2024-01-25-minutes.txt

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Lynden School District #504
Ensure that all students graduate college, career, and citizenship ready.

Board Meeting
Minutes
01/25/2024
Lynden School District
Board Room
516 Main Street, Lynden, WA 98264
1. Call to Order, Welcome & Pledge of Allegiance, Roll Call
Meeting called to order by Tonya Hickman at 7:00pm. Board of Directors in attendance were
Directors Hickman, Owsley, Brar, Martinez, and Verburg. Superintendent David VanderYacht and
Student Board Representatives Kyle Tucker and Cooper Graddon were also in attendance.
2. Meeting Minutes
Director Owsley motioned to approve the January 11, 2024 board meeting minutes. Seconded by
Director Verburg. Motion carried by voice vote.
Advisory Vote: 2-0; Board Vote: 5-0.
3. Consent Agenda
23/24 General Fund- $660,389.12; warrants 168020-168124 dated January 15, 2024.
23/24 ASB Fund- $16,710.44; warrants 168125-168146 dated January 15, 2024.
23/24 ACH General Fund- $3,058.75; warrants 232400152-232400170 dated January 15, 2024.
23/24 ACH ASB Fund- $546.73; warrants 232400171-232400178 dated January 15, 2024.
Personnel Recommendations dated January 25, 2024.
Director Owsley motioned to approve the consent agenda. Seconded by Director Brar. Motion
carried by voice vote.
Advisory Vote: 2-0; Board Vote: 5-0.
4. Organization the Board
WIAA Representative
No action taken at this meeting.

5. Committee Assignments
Discussion was held regarding board committee assignments as allowed by Policy 1240. School
Board President Hickman appointed the following directors to serve on the board committees
listed below:
Finance- Directors Verburg & Martinez
Superintendent Evaluation- Directors Owsley & Hickman
Teaching & Learning- Directors Martinez & Brar
Facilities & Planning- Directors Owsley & Brar
Legislative- Directors Hickman & Verburg
6. Information from the Audience
A community member addressed the board about the bond.
7. Reports
a. Superintendent
Superintendent VanderYacht presented information to the board related to the district’s
Capital Facilities Planning. This included information on the upcoming levy and bond
funding initiatives and what those would provide to the community. He also provided
historical background information and a timeline on how those two funding initiatives
came to be placed on the ballot. Information on the impact to local property taxes was
also provided.
b. Teaching & Learning
c. Finance and Operations
Director of Finance & Operations, Ben Thomas, and Director of Student Services, Tim
Metz, presented information to the board related to the district’s emergency
management and safety procedures. Mr. Thomas shared information on different
preventative measures & incident responses depending on the type of event. He shared
how the district uses the I Love You Guys program for reunification protocols, and
provided a breakdown of administrative responsibilities. Mr. Metz discussed the
Standard Response Protocol and provided an overview of that program. He explained
that the SRP is used county wide. Steps for implementation were shared with the goal for
implementation in the spring.
Director of Finance & Operations, Ben Thomas, presented the December 2023 financial
report. His report included an executive summary, enrollment analysis, budget status
report, revenue analysis, and expenditures & revenues. Director Owsley expressed an
interest in receiving a monthly report that includes a forecast for expenditures and
revenues.

8. Policies
a. Second Readings
Policy 5010- Nondiscrimination
Director Owsley motioned to approve updated Policy 5010- Nondiscrimination.
Seconded by Director Martinez. Motion carried by voice vote.
Advisory Vote: 2-0; Board Vote: 5-0.
Policy 5161- Civility in the Workplace
Director Brar motioned to adopt Policy 5161- Civility in the Workplace. Seconded by
Director Verburg. Motion carried by voice vote.
Advisory Vote: 2-0; Board Vote: 5-0.
b. First Readings
Policy 1400- Meeting Conduct, Order of Business & Quorum
Director Brar made a motion to approve updated Policy 1400 as presented. Seconded by
Director Owsley.
Discussion was held regarding meeting start times. Director Martinez made a motion to
amend the language to say “6:30pm” instead of “6:00pm” as the meeting start time.
Seconded by Director Owsley. Motion carried by voice vote.
Director Martinez made a motion to approve updated Policy 1400 with an amended
meeting start time of 6:30pm. Seconded by Director Brar. Motion carried by voice vote.
Advisory Vote: 2-0; Board Vote: 5-0.
9. Action Items
Nondiscrimination in Hiring Plan
Director Owsley motioned to approve the updated Nondiscrimination in Hiring Plan as presented.
Seconded by Director Verburg. Motion carried by voice vote.
Advisory Vote: 2-0; Board Vote: 5-0.
Class Action Lawsuit- Social Media
Director Martinez motioned to not join the class action lawsuit regarding social media’s effect on
youth mental health. Seconded by Director Owsley. Motion carried by voice vote.
Advisory Vote: 2-0; Board Vote: 5-0.
10. Information from Board Members
Director Hickman provided the board with documents about advocacy and explained a bit about
how the board can get involved in legislative bills. She discussed House Bill 2458 and it’s
potential impact on Lynden. She further discussed other bills on Special Education and

transportation. She expressed a desire to have the board directors work together to keep up to
date with bills that are in legislation.
Student Representatives Graddon & Tucker updated the board on their works towards
reimplementing a Student Advisory Group at LHS. They met with Principal Freeman and
Superintendent VanderYacht to discuss strategies for student engagement in the creation of a
student advisory group. They created a survey and sent it out to all students. It has also been
posted to Canvas where students will see it as a pop-up when they log in. The survey was also
announced during morning announcements. They are collecting responses with the hopes of
creating a student advisory group very soon.
Director Owsley shared about his visit to LHS this week. He toured the CTE classrooms with
Superintendent VanderYacht and learned more about those programs. He shared that his visit
made it very obvious that we are in need of a new high school.
Director Owsley also shared about his interest in creating a Teams One Drive for the Board to be
able to access important documents all in one place.
Director Brar expressed interest in clarifying the process for reviewing and approving policies. A
lengthy discussion about this followed. Discussion on this topic will continue at the board
retreat.
Discussion was held around Director Brar’s request to change the date of the upcoming board
retreat that had been scheduled for January 27th at 8:00am. The group agreed to reschedule to
February 3rd from 8am-12pm.
11. Adjourn Meeting
Director Hickman motioned to adjourn the meeting at 10:34pm.

_______________________________
Tonya Hickman, President

____________________________________
David VanderYacht, Superintendent