[0:10] Welcome to today's Belleview School District regular board meeting on

[0:14] September 17th, 2026. It is 4:33 p.m. Thank you. We'll start with roll call.

[0:20] Phil Block, >> Carolyn Watson, Tracy Mlin,

[0:23] » Eugene Koli, >> Jay Norris,

[0:25] » Kelly Aramaki.

[0:29] Next is the land acknowledgement. We acknowledge that we are on the

[0:33] indigenous lands of the coast Salish including the Dwamish, Muckleshoot and

[0:37] Snowwami peoples. We thank these caretakers of this land who have lived

[0:41] and continue to live here since time at memorial. We reflect on the historic

[0:46] context that brings us to reside on this land and accept responsibility to

[0:51] interrupt eraser. We are committed to our ongoing partnership with the

[0:55] Snowqualami tribe as we listen to, learn from, and lead with their guidance.

[1:03] Now, we have the uh introduction of the student. Dr.

[1:06] » Good afternoon. And we have with us this afternoon Alex Kazada Enriquez who's a

[1:11] student at Samameish High School and he's going to be accompanied and

[1:14] introduced by his teacher McKenna Rojas

[1:21] and his sister or anybody else that wants to come up.

[1:37] Hi there. I'm McKenna. I'm one of Alex's teachers. I'm so excited that he's

[1:42] giving a speech tonight. He's so passionate about public speaking and

[1:45] he's going to do such a good job. >> Okay, we'll start with the pledge.

[1:54] » I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[1:58] republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible and li with

[2:03] liberty and justice for all.

[2:13] Hi, my name is Alex Q and I am a junior at Seamish High School. I have been a

[2:17] great leader since I arrived at Seamish High School. In my CCC class, I learned

[2:22] ways to get around the community and I went on outings with classmates that I

[2:26] was able to help get around in the community and my peers. Last January of

[2:30] this year, I was invited to give a speech to the incoming freshman parents.

[2:34] I felt that type of confidence that never goes away during my speech. The

[2:38] speech changed my life and also changed my own heart because I used to be shy

[2:42] and I thought to myself if I public speak everyone will like my speech and

[2:46] it get and it did give me inspired not only myself but for people who wants to

[2:50] try public speaking. I am now hoping that when I graduate high school I can

[2:54] continue public speaking. Thank thank you for giving me a chance to speak to

[2:58] you today. Have a wonderful day.

[3:05] Thank you so much, Alex. Appreciate your time.

[3:20] Next is acknowledgements. So September 20th through 21st is Yam Yam Kapur. Uh

[3:27] September 21st is International Day of Peace. September 25th is Malid Al- Nabi.

[3:34] Uh September 25th through October 2nd is Sukkot. Uh September 30th is National

[3:40] Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools.

[3:45] The next item is the approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion?

[3:49] » I move to approve the approval. Approve the agenda.

[3:54] » Second. >> All those in favor of approving the

[3:58] agenda, vote I. >> I. I

[4:00] » I. >> All those opposed, vote nay. The eyes

[4:02] have it. The agenda is approved. >> Next item is the consent agenda. Do I

[4:08] have a motion? >> I move we accept the consent agenda as

[4:11] presented.

[4:14] » Second. >> All those in favor of approving the

[4:18] consent agenda, vote I. >> I.

[4:20] » I. >> I.

[4:22] » All those opposed, vote nay. The eyes have it. The consent agenda is approved.

[4:28] The next item is the superintendent update. Dr. Amaki.

[4:31] » All right. So many great things to talk about today. Uh the first I'll just give

[4:36] you a minute to take in the cuteness on the screen. Uh last week was our first

[4:41] day of preschool and kindergarten. And these are just some photos from our

[4:45] preschool over at Clyde Hill Elementary School. I mean, I don't think it should

[4:49] be legal to be that cute, but um uh you could see the kids are just so happy to

[4:55] be playing uh on the new playground at Clyde Hill. Um I I have to say there was

[5:00] a lot of crying on the first day of preschool, mostly by the parents. Um a

[5:05] few of the kids were crying as well, but um in in this past week, they've really

[5:09] settled in. And we have some of the most incredible preschool and kindergarten

[5:13] teachers. I mean that that is a special special uh passion, heart, skill set uh

[5:20] because you have to take a lot of kids who are not used to going through the

[5:23] routines of school um and then getting them to line up, sit down, come in from

[5:28] recess and all of that. Um and they just uh do an incredible job. So, shout out

[5:33] to our preschool and kindergarten teachers. And um just to the parents, um

[5:38] we're happy for you. Your kids are doing really amazing and hopefully you're

[5:41] enjoying a little bit of newfound freedom as well. Now that your kids are

[5:44] in school, um these kids that you see on this screen and in all of our preks and

[5:50] K's across the district are about to embark on an amazing journey in the

[5:54] Belby School District. And you never know because fast forward

[5:59] a few years, those same kids might be on the list of National Merit Scholarship F

[6:05] semi finalists. Um the 2027 uh semi-finalists have been announced and

[6:12] uh 65 Belleview School District students are National Merit Scholarship Program

[6:17] semi- finalists. Belle's always at the top. We always have more than any other

[6:21] school district. Um this year is no different, but 65 kids um is a lot.

[6:28] Washington State had 350 kids um qualify as semi-finalists. And so Belleview, our

[6:35] 19,000 kids represent um about 2% of all of the kids in public education in

[6:41] Washington state, but almost 20% of our kids are uh among the 350

[6:46] semi-finalists. So um just a shout out to our kids. That is a lot of work. It's

[6:51] a lot of studying. It's a lot of um spending time outside of school. Um and

[6:57] so we're really proud of their accomplishments.

[7:01] Um, I want to give a couple of updates. Uh, the school year has started. We've

[7:06] settled in. We've had our September count. I want to give you some updates

[7:09] on enrollment. Um, and then I'm going to give you a little bit of updates on um,

[7:14] uh, staffing and class size as well. And then we'll end with one last

[7:17] celebration. So, enrollment. Um, this is an important topic. It may not be that

[7:22] interesting to most people, but school budgets are based on how many kids you

[7:27] have. And we what we do in the school district is we have to make an educated

[7:31] guess about how many kids we think we're going to get in September. And we have

[7:35] to make that guess in January or February. So without a lot of

[7:40] information, we have to guess how many kids we're going to get and then create

[7:44] a budget based on that number. And if we are off, like for example, if we get

[7:48] less kids than we thought, then we have to figure out where to pull that money

[7:52] from. And so this is a very hard thing to do. But here's the data. In the

[7:57] spring, we our best guess was that we were going to have 18,814

[8:03] students for this current school year. As of September 11, we have enrolled

[8:09] 18,822 students. That is just eight kids off

[8:14] and it's eight kids more than what we expected. And so, a shout out to all the

[8:19] people who are involved in in guesstimating that number. Um, to hit

[8:23] that number exactly like that is pretty outstanding. um even if we had guessed

[8:28] low and we got way more kids than we thought, that also can be challenging

[8:32] because then we're trying to like um add teachers and things like that. So, this

[8:37] is about as good as it gets. Um that said, and I always tell people never get

[8:42] too excited about budget news um because the other shoe always falls. Um but we

[8:47] are we guessed about 18,814 kids. That is 300 less than last year. So we we

[8:54] were guessing that we were going to lose kids and sure enough we are down by

[8:59] about 253 students from the previous year. So just like school districts

[9:04] across the region, across the state, across the country, globally, uh people

[9:08] are having less kids and so our enrollment is tracking a little bit down

[9:12] from the previous year. Um elementary is down by about 212 students. High school

[9:18] is down by about 175 students. Um but kudos to our middle schools. they are

[9:24] holding us afloat. Our middle schools are up by about 136 kids, which is

[9:28] really remarkable because um in the past, middle school would be uh was a

[9:33] time when people decided they would try homeschooling or private schooling and

[9:37] then bring their kids back to high school. But now uh people are bringing

[9:41] their kids uh to Belleview's middle schools, which is really exciting. Uh

[9:44] kindergarten is currently about 1,095 students. Uh that's fewer than the,27

[9:51] students at the same time last year. Um and fewer than our budgeted projection.

[9:55] We guessed we'd get about 1,180 uh kindergarteners. So it's a we have um

[10:01] not as many kids as we thought we were going to have in kindergarten. Um but we

[10:05] do add students in September. So we're hoping we'll get closer to that 1,180.

[10:10] Uh the bottom line, we have fewer students than last year, uh matching the

[10:14] trend of declining enrollment across our region, but we anticipated it, we

[10:19] budgeted for it, and we're hitting our budgeted enrollment, and we expect to

[10:23] gain kids in September. So, all around pretty good news for enrollment.

[10:28] Uh staffing and class size update. So, these numbers are as of September 11th,

[10:33] and I think we have some public commenters who are going to talk a

[10:35] little bit about class size. So, um, I'm going to try to address a couple of

[10:39] those things, but in general, and this is not everybody's individual

[10:44] experience, but in general, our class sizes are better kindergarten through

[10:48] 12th grade. Um, across the system, our K3 class size

[10:54] ratio, um, uh, which is something that we really try to focus on, uh, decreased

[10:59] from 19.2 average to 18.4 students. So that about one student is represents a

[11:07] lot of money. Um but an investment in our our class sizes at the lowest

[11:12] levels. Um our highest elementary class sizes dropped from 36 last year to 31

[11:18] this year and we only have 31 at three different schools. So that is huge. Last

[11:25] year when we were in major um fiscal crisis, we couldn't solve even the class

[11:31] sizes of 36. I mean, we had that at at one school, but 36 elementary kids is a

[11:36] lot of kids. So, the fact that we have no classes right now over 31 is pretty

[11:41] awesome. And it's only at three different schools. Um, at the secondary

[11:47] um secondary core classes, that's math, science, ELA, English language arts, and

[11:52] social studies. secondary core class sizes um that are over 32 kids decreased

[11:59] from 787 classes last year to 684. So we have 100 fewer classes that have 32 or

[12:07] more kids. That's good. It's not amazing because still we still

[12:14] have 684 classrooms that are over 32 kids, but it's better than the year

[12:19] before. And I told my team when we were staffing, our goal is not worse than

[12:24] last year. Secondary core classes that are over 40

[12:28] students, and we do have some, decreased from seven last year to two this year.

[12:34] So we, this doesn't include all of the electives. Electives are kind of a

[12:38] different story. Band and orchestra and things like that. some of the electives

[12:41] they we we don't have a choice but to have more than 40 kids but in the core

[12:46] uh content areas um classes that have more than 40 kids

[12:50] went down from seven last year to two. So not necessarily amazing but better

[12:56] than last year um with regards to staffing. So in addition to trying to

[13:01] guess how many kids we're going to get, we have to then figure out where we

[13:05] think the teachers are going to be. Where are the kids going to show up?

[13:07] Where are the teachers going to be? Um because I would I would say we have

[13:12] precise enrollment and staffing planning going on right now. Um we've made a lot

[13:16] of improvements. We only had to do 12 involuntary transfers this year, down

[13:21] from 44 the previous year. So involuntary transfers are when we have

[13:25] to take a teacher from international, for example, and send them to one of the

[13:30] other high schools or vice versa. We think we're going to have less kids

[13:33] here. We're going to move them here. We have to move teachers around. 12 is all

[13:37] we did compared to 44 the previous year. And as I mentioned to the Belby Council

[13:43] PTSA, we did not have to move any teachers after the start of the school

[13:48] year. That is really remarkable because some years we're sending teachers from

[13:52] one elementary to the next because kids didn't show up or more kids did show up.

[13:56] And so, um, it can be very disruptive. Sometimes we can't help it. But I'm I'm

[14:01] very excited that we did not have to do that. Again, the bottom line, average

[14:05] class sizes across K12 are improved from last year. And yet, average class sizes,

[14:12] case loads for our special education teachers and ESAs and and others, and

[14:18] individual outlier class sizes remain higher than uh what we ideally want them

[14:23] to be. So, I just want to make sure that that statement is out there because even

[14:26] though I'm saying class size averages are better, that's not necessarily every

[14:31] individual teacher or kids experience. We do have some classes that are very

[14:35] high um and we are keeping an eye on that um and trying to address them over

[14:41] time. Uh my last statement about that is we have to continue to advocate for

[14:45] ample funding from the state. That's the only way that we can systematically

[14:49] lower class sizes to where we want them to be. um we are maxing out our budget.

[14:54] This is what class sizes look like when we max out our budget. Um if we want to

[14:58] have lower class sizes, we're going to have to fight for it at the state level.

[15:05] And then my my last um is a major celebration uh for my final update. I'd

[15:11] love to invite up uh the representatives from Belleview Big Picture International

[15:16] School, Newport High School, Sam Amish High School, Belleview High School, and

[15:20] Interlake High School. So, if you guys would come up, Janine's going to hand

[15:23] you a plaque. We're going to have you just kind of line up here in front of

[15:27] the ledge facing the audience. Your back will be to the camera, but you know, um

[15:32] it'll be okay. Uh come on up and then I'll I'll finish

[15:36] reading my statement.

[15:47] Principal Yehudi, you want to come over here and stand right here on the edge?

[15:50] Thank you. Oh, sorry. Okay. All right. All right. I'm just, you know, wasn't

[15:54] sure you're being shy. Yeah. Right there. And then facing out.

[15:59] Be awesome. Great.

[16:03] Okay. Um, I'm beyond proud to again announce that our four comprehensive

[16:07] high schools and two choice schools have been recognized by US News and World

[16:11] Reports as among the best high schools, not just in Washington State, but in the

[16:16] nation. Uh being one of the best in the country is an actual designation by US

[16:21] News and World Report. So we don't just make up that they're among the best.

[16:25] They have to tell us that they're among the best. Um and these schools are

[16:28] recognized for the accomplishments uh in preparing students for the future.

