't know what it was. Neither did anybody else in the house, but I did take the

113dare. I ate it. It was very good. Um, cool that uh FFA, DECA, all that are uh going on and and doing neat things. Uh my reminder to everybody is yes, we lean on sports because statistically that's where you see that big bump in GPA. Uh but it isn't just sports, it's all of the extracurricular activities including drama. Go see the play on Friday night. Um hopefully I will be able to make that. One of the things that I heard tonight that really bothered me and it and it brings up a bigger topic is um right now in a in a very politically uh divisive environment, not just here but really everywhere in America, um if you're wearing shirts, saying things, making signs, um remember that you're probably one side of it. Um I would

114imagine that there's a South Park shirt out there somewhere in our school district. Right now, if anybody follows South Park, they are the opposite side of whatever Charlie Kirk or anybody might be saying. Um, Confucious that if you say something and it makes you smile, you probably shouldn't have said it. And when we say and do things to make our own political points instead of bringing America as a whole together, I think that that's dangerous. Um, and and divisiveness is not what we need right now. So, with that, um, I hope we get to the bottom of whatever that is. I'm sure it's covered in policy. And, um, that's all I have for tonight. So, I would take a motion to adjurnn. >> I move that we adjourn. >> I second. >> All in favor?

115>> I. >> All right. 7:33.