231056-ec913be5-d3dd-4f70-ad27-e8215b977380.pdf

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ZILLAH SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 205
MINUTES
School Board of Directors – Regular Meeting
Tuesday, December 16, 2021 - 7:00 p.m.
Zillah Middle School Commons-Live In-Person Meeting (All Healthy Washington Roadmap to
Recovery Plan, applicable state guidance, and the Open Public Meetings Act requirements will
be followed) and Via ZOOM Technology
TIME AND PLACE:

A School Board of Directors-Regular Meeting was held on Thursday,
December 16, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was held at Zillah Middle
School Commons and via ZOOM Technology.

ATTENDANCE:

Board Members: Jeff Brady, Darrin Belton, Dennis Jones, Thomas
Fender, and Nicole Garcia Schmelzer
Administrators: Doug Burge, Justin Irion
Business Manager: Craig McCloud
Recording Secretary: Sonia Ruggles
Guests: Elizabeth Jensen, Jessica Carter, Will Scarlett, Larry
Hiemstra, Linda Hiemstra, Mike Collins, Stuart Sabel, and Greg
Carpenter.

CALL TO ORDER

Meeting called to order at 7:03 pm by Jeff Brady. Jeff Brady, Dennis
Jones, Darrin Belton, Thomas Fender, and Nicole Garcia Schmelzer
were in attendance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Motion was made by Darrin Belton, second by Thomas Fender
to approve the November 23, 2021 Board Work Session,
Regular School Board Meeting Minutes. All in favor motion
carried.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA:

Motion was made by Darrin Belton, second by Thomas Fender
to approve the agenda. All in favor motion carried.

HEARING SESSION:

Elizabeth Jensen read the following statement. The Board has
said several times that they don’t endorse critical race theory in
the schools but it was pointed out to me that many people don’t
actually understand what that is (critical race theory) or
recognize it when they see it. Justin even said we don’t teach
critical race theory but there are a lot of different parts to
critical race theory and some of that is in what you teach. I’m
here today to talk about Marxism because that is what critical
race theory is. It is cultural marketing, you substitute the
working class for the oppressed and the capitalist for the
oppressor. The oppressed are the minorities, females, people of
sexual alternative orientation, and the non-Christian. The
oppressors are the white straight males; mostly Christians. If

somebody came into your school we are going to teach the
students that white straight religious guys are bad, but instead
they are subtle and teach baby steps until the minor concepts
become accessible and then radical concepts. Then the school
is teaching the Critical Race theory. So let’s talk about these
baby steps. I recently did a diversity, equity, and inclusionary
training. One of the questions that was asked: they asked a
student at lunch to think of a time that they wanted to sit at a
table and were excluded because they were not part of the clique
that the table was. And they asked the question: How do you
feel? So baby steps here..Mr. Smith has a similar situation. He
was denied a house or a job. Oppression because of his identity,
whether it be racial or sexual. How do you feel about that? Do
you feel bad? You say you feel bad but these are just words.
Word are easy to say but actions speak louder. What actions
could you do to show that you feel bad? Reparations, yeah that
works, you could do that. But reparations are not enough
because you are still being oppressed and really you are part of
the repressing class. Instead of just feeling bad should you feel
responsible. How can you make up for the oppression that he is
feeling since you are responsible for it. How about we give Mr.
Smith things to make up for the oppression, things that you are
denied because you are part of the oppressing class, then he can
succeed like you. And maybe we can call it equity. And now we
are teaching and practicing Critical Race Theory in school. See
how that works, its subtle and is parts of all of our society. We
need to learn to recognize the ideology so even if it doesn’t call
it critical race theory, we know what it is. So if theory or
ideology derives its origins or influence from the “critical
theory” developed by the Frankfurt School. If it teaches or
promotes that social problems is inherently racist or patriarchal
societal structures and systems. Promotes the view that one
race is inherently racist, sexist, or intentionally or inadvertently
oppressive. Promotes the view that one race is inherently
responsible for the intentional or inadvertent oppression of
another race. A person’s moral character is determined by the
race or sex attributed to them. The race or sex attributed to a
person makes them responsible for past transgressions of that
race or sex. A person should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or
any other form of psychological, physical, or any other kind of
distress on account of the race or sex attributed to them. Work
ethic, success, devotion to duty and obligation is inherently
racist or exist. I was going to talk about the divisive concepts of
CRT but I am trying to be responsible with my time, so I have a
handout that I will leave with you and you can read about that
and I hope you take the time to educate yourself on this really