[16:32] Tonight we are formally presenting um these school leaders with uh their

[16:36] official recognitions. Being one of the best high schools in the country

[16:40] reflects the exceptional work of our students, staff, families, and community

[16:45] partners. We are particularly proud of these rankings because the rankings are

[16:49] not just based on test scores, graduation rates, and rigorous

[16:53] coursework offerings. Uh but they're also uh representing the success of

[16:58] students in our underserved groups. And these leaders here have been working so

[17:02] hard with their staffs to make sure that each and every student in their school

[17:06] is thriving. Um I want to express my gratitude to our families for entrusting

[17:11] us with their children's education. I want to thank our teachers and

[17:15] administrators, our support staff at the schools, our district support staff, and

[17:20] our operations staff who we're going to be celebrating later this uh meeting for

[17:24] their collective excellence and contributions that make these awards

[17:28] possible. And of course, thank you to our amazing students who work hard each

[17:33] and every day. Um, let's all give our high schools a round of applause.

[17:43] All right. So, now just hang tight for one second. We're going to have the

[17:46] board come out and take a photo and then as soon as we're done with the photo, um

[17:50] I I'm going to dismiss our principles because they have curriculum nights.

[17:54] There's a couple of sports games and things like that. So, uh let's take a

[17:57] photo and then we will let them go.

[19:19] Thank you very much for that presentation and congratulations to all

[19:23] our schools. Uh we are now moving to item 4.2 public comment. The board

[19:28] values public input and allocates approximately 20 minutes per meeting for

[19:31] public comments with each speaker limited to approximately 2 minutes.

[19:35] Comments must be civil and within legal and district boundaries. The meeting

[19:39] chair myself may end comments that exceed time limits or violate standards

[19:42] of civility. [clears throat]

[19:45] The board reserves the right to maintain order but differentiates between

[19:48] unsimple remarks and critical yet respectful commentary.

[19:53] Dr. Sanchez, can you please help me introduce the speakers tonight?

[20:00] » Hello. There we go. Okay. Absolutely. We have a number of speakers this evening.

[20:04] When I say your name, if you would please approach. The microphone should

[20:07] already be on and then once you're seated, the timer will begin. We have

[20:12] our first speaker this evening is Carol Schmidt.

[20:25] Good afternoon. I'm Carol Schmidt. I teach AP World and Foundations of World

[20:30] History at Belleview High. This is my 39th and final year of teaching, but I

[20:34] can't promise this is the last time I'm coming here. I haven't asked for you

[20:38] where is the FTE being spent. The FTE the state gives to Belleview to run its

[20:43] classrooms. The Belleview School District and BEA negotiated an average

[20:47] class size in secondary schools shall not exceed a district-wide average of 28

[20:51] students and overage pay a few years ago. There was a hope that this would

[20:55] encourage some stability in our classrooms. Instead, the stability there

[20:59] has been a steady increase in of our class sizes. I have started a school

[21:03] year in which my smallest class is 35 and the largest is 39. I am not alone.

[21:08] I've asked social studies teachers across Newports, Mammish, and Interlink.

[21:13] Most are seeing these sizes. Our PE teacher wants you to know that our sixth

[21:17] period class has 47 kids and only six tennis courts. Our custodians are

[21:21] scrambling for furniture. My largest class also includes a student academic

[21:26] coach and a pair of educator. I can barely move in that room and I need to

[21:30] move around because the class also contains seven IEPs, four students with

[21:34] a 504 and eight students who are English language learners. I mentioned overage

[21:39] pay earlier. I'm only paid up to 35 kids. Is someone counting those extra

[21:43] kids as money in the bank for the district? What is behind the actual

[21:47] student teacher ratio right now? And what are we not being told? We are told

[21:52] that the district is in financial difficulty. Yet, I read district

[21:55] bulletins and new programs are still happening. I taught German early in my

[21:58] career and I think language acquisition is super and great. But are we doing or

[22:04] adding programs that are only going to be unsustainable singletons in the

[22:09] future? And sitting kids in front of a computer to learn these languages is not

[22:13] good language acquisition. A couple of dozen students sit in our library

[22:17] connected in theory to an online teacher. No one is really monitoring.

[22:21] Neither the librarian or the career counselor are certified teachers. Is

[22:26] that the future for these other programs? Pinching pennies while

[22:30] depriving students of active instruction in a classroom. So uh my back to my

[22:34] question, what's happening with the FTE? I have 40 students over the ideal

[22:38] target. Shouldn't that number and the numbers from my colleagues be generating

[22:42] extra sections? Thank you.

[22:48] » Thank you. Our next speaker is Reagan Lorden.

[22:54] » Hello. I'm Reagan Lorden, the BE uh BEA vice president, and I'm here tonight um

[22:59] to well, I just wanted to say that I've come every time last year to talk about

[23:04] pretty much the same thing, which is class sizes. And so, um, instead of me

[23:08] speaking on behalf of them, I'm here tonight to read some quotes, um, that we

[23:12] collected from teachers with, um, exceptional class sizes. And as Keller

[23:16] reminded us, the class, uh, for core classes should be 28 per our CBA and 26

[23:21] for ELA. Um, a secondary teacher with a class size of 40. I initially had 40

[23:26] students in my first period and was struggling to find seats and tables for

[23:29] everyone. I have no extra seats or tables in my room for any more students.

[23:34] secondary world language and ELA teacher with a class size of 30. Sometimes the

[23:37] room is so full that that I cannot get to a student to answer their question or

[23:41] stand next to them. I have to yell halfway across the room to ask and

[23:44] answer questions. Secondary special ed teacher with a case load of 30. Teaching

[23:49] is literally 20% of my job now. Case working is handling parent and student

[23:53] behavior as well as an IEP online that is unusable and is taking up my entire

[23:57] capacity. an elementary counselor with a CA case load of 536. As a counselor, it

[24:04] is recommended that the ratio is 250 to1. The average in Washington state is

[24:09] 441. Um, and then a secondary teacher with a

[24:14] 37 a class size of 37 students. Despite using a microphone, it's difficult to

[24:19] get students to pay attention, and the ones who can hear me have a hard time

[24:22] hearing me all over all the noise. students with IEPs and 504s that need

[24:26] frequent check-ins can't get them as often as they should. I would rather my

[24:31] school closed than continue working like this. And finally, from a secondary

[24:35] teacher, retaining experienced educators requires more than asking for their

[24:39] continued commitment. It requires demonstrating that their expertise is

[24:43] respected and that legitimate concerns are addressed collaboratively. I want to

[24:47] remain invested in this community. I also need to know that the district is

[24:51] equally invested in the conditions that allow experienced educators and their

[24:55] students to thrive. Our ask is to make some timely decisions um with our

[24:59] staffing so that our students can have a meaningful impactful classroom

[25:02] experience. Thank you. >> Thank you.

[25:07] » Our next speaker is Patrick Carpenter.

[25:19] Hello, my name is Patrick Carpenter. I'm a Spanish and ELA teacher at Belleview

[25:24] High School. I love my job, adore my students, and have a great community of

[25:28] colleagues. The conditions we are being forced to learn in and teach in are

[25:32] unacceptable. So, I've come today to talk to you about class size. Under the

[25:35] current way the district is approaching class target sizes and remedy pay, I and

[25:39] a majority of my colleagues received remedy pay every quarter for every

[25:43] single class last year. Many class many had class sizes so large they exceeded

[25:47] the seven students over the target limit outlined in the CBA and so were not

[25:51] compensated for the full scope of their work. This year it is somehow worse. As

[25:56] a building representative, I've heard from people across all subjects and

[25:59] grade levels. In English with a target of 26 students, we are seeing classes

[26:02] being filled on average at 33 per section. In world language with a target

[26:06] of 28, I have classes of 32 and 36. Small compared to my colleagues who also

[26:11] have four plus preps a piece in both French and Japanese. In science, also

[26:16] with a target of 28, I have colleagues in tiers over class sizes of 40 or more.

[26:20] To frame this in terms of FTE, if we added three sections of freshman English

[26:25] and two sections of sophomore English, the class sizes as a total would still

[26:29] be more than 30 on average, four over our target. There is a full-time

[26:34] position the district is stuffing into our already overcrowded classrooms, and

[26:38] that's just in one subject area in one school. Our admin is staffing as

[26:42] instructed by the district. They say there's no FTE coming our way. I simply

[26:47] do not feel supported by the district. I do not feel the class size and staffing

[26:51] decisions are being made with the best interests of our students at heart. The

[26:55] budget is being balanced on the backs of educators. How am I supposed to teach

[26:59] when I cannot physically get across the room due to the number of students? How

[27:03] can I build relationships and teach language when there are many days I

[27:06] can't even talk to everyone? How can I effectively provide support for students

[27:10] with 504 plans and IEPs as required by law? Members of the school board, we

[27:16] share a purpose to provide a quality education to the students of Bellev. So,

[27:19] I'm asking you to do something. Failure to act on this will put our students

[27:24] education and safety, teachers health and wellbeing, and the reputation of the

[27:27] entire district in jeopardy. Please act with integrity and properly staff our

[27:30] schools. >> Thank you.

[27:36] » Our next speaker is Christy Sweinger.

[27:41] Hello, my name is Christy Swessinger and I have two kiddos in the district. Um, I

[27:46] am part of Belleview PTSA Council, but I'm here tonight speaking on behalf of

[27:50] myself and we'd like to welcome the board and all of our community members

[27:54] to an upcoming event that PTSA Council and um, uh, Belleview School District is

[28:01] the welcome center is hosting for new families coming into the district. um

[28:06] primarily kindergarten families but prek if you're new to the district. The event

[28:11] is on Wednesday, September 23rd from 4 to 6:00 p.m. and we will have BSD

[28:18] leaders here. Um we will have um student performances from um our some of our

[28:24] high schools and then it's a great opportunity to connect with families,

[28:29] people already in the district. we'll have many people um for with language

[28:33] access if you know if you need some help uh completely understanding if you're

[28:38] new to the country um those sorts of things and then I also want to mention

[28:42] that as part of my role with um uh Washington state PTA advocacy committee

[28:49] I've um submitted I continue to advocate for literacy and math and I've submitted

[28:54] an issue for um debate I guess uh debate would our members vote on our top five

[29:02] legislative priorities every bienium. And so that will be happening in

[29:07] October. So I'm focused on math and literacy still and hope that we can get

[29:11] all of our PTA members across the state to approve that as a legislative

[29:16] priority. So thank you all for um allowing and um allowing me to speak and

[29:22] to um hopefully get all of our families to this new welcome event. Thank you.

[29:27] » And Christie, what day is the event? Wednesday, September 23rd from 4 to 6 at

[29:34] the welcome center.

[29:37] » All right. Thank you. Our next speaker is Michelle Morant.

[29:45] » My name is Michelle Mordant. I serve on the BEA executive board. I want to

[29:49] continue sharing what educators are experiencing in these first few weeks of

[29:52] school. A secondary teacher serving 110 students across three classes shared 40

[29:58] students in a classroom is a safety issue. It also creates a hidden budget

[30:01] issue because materials much stretch much further. An elementary teacher with

[30:05] 33 students said, "I do not have enough time in the day to truly connect with

[30:10] every child in the way they need or deserve." An orchestra teacher with 53

[30:14] and 56 students explained that providing just five minutes of assessment per and

[30:19] feedback per student requires more than two additional hours beyond the

[30:23] contractual day each time classes are assessed. Teachers also re raised

[30:28] concerns about classroom capacity, student support and learning conditions.

[30:32] One secondary student asked why classroom fire code capacities are not

[30:36] readily available. Another teaching another teaching 37 students including

[30:41] 15 with significant learning needs questioned how they can effectively meet

[30:45] all students needs. Several secondary teachers reported class sizes growing

[30:50] from the mid30s in August to nearly 40 by the first days of school with

[30:54] students still being added. A science teacher with 36 students not noted some

[30:59] lab activities are simply no longer feasible with a class this size. An

[31:04] elementary teacher with 30 students shared concerns about insufficient

[31:08] instructional materials. Another secondary teacher observed that crowded

[31:11] classrooms make it harder for students, particularly neurode divergent students,

[31:15] to engage and receive individualized the support they need. What we are hearing

[31:19] is not about educator convenience. It's about student experience. These are

[31:23] daily realities affecting students safety, learning, engagement, and

[31:26] well-being across our district. The students who need connection,

[31:30] intervention, encouragement the most are most often the first to feel the impact.

[31:35] Behind every enrollment number is a child who deserves to be known,

[31:39] supported, and challenged. Behind every staffing decision is a classroom where

[31:42] educators are trying to meet the needs of every student in front of them. Now

[31:47] that we have passed the 8-day count, please consider these very real impacts.

[31:51] Thank you. >> Thank you.

[31:56] The next speaker is Matthew Bush.

[32:03] » Excuse me. Um, good afternoon members of the board. My name is Matt Bush. I'm a

[32:06] history teacher at Belleview High School and I just wanted to share a quick story

[32:10] that really kind of stopped me as I was driving home um yesterday. So, I have a

[32:15] class um that as of yesterday was at 36. I just checked. Today it's at 34. Um,

[32:20] which is great. I'm glad we're moving in that direction. Um, but in class that

[32:23] day, I had a student who that was their second day of class and we were talking.

[32:26] I said, "Okay, can you write that down?" And the student didn't know how to

[32:30] write. Um, and then after school in tutorial, I had a student in that same

[32:35] class ask me, "How do I self-study for AP World?" Because they didn't have room

[32:38] in AP World. And so I was driving home thinking about, I have a kid who can't

[32:43] write. I have a kid who wants to be in AP and I have to make relationships with

[32:48] the 33 other kids in between. It's hard enough when we're at 28, but you throw

[32:53] an additional kid and a kid and a kid. I want to do my job. I want to do my job

[32:59] really, really well. I I it stopped me when I was trying to

[33:04] drive home to figure out how do I do that to the best of my ability. So, I

[33:09] know we've thrown a lot of numbers. We've said a lot of things. I But that

[33:12] for me was like the okay, can we find some money somewhere? Can we reallocate

[33:16] some money somewhere? um because this is having a real impact not just on me as a

[33:20] teacher but the kids who are in my room. So thank you.

