Springfield School Board — April 13, 2026

1:20 We can. What's that? We can start the recording. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the April 13th, 2026, meeting of the Springfield School District Board of Directors. Thank you, everyone, for being here. Jeff, how many do we have attending? We have six guests. Six... 10. Okay, let the record reflect. Thank you so much. So thanks for being here. Thanks to everyone who's attending online. We appreciate the interest in our district. We'll go ahead and call the meeting to order. It is 7:02. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of

2:06 America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And I have the honor of acknowledging the land that we're sitting on. So we acknowledge that we are in the traditional homeland of the Kalapuya people, specifically the community that was known as Chifen, the area that we now call Springfield. Kalapuya people, who have lived in this region since time immemorial, were illegally dispossessed of their land and forcibly removed to what are now the Grand Ronde and Siletz

2:53 reservations over several years, but most notably in treaties between 1851 and 1855. The Kalapuya are now members of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and members of the Kalapuya still live, work, study, and thrive in this area and continue to make important contributions here in Springfield, across the land we now refer to as Oregon, and around the globe. This information is shared out of a responsibility to prevent the erasure of Native culture, heritage, and people, and to ensure a quality contemporary education for future generations.

3:38 Move now to agenda item two, the approval of the agenda. So I can never remember if I'm going to request a change during consent if that's now or if that's- No- ... during consent agenda ... and again, the rationale that I ran by Vince at OSBA also is if we're going to approve agenda, when you make changes during the approval of the agenda portion, then when we approve the agenda, it's actually the agenda as- Okay ... as it will stand. So before we approve it, I'd like to request that we pull agenda items 5A.3 and 4 for discussion. Okay. Let it be noted that 5A.3 from consent agenda is board minute meetings, and I believe that's from our March 9th

4:26 meeting. And then also, 5A.5 is from the consent agenda, and that's... Oh, I'm sorry. 5A.4. 5A.4 is from consent agenda, and that's the financial statement. Yes. Correct? Yep. Okay. Any other changes? I was going to pull action item A.5. I just had more of a question. Okay. So let it be noted that Director Langworthy is pulling consent agenda item 5A.5, the personnel report. I have two agenda items that I would like to add, and one is the discussion and perhaps an appointment of a board member representative to the Wildish Board. I'd like to move that down to discussion item

5:13 6C. The reason for that is there's an opening, and given that the Springfield School District is a part owner of the theater, and they've got some important decisions coming up, they would like to make sure we have full representation. Superintendent O'Mara has agreed to fill her position, and we'll talk about that more under the discussion. The other agenda item is just a quick conversation on the prioritization that we did for agenda topics in September of 2025. As I stated in my email, not really wanting to entertain major changes,

6:00 but the- So is this a motion? Excuse me? Is this the motion? I'm confused what order we're at. No, it's an adding an agenda item. Which we do have to vote on, correct? Yes, when we do the approval of the agenda. Any other questions? Okay. So, that'll be item 6D, and it's really to make sure, because we have a new director on the board with Bob Brew, reviewing that and seeing if there's enough clarification under certain topics. If we really want to make major changes, either to the prioritization or the clarification, I would suggest we schedule an item

6:47 for discussion at a future meeting. Does that sound okay? Okay. So now I'll entertain a motion for approval. I'll move to approve the agenda as amended, as we've discussed. Okay. I second. Move by Director Cole to accept the approval of the agenda as amended, and seconded by Director Langworthy. Any comments or questions? I have a comment. Yes. Nicole DeGraff here. Yes. Yeah, I'm a little frustrated by the adult-centric focus here when our district is facing serious challenges. Revisiting consent agenda items that we've already discussed is frustrating when graduations are approaching, staff and students are

7:34 working hard to finish the year, and then we're prioritizing pulling consent agenda items and replacing people on outside committees. So I'm unprepared to discuss those outside board appointments and new agenda items since I just got your email late last night. So I know that the staff is still processing, what is it, seven community forums, and we have a budget deficit coming up. The superintendent just sent a letter to all staff on Friday identifying the first decision point. So I would rather just stick to the agenda that we have currently and show support and strength, focus on our students and programs that we really, really want to keep. I think these are the issues that matter to families and

8:19 students. Okay. Thank you for the comments. Any board member comments? Okay, so we have a motion on the floor with a second. I'll go ahead and call for the vote. I'm going to start on my right with Director Cole. Yes. Director Langworthy? Yes. Myself, yes. Mr. Brew? Yes. Okay. Nicole? No. Okay. So approval of the agenda carries four to one. Moving then to student board representative communication. As always, great to see you. Did a quick poll before we started. Some of you are quickly approaching graduation. Are you Bradley, also? Wow.

9:07 Are you a junior, Dortes? Sophomore. Yeah. Okay. I will let you choose who speaks in what order. I'm seeing some meaningful looks. Good evening, chair and members of the board. My name is Dortes Diaz, and I'm representing Willamette Leadership Academy. Willamette Leadership Academy is planning in-school intramural competitions between companies to support- Excuse me, Dortes. Can you pull the microphone a little closer? I'm having a hard time hearing myself. You have to be a couple inches away. WLA is planning in-school intramural competitions between companies to support cadet interest in athletics. Sports currently being planned include

9:54 basketball, volleyball, and kickball. WLA is also holding its annual fun run to help support the junior and senior prom. Cadets gathered sponsors through flat donations or per lap pledges. This gives them an opportunity to demonstrate their physical fitness. Cadets have also been improving school grounds by adding rocks to yard areas to help prevent weed growth. WLA cadets have recently competed in and completed the OBAB competition. We are proud of their effort and participation. Members of the color guard successfully presented colors on April 14th at the Eugene Emeralds baseball game for the first time. Another presentation is scheduled for May 22nd. The spring carnival on May 9th will provide cadets with the opportunity to relax with their friends and family. The event will include games, concessions, a color presentation, and hourly rifle demonstrations done by

10:41 myself and Specialist Bastian. State testing is coming up as we begin quarter four following the completion of quarter three. And finally, Corporal Caleb Cycle has graduated. We recognize his contributions to WLA. I believe that is all. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Any questions or comments? I have a question about the spring carnival. Is that open to the public? I believe so. And, not to put you on the spot, do you know, will there be an invite that goes out to... I do not know. Okay. Maybe make that motive and take it back to your leadership. Thank you. More meaningful looks?

11:31 Thank you. Hunter. Good evening, members-- Is this on? Yes. Yep. Mm-hmm. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Hunter Murphy. I'm the ASP president representing for Thurston High School. Thank you for allowing me to speak here today. Sorry. We have recently given off-campus lunch privileges to all grade levels. We are pleased to report no major complaints from surrounding businesses regarding student conduct, and we want to congratulate our freshmen on being positive representatives of our school and our communityOur student clubs, leadership, and over 50 career pathway student ambassadors are preparing for our annual Colt Night. This event serves as an opportunity for our students to showcase to the

12:18 community the amazing things going on at Thurston. Colt Night is April 23rd from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Come out and support. All are invited. Our grade level representatives met with their respective class officers to discuss and plan upcoming events and activities. Elections for next year's ASB leadership began on April 6th, with applications for our ASB officers opening first. Class officers will be elected later this month. Good luck to next year's student leaders. Our next theater performance is our spring show, "Dracula," opening Friday, April 24th. Spring sports are underway with boys and girls tennis, baseball, softball,

13:03 track and field, and lacrosse kicking off their seasons. Our band and orchestra programs hosted showcases with all of our middle school music programs. Eighth graders performed for each other and worked with the THS and SHS directors to learn more about the high school programs. The third quarter is wrapping up, and our seniors are getting closer to graduation, with less than two months remaining in their final semester of high school. They are preparing for their futures and securing various scholarships, and grants, and applying for colleges and trade schools. We are pleased to share that we reached our goal. Over 60% of our current seniors have completed their FAFSA.

13:49 This means that students are gathering information that will help them explore education and training beyond high school. Good luck to all of our seniors. Thank you. Again, any comments or questions? Okay, thanks so much. Welcome, Lucy. Hello. Good evening, school board members. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share several special highlights and updates from SHS. Springfield's acting ensemble performed "Lovesick" last week in the SHS auditorium. This production explored complex relationships and was put together almost entirely during our third-period theater class, with the exception of dress rehearsal.

14:36 It was fully student-led and showcased impressive leadership and independence throughout. A special shout-out to Assistant Directors Mars Hernandez and Layla Camzolt-Murphy, who stepped into leadership roles after for three weeks during Ms. Plum's medical leave. Spring athletics are in full swing, with student athletics competing in track and field, golf, tennis, baseball, softball, and flag football. Our flag football at Springfield High School is in its second season, with 27 girls rostered across varsity and JV. Thanks to strong fundraising efforts, we've been able to purchase additional uniforms, flags, and protective headbands

15:21 to help reduce potential head injuries. The SHS Multicultural Dual Assembly will take place on April 30th in the SHS auditorium, celebrating the diversity of our school community through student and staff performances representing a variety of cultures. The first assembly begins at 9:20, followed by the second at 10:40. We'd love for you to join us. In the College and Career Center, Ms. Stillwell and our UO SEIL mentors are working hard to help our students meet deadlines and essay expectations. Offering office hours and essay editing opportunities, we appreciate all the hard work put into supporting our graduating Millers. The boys and girls golf team are off to a strong start this season, showing

16:07 steady improvement with each tournament. Players have been working hard in practices, focusing on consistency and course management. Planning for prom is well underway, with students working hard to make the night memorable for everyone. The Junior Council is organizing all the small and big details that go into planning prom. There's a lot of excitement building as the date gets closer, and everyone is looking forward for a fun and unforgettable evening. Congratulations to the 2024-25 Miller Log yearbook staff for being featured in Possibilities, a prestigious national yearbook showcase that highlights the top 10% of programs in the country. Out of thousands of yearbooks, only 600 were

16:53 selected for excellence in design, writing, photography, and theme making. This is a significant honor to our students. Their hard work was recognized with an outstanding yearbook banner, a featured publication, and a congratulatory letter from Walsworth President. Thank you. Thank you. Any comments? Okay. Good evening, everybody. My name is Aiden High. I'm the Gateways High School board rep. Quarter three has been an exciting and productive time for students. The leadership class has been finalizing plans for upcoming prom and recently planned a Pie a Teacher fundraiser.

17:40 Students and staff were able to purchase pies of whipped cream to pie staff members, which was a hit with students. This event helped raise funds for our prom. The prom will take place on May 2nd from 8:00 to 10:00 PM. March was also an exciting time for cosmetology students. First-year students participated in Model Month, where they invited family and friends to receive free services in each area of practice, allowing students to gain experience working with real clients. They also had the opportunity to learn from guest speakers in the industry Both first and second year students hosted seniors from Willamalane for free services last month, and plan to host them again soon. Applications for next year's program are open now, and

18:27 interested students are encouraged to apply. Our salon remains open to the public Monday through Friday from 12:30 PM to 3:05. We encourage community members to schedule appointments and support the Gateways Cosmetology program. The seniors' final day working on the floor will be May 7th. Students are working hard to finish the quarter strong and prepare for our final quarter. Overall, quarter three has been productive, engaging, and full of opportunities for students to grow, both academically and professionally. We appreciate the continued support of the board and our community. Thank you. Thank you, Aiden. Your pie fundraiser sounds like a lot of fun. Was it really great?

19:14 How many people were pied? I think seven. I think. That's just about everyone, isn't it? That's great. Other comments or questions? Did you buy a pie? I didn't. Oh. Thank you. Okay. A3 jumped back into the swing of things after our spring break. We've officially started the build stage of this spring's confluence, It's a Plastic World, which will open to the public May 12th and 13th, where you can see students' sculptures made out of garbage, and lots of facts about it.

19:59 We have also conducted our mid-year reviews where students showcase their learning process so far this year in student-teacher panels. A3's spring show closed March 15th. "Once Upon a Mattress" was A3's first musical since before COVID. We also had our student-run talent show, where students had an opportunity to show their skills. And on May 10th, we had our prom, The Black Feather Ball, which was a masquerade theme put on by our student leadership team. Thank you. What is chocteering? What? Yeah. Choc- Well, it says rock climbing, chocteering.

20:46 I think we got a different report than what Brad- Oh ... had provided. Yes. Apparently, that happened, and it's chocolatiering- Chocolatiering ... which will be coming up at the end of this term. After our confluence, we have May term, which is an opportunity for students to spend a month hyper-focusing on one specific skill. Each class explores different aspects of the skill. For example, the chocolatiering class reads a old book about a chocolatier, and they do a lot of literary study along with learning how to make chocolate in a professional sense. And also design a business with things like elevator pitches, and different things you need to be an entrepreneur. Nice. If you need anybody to run quality control on that- ... just let me know. Other comments or questions?

