Shelton School Board May 13, 2025

001Okay, it's six o'clock. If we could stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. Okay. Okay. Have all the directors had a chance to see the agenda? Yes. I move that we approve tonight's agenda. I second. All in favor? I I Okay. And we have an agenda and superintendent report. Mr. Jesse. Thank you. Board President Wheelander, other board directors, student representatives, family members, community members, staff, and students. Uh, I'll start off. Um, on May 1st, uh, we had an event at all three elementary schools to have an opportunity to listen, uh, and read alongside our first graders. So, all at Mountain View here, Evergreen, and at Bordeaux, uh, the teachers invited, uh, some staff and community members to come in. students had written letters to community members. Uh an amazing event. Uh they get to share

002some of their favorite books. As you know, again, there are five to 600 books inside every single first grade classroom. Um and that these students have access to books at their reading level and at their interest or genre uh that they are studying. So, they were super jazzed having us come in. I know the students that I was able to work with uh were excited to be able to to read with me. I was able to read to them. We shared a book. I'm exciting. I actually had a student right out here as I was coming in different grade level, but still uh is about the point of um half the battle about reading is having kids excited about reading for them. So, the love of learning starts with it. Uh and I just want

003to thank the first grade teachers here in the district. they put on a wonderful show uh getting those students ready and also the community members who showed up who are really impressed. In fact, I think the best comment I I heard a number of times was I was not able to read or write nearly that well in first grade as these students are. And that has been our top priority in our fiveyear strategic plan is high quality literacy instruction. Our staff are doing it and our students most certainly are demonstrating. So, thank you so much for that event. Speaking of events, last week, uh myself along with uh a handful of representatives from the Shelton School District, along with representatives of the Olympia School District, Southside, and uh Griffin school districts. Uh we're at Squawks

004and Island Tribal Nation to learn alongside about some of the tribal history as well as some ways of continuous improvement for our relations uh with not just Squawks but other tribal nations and about serving our native youth. It was great. We came away with a number of work streams for us to betterment for next year including our identification process outreach community and also some things that we've been doing back in our literacy um units is uh specifically thinking of some experiences about uh empowering the spoken word uh within that uh opportunity for our students across grade levels and abilities to uh learn more about the tribal history right in our community. So excited about that. Um I want to thank our partners, our business leaders this year. Did you know already this year where we

005started we had very few field experiences? This year we now have over 80 separate field experiences in businesses across this community, South Puget Sound. We do have to extend a little bit beyond uh Mason County just because of some of the unique skill sets that we are developing for our high schoolers. Um, and so it's anywhere from like a shadow experience to all the way to like a heavy intensive 20hour plus internship uh for our students again uh for all three high schools. It's really cool. We're going to have a demonstration here coming up right after me. These skills they can go on to do experiences out there in the industry and some go on to trade school, some go on to college and some go right into being entrepreneur starting their own business. I

006know a couple of those stories here in this community. So, it's really exciting, especially this time of year. But, I just want to thank our business partners for coming alongside us. We are kind of maxed out about managing that many internships, but I uh always looking to improve as always. Uh my last um comment happens to be a little bit more towards the reality of public schools for uh districts here in Washington, including the Shelton School District. The state legislation has now closed up on our session and I believe the governor is going to sign off on the budget on May 19th or 20th. It does really hurt when you look at the Shelton School District has had expend $4 million extra in operating expenses over the last three years. $4 million extra over the

007last three years. We are no different than many of your household budgets. Those utilities are real and they are costing us. And the unfortunate part, those operating expenses, no one quite sees, but you do hear about some of the staffing cuts that we've had to make. It does compromise our ability to provide what I would determine and what I think many of you would determine is basic ed. And it is expensive. It is expensive to educate our youth. But they are our future. And we need to continue to invest in them. And I just implore you to pay attention to what it is and how we get funded. I also heard from our superintendent of public instruction today. He let me know that next year we can count on some of the federal dollars, but

008after that we might not be able to. And that includes things like food services, mental health, and native education, and also education for those who live at or below the poverty level. That's a lot of our community, and that will have impacts. not ones that most certainly we here in the Shelton School District want. We will do our best. We will continue to provide the best highquality education today. You'll get many examples of what we do offer. It is quite amazing uh with our amazing staff and of course our beautiful children. So I just want to just call that out. More to come. I will always keep you updated. If you have any questions about how financing happens within public schools or just the financing here or what we call basic ed, happy to answer

009questions. you can directly email me um and I will most certainly get back to you or somebody on our team can get back to you who's an expert in that particular area. So, just with that, I'm really excited today to have some presentations u most certainly from our culinary expert over here. And so, um thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Uh next up, we have a presentation from Shelton High School. And based on the candy and knives in front of us here, I'm looking forward to this. Well, hi there. Um I wanted to thank you all for having us first of all and um we are we are honored to be here. Um I wanted to introduce uh myself. I am Hunter. This is Nigel, Amaya, Miss Tony, Elise, Logan, and Ama. Uh

010we will all be demonstrating you today um some of the things about culinary. So before we get into it, I want to start off with um the pathway progression. Culinary is part of the business, finance, and hospitality pathway. And so early on in your sophomore year or so, you'll take a level one culinary class, which is the basics. It teaches you about culinary and essentially, you know, all like knife skills. Um, learning how to be safe in the kitchen, um, sanit sanitization, those kinds of things. Um, as well as getting those basic experiences when it comes to cooking simple dishes. Um, you will then step into a level two culinary class, usually your junior year, which is anything from events and catering, pastry and baking, or international cuisine, which teaches you more advanced uh skills

011and techniques that are used to make more complex dishes. And finally um the third level of culinary mostly done by seniors um is advanced which those are the students who make dishes for um the student store and they even have to come up with their own dishes to implement in the student store that follow strict um health guidelines. And so it's pretty impressive what they do. And those students are also um have taken a hold of this last year a couple uh internship um opportunities. So, um, without further ado, I am, uh, letting this be taken over by Elise, who will show you how to make a caramel rose. This your arm. You can take out your cutboard and trigger [Music] Now, you can work on Start rolling into a ball. [Music] At least one

012parame Roll it into roll. And after you come out of your class, We're going to watch. And once you have your card and cut the end of So heavy. [Music] Yeah. [Music] Yeah. [Music] And once you have sugar, you can start them out. [Music] about um some of the events we have in the culinary program. Hi, I'm Logan. You all can hear me, right? All right. I am a part of the culinary program, much as much like my peers here. And I am also a part of the Shelton High School student store. And this I I would like to give a huge thanks for allowing us to be able to speak here and be able to make our presentation known here and be able to support our program as a whole. I am very thankful

013for that as I am sure everyone else is here too. I would like to begin talking about all the events in which we support in Shelton High School. We often support many large and smaller events in Shelton st s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s such as the CTE dinners, Navy ball, NGOC boot camp and our smaller events such as the bite of reality, the veter veterans lunchon, the Cinco de Cinco deayo lunchon And as a whole, we support over 30 events in high climber culinary within the entire of entirety of this year. As I would also like to add the many things

014I have learned while being in this program. One of the main things that this has taught me is discipline and patience with myself. Me as a person, I am very impatient and probably not very disciplined. But in in culinary, I have learned that I need to have some discipline in order to know what I am doing. And I need to be patient with myself when I am working with my peers and to know what I am doing to make sure that I am doing everything correct and up to order and that I am following all guidelines. that that it goes to my peers as well is that I also have to be patient with them as I had learned with working with several people over the last year and a half. Um, throughout this I

015have learned that teamwork is a key essential to when it comes to cooking and making things and that teamwork is something that should be cherished among people and your peers. It is not something that should be put to waste and something that should definitely be acknowledged within this. And that is another thing that this also teaches us as PE as culinary students is to work together with other people, especially if you don't know them. This has maybe not so much as learned other people, but has allowed me to learn how to work with people that I do not know or that I am unfamiliar with. I would like to again thank you for having us and allowing us to make this presentation to you. It is an honor. I'm going to pass the mic over

016to Hunter. Thank you. All right. Um if Ely is done with her caramel roses, she's going to come over and speak on um the student store aspect of culinary as is a big part of this program. Um thank you so much. This is Elise. Hello everybody. I am Elise. I am the student store manager for the High Climber store and I am also a part of the culinary people. Um we connect with all sorts of groups and all parts of the school like DECA FFA culinary advanced kid uh culinary kids business and marketing our advanced kids in the culinary room make the products for our store to sell following the national school lunch guidelines. Um in the um in the student store we make chocolate chip cookies, brownies, uh crunch wraps, and those all follows

017those guidelines. They will be passing out cookies for trying them. These are top sellers in our store. What else? And some skills that are presented in the store are customer service, register, barista, and learning how to work an inventory. These are all skills that can be used in the future outside of high school. Thank you. Um, with that, we will be wrapping it up. Thank you guys so much for having us. It was really an awesome experience. I hope you guys enjoyed the presentation and also the cookies that we are handing out now. Um, they are made like Alise said with a pretty strict regiment of ingredients and so it's really impressive how how well they taste for the restrictions we have to work under. Thank you guys so much. I appreciate it. [Applause] Thank

