To call to order the board meeting. Let the record
reflect that all of our members are in attendance. The public
is welcome to email and the individual board member. We will begin the evening with our land acknowledgment.
>> the board of directors of lake washington school district acknowledges that our district is on the indigenous land of
the coast salish peoples, who have reserved treaty rights on this land, including the duwamish and the snoqualmie
indian tribe we thank these caretakers of this land who
have lived here since time immemorial. We commit to continue collaborating with our native community, to teach the indigenous history of this land and these local tribes to all
children of the district. We also commit to provide the best possible education for all children of native descent who attend our schools. >> thank you. The next item is
to approve our agenda for the evening. I will entertain a motion to approve. >> approved.
>> it has been moved and seconded by lindsey yocum. All
in favor? >> aye.
>> hearing none, the motion carries. The first item on our agenda is the recognition of school library month.
>> whereas school libraries provide materials for teachers
and students that will encourage growth and knowledge;
and the school library media specialist's role is to provide the leadership and expertise necessary to ensure that the library program is an integral part of the instructional
program of the school; and whereas school libraries
provide materials to meet individual needs, varied interests, abilities, socioeconomic backgrounds and maturity levels of the students served; and whereas school
libraries provide materials that reflect the ideas and beliefs of religious, social, political, historical and ethnic groups and their contributions to the american
and world heritage and culture; and whereas the school library
contributes to the individual growth and development of all students, while fostering both excellence and equity in education; we, the members of the lake washington school
district board of directors, do hereby proclaim the month of april 2024 as school library .
>> thank you. The next item will be public comment. The
board of directors of lake washington school district welcomes the public to the business meetings of the board and encourages community engagement. The board dedicates
30 minutes to hear from the public during a public comment period at each board meeting. Due to time constraints, it is possible not all comments will be heard. Comments will be
offered in the order of sign-up.commenters are asked to provide their full name and topicfor the record.advance sign-up is required to participate in public comments.
if the original speaker is not present at the board meeting the board will move to the next speaker; substitutions at the meeting will not be accommodated. Sign-up is open until 12:00 p.m. On the day of the board meeting. Public
comments listing will be updated after 3:00 p.m. On the day of the meeting. If the original speaker is not present
and is not notified the replacement in writing by the
deadline and the board will move to the next speaker. Substitutions will not be accommodated. For this evening, public comment will begin at 7:05 p.m. In the first person
that we have signed up is keegan henderson . The second
is lahela schoessler >>> thank you, so much for
taking time to hear my voice. I made an adoptive parent. When
he tested out of his services last year we were so proud of him. But my partner were hesitant to move him. Because
we were foster parents at the time. We knew the upcoming adoption would impact him. We were told that if our son
chose a regression and struggled. We could always have him reassessed. And in this current school year our
students had emotional explosions. And regulation, we
requested a reevaluation. The admin suggested that we try accommodations. Which we agreed to . But when there was no
improvement we asked if we could still have the reassessment. Students are not typically back from a 504. I was told in three different conversations. That it is more
for students with learning disabilities. Not for social or emotional needs. I know this to be false. Both of my children have been social and emotional goals in the . She wrote an
email that they are not able to make a referral for an
evaluation. But I continue to follow up with the requests. After being in the lord. This is an example how the admin
uses confusing language to achieve her goals. My son is
two diagnosis is and we have gotten reports of outbursts for 40 times. And the plan and separation plans were changed
multiple times. Until another incident was reported. We were informed that he broke a rule that we did it not know existed. The rest of the team also cannot keep track of the
changes because these are all changes by an admin. I do not
know how an 8-year-old would keep track of that. The admin offered participation in special education social groups. But he technically should not be in this group
because he does not have an iep. And it was honored. They
still resisted our request for an assessment. We received traction when we bypassed the admin. And the school I
psychiatrist gave us hopes for the success next year. Let me be clear. We are very grateful for the teachers and staff of
the hard work they do. But we have completely lost trust in the principle of our school. Because of instances because of
misleading information. Our story is not isolated. Do not
take my word for it. The board would consider asking the community. To take a vote of no-confidence. Thank you.
>> the next person we have signed up is heather colomb .
fifth-grader at a second grader. I am here tonight to share my frustration with the lack of support that our community has received. Regarding concerns of the
school. After reaching out to district personnel two months ago. My concern has not been addressed. I've only just
received acknowledgment of my communication efforts today. After two months of silence. Daily I hear from adverse
committee members about the erosion of school culture and the destruction of the community we once enjoyed. I hear from parents our special and general education about
mismanagement, lack of communication, services and lack of consistency. I hear from staff about the culture of secrecy. Toxic environment. And retaliation and
retribution. I understand the board is not entertain comments about staff and personnel during these meetings. However, where can parents a turn? When allegations and failure to
follow plans and egregious lack of communication degradation
of the culture and community. A toxic work environment, professional retaliation. And deceit and manipulation are met with silence. The tension is palpable. Real harm is being
done to students and teachers under this reckless
readership. The staff are not informed about recess that impacts the students. Or to report physical violence.
parents are provided with redacted information regarding incidences of violence. With conflicting reports. Students are subjected to shame, isolation and obvious
preferential treatment. At first I brought these concerns
to the attention of district leadership in june, 2023. But things have not improved. And having many ways, worsened. I have faced retaliation as a consequence of asking for help
from district leadership. Families are seeking alternative options. And including homeschooling,
private school, and others like washington school. Relocation. I've kept silent. And it is a terrible position for a mother.
however, the number of families suffering has become too great. I can no longer sit quietly and wait. We need meaningful
support and we need it now. I'm asking for this board to consider calling for a vote of no-confidence. Thank you.
>> next we have cathey hettinger .
>> a good evening. I am a proud parent, and I sorry staff
member of the lwsd. As a member of the kirkland community and the team manager I come before you today to
address a pressing concern regarding athletic field use in our area. For club sports like ours. I would like to commend
our district for its limit to positive change. Example if I buy the recent enhancements to the middle school athletics.
the principal outlined ensuring student pores, and maximizing facilities, resources, fairplay, and sustainability are commendable. With our collective goals. I'm excited
to see it unfold for the 2024 school year. But while progress is being made. We still face significant challenges. Terms
of field availability. As a second-tier program under the city policy, our lacrosse club which serves students from students coming into lake washington high school.
competes with other programs for access . The demand is
overwhelming. 38 programs line for just one newly remodeled field. Moreover, the condition of our middle school leaves
much to be desired. None of the eight comprehensive middle school fields are adequate for sustained use. Safety hazards. And just rent the high school field is probably going to be
for your money. We do rent a football field for practices
and games. But we are met with the same guidelines. Despite having all athletes on our team. When a school sports
team needs the field for a last-minute game. Those with a paid reservation get kicked off the field. In light of these
challenges I propose a proactive solution. Allocating a portion of the district's budget to improve all middle schools athletics fields. The 2020 tool project levy is
funding track and field upgrades to kirkland, inglewood and redmond. We did see projects at our conference of
bicycles over the summer. The fields look incredible. We teach wife for your investment in support. This investment
and all of the middle school athletic fields would not only benefit the schools and the athletic programs but also contribute to the broad community. By making them
available for rental through the rental processes. Aligns with the principles of fairness, inclusivity and
responsibility. That we strive to uphold. It is inequitable. Just four middle schools are being upgraded. All of them
deserve the funding, support for the students and communities we serve. And I urge the lwsd to allocate
resources towards the enhancement of all eight middle school athletic fields. But he sees this opportunity to invest
the well-being of our students a . Thank you for your time and
consideration. >> thank you. And with a
virtual comment, next. Darya mazandarany .
>> we are ready for you. >> can you hear me?
>> yes. >> awesome. Thank you for
hearing me. I wanted to encourage the board to make schools . Lacrosse is not only fun, exciting but a great way
to teach kids in port and values. That will help them in
life. By playing lacrosse, kids learn respect, sportsmanship,
discipline, perseverance. A great example of this is introduced at the end of each game. Members of each team and
recognize players on the opposing team for something positive they demonstrated during the game. In addition, they also develop the physical and mental abilities. Such as
coordination, agility, speed, strategy. Lacrosse is a sport that can benefit kids of all backgrounds. And interests. My son started later than his teammates . He is been welcomed
and included. As if he was there from the start. And it is more accessible and visible. Schools support provides the
necessary facilities and staff . For the students that want to
participate. My oldest place high school basketball. The access to courts, weight rooms and trainers provides advantages that should be expanded to the game of the
cross. This should be more to participate more. A sport which
is present at all of the ivy league schools and many of the top ranking universities across the country. Providing athletes
the leg up on admissions. And washington schools can
participate in. I hope that you can see his lacrosse is more than just a game. An experience they can shape the character in
the future. Therefore, I urge the school board to consider making lacrosse the school sanctioned sport. Give more kids a chance to discover the joy and value of this amazing
sport. Thank you for your attention and support. >> thank you. Tucker andrews .
>> hello. And alongside we are students at lwsd. On behalf of
our team. There is a lot of good our district has done. In
return. There is a disconnect between the environmental
issues we are facing in the schools. As one of the districts flagship schools for sustainability. There should be an open line of communication between the students. And in
interest we would like to invite you to an authentic experience. To show you the work that we have done. And yet
to do. The exact details are closed in the letter that we
are handing to you right now. Your continued support is
invaluable. We cannot do it without you. Thank you for your time. We hope to hear from you soon.
