2022-06-06-minutes.txt

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Puyallup School District
Regular Board Meeting
Ballou Junior High School and Livestreamed via Zoom
Monday, June 6, 2022
    1. Opening
A. Call to Order
President Joseph Romero called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. In addition to President Romero, in attendance were Directors David Berg, Turan Kayaoglu and Michael Keaton as well as Superintendent Dr. John Polm. Director Keaton participated remotely via Zoom. Director Maddie Names was excused.
  B. Pledge of Allegiance
President Romero led the Pledge of Allegiance.
  C. Approval of Agenda
Dr. Polm said there are no modifications or changes to the agenda and recommended its approval.
  A motion was made to approve the meeting agenda, as presented
  Motion by Michael D Keaton, second by Turan Kayaoglu.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: David B Berg, Turan Kayaoglu, Michael D Keaton, Joseph Romero
  D. Superintendent's Report; Dr. John Polm, Superintendent
Dr. Polm welcomed the students and everyone in attendance.  He gave the board a heads up that in 2023, our next school year, we will be completing a comprehensive analysis of our school bell schedules related to our transportation capacity with the goal to increase our route efficiency and deal with some traffic issues and service to students. So prior to this, we are going to also plan a couple of minor shifts to some bell times, which Assistant Superintendent Casello will be sharing with the board at the next meeting, but nothing major.
  He shared a couple of highlights and said last week he was able to participate in our South Hill campus Walkapalooza, which was a staff appreciation event for everybody from the South Hill campus where we have our EdTec building, the new customer center, we have transportation and a lot of services like food service and our print shop. But they are all kind of siloed so they did a nice collaborative walking lunch, where people got some exercise and met everyone, and he thought it was a real positive event so kudos to the staff over there. 
  He said he was able to also take part in the Gordon Golliet spring track meet at Spark Stadium this week which was a real joy to see the students competing, and having a wonderful time, and families as well. He is looking forward to the elementary track meet tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. at Sparks for those of you who may be able to stop by. He is enjoying celebrating the events this week. As a former high school principal the week of senior week was probably the most exciting and tiring of the professional life of principals. So to those of you out here, please understand that they're going through that, too.
  President Romero added that for those with little brothers and sisters and younger children, field dates will be happening across the district at our elementary schools so that's an exciting time.
  2. Communications
A. District Highlights; Sarah Gillispie, Director of Communications and Public Engagement
Director Gillispie said June is always a special month as we recognize and celebrate staff and students. This evening we continue our tradition of celebrating the students who have earned a varsity letter in volunteer service. This year marks the 6th year of students being able to achieve this accomplishment. And what began in the 2016-17 school year, has now turned into a tradition here in Puyallup. Whether students participate in a Communities In Schools March Gladness project, or others, our students and schools recognize the importance of giving back and modeling a ‘service above self’ life. Tonight, we recognize 38 students in grades 8-12 districtwide who have completed 150 hours of volunteer service this year alone to receive a varsity letter in volunteer service. To help understand the magnitude of their efforts, 150 hours is equivalent to almost a full month of full-time, eight hours per day, five days a week of volunteer service, which is quite an accomplishment.

Students were recognized in four groups. The first group was those students in Junior High School who have earned a letter. As she read each student's name, students in attendance stepped forward and were recognized. 
  Isabelle McConachie, Ballou Junior High, Grade 8
Megan Rammell, Aylen Junior High, Grade 9
Cassidy Nielsen, Glacier View Junior High, Grade 9
Samantha Morgan, Kalles Junior High, Grade 9

Emerald Ridge High School students:
Hayley Casker Chappell, Grade 12
Marian Paulsen, Grade 11
Leticia Pina, Grade 12
Connor Reschke, Grade 12
Allyson Rogoway, Grade 11

Puyallup High School students:
Balraj Bains, Grade 12
Darya Baker, Grade 12
Allison Beavers, Grade 12
Haley Boileau, Grade 12
Suzanne Champine, Grade 12
Kira Denham, Grade 12
Maneet Deol, Grade 12
Ryan Dinham, Grade 12
Makayla Hall, Grade 11
Rachel Jones, Grade 11
Maneet Kaur, Grade 11
Molly Klein, Grade 11
Mankirat Mann, Grade 11
Kaian Mooring, Grade 10
Gurnoor Nagra, Grade 11
Christopher Nam, Grade 11
Enkhjin Sainzaya, Grade 11
Jayson Schweim, Grade 10
Ashlynn Tibbot, Grade 12
Monisha Uriti, Grade 10

Rogers High School students:
Parker Anselmi, Grade 10
Kaylee Carver, Grade 11
Alyssa Fortson, Grade 12
Younghun Ji, Grade 11
Kunwoo Min, Grade 11
Julia Odhiambo, Grade 12
Olivia Poyfair, Grade 12
Jacey Sillito, Grade 12
Natasha Trivitt, Grade 11
  Director Gillispie said we are all very proud of these students and their accomplishments.

Athletics Review: Spring Season
Next, she introduced Athletic Director Jim Meyerhoff to recognize the teams and individuals who won state championships this past season.

Director Meyerhoff thanked the board for allowing him some time this evening to recognize the achievements of the PSD spring athletic teams. He began by recognizing the junior high school Puyallup Athletic League champions from the third and fourth sports seasons. In girls soccer, the Ballou Bruins went undefeated to finish in first place, and the Ballou Boys Basketball also went undefeated for a first-place finish.
In Girls Track, the Aylen Falcons won the regular season with a 5-0 and also placed first at the PAL Conference Meet last week. For the Boys the regular-season championship went to both Ballou and Stahl, while Ballou won the Conference meet.

Next, he honored some of our student-athletes, focusing on their performance in the classroom. Every one of our spring squads earned scholastic honors from the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. That is 21 out of 21 spring teams! In order to earn a Distinguished Award, the team must earn an average GPA of 3.0-3.49. 11 of the winter squads earned a Distinguished designation; 10 of the teams earned an Outstanding Award, which is an average team GPA of 3.5 and above.

He said five teams placed first in their divisions.
Eight teams competed in the state championships which included a 2nd place finish by the Puyallup HS Baseball team that fell to SPSL rival Olympia in the title game as it came down to a great play at the plate.
Other state top-ten finishes include:
Puyallup Softball finished tied for 5th place.
Puyallup Girls Tennis finished in 5th.
Emerald Ridge Boys Track was 6th in state.
Emerald Ridge Girls Track Team was 8th.