21:33 Thank you so much. Thank you. Moving on to agenda item number four, which is our public comments. Got a list here of two. Um- Jonathan, do we have the certified appreciation proclamation and- Oh ... discretionary music? Thank you. That's why five heads are better than, or six, is better than one. Yes, I've neglected that we have a very important

22:19 appreciation proclamation. Superintendent Amara. So, whereas teachers mold future citizens through guidance and education, and whereas teachers encounter students of wildly differing backgrounds, and whereas our country's future depends upon providing quality education to all students, and whereas teachers spend countless hours preparing lessons, evaluating progress, counseling and coaching students, and performing community service, and whereas our community recognizes and supports its teachers in educating the children of this community. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Springfield Board of Directors proclaims May 4th through 8th, 2026, to be

23:05 Certified Appreciation Week. And be it further resolved that the Springfield Board of Directors strongly encourages all members of our community to join with it in personally expressing appreciation to our teachers and their dedication and devotion to their work. Dated the 13th day of April, 2026. Thank you so much. Thank you. Board members? Thank you. Couldn't do it without the teachers. And we're early on that because we have limited board. We have one other, and then the other one will be May 11th, I think, so well after that. And again, a thank you from me for the great work that teachers do. They're heart and soul of

23:51 what we do, and of course, we've got an amazing support team with them. But this is the week for certified staff. Okay? Moving forward then, under item three, presentations, is item number C, Instructional Materials Adoption. And that's Whitney McKinley and Jeff Fuller. Welcome. Thank you

24:39 All right. Good evening. I did check my ringer this evening to make sure it doesn't go off like it did last week, and apologize to Ms. Lily for that interruption. All right, so the purpose of this presentation this evening is really to provide you with a brief update on where we are gaining progress on our ODE action plan that we submitted to ODE several years ago to the board and to ODE and that was approved, share an overview of the completed elementary independent science process that's supporting that recommendation, and present key information related to our current curriculum adoptions, including a request for postponement. So we put this presentation together because we have

25:25 three different things to bring to you. So to give you a little bit of information before we get into the action item and then to the first read. So with that, I'll start with the ODE action plan update. As you know, we submitted a Division 22 corrective action plan several years ago that included a board-approved elementary science postponement. Within that ODE action plan was a commitment to present our independent adoption to this board during this school year for fall implementation of 2026. We are on track with that timeline, and we will be presenting you with that information later this evening. Actually, just in a few slides, and then again later this evening.

26:11 In that same ODE action plan, we signaled to ODE that we would be requesting a postponement for elementary social science. We're going to explain why we're putting in for a one-year postponement there. That was also approved several years ago and is on track with that same timeline. The purpose of our postponements really are to allow our teachers a little bit more time. When we have elementary teachers that are teaching all content areas and you have a content a year, that's a lot of information and standards that they have to learn, review, and understand, as well as new materials that they need to then build curriculum maps for and implement. So, this timeline is allowing us to do some deeper dives, professional learning, and

26:59 gap analyses. Each of these things then allowing our teachers this time to dig into those materials in that way, and their standards, and their current materials, lets us have a better recommendation and understanding for what the gaps are and what our supplemental needs might be. So that's just our ODE action plan. We're on track with that timeline, and part of that timeline is happening this evening. So later in your first read, you will be provided with a first read for elementary independent science adoption. We have spent the last two years with our teacher teams, digging into their... Originally, when we adopted our language arts

27:47 program, one of the reasons we selected that program is it came with additional supplemental materials, enrichment materials, anchor texts, that claimed to provide us the depth and breadth of science and social studies standards that would allow us to meet that. After speaking with ODE at that time, we realized that while we thought we were meeting the scope of that adoption process for all three content areas, that was the corrective action that we put in place two years ago. We were close, but we needed to provide an independent adoption recommendation to the board, but we weren't ready to present that yet because we needed to look at the gap analysis. So that's why we asked for the postponement,

28:32 and that's how we spent the last two years. Our teachers have been focusing on learning the next generation science standards, learning their materials, so that they could go in and determine what is missing, what do we need more of, and allowing our teachers time to pilot some materials and try out some supplemental programs. So all of that went to the recommendation that's coming forward to you this evening. So it's a combination of two programs, some teacher-developed materials, and all of them include hands-on science activities. So, that will be coming forward as a first read this evening, and we'll talk a little bit more about those next steps in that process.

29:20 Just one last thing for elementary. Again, the time it takes our teachers when they're learning those new standards, especially at elementary school, when we're using multiple resources and sources. We had signaled in that same Division 22 action plan request, this one-year postponement request that we would be bringing to the board specifically to allow them time to fully understand the standards, see where they're showing up in each of their other programs, whether it be health, their social skills curriculum, their literacy materials, and then determine what those gaps might be so that we can determine whether or not, or what kind of additional materials we would be recommending. We anticipate being right on time with that approved

30:07 plan and bringing a recommendation back to this board for additional materials for elementary social science, next school year. I'm going to hand this over to Jeff Fuller. Good evening. I get the privilege of talking a little bit about our secondary social science work that we've been engaged in over this school year. In 2024, the state adopted some new social science standards, and so that was really our first bit of work, was to help our teachers to become familiar with the new standards. Some of those changes are a result of some of the legislation that's been passed in the state that requires an increase in civics education.

30:52 There's ethnic studies that has been codified into law, and some other laws that have been passed that help to lead us to some new standards. We were able to use the collaboration period before January for our social studies teachers to all be able to dig into those standards and use their team time to be able to look at those, and use resources that we put together through a Google Classroom for them to all become familiar with these new standards, which was really the anchor of the work that we did. And then at the end of February, we brought together a small team that was representative of all of our middle schools out at the ESD to look at the seven approved programs from the state, and to try to narrow that list down.

31:39 Really, we came away with three programs, and the reason why the others were eliminated all came down to those that required online usage. So we wanted a program that could be either online, or we could use online resources, but that the main text was all physical materials, and that we wouldn't be required to have online usage to be able to use those programs. So those eliminated programs really either were completely online, or that required some component to be online for them to be able to access information, and we wanted to be able to have that separate, and to have online tools that we could use, but that there would be those physical materials.

32:24 Everything would be in those physical materials if needed. And then there was one program that was the current program that we're using, that from the feedback that we've gotten from our teachers, isn't the program that they were looking forward to, and it looked exactly the same as it currently did . And so, we ended up with three programs that we reviewed with our full team. You can see our team right here in this picture. We ended up with a representation of almost all of our social science teachers throughout the district, and from every school, representing every grade level. And we had publisher visits and were able to use a common rubric that we established actually using the IMET tool, which is a materials evaluation tool that

33:11 is commonly used in these processes, as well as some input from that Google Classroom to review the materials. And on March 17th, we had a unanimous choice to adopt, and that's the recommendation that we'll be putting forward tonight, the materials from the Teachers Curriculum Institute. It's called History Alive, and alive jazz hands, that the teachers really identified with. It's a curriculum company that was really founded by teachers, and it really focuses on engagement and engaging activities, and helping history come alive for kids. That was really enticing to our staff, and it was by far

33:58 and away a unanimous choice by our teachers. And high school followed a similar path. In this picture here, you actually have Tyler Nice, who's one of our outstanding social science teachers at Thurston High School. We had two of our teachers that participated on the state adoption committee, and Tyler was one of those, which it's awesome to have our own teachers have some voice in that part of the process. But we were able to use early release days and the PLC structures at the high school, the professional learning communities, to be able to work with all of our social science teachers to again engage with these new standards, to identify priority standards, and to get us set up

34:45 as we looked at the materials. They met out at the ESD the same date as the middle school teachers, and had representatives there, where they also reviewed five of the state-approved materials. Our first criteria there was to have a publisher that had materials in each of the required social study courses, so that we weren't having to work with three or four different publishers. And then also looking for materials that provided that good foundation in physical materials while having online resources. And that small team then narrowed it down to three. We were again able to use early release days and some sub release time to bring our entire social science departments together,

35:31 from both comprehensive high schools and Gateways High School. So all of our social science teachers participated in this process, which was exciting to have them all in the same room and to review those final three programs, and also using those rubrics and having publisher visits, and again came away with a unanimous decision to recommend the Cengage National Geographic materials for the high school. Right. And then, just finally, in accordance with board policy 2A, we always include opportunities for our community and the broader public and other staff members to come in, preview the materials, and

36:19 provide us feedback and input on the recommended materials. So it's already up. Our communications st-Gentlemen in the back there, Brian Richardson has already put it on the district website, the community review dates, and ways that our extended community and public can come in and preview. Um, we also have set aside six dates for our individual board members to sign up. This is that opportunity for you to come in. We've had great success when the dates have been able to work out, and if any of the dates don't work, we can be flexible with how that... So the board will ask to connect with Marty so that you can sign up. What you'll get access to there is, um, a preview of the materials, you'll get a preview of the, um,

37:06 teacher's rubrics, their comments, and a one-on-one time or two-on-one time, if you will, for individual questions about different components of the program, the implementation of the programs that are being recommended, and any other questions that might come to mind. It's a really nice time to dig in and get really, uh, deep into the weeds with each of the programs that we're bringing forward and recommending. Um, we have staff available for each of those times so the community can do the same. Um, and then we have folks on hand to be able to ask very specific questions, um, from the folks that help facilitate it or, uh, led some of that work so that hopefully any burning questions that you have between now and the next board meeting can be addressed at that time.

37:51 And then it also allows us to meet that board policy requirement of, um, giving opportunities to our extended public to come in and review and give us input and feedback. So, uh, those dates are on the website already this evening. It's in the news stories. And the six dates that are set aside, Marty will have a sign-up sheet so you guys can contact her. And, um, we have set aside several hours at each one of those dates to dig in with you. All right. That's it for this part of the presentation. Um, you'll hear my voice again when we come in for the postponement request during the action item, um, and then of course, for the first reading down in the discussion.

38:38 Any questions yet? Kim? Go ahead. Okay. I'm really happy that we're bringing this up to the community. Um- Mm ... talking about science, uh, getting together with the community members. And this has been an elephant in the room for a really long time. Really long time. It's been a long time coming. I'm sorry, I didn't see this today, so, um, I just now got this. I was trying to be an attentive listener while reading as well. Um, so as I understand, uh, the community will be able to come together and review the science curriculum that's, uh-

39:23 The science and the social studies- And the social studies ... recommended. Yes, absolutely. Mm-hmm. That's great. It's... Again, it's been a really long time coming. The two years of the ODE action plan that we requested, and I think we're right on timeline with that. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. That's great. Um, actually, I'm gonna collect myself. Go ahead. Yeah. Go ahead, Mr. Cla- Just, uh, maybe could you, um, explain, um, we're doing the, um, independent adoption for elementary science. So what was wrong with what the state had provided for the approved curriculums? I guess- So as we discussed several years ago when we brought this forward to the board, we had just adopted, um, almost $5 million in language arts materials, K12. Um, that was a huge lift for our

40:11 elementary teachers. It was, uh, common core aligned, and it wasn't just reading text. Um, our language arts materials cover reading, writing, speaking, listening. Um, one of the things that was asked for at the time was time for teachers to fully understand their standards, understand the teaching practices. And when we started that, um, textbook adoption, one of the things we were looking for was integrated standards, and this is done pretty, um, consistently across other districts as well. But for us, if we're putting this level of materials in front of our teachers, and they're teaching all content every day, we're trying to be thoughtful fiscally and humanly in terms of time and money.

40:57 And so the request at that time from our superintendent was to take a look at these comprehensive programs, and we submitted that as our full adoption for all of the content. What we learned after that is we were just missing... That was fine. ODE was fine with that proposal. The piece that was missing was bringing that forward to our board as an independent adoption. When we went forward with that request, we realized, as we started digging into those standards, that while the program has standards integrated into them, and they have additional anchor texts, they have supplemental materials within them. There were significant gaps in that program. We needed time to determine what those gaps were, so we knew whether or not we needed to add additional materials. So that's what that two-year process was for.