>> thank you. >> next, stephanie lecovin .
a sixth grader at kirkland middle. In a 10th grader. First
I want to thank you for delaying the first reading of the sustainability policy. You can involve the school community in the process in a more genuine way. In defining
your values around sustainability. There is an
opportunity to evaluate the partnerships our district maintains. This is whether the current partners can live up to
those values. One of the districts long-standing ownerships is with our food service providers. I've been
volunteering around sustainability in this district for 11 years. I've been trying to work with them under reducing waste. And improving the food for the entire time.
the foods that they feed is highly processed, excessively
packaged, extremely unhealthy. Tremendously wasteful. Plastic
clamshells, parfait cups, plastics, mini cups, plastic drink bottles, and mountains of plastic junk food abound. Let me give you two examples what is being served. Students
attend school on mondays and wednesdays from 8:30 a.m. That
is five hours without a lunch break. Somebody decided the students needed a nutrition break. That sounds like a good
idea . So what is this nutrition break look like? It looks like this. This is everything that is served and
offered at a nutrition break. Pop tarts, rice crispies, and
various cookies, gummy bears, bottled drinks, soft drinks.
many of these items are available during regular lunch service. And all of the high schools. If you are not yet
aware of the dangers of plastics in food and drinks? I believe that for every 2024 issue of consumer reports. So
you can learn more. My second example is what happens in middle schools. Where they have a snack shack. These are open
during the entire lunchtime. They said a lot of the same items as previous. They say it is a way for students to
purchase chips. Many students who can afford it is simply
purchase lunch from the snack shack. Day after day. The
snack shack and nutrition break that I researched of 700 of
$700-$1000 per school, per day. The five-year contract will
end on august 31st, 2025. They have one more year before you. If you want to approve or reject another five-year
contract. I think our school district should take back its old food service. And you should not renew the districts
contract. And I am asking this with the utmost respect for the
people that work in food service in the schools. It is the model that is broken, not the individual perky. And you
consider a bold action that will improve behavior by fitting students real food. Will teach students healthy
habits to last a lifetime. And putting into action the values outlined in the sustainability policy. Thank you.
>> thank you. Next is aspen richter .
>> I'm a parent at evergreen middle school. At the last
board meeting I gave a comment about transportation in our district. Included in that comment. A student was almost hit on a bicycle. At one of the school entrances. This is not
the only time it has happened. Something needs to be done
before somebody gets seriously hurt in this section of the road. And I wish I was exaggerating. That there is a
serious danger. I personally know three people on lake
washington school district. One of them is a high school student who had been hit and injured by a car while walking
or biking. Just distracted drivers are a danger to our
students. Especially when there are no safe sidewalks. And
even well-designed infrastructure will
automatically slow down the cars. Makes them pay attention, more. Also giving pedestrian places of refuge. And bicycle
ramps down and back up from sidewalks and roadways. And
unfortunately, evergreen and dickinson do not have those. In the written comments tonight, there was a long document. It
includes images of all the districts elementary and post
schools. To the best of my ability. They show that
evergreen and dickinson are mostly the only schools in the district that do not have sidewalks or crosswalks. And
other jurisdictions are also lacking. Evergreen and
dickinson are much worse. There is a clear disparity if
you look in the documents. The photographs. So my ask.
updating the evergreen parking lot this summer to please make some basic improvements to sidewalks. And curbing. So
bicycles do not just go off the edge or hit a curb. And add
proper crosswalks. Speed humps, or raise crosswalks.
even better. There are also washington state department of
transportation grants for safe schools with the application
is due by june 7th. Seriously. We are just so very frustrated by this. Most parents have a story about somebody they saw
who was getting hit . And we are trying to emphasize
carpooling, and safety and putting out signs. But there is
just so much that volunteers can do to look at the image and see if there is something that you can do. I do not want to
wait. If somebody is hit before this problems addressed.
thank you. >> and the last person is
marie-therese schambeck . And I did see somebody walk in
late. That is everybody that we have signed up. But I am
getting some confused looks. Did somebody sign-up that we
did not call? But I just wanted to make sure. Thank you very
much for coming. Providing your comments. We are going to move on to the rest of our agenda. Feel free to exit quietly at
this time. The next is the approval of the march 25th,
2024 consent agenda. I will entertain a motion.
>> second.. >> yes.
>> yes. >> the motion carries.
>> in the boards packet tonight. There are donations
of $14,000 from private sources. That was during the
neighborhood alliance. The other was a booster club. I just wanted to express our appreciation. For supporting
our playground. Also for supporting our athletics.
>> thank you. The first item is a redirecting of the 2022 construction proceeds. Dr. John holmen?
>> as they also, get the presentations. Set up I just
wanted to provide the board with some opening comments. About the resolution that you have in front of you tonight. They are receiving resolution 2365. At the april 15, 2024
meeting in this resolution is specific to two bodies of responsibilities. One component of action is to
authorize the redirecting of levy funds for eastlake high school. And redmond high school capacity. As referenced
in the 2022 capital construction. Away from site 59. To classroom additions. And course notifications at most .
the presentation this evening will provide more detail, context for this recommendation. The second
component is related to the long-term planning for high school enrollment in the lake school district. The board has responsibility for students attending school today. But
also charge with considerations of future students. The long-term viability of the lake washington school district from all aspects. The board is a fiduciary of the bond and levy
funds which they trust us with and expect us to spend in the most effective ways to meet our goals for students. Student
experiences, and community benefits. Since 2010, lake washington school district has a 25% or 6600 students . During
this time the district has passed one bond measure and
three capital construction levees to manage this significant and rapid growth. As the board knows, the failure
but our district behind schedule. By providing appropriate classroom capacity which led to a number of responses. First, the 162 portable classrooms now reside
on our school campuses. And the significant reduction of the standard of services that all levels. And both micro and
macro rebound ring processes to use all available classroom space at our schools. Additionally during this time,
the employee to two distinct strategies to manage high schools enrollment. First was high school additions.
eastlake and redmond received a classroom edition. In 2012. In place washington, most recently in 2021. Additionally, two
choices schools and programs opened during this time. Cambridge in 2010 and tesla in 2012. There was a distinct
choice not to add a fifth comprehensive high school. Because of the lack of appropriate available land and
location that that made sense for the proximity. In 2021, they purchased 25 acres. At the base of union hill. This
would allow the district to offer comprehensive high school and a location that made sense for the proximity of
students. The district has been in a capacity deficit for
nearly 1 decade. With the current projections with the time to evaluate educational programs and expect comprehensive high schools. In order to make long-term
decisions for future generations. What we know as
the additions that we are proposing tonight are desperately needed to spark today's students. And any additional space, even if we were open a fifth
comprehensive high school would only cause the schools to operate within the limited capacity ratio that we expect for our schools. They only help to mask a significant challenge
they face today. The education for students requires a long-term plan. Part of the action on april 15th is the
commission of a study of a fifth comprehensive high school, as well as other available options. Such as adding choice schools, district rebound ring of high school
enrollment. Or the status quo which is to do nothing. Where community expects excellence. I appreciate the time and
effort. Regarding his resolution. And the situation
that we are in >> thank you. Tonight's
presentation relates to our 2022 construction levy. A
redirect recommendation. Our building excellence plan phase one. With assumptions around capacity needs and enrollment.
they were changed . In impacted by the pandemic. As
the board knows, we brought the redirection of funds. And in order to be responsible to our current situation and emerging.
just a reminder of what the 2022 construction level funded. Originally it was a capacity for 550 elementary
students. In the redmond, washington area. Capacity for
600 middle school students. Three middle schools.
kirkland, redmond and then he'll take an additional high school capacity for 1200 more students. And finally acquisition of property for future schools. In april, we
redirected the funds. With changing enrollment in our
elementary levels. Redirected the funds to rebuild our aging, rockwell elementary and that provide additional
capacity for 252 students. Again, this is a list of the
$295 million levy . Of what they funded. And the building
phase one because it was part of a multi-phase building plan.
and again we have shared updates . And updated the plan
with the board in prior study sessions. Let me provide some
background and details about our high school. And the capacity at our high school level. And our focus tonight
is at the high school capacity. Dr. John holmen talked about
our growth. This chart shows our high school enrollment history since 2013. Since the pandemic, since 2019. High
school enrollment has increased by 10%. Since the last 10 years, it has increased nearly 29%. And as a dr. John holmen
mentioned. Our 2016 bond enlarged one school. In our
construction levy provided an addition for lake washington high school. And in 2022, a construction levy was to provide capacity for the west high school capacity. Given its
growth. Some history. When we went to the voters with our
february, 2022 levy. Including 600 capacity buildings on the
west side and east side. The time, locations had not been determined. We wanted to continue to watch enrollment trends. Given the pandemic. Once our levy passed we
selected the site 59. For the east side location. We did the
feasibility for additions in eastlake and redmond, washington but this was a separate building. And we had
available property. Still recovering from the pen debt.
and in summer, 2024. We hired a capital principal to study
the options for a choice high school for a ninth-grade
campus. And will provide more details on that later in the
presentation. In october, 2023 emerson was selected as the
west side capacity site. This allowed us to rebuild an aging
school. Increasing space for high school enrollment. This will draw enrollment not only across the district primarily
from lake washington high school. At the same time, we
are also working on plans to increase high school enrollment at international community schools. In late fall and
even through last month. We've been looking at site 59 and
reconsidering site 59. There has been a delay of
construction because of permitting. I will get into more details on that later. And also unanticipated costs
increase for road and infrastructure. That brings us here tonight with a recommendation. To provide the
east side capacity at redmond and eastlake. This
chart just provides our current enrollment right now. For our four comprehensive high schools. Tesla stem. And note
the enrollment right now. That is our high school only. Ics
is serving approximately 440 students, total. Our emerson
campus is 67 students. A total of 8834 high school students are served right now. >> that is emerson high school?
background. On eastlake and redmond and the changes they
have gone through since they were built. Eastlake high school was open. Our fourth comprehensive in 1993. At the
time, it served great attend through 12. The capacity was
around 700 students. In 2012, we reconfigured to k through five , six, eight, nine, 12. So we provided additions. At
eastlake and serving grades nine through 12. We also
expanded the core space . And in 2017, knowing that they were
still growing. Had capacity challenges, we read configured
interior space. The equivalent of 14 classrooms. An example.
