Springfield School Board — June 22, 2026

3:32 Well, good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our July 22nd, 2026 Springfield- June ... Board of Education meeting. June. You said July. Oh, did I say July? Yeah. That's because I was reading. June. Excuse me. Don't want to have to make that correction. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And Director Brew, if you would be so kind as to read the land acknowledgement. Absolutely. We acknowledge that we are in the traditional

4:17 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 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.

5:05 This information is shared out of a responsibility to honor the heritage and the humanity of all people, and to promote unity within our school district. Thank you. At this time, we will recess into executive session under statutes ORS 192.660 (2) and ORS 192.660 (2) .

59:57 Good evening, everyone. Welcome to this evening's meeting. It's June 22nd, 2026. Earlier, the board convened in executive session, so at this time I'm going to reconvene into our regular meeting. And we are now at item number two, the approval of the agenda. I would entertain a motion. Oh. I'm sorry. I'm looking at the wrong- Excuse me just a minute, Ken. Let me back up. So Jeff, usually I find out how many people are online. Six people online, and then all you folks here. So thank you for being here. I got it. You want me to move approval in here?

1:00:42 And Nicole- I got several things ... DeGraff, Director DeGraff, is attending online virtually. Right. So now we'll go to the approval of the agenda. I'll move approval of the agenda. I'll second. Are there any changes, deletions, additions, et cetera? Yes. Under the item 3A1, the May 11th board meeting minutes, I'd like to pull that item from the consent agenda and I believe- 4A1. Oh. Oh, I've got the printed-out copy versus the one I've just got. Okay. Sorry. Thank you. 4A1, yes, is the pull. Item 4A2, I believe the board already approved those minutes, so I

1:01:30 think those could be deleted from the consent agenda. And then, regarding item 4H, based on the discussion in executive session, I would propose that we remove that item. And lastly, I'd like to add a discussion item to discuss the status of the structural repairs contract. So I will list that as discussion item 5I. H. Oh, 5H. H. Sorry, don't know my alphabet.

1:02:16 And that's the structural... Structural repairs. Yeah. Okay. And would it be advisable to, because we just got the board meeting calendar, should we table this to... Oh, I'm sorry, 4G. Should we table this till we have our retreat? Is that... We certainly could move it off to the retreat. Since it's an action item and board members just received it this

1:03:03 evening, it might be better to take a look at that. Is that what you're suggesting? That's what I'm suggesting, yeah. So, I guess my preference would be to approve it, and if we need to later, to amend it. Because I think we haven't finalized the retreat, so it won't be on this calendar, and- True ... and then we have our first meeting August. We wouldn't have an approved calendar to meet in August or any time. So it seems to me we should approve it, and if we need to amend it, then we could do that. That's a good point. Okay. I'm okay as long as we have the opportunity to amend it in the future. Yeah. Okay. Well, and there's actually two board meeting schedule proposals, one with

1:03:50 one meeting, I think, a month, and then one with generally two. So it'd be difficult. Do you have a front and back? I- Yeah. It was just in the information presented when you got here. Unless you printed it- Yeah, see, I haven't had a chance to review- Yeah. He just got it ... because it's not- Yeah ... in the packet that I had a chance to review, so. I would probably prefer to not take action, given that we really haven't had a chance at all to take a look at it. I don't see anything being necessarily lost by waiting till after our retreat. So I just don't know the significance of why we do... Is this is required by

1:04:35 policy or ORS or what? So I don't know. I think if you set the August board business meeting, then you can adopt the remainder calendar for the remainder of the year at the August board meeting, which potentially would be after your retreat. So I think as long as we know when the August board meeting is, and everybody knows when it is, and you set that today, then I think you can adopt the remainder. And then you can decide if you're doing two meetings a month or the one. One. Yes. So maybe we should leave it on the agenda and discuss it then, rather than... No, that's what I would suggest. Let's just leave it on the agenda, but- Okay ... we can talk about it then. Is that okay with Director Langworthy? Well,

1:05:21 again, as long as we can amend it. Because I do see where we only have 18 meetings for the next year. I was hoping for more. But we're just getting- So when it comes up on the agenda, let's discuss these points- Okay ... because I have a few things also. Let's do that. Okay. Yeah. Great. Okay. So Director Cole, would you mind restating the motion with the amendments? Move approval of the agenda with the following amendments that remove item

1:06:07 4A1 from the consent agenda, delete item 4A2, and based on the conversation in executive session, delete item 4H, and add item 5H, discussion on the structural repairs. I'll second. Any other additional comments or questions? I'll go ahead and call for the votes and- I had a question. This is Nicole DeGraff. Yes, thank you. So normally we don't have public comment in our meetings. I'm just curious, was that a decision made by the chair, or did the board vote on doing that? I'm just curious because I know

1:06:53 that we have public comments set up, and we normally only take those during regular meetings. Yeah. The scenario was that as we do when we have a board meeting, we had a leadership meeting, and we had talked previously about changing the meeting to a regular meeting. And part of that was due to the things we weren't able to get to at the last meeting, so we knew there were already going to be a number of things that we were going to move forward. And Director Langworthy and myself suggested that we change the designation of the meeting to a regular meeting to occur at 7:00. But because the notice had already been given, it was decided that- To

1:07:39 keep the time the same, keep it a special meeting, and add public comments, and also superintendent comments and board communication. That's my knowledge. Jodi? Okay. Yes. I remember it that way. Okay. Okay. So just the board chair and vice chair. Thank you. I just didn't get any notification on that, so I was curious. Okay. Thank you. So I'll go ahead and call for a roll call vote since Nicole is attending virtually. So, Director DeGraff? No. Director Cole? Yes. Director Brew? Yes. Director Langworthy? Yes. Director Leib is also yes.