[33:25] » Thank you.

[33:29] » Our next speaker is Joel Ingram.

[33:38] » Good evening directors. Uh for the first time I come before you, I get to say

[33:42] that I officially have three kids in secondary. It's a little overwhelming.

[33:46] Uh each of them have seven classes. So that makes a total of 21 different

[33:51] classes and different teachers that I get to try to support my kids and track

[33:55] them. Um I want to start quickly with a quick story. Um a teacher shared

[33:59] recently how um they asked their students and their families to

[34:03] specifically get one calculator. And there's a reason standards help make a

[34:08] classroom run smoothly. So, if a teacher is trying to help a student follow along

[34:13] in the lesson and they can't use the calculator because not that the math is

[34:17] wrong, but the buttons are labeled differently, it's got different

[34:20] routines, it doesn't work. And that's kind of the theme I want to use for

[34:24] tonight is systems and standardizations help. And when we talk about family

[34:29] engagement, I really want to highlight academic family engagement because the

[34:34] number one question I have for my kids when they come home is, "How was school?

[34:37] What did you learn? What are you working on? and what's for homework. We have a

[34:41] great uh records management system uh parent view and synergy, but that's

[34:46] really the rear view mirror. That's a great tool to tell you what a student

[34:50] got on a a test or a homework assignment, but typically there's a lag.

[34:55] It's not looking forward. We need what is known as a learning management system

[35:00] that looks forward. We need one app or one website where parents can go. They

[35:05] can see every assignment that is laid out for the next week. They need to know

[35:10] when tests are coming up. Um, using analogy, my kids are all in the same

[35:14] soccer club. There is one app. I can go to one calendar. I know all the

[35:18] practices, all of the uh games, locations, what color they are, home or

[35:24] away, and I can function as a parent. We know that outcomes for students improve

[35:28] when parents are engaged. Let's make it easier for parents. Let's get give

[35:33] parents and students a single entry point. I'm not advocating that we change

[35:38] the digital stack we currently have, but we need to organize it. We need an entry

[35:42] point and a learning management system is that entry point. Thank you.

[35:46] » Thank you. >> Our next speaker is Satria Canopan.

[35:58] Good evening members of the board. My name is Satvika Kanapen and this year

[36:02] I'm a youth link board member. I am also a sophomore currently attending Newport

[36:06] High School. We are here tonight to extend our invitation to you for our

[36:10] upcoming annual youth link gumbo night event on weddness day, October 28th from

[36:15] 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Crossroads Community Center. For the past 28 years,

[36:20] Bellev Youth Link hosts this special event that provides an opportunity for

[36:24] Bellev Youth Link members to dialogue with our elected officials, community

[36:28] board members, and other city leadership about important topics affecting our

[36:32] youth today. Youth and guests share important conversations over delicious

[36:36] pots of gumbo and other food. We hope that you can join us for this special

[36:40] and unique evening with our youth link members. Your perspective, experience,

[36:44] and support for our young people are extremely important. To RSVP, please

[36:49] contact our YouthLink staff at youth link at belleviewwah.gov or call us at

[36:53] 425-4522847.

[36:57] Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to me today.

[37:00] » Thank you.

[37:04] » And our final speaker this evening is Lauren B.

[37:12] Good evening, Dr. Armachi and members of the school board. My name is Lauren Bai.

[37:16] I'm a 10th grade student at Interlake High School here on behalf of Lens of

[37:20] Youth, a youthled nonprofit advocating for people with intellectual and/or

[37:24] developmental disabilities or ID through storytelling, art, photography, and

[37:29] community engagement. Our flagship program, Misunderstood Moments, shares a

[37:33] collection of real life stories from people with ID, paired with original

[37:38] illustrations created by youth artists. Through art and storytelling, we

[37:42] encourage people to look beyond a single moment, and instead hear the person and

[37:45] perspectives behind them. Over the past year, we have reached seven cities

[37:49] through more than 50 community events and exhibitions, collected more than

[37:53] 4,000 pledges for inclusion, launching five free programs offering art, music,

[37:58] dance, and kung fu classes. Here in Belleview, our gallery has been shared

[38:02] at Belleview Library, Factori Mall, Crossroads Mall, and several community

[38:06] centers and events. We are actively collaborating with Belleview School

[38:10] District's Evergreen Transition Program. Last school year, we provided two free

[38:14] music classes and two free art lessons to the students, and the feedback was

[38:18] overwhelmingly positive. The artworks created during the art classes are

[38:21] actually on display in the district lobby right now. This year, we will

[38:25] provide additional art classes with funding from King County Council member

[38:28] Baluchi and for culture. Combining with the artworks from the Evergreen

[38:32] Transition Program and real life stories from misunderstood moments, we hope to

[38:37] gain support from the district to tour this traveling exhibition throughout

[38:40] Belleview School District. Using art and real stories, we hope to turn

[38:43] misunderstanding into understanding and understanding into inclusion. Teaching

[38:48] valuable perspectives and advocating for an unheard voice to my peers. Thank you

[38:52] Dr. Armaki and the school board for your time supporting young voices in the

[38:55] community. >> Thank you very much.

[39:01] » And that concludes our public commenters for this evening.

[39:06] » Fantastic. Appreciate all the public comments and feedback. Um, we are moving

[39:10] on to item 5.0, reports. And it looks like we have one report on operational

[39:15] excellence tonight.

[39:24] We'll take just a moment to get everybody up front and seated and then

[39:28] we'll get started.

[39:54] She wants a photo first.

[40:00] [laughter] It is a pretty good-look group, huh?

[40:05] Just kidding. Uh, board directors, community, anybody who may be listening

[40:09] in this evening, thank you so much. My name is Dr. Heather Sanchez and it is my

[40:15] I serve as the deputy superintendent for the district and it is my honor to

[40:18] introduce you to the people finance and operations team who is here to share

[40:23] with you this evening some highlights of the start of the year from the

[40:28] operational perspective. First I do want to say that we also have Mr. Lauren

[40:33] Tilman on our team representing finance. We decided he could have the evening off

[40:38] tonight as he has spent a fair amount of time in this room thus far. So, he is

[40:44] here in spirit but not physically here with us this evening. But the rest of

[40:48] the individuals you see seated here this evening represent departments that touch

[40:52] virtually every aspect of a student's day outside of the direct instruction

[40:58] from their teacher. from when their family walks in the door to the welcome

[41:02] center to register to what they eat to onboarding new staff members to opening

[41:08] doors to new buildings and putting in new less exciting things like new

[41:13] toilets although they are pretty exciting. um whether or not their

[41:17] building is safe. And virtually when they step on the bus, when they step off

[41:22] the bus, virtually every aspect of that child's experience is touched in some

[41:28] way, shape or form by the individuals, the leaders sitting at this table who

[41:32] support the operational aspects all in service of the learning of our students.

[41:37] So we are thrilled to be here with you to share just a bit across departments

[41:42] about the launch of the school year. Okay.

[41:49] » Well, [clears throat] we've had a busy year and u toilets are important out

[41:53] there. I will tell you that. And um anyway, we um are celebrating the

[42:00] opening of Big Picture School. Um that's been a a great fun project for all of

[42:06] us. And uh we were able to get the school open when we made a plan to be

[42:12] able to get there. and uh we welcomed the students into that project. So um

[42:19] we're very happy with that project and how it turned out. There's still work

[42:22] that's going on. uh we had a delay of getting our permits of three months and

[42:27] so we did have quite a bit of time to make up and a lot of our contractors

[42:32] subcontractors uh worked overtime hours to help us achieve that as well as

[42:37] working with the city personnel for inspections and and helping us slice

[42:42] through a lot of the red tape that goes with opening a new building. Um we have

[42:47] international uh replacement and inner lake high school editions going on right

[42:52] now. International is going is actually was in for permitting starting on

[42:57] Tuesday of this week. And uh Inner Lake is in the process of getting out for

[43:03] bids for a phase one which is to be able to do some infrastructure and uh

[43:09] waterline replacements that we need to do to support the new additional square

[43:13] footage for the fire loop and so on. And so that uh is going to be out for bid

[43:18] here in October and we hope to bring that to the board for award of contract

[43:22] for that phase in November. Uh we also then and these projects are all funded

[43:28] by bond money. Uh the transition sensory garden is um underway and we expect to

[43:35] have substantial completed completion on that project by the uh end of October.

[43:41] And so that's a area just uh south of the current transition building and uh

[43:48] the project is coming along really well. It's going to be a definite uh

[43:53] opportunity for the students and staff there on our capital levy funded

[43:57] projects. Uh we completed uh genderneutral restrooms at Samish High

[44:02] School. Photos included there of that project. And um then Newport Heights

[44:08] Elementary and Tai Tai Middle School, we replaced a chilled water system up there

[44:13] and added new chillers. Um again, they've been on the useful life for both

[44:18] of those chillers and we definitely try to go ahead and make sure we can replace

[44:23] things before they fail. So that was a key element that was done this summer.

[44:28] And I'm happy to report that all four of our high schools exceeded the Washington

[44:33] Clean Buildings Act performance standards. And so um they uh they

[44:39] performed very well and met all of the goals and exceeded everything that was

[44:43] set forth on that. And this year we'll be doing middle school which is all

[44:48] based on the square footage of the buildings.

[44:51] Uh custodial and warehouse operations. Um the warehouse, they took care of

[44:58] furniture deliveries that go on throughout the summer. Um either

[45:03] replacing, moving classroom sizes, locations, uh moving

[45:08] some teachers based on enrollment changes throughout the district. I think

[45:12] they did 40 moves this year. And then at Big Picture, they did all of the packing

[45:18] up at the old Big Picture school and then moved it all over on one weekend to

[45:25] the new school uh so that be ready to go for the teachers and Jubilee Reach to

[45:30] help uh teachers set up their classrooms. We also in the warehouse and

[45:35] I think you visited last year and saw the a number of the science kits and the

[45:40] PE kits that are out there and those are all collected in July brought back to

[45:45] the warehouse. They're refurbished by staff over the summer and they were

[45:49] delivered before school started for the science and elementary PE programs. Our

[45:54] custodial staff was involved in deep cleaning all of the schools, going

[45:58] through everything with all of the custodial members in a in a team

[46:02] cleaning situation. And then uh the C custodial staff also

[46:07] then uh uh started up their leadership classes again to go ahead and give

[46:13] people management skills to be able to apply for uh chief knight and head day

[46:18] custodians to move up within the organization.

[46:22] um the maintenance department, they put out a um thing to all of the schools and

[46:30] buildings for work orders and they for summer work orders. And so that starts

[46:35] about mid bay and uh from mid bay until the start of the school year, they

[46:40] completed 1,229 work orders. And um and we had it by the

[46:46] numbers 13 of our emergency generators were given load bank testings which is

[46:51] how we test how much energy they can generate and sustain over a period of

[46:55] time as well as making sure everything's reliable and ready to go for the what we

[47:00] know will be the upcoming [clears throat] uh storm seasons. So

[47:05] we're ready to go with that. A lot of the maintenance items are maintaining

[47:09] all of our parking lots, doing all the striping out there for fire lanes and

[47:13] things like that. So, it's not beautiful artwork, but it's very necessary to do

[47:18] that. And um the number of battery replacements for emergency lighting and

[47:25] our access controls, the badges that you have that get you into the building, all

[47:29] of those have battery backup that all have to be replaced on an annual basis.

[47:33] So there's literally thousands of those that take place. Uh we have turf repairs

[47:38] go on by our maintenance and grounds crew. Uh we had some fireworks damage at

[47:43] at Madina Bennett and Inner Lake and uh they went out and took care of those. A

[47:49] lot of classroom moves alterations and then the fire alarm testing which takes

[47:53] place most of the summer to make sure that all of our systems are operational.

[47:57] We have to have the interior of all the fire suppression lines checked uh every

[48:04] five years. And so it's pretty extensive job just to go ahead and certify that

[48:09] we've got good safe environments for our for our students and staff. And then all

[48:14] the elevators are tested and certified for annual operations.

[48:20] » That's about it. [laughter]

[48:24] » Is that all? >> Yeah. No.

[48:27] » Hi everyone. I'm Freedom Johnson, the coordinator for the uh engagement

[48:32] specialist for VIP educators program. And um not with us tonight is our um

[48:38] fearless leader of the new hire orientation team, Janisha Branch, who is

[48:42] our director of employer relations and leadership development. I got it right.

[48:47] And I'm Anna Haddlestead, the program coordinator for instructional mentors

[48:51] and national board certification. So, we're here to talk about new hire

[48:55] orientation. We had three days of it and it was amazing. So, we were very

[48:59] intentional in planning new hire or orientation. Ultimately, our goal was

[49:03] for every new employee to leave orientation feeling welcomed, connected,

[49:07] informed, and ready to begin the year. Not just as a new hire, but as a valued

[49:12] member of the Belleview School District community. So, day one, our theme was

[49:16] belong. We wanted new hires from classroom educators to ESAs to even new

[49:21] admin uh to understand not only where they were working but what they were

[49:24] becoming a part of. We took participants on a um out of the traditional

[49:30] orientation setting and we put them on school buses for a district-wide tour

[49:34] led by Dr. Aramaki. He got five star reviews. Um so thank you. We visited

[49:40] different locations, heard from departments and leaders, and learned

[49:43] pieces of our district's history and story. This gave new employees a much

[49:47] broader perspective of the Belleview School District and helped them to begin

[49:51] to see themselves as a part of our community. We intentionally ended the

[49:55] day with connection and storytelling. Former noviceses from the previous year

[49:59] returned to participate on an educator panel. Uh they shared their experiences,

[50:04] offered practical advice, and answered questions from those just beginning

[50:08] their careers in BSD. We are we also provided new administrators with the

[50:12] opportunity to hear directly from experienced colleagues through a panel

[50:16] designed specifically for their roles. Uh this was an important message in and

[50:20] of itself because we don't just welcome new employees, we invite them to become

[50:24] a part of our community that supports one another.