we converted some spaces to teacher planning areas pixel classrooms could be used for all seven periods. Instead of
having the teacher plan in the classrooms. They would plan in
a separate space. It is an example of some of the things.
others were storage rooms were converted to classrooms. Things like that. Again in 2023 we continued reconfiguring
interior spaces to provide current capacity . Nearly 2000 for the students. Meeting spaces and converting to
classrooms. And redmond was rebuilt and enlarged in 2004.
and it served great 10 through 12 with a capacity of
1400 students. In 2012 when we reconfigured . With an
addition was added. Expanded. So redmond, eastlake received
additions at a time. 2014 we added eight portables to the site. And in 2023 we reconfigured interior spaces
to create the equivalent of three classrooms. The capacity is around 2100 both of these buildings were originally built
for a much lower capacity. We have done additions and changes for space over time. Again, it is not the ideal situation for
either school. This chart shows the projection. The
district consults with a demographer to consult with our
tenure enrollment projections. We use the projections for our long-term facility planning. And a long-term budget picture.
you can see that the high school enrollment is continuing to increase. Until 2027. That is a reflection of our growth
that was happening prior to the pandemic. The bottle is to
moving through the high school. But after 2027, he was a slow
decline. Even a sharper decline. That is a reflection of the smaller classes that are now in elementary school.
moving through our system. Eventually , we are continuing
to grow. There was a projected decline. Let me detour into
our annual projections. So this chart shows our overall projections that we receive from our demographer. The
yellow line is the projection they provided with us last year. And the blue line is the updated projections. You can
see the first five years of the projections are fairly consistent. But the last year's projections. After the
fall of 2028. The projections last year are showing stable
and slightly increasing. This year, the projection is are
declining more. With a loss of 2000 students over 10 years. We
know that a long is more difficult to predict any
shorter. But any time, they were for the change in
projection is really a reflection of that. And I want
to go through the challenges with our enrollment projections. We, as a district, prior to the
pandemic. We grew about 33% since 2010. And now we have
stabilized. We are slightly declining enrollment. Some
factors in our enrollment projections. First, this helps declined since 2016. We tracked two counties within
the lake washington school district. They have declined at a higher rate than in king county. That is impacted our
enrollment starting in 2021 through 2027. We are not saying returning to pre-pandemic levels. In kindergarten we
also have a lower dose not only is it lower because of
that. But also a lower percentage of our kindergarten
enrollment. It used to be at 90%. Now it is around 82%, 83%. And housing. During high growth. The majority of the
housing development for single-family housing. Right now , our cities in order to accommodate the growth that is
required with the king county. Is they are building multi
family housing. The majority of future is multi family. And
that generates less students. With a 100 unit apartment complex generating about 70 students for our district. 100
single-family homes will generate about 60 students.
that is the big difference there. And our trend. We are
continuing . The pandemic stopped our trend data. Now we
need to develop new trends and they are not clear right now.
we are continuing to make adjustments, year after year. Because there is not consistency of what is
happening with our current data. Let me turn it over to
deputy superintendent. We will talk about high school.
>> and I was doing a lot of reading . What is the optimal
size of a high school? With previous experience, I was in
a district that we were struggling with that, as well. Those of the two questions that I have to answer. And
research. A lot of the research around this is from the late
1990s. It really was the precursor to the small schools evident in 2000. The body of research came out around the
bill gates foundation pulled money out. Around the
complexity. Of any one thing being the driver. For school
size. It was one of those things . Because you know I was
going to get a plug in. This is eleanor roosevelt high school in northern california. And it is a high school of 4500
students. And it is a 98% graduation rate. And a 58%
reduced rate. And I just thought it was interesting. Is
a look at that issue of size. The largest is in new york city. It has over 8000 students. It is a choice high
school. And it is one of the highest achieving high schools
in the state of new york. And I believe across the country,
as well. But I did not know there was a high school of a dozen students. There are also a lot of them in the state of
texas. I do not know if it is anything to do with sports. So
I just pulled a couple of quotes to show the conflicting
research. Around school size. This particular study looked at school size. Came up with an optimal size of 600 to 900 and
up to 2200 students. With no significant difference in
achievement rates. The schools got higher, they saw some differences. I put that citation in there. But this
one was really interesting. Talking about elementary schools. And the notice, no bearing on student achievement.
and looking at high school level. What they found. This was a meta-analysis. They found that the larger our
schools tended to perform better. When they were
accounted for the number of schools in each of those categories. There are a lot of small high schools. The same
with large high schools. So this was completely conflicting
from the one, prior. So we pulled a little bit of data.
and I was up seemingly late last night. I was creating a
giant spreadsheet. This is just a brief comparison of
surrounding school districts. The number of high schools and the sizes of the high schools. When I pulled the data for the
entire state of washington 10. And I pulled the graduation rate of a four, five, six, seven years. And also by
demographics. For all the high schools from last year. I
combined the two's spreadsheets. And it was really
kind of fascinating. I took a top 20 sized high school. Such
as redmond, eastlake in particular. I looked at the
distribution of graduation rate. I had to pick something
as a measure of performance. And it ranged. I did not see any -- there was one at 82%. The state was 83%. But
everything trended above that. Our schools are certainly
above that. And I do not know if that is a real blind test.
but it is a massive spreadsheet. It was interesting to see the distribution scores. For graduation rates. And when
I looked at the lower values. And the range of 600 to 900.
the same type of distribution. 90%. Others were in the 80s.
so we shared this in a previous study session. Perhaps it was last week. But this just looks at our current, comprehensive
high schools and enrollment. And the 10 year projection. Even if we did nothing, this was including what barbara
talked about. And I think we can all overstate. We have
carved the schools up to use storage facilities. Meeting rooms. Those have been converted to classrooms. And if
we did nothing? Moving forward, we would still be in
critical capacity. In the 10 year projection. With juanita.
and this is the same data . If we put the additions on
that were part of the recommendation. What we see over the same time period. The schools come back in terms of
capacity. Into the range that we are wanting to get them at.
at capacity, 89%. It also it begins to free up some of those
spaces that we previously have converted to classrooms. And also for meeting spaces and student spaces. What they
were originally in tended to be. I just want to speak
briefly about site 59. Think we had the principal planner,
and just share a little bit about the outcome of that. First, we had great participation. From our
students, staff, and principles of the schools,
parents. Toby reached out to infinity groups to get multiple
perspectives for this planning. I do not know how many times toby back presenting his work. And we would send him off with
more questions. So he started gathering the data in august.
and was really looking for both short-term and long-term . For whatever we were going to do . For site 59. And that meant
that we did not, for example study choice school. And five,
10 years having to shut that down because of a lack of
attendance. We were really looking at what was the
sustainability program. What is the sustaining school. We also looked up a ninth grade campus idea. He gathered a lot of
important input from students, parents, administrators, focus groups, surveys. He attended city meetings. We heard a lot
about traffic. Perhaps adding another high school. And that
is an area where there are already high schools. Speaking
to redmond families. How likely would they be choosing a
school on a plateau? And driving up to the plateau or
vice versa. And ultimately. What we came up with or what
toby came up with. There was not really a clear , field of
dreams and they will come. There was not a clear-cut program or school concept. That is just really ignited
both . So we did not ultimately have a solution. That looked
like it was going to do with the intended outcome was. Which was draw enrollment off redmond, eastlake. Again, he
did a lot of research. He looked at big picture schools. We looked at the environmental science academy . Toby and I
go way back. He likes to tease me. We look to the review of a
freshman campus concept. If a school district has one. The
complexities of that. We talked a lot about the staffing. How that would work. Opportunities for students to take classes .
out of the typical ninth grade. That is a complex city of a ninth grade campus. We also spoke to todd and jill from
redmond, eastlake. Focus groups, surveys , parent focus
groups. Again multiple conversations with executives.
think of our staff, parents, students for their engagement and providing input during this process. All of that feedback
that scott talked about. >> to talk about the
construction, and the construction contractor
through the process. Which again is a construction
process that they work together. To develop the final
plans for the building. They work what we call 50% schematic
design. That is when you have concepts. And are able to get
a visual picture. They can estimate the cost for the project. And they began working with the city. In
november, 2022. With 14 minutes -- months. We work
collaboratively typically. Including the city of
sammamish. Even working with the city of sammamish for 14
months. The ended outcome was that the permitting requirements. This is in the town center area of sammamish. And again I will orient to to the picture on the left. The
yellow box is the location of site 59. Eastlake is to the north. Outside of the picture. And catholic is to the east.
and 228 is the main street that runs north and south.
ultimately, because this is within the sammamish city
center. Just the permitting requirements would delay construction. And the opening of this project by one year.
also there were unanticipated costs , and requirements by the
city for right-of-way improvements. That is basically road and traffic lights and infrastructure. It would have
cost $14 million-$50 million outside of the budget that wind already planned for. We've been working with our capital
projects team with a developer. And who is eventually going to develop the property to the north. Two have a development
agreement. But they are not really improving that property for about 10 years . We also reached out to eastside
catholic. About accessing the private road. Called crusader
way. They denied sharing access to the road. That is the
construction side of site 59. We discussed at the february
study session. Options that we would consider for the east
capacity. And one of those options was holding on the site 59 development. And additions that eastlake high school. We had already done feasibility. And we have plans for where
those additions would go. And we also discussed using
undeveloped or underdeveloped property. Take a potential design for site 59. Could it be built elsewhere? But
ultimately, the recommendation that you are hearing tonight. It is around the additions at redmond high school. Let me
show the feasibility study . And the pictures of the
additions at eastlake high school. On the left is the
outline of the current high school. In a gray. And the
yellow boxes would be the 12 classrooms. It is a two story
addition. So six on each of the end. On the last win. Again it
would add capacity of 300 students. The cost estimate
for a fall of 2026 opening is about $24 million-$40 million.