41:44 So in this sense, the independent adoption was a request from ODE to bring back forward a request of this kind of comprehensive package that we're putting together that's allowing us to use some, um, enhanced materials that are within our language arts program, and that doesn't mean we read a book and now we've done science. It means that there's extension activities and integrated standards that are within that program, but the piece that was missing for us was the doing of science. And so that's the portion that we're adding to this program, where our teachers have had an opportunity to say, in K2, this is really close. In 3.5, it's not as close as we had hoped. So when we look at the full program, we were able to add in the pieces that were missing and then bring that forward as a

42:32 full bundle so that we have then finished that last piece of what ODE requires in terms of a recommendation So are the pieces all on the ODE approved list for the instructional materials? Or- No ... so we're supplementing something that's outside, using some of the things that are on the ODE approved list, and supplementing some stuff- Correct ... not on there. Correct. Okay. And actually, what we're bringing forward allows us to use all of our materials more fully, and allows teachers to have a little bit more design within the pieces of that that they're enhancing and enriching throughout, with appropriate materials.

43:18 What I will say is what we used for portions of this recommendation did come from the ODE iMet tool. We used the same tool to review the supplemental materials. And using the same rubric, the same tool that ODE uses, the program that we're bringing forward as a supplement actually does meet the ODE requirements, which is one of the steps ODE asks you to do if you engage in an independent adoption, that you use their rubric, and it has to meet the same criteria. Okay. I think I follow that okay. Okay. So the only other question I have is on the review of the curriculum. Is it okay if the board members just attend the community review opportunities? It'd be nice to-

44:05 Of course. Okay. But I would say you would still need to schedule with Marty to make sure that there's no overlap with you. There are three different community review times that we have put out on the website. There's two evening and one during the day. So folks that work will have opportunity to sign up for an evening, and then those that have an afternoon available, we have an afternoon slot. And then for each of you, we have six different dates set aside so that you can go into more board level questions and details that you might have that our community wouldn't. So either way, you're welcome to do either one. I would just ask that you check in with Marty to make sure that you guys don't overlap, or that you overlap in twos. I believe that's how that works. Yeah.

44:50 Would it be a problem if there were more than two of us there? We had at some of the community budget forums, we were there. As long as we're not deliberating or talking about... Is that a problem? Just to be safe, I would say I would stick to two- Okay ... just so that you don't have a quorum because of the conversations happening, and some of the questions you ask might be questions you ask here when you're in deliberation, or because you will be approving it, hopefully. So I would just stick with the two at each meeting so you don't have a quorum. Chair Lidd, I have a question. Yes, go ahead. I really appreciate the work that staff has done on,

45:36 well, the social science and the postponement of the elementary science. My understanding, it's just a thoughtful implementation takes time. Just the last few materials adoptions I've been a part of, I was just really blown away by how much work it takes to even get to this point. And the question I had is, we have always had community review, meaning parents can always come, and in fact, they made appointments based on their own personal schedule. So this isn't anything new, right? Correct. Okay. I look forward to meeting, as one of the board members, with you and asking lots of questions. We look forward to it. It's one of our favorite things, actually. There is a lot of work that goes in. It allows us to honor the work of those teams

46:21 and the teachers and the time that they put in, and it allows us to have a more personal, meaningful conversation to go into real-time questions that you might have. Thank you. Any questions, Bob? Well, I'm new. Yeah, welcome. But I really appreciate the planful approach and the attentiveness to stakeholder input. It's so important to have, whatever your tools are, that the people that are going to be using the tools like them and will use them. So yeah, I'm very impressed. Thank you. You'll hear my voice in a little bit. Oh, did you have more questions? I'm sorry, Amber.

47:06 Yeah, I have a question. So what was the committee that was pulled together? Were these teachers that signed up on their own, like everyone was invited, whoever wanted to be there? What did that look like- That's true ... for the adoption? The curriculum review? Yeah, the curriculum review. Thank you. For the small teams, those were... Well, we reached out to all of the high school social science teachers and that, and so everyone had the opportunity to be a part of the small team. The middle school teams are a little bit larger than the high school teams, and so those were recommendations by their administrators. And we just wanted to make sure that we had every grade level and every school

47:51 represented so that everybody had a voice, so that's on the small team. On the large teams, again, at the high school level, every social science teacher was able to be a part of it. And so it was actually done during their work hours, and so they, I was going to say didn't have a choice, but I guess you always have a choice to come to work or not. But we were able to do it during the school day so that they were all able to participate. And then the middle school, we also pretty much invited every social studies teacher. There's a couple of schools that have a few more social studies teachers just based on the number of teachers they have. So we were cognizant of that and didn't want to have one school that kind of had more votes than the other three schools, just based on how they do their

48:38 scheduling. They still have block classes rather than singletons. That's kind of in the weeds a little bit. But almost every social studies or social science teacher in the secondary schools was able to participate. You have any questions? Yeah, I have a couple of questions. With the community/family review, is there some kind of an evaluation or review form that they'll fill out that the board could take a look at? So according to the policy, what we're being asked to do is provide them an opportunity to preview and then give us input on the recommended program. So when we've had people participate in this, we usually have a QR code, and we'll have a

49:25 device available for them or a survey of sorts of what they like about it, what their concerns are, and what their hopes are. And what we use with that is, for the policy, it's not that they're weighing in on whether or not they want to recommend a program, it's the preview of what's being recommended and what their hopes are for that implementation in the classroom. So yes, there's opportunities for them to provide us information on maybe concerns they have around a particular content area, maybe something that they hope to see within the implementation. And then those are the things that we as an instruction team will bring back with our implementation team on making sure that these things are highlighted. These are things with our health program that we had community members a little bit concerned about. We wanted to reassure our families that they can always

50:11 preview these materials, opt out of any lesson that they're not feeling comfortable with. So that input that was given to us reminded us the importance of communicating that option, and then making sure that our principals and teachers had that information. We have sensitive content in these standards. You're going to have families that are going to want to preview this and have opportunities for alternative lessons. So that's just an example of the type of thing that we get from our community input. So that's directly from the policy, and that's usually we take notes and then we allow them an open-ended feedback, but that's for our implementation team. Or if there's some big glaring thing that we missed, then we can attend to it immediately. Okay. Yeah. So will the board have an opportunity then to also review their

50:56 thoughts on that? They certainly could, yes. Okay. Also, I think, Jeff, you were saying that the reviews were unanimous, like the high school and at all levels. Was it, sorry, a unanimous vote, if that's the right terminology? Sorry. Yeah. And we actually have all of those artifacts with us, or we kept all of those so that we can share with you kind of their consensus votes. We can share with you those kind of ballots that they had as well as they were voting for those as we meet with the board members. So they were all unanimous, yeah. Okay. Thank you. Do you have cost figures for the projected adoptions?

51:41 We can have that ready for you for the review or for the final adoption. We use the state contract list, the pricing list that comes with the programs, and it's a per pupil cost, so we can definitely provide that back to you. It's- Would it be possible to have that information in the next week? Just so that we- We'll provide it back to Jody, and she can- Okay ... provide it in the Friday update. Yep. And does that figure then when we have, say, $X, 1.3 million, let's just say as a figure, does that include- That'd be nice. What's that? I said that would be nice to have $1.3 million. Yes. Yeah. I should go buy a lottery ticket. Is that to supply all classrooms at that level with the curriculum? It's a per student, it's a per pupil price, and it's a...

52:28 Yes. And teachers. So it's based on our contracts that we put forward. We put forward a total student count, and so there's a per pupil cost that comes with those contracts. This is all part of why we adopt off of that state approved list because all of these contracts are written in there. And then typically, where we make arrangements through for ever so many teacher guides, we get additional materials for free. But yes, we will put in an order for every student to have the required bundle, as well as all of the teaching materials for all the teachers that are teaching the program. The reason I ask the question is because, A, these adoptions are expensive and budgets are tight. But I've heard for years that particularly

53:16 seasoned teachers, experienced teachers, don't necessarily utilize the curriculum as presented, and that seems like a waste. The other thing is I think our goal for is around personalized learning, and I expressed this reservation when we adopted the Elementary Wonders program. If we say we're doing personalization, then how does a single curriculum meet that need? Those high quality instructional materials come with multiple layers of differentiation that allows teachers to do assessments and then personalize learning for every one of their students. That's why we go with the materials that we go with, because they have multiple options for teachers to choose from, which is probably why there

54:03 are pieces of those materials that teachers don't use all of, because they're basing which of those differentiated materials they would be pulling for which of the students that they need. So when we're looking at high quality instructional materials at the state level, that's one of the requirements even at the state level is that each of these programs that are coming forward have not just one textbook that a teacher marches through, but a bundle of materials that they can pull from based on the needs of their students that are aligned to grade level content that allow for teaching grade level, as well as reteaching or enhancing. So each of the programs that we bring forward to you, we make sure have those opportunities, whether it be online differentiation, consumable differentiation,

54:48 or teacher-directed options for how they might meet the needs of students. So everything that we bring forward to you under that high quality instructional materials label includes multiple opportunities for staff, certified and classified, to have access to materials that allow them to personalize their learning for our students. Being a former teacher, though, I don't know how a single curriculum, even if it offers these differentiation possibilities, how it necessarily would work in actual practice. So I have to be honest that I've got some reservations around that. Are either of you aware, are there any districts who adopt

55:35 multiple curriculums but don't order them for every classroom, but create the opportunity to sort of have a resource library of sorts that teachers could tap in? Because I think a lot of it is extended to years of experience. A brand new teacher, I'm going to need some help, right? I'm going to be looking for something that's more prescriptive. Whereas an experienced teacher, I'm not so sure that's the case, and I'm a big believer in the personalized learning. And, I think that the more we can do that, the more successful we'll be because, I'm teaching music and not every kid loved everything that I picked, and so I had to sort of tailor my approach to what would keep them engaged. So I just want to express

56:24 that and maybe looking into some other possibilities of doing this whole scale adoption and then maybe not using it. Does that make sense? Okay. Yeah. So I'm assuming though that, on these briefings that you do with the board members, you can kind of walk us through how a teacher might use some- Yes, absolutely. Okay. Thank you. And when it comes to... So for science in elementary, teaching to the standards, I was looking at my kiddo's report card, and I

57:09 noticed that the kids aren't being graded to the standards, but they're being graded on the effort. I'll speak to that this evening. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you for... Yeah. Okay. All right. I'll ask about that in the future then. I have a question just around the high school social science adoption. So we're postponing the elementary, is that correct? For a year and, I don't know, maybe I have a inadequate picture of what that looks like, but to me,

57:55 elementary curriculum is sort of the foundation. And then middle school might be sort of the, you put the studs up, put the walls up, and then you put the roof on. Mm-hmm. And it sort of has to be in that sequence, or you don't have a building. So am I missing something in curriculum? I was looking through the standards and the outcomes for some of the elementary grades, and I was stunned at the amount of outcomes. In K-5, in science, there's 90 outcomes during that duration, and although the standards stay somewhat aligned by grade levels, they do vary a little. So I just think the design part of it is a huge part of

58:43 the success. Mm-hmm. So, why are we doing the roof first and roof and middles? I don't- Yeah. I would say that the standard, we're really adopting materials to help support and provide resources to teachers for those standards. Because of our postponement with science and all of the incredible work that those teachers had been doing, they didn't have the same amount of time to get into the new standards as the middle school and the high schools had yet. They've already met several times already, about social science since they finished the science, so they're hot on the tails of everyone else.

59:29 But those standards at the high school won't change. And there's not really K12 materials that you kind of see that sequence. So even when the state adopts and looks at those materials, they have them divided up by those grade levels. And so moving forward with middle school and high school, I think helps to provide those teachers with the resources that they need. And then while we're continuing to work on providing that information for the elementary and for them to work through that process. So do the ODE standards not necessary... No. Do the materials that we have options of adopting, are they not really aligned to

1:00:14 Oregon standards or- Oh, they are. Oh, they are. Okay, thanks. Yeah, they definitely are, and the high school standards are different than the others in that they're separated by their content area, right? So you have economic standards, you have the civics standards, you have the world history standards, and US history standards. So they're organized very differently than the K-5, even the K-8. They're each kind of organized differently because of the way that social science instruction is provided throughout the system. Thank you. I had a comment. I think it's a misunderstanding that we don't have personalized learning go on if we only use one curriculum. And just to use my current experience, I have a kid who I've opted out of certain curriculum, and the

1:01:02 teacher is Actually going above and beyond with personalized learning. There's all kinds of differentiation. She's adjusted the pacing, and there's a lot of enrichment and intervention materials that she's making specifically for that opt-out. And so, my understanding is that it happens within a strong curriculum framework, and I just want to reiterate, I appreciate that work for equity and teachers having a strong core curriculum. Can I ask a clarifying question, Nicole? Yeah. So your student, your child is getting

1:01:51 sort of one-on-one guidance, or is this in a classroom setting? My student's getting personalized learning based on the core curriculum. Right. Well, maybe I should clarify. When I'm saying... I'm saying that a curriculum can meet the needs of maybe even the majority of students, but maybe it doesn't meet the needs of every student. And particularly when we have classrooms that are as large as they are, I think there's a risk of students getting left behind. So Nicole, I'm not saying that a curriculum is necessarily bad or

1:02:36 not, whatever, doesn't meet needs. I'm just not sure with the goal of personalized learning that it meets every need, and that's my concern as a board member. Well, that was why I was explaining what's going on with my child. So I kind of disagree with that. It's the main curriculum that's working for most of the students, and then the personalized learning is happening with mine underneath the umbrella of that main curriculum. Okay, thank you. Any other comments, questions? Just one more. So I believe the curriculums, ODE does this every seven years. And I don't know how much they change, so when we're trying to, I guess,

1:03:21 establish a curriculum that's going to carry a kid from- Mm-hmm ... first through 12th grade- Could be- ... it's likely going to change, right? In the middle of that or for several, could be a couple of times that a kid has those curriculum changes. Oh, go ahead. Is that fair? Yeah. Yeah. The current adoption cycle established through ODE is seven years. It is something that they're looking at. If you look at implementation science and some of those things about how long it takes us to get proficient at things, especially for our teachers and especially our elementary teachers that are teaching several different materials. So they are looking at perhaps expanding that to maybe 10 years, so...