critical topic. I am just going to end by saying that the
components of critical race theory, in order to tear down the
United States, which they hate. It’s a war between the
oppressed and the oppressor. No one can win in this war. We
do not want this in our Zillah School district. You need to Learn
what it is.
Will Scarlett stated the following: The reason there is more
community involvement; attribitation or whatever word you
want to use is because the issue we are talking about here are
nationwide and you guys all know that. I want to publicly thank
and show appreciation for the Zillah School for allowing the
public to speak because we have a national attorney general in
this town who has labeled us as domestic terrorists. The Zillah
school district board has not shown us that kind of animosity
and I appreciate that. However I am just going to continue on
with what Elizabeth was talking about as far as the Critical
Race because that is such a disruptive ideology. Anywhere else
if we talk about racism or bigotry and the schools actively
promoting that we would be shocked because that is exactly
what critical race theory is. They are active bigotry and racism
and it is reflective in a lot of the teaching stuff. And what the
board has told us is that individual teachers are allowed to
teach critical race theory because they are allowed that freedom
for a year to teach what they want to teach. Anytime that race,
sex, ethnicity, color, national origin is called inheritably
superior or inferior, that has been taught in the Zillah School
District. We have firsthand account of that. They shouldn’t get
any beneficial or adverse treatment because of the color of their
skin. Anybody’s heritage should not be used against them for
what their ancestors did for the norms of the day, slavery for
example. There is a movement in this country the 1619 project
that has said that the United States is evil because we invented
slavery. Slavery has been going on since recorded history of
mankind. Guess what is going on right now. In this country, in
every country, the first white man came to this country and what
was going on with the Native Americans was part of our human
history. Don’t attribute that to one race of people. Mr. Belton
asked the question: Do you think we are teaching that here
now? Mr. Scartlett replied: In General nationwide however
what I said earlier was that we have first hand account by a 7th
grade boy he was told he was oppressed because he has darker
skin. If there is an oppressed then there is an oppressor, that
happened in Zillah school district this year. No individual
should be targeted because of race, color. Meritocracy as I
understand it is the idea what you do, you are rewarded by your
actions. So if you work hard your are rewarded. In school you

work hard you can get good grades and if you don’t work hard
you get bad grades. That is being attributed to the white man,
meritocracy. It is claimed to be racist. These are the ideas that
just come in and are taught by the schools part of this is by law.
So how are the Zillah schools going to address this. Are they
going to pretend that this is not happening or are we going to
take an active role and say we are not going to allow this to
happen. There is training programs that the Zillah school
district employees attend.
Linda Hiemstra made the following statement. I would like to
know how the house bill 5044 fits into all this. Unfortunately
this is something that you or the board is going to have to deal
with because it is telling you that you need to teach the critical
race theory. Not sure what you are going to do. You should not
subject the employees to the concept as well. You previously
discussed that you desire no critical race theory to be taught in
Zillah and to me adopting a policy or resolution would gain
trust with the public regarding the boards statement with no
CRT in our schools. A school that claims no CRT and the
board has claimed shall not teach, instruct, or train any
employees, contractor, staff member, administrator, supervisor,
assistant, part time employee, parent volunteer, or any other
individual to adopt, support, or promote Critical Race Theory.
There devisive concepts, or the government sanctioned, or
facilitated racism. No employee of the school board shall face
direct or indirect adverse consequences, penalty, or
discrimination on account of his/her refusal to support, belief,
endorse, embrace, act upon or otherwise ascent critical race
theory, divisive concept, or government sanctioned racism. So
the fair and equal treatment of individuals is a protected
principle and we all know that with the Civil Right Act of 1964.
We also have the human rights of Washington State that is in
our contract with our school and that must be maintained. The
administrative head of each school shall use his or her authority
to ensure the school employee during work hours and any other
contractors hired by the school to provide training, workshops,
forums, or similar programming for purpose of this should not
teach, advocate, promote any trainings for school employees on
critical race theory or the divisive concepts, or the government
sanctioned racism. Also no funds should be expended by the
school board or any entity under the school board of education
jurisdiction to teach these concepts of CRT. Now that hasn’t
happened because I was an employee here. I have already had
to go through this, some of us just roll our eyes, some of us block
it out, some of us just don’t listen. Because we don’t believe that
we need to listen to that. We need to treat people like human