He said he would like to bring special recognition to a group of athletes that are not able to be here tonight as they are celebrating with their banquet this evening. The Puyallup High School Unified Soccer team is in their first year of competition. Since the state finals are held at Sparks Stadium, he jokingly challenged one of their coaching staff, John Anderson, last year to make sure they played in that championship game. Not only did this team of Special Olympics athletes and unified peer athletes qualify and compete in the championship game – they won the whole thing by winning their game against Mt. Tahoma 3-2. It was a fun celebration to recognize the Viking Unified Soccer Team with the WIAA and Special Olympics of Washington State Championship Medals on their home turf. The game also had special meaning for one of the coaches. Christy Sparks Galan is the granddaughter of Carl Sparks, and she became the first of his grandchildren to coach a game in the stadium named after him.

The state golf tournament is now based on team qualification and three programs competed at state as a team. Individuals from two other squads also competed.
In tennis Rogers had two placers including a boys doubles team and a female singles player that both placed 8th in state. The Puyallup girls’ doubles team of Ally Beaver and Callie Lowney placed 3rd in state. 43 student-athletes competed in the 4A State Track meet, and 28 medals were won. Those included three student-athletes who won five state titles in their individual events. The Puyallup SD won three of the four hurdle races won at the 4A state meet. He recognized the student-athlete state champions:
  Puyallup High School senior – Maurice Woodring. He said Mo competed in three events at the state meet. He won the 300 m hurdles in a school record time of 38.73. He is still weighing his options about his next steps to compete in college. Congratulations Maurice Woodring.
Next is senior Asher Ogden from Emerald Ridge. Asher won the other boys hurdle event, the 110 m high hurdles and he did it with an injured foot. Asher will compete in track at Eastern Washington University next year. Congratulations Asher Ogden.
Our final student to recognize is just a freshman. JaiCieonna Gero-Holt won the 100 m hurdles. She won the long jump with a personal best on her first jump. And Jai won the high jump where she easily outjumped the rest of the competition. She also finished 7th in the Javelin. It is impressive for her to have three individual state titles in just her freshman season. For future reference, the most individual state titles by a PSD student-athlete is seven set earlier this year by gymnast Rylie Anderson. Congratulations to JaiCieonna Gero-Holt.

At this time, the Board offered the students congratulations and there was a short recess to take photos and enjoy refreshments.
President Romero remarked we had amazing sports seasons this year. He was at the 2017 meeting in February when the district announced that we would be honoring our VLVS award winners.
  B. Recess (approx. 15 minutes)
At 6:19 p.m. President Romero recessed the meeting for a short break for photos and refreshments.
President Romero reconvened the meeting at 6:29 p.m.
  C. Public Comment
Amy Schweim - PSD parent and guest teacher, said cell phone usage should be limited at school and the policy should be consistent districtwide, and thanked the board for continuing to offer Varsity Letter in Volunteer Service awards
Jim Allen - PSD in-building substitute, he appreciates the consideration to possibly bring back in-building subs this fall and re-emphasized the importance of this position
  3. Consent Agenda
A. Board of Directors - Board Meeting Minutes (May 23, 2022)
B. Board of Directors - Special Board Meeting - Board Study Session Minutes (May 20, 2022)
C. Equity and Secondary Education - Out of State, ERHS English Students to The Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR.
D. Equity and Secondary Education - Donation to Rogers HS by Rams Spirit Booster Club in the amount of $6,162.00.
E. Equity and Secondary Education - Donation to ERHS by Emerald Ridge PRIDE Booster Club in the amount of $10,500.00.
F. Instructional and Organizational Alignment - Out of State/with Students field trips - ERHS to Eugene, Oregon
G. Business Services - Contracts
H. Business Services - Vouchers
I. Business Services - Surplus
J. Business Services - Bid No. 22-B1960 Food & Nutrition Services Bakery Items
K. Business Services - Bid No. 22-B1959 Food & Nutrition Services Beverage Items
L. Operations - Operations Department's Public Works Resolutions
M. Operations – Change Order #6R1 for Ferrucci Junior High Addition, Project No. 30-03-19
N. Operations – Stormwater Agreement – Kessler Center, Resolution #197 2021-22
O. Operations – Acceptance of Dessie Evans Elementary Building Commissioning Report – Dessie Evans Elementary Project #25-01-16, Resolution #199 2021-22
P. Human Resources - Department Activity Memo
Q. Consideration for Approval of Consent Agenda
  A motion was made to approve the consent agenda, as presented.
  Motion by Turan Kayaoglu, second by David B Berg.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: David B Berg, Turan Kayaoglu, Michael D Keaton, Joseph Romero
  4. Second Reading of Policies
A. Equity and Instructional Leadership - Second Reading and Consideration of Policy 2420 - Assessment of Student Learning and the Reporting of Summative Grades; Dr. Vincent Pecchia, Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Instructional Leadership
Dr. Pecchia presented Policy 2420 – Assessment of Student Learning and the Reporting of Summative Grades for second reading. As he explained during the first reading on May 23, 2022, the updates are essentially language cleanup and the policy now states that school districts are not allowed to withhold student grade reports or transcripts if the student has outstanding fees or fines, so they removed this language from the policy and updated legal references. There were no questions. Director Kayaoglu thanked him for the work and said this is an equity issue and he agreed we definitely shouldn't withhold transcripts for that reason. 
  A motion was made to approve Policy 2420, as presented.
  Motion by Michael D Keaton, second by Turan Kayaoglu.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: David B Berg, Turan Kayaoglu, Michael D Keaton, Joseph Romero
  5. Action
A. Operations – Purchase and Sale Agreement for Northwood Parcel B, Resolution #196 2021-22; Brian Devereux, Director of Facilities Planning
Brian Devereux presented Resolution 196 of the current year for the board’s consideration to enter into an agreement to sell the property known as Northwood Parcel B. He explained Parcel B is an undeveloped shy five-acre lot adjacent to the Northwood Elementary encumbered partially by wetlands, buffers and easements, limiting its development potential. During the April 6th board meeting, following a public hearing, the board approved the surplus and sale of this property.

The resolution before the board tonight allows the district to enter into a Purchase and Sale agreement to sell the property. The purchase and sale agreement has been drafted by the district’s attorney and includes a purchase price above the appraised value as well as a 120-day feasibility period for the buyer to complete their due diligence. The anticipated closing of the sale is in November 2022 if the proposed timelines go as predicted. Proceeds from the sale would be deposited into the district’s Capital fund budget. They recommends approval of Resolution 196 2021-22 to authorize the sale of Northwood Parcel B. He asked if the board had any questions or comments tonight? There were no questions.
  A motion was made to approve Resolution #196 2021-22 to accept the Purchase and Sale Agreement for Northwood Parcel B, as presented.
  Motion by David B Berg, second by Turan Kayaoglu.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: David B Berg, Turan Kayaoglu, Michael D Keaton, Joseph Romero
  6. Reports
A. Equity and Instructional Leadership - Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook Revisions for 2022-2023; Dr. Vincent Pecchia, Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Instructional Leadership
Dr. Pecchia said this report focuses on our district’s annual review and revisions to the Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook. This report is a first read of the revisions to the handbook and at the next scheduled school board meeting on June 21, the Board of Directors will be asked to consider acting on approving and adopting the revisions for the 2022-2023 school year.