1:04:06 Thank you. Yeah. Any other questions from the board? Thank you so much, Whitney. Thank you, Jeff. So moving into agenda item four, public comments. I have two people on the list, and I assume that's it for this evening. Okay. So I'll call them just in the order that they're listed here, but I'll go ahead and read the statement. This is the portion of our agenda for public comment. The board provides three ways for community members to share public comment, either written, in person, in-person oral, or virtual. Written public comment is received via email, and public comments received

1:04:54 via email for this evening have been reviewed by the board and has also been posted on the district's website, and I believe there has not been any written communication. The deadline for submitting a request for oral public comment was today at 2:00. Those who requested an opportunity to speak this evening were notified by Marty about their request. Time permitting, the board may also hear public comment from individuals who signed up in person at the administration office just before the meeting. We encourage groups with a common purpose to designate a spokesperson if your comment will be covered by a group spokesperson. I don't think that's the case. So, I do want to make sure everybody's aware that there's a limitation of three minutes per person,

1:05:39 and the board will not hear comments regarding any school personnel, whether named or implied. Any complaints regarding a particular employee must be processed through the procedure set forth in Policy KL, which requires the complaints be submitted in writing to the superintendent. This procedure must be followed before there is any board involvement with such issues. A compliment involving a staff member should be sent to the superintendent, who will forward it to the employee, their supervisor, and their board. So with that being said, Megan Wright. Megan Knight. Hello, Megan.

1:06:24 Hi. How are you tonight? I'm great. How are you? Thanks for taking your time. Thank you. Hello, members of the school board. My name is Megan Knight, and I am the principal at Maple Elementary. I am pleased to share some of the exciting work happening in science instruction at our school this year. Our students are engaging deeply with scientific concepts through hands-on, inquiry-based learning experiences that spark curiosity and build lasting understanding. While we have been piloting Mystery Science and Wonders as core components of our science instruction for the past two years, two recent additions have made implementation even more seamless and impactful for our teachers. First, we received Mystery Science kits that include all the

1:07:09 materials needed for each grade-level lesso This has removed barriers to preparation and ensured that every classroom can fully engage in the intended investigations. In addition, a district team has been working on elementary science integration, and we were provided with three complete science units per grade level to explore and review, each containing all necessary resources to support high-quality instruction from start to finish. Recently, we have also added science into our literacy curriculum maps and are using collaboration time to help teachers plan and feel well prepared for upcoming science units. These supports have translated into rich, hands-on learning experiences across grade levels. In kindergarten, students designed and

1:07:56 constructed bird nests, carefully considering how to keep eggs and baby birds safe. First graders explored animal movement by building spider walkers to better understand how spiders are able to climb walls. In second grade, students created animal models to investigate how seeds are dispersed and how far they can travel. Our fourth graders took on the challenge of building roller coasters, applying their understanding of height, energy, and energy transfer in creative and engaging ways. We have intentionally built time for science into our weekly schedule through themed units, ensuring consistent opportunities for exploration. Additionally, science is integrated into both reading and writing instruction, allowing students to deepen their understanding while strengthening literacy

1:08:41 skills. I would like to extend a sincere thank you to board member Nicole DeGraff for taking the time to visit Maple and observe our second graders using microscopes. It was a wonderful opportunity to showcase student engagement and enthusiasm for scientific discovery. We invite other board members to schedule a visit as well. Please feel free to coordinate with Marty to arrange an observation. Thank you for your continued support of our students and staff. It is an exciting time for science learning, and we are proud of the meaningful experiences taking place in our classrooms each day. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Megan. Next up is Louis Woodford.

1:09:38 Welcome. Be here. I don't think you have to press it, do you? I don't have... Oh, so when it's green, it's on. Yeah. Green is go. Like it should be. All right. Thank you for the opportunity to address the board. My name is Lou Woodford. My wife Gail and I spent our entire careers teaching in this district. Our children attended Springfield schools, and now also a grandson, so we continue to have great interest in what's going on. We attended one of the community forums to talk about upcoming budget cuts. It was a good start, and we welcomed the invitation to provide feedback, but ended up frustrated by the narrow focus of the two questions we were asked to answer. Here are the questions we were hoping to discuss.

1:10:27 When deciding what staff positions to eliminate, shouldn't those cuts be kept as far from the classroom as possible? When you eliminate 27 teaching positions in mid-year, you are doing the opposite. Kids were greatly affected and, in some cases, traumatized. When making personnel cuts, maybe your first consideration should be which positions give you the most bang for your buck. When Eugene 4J eliminated three assistant superintendent positions, the district saved in excess of half a million dollars. Has Springfield considered a similar administrative restructuring as a way to reduce staffing costs? As a board, might you be asking how many district office positions are there?

1:11:12 Are there any that could be consolidated or even eliminated? We all know it's ideal to have a generously staffed administration building, but can we afford that luxury when we are facing such a catastrophic budget shortfall? Our student population has decreased from 11,000 students to 8,700, a drop of almost 21%. Has the district office realized comparable reductions? If our mission truly is every student, every day, then your budget decisions should reflect that. Thank you. Thank you.

1:11:59 Moving to agenda item five, action items. First up is 5A, the approval of the consent agenda. So, we pulled three of the items, so I'd move approval of items one and two as part of the consent agenda. Okay, I'd be happy to second. Any other comments or questions regarding the motion? I'll call for the vote. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against, say nay. Okay. So the consent agenda, as amended, is passed,

1:12:44 items one and two. So at this point, now we'll move on to the items that we pulled from consent agenda. So first up is consent agenda item A3, the board meeting minutes from our March 9th meeting. Director Cole? Yeah. On page four of eight, under agenda item 4A6, the annual integrated pest management report, the last paragraph there says, "The board confirmed the use of low-impact pesticides like Crossbow, which was approved in 2024 by the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention." In reviewing the video, my recollection was that

1:13:29 we were going to get documentation on that, that the board didn't actually approve that, that we approved the integrated pest management plan, but we did not approve that Crossbow was a low-impact pesticide, and we were going to get documentation from staff that that was, in fact, the case. Okay. And so- I do remember that conversation about- Yeah. So I'd like the minutes revised accordingly, as well as find out when we can get that documentation. And that was the language- I propose- ... you included here? Yeah. I propose that the language would say, "The board discussed the use of low-impact pesticides like Crossbow, and that the board would be provided documentation that Crossbow is approved for use on school grounds."

1:14:18 That was the gist of my recollection. Are you ready to move forward with a motion to approve with that amendment? Yes. I will move that we approve the minutes as revised. Second. Okay. Seconded. Moved by Director Cole, seconded by Director Brew. Any other discussion on that particular item? So I'll go ahead and call for the vote with that amendment. All those in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Are there any against? And Nicole, I can't hear you if you're voting, so...

1:15:03 I said aye. If I say no, you'll hear me. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that. So motion carries five to nothing. Then moving to the second item, consent agenda item 5A number four, the investment report. Yeah. I had some questions on that, and the verbiage of the report, the second to the last bullet there, where it talks about the local government investment pool, I guess maximum limit, and I was wondering how that is determined. Oh, yeah. Oregon State Treasury says that, as outlined in ORS 294.810, Section 3.

1:15:53 So is there something that applies specific to each jurisdiction that enters that? I guess, how do they determine... That's a number specific for Springfield? No, that is how the maximum limit is determined. The Oregon State Treasury determines it by revised statute. Oh, for any agency- Mm-hmm ... the maximum is what's listed in there. And so how often do they revise that? Because I noticed that it went up- Annually ... 10%. It's just annually. Mm-hmm. Yeah, revise that annually. Okay. So, the current report says that we're over that maximum, we're over the limit, and so I'm trying to understand how you go over a maximum limit. As outlined in statute, there are two exceptions.

1:16:39 One, it does not apply to pass-through funds or funds invested on behalf of another government unit, and the second is that excess can be made if removed within 10 business days, but there is no limit on the number of times you can remove it and redeposit it. Okay. So is that something we do frequently, then, I guess? Is that- If we're over the limit. Do it over. Yeah. Is that a common occurrence for us to go over the limit? It is when we get tax rolls. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Let's see. So there's no consequences as long as we remove it within 10 days. Okay. There is no automatic fine or penalty. Okay. So, the last bullet there talks about that it recommends that

1:17:27 we look at long-term treasuries as federal rates decline. Mm-hmm. I had noticed that that's the same statement that we've had on a few of these reports. Right. And I'm wondering what would actually trigger us actually to look at doing the treasuries. So we've done this before. We did it back in 2014 when we passed a general obligation bond, and we look at the amount of money we have, and we look at what our cash flow plan is and when we need that money. Typically, we'd need that money within a three-year period, that's the maximum outlined in our investment policy. If we want to go past that, which we did in 2014, we would come back to the board and revise our policy, which we did. And that would allow us to go out for a longer investment.

1:18:13 So it's not so much the interest rates, because it talked about if the federal rates decline. So it's not so much about what the federal rates are as- It's about both, but we're in the policy timelines. So policy timelines, we're within those policy timelines. We're looking at investments all the time, and there's not an investment greater than what we can get with the liquidity and the local government investment pool or the money market we have in Banner Bank. Okay. All right. Thank you. The last thing I have is our policy DFA that calls for these talks about getting these quarterly as well as in the annual report. Mm-hmm. And it doesn't seem like we've been getting that regularly on a quarterly basis.

1:19:00 I'm wondering what we can do to make sure we get- Yeah ... the annual comprehensive report and the- Yep ... quarterly. We would schedule that on the board report, working with the chair and vice chair.I think it's reasonable to say that this has been difficult recently. We're going to have our third superintendent in four and a half months. There's not been a lot of consistency with getting board reports established on a regular fashion, and then we'll schedule the annual report as well. And that'll come after we close out the books of the year and we have that information. So it'll come probably late summer as far as the annual report goes. Okay. That's all I have. Okay. I seem to recall that when we were having the discussion on the policy

1:19:48 that there was interest in doing some training around in the investment policy. Do you recall that, Brad? Yeah. So, at least from my standpoint, I'd still like to have a snapshot of training. But when we were actually looking at that on the night of, it was like, "Whoa." So, and I can work with you and Jody to maybe take a look at that. And that might be something to do if the board has a retreat in August, that might be something to add to that as part of the training. Okay. Just as a suggestion. Sure. Yeah. So are you ready to make a motion on that then? Yeah, I'm happy to move approval of the financial statement.

1:20:37 Okay. I'll second. So there's been a motion to approve consent agenda item 5A4, resolution 25-26.046. And, so I'll call for the vote. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Any against? Motion carries five to zero. Finally, consent agenda item 5A5 on personnel report was also pulled. Director Langworthy? Yeah. I'm wondering if the exit interviews were conducted with the individuals who have left

1:21:22 recently. So any time we get a resignation or retirement, they get sent the exit survey right away. Uh-huh. Right now, the return of those has not been stellar. However, they are still in the district, and so we do have time to then follow up again and request they complete it. But it gets sent out as soon as we get a letter of resignation or a retirement. Okay. What's the percentage of folks that respond? I don't have an exact percentage, but I did talk to Dustin about it today, and it's pretty low. They're leaving the district, they're retiring, and so I don't have an exact percentage. Sure. Yeah. My goal is just to ensure that we're effectively tracking those who are leaving our district for whatever reason it may be.