beings. I even had in one class, I sit and had an apology that we
didn’t have more people of color hired by our district, that hurt
my feelings. Because I thought you hired me because I’m white
and there is nobody else. Why didn’t you hire me because what
I had to provide. Why didn’t you hire me for what I did to the
school and my abilities. Why do we have to worry about what
color of skin people are. I thought that was the whole thing
about the Civil Rights Act of 1964. So I urge you to adopt a
resolution that protects our children from the damage caused by
CRT. And I also desire a school that has no racial supremacy
and I hope you understand what I mean by that.
Mike Collins made the following statement. So I am just going
to go over some additional terms, concepts that you have heard
some of them. If thought were used and further the concepts of
critical race theory without using the words critical race theory.
There is a list of 90 or so but I will not bore you with all of them
but I hope you pay attention a little bit because your going to
hear them again. Action civics, social emotional learning,
diversity, equity, inclusion, culturally responsive teaching, antiviolence training, anti-mericrocity, centering or decentering,
collective guilt, conscious and unconscious, critical self
awareness, critical self reflection, cultural competence, diversity
training, equity don’t confuse that with equality, inclusivity
education, institutional oppression, internal racism, racial
justice, racial supremacy, social justice, structural bias,
systemic biases, systemic racism, unsystemic biases, white
privilege, white supremacy. House Bill 5044, this is from the
Washington policy center which is an independent think tank
from the state of Washington. This is a bill passed and signed
by Governor Jay Inslee on May 5th. The bill mandates teaching
CRT in public schools teaching that white students are
oppressors and that students of other ethnicities are victims.
CRT also tells children that American society is systemically
racist and that white students regardless of their true
background or life experiences are automatically privileged.
Other students are instructed that they are victims and there is
little they can do in life because they can’t get ahead no matter
their character, merit, or how hard they work. What a horrible
thing to teach our students, they are not going to get ahead no
matter what they do. As a cover the proponents label this racebased ideology as cultural competency, diversity equity and
inclusion and standards initiative, no CRT there, not critical
race theory. Examples of some proposals from that. Under
identity, awareness, and biases they have perpetuated cultural
genocide and white supremacy and act in such a way that
actively acknowledges and this system perpetuation under

dismantling and justice and oppression. Educators must
acknowledge systemic racism and injustice and the history of the
Americas, United States, the Pacific Northwest, and the state of
Washington. Teachers are told to use terms like structural
racism, white supremacy, implicit biases in a classroom to
target white students. So I have a copy of Senate bill 5044
introduced in January. The title was introduced an entitlement
to equity, culturally competency, dismantling institutional
racism in the public school system. Again no CRT there. The
Bill adds equity, diversity, inclusion to include competency
training to more directives. District staff and school staff.
Under summary of the bill under professional development and
training, this is directive to our teachers. There is going to be
professional development regarding equity, diversity , inclusion,
and that is to the existing competent training. For school board
directors, this is for you guys. Washington state school district
association in consultation with other entities must develop a
recommended list of available training programs. The training
programs must consider various races, ethnicities, religion,
disabilities, sexualities, and genders. The training program
must instruct school board directors on dismantling institutional
racism by examining school district policies with an equity lense
promoting racial literacy understanding stereotypes and
identifying disproportionate student outcomes by using district
data. What that is..must be social emotional learning
questionnaire which we are going to do 3 times per year. This
year the one that took way too long to take, 3 times the amount
of time that we thought were told it was going to take. The one
that our little kids were asking their teachers, “I don’t
understand this”, “what does this mean”, “ I have no idea what
you are asking me”, Probably our high school students just
flicked off and thought I will give whatever answer I want. So
that district add is just going to be wonderful. But again, senate
bill no CRT anywhere in this bill but its all about CRT under
different terms. So question is How long do we continue to bow
down to beaurocrats in Olympia who don’t know our community
and frankly don’t care about our kids’ education. The parents
in this community want our kids to learn to read and write, have
proficiency in math and science, to understand our true history,
and be proud of themselves and this country. This can fulfill
none of that and in fact promotes the opposite. Parents don’t
like it, the community doesn’t want it. I cannot believe that you
like it or want it either. So when do we untie the hand and start
fighting for our kids and our teachers, let them teach without the
garbage and waste of classroom time. If Inslee want to pull
funding, let him. And turn right around and sue the state of