1:08:24 So the agenda is approved four to one. Moving to agenda item three, public comment. We've already received five written comments. Thanks to those folks who took their time to share via that medium, and we have on the list 16 people signed up for the in-person comment. And as people know, particularly if you attended last meeting, we have allowed generally 25 minutes for public comment. But with this many people, we'd have to expand that time.

1:09:12 So as is typical, I'll ask the board for their thoughts on extending the time to accommodate as much public comment as we can. Director Brew? I'm good with it. Director Langworthy? Yeah, I'm good with that. Director- I'm okay. Cole? Okay. And I'm okay. Nicole? Nicole, are you there? Yes. Fine. Are you fine with that okay? So we will go ahead and I'm going to try to expedite it a little bit, so a little bit different procedure from last time. I will call the name of the person to come to the table, and then we're going to do sort of this on deck thing, so the next person

1:09:58 can be prepared. We don't have as many people. We're not waiting outside, but hopefully that'll expedite things. And, so we'll get to everybody then. And thank you board members for approving of that. So this is the portion of our agenda for public comment. The board provides three ways for community members to share public comments. Written public comment, in-person oral public comment, and virtual public comment. Written public comment is received via email. Public comment received via email for this evening has been reviewed by the board and has also been posted on the district's website. The deadline for submitting a request for oral public comment was today at 2:00 PM. Those who requested an opportunity to speak this evening were notified by the

1:10:46 board secretary about their request. Time permitting, the board may also hear public comment from individuals who sign up in person before the meeting. We encourage groups with a common purpose to designate a spokesperson. If your comments will be covered by a group spokesperson, please indicate so when your name is called. I want to remind those speakers of the public or members of the public who have indicated a desire to make comments that our policy provides for a limitation of just three minutes per person. Director Langworthy will be keeping time and you can follow along on that. Again, given the numbers of people to speak, don't feel that you have to use all three minutes if you don't need to, but you're certainly welcome to.

1:11:32 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 board policy KL, which requires that 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 the board. So again, just again, keep the three-minute limit in mind. So first up is Brandon Ferguson and on deck is Mariana Gaspar.

1:12:17 Is Brandon Ferguson here this evening? Okay. So Mariana Gaspar is up and on deck is Gladys Lopez. Is Mariana here? Well, this might be quicker than I thought. Okay. So Gladys Lopez, are you here? Okay. And on deck is Susanna Salinas. Thank you for being here. Yeah.

1:13:02 I'm Gladys, a now senior. I feel like our district with mostly English-speaking teachers- Gladys, for recording purposes, can you move your mic up just a bit there? Thank you. Perfect. Thank you. I feel like our district with mostly English-speaking teachers and classes makes kids from Spanish-speaking homes lose their Spanish skills. This happened to me so I joined the dual immersion program in seventh grade. It helped me with my Spanish and connected me to my culture through lessons about Latin American history, which regular classes don't cover. Cutting this program, especially in middle school and high school level, takes away a place where Latino students and newcomers feel like they belong and can learn the language they understand I also want to reiterate that you guys said you were reconstructing the program, which meant now that only regular grammar Spanish classes will be offered to dual immersion

1:13:48 students at the high school and middle school level. To me, this sounds like a normal elective Spanish class, so how is this reconstructing? This sounds like cutting, especially language arts and social studies classes, which are core classes, which are needed to graduate according to Oregon standards. So why are we cutting core classes for students who need it? The district already struggles with low graduation rates, so I don't understand why we are cutting a program that is so important to Latino and newcomer students. The class of 2027 was supposed to be the first graduating class of dual immersion students at Springfield. This would have been a huge success for the district, but due to your decision, I no longer have the opportunity to walk the stage being proud of taking core classes in two languages. This year, Springfield High School got the opportunity to hire a Mexican-American teacher named Ms.

1:14:33 Sarahi Lopez. She became the dual immersion teacher, but also became a trusted adult for many students, especially me. I have never been able to connect with a teacher and resonate with a teacher as much as I did with her. It was refreshing to see a teacher who had similar background as me. I was able to talk to her about my concerns, questions, and even my life. I know this was true for many students. Your decision to cut the program in the high school level took away a trusted adult, an adult who cared for her students, and now next year, I know many students will no longer have that safe space in her classroom. Also, if your issue is that the dual immersion program has low numbers, this is on you guys. I have never seen the dual immersion program be promoted to SBS families, and I know SBS social pages exist, so I don't know why this program has never been promoted. Lastly, I want you to consider bringing back English language arts classes and social studies classes to the dual immersion program.

1:15:19 I want you to actually reconstruct the program, not cut it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Susanna Salinas and Sarai Lopez-Meraiz is on deck. Is Susanna here? Okay, moving on then. Is Sarai here? Okay. I'm going to beg forgiveness up front, Adam and... Okay. I'm here. Give me one- Navarette? Yes. And I also have something that I want to hand out.