[50:27] » And a quote from one of our participants um about day one. Uh it is profound to

[50:33] have the superintendent lead this tour. This is exemplary leadership in my

[50:37] opinion. I was also impacted by the many personal stories from employees that we

[50:41] met that connect us to history and community. Day two, our theme was learn.

[50:46] So once participants had a stronger sense of belonging, we focused on

[50:50] building their readiness. They spent the morning learning about the technology

[50:53] and systems that they would use in their day-to-day work. We then opened the

[50:57] doors to a resource fair bringing support directly to our new employees.

[51:02] They could have connect uh sorry they could connect face tof face with

[51:05] representatives from benefits, the Belleview Education Association, the

[51:09] Belleview Schools Foundation, National Board Certification Engagement

[51:12] Specialists, and other departments and resources from across the district. They

[51:16] spent their afternoons at their job sites meeting important people from

[51:20] office managers, admin, custodians, ITCL's, and colleagues. And a quote from

[51:26] uh day two participant um said, "The ITCL at my site met everyone right where

[51:30] they were at with timely, relevant, meaningful information and support. It

[51:35] was the most impactful part of the day 2 experience.

[51:39] And then day three of our new hire orientation was our equity day um

[51:44] facilitated by the engagement specialists for BIPO educators team. Uh

[51:48] the theme was ready to lead. Focusing on deepening our equity values through

[51:53] shared learning and reflection. So throughout the day we explored how our

[51:57] identities shape our experiences and interactions. We examined the impact of

[52:01] implicit bias and microaggressions in educational settings. Participants

[52:05] engaged in activities and discussions that encourage self-awareness, empathy,

[52:09] and a deeper understanding of anti-racism and belonging. Rather than

[52:13] viewing equity as a destination, we emphasize that it is an ongoing practice

[52:17] that requires courage, reflection, and action. The day concluded with a call to

[52:22] action to use what we learn to help create environments where every student,

[52:26] family, and staff member feels seen, valued, and supported. By strengthening

[52:30] our commitment to equity, and belonging, we continue building the beloved

[52:33] community that is at the heart of the Bellev School District. And our quote

[52:38] from day three, I am so grateful to have a district that not just centers and

[52:42] encourages equity dialogue, but that demonstrates and provides educators ways

[52:47] to compassionately engage in equity work.

[52:52] Good evening. I'm Wendy Wire, director of nutrition services. Uh, as last

[52:56] school year ended, our team transitioned to supporting children in our community

[53:01] by offering free meals through the summer feeding program. Uh this year

[53:05] meals were available at Stevenson and Inner Lake High School, which hosted the

[53:09] district's summer school programs. Uh one of our newer summer roles is

[53:13] supporting families of eligible students in accessing SunBugs. Sunbucks is a $120

[53:19] EBT benefit card that is used by families to purchase food when school is

[53:23] out. Um the families of over 4,500 students qualified for this benefit in

[53:28] our district. Over the summer, our team has an opportunity to have a little

[53:33] creative fun getting into the kitchen and focusing on new menu and recipe

[53:37] development. A few new items that our students will see this fall include a

[53:41] Korean beef beam and bop bowl, hot honey chicken sandwich, a scratchade tomato

[53:47] soup that was actually on the menu today in our middle and high schools, and a

[53:51] scratchmade breakfast burrito. These additions expand variety and bring more

[53:55] freshly prepared choices to our students. We launched our new explore

[53:59] more menu theme and logo, a nod to Dr. Aramaki and his love of space and the

[54:05] moon. Uh to encourage students to discover new foods and flavors in a fun,

[54:10] engaging way. Sustainability remains an important priority. Uh to help reduce

[54:15] waste, we partnered with our uh communications department and also our

[54:19] language specialists to create a new school lunch rules video that is

[54:23] available in English, Spanish, and Chinese. The video's goal is to help

[54:27] elementary students understand the lunch process and how to make choices to

[54:31] minimize unwanted food. We strengthen access to school meal benefits by

[54:36] opening the child nutrition eligibility and education benefit application or

[54:41] known as SNEB earlier than planned on August 12th. Application materials are

[54:47] now offered in seven languages and we updated the more than a meal application

[54:52] benefits flyer as a resource for families. uh to promote application

[54:57] completion. Since mid August, more than 3,500 students have been qualified for

[55:02] school meal benefits for this year. Staffing is another key part of reliable

[55:07] meal services for our students. Nutrition services hosted two job fairs

[55:11] in early August to support hiring. And I'm happy to report that we were fully

[55:15] staffed on the first day of school, not on the second day, but at least we had

[55:20] one day being fully staffed. Um together these efforts reflect our department's

[55:25] commitment to nourishing students, supporting families, and partnering with

[55:29] our schools every day. Good evening, directors. For the record,

[55:34] my name is Douglas James, your director of safety and security. This summer, in

[55:38] preparation for the new school year, the safety and security department focused

[55:41] on, excuse me, [clears throat] people, processes, and safety equipment. people

[55:46] recognizing our staff are our most important safety resource. We provided

[55:49] essential life safety training to all the administrators in the district on

[55:53] incident response and also trauma informed and safe searching of

[55:57] individuals for dangerous weapons. We connected with all district parah

[56:01] educators and provided them training and reunification best practices

[56:05] and had the opportunity to provide three hours of safety training to our

[56:09] Belleview Boys and Girls Club partners. That's extremely important because as

[56:14] you're aware they're in all of our elementary schools and it really

[56:17] synergizes our response efforts both before, during, and after school hours.

[56:23] Under processes, we updated our district level emergency operations plan. That's

[56:26] our guiding document to all critical incidences, whether it's a fire,

[56:31] earthquake, mass casualty incident, simple power outage, right? It guides

[56:35] our response efforts and we train to that. We added an appendex on extreme

[56:40] heat response measures and also air quality and updated the safety and

[56:45] security department's uh external facing web page with an environmental safety

[56:49] tab that covers our extreme heat responses and air quality index. Uh we

[56:55] also updated our mutual aid agreement with the city of Belleview. That's an

[56:58] important document that codifies our sharing of resources uh in a large-scale

[57:03] critical incident between the city and the school district. And then under

[57:08] safety equipment, uh we inventoried all the AEDs across the district, found them

[57:12] all to be accounted for, which is positive and in good working order. Uh

[57:17] and then we provided life safety equipment for our new P picture school.

[57:20] Made sure it's standardized with all the rest of the equipment across the

[57:23] district. Lastly, we leveraged uh district tech levy funding to put new

[57:28] cameras in at Madina Elementary. We have cameras being installed at Somerset and

[57:33] Spirit Ridge currently. Uh and that that project at those two sites will be

[57:38] completed by the end of October. Uh also leveraging TEFL funding, we repaired

[57:43] exterior cameras at several of our high schools. Safety and security department

[57:47] uh looks forward to this year advancing safety and security efforts across the

[57:50] district. >> Good evening. Angela Christopherson,

[57:54] technology services. Um and technology services, we prepared everyone for a

[58:00] strong start of the school. We collected, we reimaged, and we passed

[58:05] back out over 20,000 student devices. Um, over the summer, we have a team that

[58:12] comes together to do that, and we had students that joined us from the Cisco

[58:16] program and from the Evergreen Transition Program. So, it's a really um

[58:21] it's a fun team that gets together. Uh, we upgraded wireless in 14 of our

[58:27] schools and district locations. Um, we expanded and improved classroom

[58:33] technology across the district. Um, and we upgraded to InTouch pay which is

[58:39] going to promote easier school payments. Um, we also protected and modernized.

[58:46] Um, we completed uh we had Microsoft come in and uh it's a specialty security

[58:53] team um and they did an independent review of our security system. Um and

[58:59] the good news is the results were uh that we had no evidence of an active in

[59:05] intrusion. Um and they also rated us as 20% stronger than other organizations

[59:12] our size. So we feel very good about that.

[59:16] Uh also on the security side we introd uh we introduced a new security

[59:22] awareness platform. That's what the acorn is up there. Um, it really turns

[59:28] thousands of emails that we get uh every day, every hour at the Belleby School

[59:33] District into an early warning system. Um, because staff across the district

[59:38] can press a button and a it's actually a squirrel. Um, it's a company called

[59:44] CyberNet. Um, but then they notify us if there's uh emails that are look

[59:50] suspicious or that are um evidence of fishing. Um, and then uh the the product

[59:58] then we can take a look at the the emails um and then remove the emails

[1:00:02] from all of our uh staff inboxes. So if there's one bad email, we can remove it

[1:00:08] from all of our staff inboxes. Um we also advanced AI responsibly across the

[1:00:15] district by developing guidelines and resources.

[1:00:18] our applications team, our solutions team does custom development and we

[1:00:24] built an alternative learning experience app for digital discovery. Um, and then

[1:00:30] finally partnering with our friends in the welcome center, we tested and

[1:00:34] configured volunteer matters, which is new software that is going to improve

[1:00:39] our volunteer operations um and help with our background check visibility.

[1:00:49] Good evening, directors. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Don

[1:00:53] Dixon. I am the director of transportation for the Belleview School

[1:00:57] District. And I'm here to say the wheels on the bus still go round and round,

[1:01:02] went round and round today. Um things that happened for us in our department,

[1:01:08] uh we continue to route efficiently. Uh but last year we traveled 10,000 less

[1:01:14] mileage and saved about 1300 uh in in fuel costs in gallons of fuel

[1:01:21] which is close to about $10,000. Um this year you guys know Metro made a

[1:01:27] lot of changes. uh we were able to adapt some of our um

[1:01:34] bus routes that service the international big picture uh schools to

[1:01:39] cover some of those areas that Metro does not go to anymore. And for me the

[1:01:45] most important thing I know student enrollment is down but wrership is up by

[1:01:50] about 200 students and this is due right now to the big picture move. More

[1:01:56] students are riding the bus. Um and I project the same

[1:02:02] increase when international moves to uh ring.

[1:02:08] Thank you. [clears throat]

[1:02:12] » Good evening school board directors. This is Dr. Mas here with the welcome

[1:02:16] center. Um the [clears throat] welcome center if you had the opportunity to

[1:02:19] stop by this summer was just buzzing with activity. If you ever been to my

[1:02:23] office that's where the picture of where the sun is. Um, there's a little

[1:02:26] kitchenet if you in case you ever want to, you know, warm up your lunch or

[1:02:29] something. Kids are there all the time. So, a good indicator for me how busy we

[1:02:33] are is when I have kids knock on my window and try to play with my computer

[1:02:36] or something. But, it's really really amazing to have uh families come and um,

[1:02:42] you know, make a use of the welcome center. So, I'm going to be sharing some

[1:02:44] numbers with you, but I know there's a lot of stories and a lot of things that

[1:02:47] go behind these numbers. Um, we have a lot of families come to the welcome

[1:02:51] center for different things. Some of the families come for digital discovery. um

[1:02:55] student supports, but out of the families that we serve directly, we had

[1:03:00] over 200 families come to the welcome center to be supported by a welcome

[1:03:03] center specialist. That's a huge testament of um you know, the support

[1:03:07] that the team is providing to the community. And um most of the families

[1:03:11] that come to the welcome center, some of the families are supported um through

[1:03:14] the phone. They don't have to come in person to the welcome center to get

[1:03:18] support from us. Um but we uh process about two um about almost 3,000

[1:03:23] enrollments for the 26 27th school year. The enrollment um um processing process

[1:03:30] starts in February of each year. So this is really really exciting. And yesterday

[1:03:34] we sent out a survey to our new families because we want to hear from them and we

[1:03:37] want to hear about how the experience went. Then also part of the welcome

[1:03:41] center we have the office of Mckin Vento which focuses on supporting families

[1:03:45] facing housing stability and homelessness. Um every year in the

[1:03:49] summer we review um hundreds of um housing questionnaers to ensure that the

[1:03:54] families who need supports uh um you know to be able to have their kids

[1:03:58] access their uh education are provided with those. And this year this summer we

[1:04:03] have about over 300 of those families who qualify for Mckin vent protections.

[1:04:07] So uh we're really excited to be of support of you know families who are

[1:04:11] experiencing some of the most challenging situations in our system.

[1:04:14] Then in addition to that, language access is part of the welcome center as

[1:04:17] well. And this is our third year of the language of after the launch of the

[1:04:20] language access program. And this year in collaboration with technology and

[1:04:26] communications, we use some innovative tools to create some really short cool

[1:04:30] videos for uh training families and uh staff about the use of our tools. And

[1:04:35] it's interesting because um you know if you ever seen the Cintishia videos that

[1:04:39] are created by AI it's like this person talking about and it's just so amazing

[1:04:43] and we try to keep the videos really short and available in multiple

[1:04:46] languages of course so that families can have an understanding of what it is that

[1:04:51] we have to support with language access. If we go to the next slide please. Um,

[1:04:56] one counter store u huge piece of the welcome center is the collaboration and

[1:05:01] the work that we do with our community partners and I know I'm going to do a

[1:05:04] huge disservice here because we get support from many many many

[1:05:07] organizations but I want to highlight some of the things that has been

[1:05:10] happening in preparation for the beginning of the school year. So um

[1:05:14] going back to Christie thank you Christie for the shout out and the

[1:05:17] information about the event that's coming up on the 23rd from 4 4 to 6. So

[1:05:21] please don't forget 23rd from 4 to 6 which is Wednesday PTSA Belby the PTSA

[1:05:27] council has been a critical partner with us in not only this event and the

[1:05:31] collaboration with technology on uh streamlining the volunteer system but so

[1:05:35] many ways. Um so we're really excited about that's coming up next week. But

[1:05:39] then about um 1,600 a little over 1,600 um backpacks were um uh put together and

[1:05:48] distributed by um one of our community or partners, Congregation for Kids.