In alignment with current School Board Policy 3241 - Student Discipline, the superintendent or designee will annually develop handbooks pertaining to student rights, conduct, and discipline, and make the handbooks available to all students, their parents, and staff. Since our district already has an established Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook, changes in laws, policies, social trends, and best practices in school discipline require that the district annually review and revise the handbook.

The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is the designated agency to update the Washington Administrative Codes addressing student discipline. The focus continues to be closing the opportunity gap for all students and decreasing the disproportionality in exclusionary discipline.

The process of reviewing and revising the Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook involves convening a committee of staff and parents, a legal review by district council, and a report of proposed updates to the Board of Directors for their consideration to adopt. It is important to not look at the handbook in isolation and instead view it as an extension of our policies such as Student Discipline, Excused/Unexcused Absences, and other policies found in the 3000 series.

The handbook changes that are recommended for 2022-2023 align with the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) Revised Code of Washington (RCW) and recommended model policy provided by the Washington State School Directors’ Association (WSSDA).

A 17-member committee comprised of staff and parents met during the month of May to review and recommend changes to the Rights and Responsibilities Handbook and the community at large received access to the proposed changes when the meeting notification for this evening’s board meeting was sent last Friday. Although students were not physically part of the Rights and Responsibilities Committee, their voices and feedback were considered by reviewing Panorama survey data, student focus groups, and other discussions throughout the school year.

The proposed changes to highlight for the board are as follows:
  Section I: Introduction
Minor grammatical changes as reflected in the submitted handbook found in BoardDocs
Section II: Student Discipline Terms and Procedures
Minor grammatical changes
Defined “optimum learning atmosphere”
Added links to Policy 3241 - Student Discipline that includes discipline matrix, continuum of responses, and regulation
Section III: Student Conduct Expectations and Rules
Under Bicycles and Other Transportation, we removed age restriction language
Under Dress and Appearance, we included language that allows students to wear a hat or hoodie if the hat or hoodie does not cover the face or worn in combination with a health-related mask. We removed language that gave schools administration autonomy to allow hats or not.
Under Harassment, Intimidation, or Bullying, we clarified that these behaviors could take many forms including the use of hate speech such as racial, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic slurs, slang, jokes, etc.

Dr. Pecchia said that concludes an overview of the proposed changes to the Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook for 2022-2023. Next steps include considering additional revisions based on information obtained from legal review, which is currently in process. At the next school board meeting on June 21, a second report that includes any additional revisions along with a request for directors to consider acting on adopting the Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook for 2022 – 2023 will be presented. 

Director Kayaoglu appreciates him explaining that they try to get student feedback but would it be possible to include some students on the committee in the future? They would be the most important voice on that committee with staff and parents.  Dr. Pecchia explained the reason they didn't include students on this particular committee is only because they felt like they had enough feedback through the Panorama survey data and the different student focus groups that Dr. Polm has been facilitating. There were some common themes that both the committee and the student focus groups had presented that aligned with the revisions that were presented here this evening. In the future, adding students to the Rights and Responsibilities Committee is certainly something that can be considered, and would most likely be appreciated by our students. Director Kayaoglu thanked him and said it is not just important for their voice, but also for the professional development for students to serve on this committee to help them in terms of thinking about their college applications or other things that they do.

Director Berg received that same email from PHS referenced during public comment and he recalls that in the past there's also been a document that parents signed regarding cell phone usage at school. He said this year he doesn't remember whether he saw that one or whether his wife might have, as he was a little bit busy doing some other things as school was getting started. In reading the Student Handbook as is it's written here, it talks about students are not to use technology devices, including, but not limited to, cameras, cell phones, etc. in a manner that disrupts the educational process, invades the privacy of others, or violates school rules. Is that the document that most schools have fairly consistent on what that policy is and he knows that PHS has made a point of announcing a specific call out of attention to that. He asked if it is a dramatic change in what they're doing compared to what we've expected as the district standard? Or is there really a district standard there? Dr. Pecchia replied he would say that it depends on the school, and it also depends on individual classrooms, on whether or not cell phones are allowed or used as part of the instructional practices. He added he doesn't know enough about the particular PHS communication that was sent out but is assuming that was sent out just to get some consistency on what is and is not allowed in the school. But he does know in alignment with the Rights and Responsibilities, that cell phones are allowed as long as it doesn't create an educational disruption, so as he said, he would need to reference the specific PHS communication, but it's something that he could look further into. Director Berg said he knows that on a lot of those things in the document he remembers seeing over the years that they've always signed off on seemed like it was pretty similar from year to year but he doesn't recall exactly what it might have looked like this year. Dr. Pecchia replied that certainly the pandemic has changed the way in which we think about the use of devices within our classrooms, including, of course, the one-to-one devices that our students have, but also in the use of personal devices as well.

President Romero drew attention to the addition of rules on hate speech in the Student Handbook and said he really appreciates the rules on hate speech and that the district is putting forth a higher expectation for the decorum and behavior of our student body. It is something really important that he believes the directors and the district have heard as feedback from the community, and we want that represented and showcased in our student handbook, so he appreciates that addition.
  B. Comprehensive School Counseling Program Transition Plan; Almai A. Malit, Executive Director of Equity, Student Success, and Strategic Engagement
Almai Malit is joined tonight by three of our 54 school counselors and our counselor on special assignment (COSA). She explained they will introduce themselves toward the end of the presentation as each shares the implications of Substitute Senate Bill 5030 from their perspectives. We are here tonight to report on the Comprehensive School Counseling Program Transition Plan which was necessitated by the passing of Substitute Senate Bill 5030. She will return at the June 21st meeting for the second read and recommendation for board action on the transition plan.

During the 2021 legislative session, the Legislature passed Substitute Senate Bill (SSB) 5030, as a result of a multi-year effort by the Washington School Counselor Association (WSCA) and other statewide advocates to clarify the role of the school counselor in alignment with current best practices. SSB 5030’s brief name or description is Developing Comprehensive School Counseling Program (CSCP), and it has two key provisions: 1. It requires school districts, by 2022-23, to develop and implement a comprehensive school counseling program, referred from here on out as CSCP, for all schools within the district that addresses students’ social/emotional, academic, and career development in alignment with the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model; and 2. It directs the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to develop and distribute policy and guidance on the written plan.