1:16:07 Thank you. If you'll give those to Marty, she'll distribute to board members. On deck will be Tom Peck. Thank you. All right.

1:17:04 Sorry. Hello, I am Sarai Lopez-Meraiz, and I was the former Springfield High School dual immersion teacher this past year. The last week of school was bittersweet. Many of my students were brave enough to speak in front of school board members and district leadership without receiving any follow-up from anyone. It also ended with many questions left unanswered, worries, and tears. On May 19th, we were told that the district is restructuring the secondary dual immersion program. Middle school students will transition from a full dual immersion program to a Spanish cultural heritage course. High school students will continue to have access to Spanish language courses currently offered at Springfield High School, and have opportunities to take Spanish-related courses through LCC,

1:17:49 and will continue to have a pathway towards earning the Oregon Seal of Biliteracy. A Spanish heritage class in middle school and current language offerings at SHS are not an adequate pathway towards earning the Oregon Seal of Biliteracy. Students can currently earn college credit in high school, in their language courses in one school year, and LCC does that in 10 weeks, which is also not a adequate pathway to support our students to earn the Oregon Seal of Biliteracy. These changes are also not aligned with the core goals of dual immersion, which is bilingualism and biliteracy, high academic achievement, and social cultural competence. Dual immersion courses help support and build the skills necessary to get their Seal of Biliteracy. Current rising juniors and seniors who have received their Seal of Biliteracy were able to achieve that for multiple reasons, but one of them being for the high academic skills and practice they receive in

1:18:37 dual immersion courses. As of right now, SHS does not have a pathway to ensure students will be supported to receive their Seal of Biliteracy. I was introduced to the dual immersion program in 2024 and was able to do my student teaching with the former dual immersion teacher two school years ago. When I was hired as the dual immersion teacher at SHS, I was committed to two things, to teach and support students' progress towards bilingual academic skills and help make the program strong and accessible. In one year with the help of, and support of staff and admin, we were able to make dual immersion language classes more accessible to students. We also had a meeting to set up a pathway so that ELD students could also have more access to current dual or certain dual immersion course offerings.

1:19:25 This meeting, we also created a pathway, which you guys have in front of you. This pathway was created to recognize participating students, as well as giving more flexibility to dual immersion students, to continue support their linguistic skills If given more time and effort, I believe this program could have been stronger and more successful. This program was created for both English and Spanish native speakers. This is important because dual immersion programs are successful with both of these groups. Dual immersion does not just focus 100% on one language, it uses both English and Spanish to help build strong bilingual and biliterate skills. A native Spanish speaker may speak it at home but lack strong literacy skills in that language. And an English native speaker needs dual immersion courses to continue to build their Spanish skills.

1:20:13 Both of these groups need each other. Mm. Dual immersion in the history of bilingual education is due to the Chicanos and Latinos who fought for- Three minutes ... their education in the '60s, '70s, and '80s. Please be- In a time where communities are being pulled apart, these two groups, English native speakers and Spanish native speakers, need each other. Reconsider your decision, and talk to students, parents, and staff. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry. Hello. My name is Adamaris, and I'm a recent graduate from the University of Oregon.

1:21:00 I'm here today in advocacy for the dual immersion program. In my K through 12 education, I was part of dual immersion learning where, apart from ELD, many students took classes in reading and writing in Spanish. These classes set me up for success and opened doors for me that would turn out to be crucial for my time in higher education. In my hometown, I lived a very bicultural upbringing and was constantly surrounded by other Latinos in school, work, and everyday life. When I moved to the Eugene/Springfield area for university, I struggled to acclimate due to the lack of culture I had access to back home. One of the ways that I found a sense of belonging was through employment. Biliteracy and translation skills in Spanish are highly sought after in many industries and fields. Coming into higher education with strong biliteracy skills in Spanish opened doors

1:21:48 to many job opportunities, which were crucial to me as a working college student. At the UO, I translated for Spanish-speaking parents at orientation sessions and conducted Spanish tours through the student orientation programs. I translated schoolwork for non-English-speaking students and translated documents through A Family for Every Child, and translated promotional content and materials for the Center of Latino and Latin American study. I transcribed and translated interviews through my courses and research on campus. Every time I had the opportunity to flex my biliteracy skills in Spanish, I felt more connected to the community I was in. It connected me to my roots, allowed me to use my skills for good, and provided me a source of income. This was only possible because I had the opportunity to learn and to read and write in Spanish through K through 12 education. Belonging is defined as the feeling of deep connection, acceptance, and

1:22:35 security within a group, physical place, or community. The dual immersion program creates belonging for many students in the district. In dual immersion classes, students can express themselves authentically, reinforce their cultural background, and gain equitable access to education and skillsets. By taking away the dual immersion program, you are hindering students' success in education and potential future career opportunities, and their sense of belonging. But beyond that, you are telling your community that you are not invested in the education and future of your students. More than that, in times like today, when Latino people all over the US and right here in Lane County are being targeted and prosecuted, you are telling your students that you agree with that sentiment. Know that I do not say this lightly, but taking away the dual immersion program is