018you very much for the presentation. Um, outstanding work. Uh, they actually got me to make what a flower that looks like a flower up here. So, not only can they do it, they can teach it. That's pretty good stuff. Um, and they brought cookies. Definitely raising the bar for other presentations. And great speaking. Yeah, good job. Right. Okay. Okay, while we get um kind of cleaned up here, if Clinton could come on up, we're going to talk about the public hearing on the sale of real property. Uh it's hard to follow up, cookies. Just let us let us finish cleaning up. I'm a mess. Go ahead. So cool. All these cookies. Also, save me a cookie out there. Solid. So good. Thanks, guys. That was really cool. Go ahead. That was super fun to watch,

019actually. Sorry, I just hear the crackling of cookies and bags. It's super awesome. Um, we're hosting a public hearing to talk about the sale of real property. Um, I wanted to walk through what that process looks like because it's it's not very common that it occurs. Um, there's an RCW that outlines what this process looks like. So, just kind of quickly, uh, we have to have public notice in the paper that was posted in the Mason County Journal already. We have, uh, a public hearing to allow public comment on the sale of the property. And then we'll have an appraisal being done right now to find the market value of the house. And the RCW outlines what that looks like. Um, that's the process really quickly. Um, this is a home that we own at

020102 East University Avenue. It's the school next I mean it's the home next door to Bordeaux Elementary. Um, just little sliver of land on the side over there. Uh, we've had that since 2018. Um, yeah, here's some I grabbed some quick photos off Google Earth to show kind of what it looks like to the public since this is a space for them to ask questions um, if they have any. And this is really part of a a larger plan. As Superintendent Jesse said earlier, the legislature didn't come through with any dollars. So, it's up to us to generate other revenues and find other savings. Uh, and this is one of those mechanisms that we have. Uh, this has been deemed not necessary for the educational programs of the district. And so, we are um proposing

021that we put it up for sale and a public hearing is part of that process. Um, I know that's pretty quick. What questions do you have for me? I don't have any questions at all. Yeah, it's a pretty straightforward process, but it's not super common. Um, and then Yep. Okay. Um, yeah. Now, we have we're going to have a public comment period. Uh, there is the this is separate from our other regular uh public comment. This is any public comment on this would be restricted to just the sale of this uh house. So, does anybody have a public comment on this item? Okay. Okay. I believe we've done everything we need to do in statute. Oh, we do have Oh, you guys can hear me. Oh, that's way louder. I can hear myself. Okay, great.

022Um, if you want to just run through it again. Sure. I'd love to. This is my favorite part. Uh, all right. So, we're having a public hearing to talk about the sale of real property that the district owns. We bought it in 2018. Um, the process for that is outlined by an RC. This is going to go way better the second time, right? Uh, the process is outlined by an RCW. It really lays out exactly the steps necessary to sell property that districts own. Um, part of that is a public notice in the paper. And so that's already occurred uh part of that. The next part is a public hearing which is right now to um get any questions the public may have around it the sale of the property. And then it's also required

023to have an appraisal done to make sure we're getting fair market value uh when we sell the house. Um here are a couple of images of where the house is. It's 102 East University Avenue. It's the home next to Bordeaux. Um that's the legal description and it's it's 1695 square feet. It's got three bedrooms and one bath on almost a halfacre lot. Um, here are some photos I grabbed from Google Earth because I thought they looked better uh of the property just in case the public had any specific questions around it. And if they do, what questions do they have? Happy to answer them. That was better. And again, do any board members have any questions? Okay, now public comment. And the public comment is related to just this item. We'll have a regular public

024comment again later. My question be is what was the house used for? And are they going to try and fix it up so we can actually get some money out of it? Because we have a lot of community members and stuff that would probably try and fix it up for us, probably donate their labor so that we could actually get some good money out of it because it looks like it was like boarded up and stuff like it looked like it was in rough shape. That would be my question. Uh the home is currently used for storage. I think it has been used for storage since 2018. Um, part of the appraisal process does have that what that looks like with improvements. Uh, and it really just depends on what the market looks like. We

025spoke with some real estate agents and now seemed like a good time to sell it. Um, we have a need for that capital to be used differently than at that home at Bordeaux. That's never really been leveraged um, within the district. That's a great question. Any other public comment? Uh, a couple questions. One, how much did we pay for the home in 2018? Great question. Another great question. Uh, 185,000. And then, um, will any of the funds be used to address current student needs such as classroom resources, staffing, and program support? Um, and then you got an answer for that already? I do. That's a great question. You want Go ahead. Sure. Uh, great question. So the sale of real property is required to go into the capital projects fund which is a separate fund

026than the operations of the district. So u teachers, staff, um pencils, pens, all those things are purchased out of what's called the general fund which is the main operating fund of the district. Districts have five funds. We've talked about that a handful of times. Um the sale of real property and surplus goods goes into capital projects fund. So then that money could be used to fix the elevator at OBJH that's been out of service for over a year. Those are the exact type of expenditures. Yes. Um okay I don't Okay. Uh the trickier thing is what is beyond regular maintenance? Uh is regular maintenance is handled in the general fund. Capital expenditures um that are large enough would come out of the capital projects fund. So, I haven't seen the quote for that, but we

027would just evaluate a bunch of different things and take a look at them. My understanding from a report that was given last year is that it needs significant repairs. Um, I think Robert would be better to speak on that, but but um I don't know, this might be kind of out of the realm of this scope, but with asking that question about repairs on the elevator, then um what if we have students that actually need that elevator for services because the library is on the second floor, OBJH, correct? Yes. Sorry. So, that is outside of the scope of the public hearing because it's really only around the sale of the property. Okay. Okay. And then my other question is um how will a board ensure public accountability and transparency in how the proceeds are spent?

028Love it. Uh so I'm the finance guy and one of the things that we get You're not the board though. Oh, sorry. Well, sure. I can I mean you can answer it, but I'd like Sure. I mean um what happens by default and one of the things that uh I like about the uh finance department there are account code structures that track everything. So the revenue from this sale would go into a specific account code and then we would identify which expenses be happen and they'd be coded that account code. So we can run a report a detail report lining out all the different expenses that it went to to help make improvements with around the schools and you'll have that somewhere where the public can access it at the drop of a hey I'd

029like to access that report. Sure. Super fast. Okay. I think that's it. Great. Clinton, you might want to also mention that's part of the annual report that a board director does attend and they do get a copy of that report. The entire board gets a copy from SAO, so the state auditor's office audits the school district every year and those kind of capital items are part of that audit. Yes. And that report does go to the board. Any other questions? I think is next. If there's no other questions. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Now we'll move on to item number six, community comment. 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 follow the full script with

030call-in instructions and guidelines for community comments displayed on the screen above. First up will be Beth Chapen. Hi, I'm Beth Chapen. I'm a staff member. I teach sixth grade Olympic Middle School. Um, and I just wanted to take a second. I've taught in Shelton now for 10 years. It's my 10th year of teaching. Um, and I picked Shelton. So, I grew up in a really small town, uh, Kelso, way down yonder, and then I moved to Shahalis, another really small rural town. And then I found myself in Olympia, and I was really overwhelmed. Um, and I didn't quite know where I fit there. And then I student taught at Evergreen Elementary School, um, in 2014 and 2015 with Isis Albert, who doesn't work there anymore, but she was phenomenal. She was everything I ever wanted

031to be. Um, and so I picked Shelton. I interviewed at all three elementary schools with my brand new K8 certificate at 22. Um, and Bordeaux picked me and I felt like I still feel when I think about teaching in Shelton. I am so proud to work in this community. I have been proud every year through every superintendent, through every school board, through every principal, and there have been many, many principles. I have felt so proud of our community, of the people that live here. Um, I have felt one of my past students was just presenting with the culinary group and I was so elated and I continue to feel that elation even today even in the face of what could be one of the hardest years money and staff and riffs and non-renews and uh

032midyear para loss and and and and and I'm still so proud to teach in Shelton. Um, I was not going to cry. I like decided last minute I was going to talk. I am so proud to teach here and I am so proud of our community and I am so proud of the work that we're doing with literacy and it's hard. It is hard work to teach English in this town right now. Um, and it's work I I don't think I have ever been prouder of. And I think that the community needs to hear from people who are doing the work that it is it is tough work, but it is heart work. And I am personally so blessed and so phenomenally impressed by the human beings that I get to work with. I tell

033people now that I work at Olympic Middle School and it's like teaching in Disneyland. every day is like a brand new experience. And every day I get to just go to work and love all of it. And so I wanted to thank you school board for supporting the work that we're doing and continuing to work on transparency and communication and and all of those things. But I also think that you need to know that there are many of us who are really proud of the work that we're doing and we're really really happy. Um it's still so hard. I cannot explain that enough. But it is also um work that I cannot imagine doing in any other town at any other time. So thank you. [Applause] Thank you. Uh Marilyn Aaron So, I uh stand

034here today as a parent, a lifelong uh Shelton community member, and uh concerned for the staff of uh the district and the state of the district. So, you may not know this because you only see it based on each school board, but if you went back and counted in the reports, this year alone, our district has had resignations. Let that sink in. 66 people have chosen to leave our district, one of them being a principal. Then add 19 retirements, four from the district office alone, 13 layoffs, and two terminations. That's 100 staff members gone. This isn't a normal turnover. It's a red flag, a sign that something deeper is broken. We often talk about student resources, curriculum, facilities, and test scores, but none of those are possible without people who feel respected, supported, and valued.