1:22:07 But it's just good to know what's going on. So... And that's all I really had for that one. Yeah. I just had a follow-up question. On the report that we'll be approving tonight, we had a total of 11 resignations and two retirements. And are any of those related to the midyear RIFs that we did earlier, or are these all in addition to? These are all separate from that. Okay. I believe, yes. Okay. Thank you. And if possible, would it be possible to get just the template, the exit interview template that we're sending to folks? I could request that, yeah. That'd be great. Board, would you be interested?

1:22:54 Oh, yes. Yeah? I would love that, yeah. Nicole also? I've seen it last year. Okay. So at least to the four of us would be great. And just for my edification, is 11 a typical month? This time of the year, that's when you start getting- Indeed ... resignations for the end of the year and retirement. This is when they would start notifying staff or notifying the district. So that is typical. All right. Thank you. Okay. Would you be so kind as to make a motion on the approval? Yes. I make a motion to... Is it motion to approve?

1:23:39 Yeah. Consent agenda item 5A5. Okay. I make a motion to approve consent agenda item 5. Okay. Second. Motion made by Director Langworthy, seconded by Director Brew. For the record, I'll just state that it's resolution 25-26.047. I will go ahead and call for the vote. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Any against? Motion carries five to nothing. Thank you so much. Which moves then to action item 5B, action on information discussed in executive session.

1:24:27 So I move that the board take no action related to the complaint reviewed in executive session and authorize the board chair to draft a response to the complainant stating the same. I'll go ahead and second. So motion by Director Cole, second by Director Light. Any discussion? Yes. I respect differing perspectives. I have a different interpretation of governance and risk. So out of abundance of caution, I will be voting no. Yeah. We'll do a roll call vote on this one. Thank you, Nicole. So I'll start on my left. Director Brew? Sorry? The roll call vote, just.

1:25:13 Yeah. Is aye to... Okay. Yeah. Aye. Yes. Okay. Yes. Myself, aye. Aye. Aye. Okay, let it reflect Director Langworthy, aye. Director Cole, also aye. Director Degraff? No. Okay, so motion carries four to one. Then item 5C is the adoption of the academic calendar, Resolution 25-26.049. And I believe Whitney McKinley and Brian Maag are on deck.

1:25:59 Right there, Jeff. Sorry, Resolution 25-26.049, adopting the academic calendar for '26-'27. This is essentially a rollover calendar from this school year, with adjustments for obvious changes in weekdays, and 174 days. It continues with 12 early release collaboration days,

1:26:46 and it is our recommendation that you approve the '26-'27 academic calendar as presented. Any questions? We need a motion first before we do discussion. Yeah, I will move to approve item 5C, the adoption of the academic calendar. I'll second. Okay, motion by Director Lye, second by Director Cole. Any questions or comments? I have questions. I know when we talked before, you were mentioning aligning this with Eugene as well, the days off, the half days. Am I recalling that correctly?

1:27:32 The early release days? Or the ear- No, that was not part of the discussion. Oh. We generally try to align the spring break and winter break. Okay. Sorry about that. Thank you. I'm good. Do we align on other holidays? Sometimes there's variance. I remember, didn't we go President's Day and some other districts did not? Correct. Okay. We've gone in and out of having that as a school day. And sometimes it aligns with Eugene, and sometimes it doesn't, and Bethel. Okay. Director Cole? Yeah. So, I want to move this ahead, but I just would, for future consideration, what would be involved if we wanted to

1:28:19 lengthen the school year, for example? Have more days. I assume that's not an easy thing, that there's a ripple effect there, and what are the things that would need to happen to be able to accommodate that? Well, I think first and foremost, it would have to be bargained. Okay. So that would be something that would need to be brought up during the next negotiations. Correct. Yeah, okay. Yep, and next year is a full bargaining session. Okay. That's it. Nicole, any questions? No. Okay. I'll go ahead and call for the vote. All in favor, indicate by saying aye.

1:29:04 Aye. Are there any opposed? Hearing none, the motion carries five to nothing. Then action item 5D, the elementary social science adoption postponement, Resolution 25-26.050. All right, thank you. So pertaining to Resolution 25-26.050, social science adoption postponement as discussed. In our presentation, we are requesting a postponement for one year to allow our elementary teachers continued time to do their gap analysis and make further recommendations. This is in line with our ODE-approved action plan

1:29:52 that we signaled a request for postponement. And just as a reminder, that does not mean that social studies or social science standards are not currently being taught. There are supplemental materials available to our teachers on open source. Currently, there are some that are integrated into their social skills lessons, their literacy materials, as well as some of their health materials. And so this is part of what our teachers are digging into. This postponement request will not delay future purchases in other subject areas. I move approval on the postponement.

1:30:37 Second. Okay. Moved by Director Cole. I second. Okay. Moved by Director Cole, seconded by Director Brew. I just have a question. When did we last adopt the elementary social sciences? We're still getting in line with social science with our adoptions. I don't have that date with me in front of me. I have it in the ODE action plan that we submitted previously, but I don't have the date in front of me. Okay. Well, if you get a chance, I'd love- Sure ... to know when that is. Okay. Any other comments or questions? Call for the vote. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Hearing none, motion carries five to

1:31:23 zeroThen moving on to the final item on the action items is item 5E, action on interim superintendent search firms. Superintendent O'Mara. So we went ahead and put out the informal RFP for interim search firm for superintendent, and the committee came back with four proposals. And after they were scored, the committee came back, and we recommend that Grundmeier. They were the RFP firm that, based on the selection process and the rubric of scoring, were selected.

1:32:11 Well, I'll go ahead and move for approval of Grundmeier Learning Services as the interim search firm. I'll second. Moved by Director Light, seconded by Director Cole. Comments or questions? Do we have a timeline, I guess, for executing the contract and the timeline for them? When will we get back? That's a great question because we talked about that. Brett, I think you said, "We're ready to go tomorrow," or we'll be in contact with them tomorrow. Yeah. So I think part of the understanding is that the board would make a selection tonight and approve it, and then the

1:32:58 superintendent would then contact the firm, and enter into that contract negotiation, and set up the timeline. But according to the timelines, if the committee members recollect, it was immediate. It's a very aggressive timeline, and it meets the requirement of having a placement by June 30th- Okay ... for July 1. And it's a very engaging process. Are there milestones or something in the schedule in the contract that you can provide us? I don't have it with me, but there are key dates and milestones identified in that- Yeah ... proposal. So I guess maybe just when it's signed, can we just get a copy of the contract?

1:33:44 Yeah. Okay. Of course. Great. Would the board be interested in getting the application packet from Grundmeier, which we have in our possession, but it's been Nicole, myself, and Brett, and I guess- Yes. Unless the contract references something in their proposal. Yes. I'm fine with just the contract, but if there's pieces of the proposal that are integral to the contract, then yeah, it would be good. I think there's some things that would be good for all board members to have shared understanding around. Okay. Is there any problem with sending that? There's no problem. We can do that tomorrow. Yeah. I think it's

1:34:31 the timelines and the steps, and the processes are going to be important for the board to fully understand because you are going to be very busy with this process. And I think you need to all be aware of that, and it's outlined in that proposal very clearly. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I was going to ask is, what's our level of involvement, and what are we committing to by authorizing that? Yeah. You're committing to a very busy next three months. So we'll, as long as the board approves it tonight, and then I can contact them tomorrow, and we can get you a copy of the proposal so you know what that proposed timeline looks like. Once we enter into the contract, then they will be in touch with a more detailed timeline. Typically at-

1:35:16 Sorry, Marty. Typically at this point, what happens next is you begin to put some dates to the projected timeline, and part of the proposal was engagement of our three associations, engagement of the community. I'm very pleased with this choice. I'll go ahead and call for the vote, and then I'll make an additional comment just to make sure. So I'll do a roll call vote on this one. Nicole? Yes. Director Cole? Yes. Director Langworthy, yes. Yes. Mc 布 , yes, and myself, yes.

1:36:02 One of the things that really appealed to me was that one of the people on the lead team, as they define them, is George Mendoza. That name might not ring a bell with some of you, but he was named 2026 Oregon Superintendent of the Year. His background includes, he grew up in a farm, but immigrant labor situation, so he's fluent in Spanish. So I'm hoping that we'll utilize his talents and skills to really get a broad range of input from all constituents in the district. Dr. Rob Hess, a former assistant superintendent in the district, is part of that group also.

1:36:47 And a gentleman, Allen Baird, I'm not familiar with Allen. Are you? No. But anyway, so it will be a very accelerated trip. We'll need to set out criteria, get input from the community on criteria and standards, and these kinds of things. And then it can also, at the discretion of the board, even include things like a community search screening committee, that will look through the applications and winnow those down to whatever degree the board would like to see. So anyway, it's exciting to move forward.I want to thank Brett for his

1:37:32 work in the RFP and his weighing in. Also, our Superintendent O'Mara for her input, and Nicole DeGraff, who also came to the meeting. And we spent a lot of time on the weekend previous, looking at the different applications. Like we said, we did screen four, and if any board member is interested in knowing who the candidates were, the potentials, happy to share that. Okay, so then moving on to agenda item six, discussion. Discussion A is Budget Committee vacancy process. Mr. Yancey? Thank you. So this has been brought up a few times as a concern.

1:38:20 I think it's fair to say it's been a concern of some board members and Budget Committee members. We find ourself in a really unique position where we have a member of the Budget Committee that, I guess for lack of a better statement, is unresponsive. The superintendent has reached out to this individual, I have reached out to this individual on multiple occasions, and we're not getting any response. Oregon budget law is tricky with this because it does not create an automatic vacancy just because somebody stops replying. And so I think the important steps that the board could take that I believe would be a pretty defensible position is,

1:39:06 moving forward, I understand that you want a full complement of Budget Committee members. So I think the steps you would take is to document clearly on the record unresponsiveness. Then you would put the matter on a posted board agenda, a future board agenda that we have a member that's been unresponsive, and the board is interested in refilling or filling a position with a more responsive participant. Then you'd document a formal board finding of non-responsiveness that the seat is vacant because the member is unable or unwilling to serve. Those are the key words, unable or unwilling. And it's very similar to if something happens to

1:39:52 somebody and they're unable, tragically or whatever the case may be. So this is just unwillingness. And then you'd basically do that and get it documented on the record, and then you'd go through the typical process where you'd post the opening, you would solicit applications, you'd make a selection for the replacement of the balance of the term. And remember that our Budget Committee member terms are three-year terms. So the individual would then fill the remainder of the term, and then there would be a reappointment. We have a typical process that we've done with that one as well. So that is the bottom line.

1:40:37 Just as a point of clarification, because we have gone through a number of work sessions, we are getting ready to propose the budget on May 7th. You do not have to have this position filled to move on. You can conduct business with a nine-member Budget Committee. It still takes a quorum of a 10-member committee to pass anything, so six votes of nine members. That's how that would work moving forward. So that would be the process. That would be what I would suggest if the board is interested in recognizing that you have a non-responsive, unwilling member of a committee. Okay. Thank you, Brett. Board comments?

1:41:22 When does the current term expire for this member? I have to look, Ken. Okay. I don't know right off the top of my head. It's one more year. It might be one more year. Yeah. I think this is the second year of- Okay ... of her participation. Yeah, I would definitely advocate that we go through the steps and try to find another responsive member of the community to be on the committee. Yeah, I highly value the work that the Budget Committee members bring to the table. We've got, what I would consider, some real skill level there. And given the budget shortfalls and maybe the potential for additional in future years,

1:42:10 I think it's really important to have everyone on board. So, I would lean towards moving quickly on this and making that happen. And if possible, even go through the appointment process just because there's a substantial learning curve on the whole budget process. So, I think it's important to get whoever we select on the committee as soon as possible. Ideally before May, though I know that's pushing it. Yeah. Well, our next board meeting is after we present the budget. No, we have a board meeting on- We have a work session. Right. But they're special meetings, so they're- Oh. Okay ... action items.

1:42:55 The individual's term expires December 31st of this year. Of this coming year? 2026. Yeah. So we might not be able to make the appointment, but I would still think your process as an outline makes sense. We don't take a vote on this, this is a discussion, but... So I guess I'm reconsidering, if their term expires the end of this year, so it's unlikely that we would get anybody on board to serve the committee while we've finalize the budget for next year.