[1:05:52] These were distributed to all schools um K through 12 um and they contain some

[1:05:57] supplies specific to different grade levels. That require a lot of work and

[1:06:01] um lot of preparation. So we're so thankful for their support. Then um our

[1:06:06] partners from Belleville Lifepring um collaborated with um Amazon and they put

[1:06:10] together about 5,000 snack packs that were distributed to schools so that

[1:06:14] those families and students who need some you know snacks um or additional

[1:06:19] things um get those by the beginning of the school year. So we're really

[1:06:22] thankful to Belleville Lifepring for that support as well. Bellev Boys and

[1:06:26] Girls Club as you know um they are working they're um providing an after

[1:06:31] and before school care and um we had representation from them at the welcome

[1:06:35] center during the summer to help with enrollment which is something really

[1:06:39] amazing and we're super thankful to to them as well. And then ICHS uh which is

[1:06:44] a community partner that we work with and they're the ones who work um the

[1:06:47] Highland Clinic came to the welcome center as well to provide uh families

[1:06:51] with support with vaccination to get the the students ready for the first day of

[1:06:55] school. So you'll see some of those pictures there. Uh boys and girls club

[1:06:59] also came with a van and provided some um you know support for a families on

[1:07:03] multiple days. And then we partner with the city of Belleview as we have done in

[1:07:07] the past to be part of movies in the park which is a great opportunity for us

[1:07:10] as the district to just share some information and welcome our families for

[1:07:14] the beginning of school year. But we are super thrilled about um you know the

[1:07:19] beginning of school year and being of support to our community. Thank you.

[1:07:30] All right. And as you can see, we hope that this provides a snapshot to you of

[1:07:35] how busy these departments were over the summer. While many were off vacationing,

[1:07:40] well-earned, might I add, these departments were above a buzz with

[1:07:44] activity. Um, all in preparation of receiving our students and families over

[1:07:48] the summer and of course at the start of the school year. And with that, we are

[1:07:52] happy to receive your feedback.

[1:07:57] » Uh, thanks. We'll continue to follow the word sequence. So, um, I'm first, so I

[1:08:02] will start that. Um, really appreciate the presentation. It's great to hear all

[1:08:07] the hard work that goes on on the summer. A lot of people think the

[1:08:09] schools closed and everybody goes away, but you guys have clearly been hard at

[1:08:13] work, whether it's planning for transportation and uh, making sure

[1:08:16] people are being fed all summer. It's really great work to to to be aware of,

[1:08:20] and I have to thank you for all the work on the fireworks. I know that there are

[1:08:25] a lot of challenges dealing with that over the summer.

[1:08:29] um your your presentations are great

[1:08:32] reminders of some of the things that are, you know, important beyond the

[1:08:35] teachers. The teachers are obviously why everybody comes into the schools and we

[1:08:39] want to make sure we're providing great education, but importance of place. Um,

[1:08:43] you know, I've heard a lot of people talking about bathrooms in a lot of

[1:08:45] different ways, but obviously the students feel those are really important

[1:08:49] and they've really valued the the improvements that we've made with the

[1:08:51] single-use uh restrooms. Um, the importance of transportation. I've heard

[1:08:56] from a lot of parents that they appreciate the additional tracking

[1:08:59] tools. Um that they appreciate the ability to track their their kids. Um I

[1:09:04] do want to note that there do seem to be some ongoing challenges with the the

[1:09:07] metro changes. Um I know that there's some families trying to figure that out

[1:09:11] and you're trying to figure it out too. Um and also that the city traffic keeps

[1:09:16] changing uh and creating challenges for us navigating this community. Um safety.

[1:09:22] So great to hear about some of the uses of the levy funding. I know that's one

[1:09:26] of the essential uses is on safety. And uh one of the challenges I've noted is

[1:09:32] that um when we do have some external grounds violations, we're struggling to

[1:09:37] use our video to effectively identify or support the police and identifying those

[1:09:41] people. So I have the curiosity if there's more we can do there um to

[1:09:45] support that. Um new hires, it's great to hear about the training. Um, I wasn't

[1:09:51] there for that training. I was there for some of the earlier stuff, but it's

[1:09:54] fantastic to see that excitement. I'm kind of curious about how are they

[1:09:58] doing? You know, do we have additional check-ins for the new people that are

[1:10:01] separate from the everybody else to make sure that we're um supporting them

[1:10:05] through the year? And also, I'm curious about teacher retention overall. Um, you

[1:10:10] know, has it changed? Is it staying constant? Are we seeing any any changes

[1:10:14] that nutrition? I already mentioned it, but amazing to provide that support over

[1:10:20] the summers. I do have the curiosity, I don't know, what happens to our students

[1:10:25] when they go to um uh Running Start for both technology and for nutrition

[1:10:31] services. Do we continue to support them? Does that transition to Belleview

[1:10:34] College? I don't know. I'm curious. Just trying to understand how that works.

[1:10:39] Um and I really appreciate the additional food offerings and trying to

[1:10:43] make those things that kids really connect with. um welcome center. Uh

[1:10:48] fantastic seeing the connection with the community groups. The vaccine clinics

[1:10:52] seem like an amazing resource to be able to provide our community. Um still

[1:10:56] hoping to see uh more to get the volunteerism um off the ground and make

[1:11:00] sure that we're bringing our community volunteers who have a strong interest in

[1:11:04] our in our schools back into our classrooms. Thanks.

[1:11:10] » Uh next is Director Miklin. >> Uh thank you. I'm going to echo of

[1:11:15] course the thank yous on how much work gets done. I love hearing about it

[1:11:18] because I think as a parent we sometimes forget like oh thank goodness we're all

[1:11:22] in summer and we're not all at summer. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you for

[1:11:26] all of your teams. I know you all worked hard and your teams worked hard as well.

[1:11:30] Um like to say you guys work when everyone else plays. Uh deliveries. Uh

[1:11:36] my qu this is I'm going to be random. I apologize. Uh how are gas and diesel

[1:11:41] affecting all of the warehouse moves? I mean, we had so many moves this year

[1:11:45] with school changes. We're going to have more next year. So, I'm just wondering

[1:11:48] um if I know that's sort of a budgeting question, but just in terms of

[1:11:52] accessibility and and and the finances of that are must be staggering.

[1:11:57] Sun cards for nutrition. Um thank you again. How do family and I know you

[1:12:03] can't answer now. Uh how do families qualify? Uh is this something that

[1:12:07] they're aware of? Is this something that you're partnering I assume with welcome

[1:12:10] center on especially our new families but um I I just I'm it's so it's such a

[1:12:16] relief to hear that we are able to contribute in that way and so uh and I

[1:12:20] assume with some partnerships and how that works I don't know but it's

[1:12:23] fascinating to me and I am very excited that that's available. I just want to

[1:12:26] make sure that people who need it have access to it. Um and it sounds like many

[1:12:30] do. I I am going to echo and pre-echo I I'm guessing what Director Watson will

[1:12:36] say about volunteer matters. We're very very excited to get that going. Our

[1:12:39] community partners are extremely excited. I know. Um and I know that we

[1:12:44] are going to have um some beginning schools that are going to start that.

[1:12:48] That's going to be great. Uh but and I know that there were some technical

[1:12:52] technical issues on um uh keeping things secure. I appreciate that all of that is

[1:12:58] being addressed and look forward to seeing the outcome of that. And I'm a

[1:13:02] big fan of our partners. In fact, the end I'll probably be talking about a few

[1:13:05] of our partners and some of their events that are coming up. So, very excited

[1:13:08] about that writership in the metro changes. I applaud the work that's being

[1:13:12] done. I know it's constantly challenging um especially with the changes and the

[1:13:17] fact that we also have um we have budget constraints. So, I'm glad to see the

[1:13:21] writership is up. Uh safety, thank you so much for working with our partners.

[1:13:25] That's amazing. It's one thing to have our own staff, but you're right. these

[1:13:28] the Belleview Boys and Girls Club takes care of our kids all after and before

[1:13:32] school. So, thank you for taking that on. Uh McKin Vento back to welcome

[1:13:37] center um 300. So, that is down from their height from last year but up from

[1:13:42] the end of last year. So, I'm just wondering if you're seeing any trends

[1:13:45] and what those might be and and um if it's this the same trends that we've

[1:13:49] been seeing. I would love to hear about that later. Uh national board

[1:13:52] certification and that's my favorite thing to talk about. I would love

[1:13:56] numbers though on where do we fit in nationally? Where are we? I mean, I know

[1:13:59] I've looked up sort of the the generic and what I've heard people say. I'd love

[1:14:04] to hear actual factual details from you. So, thank you so much for that training.

[1:14:08] It sounds like we're aligned with the strategic plan and the annual plan. So,

[1:14:11] thank you for doing that. That it just means that our values are being passed

[1:14:14] on to the new next generation of educators. And my last thing, oh no, I

[1:14:18] already said that. So, thank you,

[1:14:22] Director Harris.

[1:14:26] Okay, I don't talk that fast. Um, so I'll try to get through all my my list.

[1:14:31] First, I'll say thank you for everyone um for sharing your information. Um, it

[1:14:35] really this is a nice kind of synopsis of what it takes to run our school

[1:14:40] district. And I think it's a a great opportunity for our community as we

[1:14:44] begin the school year. All the work that happens during the summer when everybody

[1:14:48] thinks everyone's at on vacation that we're not on vacation. Um,

[1:14:54] so there's a lot of thank yous, a lot of

[1:14:58] great uh, uh, positive things. U everything from the new hires um and the

[1:15:03] training that goes the three days um to I'm assuming that the 3-day training

[1:15:10] that all of the new hires attend that and if they for whatever reason that

[1:15:14] they miss that that's kept the there's a tracking of it to make sure they uh gain

[1:15:19] that information um that they should be receiving. Um the Sunbox Bucks I think

[1:15:25] is what it's called. Uh I I saw on the screen it says 3500 but I heard 4,500.

[1:15:31] So I I wanted to make sure that I'm understanding the right one, right

[1:15:35] number, but uh it's great to hear. Um I love the materials, the seven languages

[1:15:43] um that you guys are offering in the applications and the diverse uh food

[1:15:49] offerings. Boom. Bob, thank you. [laughter] um

[1:15:54] sustainability and um uh continuation of that in multiple languages. I think

[1:15:59] that's great. I I'd love to see more languages um for that as well. The

[1:16:06] security um I'm always thankful for security especially now more so than

[1:16:11] ever especially in uh with technology. Though I do have one question about that

[1:16:16] is um where do we store our data with our uh camera system? Is it um in cloud

[1:16:24] or is it more local with a um I've today I received a concern about that specific

[1:16:33] um element given that there is a um concern in uh

[1:16:41] out u people breaking into that system and observing things and as well as used

[1:16:46] uh inappropriately in other spaces including other school districts. So,

[1:16:51] I'd love to learn more about that. Um, [sighs and gasps]

[1:16:57] oh, less gas. Oh my gosh. Thank you. [laughter]

[1:17:02] That [gasps] I was trying to figure out 13 thou 1300 gallons. How many teachers

[1:17:06] does that equivalent to? I'm right now looking at all the money that we save is

[1:17:10] how many teachers are we either cut hire or we have to decrease. So, that's how

[1:17:17] I'm looking at it everything. So, I appreciate the fact that we're we're

[1:17:21] decreasing in the fuels uh usage. Um thank you very much for keeping us in

[1:17:27] loop of the um how many students are um you know utilizing

[1:17:33] three minutes I'm sorry um of the welcome center as well as the Mckin

[1:17:39] Vento. I know that at the height we've had over 700 close to eight

[1:17:45] who were um identify as MCvento. So it's nice to see the numbers go down. I'd

[1:17:51] love to see like kind of the last five years of uh um and

[1:17:58] all the uh community partnerships and the in-person vaccine, everything, all

[1:18:03] of that. That is fantastic. Again, going back to Jack, thank you for all the work

[1:18:07] that you guys have done in making sure our buildings are ready to be functional

[1:18:10] on the first day of school. >> Director Watson.

[1:18:15] » Oh my, [laughter] this is like a speed trial. But anyway, um I want to say

[1:18:18] something about everything. So, um facilities, um I I did get to go see Big

[1:18:24] Picture and like a miracle occurred from the time with the hard hats. Um, and I'm

[1:18:30] going to encourage you to continue getting input from schools that aren't

[1:18:34] quite built yet. Like I know you're doing that is and IHS, but I just

[1:18:39] remember the time the Seamish nurse made me come over and look at the way she

[1:18:43] couldn't monitor the kids that were sick from the way her desk was built in. So,

[1:18:48] we have to make sure that doesn't happen again. Um, fireworks. Oh my goodness,

[1:18:52] I'm so sorry. Um, thousands of batteries. I struggle to replace just my

[1:18:57] own few. Um, elevator testing important to me. Um, new hire orientation, if I

[1:19:03] got it right, it's like tour day, learning and resource day, and equity

[1:19:07] day. Um, fantastic. Uh, lunch. I had no idea there was so many exactly that

[1:19:13] qualified for the for the electronic benefits. But that sun bucks thing,

[1:19:18] that's so nice you streamlined that in there. Um, and I like that you're

[1:19:22] working with new foods and a video on building a lunch because

[1:19:28] my family members over time have been so confused about that. So, that's really I

[1:19:32] mean, it's not always apparent what what comes with what. And anyway, um, safety.

[1:19:39] Um, the uh you know what, I like that you trained the Boys and Girls Club. I

[1:19:45] also like that you update the incident response manual and that I don't know,

[1:19:49] you know, that's near to my heart. You know, I told you I took a training

[1:19:53] course with Redmond PD on that and um keeping that up to date. That's great.