035Right now, the message being sent is kind of loud and clear to a lot of them and a lot of the community that Shelton School District is no longer a healthy place to work. This is a culture problem and culture starts at the top. Your culture isn't what you say it is or what you preach about at a schoolboard meeting in the face of the public that it is. It's what your people feel it is. And culture can't be bought. It has to be built. When leadership fails to listen, communicate, or lead with trust and respect, people leave. And they are leaving. Toxic culture develops when leadership consistently ignores feedback, lacks transparency, and leads through fear and control rather than collaboration. Over time, this erodess trust, lowers morale, and drives good people away. If we

036don't face this truth honestly, we'll keep losing the very people who keep our schools standing. A healthy culture begins with leadership that listens, that invites collaboration, and builds trust, not fear of retaliation. Here's the hard truth. People don't leave jobs, they leave leadership. So, we have to ask, what are we doing to keep the good people we have? How are we supporting those still here? Wyth, I know you're counting down my time, but I got a few more seconds. The heart of our district isn't in boardrooms or documents, or even the district office. It's in classrooms, cafeterias, and hallways. In the dedication of staff who keep showing up even when it's hard. But even the most passionate people burn out, especially when they're not seen or heard and not supported. We are at a turning

037point. We need accountability. We need change. Not next year, not after another survey that's never reported. Now. And the most important question is what are we mainly what are you going to do about it? Thank you. [Applause] William Sullivan. Hi, my name is William Sullivan. I didn't know that uh she was actually going to lead with that. Um 100 staff members. pretty disturbing because I actually have been talking with teachers and they have told me much of the same thing that they are afraid to speak up or they'll lose their job. That's pretty bad. Um, what I actually came up here to talk about though is there's a kid at Evergreen Elementary who has a medical condition who has to take medicine that they have to stay hydrated and Evergreen Elementary is not letting the

038kid keep their water bottle because they fidget too much with the water bottle and it's a medical emergency. It's just kind of the same thing my kid was dealing with where they weren't having their medical needs met. And so kids on a medication where they have to stay hydrated. If they don't stay hydrated, the medication takes water from their organs instead of their body. So something that needs to be addressed by the school board because Evergreen Elementary is saying that the kid can't have their water bottle when it's a medical need. Um but anyways um after talking to the teachers I will be opening up a website so that the teachers can tell us how they really feel and I will be reading their comments out loud at the schoolboard meetings from now on. U

039both parents that are afraid to come up here and speak. It's not easy to come up here and speak every week. Um and for the staff that's afraid to be fired. So, next month the website will be opening up and you guys will be hearing directly from the teachers every schoolboard meeting. So, I suggest that you reach out to the teachers and whatever you have to do to make them not feel threatened, that's what you need to do. [Applause] Thanks, Lori Chapel. like Japan said, this is my hard work right here. Hey, hop wash. Good evening. I p Lorie Chapel, native ed for Olympic Middle School. I'm the great great granddaughter of Mary Feathergro and descendant of the Cheyenne River Sue tribe Lakota band of the Ming Kanju. Tonight you will hear students speak on

040their desire to raise the Squax and flag at Olympic Middle School. You are also hear from a youth who is a Sakcomish descendant so that they can also be reminded that we sit between two tribes. With that being said, I'm asking tonight that you listen with an open heart. These students are taking a healthy risk by speaking in front of you today. They are proud of who they are and their culture. It is our job to support them and their voices. It is my understanding that the flying of a flag at a school is a leadership to leadership type of process. Example, the leadership of the Olympic School District asked the leadership of the Squawks and tribe and now squawks and plays will be flying at their schools. I would also assume that the same

041type of process happened at North Thirstston where the North Thirstston School District proudly flags the Nquali flag. In this process, these students behind me became the leaders, going first to speak to the Squawks and Tribal Council themselves, who raised their hands to their youth and presented them with a flag. And now today, they are here to ask the same of you, the Shelton School Board. The flying of the flag has been an ongoing conversation for several years within my program. The time apparently was never right until now. These youth, these young people who are unapologetic indigenous took the risk to ask for something that was in their spirit and now is the right time. I would like to read a short excerpt from an article from a native youth on recognizing culture. As a young

042Native American student, seeing my culture reflected at school means the world to me. It is like a piece of my identity is being recognized and respected. When I see traditional Agelian or events, hear stories about our ancestors or learn about our history in class. I feel proud and connected to my roots. It reminds me that our traditions are important and that our voices matter. It also helps my classmates understand and appreciate who we are. Knowing that my culture is valued at school makes me feel confident, proud, and inspired to keep our traditions alive. It's a small step towards sharing our story and honoring our ancestors legacy. Remember, without indigenous history, there is no US history. A couple of my students were not able to come today and they'd like me to read their um comments.

043Hasha Hale, I'm Leslie Allen Cooper Juniorista. I am the son of Alan Cooper Senior and Britney Johnson, the grandson of Arnold Cooper. I come from the Squaxon Island tribe. I'm here to talk about how I'd like to raise the flag at Olympic Middle School. I want to show people that we are still here and we are strong, that we have been living on our original land since time in memorial. We are from this land and we care about it. Finding the flag shows Shelton and Squaxson's mutual commitment to each other. Hanging the flag shows representation as well as people understanding the ongoing history of our people. It would make me happy seeing the flag fly proudly at LMS. Thank you. Hashail. I'm Bern. Okay. [Applause] Eden forman. Are you Eden Forson? Yes. Okay. Sit. I

044am the granddaughter of Steve and Andrea Saigo. I am here to speak about having Miss Squawken flag at Miss. Having the flag fly will represent us because we will need more representation of our families and tribe. I also think that the flag should fly at all schools. Thank you. Olivia Henry. Hello everyone. Olivia Kenzie Henry Seedstead. My dad is Vince Henry Jr. My mom is Tiffany Goose. My Sappa is Vince Henry Senior. I come from the Henry Hen Henry family. I am proud to be Squawkson. I am here because I want to help show respect to our people at MS and at all the schools. It is important to resent for Squawken because we are the people of this land. Thank you. [Applause] Satella Thomas seeds. I come from the Cooper and Thomas family and

045I am the granddaughter of Russell Cooper. I am Squawken and Puallup and I am here to talk with you about hanging the Squaxon flag at our school. I think it's important to hang the flag because it'll represent our tribe and our culture. I think it's also important to hang the flag because our tribe was one of the first people on this land. I als I also think it's important to for all the future squawks and youth to know that they are seen and welcome. Thank you for listening. I hope you consider hanging the flag. [Applause] [Music] Mila Hawks. Hashel. I'm Mila Hawk Sida. I'm Squawks and I come from the Christ family. My kaya is Beverly Hawks. I'm the daughter of Anton Hawk. I'm here today speak about hanging the Squawks flag at Olympic Middle

046School. We are the original and traditional people of this land. We have been here since time in memorial. It is the most important thing to have the flag for the future generations to see squawks the squawks and flag to remind them and others we are still here. It would help non-native kids to know and learn about the culture. It will also show that Squawken and Shelton are working together. Most importantly, it would honor our ancestors. If we have permission to hang the flag at our school, it would be an honor because it would show respect and show that our voices are heard. Seeing the flag at school would fill my heart with joy. Thank you for listening. [Applause] Sonny Dor, sorry I can't read it. Hash hos Zay Dorland teach the I'm descendant of David

047Lopman and Donna Lopeman of the Squawksen Island tribe. I'm here to speak to you about raising the flag at MS. I believe it's important cuz we've been here since time in memorial and we're going to be here for a while. It would be important for native kids to remember their culture on and off the res. It is important to remember always this land is our original home. Our people come from this land. It's important for everyone, not just natives, to give land acknowledgement. If the school flew our flag, it would set such a good example for everyone and they would it would show the Squawking people that they are supported by the schools like they say we are. Seeing the flag at my school would fill me with pride and pride, joy, and respect. It

048would be a sign of welcome and respect for us and our history. It would also honor our ancestors. I'm appealing to your heart and the duty to recognize our tribe by flying the flag. Thank you to the school board and the district for listening. Oho. [Applause] Jordan Morris. Hello, I'm Jordan Morris. I am a Skakcomish descendant. My mom is Jennifer Johnson. My grandmother is Lorie Conklin. My greatgrandfather is Charles Conklin from the Wilbur Strong Boys. My great great grandmother is Annie Frank. Today I am here to support my classmates as they asked to raise the flag. But I also want us to remember that the schools and Shelton sit between two tribes. Students from both tribes come to the Shelton schools. A lot of students are both Squawken and Squakcomish. How cool would it be

049for Shelton to have both flags represented? I want to share a story about my great grandpa Chuck who helped raise me. He was born on River Road in 1939. Maybe you know where that is. But the Skookcom by the Skakcomish River for this marine seeing a scope flag proudly next to the American flag would make his last wishes come true. This town used to have signs and stores store windows that said no Indians allowed. That was unfair. Flying a flag is a way to show that our community recognizes and respects the tribes that help build it. It is a step towards being being seen and heard. My great grandpa also attended the welcoming ceremony this year at MS. He was so happy to see us kids singing and dancing in our own traditional ways. And