1:43:41 It seems like just the natural process now would be that we would open it up in the fall and get a new member anyway. So it seems like the path of least resistance to just let the term expire. But that was December 31st of 2026. Correct. Right. So we actually started our preliminary budget meetings before. We started in January. Oh, in January. Okay. Yeah, it doesn't necessarily have to be before May. Yeah. I don't know that physically if we could get somebody on board to

1:44:26 have a meaningful contribution for this year, although I agree, citizen members of the budget committee are incredibly important. But I don't know, does it make sense to, even though this person, their term's going to expire at the end of the year, to maybe go through the motions of saying they're unable or unwilling to complete their term so that we're not in that position where we're kind of expected to reappoint them even though they're not interested? I don't think that's been the past practice of the board to necessarily automatically expect to reappoint. I was on the committee for 17 years or something like that, and several times I

1:45:11 had to reapply. So I don't know that that's been past practice to that the assignment would roll over. I think it makes a difference though, in terms of participation, if someone says, "This is a filled position that you would be applying for," because it would still technically be filled if we don't vacate it, or, "It's a vacant position you'd be applying for." Does that make sense? Say it again. Sorry. If you, as a citizen, were considering applying for the budget committee and it said, "This position is vacant," or "This position is filled,"

1:45:58 even though the person doesn't show up, it makes a difference on the participation you get from people applying. So I think it makes sense to go through the process of making the position vacant before we open it up again. Yeah, I would agree with that. And then if we're not actually appointing people who are interested, can be thinking about it and attending meetings, for example. But my own leaning would be to get on it and make it happen. And the timing can happen whenever it can happen. But like to have them aware at least that they're going to be serving in this capacity

1:46:44 next year. So I would ask, do we have other members of the committee whose term expires the end of this year? Because I think we may be just posting that it's another three-year term, and we'll solicit applications for multiple members. On December 31st of this year, you have three positions expiring. So it might make more sense to wait until fall. Because you know that there will be three vacant positions then in the fall. Okay. Just remembering that you're going to be knee-deep in an interim superintendent search for the next month, and so trying to seat a budget committee member now

1:47:29 would just add to that. Yeah, that makes sense, knowing that they're going to be becoming available. Okay. Nicole, any comments? No, I agree with what Jody just said. Okay. All right. Well, thank you, Brett. So then, moving on to the agenda item 6B, elementary science and secondary social science adoption. Great. So, I'm really just presenting this as a reminder. We did go in great detail about it in our first presentation.

1:48:17 So this is just your first reading, listing out these titles, and a reminder to the board that we do have the three community sessions up on the website for our community to reach out and visit. And we also have six different sessions for you as well, and we are excited at the prospect of being able to share in more detail rubrics and teacher comments, and give you time with the materials. So this is really just submitting a first read for what we plan to bring forward as an action item at the next board meeting in a resolution. Thank you. Of course. I have a question. It says it's recommended that we approve the request of McGraw Hill

1:49:05 Wonders, plus Discovery Education. Are those separate? There's three different items listed there, McGraw Hill Wonders, Discovery Education, and Mystery Science, because these are the three different components that will make up the independent adoption bundle. Wonders we already have, and there are materials and integrated standards there. There were gaps within that program, so we'll be using pieces of each of those three things, and you'll be able to see in detail when you come to visit what that looks like, what those curriculum maps look like, and some sample lessons and units that our teachers have been trying out. Thank you. So McGraw Hill Wonders is our language arts- Correct

1:49:50 ... curriculum. Is it on the approved list from ODE? Correct. Yes. For science? No, that's why we're bringing forward an independent adoption. Yes. So- That includes pieces of that with these other two pieces. Okay. Yes. Yeah. So Discovery Education is a standalone? Or is it part of- There are components from Discovery... Nope, that is separate from Wonders. Yes. Okay. That's what I was wondering because it said- Yeah ... plus . No, understood It was a supplemental- Yeah. These are recommendations from our teachers for things that they've been working on through this last two-year process. So Discovery Education is on the approved list from ODE? No. None of these are on the approved list for- For science either? ... elementary science. This is why we're bringing forward an independent adoption from that list. But we have followed the ODE's- Okay ... independent adoption approval process using their tools.

1:50:38 But they have science in their name. I don't know. It doesn't compute. Sometimes these are programs that do not get submitted to the state for approval. It doesn't mean that they wouldn't have met the criteria. And sometimes in these instances that may be because there's missing components that, or they're a smaller organization. I can't explain or say why. It is my understanding that Mystery Science will be submitting at the next state adoption submission. But and other districts are looking at our iMet tool and what we use to review Mystery Science, and Lane ESD and neighboring school districts are pretty excited at the work that our teachers just did because it will save them time. Right. And then they can present this, much like we did for patterns at

1:51:26 the high school. So the work that our teams of teachers and our science TOSA just conducted over the last two years, we actually had Lane ESD join us for some of those sessions so that they can help some of the smaller school districts around who don't have teams the size that we do or the time that we have. Sure. So they're pretty excited about this process that our teams just went through and what we were able to complete in these last two years. How many... Are there curriculums that are approved by ODE? And if so, how many? I don't know. At the time that this recommendation came forward, because of the fiscal implications and the time, human

1:52:13 time implications, it was requested of us to pause, see if we could integrate it into our language arts materials, since it does have non-fiction text and extension activities and hands-on science integrated into the program, that would we consider that. So we asked for additional time to determine whether or not that would meet all of our science needs. This team said that it does not, and then they are making recommendations with Mystery Science and with Discovery Education on how to fill those gaps. So because we invested the amount of money we did in our language arts materials, it gets us really close, but the pieces that were missing were the hands-on science and the engineering practices, and we wanted to make sure that we had those additional pieces to

1:53:00 supplement the pieces of McGraw Hill that did have those integrated standards in them. So this allowed our teachers time to understand the materials that were provided to us, to try some of those pieces out, to take and do a crosswalk of the next generation science standards, the science engineering practices- Mm-hmm ... the cross-cutting concepts, and figure out which of these are present that we won't have to invest more money in or time, which of these are missing for our supplemental pieces. And our teachers have now completed that process. They have piloted and tried out different pieces. They have put some of these things in front of our students, and now they feel confident and comfortable in bringing forward the remainder of that so that we can submit this as an independent adoption.

1:53:47 Okay. Rather than take an entirely new science program on top of a language arts program, on top of health curriculum, on top of social skills curriculum, et cetera. So this is just a slightly different method for our elementary teachers and our students in terms of time, instructional time, and our ability to integrate those standards across content. Okay, and so the review committee looked at more than these three, though, right? Or was it just these three? They weren't reviewing materials. They spent the last two years reviewing gaps in our current materials to determine what was missing, because we wouldn't need a full science program on top of

1:54:33 what we already had. This allowed us to come forward in a less expensive method that allows us to meet all of our science standards, and also is cognizant of the time, the instructional time in minutes, and effort of our teachers. I feel like we've had this conversation for the last two years, so I hope I'm able to answer your questions in a way that makes sense. And when you come to preview some of the things that they put together, I think it'll make even more sense when you see the depth with which they completed this project and what they're actually recommending within here. So in essence, would we be using Wonders as a base and the others to supplement, or

1:55:19 not necessarily? I'll take either of those. It would be easier to answer this question when you come to review the curriculum maps and look at the materials, then it'll make more sense to you. Right. It's really a combination of all three materials that then together kind of forms the program. And who will make the decision as far as ultimately the presentation of the curriculum? Will that be to the teachers, or will that be the- The teachers have. They have completed the curriculum maps with all of the lessons and the units that meet all of the standards, and then highlight which of these tools meet each of these components. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome And I appreciate you asking questions because not all of us have heard all this information. Sure. And I know that you, like you just said, you've talked to him for two years about

1:56:06 this here, but not everyone has heard this, so I do appreciate this conversation. Great. With instructional material with an independent adoption, were parents or community members involved in this? The portion of their involvement is upcoming, and those are the three community sessions that we have scheduled. Okay. So just so I understand correctly, so y'all have chosen what you're wanting us to purchase, and that is the McGraw. We already have the Wonders Discovery Education, and we already have the Mystery Science, right?

1:56:52 So we already have the two that we're using right now, and you're wanting to add the McGraw Hill and Discovery Education. Is that correct? There are components of these pieces- Components ... that we're asking to include in this bundle. So not everything is at a cost to us. So some of these are open source materials. And again, when you see the curriculum maps, it makes more sense. But they're dense and deep, and that's why we have the separate sessions. Yeah. Okay. And so I'm wondering... Hmm. Maybe I can explain it better this way. So we don't need to bring supplemental materials to the board for approval.

1:57:37 Those are things that we can improve in-house. Mm-hmm. We've already approved the use of these in terms of a supplemental program. What we're asking the board to approve is this bundle as our independent adoption for meeting our Division 22 science curriculum requirements. So it's a slightly different request. Okay. Is it sort of like Wonders and Magnetics? So we adopted Wonders in language arts, and then- And then we supplemented with Magnetic Reading. You did the same basically. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yes. I mean, this has just been a really big conversation in our community, and it's

1:58:23 a cost, and I want to make sure that we're spending our money well, and that we're actually having the time to use it within our schools. I have a fourth grader, and I am curious how many project-based activities the kids are going to be able to have using this, because right now, there's not... So when you come to see the outlined curriculum maps, you can see how it's mapped out across the entire year, how many different units are there, and some of the activities that the students will be engaging in.

1:59:08 Okay, so you're not going to be having a presentation here for the community. Not for implementation, just for what we bring forward to the board in terms of adoption. This is my first time. No, it's great. These are great questions. So it says Wonders. So is there an additional purchase of Wonders? This is using the Wonders we already have and then supplementing with that. That was the plan all along. Just want to make sure there's not another module. No. That's the Wonders science module. Okay, great. Mm-hmm. And so just to help me understand, so I'm going to show up as a parent and as a board member as well,

1:59:53 to these events, and I'm going to be able to go through what the kids are to learn, what you guys are proposing. Correct. Okay. And then I'm going to have some papers to fill out. What's that look like? I mean, can you walk me through what this would look like, please? Yeah. Okay. So as a board member, when you come to preview, I'll give it to you in both scenarios. What we have available for you is the entire packet from the rubrics that were used, the teacher comments- Mm-hmm ... the scores on the rubrics, the strengths of what they reviewed, the challenges. Mm-hmm. What we also have in that same packet, and you'll get to take that with you, are

2:00:41 all of the standards that our teachers are looking at, and then the scope and sequence of how those standards are laid out, and how we believe that our process... So you'll have a folder within there. It outlines the board policy on what the board has assigned to our superintendent in terms of administrative procedures. So then you'll get to see the full procedure- Mm-hmm ... with artifacts from each step of that process. Mm-hmm. For our parents, our community... Or excuse me. Sorry. No, yeah. Then you also get to review the materials. And then the materials are there as well. We have hard materials for you to look at. We have links for you to look at. There are things that you can take with you so that you can really dig in, get your hands on it, touch it.

2:01:27 And then there's staff members with us who participated within that process so that they can answer any questions that you might have related to the actual-Teacher facing, student facing aspect of that. So that gives you a little bit more time within those materials. If a community member or a staff member comes to one of the community sessions, it would be something very similar. We have the materials on hand. They're on display. They're there. We can show different components of each of these pieces, whether it's the science or the social science, and then we have staff available as well. So it's really play time, if you will, to dig in, look at the reviews, look at the materials, and allow time for

2:02:12 whoever is reviewing it to ask us any questions that they may have. What does this look like? What do we have in terms of opt-out options? What might this look like in a classroom? This is what we'd really like to see. This is what we would really like to help. We take notes. If there's anything... And that opportunity is really, as it's outlined in the board, is to provide kind of opinions about, and how their use will look like in the classroom. So that's when we get a little bit of that information. So not necessarily according to this policy are we asking the community or parents to vote or to say what they like of all of the different programs, because the amount of time that it takes to train someone to do that review, we want our professionals who are actually

2:02:57 going to be teaching the materials, who understand the standards and how to teach those practices, to actually go through the training and then make recommendations for what they're going to be teaching. What our policy states and what we ask of our community is: How do you feel about this program? What are your concerns about this program? What are you excited about? So when we go to implement, we make sure that we're keeping those things in mind, much like we did with health. So does that help a little bit with what that might look like? Yeah. That does help a little bit. Yeah. Gosh, I had another question. So with the committee, earlier we were talking about the secondary social science,

2:03:46 we were talking about a different committee, right? So with this committee, regarding the elementary science, who is a part of the committee? Were administrators picking the teachers to do this, or were teachers coming to all come together and- Well, it's been a two-year process, so it's involved several layers of that. So with any of our adoptions, what we look for are, we set forth criteria for anybody who's going to be on an adoption committee. Typically, folks who have taught a certain amount of years when possible. These are preferred, because really what it comes down to is who is available at the end of the day.