1:23:20 racist. It is racist to take away the source of belonging for many students in your district. It is racist to create educational and systemic barriers. Your district is 25% Latino students, and your faculty is 4% Latino. Many of your already few Latino faculty members are being cut in this budget, including the dual immersion teacher, and there is no effort to preserve their employment. That is racist. I ask you to reconsider cutting the dual immersion program and think about the success and the future of these students. Thank you. So Tom Peck, and on deck is Ingrid Nordstrom. Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening,

1:24:08 Springfield board. My name is Tom Peck, as you said. So Senate Bill 739, it went into effect January 1st, 2026, directs the Department of Education to develop academic content standards for the Oregon studies, which will include a balanced representation from various racial groups promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in education. The bill aims to ensure that the contributions of various racial groups, including African Americans, Hispanic, Native Americans, and Asian American communities, are represented in educational material.

1:24:53 This sounds like the dual immersion program to me. Also, the Oregon Student Success Act in 2019 is a commitment to improving access and opportunities for students who have been historically underserved in the educational system. I think they're talking about the dual immersion program. In the Springfield public school website, under the dual immersion program, "We acknowledge that the systematic barrier have permeated disparities and disproportionate outcomes for students from historically marginalized populations.

1:25:39 We believe that educational equity is about improving every student with the opportunity and resources to thrive and remove barriers that have led to the predictability of academic success." We're really talking about the dual immersion program here The board voted three to two to discontinue the dual immersion program. That means one person, I think, really went against state and local policies, and they are affecting the academic outcome over over 100 Latinx students.

1:26:25 I think this is a time to pause and reconsider what you're doing. I think the previous speaker really capsulized what's happening here, and I think I would urge the board to postpone the vote to approve the budget as it stands today. There is a fair amount of money at the capital. I have a handout for you which shows how much money is being spent on the Moda Center, $3.65 million to redo the Moda Center. They want to build a billion dollar prison, and I will just... Is that me?

1:27:10 That's you, yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you. Tom, if you can provide... Yeah. Great. So Tom is providing copies. Ingrid Nordstrom, and on deck is Emily Tymoszewski. They're probably... I am the parent of two kids in Springfield Elementary Schools, and I'm here again tonight because I remain frustrated by the district's response to its curriculum failures. It is now well established that according to the Oregon Department of Ed, this district did not have instructional materials for science or social studies that

1:27:56 met state standards, and it could not demonstrate that the materials being used adequately covered the required content and skills. This is a failure that directly affects students. Last week, I spent time organizing my kids' schoolwork from the last five years. I found penguin crafts, handprint turkeys, daily writing notebooks, and even a research project about the blobfish. What I did not find was meaningful science instruction. Social studies was largely limited to a few lessons on state government before a Salem field trip. And even the reading curriculum that the district invested so heavily in does not appear to be one that fosters the love of reading, curiosity, or critical thinking that we know are essential to student success. The work I reviewed reflects exactly what ODE found.

1:28:42 This district has not consistently provided the well-rounded education our students are entitled to receive. What is especially troubling is that these concerns were raised years ago. The state finding did not reveal a new problem. It confirmed one that many teachers and students or parents had already identified. So what is this district going to do about it? I've heard you dismiss the problem of declining enrollment as the result of demographic trends, but I know families who are leaving because they no longer believe their kids are receiving the education they need. One parent recently told me their child actually lost academic ground this year. That family supports public education, and they don't want to leave the district, yet they're choosing to homeschool because they feel they have no other option. This should concern every person in this room.

1:29:28 We entrust this district with our kids for more than six hours each day. In return, we have the right to expect an education that inspires a love of learning, nurtures curiosity, and provides the strong academic foundation our children need to succeed. So I'm asking again for specific public answers. Who is responsible for this failure, and what oversight breakdowns allowed it to continue for years? Why were concerns raised by teachers and parents not addressed sooner? How will the district support students who have already missed years of science and social studies instruction? What measures will be used to ensure that every student now receives the instruction they deserve? And how will parents be able to verify that these changes are actually happening? These questions matter because public trust has eroded. The ODE finding cannot be the end

1:30:16 of this conversation. It must be the beginning of a serious public examination of how this happened, who is accountable, and how the district will restore confidence that every child is receiving the education they deserve. Thank you. Thank you. Emily, and on deck is Johannes Tadeo. My name is Emily Tymoszewski. I'm a graduate of Springfield High School and a parent of two boys in the dual immersion program, one at Guy Lee and one entering Hamlin next year. I'm here today as a committed advocate for

1:31:01 this program and for the strong, thriving community it creates. I am asking the district to commit to a strategic five-year support plan for dual immersion, not simply to keep it alive, but to invest in its growth. Parents have repeatedly come to this board asking for real, sustainable support, and too often what we hear in return is that the district is supporting the program because it hasn't cut it. But keeping a program afloat is not the same as helping it thrive. We are asking you to strengthen the ship, expand its capacity, and keep it on course towards its intended purpose, building biliteracy, fostering cultural enrichment, and supporting a growing, connected community, not just patching leaks. I don't need to explain the sense of belonging this program brings. The testimony from last board meeting and this one spoke clearly for itself.