Washington for by law the state is required by law to fund public
education. And that education needs to be determined by the
local school district, because one side does not get all. A battle
yes, but a battle worth fighting. Because the stuff mandated in
this bill, is absolute garbage. Thank You. Elizabeth Jensen
commented as he was closing with “ and the parents will be
right behind you.”
Larry Hiemstra made the following statement: I wanted to give a
personal appeal for myself which I strongly believe that our
country is on a road to Marxism. I also believe that CRT is one
of the main ways that they are going to accomplish that. I want
to speak on the equity thing a little bit. An explanation in real
world or I think in real natural consequence to equity. In
November 21st in Waukehsa, Wisconsin, Darrell Brooks got into
his vehicle and used that as a weapon at a Christmas parade
that was going on and killed 6 people. Turns out Darrell Brooks
a black person was just recently got out of jail on a $1000 bail
bond. Behind that, follow me; so a Darrel brooks a black man
got out on a $1000 bail for a heinous crime, I believe that is
equity in action. I think that, I don’t know the exact numbers but
lets say blacks are 10% of the population and lets say that 30 %
of the blacks in jail so equity says that we need to let some of
them blacks out because it is not equitable. Equity according to
what they are shoving down our throats is equal outcomes. That
is not the American ideal. America was established on
opportunity, you have equal opportunity, everybody can go
educated themselves, build themselves up. This is totally
different and I know the district says they support equity. And I
know 100% that equity coming from the state folks is exactly
that equal outcomes which like I say is a manifestation of we got
to let black people out. No longer can we ask we caused the
crimes, if there blacks so we can let them out. I would
encourage to be convinced by anyone of you that I am wrong. I
would become your biggest supporter where we are at now. But
I see that coming with the 5044 and really what everyone is
saying here. It is coming and if we just don’t actually oppose it
then we will become worse and worse and our children will
grow up messed up. Thank you for your time.
Mr. Brady asked the group if they have ever thought of taking
their concerns to the state capital. Mr. Hiemstra replied by
saying that 8 or 10 of them do not have an impact at the state.
Politics are locals and this is the only way we can have an
impact. You five are elected by the Zillah School District so you
have the power and your job and responsibility to guide the
Zillah School. Correct, that is your mission and as a public we
are just saying what our beliefs are. Mrs. Jensen made the

following statement. Quite honestly all politics are local. And
what I care about more even than in the rest of the state is how
my kids are learning in the school, and the type of people they
are learning from. And the values, I am trying to give them
every value I can but I don’t have them 8 hours a day, you guys
do. They are being taught things that are the values that I do
not want them to have. They are being to hate people of another
race. I spent my whole life teaching my kids not to do that.
OATH OF OFFICE:
A.
Darrin Belton
Mr. Darrin Belton took the oath of office with Mr. Burge
B.
Dennis Jones
Mr. Dennis Jones took the oath of office with Mr. Burge
C.
Thomas Fender
Mr. Thomas Fender took the oath of office with Mr. Burge
D.
Nicole Garcia Schmelzer
Mrs. Nicole Garcia Schmelzer took the oath of office with Mr. Burge
ELECTION OF 2022 SCHOOL BOARD OFFICERS-Roll Call Vote
A.
Chairperson
Motion was made by Darrin Belton, second by Dennis Jones to nominate Jeff
Brady as Chairperson. Roll Call Vote: Thomas Fender, Darrin Belton, Dennis
Jones, and Nicole Garcia Schmelzer; All in favor motion carried.
B.
Vice Chairperson
Motion was made by Thomas Fender, second by Dennis Jones to nominate Darrin
Belton as Vice Chairperson. Roll Call Vote: Thomas Fender, Jeff Brady, Dennis
Jones, and Nicole Garica Schmelzer; All in favor motion carried.
ELECTION OF 2022-2024 SCHOOL BOARD LEGISTLATIVE REPRESENTATIVE- Roll
Call Vote
Motion was made by Darrin Belton, second by Dennis Jones to nominate Thomas
Fender as Legislative Representative. Roll Call Vote: Darrin Belton, Jeff Brady,
Dennis Jones, and Nicole Garcia Schmelzer. All in favor motion carried.
I.

INFORMATION AGENDA
A.

Superintendent/Assistant Superintendent Report
1.
Enrollment Report
Mr. Burge shared the FTE for December is 1239.
2.
Project Update – ZHS, ZMS
Mr. Burge shared the ZHS is completed. The ZMS was just signed off with
the final punch list. The district will be closing and finalizing warranty
items. State paperwork still needs to be processed for final documents and
closing procedures.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

B.