The most important thing to note as a positive anticipated impact of this law is the perfect timing to have our counselors’ roles be reviewed in a way that is supportive and in alignment to another concurrent change happening in the state’s expectation of how we will qualify students for Special Education services, specifically for the category of specific learning disability (SLD). We are currently preparing to phase-out the severe discrepancy model into the multi-tiered system of supports or MTSS. For everyone’s common understanding, the simplest way to describe the discrepancy model of qualifying for the SLD category to receive special education services entails comparing multiple achievement data of the student being referred and to that standardized tests results that measure the student’s cognitive ability. If the discrepancy between the two meets the minimum threshold, the student qualifies for special education services. The implementation of 5030 provisions will help us prepare our system to phase out of that severe discrepancy model to that of a multi-tiered system of support. It will align with the focus of having our school counselors deliver a robust tier I service to our students, which largely means they can focus on proactive services and support in the three domains they serve our students: academic, social-emotional, and career development. This addresses not falling into the trap of intervening our way out of a core or tier I problem, so that is the great news.

A district comprehensive school counseling program (CSCP) plan, based on the national school counseling model such as the American School Counselor Association or ASCA, must be developed and adopted prior to the start of the 2022–23 school year, with at least transitional implementation beginning in the 2022–23 school year, and then full implementation in 2023–24 and beyond. So they have two years of transitioning into full implementation.
The CSCP must:
Include related state and national learning standards that align with the CSCP. The three domains that school counselors are trained to address include social-emotional, academic, and career development.
The CSCP must also provide a process for identifying student needs through multi-level school data review and analysis. School counselors must incorporate at least the following tools and strategies into their process: use of time data, program results data, data regarding communication with administrators, parents, students, and other stakeholders. Incorporating school counseling data and interventions into the school’s and district’s MTSS is an important step to coordinating student supports. The CSCP must explain how direct and indirect services will be delivered through the CSCP. The definition of direct and indirect services will be covered in another slide’s content with other key vocabularies used throughout the CSCP.
Finally, it must establish an annual review assessment process for the CSCP that includes building administrators and stakeholders. Using the data collected to identify student needs that drive the interventions and supports provided during the year, school counselors report their outcomes and results to administrators and interested parties.

With OSPI recognizing that the CSCP we will create is a live document that would involve iterative process, only the transition plan is expected to be approved and adopted by the school board and then submitted to OSPI before the end of the school year. The transition plan should include system changes in the next two years. School year 2023-2024 and beyond is the expected timeline for full implementation of the plan. The board can choose to adjust the Transition Plan as the 5030 workgroup discovers the need to adjust based on data such as use-of-time data during the transition and study year, which is next school year.

The 5030 work group will continue drafting the CSCP in the next two years with 2022-2023 being the transition and study year. You have received the actual proposed Transition Plan as a supplemental document where each of these four required components are laid out in this manner---each component is defined, with the identified actions, partners, and timeline.
Use of Standards: A comprehensive school counseling program uses state and nationally recognized counselor frameworks and is systemically aligned to state learning standards.
Use of Data: A comprehensive school counseling program provides a process for identifying student needs through a multilevel school data review and analysis that includes, at a minimum, use-of-time data, program results data, and data regarding communication with administrators, parents, students, and stakeholders.
Use of Time: School counselors or other educational staff assigned to implement CSCPs must allocate at least 80% of their work time to providing direct and indirect services to benefit students, as aligned with national school counseling standards.
Use of Personnel: School counselors or other educational staff assigned to implement CSCPs must allocate at least 80% of their work time to providing direct and indirect services to benefit students, as aligned with national school counseling standards.
  For common understanding, let me share the definition of the following terms used throughout the CSCP:
Direct Services are in-person interactions between CSCP staff and students that help students improve achievement, attendance, and discipline. For example: instruction, appraisal, advisement, and counseling.
Indirect Services are provided on behalf of students to enhance student achievement and promote equity and access for all students. For example: collaboration with other members of the learning team, consultation, student advocacy, and referral.
Program Planning and Support includes the 20% of time used to plan and prepare, which includes activities such as analyzing data, goal setting, lesson planning, developing an annual calendar, and the annual administrative conference that they need to complete with each administrator.
Work Time is the portion of an employee’s contracted hours for which they are contracted to implement the CSCP.

OSPI’s guidance in the transition plan provided potential considerations to be made by school districts in their implementation of the CSCP in the next two years with the school year 2023-2024 and beyond expected to be at full implementation. These considerations include:
Alignment with district strategic goals, which is timely with our strategic planning coming up soon
Collaboration with school counselors:
incorporation of standards from ASocial-Emotionalmotional
how data will be used to identify student needs
Professional development:
counseling standards
use-of-time data
effective teaming between counselors and school administrators
Collaboration with district data support team, such as our EdTec team and data analyst, to procure necessary data for program effectiveness analysis and identification of students’ needs
Provision of stipend for staff to provide services that do not fall into the recommended use-of-time duties of school counselors. One example of those duties is assessment coordination, which really takes up a lot of our counselors' time.

She said her final slide just gives you an at-a-glance view of our implementation timeline where you’ll note that in the school year 2020-2021, we began our conversation and collaboration with our counselors around the review and realignment of their roles and responsibilities in anticipation of the bill passing the summer of 2021. She noted that the first three panels of the timeline show what has been completed up to now. Between July to December 2021, while waiting for OSPI to provide guidance on the 5030 implementation as the bill’s directive, they continued their conversation and collaboration, including proactively identifying a training plan with the nationally known Hatching Results to begin supporting our counselors in what is to come and putting together a joint PEA-PSD 5030 Implementation Advisory and Work Group comprised of seven PEA members, specifically counselors, and seven district and school administrators. The work group was co-facilitated by PEA President Robert “Bob” Horton and her. They began the collaboration to formulate the transition plan they are presenting tonight as soon as OSPI provided the guidance, meeting twice a month for two hours between January through June 1st, with additional preparation work outside of those work sessions.