1:31:50 What does need to be addressed is the district's reaction, or lack of one, to that testimony. Parents received no follow-up communication. Instead, we learned through media reports that the district never intended for the program to create a sense of belonging. Whether or not that was the original intent, that is the outcome, a strong- A connected community has formed, so build on it, highlight it. Work collaboratively across departments to support what families and educators have built. The district has missed several opportunities to grow enrollment, not just in the program, but district-wide. Last year, there were enough students to open a second kindergarten class, which could have meant more than 100 additional students over the life of the program. That represents over a million dollars in future funding.

1:32:35 Now, with no meaningful secondary pathway, I personally know families preparing to transfer into 4J's program. That is funding lost, and it's potentially as much as a teacher's salary, one who could be serving secondary dual immersion. Right now, due to all of the media attention, more people know about Springfield Dual Immersion program than ever before. Use this momentum to course-correct. Actively grow the program. Show that the district values it by restoring at least some half-time secondary teachers. No publicity is bad publicity, right? Make good out of this mess. I'm calling for genuine action, transparent decision-making, real collaboration, and meaningful engagement with families and educators. Dual immersion is not just a budget item.

1:33:21 It is a bridge connecting students to each other, to their heritage, and to the world. A program's worth is measured not only in dollars, but in the opportunities and enrichment it provides. Let's work together to ensure this program doesn't just survive, but thrives, supported with clear goals, dedicated resources, and honest communication. Thank you. Thank you. Yohannes, and on deck is Dan. Hi, Stan. Yeah, thank you. Always get anxiety when I come up here.

1:34:07 For all the right reasons, I'm sure. Right? All right. My name is Yohannes Tadele. I'm a Springfield graduate, a parent, and community organizer with Springfield Alliance for Equity and Respect. Tonight, I'm asking for transparency, accountability, and leadership from the board. You were elected to ask questions, review budgets, listen to families, and make decisions in the best interest of students. No board member should feel afraid to ask difficult questions about recommendations that impact students, educators, and families. That is your responsibility, and should not fear being sued for doing what's right and in your capacity. Students, families, educators, community members have spoken up against a decision to eliminate Springfield's secondary dual immersion program.

1:34:53 We organized meetings, submitted public comments, sent emails. We circulated petitions signed by more than 150 community members. Students themselves spoke out and asked the district to honor the promise that was made to them. The community showed up. The question is, did anybody listen? Many families chose Springfield because they were promised a K-12 dual immersion pathway. Students have spent nearly a decade working towards becoming bilingual and biliterate. The first cohort is about to graduate, and instead of strengthening the program, we are dismantling it. We are the only ones doing it in the state. The district has cited enrollment and cost, but enrollment does not happen on its own. The district controls recruitment, outreach, scheduling, and ultimate access to the program. The district cannot limit growth opportunities and then use enrollment numbers

1:35:39 as justification for eliminating the program. We have been told approximately 2.5 FTE positions are being cut to eliminate a program serving nearly 100 students. How much money's actually being saved? What percentage of the district budgets does that represent? What alternatives were considered? What administrative reductions were considered? If finances are truly driving these decisions, why are programs and teaching positions being cut while administrative positions are being added? This is not a criticism of any administrator. It's a question about priorities. While majority of our districts in the state are cutting that position, we're hiring one. Families also deserve to know who made this recommendation, who reviewed the data, who recommended eliminating the pathway,

1:36:24 who made the final decision, and who's accountable for answering the community's questions. I also want to ask district leadership and the superintendent that the district has spoken publicly about preparing students to be choice-ready and future-ready. If that is truly our goal, how does eliminating one of Springfield's strongest opportunities for students to develop bilingualism, biliteracy, cultural competency, and workforce skill move us closer to that vision? Another decision impacting some of our most vulnerable students, families were recently informed that transportation will not be provided for the migrant ed program. As a result, 112 Springfield students may lose access to a summer education opportunity because there's no way to get there. Why were families notified so late?

1:37:09 And what does this message send to migrant families who already face barriers? You're sending two bad messages, so I'm asking you to pause these cuts, preserve the secondary dual immersion program. I ask that you revisit the staffing decisions connected to this program. I ask you to release the data to justify the decision- Yohannes ... and engage families. Support our students, and honor the promise that you made. Thank you. Thank you. Dan Heistan, and on deck is Nadine Ibrahim. Good evening, board members. My name is Dan Heistan. I live in Springfield, and my daughter is a part of the dual immersion

1:37:55 program at Giley Elementary. So many parents, students, and community members come before you tonight with many questions regarding the defunding of the dual immersion program. Nearly all of these inquiries include a common theme, transparency, or more specifically, a lack of transparency Big questions remain unanswered. Why weren't parents, students, and community members more informed or involved in this decision-making process? What other options were explored before these massive decisions were made? What are the actual savings from cutting two and a half full-time employment from the dual program? How do those savings compare to the cost of adding or maintaining administrative positions? Why are we hiring a new vice superintendent while cutting direct services to students? Were other means of program financial solvency

1:38:43 considered, such as grant procurements? Community members deserve a clear explanation of why reducing student support is being prioritized over alternatives, and so far, we've had anything but clarity. And to me, this journey of establishing clarity starts with public engagement. How is the Springfield School District getting the word out to the community? How much effort is being made to bring all the stakeholders to the table before these critical decisions are made? Having public meetings that meet the letter of the law is one thing. Making sure that the community knows about these meetings through ample public outreach is quite another. Whether it's the elimination of the dual immersion program or the elimination of 30 jobs in the middle of a school year, these are seismic changes that require public outreach efforts reflective of the moment. From where I sit, this has not been the case.