Resolution No. 458 – Resolution of Final Acceptance of Construction
Completion & Resolution No. 459 – Resolution of Acceptance of Building
Commissioning Report
Mr. Burge is asking the board to approve Resolution No. 458-Resolution
of Final Acceptance of Construction and Resolution 459-Resolution of
Acceptance of Building Commissioning Report. They were discussed in
the work session.
Levy Information
Mr. Burge shared information on the Levy. Discussed levy meeting,
filings complete with the county. The district has decided to go for a 4Year Levy for the first time instead of a 2-Year Levy. The district is using
different platforms for sharing about the Levy through social media.
Informational sheets are posted to One Note.
ESEA Video – Hilton Elementary
Mr. Burge shared the ESEA Video for the award that Hilton Elementary
was awarded. The video was nicely done with the help from ESD 105.
Superintendent Evaluation Information
Mr. Burge shared the informational sheet that is the link for the
Superintendent Evaluation that is due in March.
Transitional Kindergarten Update
Mr. Burge shared we will be having a new class of Transitional
Kindergarten start after the Winter Break. Mr. Brady discussed his visit
to see how the kids were doing and really enjoyed seeing the progress and
invited other members to go visit the new Transitional Kindergarten
rooms. The district is proud to have accomplished the start up so quickly.
Maintenance/Grounds Updates – Information
Mr. Burge discussed the HVAC system potentially being upgraded. The
district will keep the board updated as we find more out. Akland
Irrigation is working on a new system at Zillah Middle School. There has
been a big clean up at the bus garage and will be more surplus items as
we finish going through this process. The Ag area at the high school is
also going through a clean up. We will be purchasing some used golf
carts from Black Rock Creek Golf Course that we use for maintenance to
get around the grounds at the schools. The district is going to have
someone come and look at the tennis courts as they are falling apart. The
district is also planning on looking into a greenhouse for the Ag class.
Academic and Student Well-Being Plan
Mr. Irion asked the board to look at the Power Point that was reviewed
during the work session. He is asking the board to approve the Academic
and Student Well-Being Plan.

Dates of Importance
1.
December 20-31, 2021-Winter Break-No School
2.
January 1, 2022-New Year’s Day
3.
January 3, 2022-Students Return from Winter Break
4.
January 17, 2022-Martin Luther King Jr. Day-No School

5.
6.
II.

January 27, 2022- Board Work Session-6:00 p.m.-ZMS Commons
January 27, 2022- Regular Board Meeting-7:00 p.m.-ZMS Commons

ACTION AGENDA
A.

Personnel-(Approval)
1.
New Hires
a.
Yesenia Sanchez-Transitional Kindergarten Teacher-2021/2022 School Year
Only-HES
b.
Sierra Simmons-Educational Staff Assistant-2021/2022 School Year Only –
6 Hours Day
c.
Bev Sevigny-Secretary-191 Days/Year- 3 Hours/Day-ZSD
d.
Tammy Rico-Educational Staff Assistant- 2021/2022 School Year Only – 6
Hours Day
e.
Kayla Derrey-Educational Staff Assistant- 2021/2022 School Year Only – 6
Hours Day
f.
Melanie Pudelkewicz-Educational Staff Assistant – 2021/2022 School Year
Only – 6 Hours Day
2.
Resignation
a.
Bev Sevigny-Educational Staff Assistant-3 Hours
b.
Art Sevigny-Assistant Wrestling Coach – ZMS
Motion was made by Darrin Belton, second by Thomas Fender to approve personnel items
1., a-f. New Hires., 2., a-b. Resignation. All in favor motion carried.

B.

Non-Disciplinary Discharge of an Employee- Roll Call Vote-(Approval)
Mr. Brady went into a roll call vote from Mr. Burges recommendation. Thomas Fenderyes, Darrin Belton-yes, Dennis Jones-yes, Nicole Garcia Schmelzer-abstain. Majority
Vote-yes

C.

Resolution No. 458 – Resolution of Final Acceptance of Construction Completion
Motion was made by Darrin Belton, second by Thomas Fender to approve Resolution
No.458-Resolution of Final Acceptance of Construction Completion. All in favor motion
carried.

D.

Resolution No. 459 – Resolution of Acceptance of Building Commissioning Report
Motion was made by Darrin Belton, second by Thomas Fender to approve Resolution No.
459-Resolution of Acceptance of Building Commissioning Report. All in favor motion
carried.

III.

BUDGET STATUS
Total ending cash, investments and adjustments at the end of November 30, 2021 was
$4,045,929.96. Motion was made by Darrin Belton, second by Thomas Fender to approve
Budget Status. All in favor motion carried.

IV.

PAYROLL AND VOUCHERS

Payroll-$1,218,380.34; ASB Acct.-$5,798.55; General Fund Acct. Payable- $274,854.95;
Capital Project-$12,195.20.
Motion was made by Dennis Jones, second by Darrin Belton approve Payroll and
Vouchers. All in favor motion carried.

ADJOURNMENT

Meeting was adjourned at 8:12 p.m.
_______________________
Board Chairperson

ATTEST:
_______________________
Secretary