050listening to our others speak. This would have never happened when he was in school. It didn't happen when my mom went to school. It made me proud to see him smile and feel proud of our culture. These two stories show the importance of it would mean to our elders and our community. Thank what Thank you. [Music] And Barbara Brown. Thank you guys. Barbara Brown. Okay, one last call for Barbara Brown. Your name's up here. Okay. Uh moving on to item number seven, reports and recognitions. Uh start with the report from the student board representatives. And we will go with Abigail Hurst first. Our digital hall pass systems have been a success around campus for both staff and students. Our Wizard of Oz was a hit with much bigger turnout than expected. Elementary schools Evergreen and

051Mountain View along with seventh grade from OBJ got to watch. Leadership hosted a blood drive for current Shelton High School students last Thursday. That went very well. Senior awards night is on May 28th at 700 p.m. in the pack. Community members are encouraged to join. Annual button robe ceremony is on the 16th this month at 6 pm in the sub. Senior prom is on Saturday. Tickets are now on sale in the athletics office. Last Friday was the a the annual honor society Mariners game in Seattle. And ASB elections for the 2025 2026 school year are finished. Lane Stony will be president. Ryan Wilbur as vice president. Izzy Macios for secretary. Lo for treasurer. And the appointed positions are Nvea Bench as school board representative, Danny as inner high school communications, and Sophia for so social

052media manager. And in the process of elections, we ran into a tie with the secretary position. So now we are going into opening the constitution and we have a committee made out of ASB to help figure out what to do in the case of a tie. So that will be amended soon. Wow. And then the the button robe on the 16th. That's this Friday, correct? Yes, it is. Okay. Allan uh Ramirez from uh Cedar. Yeah, I've got quite a bit to say uh today. Uh firstly, I would like to truly thank the district. Uh, we had a meeting with some of the your staff. I remember I forgot your name, but I remember you were there. I'm sorry, but Oh, yeah. We had a meeting with uh two district staff to sort of answer the

053questions that a group of students had. Well, really, it was a few students that were representing the larger our larger student body. just sort of getting that uh that clarity of where the district is at right now and why it's doing the things that it's doing. And I really I would like to thank uh the school board for for having that discussion with us. Uh I think that the session went very well. A lot of our questions were answered. Uh it seems that the district is very passionate about keeping Cedar open, keeping us uh well funded because they see the value in project-based learning and they also see the value in being part of the new tech network. So we also figured out some next steps uh from that meeting. We've decided that Cedar High

054School will try to um so we'll start doing advocacy for school funding not just for our school but for schools across the state. So it's uh it was a very good meeting because it inspired us to do that and we were told we would be meeting with Clinton Sherman. I remembered his name. Yes. We were told we would be meeting with him in order to discuss sort of like how schools are financed, getting into the nitty-gritty of it, see what Cedar High School can do to support that. And we'll continue to be working with community members. Right now, we're working with an organization that does promotional materials for uh usually they do it for nonprofits, for causes, but for now, we're doing it to really promote Cedar High School so that more of the community

055knows that we exist and what it is exactly that we do. Um, theater remains strong in its mission to implement project-based learning, uh, implementing our protocols that we have from the new tech network. And I'd like to say that this is just, this really is just the beginning of Cedar High School. Next year, due to our new location, we will be doing a lot more uh actual projects out in the community. So, that'll be exciting. Uh we would also like to invite everybody here, tell your friends, your family, anyone that you know our ECP experience theater project is going to be next Tuesday. I forget the exact time, but I think if you show up around 4, you should be able to uh catch some good stuff. We're going to have a live Socratic seminar

056there, so you can really see sort of like uh the projects that we do in school. You get to see one live in action. Uh the trail I've been working with some of my uh some of my co-workers to really pretty it up so that people can enjoy that. We have we have double trouble on May 22nd. Not only is that going to be our uh Cedar School dance, it will also be the day that the Environ team leaves for for the state competition which will be over by Samish Island. So, you know, some a very fun competition for our students. I am a part of Environ. So, unfortunately, I will miss the dance, but I get to represent uh the Shelton School District over at um Samish Island, the state competition. And along with

057that, we will also ASB has also been organizing a fundraiser where we will be volunteering at a marathon. So, that'll be very nice. We also have Oh, yeah. And uh Susie, our counselor, was able to organize a field trip over to Evergreen. I'm pretty sure uh Choice and maybe SHS. I definitely know that all of the juniors from Cedar will be going to that. So, for all the for like the Shelton Promise students that want to get a tour of Evergreen, students who want to just kind of want to know what the experience of visiting a college is like. So that'll be very fun. So yeah, I'd just like to reiterate that Cedar High School is is only succeeding because of the fact that we get support from the district and we really appreciate the

058support that we've gotten from the district over the years. Thank you. Thank you, Kaylee Allen from Choice. Um, in the choice day program, students are writing essays and finishing up projects in English and science. We're expecting 30 seniors to graduate from the day program with five of them coming from the iLearn program. We also have three students moving to the pathways program next year to strengthen their transition to the adult world. Students with interest in student government are gearing up for our ASB election so that next year we can start building our community with strong student voice and leadership. Do we still need the EPA? Choice Middle School has been exploring what led to the creation of the EPA. The students have explored the causes and effects of Silent Spring, the Denoras Mog, Love Canal,

059and Shelton's toxic waste disposal site, Goose Lake, and Seat Street landfill. This allowed students to explore primary and secondary sources as well as determining credibility of sources. Currently, they are exploring the waterways of Mason County. In the next few weeks, students will be building a model creek in the classroom and exploring the ways the pollution enters the waterways and discussing ways to reduce the pollution. The open doors program is gearing up for their move to welcome the Cedar High School team. We have several students that have gained well over a year of credit and are pushing themselves out of their comfort zones to reach their goals by the end of the school year. We currently have six students that have finished all of their credits and grad requirements. We are optimistic that more will join

060them by the deadline for graduation. Thank you. Uh item 7.02 presentation on special education. Can I think you can hear me now. Uh thank you so much for letting me come and talk a very quick general overview of a special education. I want to save a little room for some celebrations at the end. I just want to kind of point out before we get into special services that all of our students of course are general education students first. And so all of the amazing work that's been presented throughout this year and years past is really what's benefiting our students the most. and access to all of these amazing programs is really what we're gearing up and aiming to do within special services. So, let's get into a little nitty-gritty, some some data that everybody probably

061wants to know. Who do we serve in special education? You can kind of see on this basic pie chart that most of our students have a specific learning disability. The interesting fact about learning disabilities is that's average or above average IQ. So most of our students do have really high cognitive functioning, but there's barriers to accessing their education. We have otherwise health impaired health impairments. Some of those students, as many of your maybe co-workers, family members, colleagues that have ADHD, have even super brains, probably above average IQ levels, but again, there's barriers to them accessing that education. We have a lot of students that are considered developmentally delayed and that's a diagnosis that we try to really catch students young and provide intervention early so that it less there's less impact on their future careers

062and they can spend more time in special education. Our early learning center has certainly grown a lot over the last couple years. And then of course like many places we have um some increased rates of autism still within the state average and great partnerships with Mason Health to again identify those students early and get them services before school. And then we have some less common communication disorders, behavior disorders, multiple disabilities um within special education. So who provides all of these services? You can definitely see the far majority of our department is staffing. Lots of teachers, para educators. We have a couple of nurse practitioners that are allowing access for students with pretty complex medical needs, speech and language pathologists. We're looking for a few more if you know anybody, as well as occupational therapists. Um,

063we're starting to look at uh occupational therapy assistants and potentially adding an assistant to our speech and language pathologist. Great fields for students that are looking for an awesome two-year degree. We have a physical therapist, a team of school psychologists, a board certified behavior analysts that's been working hard with our more behavior specific programs, and then one teacher on special assignment who helps both facilitate our early learning center and some of our more complex learners. We have some incidental services such as teacher of the visually impaired, deaf and heart of hearing, an aiologist that's on contract from places like Washington State School for the Blind or uh the Washington State School for the Deaf and Heart of Hearing. How is it funded? I know this is pretty heavy on everyone's mind when we look at

064general funding. And as you noticed, it is mostly staff and staff that we fund in special education. The good news is there is a lot of state funding. Well, we'll see if that's good news. I know that we still have to sign our budget for next year, but there is a large portion of state funding that we use for our total budget. And then there's some smaller portions of federal funding. And of course that deficit that we do have to borrow from basic ed and or use for our levy dollars. There's a small piece of that pie called safety net grant funding. So that is state funded. It's not guaranteed, but if we do spend a certain amount of money and do an excellent application, which Shelton has done historically for many years, we will

065get that safety net grant funding. And that percentage is growing. It should be about 5% this year. We won't know until August, of course. You can kind of see there's a general average per pupil cost of $15,000 which unfortunately is not what the state allocates per pupil for special education. And our current enrollment has been pretty steady my three years here. So we usually have around 750 students in our whole department including the early learning center. So how are all of these services provided? What do all of those staff members on that page do? uh we really look at integrating our services. So part of this is just copy and pasted right out of the law, but to the maximum extent possible, we're really looking at educating all children together, both with disabilities and without.