2:04:31 Mm-hmm. But we definitely put out, this is our criteria, this is the commitment, because there is quite a big lift when conducting this. It's outside of your regular teaching duties. We ask for recommendations from administrators, and then we ask for staff who are interested, and then we make sure that we have a cross-representation of all of our schools, and representatives from each of our grade levels. And throughout this process, especially for the elementary science, it started with a large group that we explained. Actually, it was all of our teachers at that point to explain, "This is the process that we're going to engage." And then they had representatives that came forward. There was some transition in different times throughout, because we did some summer work, we did some evening work, and then we had

2:05:19 teachers across our system that were actually using these supplemented materials and giving feedback to their teacher reps. So by the end of this process, you have people that are coming to do the time work of going through the materials, looking for the gaps, and those are representatives across all schools and grade levels. And then we have different trainings that we provide to all teachers, much like we did with social science, and then teachers are able to dig in and understand, "Oh, that's what that means. This is feedback for that." And then this is what our teachers went back and then would further develop. So a large part of the development in this last two years was not just to review materials, but was to create the units and the lessons. So we had small teams and big teams. So

2:06:04 you can see evidence of that when you come to visit, and how many different people were involved. Yeah. Just because there's just been so much going on through petitions and letters and editorials. It's just been such a big deal, and it's been going on for a few years now. And I just want to make sure that we're hearing the community here, and that with the science, because this has just been an awful time. Yeah. For all of us. For all of us. Yes. Okay. Sorry,

2:06:52 one moment. So when you are blending Wonders, because that's literature there, and you're blending it with science, are the teachers calling out what is considered science, what is considered social studies? Because you're using Wonders as this- Oh, Megan did speak to that. I was just going to say, I think Megan Knight spoke to that a little bit today, and that she kind of shared that there are elements when they're working through their Wonders and during their literacy time where they can say, "We're working

2:07:37 on this non-fiction text," and it's supporting their science work, but there's also blocked science time. There's blocked science time? Mm-hmm. Yeah.Yeah, there's blocked out science time in their schedules for them to use for science. And again, sometimes that's using Wonders materials, sometimes Discovery Education, sometimes Mystery Science, and yeah, you'll be able to see that in those unit plans that they have. Okay. Yeah. Because I was reading about cross-concepts today and just- Yeah, cross-cutting concepts. Yeah ... cross-cutting concepts. Yeah. So much admins, or so much edgy speak. Those science standards are beefy. There's a lot of that. Yeah. Yeah. And I was just interested in how all this is getting braided in, and again, I have a fourth grader.

2:08:25 That's really great what the principal had shared that they're working on projects. Yeah. That's helpful. Well, I do hope that you sign up for some time with us, because we would love to show you how it is braided together, and we'd love to show you the curriculum maps, the unit plans, and how it all fits together. And when you're actually looking at it, and you can see the scope and sequence, I hope that it will make more sense. Yeah, and will I be able to see what project-based experiments- Oh, 100% ... will they be guaranteed? Like kids be guaranteed to be able to work with their hands in science, create,

2:09:12 rather than craft? Yeah. Right. As Whitney has mentioned, I think that was one of the biggest gaps that we saw, that we wanted to find those resources that really got kids using their hands and using their minds to do science. And so you'll be able to see some examples of that when you come. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. I thought when we had the conversation last year, we had a team of teachers, and I think they were working with you, Whitney, on trying to go through the Wonders curriculum to determine what actually could they-- and again, you probably know better than me, can we find science in Wonders? And my understanding was, and maybe this is

2:09:58 incorrect, was that they had a challenge around that. And so, I have a few concerns about using Wonders sort of as part of that, and it may be unfounded because I haven't looked at the curriculum, but, do you recall that conversation at all? I do, and we addressed it this evening. So that was the gap analysis that our teachers went through. So when we adopted Wonders, it did come with integrated scope and sequence of where each of these science standards showed up in the curriculum. I think until you actually look at the curriculum, it doesn't make a lot of sense if you're not familiar with what it looks like. So there are individual... Yes, the short answer is yes. And what we found is in K2, it was

2:10:43 almost all there. There was extension activities. K2 teachers had more. Okay. Three five had more already in Wonders, so there's fewer things that they have to supplement. Part of that is because I think you're imagining a textbook for Wonders, but Wonders comes with nonfiction text, anchor text, little readers, and extension activities where it has additional resources that come with it. So again, because this is a business meeting, this is what we wanted to avoid because there are so many details that we can show you. You can look at it for yourself, and then it will answer some of these questions for you. We would do the same for the community. So yes. We believed there was going to be more in the full program.

2:11:30 When our teachers got their hands on it, we discovered where the gaps were, and that's when we started making recommendations for what we needed to supplement, and that was heavier in the intermediate grades. Thank you for the clarification. Welcome. I didn't understand when you were talking earlier about the gap analysis. In organizational development- That's- ... that's a term that's- Yeah ... pretty frequently used. I didn't realize you were alluding to the work we did last year. Of course, yeah. Any other questions? Okay, thank you so much, Whitney and Jeff. Thank you. We'll make sure, Marty, that you get all of those dates. So then moving, we took a couple of discussion

2:12:16 items. We moved them to item C, the Wildish representative selection. As a result of the resignation of one of our board members, that was a position that was filled by her. And so, they've got some important decisions, as I mentioned, coming ahead of the Wildish, and so, were interested in our full participation. So, that's something that I take seriously, where the backstory is that the district is actually a part owner of the facility, and that came about Springfield Renaissance Development Corporation, known as SRDC,

2:13:03 started their mission to sort of revitalize downtown Springfield, and the Wildish Theatre was one of their first projects. It had been a variety of things before and was in a lot of disrepair. It ended up being a bigger project than they thought, and so they got midway through the project and sort of ran out of money. So a couple of organizations stepped up, Springfield District being one of them, and offered to support them financially, mainly from the standpoint of giving the Wildish the ability to get loans to finish the construction. So ours was in the form of a guarantee for prepaid

2:13:48 rents for A3City of Springfield was a part of that, Willamalane, ourselves, and Sub. No, was it Sub? No. It was our district, City of Springfield, Willamalane, and SRDC. So there was four of them. So once we got it built, then the ownership shifted from SRDC to reflect the contributions for the other members. So as a result of that, we have a more prominent position on the board. So they're looking for us to make sure that we've got that representation.

2:14:34 So I wanted to have a discussion around that and filling that. So right now, it's not being filled. In talking with Superintendent Omoregbe, she said she'd be willing to fill that role of senior leadership. It can be by a designee, so it doesn't necessarily have to be that. Willamalane, initially, their exec was, for a long time, part of that, but he has a designee, and so that's a possibility also. It's a possibility from the board's standpoint. But I feel historically it's valuable to have both a senior leader or superintendent, along with a board member to bring back things to our district as far as discussions and

2:15:21 participation. So, with that being said, is there anybody who would entertain the idea to do that, to fill that position from a board member standpoint? They have meetings once a month, I believe. Is it a Thursday? Can't say for sure. It's once a month, I do know that. Usually in the afternoon. I would love to be considered. Oh. I think it'd be great. It's great learning. The theater is an amazing facility. Acoustically, it's just great. And they have lots of great shows, so I think continuing that strong relationship with the district and the Wildish is important.

2:16:10 I'd support Bob in that role. I support Bob. So can I make a motion for an action item at this point? So Nicole, any comments on that? Yeah, we don't need a vote on it. You can just appoint him. No, I'll be more comfortable with a vote, so I'm going to put a motion forward to approve Bob Brew as the school district representative to the Wildish Board. I'll second. So approved by Director Light, seconded by Director Cole. Any further comment? Call for the vote. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Motion carries five to nothing. And thank you, Bob.

2:16:57 I think you'll enjoy your experience. It's a great bunch of people, Willamalane with SRDC. Everybody died in the wool Springfield. So. I was lucky to be on the Springfield City Council when it first came into that situation, so. Yeah. When it came- I came home with. When it came to the ownership discussion, the City of Springfield, again, just filling in the blanks, City of Springfield chose to not participate. Mm-hmm. So then it became SRDC, the school district, and Willamalane. Thank you. The other item on the discussion agenda is 6D. And it's just taking a look, and this is partly for our new director.

2:17:45 We spent substantial time on coming up with sort of a prioritization list of agenda topics. The board likes to be knowledgeable and have that information, and Nick felt at the time that it was important to be intentional, and so look at where we can fit things in, either in the business meetings or in the work sessions. And so I think I sent out to all of the board, the agenda topics notes. One was done by Heather, and at the time, Director Cole and Director Kwansansa were leading the discussion. We'd done substantial work leading into that with a bunch of different

2:18:32 topics. And so this was what we ended up with. They are slightly different, and I think it's because Director Kwansansa was pretty busy running the meeting, so there was a difference a little bit in the notes, but they're actually quite similar. And when I did my notes review, it was taken from pictures of her notes that I'd taken the evening of, and then because there were certain comments made by board members, I wanted to make sure that in the summary, that we included some of those things. So you can take a look through there.

2:19:20 The conversation tonight is not to do a radical re-change or even a vote, yes, this is good, but just if there's things that any of us see on there. To my knowledge, the only thing we've addressed since the September meeting of last year of '25 was, we did have a presentation on the PBIS, behavior supports. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. I should know betterOh, I hate it when I do that. But anyway, so we did talk. We went to the

2:20:05 priority two, student support systems, and there was a presentation on mental health supports and PBIS. Other than that, I think we haven't gotten to them. And when I review some of these, I'm looking at some things thinking I'd like to know more about them. I need more detail. And I would suggest we might need more detail on several of these when we get to actually placing them on the agenda. When I look, for example, at priority one, student performance, we bullet pointed a couple of topics, but it was really related to all eight subjects. We talked about well-rounded education, but there

2:20:50 was also some talk about digital literacy and responsibility. So again, as we move to actually putting it on the agenda, Amber and I might be coming back to you for more definition so that we can make good use of our time. There's some things on there that even now I look at, and I'm going to just focus on number one because that's sort of where we're at. Student presentations, specialized, and then slash groups or clubs. I'm not sure necessarily what that was or whether they can fit all neatly under one topic. Ken or Director Cole, you had brought up sort of an annual report that we would look at key

2:21:35 metrics, and it's sort of languished. We've never really come up with that. In my experience, we did have an annual report called How Are the Children? And it was comprehensive and starting in that direction. But what are the metrics that a new board member might take a look at or want to take a look at that sort of gives a snapshot picture of where the district is? It could be school capacity versus school enrollment. Showing when you have to have hard conversations, that's not always the best time to go out and be trying to get information. What's our attendance? What's test scores? Ninth grade on track.

2:22:20 Some of the stuff is provided by ODE's at-a-glance reports. But there's a lot when you look through the whole thing that cannot be captured, or only bits and pieces. When I'm looking down at priority three, staff well-being, key metrics. What would we as a board, in our oversight capacity, want to know? So can take a look at that. We only actually partially fleshed out priorities one, two, and three. And the others we didn't get to, but at some point, I would like to take a look at these. Director Cole, we've had conversations around sites and facilities.

2:23:05 Do we want to move that up in the prioritization? And situations change over time. Now we've got the budget realities, and does that change what information the board wants to see? So in a summary, I'm asking really at this time just to take a look at that. And are there any comments or questions from board members regarding that? Now that I have more background on that, I'd like to take some time and think about it and talk to you all in groups of two and no more. But I think that

2:23:50 we're going to be hiring a superintendent. Mm-hmm. And just like if you were running just a business, right, you would want to know, when I'm hiring a new person to run my business, where are my strong points? Where am I struggling, right? And so because you're going to want to find somebody who's really good and experienced at addressing those pain points. And so some of the ones that we want to talk more about may be really important when we're defining who we want to find as a superintendent. So that's what I've been thinking a lot about.

2:24:35 Yeah, I do. To your point, I think this is an excellent jump off for a lot of those questions that we're going to have to answer sooner rather than later because we're going to have to develop criteria for the search process. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great suggestion. Other comments? I don't have any. I didn't bring the list with me, so I didn't- Okay. Yeah. It's good. I just sent it out in case, so you wouldn't have to dig for it. And that's sort of where we're at. I think deciding as a board, so we can set our goals and our vision around what do we want students in Springfield to come away with? When they exit our schools at 12th grade, are they ready? Do our employers say they're ready?

2:25:22 Do our colleges and universities say yes, they're ready? And so that's the responsibility of the board to create that vision and the strategies, working with the superintendent and the support team there to define those. So any other input? I'm excited about that. Yeah. Yeah, I'm really excited about that. I look forward to discussing it more, narrowing our priorities down, or focusing more on what our priorities need to be right now and defining our goals and yeah, it's very exciting. Well, and timing is a part of that equation. So we're going

2:26:07 to soon be going through the interim search process. But a lot of these things, the vision, the strategies, goals, smart goals, et cetera, are a longer conversation, and that's why we may want to be looking at scheduling a retreat first part of August. That's the typical time that many districts do that exercise. And then revisit it annually. Are we on track or were there things or assumptions we made that didn't play out, and that kind of thing. And I think, using that model, it really can help the board and the district stay on track. Okay? Thank you. Any comments, Nicole?