The last three panels on the timeline show tonight’s first read, the second read and the recommendation for board action on the 21st, and the next two years of implementation. She said before we go to the final slide she would like to call on our counselor on special assignment to introduce herself and her colleagues. 
  Counselor on Special Assignment (COSA) Nicole Kaiser introduced herself and said she supports all K-12 counselors across the district at all levels. Tonight she has three colleagues with her to share their experiences and she introduced Carrie Brueher from Fruitland. 
  Carrie Brueher said she has been an elementary school counselor for 23 years, with 12 of those here in Puyallup at Fruitland Elementary. In 2020 she was offered a full-time position at Fruitland, with about 550 students. For the prior 10 years, she was only three days a week with the same student number. Counselors want to be able to have the biggest impact possible in meeting the needs socially, emotionally and academically of our students but In order to do that, we need to be able to implement a comprehensive school counseling program, in which we can provide whole-school core instruction for all students and gather data to provide small group and individual intervention for the students who need it. We need the time to implement this comprehensive program which reaches all students, and there may be duties that other school personnel can perform in order to give us that time.
  Next, Lyndsey Tobin said she is a school counselor at Ferrucci Junior High, who has had the privilege of serving PSD families for eight years. Everything she was taught in graduate school was based on this ASCA model, creating a comprehensive school counseling program, one that reaches all students. She said right now her work is very reactive, and she spends a lot of time with her students who need the most interventions. While she is happy she is reaching these students, she is inadvertently missing the biggest population, her Tier 1 students, what we call an education Tier 1. When her time is consumed by this group of students and non-counseling duties, such as being a test coordinator or writing 504 plans, she is unable to truly deliver a comprehensive school counseling program with everything going on in our world today. All students deserve support around academics, career development, and social-emotional learning.
  Lori Tierney introduced herself and said she has worked in the Puyallup School District for 22 years and is currently a school counselor at Rogers High School. She is also a community member and has had almost three daughters go through the Puyallup School District with twins graduating on Saturday. At the high school level, counselors have an average counselor-to-student ratio caseload of 345 to one, as well as many inappropriate non-counseling special project duties assigned. The ASCA-recommended counselor to student ratio is 250 to one, and, per OSPI, Washington State allocates funding to districts 236 to one at the high school level. The special project non-counseling duties take valuable time away from serving students directly. She often tells people that I have chosen the best career in the world, because every day she has the opportunity to make a student's life better. At Rogers they have collected data on the number of students counselors have met with or see this school year, as of today, the number is 2,976. We need more of this valuable and impactful direct student contact time. Investing in school counselors, and the adoption of a comprehensive school counseling program, is never a bad investment. You are investing in social-emotional health and well-being, academic success and hope for the future with college and career readiness for every single Puyallup School District student,
  Director Malit thanked the board for listening to the perspectives of our counselors as they anticipate the positive impact of 5030. She asked if the board members had any questions.
  Director Berg asked for more clarification around what that indirect work looks like because to him it sounds like a lot of that indirect work spills over to things that are considered part of that 20%, because a lot of the things that we need to do as part of the support role does involve some of the documentation of things and some report types of things and it's not clear to him whether that then counts as part of that indirect support, or whether that counts as part of the more administrative side of things.  Director Malit responded there is definitely nuance on the 20% of indirect services with some that are fairly clear that are non-counseling duties, not necessarily indirect services. So one example is assessment coordination because if you recall the definition of indirect services it's acting on behalf of the student. So coordinating an assessment - she supposes you can argue to a certain extent that it is still advocating for the student, but, following the ASCA guidelines, assessment coordination is definitely not one of those indirect services because it's purely around creating a calendar or schedule to administer, for example, AP, or advanced placement to our students, whereas one indirect service might be, which is a counseling duty such as a counselor entering into, for example, College Board portal, and in input their accommodation for an IEP or a 504 Plan. So those are two nuanced differences where assessment coordination, like creating the master schedule, is a non-counseling duty, whereas the on behalf would look like It's still involved in the assessment but it's directly servicing that student. So one example that she just said is entering the accommodation into the test portal. She asked if that clears it up and Director Berg said it definitely helps.  He said he absolutely appreciates some of the Tier 1 kinds of things that she referred to when your time has been fighting fires and he knows that for his own sons at times when they've had questions, one of the issues they had was being able to get access to counselors because the counselors had their hands full and then some, so he can understand the idea here of trying to be able to provide some more of the preventative support, as we talk about social-emotional supports for our kids, a lot of it is building that strong foundation so that we we try and avoid getting the point where we're in that emergency situation as much.
  President Romero said they reaffirmed and renewed Hazel Health, and that was a mental health service provided without counselor referral, and over the last year and a half, one of the things that we really took a look at is what our mental health services were, and what that traction and traffic looked like, but a lot of the hurdles were making sure that the referrals are coming through. And obviously, if you don't have time to be great interventionists and great supports for students, he wants to understand that more because he is going to look at those numbers and he said he thinks Michele Bledsoe let them know that we are one of the highest usage rates in the nation for Hazel Health, and he wants to understand we just upped Heidi's Promise for drug and suicide intervention within all of our secondary schools and we've up those services to almost double so going into this next phase of CSCP he wants to understand from a counselor's point of view what that could look like for us as a school district. He thinks as a community, as parents, staff members, what is most important is your students feel safe, supported, and have a place where they don't feel like something extreme is the only resort.
  Lyndsey Tobin replied on behalf of the counselors and thanked the board for approving Hazel Health for another year. That is our one consistent service that we can tell families we have, and she had a student that was seeing her first two-hour assessment within 48 hours with her first appointment within the week. That's unheard of so thank you so much. Truly, it's a blessing that we have that service in our district. You had a question about the referrals. and she thinks what may have happened there is the QR code for parents to fill out the consent went home in a communication so many parents filled it out without us knowing to submit a referral. Hazel's actually fixed that by creating counselors a view in the Hazel portal that they can see once our consents are in and then we can refer so that problem won't be there anymore. They are just very grateful for Hazel. and then, for also at being our prevention intervention specialists from Heidi's Promise, that's a huge resource. It honestly takes so many. As a school counselor, they focus not only on social-emotional learning, but academics and career development and we need to be providing this school-wide in the beginning of the year: these are our expectations, this is how we can serve you, so really once you hit that level of providing a referral to a community health agency that's a Tier 3 support that we are offering so in conjunction with our services, such as providing a classroom lesson, perhaps using Character Strong or Second Step at the elementary in conjunction with their lessons, and our small groups that we run with our students and our community partnerships. That's how we can collaborate with all students. She said she hopes that answered his question. He replied yes and added that before he sat on this board he had  let chance to learn a lot from some of Lori's colleagues, Richard Mitchell and Patti McMullen, at Rogers in terms of that workload capacity and counselors at ERHS do an amazing job as counselors out there as well, so he is really excited to see what this does for our students; again, just making sure that when we start looking at the data, Almai, that we see some correlation on how that looks and changes, so that it doesn't look like a flat line in terms of those referrals, because obviously the whole intent of this is to make sure that there's more one-on-one work with students whether that's Tier 1, or even all the way to Tier 3 or hopefully, not Tier 4. So he appreciate that and appreciates the presentation and is looking forward to seeing how this work unfolds. Director Malit said just for clarity, sometimes they are viewed as counselors, but they are actually career specialists - she heard two names, Richard Mitchell and Patti McMullen, who are two of the three career specialists, because we have one full-time career specialist at each of our comprehensive high schools, so she wants to make sure there is a delineation between the two, even though a lot of their work is braided together in serving our students.  President Romero thanked Almai and the counselors for their work and for being here tonight.
  C. Operations - Capital Levy Introduction; Mario Casello, Assistant Superintendent of Operations and Laura Marcoe, Assistant Superintendent of Business & Support Services
Laura Marcoe and Mario Casello are here tonight to share some information regarding our proposed capital levy package. To recap, Marcoe said we ran a capital levy this past February which fell just short of the 50%+1 votes needed to pass. But that doesn’t change the fact that we have more than 400 projects districtwide to ensure the safety and security of our students and staff, that our buildings and outdoor spaces are conducive to learning, and that we are staying current with the technology demands of our world today.