this picture showing the redmond high school edition.
the gray is the current footprint . And at the very north top of the picture. The yellow and the green boxes are
where the addition would go. It is also a two story addition. With 12 classrooms and adding capacity for 300 students. The
estimate is about $31 million-$36 million for a fall, 2026 opening. So we talked a little bit about core space.
and it needs at each of the high school. Things could've been done previously to convert classrooms. Were storage
spaces to converting to classrooms. We did add core
space. When we added the other additions in 2012. And for the
2019 levy . When we added classrooms at elementary, we
also provided funds for core space. This is one of the
things that our capital team will do. They will evaluate the needs and feasibility for core modification. This is an example of potential core modifications at eastlake. The
areas that are circled in red. You can see with be an
increase. And more students that you have in your school, the more crowded the hallways are. One of the things is how
can they make a hallway bigger. That is something that you cannot always do. If it is surrounded by classrooms. At
eastlake, there is the capacity and the potential. The
mezzanine level could be filled in . Those are things that are
going to be looking at to make the hallways wider. And the bottom part of the picture. The circle is where the
cafeteria and common area is. Could they expand the comments mezzanine and reduce the opening to provide more space ?
these are just examples. The team will be looking at what is
available. And that's redmond high school. An example would
be an expanded common space. Looking at spaces for them to expand the comments area. That is a common concern that we
here at redmond. The lunch room. They are eating lunch . They had brought extra furniture in the hallways. And
that provides limited hallway space . All of those things
are what they are going to look at. One of the things that we
also have is a monthly meeting with our facilitator
and advisory committee. We are proconsul and providing them updates with our construction projects, future planning. It is a very valuable group. They provide a lot of feedback and
input. We met with them on thursday. And we spoke to them about the recommendation. That we would be bringing it
tonight. So I just wanted to share. We asked for feedback. How we should help communicate. What is the most
important for our community to hear when we communicate this.
they provided some feedback. I will not read all of them. But we have incorporated the thoughts and the
recommendations. And shannon will continue to incorporate
other input into our next phase of communication. But just continuing to explain. But our high school enrollment and challenges are. What necessitated the change.
focusing on our fiscal responsibility. They recommended that when we begin the core space feasibility.
they would get student feedback. The actual users and those that work in the building. Getting the input.
look at the outdoor space. Use videos. To show passing time
at this schools between classes. Again, thank you. Reminding us at all times to thank our community. Dr. John
holmen. >> yes, february, 2022
construction levy. There is a set of values and interests.
it really did help shape and frame that levy. As we think
about anytime you go out to our community. Knowing that asking
our community to fund our educational program at our facility. That is a big deal. So making sure that we are
fiscally responsible. We are fiduciaries of those resources.
using them in the best way, possible. For our kid and our community is really important. As we look at going through a
committee for funding. Assuring them. The construction of our school sites allows for our vision. To target high quality
education for all of our students. Knowing that excellent schools are always part of excellent communities.
and that is incredibly important. And when we can, we
can use community funding to meet the needs of students. Targeting effective use of the spaces that we have. When we
can partner with our community to be innovative. Transparency. And if we think about this . The construction lever that we
brought forward to the community. Number one, there
was some ambiguity . Because we do not know exactly all the
details. But also as conditions changed. We've gone
back to the community. These are some of the changes that we are making because of these variables. Shifting from new
school set up. To rebuilding a large building. The change in
site 59. So there has been a number of changes along the way. So it has been important to keep that in mind. If we go
to the next slide. And when we think about school space.
making sure that we keep our goals at the top of mind. I can
tell you. In my opening comments , we have been adding
capacity deficits in mind that for so many years. But it does not change how you think about schools. This truly is a time .
when we can start thinking long-term. The experience that
we want for each of our students. This gets it back.
we want all of our schools to be able to implement the standard of service. That means there is enough space. Space
allocated for programs, services, and offerings. And we want to provide that all of our school sites at all levels
. Our schools educate using permanent capacity. With portable capacity. Used in critical situations. We still have 162 portables on our school campuses. That goal of
using permanent capacity is truly a long ways off . But
it's something that we are mindful of. You saw in the data. It was provided around school enrollment. In relation
to capacity. We want our schools operating between 82 to 89% capacity. That is a couple of things. It allows for the
effective use of schools. It is designed so more space is
accessible. The flow of students through a school. Anytime we get above that. There was a crunch. Anytime we
have additions without a modified core space we know that it creates additional pressure on the school. So targeting the 80 to 89% permanent capacity for each of
our schools. That also allows for fluctuation in enrollment. If you see a larger enrollment. Yet, you have available
capacity. Do not have to set your standards of service. Or bring in portables . Because you have available space
already on the site. But when our schools have available
space. They can think creatively, innovatively.
because space is often times required for innovative programs. And services to be able to be provided. The board did a school walk-through last year. And baker has a steam
lab. One of the questions was and how do you have a steam
lab? And the response that we received because I had an
additional classroom. We were able to think about what is a
unique program and service that we want to provide universally for all our students. They could not do that if they were
at 100% capacity. Because that classroom would be used for a classroom. And using innovative solution. And nontraditional
size and location. The idea of partnership with our communities. And using partnerships to accomplish in
school and space capacity. And activity goals. We continue to
target these goals. Knowing that some of them could be very long-term and aspirational. But they are relevant to this conversation around high school. And enrollment right
now. Because the recommendation tonight is really a short term.
knowing that using space for the long term is really important. But also having a long-term plan and vision.
truly that is the goal of the board. Taking 10, 15 years
ahead. And it's just not about tomorrow. So the recommendation that you have a resolution tonight. It is about
repurposing, and redirecting the levy funds for eastlake capacity. For 12 classroom additions, modifications. For
redmond. The second part of the recommendation. Two direct the
superintendent to prepare a study on the feasibility. And engagement , considerations. Finance, and a limitation plan
for the fifth comprehensive high school. From march, 2025.
one year from now. The third component. Directing
superintendent to prepare a study on the alternatives to addressing high school enrollment. Such as status quo which is do-nothing. Additional choice school option. To
provide enrollment that would lead to comprehensive schools. Or a district wide re-boundary of our comprehensive high
schools. To redistribute enrollment across the district. Again, all due by march, 2025. Short-term, long-term in this
resolution. Do you want to go to the rationale?
>> absolutely. We have shared a lot of this with the board. On
the february 5th gavin march 16th sessions. But let me go through these. Because of permitting requirements,
delayed construction and the unanticipated costs. Limited to site 59. We are putting the project on hold. The
recommendation for providing additions will address individual capacity needs . East lake and redmond. To
serve the current and projected the student population. This
provides funds for space additions that are feasible. Entity could even decrease overall capacity. In this sense
it will have a 300 students additions because of the classrooms . But if we were turned classrooms to storage
spaces or meeting spaces. That could be a slight reduction . That could also increase capacity. Reducing the
reliance of portables. We do have portables at one of our high schools. Redmond. If we can more students in the
classrooms. We could use those portables for other spaces.
that is a good thing. Addressing capacity. The same capacity at the same or lower cost as the original site 59
construction budget. Again investing our levy funds and perverting -- permitting. And is complete the project at the
same timeline. That the delayed site 59 would have opened in fall, 2026. We can get these open by fall, 2026,
as well. Let me go over the financing piece of the
recommend patient. Just a reminder. Our 2022 construction
levy. 295 mile an -- 20 $95 million levy. It is over six
years. We were also collecting impact fees. It is ongoing. Collection of that. So right now we have collected $90 million in impact fees. Right now, we are estimating about
$306 million for our projects. And we are also mentioning
planning for the limited general obligation . Because
our projects are needed to sooner before the collection. We are using the process to fund our additions. And that
is coming to the board for authorization in april. And the sale will happen in june. Our original levy finance plan .
these are all of the projects that we have at the middle school. The rockwell rebuild. Again this was the original
plan for site 59. With its gym was $82 million . And the west
side capacity contingency. So the total need of $306
million. So with the recommendation. The dollar amount is the same. We are taking $82 million and putting
into the high school capacity projects. And also for additions. Now our timeline. We are here tonight, march
25th, 2024. Tonight you are receiving the presentation. And we are sharing the draft resolution. Tomorrow, we'll work our communication team. They will work on a press
release. To message the community and the staff about
the recommendation. And also provide information on how they
can provide comments to the board. Either in writing or in person. At the april 15th board meeting, public comment
will be available for the community. And the board will take formal action on the recommendation. This is the
very same process we used when we were purposed the rockwell
last march and april. Finally, once the board takes action.
support services will and see and implement the
recommendations. That concludes my recommendation and presentation. >> thank you, so much. We just
come back last weekend. And it was our extended weekend.
our conversation was based on that. And I appreciate your
time and effort. But my question. And thank you for
bringing this forward. Does anybody have any questions? Or clarification? >> maybe you can provide -- we
are not voting on anything. >> we are not voting on anything at this time. I would be shocked if we had more
questions. But any additional questions?
>> we talked about the student generation rates. You mentioned the shift. The bulk of the new developments that we were
anticipating. That will be multi family. Which generate at
a lower rate than a single family. 60 students for 100
single family. But just seven students for 100 multi-units.
have we look ? Or does that take into account the city
plans to run shifting towards more affordable housing? I
think we have seen that it is changing. I know there was a
school visit at redmond elementary. That is also
adjacent to affordable housing. It is higher than seven students across the grid. When we are looking at these
enrollment projections. Is that being taken into account?
and knowing that a lot of this is up in the air.