066Our integrated service model that we're continuing to um to really cultivate year after year provides the continuum of that least restrictive environment. And really the intent is for services to follow the students more and more to go with the students and not having students pulled or having to follow the services. There's some awesome information that came out of the um every minute counts report that just came out of the the federal government around really getting services to students and using every instructional minute that we have. We've kind of cultivated three programs and started to really define those over the last couple years. We have your more traditional resource services. So those are either academics or social emotional supports and little sprinkles of that throughout all of the students educational settings. That's the majority of our

067teachers by far. But we have two more specialized programs. One of those is that adaptive or functional life skills um program. I see several teachers here tonight that are part of that program model. And we're looking a lot at independence skills to build independence and the functional part of our standards, but still really increasing that rigor to achieve the same standards. How can those standards functionally be used in a real life setting? And then we have our specialized social emotional behavior support services. So that's really focusing on those behavior intervention plans and looking at replacement behaviors that are serving the same function as less desirable or unexpected behaviors. and we have really done some awesome training with both of those teams to get those services cultivated and tuned in. Uh most importantly is our connection

068with community as students start to enter either our program when they graduate or move on to that transitions program whether it's at Shelton High School or down at the Pathways campus. I heard on the the choice report that we had three students moving into the transitions program and I think a few young adults were going to try to join me tonight. So, if anyone was able to make it, this is a great time to come and join me up here or you can stay in the audience. Totally flexible there. Some examples of what those community outings look like towards the end of high school and certainly into up to really your 22nd birthday might be going to pay more recycling and learning how to clip wires and crush crush cans. Shelton YMCA is beyond an

069amazing partner teaching fitness and recreation, swimming, weight rooms. What do you do in all your downtime when you're a young adult? Panhandle Lake has let us uh disassemble scraps, clean up the landscape, and then Hope Garden comes to our campus and not only allows us how to um teaches us how to garden the earth and treat the land, but then growing, cooking, and harvesting all of that food kind of in these um inclusive lessons that include a lot of social skills. It's pretty beautiful. Sierra Pacific Industries is constantly offering us tours and teaching students about the safety equipment and gear. Habitat for Humanity, again, we've stretched a little bit into the South Sound because we're doing a lot of cleaning and organizing and just being around typical customer clientele. Down at that Pathways Transitions program,

070there have been some amazing local vocational partnerships that were continuing to grow. And those partnerships, you'll see if you want to grab a flyer, I'll leave those out on the table, are typically once, twice, sometimes three times a week where students are going and working at Nift Nifty Thrifty Shelton Athleticletic Club, the Mason County has several um positions. Mountain View Alliance, the Animal Shelter, Walking Dogs is a new very exciting position. Uh we have students working at the Early Learning Center as well as Evergreen Elementary. We're doing recycling, sorting for the food banks. Washington State Parks has been a new amazing partner. I'll share a little story at the end about that and even Shelton Auto Parts. So, pretty um diverse group of potential employers. The community outings, Miss Stoutner, who teaches our Pathways program,

071continues to add tours and field trips and community opportunities, yes, for education and future careers, but also just for recreation and social skills. So you can see on this very robust list that students are traveling at least every other week. Actually a weekly every Friday I believe they're going on at least one community outing together as a group. So few more celebrations before I kind of share a student story at the end. You got to see everyone's test scores and we pulled this out of uh students specifically with disabilities. We're almost at 55% of passing our state standard in ELA. Pretty incredible for our students. Again, most of them have average or above average intelligence, and our Shelton schools are allowing them to shine. Some other celebrations that are only measured in pictures, not words,

072is examples of that literacy. What does literacy look like from a very diverse lens? What does communication look like? How do they teach us learning? I'm not sure if this will let me play that med middle video or not. Um, and then what do we do to meet students both physical as well as sensory needs? How do we take those atypical brain pathways and make them useful and functional in school? The student who's giving a high five to Miss Dale there in shaving cream worked really, really, really hard for that opportunity. That was a huge reward, I think, for both of them actually. We'll see if this plays the video or not. your book and see what Sorry. All right. What do we have? Eight red apples. Very good. So that's a student who may

073or may not have a verbal voice, but certainly has a very complex voice in a system called Proloquo on his iPad. We have over 120 iPads and students using augmentative communication throughout all of our ages and age spans. Where some where some people may see a student who feels overstimulated and has an urge to rip up paper, you can imagine what that might look like in say a junior high setting. other individuals see a potential winning Halloween door contest and use that paper. Those are all teeny tiny pieces of paper on the pumpkin if you can't see it. Use that paper skill to their advantage and the whole team rallied and definitely I think knocked it out of the park for that door contest that year. Um we have really looked at incentives, rewards, how

074to help students feel motivated and learn and how to help students set their own goals. So, get my smarts, try not to miss work, and try not to be loud is that individual students goal that's posted in the room that they check on. Examples of a lot of our stores and rewards that we're building into our behavior incentive programs. And then again, just forms of not only basic communication skills, but embedding reading, writing, and math into kind of all of those activities. One more little video here because there's so many. But he's not going to like it. He's choking on it. That's true. [Music] Are you Are you ready? Before when the Play-Doh got set up when I saw this, I was so confused. I thought it was candy. They do look like candy. This

075week's been a little a little noise in that background because we had a student from Pathways as a future preschool employee learning how to work with that student who was counting the bunnies and processing out loud with the speech therapist if that was or wasn't a choking hazard. So, that was kind of the side conversation and then the multi-layers of instruction that we were able to give just in that little snapshot moment. I want to take just a quick brief moment before I wrap up to introduce you to my friend Gavin. And I did talk to his mother and let her know I would be sharing his story a little bit. Uh Gavin's 21 years old. He's going to turn 22 in in July. We've learned that Gavin's loves loves the outdoors. I should have

076all capital and bold loves. Uh Gavin was diagnosed with autism at a very young age and used to get extremely overwhelmed in crowds and has very limited really not a lot of verbal speech. So we have redesigned uh brought the team together. His mother's been a huge part of that team as well as several creative thinkers around our district, created that program with the state parks. And at this point, Gavin has used both his energy and his large stature to clear several acres of scotch broom from our local parks. Not an easy feat. If you were out at Lake Isabella hiking at all last year, you might have met Gavin and his team. Um he now works with a team of individuals at Hope Garden down at the Pathways program and he was able to

077walk in a graduation ceremony and graduate um with the entire choice community. Um he's starting to attend local dances and really feel like he's going to have a very um a lot of po possibility and potential as he enters his adulthood. Uh, I'm really proud of this team and how they helped me think out the outside of the box so that a student like Gavin could teach me everything he was capable of. All right, thank you so much. Oh, I got some next steps. So, a lot of amazing things to celebrate, but a lot of work to still do. Um, some of the next steps that I want to continue as next year's work stream is continuing to really look at those behaviors and what's the function or what's the reason behind behaviors. We want

078to continue our social emotional development well beyond just our behavior specific programs, but into all of our service models and connecting with our PBIS teams. My partner over there, Dusty, uh, we definitely are continuing to look at our monitoring systems. We're having less and less exceptions each month, which means more and more students are getting funded and getting on our count, and that's bringing in revenue. Going to continue to look at release uh at decreasing those monthly errors. And then, of course, the systems for guidance and monitoring so that individuals in the field of special education don't necessarily need to ask me for answers. I've got live linked guiding documents that will take them right to the laws and that will explain them in layman's terms. Uh this is one of the most excited pieces

079is continuing that integrated service across all of our systems of support. So really increasing that that data at the table. What where is a student successful? What progress are they making and then what progress are they not making? Um by doing that databased instruction and decision-making, we really think we can decrease our exclusion rates even further. Students with disabilities are often suspended or expelled at a higher rate. We did some great work. We saw it dip down and it's creeping back up. So, we definitely want to tackle that one again next year. And those ELA scores looked amazing, but they can certainly get better and continue to grow. So, we not only want to keep doing what we're doing, but integrate those services back into the general ed for even more rigor, more robust learning.

080And that should be my last slide. Thank you so much. No. Uh, thank you. Uh does anybody have any questions? Any Go ahead. I Yes, I actually do. Um thank you. That was an excellent presentation. And just because I spend quite a bit of my own work time in healthcare and one of the first slides you had the different components, you know, whether it's occupational therapists or psychologists, nurse practitioner even what you mentioned. So just out of my own curiosity sake, are those things that those people they're contracted and come into the school or are students taken to those services? I'm trying to better understand all of those components. Fantastic question and secret mission of mine so I get to talk about both in a really quick manner. Um so those are all school-based services.