1:39:31 Here's a cold, hard reality. Springfield School Districts do not have a great reputation. It's not for lack of wonderful, caring teachers and staff. Rather, the district is underfunded, under-staffed, and has a poor track record when it comes to governing, and accountability, and transparency. The dual immersion program is a big reason we were happy to send our daughter to Guiley, even though we don't live near the school, and I know we are not alone in this feeling. You're taking away one of the jewels on a crown that frankly doesn't have many. You're giving more SPD parents a reason to leave. And most importantly, you're cheating so many students and families out of an education they were promised at a time when Spanish-speaking community members, in particular, need more support than ever. We ask you to pause, ask questions, and ensure

1:40:18 every alternative has been explored before taking a step that may be impossible to reverse. Thank you. Thank you, Dan. Okay. Just informed Nadine was unable to make it virtually. Next up is Shawn Stassel, followed by Giovanni Bazan. Was I even close on your last name? Yeah. That means no. Welcome.

1:41:03 Hola. Me llamo Shawn. Cuando tenía cinco años yo comencé el programa de doble inmersión. Ahora estoy en grado ocho. I started the dual program in 2018. My kindergarten class had 28 students. Half were native English speakers, half native Spanish speakers. Paying attention in class is hard when you're five years old. It was extra hard to pay attention in a foreign language. My... Oh. Thank you. Do you want me to restart? Yes, please. Okay. Hola. Just a moment. We'll restart the timer also. Thank you. Okay, go. Hola. Me llamo Shawn. Cuando tenía

1:41:48 cinco años yo comencé el programa de doble inmersión. Ahora estoy en grado ocho. I started the dual immersion program in 2018. My kindergarten class had 28 students. Half were native English speakers, half native Spanish speakers. Paying attention in class is hard when you're five years old. It was extra hard to pay attention in a foreign language. Señor Diaz and Señor Tapia were very patient with me. Over the years, friends moved away and left the program. Our class became smaller. It has always seemed strange to me. Many kids at Hamlin are Latino and even have Spanish-speaking parents. It seemed weird that I had access to Spanish language classes, and they didn't. I know low student numbers are cited as one of the reasons this program is being cut. My seventh-grade Spanish classes only had 10 kids.

1:42:34 I think more kids in the dual immersion classes if there are fewer barriers to joining the program. The low numbers are a result of policies, not a result of low interest. Muchas gracias por su tiempo y gracias por esta oportunidad. Thank you. Thank you. Giovanni, and followed by Anna Priscilla Hall. Great. Well, good evening, members of the board. My name is Gio Bazan. I'm a student at the University of Oregon, but more importantly, I want to highlight that I serve as the vice chair of the Oregon Department of

1:43:21 Education's Latinx Student Success Board. Thank you for mentioning, whoever mentioned the Student Success Board in 2019. Thank you. I am also the only student serving on the statewide board where I represent and advocate for more than 140,000 Latinx students across the state of Oregon. I'm here tonight to ask the board to reconsider removing the dual immersion program and begin doing the job you all were elected to do. Frankly, this school board should be ashamed. Families and students deserve the transparency. It pains me to see how us as Latinx students at the University of Oregon are constantly fighting just to have our right to exist on campus. Now, these students here in Springfield are fighting just to have their culture in the classroom, their language in the classroom? It's ridiculous. These families, these students deserve honesty, transparency, and the representation. And they deserve to know why a program that affirms language,

1:44:09 culture, and identity is being cut, especially at a time when immigrant and Latinx communities across the country are experiencing fear and uncertainty. My question as a representative of the Department of Education is, what went into this decision? To the students And the parents of the students in this room, do not think that your voices are too small to make a difference. The Latinx students at the University of Oregon are fighting every single day for those coming after us. That's you all. We fought and advocated for immigrant students and families to receive ICE notifications, and through organizing and lobbying, we won House Bill 4079. We are laying the foundation for a standalone, centrally located Latinx cultural center, giving these students a home away from home. Our language is being highlighted through the $83 million renovation to the

1:44:55 School of Romance languages at the University of Oregon. $75 million of that was given and approved by the state of Oregon. And what about the renovation was highlighted by the governor? Us. The representation. Us, the Latinx and Spanish-speaking students. And if Tina Kotek can see the benefit of our language, why can't you all? These students are the future. It's time we open our eyes. One day, they will be the ones sitting in this seat, continuing to advocate, leading these conversations, and continuing the work that we started. You also have a choice. Be transparent, release the data, listen to your students and families, and save the dual immersion program. . When we fight, we win. Thank you.