She said Mario will share a general breakdown of the projects that we have included in the levy package. These are all projects we cannot address with our current funding streams. Unfortunately, the state does not fund districts for building construction or major upgrades and improvements to our buildings and infrastructure. We wish it were different, but we must rely on our taxpayers to provide the funding for these projects. Communities are known by the schools that they keep, and the projects we have outlined in this levy package are targeted to provide a safer, more secure, and more suitable learning environment for our students and staff.

Mario Casello said that throughout the month of April, we solicited feedback with a survey from our community through a Capital Projects Survey to gauge both the priorities and level of understanding of our community for many of the projects we were considering for inclusion in a levy package. We received 927 responses from a good mix of families, staff, and other community members; as well as representation from all parts of the district.
The middle graph shows the respondents’ prioritization from highest at the top to the lowest at the bottom. The items most highly prioritized were:
  Safety, security & emergency response systems
Technology
HVAC

These are also the areas of the survey where respondents felt most informed as to the need for these projects – along with traffic improvements and roofs, floors, and lighting – as displayed on the last graph on the slide. He said the district really appreciates this feedback from our community. It really helped them to break down those survey results to know what our community really wants and were instrumental in the design of this levy package.

He showed a graphic representing the five major categories of projects we are proposing:
  Building Improvements – maintaining safe and conducive learning spaces
Outdoor Spaces – supporting our outdoor learning spaces
Safety & Security – Keeping schools and facilities safe and secure
Site & Traffic- Ensuring safe access to all district schools and facilities
Technology Improvements – Staying current with changing technology needs

He said it is important to note that we have a category dedicated to safety and security – which was the #1 priority of our community. However – there is an element of safety and security imbedded in ALL the other categories as well, because safety and security is not just about access control and emergency response systems:
  It’s also about having adequate technology to the run those systems
it’s about ensuring our roofs are in good condition and we are providing good air quality inside the buildings
it’s about safe playgrounds and field surfaces for our students to play on to prevent injuries
It’s about providing traffic flow improvements that address our student drop off and pickup challenges to ensure students, staff, and families can come to and from school safety.

All of these projects are in-line with our community’s priorities and values and will offer the safety, security, and learning environment that our students and staff deserve.

Cost by Category
Mario Casello showed the totals by each of the five main categories of projects, totaling up to the proposed total proposed levy amount of $125 million and said even though this table is showing $16 million in projects for safety and security, there are several million more dollars of projects imbedded into the other categories as well. They estimate the combined total safety and security projects to be approximately $40.3 million.

Proposed Funding
Laura Marcoe said, as Mario mentioned, we are proposing a $125 million levy, with just over $20.8 million collected each year for six years, starting in 2023 through 2028. The proposed rate per $1,000 of assessed value is estimated to be about $.82 in 2023, decreasing all the way through 2028 to .67 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

Marcoe explained how our current and proposed total tax rates compare with our neighboring school district: Right now, with our EP&O levy and bond rates, our taxpayers are paying a total of $4.01. Almost ALL of our neighboring school districts have a higher tax rate than us – except for Orting. If we were to pass the capital levy, our 2023 total tax rate would be around $4.56 – which would STILL mean that three of our neighboring school districts have a higher tax rate than Puyallup. What we are proposing is in-line with what the communities in most of our neighboring school districts are already supporting.

Levy Election Schedule
She explained our next steps would be board consideration for approval on June 21. August 2 is the deadline for filing the resolution with Pierce County elections as well as reporting the “For” and “Against” committees. The election date is on November 8th. She asked if the board had any questions. 