>> absolutely. You are correct . Affordable housing has a
higher student generation rates. It acts more like a
single-family housing. With a student generation rate. So
our projections are when they know a project is affordable.
they are using the higher generation rates. This is built into our long-range forecast. Each city has a different --
some of our cities are building 100% of the project is
affordable. Other cities, like kirkland. Many of the multi
family, new multi family projects. 10% of all of the units need to be affordable. That also drives different
student generations. Depending on the project is done. We will continue to monitor that, over time . But if we know
every development. There are a number that we know about in
kirkland. And the latest one in the news is redmond's only
adults. That is mp -- impacting our student
population. So we keep an eye on that. We will monitor and adjust, as needed. >> on that note. Are we able
to find student generation rates?
>> we are able , if an apartment complex. Is low
income. Then we can get the student generation for that apartment complex. But we do not have information on
individual residences. And the income. And that piece. So we
do not have that information.
>> is that possible for the future?
>> I do have one follow-up question. Do we not flow
analytics are for the projection center?
>> again, we have a confidence level of 1% to 2%. And we
anticipate that most projections should be within 1% to 2%. For a district our side, that is 300 students to 600
students. That is in the near-term. For example last year. We were 185 students over the projection of one year.
again, the trend, and the pandemic is really shifting trends. The further out you go. It is harder to be perfect.
when the numbers are concerned . But we are tracking. I shared
at the study session a spreadsheet that we've been tracking since the early 2000's. On our long-range
projections, six-year projections, 10 year projections. And the accuracy. And it is fairly consistent. To 3%. Again, I am fairly confident in projections. And
they do an annual update. So they can adjust for trends
which is what they did last year. Given the trends in versed in kindergarten for what they did this year,
compared to last year. >> I was curious. If they did
find any insight . How they interpret their own data. The
further out we go, the more of a question there is with variables. And even if you look at the last years versus this
year. 10 years out is a larger than a 1% to 2%. I was just
curious. If they had information for us?
>> I have not asked them that specific question. But I will ask them and get that information to you.
>> unlike measurement data, they do not allow the
estimation. For accuracy. So they do not provide that.
>> thank you, . >> barbara, with the topic of
data. I think it is accurate. That perhaps what we are
least confident about is kindergarten enrollment 10 years from now. >> right.
>> we can be more confident if a student is already in the system. We can be more confident about high school
enrollment further out. Then we can about elementary . Because
we know students are in the system, right now. We have a general idea of how they will progress. >> pretty consistent on the progression. Correct.
>> can we make sure that the flow analytics is readily available to the community? I know it is attached. I know it
is out there. But no - but understand.
>> absolutely. We can certainly put in multiple places on our website. We have shared it with our budget advisory committee.
and it will be posted in our facilitator advisory. But also
we can post it on our budget update page, as well. >> we could even link it in our communication that goes
out. >> yes. We can do that.
>> barbara, when we are working with flow projections. One of
the things that changed in the report this year. And why the
long term projection changed so much. The assumptions changed. Is that something that we provide feedback on? How are
they making the determination to change the assumption?
long-range projection. It has to be based on something . It
is a methodology. A formula. But there is an underlying .
>> how they explained it to us. They really assumed -- used
to be pre-pandemic. We would get 90% of our kindergarten students enrolling. But they made an assumption. That trend
would quickly change back to pre-pandemic trends. With
just one more year of data, it has not changed. They would
change the assumption. Based on how soon that would happen.
and even in the out years, they are still projecting a return.
not to the exact of 92%. But they are projecting a higher return to data. Or a higher percentage. Time will tell.
but they do believe that families will shift and come
back to the further away we get from the pandemic. And there is no formula for what happens after a pandemic.
right? So they are using their best judgment as demographers.
and that is what they are doing. >> if I remember correctly. We worked with them in the past,
they consistently say there is no way to model social behavior. >> right.
>> truly. So I understand . The questions around this. It
is a very stark difference between last year's projection
and this year's projection. And long-term. The short-term seems to be more consistent. The next five, or six years.
>> right. >> thank you, so much.
>> the next item are the depositions. I will turn this
over to lisa guthrie. >> each year, the washington
state directors association is the body that we, as school
directors all belong to. There are 77 of us across the state
of washington. And we maintain a catalog of positions. There
is legislative positions. And permanent positions. Around dated values. Inconsistent values that they agreed to or
adopt. Where as the legislative positions are more around
funding. That is how we can fund those values. And it allows them to advocate on behalf of of its membership. As
does come up in the legislature. At this time,
every year. The board has the option to vote to put forward
proposals. For removing positions, adding new
positions. Or even existing positions. Permanent, or
legislative. The process they come in front and come before
the entire body at the general assembly. Which was september,
last year. If they are adopted, that is part of the
platform. So what our board is considering tonight. Our
proposals for 4 positions. Three legislative. One permanent position. It is on three different topics. The
first proposal is proposing revisions to an existing
legislative position. Around climate impact mitigation. This is to broaden the position that it currently talks about
electric vehicles. Or supporting funding for electric
vehicles. The position expands it to be more general. And
even beyond just vehicles. Also part of infrastructure,
and workforce development. Not just vehicles. The drivers ,
and the mechanics who is going to be working on these vehicles. Some exceptions. Also heating systems and cooking
systems. Moving away - right now, the current is
petroleum-based. For heating, and cooking and broadening that to and including natural gas , and methane powered
infrastructure, as well. The second position . Proposing
revisions to an existing legislative position. Funding safe and contemporary school buildings. This is an entire list. It could potentially be a wish list. What we would want
to fund. The proposal is to add one bullet point. That allows schools and support using non-voted debt. For new school
buildings. Right now there is an rcw law. Allows of school
districts using non-voted debt for everything. And that is
something that we were talking about the additions, for
example. To potentially to build . Because they are not
new buildings. They are additions to existing buildings. Using non- voted debt. We can get started on
construction, sooner. And get children in modern buildings
sooner. Also saving on construction costs. This would
be able to fund new buildings from that. Directly related to hospital 2411 that the doctor spoke about the last meeting
that we tried to get through on this session. But we did not quite get there. This would be adding support. This is not
unique to lake washington at all. Anybody could leverage
this across washington. And the final proposal. It is in one document. It is around illiteracy. It is two separate
positions. These are new positions. One is a permanent position one is a legislative position. The permanent essentially affirms literacy as a civil right. And really
recognizing the importance of literacy to everything our students do in the buildings. And in life, going forward. In
the second position is a legislative position specific to fund being. Evidence-based practices, curriculum,
professional development. Everything to implement quality, literacy. And this is much credit to sarah from the
school and the school district. We are hoping that both these positions can be moved forward together. As we go to general
assembly. So yes. That is a summary of the positions that are before you. So we need to vote to adopt them. That is
part of the process. That is what we are here to do. If
there are any questions or discussions?
>> thank you, so much for that summary . And all of your work.
we very much appreciate it and we are excited. To put these positions forward. Does anybody have any questions?
>> not any content but on the process. What type of motion we would need? I do not even know the verb.
>> adopt or propose. >> okay.
>> and that would be before our next meeting.
>> would adopt them as our positions to be submitted. For consideration. For the general assembly.
>> we are deputizing director guthrie. To move forward these
as official position. That the lake washington school district
board of directors is supporting. So that is why we are adopting them. >> thank you.
>> I will now entertain a motion to adopt proposed positions for climate impacted assistant. Dave contemporary
school buildings. And the three positions under literacy, as presented. >> and so moved. Thank you.
>> second. >> any discussion?
>> one thing I did want to mention. Thank you to
committee members that provided feedback on the impact mitigation assistance position. It was just last minute. Very
important clarifications. And that came in a little bit late
but that are still appreciated.
>> hearing no further discussion. This has been moved
. And the second by lindsey yocum. The board will adopt the proposed positions for climate impact mitigation
assistant, and literacy as presented. All in favor?
>> aye. >> this motion carries.
>> I think that we will go ahead and proceed to the next agenda item. And then take a quick recess.
>> let us to take a break right now. The board will recess for 10 minutes. And we wi
ready to resume our meeting. The next item on our agenda.
is an update on the sustainability policy process.
previous and present and future. So what that is
currently titled with our sustainability policy. As I was going back through this. I also went back to all of the
history of the work of the board. And I think it was a
good idea to provide a holistic update. And all of that and
where we have been, and where we are today. The plan, going forward. The board discussed this on the february, 2023
extended study position on a saturday. We received an update. It also the district passed, and prevents . For
operations and curriculum. They also reviewed community feedback. Which we also did through the proceedings in writing and public comment. Leading to the sustainability.
the current policies , values, and considerations. For
evaluating whether additional policy work was needed for sustainability. And may, 2023 study continued its discussion
related to values. And sustainability, and policies
from seven different districts. Located within and
outside washington. At the june, 2023 board meeting. They
wanted a sustainability policy committee. That was comprised of two board members, two committee members and one of our student representatives and two staff members. The
sustainability policy committee met at the end of summer,
2023. To review the boards value and feedback from the two
prior study sessions. To begin work on developing initial parameters for a policy. Plans for stakeholder and in put in
the process. A student led engagement meeting . It was led
by our student representatives. It was held on september
2023. Virtually and in person. And I believe all of the board
and even not yet elected board members were present for that.
and he received feedback from students on values and ideas for policy work. The committee met the following day on the
27th. To review the input. Provide further input. They committed the first rough draft at the october 10, 2023
meeting. That was presented to the board at the october, 2023
study session. On that, they review the prior considerations
and values. The discussion and provided input on the committee's draft policy language. They also provided recommended questions. For policy to explore future
stakeholder meetings. The sustainability participated in further stakeholder meetings. With teachers and staff. For
2023. And december 5th, 2023 . Again with students on december
5th, 2023. The draft policy was shared with the board's conversation from the october 23rd, 2023 study session. On
february 21st, 2024. The sustainability policy group met again. They review the stakeholder engagement.