1:45:50 Hello, Anna. On deck is Jim Cupples. Good evening. Is this good? Good evening, board members. My name is Priscilla Hall, or Anna Priscilla Hall. I'm a parent of the student in Springfield's dual immersion program, entering the second grade, Guy Lee. I'm here because bilingualism and biculturalism are deeply personal to my family. I am of indigenous Mexican ancestry, and generations ago, my family lost their native language through assimilation. My great-great-grandfather chose not to teach his language to his children because of fear of discrimination. While some traditions survived, much of our language and culture were

1:46:35 gradually lost over time. My mother came to the United States, and a new challenge emerged. Many of us felt pressure not to speak Spanish in the classroom. And we were marginalized, and speaking Spanish was often as something a shame rather than to be proud of. Today, I have the opportunity to give my children a different experience. My daughter attends the dual immersion, and her father is African American and speaks very little Spanish, making this program an important part of preserving a language and culture that could otherwise be lost within a generation.

1:47:20 At the same time, I'm putting another hat on here. We work hard to help our daughter connect with her African American heritage. Last summer, she participated in programs and activities that exposed her to the Black cultural history and community. This year, unfortunately, the Honey Summer Academy was canceled on short notice due to funding challenges. As a result, we were once again searching for new ways to provide education and cultural enrichment opportunities for her for this summer. In a community where both Spanish-speaking and Black populations are relatively small, these opportunities can be difficult to find.

1:48:09 This is why the program like dual immersion matters. They are not simple language classes. They help students develop identity, belonging, culture, understanding, and the ability to connect with people from different backgrounds. They create opportunities that many families cannot easily recreate on their own. We often talk about preparing students for the future workforce, and as someone who has worked in healthcare, I have seen firsthand how valuable bilingual professionals are in our community. We need more bilingual educators, healthcare workers, business leaders, and public servants like you guys.

1:48:54 We need people who can communicate across cultures and build trust with the diverse families who call Springfield home. My daughter should not choose between her languages, her culture, or her future. Springfield should be a place where all of these parts of her identity can grow. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. And Jim Cupples. Good evening, Springfield School Board. Jim Cupples, Springfield resident with a son in the school district, as well as two nieces who are in the immersion program.

1:49:40 So, I'd like to talk to you tonight a little bit about my own experiences with Spanish in the workforce. I work for the Oregon Department of Agriculture. I'm not here as their representative, but I'm bringing that up because that's my experience. And I want to tell you that the most effective professionals that I work with in agriculture or construction, they are bilingual. And it's not just the cultural benefits that a lot of the people have spoken to, but this is a real return on investment for these students professionally when they graduate. If you visit a food processor, ranch,

1:50:28 farm, dairy in this state you will hear Spanish. It's the way it is. So I bring that up because the benefit of immersion, I see it as it's that everyday exposure to Spanish that allows people to talk in the real world bilingually. So there's great arguments for the cultural benefit, but I just also want to raise, as it's been raised before, that there is the employability and financial opportunities that come along with it. So once again, I'll speak to the ag community, and that depends upon communication across cultures and languages. Investing in Spanish dual immersion is an

1:51:16 investment in these students' future. It's their employability, and it's also legitimate leadership opportunities. And I was thinking while other people were talking about the leadership in those positions, and some of it is being able to communicate, and there's another element where there's a respect between the cultures of being willing to learn that language and speak with your professional colleagues. So I urge you to do whatever you can to maintain this program, because it's going to mean a lot for the students that graduate. That's it. Thank you.

1:52:01 Thank you for everyone who put in the time to address the board, including the written comment that we received early. This board does really appreciate the input and your involvement, and coming to share your thoughts with us. We can't know everything on our own, so when we hear the stories, when we hear the information, it's very helpful. We're going to move on to our action items, but I'm going to do a quick little five-minute break in case anybody-- I know board members have been here since 4:30, so we'll take a quick break. We'll be back at 6:30.

2:00:49 Hello everyone. We're going to continue in just a moment, but we inadvertently left one public comment off the list. So at this time, we're going to complete that list and ask Marshall Curry to come forward. Thank you, sir. You might have to press it. It's off, yeah? Tech check? I can. Tech check? Yes. Thank you. Thank you for honoring the technicality there, Board Chair Light and staff. I really appreciate that. My name is Marshall Curry. I grew up in Springfield. I attended Guy Lee.

2:01:35 And when I attended Guy Lee, ESOL was a separate program. When I attended middle school, it was a separate program. When I attended high school, I was separated from many of my peers, and I remember feeling like I did not need to learn Spanish. I felt like I could be separate and be successful. In university, I learned that that separation causes problems and leads to worse outcomes. In graduate school, I learned that ESOL programs have worse outcomes than dual immersion programs. The research shows that dual immersion programs leads to successful outcomes beyond the students learning the native language. This is an opportunity for our district to

2:02:22 honor and unify our community. I'm a Springfield parent with the capacity and funds available to send my children to other schools for language learning. And instead, when we were considering where to send my son to kindergarten last year, we chose to attend Springfield Public Schools because of their dual immersion program. He attends my elementary school, and I celebrate the fact that he's there, and he's learning the skills to honor other people, honor other cultures, honor other language, as well as gain the skills to speak to his family who speak in other languages. Not Spanish, but he will gain the building blocks to be able to do so. I also come today to share that I work in workforce development

2:03:10 and career technical education as a public servant, and am aware of many studies and well-researched outcomes that expanding dual immersion opportunities will improve revenue opportunities for the district, our students, and our overall economy. Please consider the impact of adding to systemic oppression, as opposed to consider reinstating and expanding the dual immersion program. I appreciate your support of this program going forward, and I'm happy to answer any questions and brainstorm more solutions. As you all are aware, people in Springfield are savvy and like to hustle, and so I want to, again, offer what has been called for earlier.