[1:19:58] Um yes, and inventorying these those AEDs and making sure they work. Uh

[1:20:03] technology, that's an heck of a lot of student devices. Um, and uh, I, you

[1:20:09] know, I think you all you do something a little extra that you might get away

[1:20:13] with not doing, but having Microsoft do an independent security review sounded

[1:20:17] sounds great. Um, and um, I really would be interested in in what you're going to

[1:20:23] say about the guidelines for AI. I'm assuming that's for staff using AI. Um,

[1:20:28] and uh, volunteer matters. My question is going to be, can I use it today? Is

[1:20:34] it fully operational? Um, that's what I want to know. And, um, buses, don't

[1:20:40] cross I90 and 200 more riders. Um, I know it's difficult, but man, I think

[1:20:45] Metro sometimes pulls the rug out from under us and that's kind of hard to work

[1:20:50] around. So, I know you're working on that welcome center, all those um, new

[1:20:54] enrollments, you know, in this time of decloning enrollment. Didn't quite

[1:20:58] expect that. Um, and the it's a pretty large number of Mckin Vento. And I'm

[1:21:04] wondering if are the are the language accent access translator devices working

[1:21:10] any better than they used to cuz remember the time I sat with the live

[1:21:13] Spanish translator and the thing was giving me garbled the device, you know,

[1:21:17] I could compare what the person said to the device and it was not good. And um,

[1:21:22] I really like the way you got I the international community health to come

[1:21:26] do the vaccination. Phew. Okay, >> Director Kovanski.

[1:21:33] » All right. Um, I I I've said this before. Uh, I'll say it again. Coming

[1:21:38] from uh not coming from uh education background, not being involved in uh the

[1:21:44] either the teaching side, administration side, you don't realize how much how the

[1:21:50] incredible amount of work that happens behind the scenes uh until you're

[1:21:54] involved or you're a board member. and it is an incredible amount of work. Uh

[1:21:58] so very much appreciated. Um it is uh it is uh seen every day but not

[1:22:05] necessarily um comment down or recognized. Um so um I want to call that

[1:22:10] out explicitly. Uh it is an incredible amount of work that happens um behind

[1:22:16] the scenes. Um uh I also want to comment on um Dr.

[1:22:24] Sanchez based on my Seamish visit, toilets can be super exciting.

[1:22:29] [laughter] >> Got it.

[1:22:30] » So, very excited uh about that. I know Samish was uh as well. Um few things I

[1:22:37] heard uh just that uh highlighting this kind of incredible amount of work uh

[1:22:43] moving a school in a weekend. I I can barely move a house in a weekend. So,

[1:22:48] that that's that's incredible. Um

[1:22:54] the um I I wanted to also uh um I guess highlight the the training and the um

[1:23:01] the new uh new staff onboarding and particularly um the uh three-part

[1:23:07] agenda, the three days and and particularly the last day because I

[1:23:10] think it uh was previously said just making sure we align with our um our uh

[1:23:17] uh equity guidelines and and our our um uh annual plans. I think that's very

[1:23:22] important and it's showing that it's operationalized. So, uh I want to

[1:23:26] highlight that um highlight that as well. Um another thing that struck me

[1:23:30] that I I wanted to kind of bring up is uh the the um multiple partnerships that

[1:23:36] are seen within all the different tracks of work. So whether it was security with

[1:23:39] the the um uh uh boys and and girls club uh or working with the city of Belleview

[1:23:46] um technology and working with Microsoft and our welcome centers um it it

[1:23:50] highlights that it's not even just the the staff behind the scenes, but it's it

[1:23:55] needs to be done in partnership. Sometimes that's a beneficial

[1:23:58] partnership. Sometimes it's more challenging like a metro transit

[1:24:02] sometimes making things a little bit more difficult uh for us but we're we

[1:24:07] live in that ecosystem and and I I love to see that it's being leveraged um and

[1:24:11] that that is fantastic to hear a few questions um the volunteer um uh topic

[1:24:18] came up so just understanding further uh how ready or how close we are on that uh

[1:24:24] and then I just had a question on the AL um digital academy I think platform form

[1:24:28] or um just understanding what that uh what that was. I just hadn't hadn't um

[1:24:35] looked into in depth. >> Yeah.

[1:24:40] » Uh Dr. Aramaki, do you have any comments?

[1:24:43] » Yeah, great questions. I think what we'll do is try to compile some of them

[1:24:46] and send it out on Friday. Um I wanted to just make two comments. One is I just

[1:24:50] want to say thank you to the leaders sitting before us and to the teams that

[1:24:54] they represent. I mean, I think being in the ops departments is thankless

[1:24:59] sometimes. You don't get the, you know, the beginning of the year gifts from

[1:25:03] kids and stuff like that. So, it's they don't always get thanked. Um, but they

[1:25:08] are absolutely extraordinary. I mean, operational excellence happens in

[1:25:11] Belleview. Um, and it's not felt and that's what makes it so amazing is it

[1:25:16] just they just make sure things happen. Um, sometimes they do get a thank you

[1:25:21] and I just want to call out so I could say something about each one of them,

[1:25:25] but uh, we got an email uh, in kind of Doug's world and there was a a Bellev

[1:25:31] school district family who was at the bite of Seattle during the the shooting

[1:25:36] and they sent an email just relaying kind of the trauma of being there and

[1:25:42] how the dad was paralyzed and didn't know what to do but his two kids to go

[1:25:48] to the Belvy school district. They knew exactly what to do in that moment and

[1:25:53] grabbed him, took him where he needed to go. And he in his email, I mean, it's

[1:25:58] extraordinary thing because he's basically like

[1:26:02] he's always felt uncomfortable with our kids going through all of these like

[1:26:06] active shooter trainings and stuff. And it's like, why do kids have to do that?

[1:26:09] But dog always says like we do that not just to train kids about how to handle

[1:26:15] active shooters in schools, but how to handle that kind of situation in any

[1:26:19] public space. So we want our kids to be prepared for what might happen. And this

[1:26:25] parent said like he's a believer. He's so thrilled. I mean we require these

[1:26:30] trainings in our schools every single year. Um, sometimes people wonder like

[1:26:34] we have to do it again, but it is like it's not essential until it's essential.

[1:26:39] But there could be a thank you like that for each one of the people here, but

[1:26:42] that one we got over the summer and I was like, you know, we've always said we

[1:26:46] want to be the gold standard in safety and security. Doug leads that team, but

[1:26:50] it is really, really awesome. And each one of the people here does that level

[1:26:54] of service for the school district, not always thanked. So anyways, thank you

[1:26:58] all for your service to the school district. Awesome.

[1:27:02] Yeah, really appreciate your time and look forward to responses to some of the

[1:27:06] questions on Friday. >> Right. Thank you very much.

[1:27:14] » Oh, we have more board business. [snorts]

[1:27:18] Um, the next item is the approval of the 2027 legislative priorities. Uh, do we

[1:27:25] have a motion?

[1:27:30] I move to approve the 2026 well 27 legislative priorities.

[1:27:36] » I second.

[1:27:40] » Uh I hope we'll get them on the screen here in a second. Monica, can you put

[1:27:43] the document on the screen? So now we'll go to discussion. Um

[1:27:51] I think we can just bounce around for this one if that's okay with everybody.

[1:27:55] Um so I know there were a couple of changes. Uh, Mr. Harrison, do you want

[1:28:00] to let us know about the changes to the legislative priorities

[1:28:06] since the last time we saw this document?

[1:28:08] » We don't want to bug you or anything, but

[1:28:17] yes. So um since Monday I will when you saw this uh document last um based on

[1:28:26] your feedback from Monday we've made several uh changes. The first one there

[1:28:30] is in the first paragraph my eyes are deceiving me. I don't have my glasses. I

[1:28:34] believe it's line four. Um and you see the changes in track

[1:28:40] changes. um the word basic education that was um suggested that that not be

[1:28:47] included because that's not what it says in the constitution. So I dropped it and

[1:28:52] replaced it with K12 which is a little bit more specific. Um and moving along

[1:28:58] the next change the the the the big three

[1:29:04] plus one there were no changes there. this this section here under um

[1:29:10] technology uh in the classroom. I rewarded it um to

[1:29:17] try and capture the conversation. It was a little bit there were the conversation

[1:29:22] was basically does that strike the right balance in terms of what we're trying to

[1:29:26] accomplish here between you know balancing uh and honoring and protecting

[1:29:31] the the the classroom environment as well as the safety of students and the

[1:29:36] distractions that um technology can can pose. Um, so you can read that change uh

[1:29:43] there. And then the final change is in the section titled learning assistance

[1:29:50] program. I'm amazed I'm doing as well as I can because I can't see all that well.

[1:29:53] Um, but there was conversation around the predis it used to say predislexia

[1:29:59] screening and we talked about other screening that we that we do. So, I

[1:30:04] replaced predislexia with um early literacy and uh math screening and I

[1:30:10] believe that's the totality of the changes board.

[1:30:15] » Thank you. I'm just going to review for the benefit of the record. You know, the

[1:30:18] legislative priorities are primarily our primary one is funding and um we have as

[1:30:24] as reflected four principal goals. uh the fully and so amply funding material

[1:30:30] supplies and operating costs, special education, student transportation and

[1:30:34] substitute costs. And then we'd identified a number of additional

[1:30:37] legislative priorities including around technology in the classroom, learning

[1:30:42] assistance program, which is um early uh childhood education, preschool, prek, uh

[1:30:48] student well-being and mental health, graduation requirements that reflect a

[1:30:52] well-rounded education and affordable workforce housing. So with that, I will

[1:30:57] go to additional discussion.

[1:31:02] Anyone have anything? Just we're just going to popcorn. So um I I'll go first.

[1:31:08] Um since I brought up the ask for the change for the technology in classroom.

[1:31:13] Um I appreciate the attempt here but I still think it doesn't capture what I

[1:31:19] have asked for which is I think and this is the unfortunate part of the because

[1:31:25] of all the discourse that is happening nationally and locally around

[1:31:29] technologies specifically cell phone and I AI um the natural tendency is the con

[1:31:38] consuming of material through those uh uh entities or um but not necessarily

[1:31:45] using it as a safety tool um the cell phone as a safety tool. And

[1:31:52] I do want to make sure that we capture that because unless we capture it here,

[1:31:57] it won't be thought of.

[1:32:02] And so I I I if we could put maybe after student safety

[1:32:08] um

[1:32:12] in a bracket not just the consumption of uh I don't know

[1:32:19] using it uh making sure that we safeguard our students safety

[1:32:26] through I don't know I can't think of a right

[1:32:29] phrase but maybe it's something with within bracket to give an example of but

[1:32:34] I do think it is important that we identify it here. Um language matters

[1:32:40] um being specific matters. If we ignore this the the nuance which uh does when

[1:32:47] it's not addressed in places like this then we're redlining our students um

[1:32:52] from access to education because their safety is of concern especially when

[1:32:57] they're using it as a safety tool.

[1:33:03] Um, Director Mlin. >> Um, it's funny. I was going to use the

[1:33:09] exact same example but in the other direction. I actually think it's a

[1:33:12] little light now on the actual original intent which was to uh make it um

[1:33:18] something a tool that we want to put some restrictions on. Um, however, not

[1:33:23] enough to change it. what I what I was going to say I I think a productive

[1:33:28] learning environment is vague and I think that for legislative work that's

[1:33:34] actually a positive. So in this case um I actually think that the word safety is

[1:33:39] vague and can be uh advocated on since that's the point of our legislative

[1:33:44] priorities is what we can um weigh in on. And I think that also creating a

[1:33:50] productive uh learning environment is vague enough that we can advocate on it.

[1:33:55] So um as I understand it and please correct me if I'm wrong that this is so

[1:33:59] that we can weigh in pro or con rather than just other. So if that's the case

[1:34:04] then I'm actually I was going to applaud you on that language because it's vague

[1:34:08] but still shows that we are caring about a productive learning environment and

[1:34:12] safety. And so those two things are mentioned and we can then if we get too

[1:34:16] specific, you know, if we say cell phones or it needs, you know, bodily

[1:34:20] harm, then we're limiting what we can weigh in on. And so I was actually going

[1:34:24] to say that I appreciated the new verbiage.

[1:34:33] » Additional discussion directors.

[1:34:38] » Yes. Oh,

[1:34:40] » hey, go ahead. One of you. >> Go ahead. Yeah,

[1:34:45] » you're still scratchy. >> All right. Um,

[1:34:49] yeah, I think the kind of reiterating uh what um director Mley mentioned just to

[1:34:55] set the context as well for for the community. this the the priorities here

[1:34:59] help guide I guess how we can and correct me if I'm wrong here but how we

[1:35:03] can um uh publicize or make public our position right whether we whether the

[1:35:10] district is or um our representative is testifying and can say pro or con um

[1:35:16] needs to follow along what we've officially approved and documented

[1:35:20] within our within our priorities and so I I I do agree as I was reading the

[1:35:24] technology um the the The way we were looking at it originally uh was from a

[1:35:30] um do no harm perspective. So basically what we hear I think more so in the in

[1:35:35] the national discourse right now um for technology and I think it's softened

[1:35:39] from that based on some of the concerns we had earlier the week because there

[1:35:42] are trade-offs in going that way. Uh, but I do think the lang the intention of

[1:35:46] the language is the more vague it is, the the more it allows us to actually uh

[1:35:53] not pigeon hole us into a particular position that that prevents us from

[1:35:57] being able to speak to it. So, I think it uh I I agree that I think it softens

[1:36:02] maybe the original statement, but I think it still reads in a way um that

[1:36:07] allows us to uh take both those sides or take a position on technology

[1:36:11] application without without explicitly calling out all those examples. Um, and

[1:36:18] the uh the other thing I I I want to kind of encourage u folks as they're

[1:36:22] looking through this um I commented earlier in the week is I I really like

[1:36:26] that it represents u uh numbers behind uh some of our priorities and and what

[1:36:31] the gaps are uh for uh the community to see as well as they're looking through

[1:36:36] this um and to to help formulate and drive some talking points around that as

[1:36:41] they're talking to to legislators. Um, and I, you know, I just, I encourage us

[1:36:47] to continue doing that as we, as we, um, uh, present this type of documentation.