provided input on revisions to the draft policy. And determined to send it to the board for review. Potential
action. And on the 15th, two weeks ago at our extended study
session. They provided feedback on the structure of the policy. It is fair to say that was a bust in a spirited conversation
that we had. And I would also say. The board cares deeply
about this work. Only wants to put their best foot forward
for what will be an initial effort on policymaking. But it
was requested that they bring back the policy to the committee. To align with the existing policy . And well
honoring the work of the committee and the feedback from the community. Also dr. John holmen begin to do some work
on anticipation of adoption of this policy. In this academic we can get work on proposals and monitoring standards.
which is the dr. John holmen responsibility in our governing bottle. We are targeting a meeting in the next few weeks
so that dr. John holmen can do some work prior to the meeting.
it remains the expectation . The first effort will be
adopted on this academic year. So we can be publicly monitored next year. For additional committee feedback. An
exploration into the policy and the implementation of it. We are still targeting a first reading of the policy at a
board meeting in may. They can expect to hear further updates at the april 15, 2024 meeting. What that will be will depend
on the conversation. One that will be with the sustainability policy. >> thank you for the very
thorough update. If there aren't any other questions? We
can move on to the next item. This is a first reading. There
are proposed changes to specifically how would we do public comments. >> so I took the draft changes
and put them into a presentation. Just to share
the proposed changes. For a first reading tonight. The
first changes to the public comment section of gp three .
to modify the time allocation. From three minutes to two minutes per speaker. That does not change the overall time
that the board will receive public comment. That is a
duration of 30 minutes. The second is about substituting.
this is the idea that somebody could sign up for public comment. And if they are not able to make it. The process
right now is that those individuals will notify by
12:00, the day of the board meeting. For whom they would like to substitute for them. But here at the meeting . It
just does not work well to have individuals substituting in
real time. So just to be clear about that process. And clarification regarding posting public comment. Right now
there is a statement in the policy. The board will post
written comment. Such that it will be allowable. Essentially
to two minute public comment. The board will not post any other documents. The other change is really based on a
law changing. And it is the update that the special
meetings will now fall into the same requirement. As a regular business meeting. Regarding recordings. So moving forward.
all special meetings will need to be at a minimum . Audio broadcasts. For lake washington school district.
those would need to follow the same retention rules. As
regular business meetings. So those are the updates to the
policy. The board is considering tonight.
>> I would like to see if we can go back. Dr. John holmen.
to the section. I wanted to give a little bit of
explanation about some of these changes quickly. The reason there was consideration or debate about changing the time
allocation from three minutes to two minutes. It was really more around trying to get as many people an opportunity to
speak. Unfortunately, we do not have unlimited time to listen
to public comment at each of our board meetings. Our meetings cover a lot of things we cannot dedicate more than 30
minutes for public comment. And we find that we do have
more than 10 speakers that sign up to participate. In an
effort to adhere and hear from more people that made the
effort to sign up and comment. We have decided to truncate
from three minutes to two minutes. In that effort. When
we look to other board meetings around our area. We will wanted to see what other communities are doing. We found that in
general, two minutes seems to be the amount that was allotted. That was one of the reason. We wanted to look at
our policy. Lindsey yocum? >> on the third point.
regarding posted comments. We are adding a written comment.
that would constant be a quantify written comment. So
possibly more written comment on not exceeding more than two minutes. Rather than putting a minutes time to that. Let me
also highlight. The community can email at any time. This is
just strictly the policy efforts related to public comment. I just wanted to throw that out there, too.
>> I wanted to clarify for the public, as well. Substituting
at a board meeting specifically in the confusion it causes.
for the board members of the audience. And the community. It needs to be clear who is giving the public comment and
what their topic is. We would have a better chance of
understanding that and prepping before . Reaching out
to the individual afterwards.
>> thank you. Anyone else? >> I was hearing that there
was a request to edit specifically the clarification
. Instead of specifying a time limit associated with the
written public comment. Some other form . Either a page.
>> I concur. I think that makes a lot of sense. Any other thoughts? >> yes. Mark stuart?
>> for the modification. It is difficult for our community
members to get three minutes squeezed in. And I understand there is feedback. At the podium. It does make the
speaker slow down. I would suggest. That I could care less
about what the other school districts time a lot. But if
we want 15 people speak? I would say three minutes and do it for 45 minutes. We could afford 15 minutes out of our
lives. To allow for public comment.
>> I think the suggestion from lindsey yocum. The link. An
attempt to measure the suggested appropriate length of
written comment is wise. I guess it is a process question.
we had a first reading tonight. And if there is some
revisions, we can make the revisions and bring it forth for a second time. Or move to amend it?
>> because it is a first reading, if in general. The
board would like to see a second reading have the update. We would bring that forward for board action. And the board
would need to decide. If we wanted to set the agenda. >> I would suggest two pages. And maybe 900 words .
>> I would also like to clarify. This is specifically regarding the written public comment. We are not trying to
limit any communication that is being brought to the board.
this is what is being uploaded and posted. Therefore,
historically. And correct me if I am wrong. Historically
we've had some asks of terabytes of data to be updated. Physically, that is not possible for us to
accommodate. The reason this is coming up is not necessarily
being a response to anybody specific. But more along the lines of trying to get a grasp of what we can actually
do. And standardizing the process for everyone. But as
lindsey yocum mentioned. Feel free to email us at any time.
or even asked to meet with us. So no attempt to limit or
silence or discourage people from reaching out. But just
trying to nail down this process. And getting those voices heard as much is possible. Anyone else?
>> mark stuart? >> I do not recall. Perhaps john could help us. And in broadcasting, they estimate the
number of words per minute is usually spoken by the average
speaker. Or I can ask my wife.
>> just to be clear. There is no limit on the amount of
people can email us. Or to speak. This is really isolated
to the public comment time. And to try is get as many voices
in this particular room can be heard. We are always open for
emails. And conversations. >> always email us on our
website. And go to the third tab. And a select board
members and we are all there. >> thank you. This will be brought forward to our next
board meeting. The plan is to bring it forward on our
consent. If anybody would like to discuss? We can do that
off-line. Moving on to the next item on our agenda this
evening. The board summary for results. Thank you to vice
president for writing this. For the discussion on our
march 4th, 2024 board meeting. If there are not any questions
regarding this summary? I would entertain a motion to approve this. As presented. >> so moved.
>> any discussion? Hearing no further discussion we will
proceed to vote. It is been moved by lisa guthrie and
seconded by eric laliberte. And all those in favor?
>> aye. Hearing on, this carries. We have quite a few
of these. So next board summary for monitoring report academic
content knowledge and skills. And based on the boards
discussion on our december 5th board meeting. And now I will
entertain a results for monitoring report, academic
content knowledge and skills. Vice president eric laliberte?
>> in particular, I just appreciate the direction being very precise and direct. So thank you for that.
>> anything else? >> I move for approval. Any
discussion? This is been moved by vice president eric
laliberte and director stuart. That the approve the
summary . As presented. All in favor?
>> aye. This motion carries. Next, we have the board
summary for monitoring report the treatment of community
stakeholders. The report was presented and approved at the
january 2024 board meeting. I would like to thank stuart .
based on the boards discussion on january 8. If there are no
questions? I will entertain a motion to approve the motion.
as presented. >> I move approval.
>> second. >> any discussion? Hearing on,
will proceed to vote. And it is been moved by vice president and eric laliberte. That the board approved the summary for
treatment of community stakeholders. All in favor? >> aye. This motion carries. In the second to the last one.
the summary on the agenda is financial planning. This
monitoring report was presented and approved at the november 20th, 2023 meeting. Thank you vice president for eric
laliberte. Based on the discussion on november 20th. If there is no further comments or questions? I would
entertain a motion . As presented.
>> second. >> any discussion? Hearing
none, let us proceed to vote. It has been moved by director
stuart and seconded by lisa guthrie. All in favor?
>> aye. Hearing none, this carries. Last but not least.
the board summary for monitoring report communication and engagement with the community. This
report was presented and approved at the november 6, 2023 meeting. Thank you to director stuart based on the
discussion of november 6th. If there are no questions? Let me move a motion. As presented. >> I move for approval.
>> cte . Second.. Any discussion?
>> and this is been moved by vice president eric laliberte.
all in favor? >> aye.
>> hearing on, this carries. Thank you, so much for that.
the next item on our agenda is the superintendent report.
>> something we want to start doing at the conclusion of our school board extended study session. Just to loop back.
with a review of what the board did. I know we all walked away
feeling like we spent the majority of time with the
construction planning. Short-term and long-term. That is true. The board did a lot of other work. It was interesting to move through and document all of it. Let me remind up two
distinct opening activities that we did. Not specifically
of one item. We always remind ourselves of our values. Becoming more knowledgeable about spending time. We spent
time in activity led by a superintendent about
understanding . And how that shows up for each of us in our
discussion and conversations and decision-making. Just to be aware of that. And on saturday we started the day with a
discussion. And again, a topic that I do not think we have
ever discussed. So just having that in the room. And having
that be a point of discussion. I think it was really powerful. I really appreciate my team for providing those two opening
activities. Just to re-ground us. For the set, for the day. We did spend some time talking about reports and report summaries. The entire board was on the same page. In terms of
expectations. One thing that we did talk about was
clarification of the purpose of the board. Writing a summary. To memorialize the discussion. But it is also directly connected to the superintendent evaluation. It is an essential
part of the board's overall governance . In the process. A
discussion of how do we create consistency. With the board summary. First, it is representing the holistic
conversation. And it should be the voice of the entire board. That is a very difficult thing for an individual board member
to capture. It is about evaluating the conversation and understanding one of those components. And with
consistency and the board support. There were strategies
such as going back and watching the discussion. To understand
who is in agreement, those types of things. And the other
piece about consistency. It is about being specific and direct. I think that was specifically coming from your
super and attendant. Beyond the voice he does not provide a
level of direction that I think the board is intending. And the war that we have often tossed around is the word
considerate. And it wants us to consider, we will definitely
consider. It does not mean that we will ignore it. We will put in consideration. But as you can see some of the reports
that were approved tonight. There are very specific directions but that we, as a team can bring back to the
board in the future. We talked about the nonconsent monitoring. What does that look like? There are three specific
categories. That we are going to be writing about,
accommodations, suggestions, findings and action items. We
will make sure that they have those sections. By clearly outlining them in the very first section of the report.