081The IEP team has dictated that they need those supports to access their education. families can still utilize their either state medical or private medically funded services. So, we have families that double dose. Um, all of those services are also partnerships with our homeschooled as well as private schooled population because they live within our Shelton community. Um, and we have been working really hard to hire within to hire those individuals and have them work for us at Shelton School District. We still need one more SLP, one more OT, and one more PT. Those are contracts that I do have to contract out, but the employees come into our district. No virtual services. Um, so as soon as we hire those last three people, everybody will work for Shelton schools. And and that's common um for a

082district our size, small or large actually, as well that we have to sometimes contract for services. Um, sometimes we were just talking about this, they get grabbed right out of college and then they get taken up by the agencies and then they are contracted out. So that's just um and then a lot of times we don't might need only need a part-time something. So we'll share that individual with other districts for us. But we try to have those staff um that were up there, all those specialist plus sometimes special education teachers literally and behavior techs also be our employees. So they're here to to help be part of a a greater team and obviously easier easier to figure out how to do more wraparound services for our students. Yeah, that's what I'm so impressed with

083that you were saying. You were able to really kind of minimize the disruption to just the educational learning time while integrating all of those services. So, I I think that's fantastic. And it also sounds like there's a certain amount of leeway to customize educational. I mean, from the example that you even gave there at the end, um, just hearing you were able to create a learning experience for someone to bring out the best in them. And that's just really wonderful to hear. I'm happy that's happening here. And historically, that's also a contract. We've had to look elsewhere to serve some of our most complex population. But as our team has grown and as our access to this community grows, we're finding that if we can build a program here where their adulthood is going to

084reside, those programs become so much more powerful and they're not traveling hours on end to access their services. Um it is bringing more creativity and more beautiful examples to our teams to then fuel that synergy. Yeah. No, I was really impressed with all the community partnerships and the opportunities that they're having. So, thank you for highlighting all of that. I really appreciated your presentation. Any more questions? I don't have any. I was just again going to follow up with the super impressed with how much the community buy in you have with this and and your ability to get out and uh get those things taken care of. So, thank you very much. Yeah, I think in the end it's all about communication, finding the communication and community. If we can nail those two things, all

085of our Shelton students will continue to be more successful. Okay, thank you very much. All right, 7.03, a presentation on self and uh safe and welcoming environment. Chelsea Brady and Adrienne Mry. All right. Um, thank you board president Welander, other esteemed board members and superintendent Jesse and student board our student representatives for having us here tonight. We do have a large team. Everybody's very excited to present on this topic. My name is Adrienne Minry. I'm the director of curriculum and instruction for preK through six. So tonight we are presenting on safe and welcoming environments uh which is one of the priority areas as as we all know under the strategic plan and we'll really be talking a lot about the amazing work that our educators and school communities are doing at our middle grades at

086Olympic Middle School and Oakland Bay Junior High School. We um you can see some of our our students and staff members who we are so proud of. I think we've heard that a lot here tonight from different people about how proud we're feeling about the work that we're doing and the growth that we're seeing as a result. So I think what you can also see here is that um that age band we deliberately just put the labels down there and didn't say which school they are. These are our fifth through 8th graders. and we think about those students as moving on a trajectory through our schools and how how can we build that and continue to improve that for them. So I'll just bring it back to this really quickly before handing it over uh

087to Miss Brady. Uh for the last couple of board presentations I did present on um with teacher colleagues on uh literacy. So the first priority area under a strategic plan and we talked about the instructional components that help uh make our students readers, help them grow their reading skills. So we talked about that phonics and word recognition and the language comprehension and those both working together. But part of what I love to talk about and think about is how with any academic area, what's really underpinning that work is teaching kids those executive functioning skills and making sure that they're engaged. So when we talk about executive functioning skills, that's a really technical education type of term, but we're really thinking is like what are the social skills? What are the study skills that kids need?

088How can they sit still when they're in class? How do we teach that when they're little? How do you teach them to focus and be able to stay engaged with their studies? How do you say, how do you teach them to plan ahead? You might have a longer project. How are you going to plan this out over time? Those executive functioning skills are things that we as responsible educators and communities and parents, that's what we teach our kids. And so um in our school system, we're partners in that work and we teach into those as well as I think provide we're really working hard on providing motivating and engaging environments for our students where they do feel safe and welcomed so that then they're able to focus on their learning and increase their reading skills,

089their writing skills, their skills as mathematicians and scientists and getting ready for college and career readiness. Good evening. I'm Chelsea Brady. I'm the director of curriculum and instruction for 712. Um, so I'm just excited to talk to you tonight about how we are continuing to build one system, K12. So when we think about safe and welcoming schools, part of that is creating structures and routines and predictable environments for our students because we do have kids that come from three elementary schools and into one middle school at MS and then into OBJ and then into three different high schools. So, as they're moving through those schools, we're trying to set up predictable structures and routines so that they are set up for success and not experiencing vastly different experiences in each school. Um, and so as

090we work together on that alignment, um, we're really thinking about developmentally the different age groups and how to kind of stairstep those expectations and how to set up those environments to meet the needs of where they're at developmentally. Um, so tonight again we're focused on OBJ and MS. I think we can all recognize that that can be a challenging age group. I can't tell you how many times both as a teacher and as a principal. And I'm sure my colleagues behind me, they say, "Oh my gosh, I could never work at a middle school or a junior high. Just think back to when you were, you know, ages 11 to 14. You make some interesting choices. Um, and you try on some different behaviors as you're learning how to navigate. Um, and that's kind of

091an exciting age, too, though, because we get to support students through those changes. And through this alignment that we're working on, we're really leaning into how to teach them those skills on how to navigate life. And so, you'll hear a little bit um about that tonight from the colleagues behind me. Um and so part of this alignment again is setting up circumstances within our schools so that the environments are set for students to be um successful and also that we are teaching them these skills. So, as you can see, um, both MS and OBJ have been working hard on not only structures and routines and building relationships, um, but also holding students accountable and teaching them skills as again they're trying on some different behaviors. Um, you can see the change. We are working together.

092We are moving in the right direction and you can see that in the data here. Our number of exclusions is decreasing. The number of referrals is decreasing. Um, I know that we have had a a difficult narrative even at OBJ and yet it is not the same as it has been in the past. We really are moving in the right direction. I'm excited for you to hear from some of the staff tonight. Um, you can see it in the data, but you can really feel it in the school. And so, I'm going to hand it over to Maryanne, the principal, to share a little bit more about that. Good evening. Like Mrs. Brady said, OBJH is not the same place it was last year and it will continue to improve with this work with alignment

093with MS. We know that our students at MS are there for two years and they come to us for two years. And so myself and my assistant principal, Miss Gangar, has spent this year intentionally working with the staff and the admin staff at MS. We've been going to MS looking at their structures and routines. how can we apply that over at OBJH um with just some small tweaks because they are coming up to the junior high. So, what would be appropriate there? But we're trying to make things similar to make the transition easier. It also gives us a chance to get to know our students that are coming up. So, not only have we spent time inside um the classrooms, we've also spent time out on the playground, out in the common areas, in the

094hallways, and we've taken what we've learned from MS and we have started to apply that work um in our building already. And I'm excited for my assistant principal to share that work with you tonight. But like I said, OBJ is not the same place. And O and junior hires are fun to work with. And the one of the things that we have seen in our building is that when we teach our students what is expected of them, intentionally teaching them, showing them and modeling them, they show up and they can follow directions. And they're showing that every day at OBJ. Hello, I am Paige Ginger, the assistant principal at OBJ and I just want to share with you some exciting things that we did take right from the get from MS. So, we went over

095there, we observed some of their structures and routines like Miss Marshall had mentioned and um one of the first things that we really saw that we wanted to do is uh tighten up some of our lunch procedures, our lunch structure. Um but with that came the opportunity to get kids outside to the back field during their lunch movement time. that had not been a practice for a few years and um something that we had gotten feedback on from the staff and from the students as being a a real big need and desire for them to be out there. Um so the following week after going over to MS uh we started implementing that. We started to talk to students about what those changes were. We brought them into uh the discussion into advisory with teachers

096to start talking about what that will look like for them. And then the week after we were able to get those kids outside with supervision. So, we are very ex very excited for that. They've been doing very well. There has not been any um major issues with that. And also, the feedback from staff and our custodians about the cleanliness of our lunch block time is huge. And it's really exciting to see that progress go directly from MS and apply it at OBJ and for that success to be a thing. Don't worry, I got this. Hi everybody. I'm Mike Crafty. I'm the assistant principal at Olympic Middle School and I'm going to continue the uh common expectation uh theme that we've got going on here. Um, basically at MS we explicitly teach our common area expectations

097at the start of the school year and then um, especially after we come off of long breaks such as winter and spring break. The teams are provided with teaching slides that have each of these common areas such as bathrooms and hallways. And as a class, they go through those slides and discuss it during their home room time. Then Mrs. Johnson and I work with each team to discuss what this looks like at lunch and recess. And then for positive incentives to support this work, we use Eagle tickets and monthly common area spotlights. I'm now going to turn it over to Mr. Barkman. Good evening. My name is Eric Barkman. I teach fifth grade math at MS. And um you've heard structures and routines over and over. And at the classroom level at MS, we have

098our students are in teams. So students have a number of teachers. And we were tasked this year with writing common expectations and routines for various things in amongst our team so that students transitioning from classroom to classroom knew what to expect without having a different set of rules for each teacher's classroom. So examples transitioning between classrooms entering into task uh into class and the do now tasks independent work time like coming down to the floor to do our mini lessons. um managing materials such as our Chromebooks, following the flow of the classroom, make sure everything is taken care of, and how we dismiss at the end of class. Those structures and routines, when they're consistent across classes, let the kids focus on the learning, not on what does this teacher want from me. Okay. So,

099beyond setting up an environment um where students can be successful, as we mentioned earlier, we know that it's a complex age. We also have to teach them the skills on how to actually navigate, how to interact with each other, how to solve a social problem if they're not getting along with a friend. Um, we are doing a lot of work around anti-bullying and um, and that work happens in our advisory and home room classes where they actually will learn lessons. I'm going to have Miss Adams, the counselor at OBJ, is going to share a little bit about that in a moment. Um, but as we know, we can't just punish our way out of a problem. So if students are doing something that we don't want them to do, while we hold them accountable, that's