[1:36:52] But those are the kind the main comments I want to make.

[1:36:59] » Director Watson. >> Well, um, [clears throat]

[1:37:02] I'm trying to study a document here that I received from, um, YouthLink last

[1:37:08] night. They had, um, I was going to tell you in the board comments, but it's

[1:37:12] relevant here. They had a interest fair for the subcommittees that they create

[1:37:16] and um I noticed that at one of the tables they had set up there was

[1:37:20] something about the graduation requirements which relates to graduation

[1:37:24] requirements on our on our thing and um actually from reading their document

[1:37:29] it's hard for me to tell but I I I got the idea there was a a lot of students

[1:37:33] had signed their name in interest in this so that's the number one point and

[1:37:37] they want to advocate around the graduation requirements I thought from

[1:37:41] what I saw with the materials that they were presenting that they're worried

[1:37:44] about the reduction of the ability to take arts and electives

[1:37:50] given like the new proposals. But I can't be 100% clear because the way they

[1:37:55] worded their head the handout it's uh whatever. But the ma my main point is

[1:38:00] students care about this and um I think the point is they want the freedom to be

[1:38:05] able to take electives and not be tied into

[1:38:09] something more.

[1:38:14] That's all I had to say. >> Yeah. Um

[1:38:18] I I think I support the legislative priorities u as written unless we have a

[1:38:25] specific proposed uh amendment to the language. Um and uh I think that it does

[1:38:32] provide a highle summary. I always have a little anxiety when we try to nuance

[1:38:37] every specific issue because then the list just keeps getting added to. We end

[1:38:42] up finding all the exceptions and all the details. And uh I think the

[1:38:49] statement there on technology in the classroom captures kind of the three

[1:38:52] main uh concerns that we talked about which were um avoiding distraction in

[1:38:57] the classroom, maintaining student safety and supporting student health. um

[1:39:02] so that that we have a productive learning environment. Um if there are if

[1:39:07] there if there is specific language um you know I I'm open to considering an

[1:39:12] amendment but um that's the point that we're at. We would need to have specific

[1:39:16] language so that we can consider it and uh and do that where we're voting on

[1:39:21] this as proposed. >> Director RS.

[1:39:25] » Yeah. I I would like to suggest that [clears throat] we add in maybe in um

[1:39:31] parenthesis an example of of how safety is identified. The reason I am keep

[1:39:38] pushing this is I understand we want to keep it a high level but the reality is

[1:39:41] this is a document that we're going to share with our legislators and unless it

[1:39:45] is specifically talked to and it is written that it keeps it in forefront of

[1:39:50] their mind they're not going to address the the nuance and when we talk about

[1:39:55] each and every student needs being addressed making sure that we're

[1:40:00] actually providing a safe environment for every student we have to think about

[1:40:03] the students who are chronically bullied and If we don't go into the nuances of

[1:40:10] and understand the students who use cell phones or technology to safeguard

[1:40:15] themselves and acknowledge that here it will never be acknowledged because

[1:40:21] majority of the people who are in the legislative space will not be thinking

[1:40:24] about that and majority of people who write this don't have that experience.

[1:40:29] So it is I think it is imperative that we put yeah it may be more lengthy and

[1:40:34] it won't be as smooth or um but it is important that we put some kind of

[1:40:39] language that identifies beyond what is the average normal

[1:40:45] conversation in media that people are talking about which is how cell phone is

[1:40:50] being destructive because it's not always destructive it is also a safety

[1:40:54] tool >> and directors I'll repeat If you have a

[1:40:59] specific amendment proposal, I invite >> Can we put it as if they if the as I

[1:41:05] said in parentheses, if you're going to put student safety, maybe use it as a

[1:41:11] » um >> your proposed amendment is in line 71

[1:41:14] after the word safety, a parenthetical that states

[1:41:18] » um that [sighs and gasps]

[1:41:22] student safety

[1:41:28] through. Hold on a second. That's not the best.

[1:41:31] The way it's phrased right now, you it doesn't allow parenthesis.

[1:41:36] » May I make a suggestion? Um because we've we've done this we've done

[1:41:42] this a couple times before at your with your feedback and your suggestion,

[1:41:45] director, ours, >> is in line 72 where it says u m you know

[1:41:49] line 71 maintains student safety, supports and mental health students. If

[1:41:54] we were to add before students uh of each and every student, would that help

[1:42:00] move us a little bit closer to what you're suggesting?

[1:42:07] » Yeah, that would that would encourage more of that. Yes.

[1:42:12] If if that is the case, I would like to uh suggest that with the uh the

[1:42:19] priorities we consider doing uh adding additional document

[1:42:27] » that gives examples of of these that is separate from the priorities.

[1:42:33] I move we make an amendment that adds the words each and every student after

[1:42:39] online what is now 72 uh yes 72 well-being of each and every student and

[1:42:47] replacing the word students.

[1:42:52] » Is there a second? >> Yeah, I second.

[1:42:59] » All those in favor of >> is there discussion? Oh, is there

[1:43:02] discussion on the amendment? >> Wait.

[1:43:06] » Yeah. >> Was your suggestion be after the

[1:43:10] maintains and before the students in 71 or the 72?

[1:43:14] » It's at the end of this >> sentence 72.

[1:43:17] » What um director Mlin said was what I was thinking.

[1:43:20] » Okay.

[1:43:25] So, if I understand correctly, the the line would read uh guidance that ensures

[1:43:30] a productive learning environment that maintains student safety and supports

[1:43:34] the mental health and well-being of each and every student. Period. If that's the

[1:43:40] proposed amended language. >> So,

[1:43:45] I'm I'm taking um Director Aris's point kind of seriously. I do like the way

[1:43:51] like it's vague and we can we can lobby both aspects, but I think she's right

[1:43:56] that you won't really know what we're talking about. And um what maybe Jane

[1:44:01] and I are talking about, but um I feel I I you know, could we I don't

[1:44:07] know footnote because I'm I'm writing another sentence here that says after

[1:44:11] after that whole paragraph, for example, cell phones could be used to document

[1:44:15] and prevent bullying or can contribute to

[1:44:20] harm or something like that. You know, making it explicit. proposing an an

[1:44:26] » well I'm I what I'm proposing is that some other board member react to what I

[1:44:30] just say before we write a thing up. >> I I appreciate that. [clears throat]

[1:44:36] » Um >> I can accept a friendly amendment if

[1:44:40] somebody has a specific change. >> I I'm just unclear whether I

[1:44:44] » I'm open to considering a footnote for for that section that has a statement

[1:44:48] like that. I I think it it uh it does add clarity. I I understand I think what

[1:44:54] uh director RS is trying to say and where I was struggling with is how to

[1:44:57] how to insert it in a meaningful way. Um I you know in my mind it was in the

[1:45:03] safety area we could say including uh students abilities to uh interrupt uh uh

[1:45:11] harm and and and bullying through you know use of technology. Um

[1:45:17] » I I kind of like the word document in there only because

[1:45:21] » document's a useful word. >> Yeah. Um so yeah, a little one and then

[1:45:26] somewhere along on the bottom maybe. >> Well,

[1:45:30] » if I'm as the maker of the amendment in my hearing that you would add

[1:45:38] on line 71 that maintains student what you said it nicely.

[1:45:45] student safety, including uh the ability to document and erupt and interrupt

[1:45:52] » uh harm. >> Uh if that's if you are putting that in

[1:45:56] as an amendment, I can accept that as a friendly amendment, meaning we don't

[1:45:59] have to vote on it. We have to still vote on the amendment, but we don't have

[1:46:02] to vote. >> I offer that as a friendly amendment if

[1:46:04] if the parties >> second that

[1:46:06] » like that. >> Can we read it through?

[1:46:09] » I I'll agree with it, but I just want to know what

[1:46:11] » Yeah. Did anyone write the whole thing? Um, I think it would read uh that

[1:46:16] ensures a productive learning environment that maintains student

[1:46:20] safety, including the ability for students to

[1:46:24] document and interrupt harm and supports the mental health and well-being of each

[1:46:29] and every student. >> Second that.

[1:46:35] » Okay. Well, now I'm now that I'm like um so my concern is that now we've gone

[1:46:41] completely away from the harm that the technology can and does do. And so now

[1:46:47] we've completely made this only about the whole sentence now has changed to be

[1:46:51] completely about people being allowed to interrupt bullying etc. which is

[1:46:57] important but is not the actual main thing that we're trying to weigh in on.

[1:47:01] I feel like we still we need to either pull back a little or bring up

[1:47:08] the fact that there is harm. I I did like the idea that you had both before

[1:47:12] and so um I would want to vote on that then because I I don't think it serves

[1:47:17] its purpose anymore with that. >> I

[1:47:21] was speaking out of turn here. Okay. I I was going to suggest if we if instead of

[1:47:26] including it's recogniz like we we have a par a parenthetical that says

[1:47:31] recognizing that it can be used to document and interrupt harm. So it's not

[1:47:38] » as well as produce harm so that it has both.

[1:47:41] » Okay. So same thing that he said is what this amendment [laughter] is but in

[1:47:47] parentheses. Thank you. Um the oh goodness I remember that maintain

[1:47:52] student safety recognizing that what did you say somebody should be

[1:47:58] writing this down I >> that technology can be used to document

[1:48:01] and interrupt harm >> as well as cause harm.

[1:48:05] » Yes. >> Yes. So that I can accept. My my comment

[1:48:11] is not scientific because I haven't done a survey, but my sense is that 90% of

[1:48:18] the of the cases are reducing your attention span, online

[1:48:23] bullying, all those harms, and 10% of the cases are being able to document

[1:48:28] that somebody's been harassing you. >> Um, so,

[1:48:33] » okay. So, if I've accept that, accepted that, now we need to talk about the

[1:48:37] amendment. [laughter]

[1:48:40] So is there additional discussion on the uh

[1:48:46] » the revised >> on the revised amendment?

[1:48:53] » My understanding is the amendment has already been moved and seconded. So we

[1:48:57] can go to a vote. All those in favor vote I.

[1:49:00] » I. I. >> All those opposed vote nay.

[1:49:05] » The eyes have it. >> Thank you. The amendment is passed.

[1:49:10] Now, um we move to vote on the overall

[1:49:16] proposal. >> Second.

[1:49:19] » Um so, all those in favor of approving the amended legislative priorities

[1:49:24] proposal, please vote I. >> I.

[1:49:27] » I. >> I. All those opposed, vote nay. The eyes

[1:49:31] have it. The amended legislative priorities proposal is now passed. Thank

[1:49:35] you for your patience as we work through words smmithing that

[1:49:38] » I had a closing comment. Uh this is an example of us being collegial. It's very

[1:49:43] good. >> I was going to say thank you for your

[1:49:46] collaboration and uh support. appreciate it

[1:49:49] » and I appreciate the extra due diligence that everyone put into really thinking

[1:49:53] about that 10% as you did because I think when we it's really that this is

[1:50:00] the kind of work that we have to do to make sure that we're really addressing

[1:50:03] the each and every >> and thank goodness we record the meeting

[1:50:06] because otherwise [laughter] we'll never be able to figure out what

[1:50:10] we just approved. And if anyone doubts that we make our decisions in public,

[1:50:14] here's your clear and unambiguous evidence that we do. Thank you. All

[1:50:19] right. So, now we will go to uh board uh director discussion. Um we will keep it

[1:50:25] at three minutes, but if you can go a little faster, that would be great. Um I

[1:50:31] lost track of my speaker sequence. Oh, Joy, it looks like I'm first again. So,

[1:50:35] I will go first and try to set an example. Um, so since the last time we

[1:50:39] got together, the curriculum nights have started at many of the elementary

[1:50:43] schools and also happened at my own high school just the other night. Uh, it was

[1:50:47] great to see teachers. It's really fantastic to see those. I know that

[1:50:50] there's a lot of effort um staying late. It I watching the teachers walk out of

[1:50:55] there at 8:30 p.m. and knowing they need to be back there at 7:30 or or 8 the

[1:51:00] next morning. I know that that's a challenge, but it is greatly appreciated

[1:51:02] by parents, speaking for myself as well as a lot of the other parents who were

[1:51:07] happy to keep talking well past 8:30 last night. Um, I also had the wonderful

[1:51:13] chance to go with our school uh international school on their high

[1:51:17] school retreat. So, international school does a lot of forming and norming at the

[1:51:21] beginning of the school year and uh we went to the Warm Beach site. I wisely or

[1:51:28] or or not uh made the offer to teach one of the six sessions that we did. Um no

[1:51:35] other parents did that. So it was myself and five teachers. Um and I got the

[1:51:40] experience of teaching 48 students per section. Um six times in a row uh

[1:51:45] including three consecutive classes where we did no break in between which

[1:51:48] was not my favorite. um 45 minute sessions and it is an experience and

[1:51:53] these were uh motivated uh excited interested kids working in in a

[1:51:59] non-traditional project-based thing. Um so I just wanted to reflect that I've

[1:52:03] had that experience and it and it is an experience uh trying to move around a

[1:52:07] room. I had to keep getting check tables out of the room uh after I did the first

[1:52:11] session just so I could move around um and make that work. And so I I

[1:52:15] appreciate that that is a challenge and that that is um something that that we

[1:52:19] all all would love to have smaller classes. Um also uh had PTSA council for

[1:52:27] the all the PTSAs in the city had their first meeting on Monday. Um a lot of

[1:52:33] beginning of the year uh things going on. Um reports from uh a lot of the same