Director Keaton thanked them for the presentation and said we have always had a big focus on safety and security for our students and staff but it was disappointing that the capital levy didn't pass last time. We promoted it as being about safety and security last time and if the numbers really show over $40 million are going toward it we need to redo our charts because that is the main focus, that's the focus that we received from the community that they want us to be focused on, and that's the primary driver for doing a lot of the work that we've done, and it will be the future driver for a future bond to shore up some of our older high schools as well. So let's go ahead and figure out the math and be able to present it in a way where safety and security is obvious to everybody that it is our primary goal and focus on this capital levy.
  Director Berg said we do a pretty good job of spelling out the "whats", it's making sure that we also connect to the "why" for some people that he thinks will make the difference for us. When when we do look at things like air quality, and the improvements to the tracks, there are so many things that you know, seem obvious. With the track, for a lot of people, they didn't understand why that would have been so important. But again, to to point out that we have items that wear out, we have items that aren't available to our kids for a portion of the year. If they can't use it safely then that's an issue. So, making sure that we we go beyond the "what" to the "why" will be important for us and as we were able to see with the facilities tour that we did recently there's a lot of need out there. The state might be able to come up with something somewhere on down the line but that's not a guarantee and there's no way to know when they might be able to come up with any kind of funding that would help us on some of these security issues so we can't wait for them to decide what they might do, and when and how that would all work out. We need to turn to our community now to be able to get working on those things that are so obvious to so many in our community right now.
  Mario Casello thanked him for bringing that up and added this survey we learned a lot from that and they listened. Back on the February 8, 2022 levy package they did have our maintenance building on there, and our transportation site work, which was a little over $12 million dollars. But after that survey and in vetting that more with our leadership team, we've decided to take that maintenance building project and that transportation project both off (the next levy package) and we're just going to look to fund that through some capital funds down the road. So they have reallocated that money to safety and security and technology.
  Director Berg added we are also a bit fortunate in that we've been able to respond to some of the transportation issues that were at a crisis point so that now it looks like everything is running smoothly when in reality we're still kind of on the edge, so they took some action tonight to help plan for that moving forward and we'll be continuing to address that through the year, so even though some things might appear to be normal. it's because there are so many people working behind the scenes just to to hang on.
  Dr. Polm said he wanted to mention to the board that they have also interacted with some of the community PTAs and PTO groups both online and in-person and received a little bit of feedback from them as well as the survey and asked Mario to comment on that. Casello said as Dr. Polm, mentioned, Dr. Polm, Sarah Gillispie and he started in April touring throughout the district, and having meetings with our PTA and PTO groups starting at the elementary level, and again, some of them are in-person and some of them virtual. We did a presentation to help educate these groups on that levy package, and what those projects entail. and then we drill down specifically for the school  wherever that PTA was representing. We showed them the projects that were associated with that particular school, and we got a lot of positive feedback and a lot of interaction there. What was wonderful through those presentations is it really helped them understand the needs and why we need this package, and what those projects would entail. So a lot of positive feedback came out of those meetings and we'll continue to do those. Then we are also going to work closely with Sarah and her team to make some videos so that as we get into the summer and early fall, we can help educate everyone, and really show the specific projects for all the schools as well.
  Director Kayaoglu said he attended one of those meetings as a parent from Meeker Elementary PTA, and he appreciates having the opportunity to have the Meeker Elementary PTA feel that they have been recognized, they have been heard, and their perspective is being considered. He asked about the survey. Having 927 participants seems impressive but what was the actual participation rate? Mario deferred to Sarah, who said the survey went to everyone in the district through a hardcopy postcard. It was also posted online, and we put it out through social media. And although it merely represented 934 participants out of 55,000 voters in the area, it did provide a sampling and gave us a pulse on some critical feedback. DIrector Kayaoglu said he appreciates that in terms of the feedback, but what in terms of PTA engagement and the survey engagement but he also wonders whether these are more opportunities to engage people, engage community members and really hear what they are saying. With 50,000 and we are reaching only about a 1,000 he wonders if we are doing our best in terms of engaging people to really hear them and making sure that we are here for them, and we are interested in their voices. Thank you.
  President Romero said our Operations Department does an amazing job with what we have and the one thing that we can't combat is time, and a lot of the projects that we need to address are time-related, just wear and tear over time, and that's just part of this ask, and not everyone understands that, because you walk into a school building and everything looks just great; they don't always know all the underlying things that are being worked on and trying to be addressed. As Director Berg mentioned, it is really critical that we express the "why." As Director Keaton mentioned, that $43 million is tied to safety and security, whether that is traffic flow, because that is a safety and security measure, or technology, which is also a safety and security measure and we really need to make sure that our community, understands why we are doing this because it is all tied together.
  D. Business Services - Bond Refunding Presentation; Laura Marcoe, Assistant Superintendent of Business & Support Services
Laura Marcoe said as the board recalls, we just completed a refunding of the 2012 bond series last month. In August, the 2012A bond series will be eligible for refunding as well. Again, she explained refunding bonds is essentially issuing new debt at a lower interest rate than the original debt, which provides direct savings to our taxpayers.

Although inflation, the war in Ukraine, and signals from the Fed of interest rate hikes have resulted in municipal bond rates rising sharply for the past several weeks, bond interest rates are still relatively low compared to historical rates. And for the time being, it is still a good time to refinance eligible bonds – but of course, the volatility in the market requires careful planning. We have enlisted the services of our financial advisor, Mark Prussing, to help us assess the feasibility of this refunding.

Refunding Goals
We have three goals for this refunding which include:
  To achieve a minimum present value savings of 1% of the bonds – which is about half a million dollars. That’s the MINIMUM amount we hope to save taxpayers.
We will need to update our credit rating from Moody’s Investor Service – even though we did this just a few months ago for the last bond refunding, it is required for this one as well. Our current rating is “Aa2” which is very good and our goal is to maintain this rating.
The last goal is to participate in the Washington State School District Credit Enhancement Program, which essentially lends the full faith and credit of the state of Washington to guarantee the principal and interest payments on our bond debt. This enhanced credit rating allows the bonds to be sold at better interest rates, which can provide considerably greater savings to taxpayers.

Preliminary Funding Results
She displayed a slide showing our actual results from the refunding we transacted last month, and the projected refunding results for the upcoming refunding opportunity. As you can see, the remaining bond principal is larger, and the final maturity is two years longer than the last refunding – but the projected interest cost is also higher. So with those factors, and based on what we know of the market right now, we are estimating a savings to our taxpayers of about $2.4 Million.

The next step is to come back to the board on June 21st for consideration of two resolutions – the first would authorize the district to proceed with refunding the bonds, and the second would be a resolution to authorize participation in the state guarantee program. In July, we would have a conference call with Moody’s rating agency to present our case for maintaining our current Aa2 credit rating.
Then in August, we would commence with the bond sale if market conditions permit and our goals are met, with final bond closing in September. There were no questions.
  E. Business Services - April 2022 Financial Statements; Laura Marcoe, Assistant Superintendent of Business & Support Services
Laura Marcoe presented the key messages for April:
April is usually our largest tax collection month and this was no exception. We received $22.2 million in the general fund related to our educational programs and operations levy, and $16 million in the debt service fund to service our bond debt. As is typical, we see fund balance in the general fund spike, although it is at its lowest point in four years. And then we expect fund balance to decline throughout the rest of the fiscal year which ends in June.