and also indicating accommodations, suggestions,
findings, and action items. Also consent to monitoring.
again to provide consistency for the entire board. Clarity of the process. That the board provides consistent statements
around the monitoring report. Getting approved. There was a
specific direction provided . Because there's not been a
discussion. Director stuart found that uniquely challenging. When he was trying to read a summary on a consent
monitoring report. Questions from board members can always be answered by myself, or my team. In the board also
recognizing that there is benefit to have each policy
public on a periodic basis. Going too many years without publicly monitoring . That is something that the board is not
interested in. The board talked about attending
community events. This was an interesting discussion. It also shows interest that they are in with engagement. The issue of
concern. Given our requirements, how does the board inadvertently impact other organizations by having a
quorum. A non- district meeting. So that was to
summarize the issue and concern. One of the things I am doing is reaching out to legal counsel. To really understand
if the partners has an event. How is that okay and not okay.
if the board has clarity on that. We also discussed other methods. Really being clear of what offense the board members
are attending. So we will have that for next school year.
we talked about operational expectations number three, number nine. We had a discussion about the proposed policy. And of the merits of that language. The board
requested a first reading of it. They also talked about the community engagement aspect. Around oe three, oe nine and
the preference seems to be to have a first and second reading
. For this academic year. Do more thorough engagement next year. With the policy. Knowing that the current proposed
language is far superior to the language that we are currently monitoring. It might not be the final project . In the
board will do that engagement next year. Currently the first
reading is scheduled for april 15, 2024 meeting. The board
had a good, lengthy and robust and robust discussion.
something in that vein. And these are the key takeaways
that she had in her experience. In her presentation. With saw those tonight, as well. Current projections, declining
by 7%. Over the next 10 years. This will also require
continued budget adjustments. And we are always forever
tied to each one of those in the state of washington. The majority of new development is multi family. Which generates a lower number of students. We also heard there are some
locations that do not follow that trend or pattern. So my wonder. How do we do a more transparent way of identifying
those locations? Knowing that generally are multi family
generation rate is consistent, across the district. Or a typical multi family unit. We also know that rates are
declining . They are not protected to going to
pre-pandemic levels. The board also received legislative session changes in relation to the budget. Just to two high
level takeaways. There was a one time 2023, 2024 allocation
model. For both material, supplies and operating costs.
and other staffing shortfalls in our classified area. But
they also provided that same support. And even somewhat of an increase with an ongoing budget year. 2024, 2025 budget
year, and beyond. And in our budget planning, the key takeaways. We had to reduce the list. They just kept going
on for a while. We did report to the board. Given the lack
of clarity that we ever had with the transportation funding model. The best we can do around next year's revenue
is just to see what we received the prior year. And this year
he came in higher. That was a happy surprise for lake
washington . I know there are other districts have the exact
opposite experience. They receive millions of dollars less and there is no explanation. Nobody understands. So for us. It put us in a positive place . But
that is really a disappointing model that we would hope the legislator can take action on. An additional state that I
talked about for the 2023, 2024. Reducing our spending gap. Those are dollars that we are already spending local
dollars. Additional state funds moving forward. This year we did have additional revenue based on enrollment . We also
additional expenses to cover the cost of that enrollment.
increases, special programs, utility, overhead costs such as insurance. We also know that our state reduced slightly
from what was projected. There was also benefits with a cost
and an increase. It was a bit neutral. But we do know the local staff cost-of-living adjustment is $5 million for
lake washington school district. And the state
required cost-of-living adjustment. Given some of
these positive aspects of this year's income and revenue. We
are estimating to be about $5 million higher. Then we were projecting. And with the ongoing increase in revenue. We
are still anticipating to new productions. But even lower.
with a $6 million-$10 million. We talked about our building
excellence plan. We heard the outcome of that spirited and
rigorous discussion. One thing we did not touch on tonight.
and that we provided to the board and we will communicate tomorrow after tonight. We had a discussion and a debate and
we went through a process to evaluate. Where is the best
place to cite an elementary? There was a lot of prose for elementary for site 44. And even right where it is. At the
end of the day, the determination was to cite the elementary where it is currently. On the school site.
we appreciate the committee, the staff participating. Really helping the team to think through all of the
considerations. And many of the considerations. Knowing
that there are benefits. For sustainability policy. We
received a spirited and robust update from that earlier. You can see the last does align with the vice president eric
laliberte comment. That we asked for the board to bring that policy back to the sustainability committee. To
align the policy with governments. Do not lose with
the committee and the stakeholder feedback has referenced. Finally, two topics we did not get to. That
does not mean they were not important. But time ran short.
operational expectations. The board has an interest in reviewing that. In a number of different aspects. And the
self-assessment. We just ran out of time. To get to those
two items. I know that we thought we just had time on
construction planning. But we did a lot of work. It was cool to document it. To memorialize the work that we did and also
to share that through the community. Kudos to the board for spending that time. With good topics.
>> dr. John holmen. The extended study session is the
one opportunity in the year that the board dedicates. An
extended amount of time. To working and learning together.
I personally would like to say that I particularly value that opportunity. To engage in the extensive dialogue. And the
learning that we are able to do and continue to find real
value in that experience. Thank you for summarizing it the way that you did. We did cover quite a bit of topics
and materials. The next item is public and community
affairs. This portion gives us an opportunity to inform and
provide updates that the engage with. On behalf of
lwsd. Dr. John holmen another way of a legislative update.
legislative update tonight. Great. As this session wraps
up. Historically we go back to our legislative platform. And
we look at the alignment of all of the bills that came forward. And the ones that passed and the ones that did
not. Two of the legislative/and went for us. Tonight the
associate superintendent is here to provide that update. There is some positives. But there are also a lot of work to
be done. I know I was at the puget sound superintendent
meeting on friday. And really they are leading the charge on
being very, very specific. About the targets. And in the
next session. Targets that the districts can also get behind.
I will remember all three. When was special education funding. It just feels like a federal and state program that
is so drastically underfunded. It needs to be stood up by every local community across the state. And at some point
it needs to be unacceptable. Where that is the thing that we
advocate for. It would be making a great deal of
difference for each student in the entire state of washington. Transportation of the other items. That is really being
put forward. These are high leverage legislative items. With that, I will hand it over to barbara. Walk us through
the 2024 legislative session.
>> thank you. This is really our summary at the end of the session. Our wrap-up. Just as a reminder. Each year, the board
of directors develops legislative platforms. That was done in the fall. And the platform is the area priority
and focus. And we would meet with the legislators at the beginning of each session to chair . So I want to go over
and we summarize our priorities. And tell you the outcome of those from the session. This year was a short
session. It began in january and ended march 7th. The
district provided testimony , written testimony, live
testimony on 21 bills. The first was diversity, equity and
inclusion. The priority was to fully fund special education
programs and staffing to align with inclusionary practices. You will see an axe. The legislator did not meet our
priorities. You will see a checkmark. And sometimes, I
would put a check in check. But they made some progress but did not get there. This year, the legislator did increase the
enrollment cap. For special education from 15% to 16%. Unfortunately, lake washington school district is 9% of our
overall enrollment. So those additional funds only held 45 districts across the state . They modify the safety awards.
clarify the review process. That is a minimal and packed
not much of a progress on special education. We also
requested the update the transportation funding formula.
dr. John holmen already talked about that. No progress was made on that. They will post another study . And in my 30
year career, the number of studies that have done with no action is incredible. And alas priority area in this was the
teacher training. Just authorizing alternative teacher
training and certificate programs. To increase our
ability to recruit, and retrain. There were two bills
about teacher mobility. And establishing licensing
equivalency. Allowing for streamlined teaching for
out-of-state teachers. Providing funding to offer a residency program. And then contract with a labor
organization to find a teacher residency. Similar progress was made there. I will not read all of these bills but I
wanted to highlight some special education bills that were out there. Two did pass. Talk about modifying a safety
net award. The impact to our district is very small. And
also not penalizing district for errors. I thought that we were penalized for about $30,000 last year. And I think
other districts had a much higher nonacceptance rate.
that should help . And also the burden of proof for special
education due process. The intent is to simply find the
process for families. Speed up the process for all families. The impact is to be determined. Again two other bills related
to transportation that did not pass. And free meals did not
pass. In student support and achievement. Requested
additional staffing allocations and the typical model to
reflect. Not only the staff but the actual cost of hiring a staff. The legislator made some progress by providing a small
increase in the allocation model to reduce the spending gap. We also asked for increasing aesop cost. And for
requiring physical notes. But no progress was made in those
areas. This is just a few of the staffing bills. There was
a bill that was request and a requirement. We used a
combination of hybrid and self paced training. This will have
a cost impact on us without any additional funding. In the other bill that was passed . As I mentioned, the staffing for
classified staff. Again an estimate about $1 million in
additional revenue to reduce that spending gap. And some
curriculum and graduation requirement bills. A lot of
those mandated certain education in our curriculum.
such as financial education in agriculture, literacy,
holocaust, education. The computer science bill that
failed. We already complied with that. The one bill that did pass that is been in the news recently. 5462. Mandates
districts adopt inclusive curriculum to include histories, contributions and perspective of historically marginalized and underrepresented groups. Requires screening for biased content. Requires wssda to
develop model policy by june 2025. Districts adopt administrative policy by october 2025 .
>> can I talk about that. >> absolutely.