[1:52:39] groups that we see here. uh the superintendent, myself, BEA, um Freedom

[1:52:44] Johnson gave a presentation on uh uh language which was great to see um and

[1:52:50] improve the understanding of the community of some of the reason the why

[1:52:53] behind some of the actions we do. I also want to reflect just briefly that

[1:52:59] there are some things happening in the schools around us and beyond us um that

[1:53:05] are noteworthy. Uh Dr. Kamaki noted that, you know, enrollment continues to

[1:53:08] be a challenge for all school districts and it looks like Olympia and Bellingham

[1:53:13] are currently exploring potential school closures or consolidations and we're

[1:53:17] also seeing um more districts enter potential binding conditions with I

[1:53:22] think four that have joined since June of this year. Um and so those are all

[1:53:27] things that are going to continue to to to ricochet. Those are also

[1:53:32] opportunities where Belleview will probably be highlighted as an example

[1:53:36] one way or the other um with some of those since we've gone through both

[1:53:39] those experiences. Thanks. Uh next is

[1:53:46] Director Miklin. >> Uh I just wanted to say a big thank you

[1:53:51] to the finance and operating leadership and all of their teams. So much goes on

[1:53:55] to give our kids reading, writing, and arithmetic. So, please please parents as

[1:53:59] you um are coming back keep in mind all the hard work that goes into it and all

[1:54:04] of the personnel because that is something that we sometimes forget

[1:54:07] about. Uh I helped with laptop distribution this year. It was every

[1:54:12] single student. I was at Inner Lake High School and it was an amazing job, the

[1:54:15] organization, the amount of laptops that went back out to those kids. So, kudos

[1:54:20] to the tech departments. Uh thank you to Alex, our Seamish High School student

[1:54:25] who spoke earlier very uh very nicely. Um finance, thank you for pulling out in

[1:54:30] our consent agenda. There's lots of things that people don't necessarily

[1:54:33] look at, but I wanted to apprec throw out some appreciation for uh pulling out

[1:54:37] some very high expenses that we were voting on and I appreciated that those

[1:54:40] were brought to our attention in the notes and that was helpful. Also wanted

[1:54:44] to thank Linquist and Cornfell for their generous donation. Thanks to our DAC

[1:54:48] reps who have been serving with the district. um they served for several

[1:54:52] years, some of them, and are all continuing this year. So, thank you all

[1:54:54] for the hard work you do um for our appeals council. Uh congrats to our high

[1:54:59] schools. This is very exciting about the US News and World Report. Congrats to

[1:55:03] our national merit scholarships and semi-finalists. I remember being one a

[1:55:06] million years ago and it is very exciting. Congratulations to your all

[1:55:09] your hard work. Um I'd like to also throw out some information on some of

[1:55:13] our partners. Uh very excited about the gumbo night for youth link. Rainineer

[1:55:17] athletes had uh prepped 27 new mentors. It is the highest amount of new mentors

[1:55:22] that they have ever prepped in the month of August to prepare for this new year

[1:55:25] and more kiddos that we can um assist and mentor and it's very exciting. They

[1:55:30] have a wonderful program. If you get a chance to ever be a mentor or have any

[1:55:34] interest, please go to their website. Eastside Pathways is excited to be uh

[1:55:38] renewing and reviewing their uh strategic plan. So, that's going to have

[1:55:42] a great deal of of excitement to it. Uh, one thing that I'm involved in is the

[1:55:46] Belleview Police Foundation is holding a protect and connect brunch and it is

[1:55:50] about teen and tween safety. So, specifically covering internet,

[1:55:55] e-mobility devices like ebikes and and scooters and vehicles. So, if you have

[1:56:00] any in uh any desire to go to that is a free uh brunch. It is a fundraiser, I'm

[1:56:04] sure, but um the there is no cost to attend. And so, if you want some

[1:56:09] information on that, they are a good partner. Uh, and they'll be doing that I

[1:56:13] think October 6th. Uh, and then I just sort of want to um take the last few

[1:56:18] seconds to talk about uh, as uh, President Block mentioned, we have more

[1:56:23] and more um, districts going to binding conditions all across the state. We are

[1:56:28] having problems in terms of financing. So, please families, please partner with

[1:56:33] us, partner with your PTAs, partner with our uh uh education associations,

[1:56:38] Belleview and all of the cities that that are surrounding us. Please partner

[1:56:42] and advocate to the state of Washington that we need to amply fund K12

[1:56:46] education. Thank you, >> Director Watson.

[1:56:52] » Okay. Well, I'm going to go on about YouthLink for another minute um since

[1:56:56] that's uh who I'm leazing with. So gumbo night's been covered. Um they had a

[1:57:02] retreat last Saturday that I um attended where the students get to know each

[1:57:08] other. But was was kind of of note to me was that um not only was the city

[1:57:12] council member there, but a number of um like the city manager and other um

[1:57:17] important people from the city were there um to meet the kids and talk to

[1:57:21] them. Um they also had a regular meeting and um they always want a report from

[1:57:26] the school board for about 10 minutes of what we're doing. So I try to tailor

[1:57:30] that to everything that's of interest in to high school kids. And then this

[1:57:34] interest fair that I was talking about. So they they very enthusiastically gave

[1:57:38] me handouts and stuff, but I turned those into um Monica Namela so she can

[1:57:43] turn them back because I I don't know. I may have an exemption, but there's

[1:57:47] something about give the papers over there. So now I can't tell you what was

[1:57:51] on the papers um other than um somewhat I can remember the examples of the

[1:57:56] committees that they the kids were interested in putting together the

[1:57:59] environmental and um the leader there uh Patrick Alina said it was really good I

[1:58:04] mentioned how well that seemed to go last year because he wants the kids to

[1:58:08] know that they're having an impact. Um there's also someone they're interested

[1:58:12] in maybe working with veterans um and the graduation requirement thing that I

[1:58:16] mentioned previously and then youth responsible AI action team they're

[1:58:22] trying to put together. So I will uh at risk of being out of order hand the

[1:58:26] paper over. Um and um and then I also wanted to comment on volunteerism with

[1:58:34] our high school students because this has really touched me personally in the

[1:58:38] last week. you know, um I have my dad in the local Evergreen Court um assisted

[1:58:45] living and I have noticed over the years um Belleview High students coming in and

[1:58:51] a lot a lot of times they come in and they um do orchestra concerts and things

[1:58:55] and I really appreciate that. But yesterday I just had the most delightful

[1:58:59] encounter with a Belleview High School student who had done her CNA, which is

[1:59:06] certified nursing assistant. And I said, "Oh, did you do it with Newport?" And

[1:59:10] she said, "No, I I figured out how to go to Belleview College and and get the

[1:59:13] courses I need and I'm here doing my V." She was so great. She just came into me

[1:59:21] and worked with me and my dad to get him, you know, up and ready and out to a

[1:59:27] birthday lunch that they were having in the facility, you know, which it was,

[1:59:30] you know, his birthday. So, I just I'm just amazed by the quality of

[1:59:37] work that our high school volunteers can do and kudos to Belleview High. You guys

[1:59:42] really have helped me out.

[1:59:48] » Director Clanski. >> All right. I'll try to keep this uh keep

[1:59:52] it brief. Uh but I wanted I guess I'll start with uh Dr. Dr. Armrai opened or

[1:59:58] shared uh the the tears from parents dropping kids off at at kindergarten. Um

[2:00:05] and I think it previously spoke about the tears that happen when you drop your

[2:00:08] kid off at college. Um and so uh I think I held it together at drop off, but my

[2:00:13] first real set of tears were the call we got last night from our kid [laughter]

[2:00:16] of missing uh missing home. Um so it it's a good book end, I guess. Uh I

[2:00:23] wanted to um uh reiterate the achievements uh on our our

[2:00:30] high schools for uh US um uh news recognition

[2:00:35] um on the National Honor Society as well uh on all the work that the operations

[2:00:39] team's done um and from the report we heard is kind of echoing that and

[2:00:43] reiterating it again. Um and then some of the things that um we don't hear

[2:00:48] about as much uh that are some of our high school bands performed at halftime

[2:00:53] uh uh uh this past weekend with the Huskies. So um that's an awesome

[2:00:58] opportunity that is a I consider an achievement for our performing arts.

[2:01:03] And um uh I I did want to comment on uh I was able to attend uh a session uh

[2:01:10] this past week on uh kind of the introduction or potential introduction

[2:01:14] for Hebrew language program. Um and uh there were some comments earlier about

[2:01:19] um making sure we're uh we're thinking about sustainable programs and and one

[2:01:24] of the things that uh struck me not surprisingly was how thoughtful our

[2:01:28] world languages program uh and team is around introducing those programs. um

[2:01:34] there's a lot of uh uh pressure to open as many programs as as we can as quickly

[2:01:40] as we can to um to attract people and there's community interest in those

[2:01:45] types of things. Uh but the team respectfully and uh can push back and

[2:01:50] said we we want to focus on making sure we have a program that we can grow and

[2:01:54] it's sustainable and make the best thing we can do whatever that program is. Uh

[2:01:58] so I I I appreciated hearing that. Um and then I I I also want to just echo

[2:02:04] the legislative priorities. Just please get familiar with those that that is the

[2:02:08] the biggest driver for how we get um uh the teachers that we need, the funding

[2:02:16] we need is is around advocating and uh having those conversations with your

[2:02:21] peers, with organizations, with uh legislators. Um and so, you know, get

[2:02:25] familiar with the the priorities that we approved today. directors.

[2:02:34] » Okay, my list is a bit long, so I'll try to go as fast as I can. Um, [gasps]

[2:02:39] I want to start with a world language uh programs. I had an interesting

[2:02:42] conversation with one of our community members and uh concerns about senior

[2:02:46] graduation requirement changing and how the requirement will decrease, but

[2:02:52] public uh private institution will continue to hold. And so the difference

[2:02:56] in how um how we're g how are our students and parents going to navigate

[2:03:00] to make sure their students are ready for not just Washington state schools

[2:03:06] but beyond. And so this is where I kind of took a moment like we're I'm so proud

[2:03:11] of our district for offering as many language programs because that bypasses

[2:03:16] that requirement for all of our students who participate in the all of our um K12

[2:03:21] language programs or now middle school high to high school language program. Um

[2:03:27] I also want to give a shout out to our I think it's Smamage Newport and Belleview

[2:03:33] High bands that participate at the Husky game. I got uh messages from our

[2:03:39] legislators who were there going, "Where is Belleview here? I can't tell. There's

[2:03:43] so many." And so I had to do some little bit of checking and found out that

[2:03:47] there's uh we had at least three um high schools participating um in their uh the

[2:03:53] opening. I think it's the opening. Um it was it's great to see that our students

[2:03:57] are um having those kind of opportunities. Um I also want to talk

[2:04:02] about I attended it was sponsored by NAMI but it was a collaboration

[2:04:08] conversation about mental health um support uh which brought in leaders,

[2:04:15] community um partners from everything a couple of board directors to um city

[2:04:23] council to county even Germai um our executive uh council um King County

[2:04:28] Council was there. um and legislators talking about how do we streamline and

[2:04:34] how do we make sure that mental health support is as strong as it can be with

[2:04:38] the health with the decrease in funding that's coming our direction from the

[2:04:44] federal level and downwards um some of them being um the impact we will start

[2:04:50] uh feeling it in January because of the Medicaid cuts for our students who are

[2:04:57] not citizens um And so and then there's a few other rounds. So that was a really

[2:05:04] interesting conversation. I think uh we need to continue to be part of th those

[2:05:08] type of conversations because as one of the emphasis that was made is that the

[2:05:13] place where we need to put a lot of effort is the K12 space.

[2:05:17] Um which goes to the unfunded mandates that we constantly get. I will forward

[2:05:23] and share the I got a list from uh one of our uh fellow board colleagues of we

[2:05:30] that currently there is6 unfunded mandates since 2017 to chair.

[2:05:38] » Um just give me a couple because you need all the rest of this information.

[2:05:41] Um so it that's a lot the 106 in in these short few years. There's also a

[2:05:50] series of I will send you an email with a links to all of the documents that was

[2:05:54] shared through uh the advocacy network um through WASDA. It's a not a light

[2:06:02] reading. It's a lot but there are some requirements regarding based upon again

[2:06:07] legislation that will be put into effect uh soon um about um health uh it's um

[2:06:18] it's through board of health and all the environmental health requirements for

[2:06:23] the school districts um there's about five or six documents um I also attended

[2:06:28] the advocac uh the caucuses for general assembly I'm not going to read you all

[2:06:33] the the titles, but I'm going to share the numbers of all the uh

[2:06:39] all the different uh ones that has been in conversation.

[2:06:44] Uh for the small school districts, it was 3229 36 329 36 4259.

[2:06:53] Uh the large school caucus uh the positions that they they talked about

[2:06:58] was um 10 19 22 30 61 53 59. Director of color caucus was 38 50 59 63 28 30 and

[2:07:10] 53. Um I want I'm saying these because if these are something that you feel

[2:07:15] that I need to uh take a deeper um look into for Saturday, please let me know.

[2:07:22] The first 24 are are listed as uh consent agenda, but there has been a lot

[2:07:29] of conversations about pulling quite a few of those off the consent end to have

[2:07:34] a stronger discourse because of um there's a lot of

[2:07:39] discussions that people feel that um it needs to be pulled. So, but if there

[2:07:46] are any that you feel that as a BSD we need to support in pulling, please let

[2:07:50] me know.

[2:07:54] Fantastic. With that, we will go to our break. We're going to take 10 minutes

[2:07:59] and uh we will come back uh in the small room for our study session on the edtech

[2:08:04] advisory. I think this is a prelude to the the start of the edtech advisory

[2:08:08] design group uh in about a week. Thank you.

Regular Meeting of the BSD Board of Directors - Sep 17 2026

Transcript