100not going to teach them the skill on how to do it differently in the future. And so at both of our schools, we're really working on teaching students these skills. So Stacy can share that with us. Good evening. Before I get to advisory, I just wanted to highlight another um key contributor to the safe and welcoming schools um is that like MS OBJ implemented a no cell phone policy this year and it's really had a significant impact on student engagement um decrease in cyber bullying incidents as well as just in encouraging stronger social interactions between our students. are actually talking to one another instead of having their faces in phones. So that has been another way that we have been aligned um with MS. Um in terms of our advisory uh we focus on teaching

101those important lifelong skills in that time. We have a daily advisory at OBJ just as um MS um we have focused a lot on teaching students problem solving skills and taking responsibility for their actions. So, you make a choice, there's consequences, and then how do you set goals and work to improve yourself going forward? Um, we just had a lesson and preparation for the Smarter Balance Assessment where we wanted students to get ready for test taking. So, we taught some test taking strategies, including teaching them deep breathing as a way to deal with stress that is associated with test taking. I'm back. Um, I'm Beth Chapen. I teach sixth grade English at um Olympic Middle School. And the video we're about to watch, I'm not going to put it forward just in case it auto

102plays, but um we teach second step uh at MS during our seal time. time. We call it time. Um, and that the lesson you're going to watch is uh part of the lesson sequence about um goal setting and starting middle school. Um, because again, we're we're an elementary school. We're an intermediate elementary school that's pretending to be a middle school. Um, so that is the lesson you're going to see. This is my real students in my actual classroom. Um, and it was the lesson that I was teaching that day was about what happens when we go to middle school. What does it feel like? Um, and so you'll see you'll see some of that. Was I supposed to say anything else? Oh, it's a Oh, it's she Adrienne's feeling nervous about the video. It's 20-minute

103video, but it was chopped down, so it's a little bit jumpy. I promise I don't actually teach in like weird chunks the way the video says it. Okay, there we go. You're getting a short snippet. Short short snippet. This unit is all about setting goals, getting ready for middle school, right, the junior high. And so, let's get in here. We're going to watch some videos and we are going to talk about what is it like going into middle school. We are going to talk about challenges that you might face, things that might happen, and what we can do. And I want you to write on your piece of paper, and I want you to write what is one thing that makes you nervous about starting at the bay. then write that. I'm not nervous. Not

104going to shout anybody's out specifically, but I see things like, "What if no one likes me? What if I can't make any friends? What if there's too much work? What if the workload is much bigger than it is at at MS classes?" Those are all things that it's okay to be nervous about. We're going to watch a video and listen to some people talk about starting middle school and all of those things. or like too little or would I be like too good in the classroom? Like would I be not as smart as One thing I was nervous I was nervous about in middle school was fitting in with others and um opening my locket. I want you to try to talk to a partner your your table partner but you're trying to talk to

105your table partner. What kinds of challenges did the students in the video face? What kinds of fears did they have? And were they the same as yours? How many of you just a show of thumbs that they had similar fears to the ones that you had that you wrote down that these the people in this video were like noticing like this is I'm nervous about these same things. I want you again we're going to work with partners again. I want you to think about a time that you felt nervous starting something new but then felt better after a while. What happened that made you feel better? You're going to turn and talk to your partner. You are going to write down two or three things that you came up with. I was nervous to start

106with and then I felt better. I want to give you an example. My first year teaching sixth grade ever was last year. Ready? Turn and talk. I felt nervous when I couple people shared. What did you write down? What are the strategies that you used? I did get it over with and then afterwards there we go. There's a couple other suggestions, right? Giving yourself time. That's that safe place or taking a deep breath. Knowing your teacher's expectations. What's beautiful is Olympic and the Bay. We're working together. We're trying to work together. We're trying to link the things that we do. We want to make sure that when you leave here, you go into a situation that's pretty similar in terms of expectations, right? We're not going to have our phones out. We're not going to

107run in the hallways. We're not going to touch each other, right? And so those expectations are going to be similar or the same. Mrs. Johnson is working with Mrs. Marshall to make sure that the principles have the same idea like what's going on. Miss G is working with Mr. Craft about how do you do restorative circles? How do you do the work that you're doing here? Right? And so when we about knowing your teacher's expectations. It's a whole lot easier to walk into a building and go, "Okay, things are going to be at least somewhat the same, right? From the place that I left to the place that I'm going now." That was a great snippet of a lesson. Um, so that's what we have for you tonight. We really wanted to highlight the just

108amazing work at the middle grades and um, so thank you. Thank you to everyone that came and shared. Is there any questions? Just real quick, um, thank you for all that work. Um, the transition to no cell phones at OBJ, just curious how that went this year. I'm sure everybody was excited. Um, how' that go? How'd that go with the staff and those that had to enforce kind of a new policy change? Well, I think one of the things that we learned is to get in front of the message early, right? So, we started in August educating our families and educating our students. putting that information out there, taking phone calls, answering questions. Our our families were super supportive and I think one of the reasons that it was successful is it was a team

109effort. Everybody agreed this is what we were going to do and we did it. And right now, if you walk into OBJ, it's cell phone free after the first bell. And students, like Miss Adams was saying, they're having conversations, they're talking to one another, they're playing, and they're having fun. And I think our our discipline rates are going down because of the no cell phone policy. I think it's just so great to see you all here collaborating and working so hard to make sure that the students are successful in one of the most difficult spots in the district. And uh I just really appreciate your effort. I really appreciate everything you put into this presentation. Um it's just underappreciated, but um it's we appreciate it. So, and it's Yeah. Thank you. Um yeah, everything I've

110ever seen about, you know, middle school and junior high, it's always looked like Viking warfare. And um you guys have definitely gotten on on top of that. and and you've you know I've been in both schools now and um you know there's not people out roaming around and you know you're not hearing about the problems. So great great job. Thank you. You may be seated. Okay. Hey, item number eight, the consent agenda. Has everybody had a chance to take a look at that? I motion to approve this evening's consent agenda. I'll second. All in favor? I I. All righty. Moving on down to item number nine, 9.01, re uh proposed revised uh policy 3245, the student telecommunication devices. Uh dusty trickle. Good evening, board president Wheeler, other board directors, student representatives, and superintendent Jesse. My

111name is Dusty Trickle. I am the director of student wellness. I'm here this evening to discuss the second reading of the revised policy 3245 regarding students and telecommunication devices. Um, just as a reminder, this is the policy that addresses restrictions of cell phones during the school day. Are there any questions about the policy? I don't have any questions about the policy. Uh getting into the procedures, I am kind of curious how you're going to address like smart watches and some of those things. That's that I that's going to be a tough one. People don't own Mickey Mouse anymore. That is an excellent question. Um I'm hoping that we can glean some information from some schools that have started to implement it because I had the same the same questions going into this procedure because it

112is going to be harder with the watches and just really monitoring how students are using those I think will really be what it comes down to. Um ensuring that it's not Go ahead. Yeah. So this um taps into very much like the previous presentation. So um when we're in a reactive mode and we don't have developed um some of the structures, routines, the expectations and the relationships, we can be chasing ourselves on anything. I was we were I don't forget who I was joking around with, but I was like, "Oh yeah, remember when I was in middle school? I was selling all sorts of stuff left and right." That was a problem probably back then, right? I was I'm sure there's some staff that were like, "Yeah, that kid Wyatt, he's annoying. Like he's selling

113things." Kids can do anything, right? And so right now is very challenging. S uh phones provide a lot of stimulation and they can be really entertaining. So they're a little bit more challenging than other things irregardless of the item. And I thought Mr. Bartman did a really good job. He detailed all of the things that are required to make it work inside of a classroom to engage the students and so that we can get the learning in the in the watches or the cell phone whether they're hire I mean things are can be you're I mean the buds we have so many kids wearing hats and having their hair down or hoodies those can always be issues but if we don't have that relationship and we're engaging the kids I can tell you they can

114outsmart us you know and it's kind of running after it's like I AI same thing like AI I we can mandate and say we're going to screen every paper and all that, but it's really it's it is an issue and we can help try to get it, but it's not the it's not the first and primary step. It is those other steps that we heard in that presentation that will help get us there. So, I just I know a lot of people like get on it. What's your solution? But it's actually it's more complex. These are complex. Human beings are complex and we need to address that. That's why this work does take time and that's why I'm again very proud of both MS and OBJH for making it making it happen because that's really

115what they have been relying on to make um the no cell phone policy work. Well, we saw earlier that it seems to be working in the the middle school and junior high. Um I'm perfectly happy to to be good with this as it's written. It's something that I've been pushing since I was elected. So, um, I would take a motion. I motion to approve policy number 3245, students and telecommunication devices. I will second that. All in favor? I I I. It is enthusiastically passed. Thank you. Okay. 9.02, proposed approval of sale of real property located at 102 East University Avenue, Shelton, Washington, 98584. This is just uh the action item from the public hearing. So, I just need a an approval of this to move forward. Any questions for Mr. Sherman? Then I would take