2:26:55 No. Okay. Thank you. Then, so moving on then to item number seven, reports and information. Superintendent communication. So I just have some updates since the last board meeting of what I've been getting done. We've had 10 budget forums for the community staff. We had a Zoom one for Spanish language speakers. We had a couple student voice groups. So we were really pleased with the turnout with that and the feedback that we received. Created and put out a budget video, thanks to our wonderful communications department. Had a couple of coffee and conversations. There's another one on the 22nd at Crema & Bloom,

2:27:41 I think that's what it's called. Mm-hmm. So that's on the 22nd. Have done several school visits and still have some more planned, but so far I've been to Walterville, Briggs. I've met Sally Golden and been introduced to the CTP group. Thurston Middle School, Riverbend, Yolanda, Centennial, A3, Guiley, Page, and Thurston High School. This week I'm also going to Maple, Thurston Elementary, Douglas Gardens, and having a facilities tour of... Yeah, so I thought that was pretty neat. I also hope to see Dracula, but I thought it was Thursday night, so I'll have to confirm if it's Thursday night, because Hunter said it was Friday night. So I have to check. But I do want- Should be multiple nights ... I want to go, yeah. So thinking about Thursday. Marty, is it opening Thursday?

2:28:32 I will connect with you. Thank you, Kimberly. Appreciate that. We've had one EAC meeting, and we have another one this week, and that's the Equity Education Advisory Council that meets with me. Today was a KLCC radio interview, so that was entertaining. And then I'm actually going to attend the SCF board meeting tomorrow night. So this week I have some other activities and events planned. And just have to give out huge kudos to the staff. They're amazing. Every single one of them. They're here for the right reasons. They have passion, they have knowledge that just, it amazes me. They're smart, they're

2:29:18 professional, they love kids, they're here for the right reasons, and it's just a joy to absolutely work here. This has been really fun. So I know there's some hard times coming, I know there's some hard decisions to make, but this is an amazing staff and they will get through this, and they will focus on kids, and that's what's important. Thank you. Moving then to board communication and comments. No particular order, who would like to speak? I just, A, I attended the, able to attend the community budget forums, and it was, I really appreciated the conversations and hearing from the... There were teachers that were there, there were parents

2:30:05 and students, and hearing what their thoughts were about what's important, and it was very informative. Yes. Well, thank you. Thanks for attending. Nicole? Yeah, I had a couple of updates. The first one is, hold on, it's SEF, which is Springfield Education Foundation. And, hold on. I want to read it because there's a couple of things that are coming up. The grant cycle officially closed, and so the review process is underway, and I'm sure everybody will hear about the grant giving tour when we have that

2:30:50 scheduled for late May. They received over 50 grant applications, so that's exciting. Also, they've been doing pamper school staff parties, which were paid for through auction packages through donors that purchased them at SEF's Night of 11,000 Stars Gala last year. So that's been nice. They've done one at Walterville and one at Ridgeview, and then I think they have another one coming up for Thurston High School teachers. And then we're also hosting this new series, which last month we did Walterville. It's at Public House, so it's called Toast to Teachers. This month it's going to benefit Yolanda, and it's on Thursday, April 23rd. And then May 14th there will be one for Thurston Middle

2:31:35 School. So at each event, and it happens all day. You can go in and 50% of the food and drink proceeds go towards a different school each month. So yeah, you can go any time during the day and there's usually flyers there that you can take a picture of or just let them know that it's for SEF. So yeah, Thursday, April 23rd is for Yolanda. And then also just a reminder that SEF can purchase supplies and items for schools using their SEF school accounts. Those accounts are available for schools to use at any time with a principal's approval. So even during the spending freeze. The funds roll over each year, soAnd also you can donate to a specific school through SEF to add to their school fund.

2:32:20 So if you want to learn more about the school funds or anything, you can just contact Sona or Ashley at SEF. And then, yeah, I went to a couple of community budget meeting reviews or previews, and then I went to a couple of community coffee chats with the acting superintendent. And then next week I'm going to be chaperoning outdoor school, so that'll be fun. And then I just had one comment about some of my visits. I've almost been on the board for three years, and it's taken me this length of time to see all but one school. I have one school left to visit. I've had the opportunity to visit a lot of them several times, but mostly through my work with the Springfield Education Foundation.

2:33:09 The visits have been incredibly valuable to me because I don't have an education background, so seeing the classrooms, and observing students learning firsthand has just helped me understand the decisions we make in the boardroom. Recently, I went to a couple elementary schools. I got to help with the kindergarten assessment. I wasn't very helpful, but I learned more about how benchmarks are set and just how instructional support staff works alongside the teachers. I also observed hands-on learning in their science lessons. I happened to show up at Maple one day when the kids were getting to use microscopes, and I did print out some pictures I wanted to pass around. I didn't take a picture of a table, but they had this table

2:33:57 of different things like shells and feathers and things like that, and the kids could use their microphone, or microphone, microscope. And they were also writing their observations, so it's like they were doing really interesting science. Another picture is actually a corkboard of some of the lessons. It's a really bad photo, but because I saw the microscopes, it led to this conversation about what other science lessons they're learning. And then the other picture I have is a picture of really nice penmanship. I think that was first or second grade, and they're talking about the salmon eggs. So they did some kind of salmon eggs science lesson. I can't remember what it is. But I

2:34:44 just feel like there seems to be some assumptions about the lack of hands-on learning that's happening. But I just recommend people come to the community preview to see themselves about what's actually going on in the classroom and how curriculum is being integrated, and that writing assignment shows how science is integrated with literacy. And so, I have my kid's old Wonders book in my car sometimes that I've looked at just to help myself remember the base curriculum and how that's used. So, yeah. So those visits have been going really well. And one thing I want to address, the last thing, is that school visits are not scripted. They're very authentic because even when staff accompany board

2:35:30 members, every time I've gone it's been unscripted because we're dealing with kids, and it's been very transparent and open, and I ask questions and I get immediate answers. And it's just allowed for a deeper understanding and context. So I just want to say that the suggestion that Springfield does not provide a well-rounded education isn't what I've seen firsthand, including science and art, hands-on learning, and early literacy and strong classroom engagement. I think our schools are working really hard to provide a well-rounded education experience, and of course we have areas of improvement, but Springfield's doing good work to enrich student learning. So it strengthened my confidence in what's happening across the district,

2:36:17 and especially as we face difficult budget decisions, I just want our educators and administrators to know that I see their work and value their leadership. Thank you, Nicole. Bob? That's hard to follow all of you. I did get to attend three of those community budget forums, and that was really interesting. It was really interesting to hear from parents and community members about their thoughts and observations, but it's also great to meet so many teachers and principals and administrative staff from the district level. It was

2:37:02 really fun. And it was also great to go back and see Springfield High, which was my alma mater, hadn't been back there in a couple years. So, that was fun. All right. Thank you, Bob. Amber? Yeah. I would love to go to school visits. I think I've been wanting to go on some since October, November. So yeah, that would be great. Also, I have dyslexia, and I have shared this for the past nine

2:37:49 months I've been on the board, and I've been asking for any type of presentation material to be presented with board packets. That was a quote I have written over and over and over and over, for the past seven months, and I would really appreciate it. It's really hard for me to be an attentive listener when I'm trying to sit here and read. So if I could just be heard, just if I could just be heardPlease. Thank you. Teachers, parents, and community members who care deeply about public education have for years voiced concerns that students

2:38:37 in Springfield elementary schools are not receiving a balanced education they deserve and which the Oregon Department of Education requires. Specifically, these concerns focus on the adequacy of instruction in science, social studies, history, geography, and civics, art, health, and social emotional learning. These concerns have been repeatedly voiced at board meetings as well through petitions, letters, editorials, formal complaints, and various medias reports. However, during this time, the school board and district leadership have yet to fully acknowledge these concerns nor address them publicly. It's time we finally and collectively respond to say, "We hear you."

2:39:22 This is why I am recommending that a task force be created that brings all stakeholders together to examine these concerns to the satisfaction of all. This task force will be asked to dive deeply and to work together with expectation that a report be generated that describes current practices, make specific recommendations for improvement, and presents a timeline for implementation. Our students deserve nothing less. With this in mind, I'm asking our superintendent to initiate the formation of this task force with the expectation that a proposal be created this spring for how such a task force will be organized and facilitated moving forward into summer and next school year to ensure

2:40:08 that this task force represents all constituents, and development of this proposal must also include input from all groups concerned. Do you have more? I don't. I just was wondering if I could have the superintendent help initiate a formation of this task group. Point of order. This board needs to actually direct the superintendent, and if you're going to imply staff is not doing the work, then that needs to be done through proper complaint process. But forming a committee- I'm asking- You just want to do that- Excuse me ... that's your own personal agenda. So point of order, it needs to come from the whole board.

2:40:54 So every board member in board communication is entitled to basically share their opinion, and it's not necessarily a conversation time. No, board members are not allowed to direct the superintendent on their own. That's incorrect, Jonathan. Mr. Zumwalt- This is a request from one board member. You're absolutely right, Nicole, that that kind of a conversation or direction needs to be given by the board, and we'll take that under advisement. But board communication is an individual thing, and we can certainly have a conversation later if we want to formalize that. Anything else?

2:41:42 I also want to thank the staff for all their hard work. I know that you're working really hard. I see you working hard. I get to see students just really... I love how happy kids are looking now. They had a really tremendously hard time with COVID, with the wildfires, with you name it. We got it handed to us. And the teachers and the admin here, you guys have really just stuck it out and made a huge difference, and I thank you. I really thank you

2:42:28 for doing everything that you do. It really means a lot to all of us parents, to the community. Thank you, really. That's it. Thank you. So first of all, I just want to thank everybody who's still in the room or those who are attending online, and definitely staff and board members. We've run a little bit late. We had a lot to get through today, so I appreciate your patience and your attentiveness. First of all, I want to just give a thanks for those involved. Thank you to the board who delegated Nicole and myself to represent the board. Thanks to our superintendent,

2:43:13 Jodi O'Mara. Thanks to Brett for handling the RFP process. So it takes extra time, and everybody is busy, so I appreciate that. Also want to thank Superintendent O'Mara for the budget forums. I think I heard a lot of positives from people who attended, for the coffees. I think people are really appreciating the fact that you're reaching out to them. And no small part, your interview on KLCC today representing the district. I don't know if people have had a chance to hear that yet, but I sent a link to the board. And anyway, I just thought it was great, and you were very articulate in your responses, and I appreciate that effort.

2:43:58 I had the opportunity to attend the District 12 Band Festival, which was a Oregon Music Educators Association sponsored event. It plays a part in the state competition, which is sort of the musical world for the March Madness, and people can actually qualify to go up and compete at a state level. So this year, the director at Thurston High School, Conor Egan, headed up the process of putting that all together. It's a big jobTo do that, but it also involves staff. So again, a shout-out to Kimberly and your team for making the logistic thing happen. It was very well run. I got the chance to hear both Thurston and Springfield High

2:44:46 School. They were great. So, thanks to Mr. Egan for doing that. I appreciated Nicole's comments on school visits because I do think that's a very key part of a board member's responsibility. I would, with that, like to urge board members to take a look at policy BG, which sort of spells out the criteria around school visits. But not only school visits, also staff to board communications and these kinds of things, unofficial versus official, formal versus informal. I would like to create more opportunity for board members to visit schools,

2:45:31 and not unduly burden the district with having to either schedule that or feel they need to participate. So I know that you and I will be talking about that a little tomorrow. So yeah. Again, thank you, and thank you to the teachers. We started with a proclamation and I'll probably mention it again. But we have somebody mention tonight, you mentioned what an amazing team we have, and that goes from top to bottom or bottom to top. And so there really are amazing people in the district, administrators, certified, classified, everybody working hard for the kids and we should never forget that.

2:46:16 So our next board meeting is, it's here somewhere. April 27th. Is April 27th. It's a special meeting formerly called a work session. It starts at 4:30, and then we'll be getting into our May meetings, which are dominated by budget, and in no small part this year, the search for the interim superintendent. Did I say 5:30? Oh. Man, I don't want people showing up early. So yes, 5:30. And again, thanks for everybody being here tonight, and I will go ahead and adjourn this meeting at 9:45.