Looking at enrollment numbers through May, student headcount and FTE held steady between April and May with no major changes. We just have one more month to count and we'll have those numbers soon and can calculate our average annual enrollment for the year.
  7. Board Comments
A. Individual Board Member Comments
Director Keaton said that with the focus that we've talked about already tonight on safety and security and being able to do those things, and you just got all the data on where we are as far as the capital levy, and other projects we've had, to include the bond for the high schools to fix some of the physical security that we have at our older high schools, the big focus is to figure out how to get that support back. It wasn't that long ago that we had almost 70% of the community voting with their wallet that they trusted the district and where we are going. There's a perception that we've lost our focus on academics and now more have a focus on politics and we've got to get back to removing political bias from our district and we all have to do that to get in alignment with board policy, but also to gain back to trust of the community. The community has become much more diverse over the years but the core traditional values of hard work and family haven't changed, and that's what's out there. People want to support the schools, but they want to make sure we're focused on the right things. So he encourages everybody to leave political bias wherever possible, and us getting back that support so that we can focus on getting the dollars we need to continue to improve on our safety and security. We're better off than most districts already but we have a lot of work to do and dollars are tight for everybody right now, and we're going to be asking them to give us more so we need to earn it. Thank you.
  Director Kayaoglu said it is great to celebrate all our students.  It has been a tough year two years; we are at this point and the work, labor, love of all the administrators, all the employees, all the teachers that make this happen, and he wants to acknowledge that and thank them for all they have done. As he is sitting here and looking at the wall where it says, "Be the "I" in PRIDE". It makes him think that this is Pride month and he wants to acknowledge this is Pride month. We are celebrating a group that has been historically marginalized, and we need to acknowledge them, recognize them, see them. Like we supported and issued a proclamation for Black History month, he wants to see that the board consider to issue a statement in recognition and support of Pride month. He was excited about the Black History month, not because he's Black, he is not Black, just as he is excited about Pride month even though he is cisgender. It excites him because it is part of our community. The challenge that we face in front of us requires everyone's labor, vision and creativity. We cannot just exclude people, push them into the basements, the back doors, the kitchens outside of the house, and try to kind of solve the problems by ourselves. We cannot. We need to include everyone.  When he looks at his Black brothers and sisters and the LGBTQ members of the community, it's time to recognize them, and time to make sure that they come to the table as who they are, and bring their love, creativity and vision, so that we can solve our problems. Thank you.
  Director Berg said he was fortunate to be able to do that Facilities tour recently with Representative Jacobsen and other members, including some folks from OSPI and the superintendent's office, to see the fantastic things we were able to do at Northwood Elementary, the way that we were able to successfully and carefully manage our money, to have projects that are done on time under budget, that that really are fantastic facilities, and then to compare that to some of our older buildings, where you walk into a boiler room and can see out between the doorframe and the bricks of the wall to the outside. Know that we've got some serious equity issues there too, that that we've got places that desperately need help when you compare playgrounds from one spot to another, and know that there are playgrounds that not all kids can access. We need to fix that and some of that is a safety issue, some of that's an equity issue, and all of it is about providing our kids what they need. And it's not about providing kind of that, "all kids" answer but about what each kid needs, because in Puyallup we have so many different communities that we serve, we want to make sure that each child gets what they need. When our counselors were here talking about what they wanted to be able to do, it was important that they recognize that each child might have needed something different, and they wanted to be able to provide that so he is hoping we are going to be able to to support them in that effort. He also wants to echo the support for Pride month. It is something that, again, we tend to look at, and some people think of it as a political statement. At our last meeting we renewed our Hazel Health contract, and we've talked about social-emotional health, we talked about our counselors here tonight, all of those things were because the emotional health of our students is so important to us that we were willing to make that investment. When we talk about our LGBTQ+ community, that's a student population that is at a 42% higher risk of suicide than other students. If we're going to be serious about addressing the emotional needs of students, then that is an absolute red flag that is calling out for attention. We have some fantastic educators in this district who are doing outstanding work to support their students, to make sure that their students feel safe and welcome. We want to make sure that every student, that each student, is safe and welcomed in the classroom, that they know that their families are safe and welcomed in their schools, that they can know that when they step in to their class even if their family doesn't look like somebody else's family that they belong there. It's important that they know they belong, it's important they know their brothers and sisters might belong. We have done tremendous work toward addressing issues of equity in the district. We have a lot of room left to go. He has seen personally students who suffered and had a really, really hard go of it in the past and he doesn't want to have to see other people go through that same struggle. He knows that personally when he was in junior high school a student who was in his seventh grade math class didn't return for eighth grade, and it took a while to figure out that it was because he was gay and he had committed suicide over the summer between seventh and eighth grade. He doesn't ever want to see somebody else having to go through that. We do great work in Puyallup, we continue to do that right work, and there are so many people here who are dedicated to that cause, so many staff members to support, so many family members to support, so many students and community members. He is grateful for what they add to Puyallup. We've got so many folks here that we need to celebrate on a regular basis, and he hopes we do that more often because we have groups that represent so many different communities that all deserve their time in the sunshine. And it in some cases it's because they've got some really unique and serious needs that deserve to be celebrated, deserve attention, and this is absolutely one of them. So, thanks to everyone for your hard work. He is looking forward to an exciting summer and a great school year next year.
  President Romero echoed the sentiments of our other directors and added that here in Puyallup we really do our best to create an environment of inclusion, and he knows for some it's not as fast as it could be, and for some it's faster than they anticipated, but regardless of the composition of a family or the identity of a student, one thing that he has really paid attention to as the thematic for this year is "we belong" is something that he heard from Brene' Brown, a famous psychologist out of Texas, if he remembers correctly, that fitting in does not mean belonging, and the only thing that means belonging is being able to be who you are and being accepted for who you are in that group, in that school, and again he said he applauds Dr. Polm and the team for creating inclusive environments within our district and that's everyone celebrating LGBTQIA+. Community during Pride month is important, and it's difficult because in the past what we've heard as a board is that not all of our community wants us to identify singular groups, because at times people can feel left out. And again, that's never the intention of the board or the district, but with all due respect, it's really hard to appreciate and identify every single group, every single month, and every single day that it is, so he thinks that creating environment of inclusion, and a message that was shared on our social media is that everyone belongs. Everyone belongs here, and everyone has a place and a space in the Puyallup School District, and that's important. He is looking forward to the revisions to the Student Handbook. He believes that there's likely going to be some professional expectations as well from our staff in regard to those things for alignment with what the board expects from this district and from Dr. Polm's leadership. Earlier this year he attended some awards for Rogers AVID students and got to hear from kids who just entered high school when the pandemic hit as sophomores and he is really excited after doing graduations over this last two years to really be able to celebrate starting this Friday and Saturday with many family members. It's great to see comments on social media where people are asking for one more ticket, because in the last couple of years it was, "I need 15 more tickets," or what do we do so that my parents can see their grandkids graduate, and that's not necessarily going to be the case this go around, and he is excited to welcome our families down to the fairgrounds, where we will see many students cross the line and be able to hand them the special certificate that means, "you did it!" because over this last two and a half years they really did it, and they achieved something and pushed through the hardship, and Dr. Pecchia mentioned over and over again over the last couple of years that our kids are resilient, and our staff is resilient, and it's all evidenced by how we stand here today. So with that being said, he's really thankful for our counselors and the work that they do, he is excited to see what that looks like. He told Mario he appreciates the presentation on the capital levy and said it is extremely important that our community understands just what that means to them, their kids, this team and this board.
  8. Executive Session (if needed)
None.
  9. Closing
Adjournment
President Romero adjourned the meeting at 7:53 p.m.
          _______________________________________         _____________________________________
Dr. John Polm, Superintendent                                    Mr. Joseph Romero, Board President