116a motion. I motion to approve the proposed approval of sale of real property located at 102 East University AB Shelton Washington 98584. And I will second. All in favor? I. Thank you. And I'm back. Don't go anywhere. Okay. Uh proposed items to declare surplus. Clinton Sherman. Yeah, this is not a new process for most school districts. You guys normally do it annually. We are going to do a spring surplus. We have some things ready to go and there's no sense to hold them. Um and so we have a list in front of you to uh declare surplus tonight and we'll bring another list during the summer. What questions do you have for me? And also again it's around um timing, right? There's no money coming legislatively. We need to figure out how to generate more

117revenue for ourselves. We have some items of value. Why why sit on them for months and do it? So, and I apologize for the late addition on the uh agenda. That was that was my fault. I was trying to move real quick on it. Any questions? Take a motion. I move that we approve the proposed items that are declared for surplus. Second the motion. All in favor? I. Thank you. Item number 10, legislative update. All right, it's the best part of the evening, everybody. Just kidding. That was Caramels with kids. Um last last real ledge update for this for the session here. Um it started on January 13th and progressed for its intended 105 days. uh over 2200 bills, resolutions, and memorials were introduced and 424 bills and three joint memorials and one joint resolution

118were passed. Um the final numbers on the big three as we tracked them this legislative session, which were transportation, um material supplies and operating costs, and special education funding. uh to meet actual needs. A 1.1 billion for the 2025-27 bianium was requested for special education, but the final number came in at just over 300 million. Special education also saw a multiplier increase to 1.16 and the removal of the artificial enrollment cap um which may help some districts. 90 million um was provided for material supplies and operating costs. Uh the current estimated statewide shortfall is at 1 billion and definitely not keeping pace with inflation. Uh this 90 million helps but is not nearly enough. Uh especially when districts have already been cutting staff and programs and will need to continue doing so just um to

119meet keeping lights on. And there was no transportation funding. However, a fuel tax increase of um from 49.4% 49.4 cents per gallon to 55.4 cents per gallon which will increase by 2% each year to adjust for inflation. So just calling out our gas will increase for transportation but not not our MSOC. Um, districts can try to run levies for enrichment activities and operations that are not covered by the state's basic education funding to try to close gaps created as the cost of basic education needs outpace state allocations. Uh, House Bill 2049 increase the local tax authority for school levies did pass um, which will increase gradually over the next six years. Beginning in the 2031 calendar year, the per pupil levy limit will be 5,035 for all districts. There were about 35 unique bills that

120passed the legislature touching education at all levels in the state. Some of these highlighted funding from um some of the highlighted funding from these bills for K12 education I'd like to share are the 2025 supplemental operating budget includes supplemental funding of 17.5 million more for school meals and 15.7 million more for transition to kindergarten. The legislature also included one-time funding of 52 million for 2025 equaling to about $50 per student um that will be allocated to the school districts for the school year. The 202527 bianial operating budget included 308.4 million increase for special education, 81.4 4 million more for the materials, supplies, and operating costs and increased um 137 million for local education authorities. These LEAs support students with disabilities through special education programs and services designed to meet the unique needs of each student.

121LEAs, uh, local education authorities must provide a range of services including individualized education programs, IEPs, and related services like therapy, counseling, and transportation. Shelton School District was identified as an eligible school district, seeing an increase of $150 in calendar year 26 and 250 in calendar year 27. The 2527 capital budget has a long list of s smaller allocations. Um but some that stood out were um 429.57 million for the school construction assistance program projects um for the scap fund for state bonds is continuing to be funded. uh 31 million to school district health and safety and 17.5 million for classroom and indoor air quality projects. I would like to thank the legislators and the educator advocates who coordinated and provide transparency to try and close the gaps of basic education funding to districts as many

122of us will continue to be able will continue to struggle to cover the costs of basic education. I'd also like to thank you all for the privilege of supporting the district's legislative interest in sharing updates with you all. Thank you. Okay, on to board member comments and we'll start at the end with Mr. Dale. Yeah, just a couple of thank yous. Um, thank you to everybody who came tonight. I know it ended up being a long one. Thank you to everybody who stuck around. Um, I had the privilege of going to Evergreen Elementary back was that the first and what a privilege to go into the classrooms and have children read with you. Um, the one gal, little gal was working so hard to sound out words and and when she accomplished it, the the

123pride and the excitement was just there. So, what a great opportunity. Um, thank you to the culinary students. I'm sure they're home in bed or doing homework or whatever kids do this late. But but way to get in here and come in and then um yeah, just thank you for community comments once again. Appreciate you getting up there and sharing your thoughts. Miss Gronquist. Lauren, thank you for being here with us tonight. Uh, I was also able to go to Evergreen and I just my students spoke four languages, Portuguese, Spanish, English, and mom like just and she was in first grade. It's just crazy. It's really cool experience. Thank you for inviting us. And I'd also like to call it the last week was teacher appreciation week and I'd like to appreciate the teachers greatly

124this year. So, thank you, M. Davidson. Yeah, thank you very much for all of the presentations tonight. I really appreciated all of them and just getting a window into what you're doing. I also really appreciate having you all come up and present so that the public can see everything that we're talking about because these are things that a lot of people have questions about and getting a better understanding is really important. Um, the highlight for me was also being invited to go to Bordeaux and sit at a table full of kids. And right next to the table that I was with were the three kids that wrote the actual letters to me. So, when I found out they were there, I went and thanked each one of them and told them that it was because

125of their letters that I came um that day and took time out of work because it was just such a special experience to do that. But my table of kids, too, there were two adults that were there. We each got plenty of time to sit with each kid and let them read through their story however they wanted to do it. And it was it was truly the highlight of my week. And I was telling the superintendent, it wasn't scripted at all, but we were all talking about what is your favorite part? Because each one of their stories kind of had the letters of their names and different things about them. And so I was saying, you know, what's your favorite thing to do? And this very shy little girl that was sitting next to me,

126she was like, "It's reading. I love reading." And it I mean, you're just like, "That's amazing." We were talking about animals and favorite colors and and what came blurting out was reading. And there really is this engagement and excitement around reading and it's wonderful to get in the classroom and actually see that. So, I also very much noticed how many community members took time out of their busy days to come in and do that reading too and have that experience. And that's so important. I mean, I I there were so many different people that were able to come in and I appreciate the school district for inviting the community in to do something like that. the culinary kids tonight. It's truly wonderful for me to see these examples of the pathways that are at the

127high school and have a presentation on it. I I loved that. The students did an excellent job of presenting. Um it was fun. I realize I'm It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be, but I'm also terrible at this. So, it's I'm definitely not going to give up my own career for becoming a a decorative rose maker out of Caramel, but it was really fun to be able to do that. Um, the other thing like the button robe ceremony that's coming up this Friday, I just wanted to let other board members know unfortunately I have a work conflict, so I'm not going to be able to make it to that. It is one of my favorite events of the year. I think it's really special to hear from the families

128and see them celebrate each kids in the button robes. are so beautiful. I I love that evening. So, I apologize for not being able to make it. And I do want to say I really appreciate um you and your students coming up today. The Squawken uh tribal kids who came up and spoke. That is not easy to do. There was a lot of pride in their words. I really appreciate them coming up as well as the Skookcomish tribal member who came up as well and hearing their famil family's names and um and their request. So, I really appreciate their courage and their words in coming up tonight. And I think that's it. Um, well, uh, I I I had I've got a ton of stuff scribbled out. Um, you know, tonight's meeting, we we heard

129great things. We heard a bunch of kids get up and and exercise their voice. Um, we had the the kids teaching us how to cook, which uh, frankly, the the culinary arts and all that. That was something I never heard of until I was in college and it's a college program and these guys are knocking it out of the park in high school. Um, this is going great guns. Uh, we're we're seeing huge gains in our special ed department. Uh, you know, there there's just so many positive things going on. um perfect world, no but we've we're moving in the right direction in in every aspect of this. And you know I I always thank all the teachers and and I say that again. Thank you. I have Can I have one more comment? Of

130course you may. And my mic is still on. Oops. Um, I just don't want to forget we all were able to read through the Drake scholarships that came in and then three of us were able to sit down and interview those kids last night and it was such a wonderful example. Amazing kids, all unique, wonderful academic accomplishments, wonderful outside community service, athletics, and they all had great examples. Whether it was a teacher that touched their life, somebody that went above and beyond and did something for them or a classmate or a family member or a community opportunity and then how they wanted to give back. And that it always is a highlight of being on the school board that we have this opportunity to have that um situation where we can interview these students and

131hear these these actual examples. It's just like being able to go in the classroom and and hear the reading. And we had a lot of great applicants and we had five great people that we interviewed and that's always another highlight that I just want to say. The the students were great and hearing their own words and hearing their stories and especially just how their teachers have really touched their life. It goes into that teacher appreciation week. I mean what what you're all doing really matters and it impacts them for the rest of their life. Okay, with that, um, we do have an executive. I would like to, uh, add just Oh, yeah. just another reminder that of our ECP. I think you'll all really going to like this one. It's going to it's going to

132be And then don't let me forget uh if you listen to the ledge report, there's money available. You guys need to do your work project thing for a capital budget request, and I will help you get started on that. Okay, sounds good. Okay. Otherwise, uh we do need to get to the um the executive session will be about 25 minutes. Uh and then uh so we'll be back here at 2027. Seven.