>> it is interesting to see how that legislation has been
discussed. In the media. I want to say that we talked to
the entire bill today. Much of it is how are we screening our curriculum at the option ? And ensuring there is
representation across an array of identity in our curriculum. Such that our students have a holistic experience in our
classroom. And dr. Rosa talked about much of the work they are
doing, already. It exceeds what this bill requires. Such as
the tools we are using to screen curriculum. The evaluation of those curriculum. All of these things are in
place. To make sure that we reduce bias in our curriculum.
our resources. And we represent individuals from history, across the array of identities. And it is
appropriate for students and age-appropriate for students. That is in the bill and legislation, as well. I feel
like this bill is getting a lot of press. For not a
significant change. To be honest. Something this bill has already asked acted us to do within your policy. Related
to the adoption of the curriculum.
>> and in sustainability, with two goals about developing
funding models pics of the districts can transition to zero emissions by 2030. There was a bill that representative
put out about the implementation. They basically
got rid of the implementation timeline. But also stated funding. So basically it says that once the cost of these
electric vehicles becomes equal to the current cost.
that is how it will get funded. And there will be a zero
emissions grant program. Administered by the department of ecology. And districts over 3000 students - that is
the next section. But our ability to get grants. We tend
to be a lower priority. We get low priority for some of these
grants. The other was in incentivizing funding for
sustainable design and construction. There were two
separate energy assessment funds and grant funds. And again for districts with greater than 3000 students.
the grants are really just for the assessment, only. Not for the actual implementation. Again, the mandating of the
purchase as I mentioned. An electrical school bus. And
under modern learning facilities. A lot of continued
conversation about simple majority. There were bills that
received hearings this year. A good sign but they also failed to advance beyond the committees. And lake
washington sponsored our local legislators to sponsor a change in the non-voted debt. Referring to the lgo bonds
both committees considered so we are going to be meeting
with our local legislators. This week. So we will be getting feedback on steps with that. And we might need to
find a new senate sponsor for next session. Facilities
again, so majority that did not pass. And some benefits
relating to the sales tax that we would get construction assistance funding. None of those past. And in the area of
future ready schools. Our priorities was creating a
funding mechanism to support school-based health and wellness centers. We knew this was a priority of a long-term goal. We did not think we would see movement right away. So it
is something in a long-term area. In the next , direct ospi
to develop guidance on innovative, equitable and responsible use of ai technologies throughout the
k-12 education system ÷ ospi released an "initial guide" ai handbook with plans to provide additional related guidance ÷
so that was good news. There was legislation established an
ai task force to assess current uses and trends by private and
public sector entities and make regulation to the legislature regarding standards for use and regulation. An earlier version
would have included representatives and a
teacher's association. So hopefully, that can be focused on next year. And just some miscellaneous operation bills.
the two that did pass. Concerning pupil transportation
related to districts that contract out for bus
servicing. So it had increasing state funding for msoc allocationsan equivalent benefit so that does not apply to lake washington school district. Also increasing state
funding for msoc allocations and $600,000. So again, that
will help close that gap and focus on the utilities. And insurance and continued to improve. So what we do during
the session. Meet with lwsd legislators before and after sessions with additional meetings at the request of
representatives and I know there are board members could
sign up for those meetings. That would be helpful. Continuing to monitor bills and hearings . Administrators
provide testimony during 24 hearings this session; signed in êproî for another 10 hearings . And always willing
to follow up with an email or message as they needed information. Provided follow up as needed via email or
additional meetings . And looking forward to our
conversations this week with our legislators. That is the end. >> thank you, very much.
>> lisa guthrie? >> yes. Some of the other
items that we talked about coming out of this session.
bringing 2411 back. And thinking about how to we take the lessons learned. And thinking about especially in
this interim period. One of our big lessons learned. We need to work with other school districts. To really establish
those connections. This bill has been seen as a build
washington bill. Even though it is not. There are other school
districts that will benefit. At the last minute we realized. There are districts that will support us on this. Continue
to lay the groundwork. Certainly that is one piece of that that we are trying to do. Also thinking about how can we
engage with our community a little bit more. Around this legislation and the work. Some formation of some type of
committee around advocacy. We will be able to better involve
our community. For example if we are talking about special education. It is at a public comment today. Certainly, they
can speak to some of those challenges. She was certainly
not alone. So how can we better leverage our community here.
in support of some of these priorities. Those are the next
steps that we have talked about. And that will be leading into the next session in january.
>> and the timeline for the group formation would be the
beginning of next school year. Legislative/and session would
be critically important. Once it starts, they are actively involved in their items. The education process would need to be pretty early next year. In our legislative platform and
will be educating them on some of the underpinnings and the underlying factors relating to it. And they were also
understand one of the best ways to communicate with the legislators. All of those components will be very
important. >> lindsey yocum?
>> perhaps could be sooner than the beginning of the next
school year? I know there has been talk to get them into the
classrooms now. Before school is out. Is there a benefit? I
am just curious. If it is not ideal to meet in the summer. I
am just curious. >> yes. There would be a
benefit. But also the design . Also the design that fits
within the legal requirements. Still working on that component. >> does anybody else have an
update? >> director stuart?
>> the east lake thespian troop came home , the second
year in a row they have won their status. Winning state
competition. And a number of those students also came in with gold medals or a first-place in individual
competitions. I think we should recognize their
achievements. They seem to continue to excel in their
areas. >> thank you. The next is
committee updates. Does anybody have an update? Vice
president eric laliberte? >> a budget advisory and a facilities advisory. Another budget advisory meeting which was on march 14th. The budget advisory committee provided a
presentation from flow analytics on the enrollment
forecast. There were some great questions by the budget committee members. Also really great wanderings. How do we
reconcile all of the development that we see. With
transit showing declines in enrollment. And the budget
advisory committee also provided feed back on the budget team's live event for the district. They held in
late february or early march. To provide feedback for future
engagement with the community. Also articulation of the
information as we continue the work. And on the facilities advisory committee. We met last week. The committee
received and reviewed 30 input on both the 2024
recommendation for the 2024 levy measure. As well is the
reallocation of funds for the high school. Additional high school capacity for the eastlake district. I would say
the committee was supportive of the recommendations. Also providing good feedback. And how we can talk about those to
the broader community. Also finally we took a tour of an
elementary. The facility advisory committee was touring
it was very eye-opening. There it is.
>> lindsey yocum? >> the student and staff prior
to review a draft of those two profiles. In the student profiles are the aspirational part of the strategic plan.
and after some time of initial reflection. Small groups provided additional feedback for these profiles. They
highlighted elements missing from these initial drafts or pieces that should be reviewed, or edited. They also identified
items that should be modified. To be more future oriented or
culturally inclusive. They plan to meet for the month of
may. That would be their final meeting for the school year.
>> lisa guthrie. >> community connectors met
last wednesday, march 20th. This was an extra meeting. The
group re-centered on the current situation. When it
comes to community resource officers in washington. Walking through some of the history. And how we have gotten to the
current state. Some of the work that has been done over the last few years. To better understand where we are going.
the group had questions leading into april. That is
the last, scheduled meeting. To better understand the holistic
school safety. And how do our students feel with student safety. What makes them feel safe? And the same for staff.
there are a lot of interesting connections that I have been thinking about. As we are entering into working around
elton. Also with 10 . Elton. Also with 10.2 which has a couple of 10 items. The super invited - the superintendent
would provide a lot of safe environments. Also what they considered to be safe. How do we engage those committee
members . To even get broader feedback from our community.
in the reading advisory committee met. Usually meet in
two groups. But I was there on march 18. The committee has
been with the futures and to me. Now they are expanding for
other community members. I spent a big chunk of my time
with the parents of the district. The committee has
been doing a lot of how do we bridge this gap. The reading
curriculum that we are looking to adopt this fall, 2026 is
the timeline. To date they've been doing a lot of work on how
to make the best of what we have right now. With defective practices with our current curriculum. This was the first
day that we really started to move into what will this adoption look like. The committee looked through a
number of rubric and also the advisory screening. So also
directly connected into what it dr. Just said. The were one
week out of that. Most definitely thinking about representation. And just how do we make sure that this is
not just a solid curriculum for teaching or reading. But
also is going to be effective in the cultural context of our district. And yes. I did look up the board policy. Just to
make sure that we indeed require the use of that tool.
in the committee was calling out what they would like to
have with the rubrics. Driving what would be a work that we use. You really they use . Because I do not have a vote
in this. We clarify that. To evaluate different curriculum
tools. And what sorts of things you want to have going
forward. >> thank you, very much.
briefly. I will give an update. The capable review committee
met for an eight hour session. We went through the
beginnings of a potential recommendation. And after all
the collective learning that we've been doing as a group. We will be having another eight hour session. To continue the
work that this recommendation will bring. There is a lot of
passion behind this recommendation. As well as an interest. Whether or not we are serving our students they
need to be served. I will not go into too much detail. Because our next study session is going to be a dive in.
because we will have that additional eight hour session for that. Thank you to that group. It is a large group. It
is a lot of time. And it is a lot of work. I really
appreciate everybody's showing up. And current cheerleading.
there was also a meeting for the high school student evaluation. But I did miss that one. But I did receive a
summary from the deputy superintendent. And it sounds
like they did a fair amount of work. On consensus about what
the group interest was. And based off the groups interest as well as evaluating what the original thought process was.
whether or not the current day is meeting those original
values and interests. And how it aligns with the current
values and interests. And I believe the conclusion was that
this point. It does not look like they are meeting those interests . Of the original as well as the current. Going
forward, there is work to figure out. What is the
solution. I will say there is an effort to not make this a
binary. Of a six periods. Versus seven periods. Or
coming into the conversation, going forward . There will be
another meeting coming up. And I look forward to jumping in that and participating in that session, as well. Next we will
be meeting on april 15th. That is a date change. The original on the calendar . Now I will entertain him motion - I will
entertain a motion to adjourn this meeting. All in favor?
>> this meeting is adjourned