2:03:56 If there's more community engagement opportunities and brainstorming on how to support a program like this, this community is ready to do so and ready to join you in that partnership. Thank you for the additional time to speak. I appreciate it. Thank you. At this time, we'll move on to agenda item four, under action items A, approval of the consent agenda. So, I don't believe there's anything on the consent agenda, because we deleted one item and pulled the other item. Okay. Just wanted to confirm that. I have similar language here. Okay. So, thanks for the clarification. Which then moves us to 4B, appointment of the interim

2:04:42 superintendent. So when will we talk about the item that got pulled from the consent agenda? Well, that's what I was going to do at this time- Okay ... since it's the only item remaining. Okay. We can move it to the end if you'd prefer. No, I don't. Whatever you want to, I'm fine with it. I think it makes sense just to do it under consent- Okay ... even though it's just one item with the removal of the other one. Okay. So, do we need a motion to approve these minutes, and then have the discussion? We need a motion to approve the consent agenda, and since this is a singular item, the conversation will extend only around that, if there is that. Okay. So moved. I'll second. Okay. Moved by Director Bru, seconded by Director Cole.

2:05:30 At this time, are there any comments or questions regarding the single item? Yeah. So, I'm confused with this latest. At the previous meeting, I believe we tabled this for some corrections to be brought back. Looks like there are several paragraphs that moved several pages, and so I'm confused about what's going on. And also, there was some language that was supposed to be included that doesn't appear to be in there. So, I'm trying to figure... Yeah, it's hard to sort out between the two, but this version that we've got in our packet has actions that I don't think took place where they got moved to.

2:06:16 I will say on page two, in the middle of page two, after the motion to approve the May 11th meeting, it said, "Motion passed 4-1." Then there's several paragraphs about the consent agenda, and I think that discussion actually happened in the order of the meeting right before the action items, which should've been on page five. So, this is very confusing when language moves from one version of the minutes we get to another set. In addition, there was, I think, related to the item 4A1, there was supposed to be that

2:07:05 language that Director Bru moved to table that, and Director Lait seconded it, and that passed 5-0, and that's not in there either. So, I'm... Would it make sense, Director Cole, if we removed it once again for our next board meeting? You make the corrections as seen, and I would request this time that the corrections are italicized so that other board members know what the corrections are and- Somehow, yeah ... strike-throughs and that, so that when it comes before us again, we'll be clear as far as what the changes or deletions are. Yeah. I'm okay with that. So- So, any changes made in discussion like this to the minutes, italicize those. Yes. That's possible to

2:07:52 do. The other question is, maybe it would be best if we met with you individually to go, so that we can make sure that we address and- Sure ... look back. And so maybe we can schedule a meeting to- Okay. Sure. Yeah ... adjust the minutes. Okay. Does that make sense? Yeah. Okay. So- So, I'm not going to call for a vote on the singular item, given that we're going to remove it at this time. Do we- Is that a correct procedure on that? In the past, we did a motion to table it for a future... Okay. Discussion. And we can do that, too. Yeah. So, that's probably the more formal approach. Let's go ahead and do that. Okay. So, do I have a motion? Move to table. Second. So, moved by Director Bru to table the consent

2:08:39 agenda item listed as the approval May 11, 2026 board meeting minutes. And second by Director Cole. I'll call for the vote. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. Any against? Nicole, did you- Sorry, I. Okay. So motion to table carries five to nothing. Moving on then to the appointment of the interim superintendent, under action item B. I would move approval of the appointment of Sean Stover as our interim superintendent.

2:09:24 I second. So moved by Director Cole, seconded by Director Langworthy. Okay. I just want to make sure my paperwork is in order, then I have a resolution to read after that. Is that correct? In the next action item. Okay. So any comments or questions? I have a comment. So for my vote tonight for

2:10:10 Stover, it's about moving our district forward. Over the past several months, I have heard a consistent message from staff, families, students, and community members. People are looking for stability, transparency, clear communication, and leadership that helps bring people together. More than anything, they want the confidence that our focus remains on serving students well. I often think of leadership as being a lighthouse to the needs of those they lead. A lighthouse does not control the storm, but it provides clarity, direction, and reassurance in uncertain times. I believe our community is looking for that kind of steady leadership now. Stover, I need to share my appreciation for your willingness to step into this role

2:10:55 and serve our students, family, and community. Rebuilding trust and strengthening relationships will require effort from all of us, the board, district leadership, staff, families, and community members. I'm committed to doing my part. With hope for the future and confidence in the path ahead, I will be voting yes. Thank you. Any other comments from board members? Nicole? Okay, I'm going to go ahead and call for the vote. I'm going to do a roll call vote on this one. So Director Cole? Yes. Director Brew? Yes. Director Langworthy? Yes. Director DeGraff? Yes.

2:11:40 Director Light is yes. So motion carries five to nothing. Congratulations, and we're all very excited. So the next item is the actual approval of the interim superintendent contract, Resolution 25-26.070. I'll go ahead and read the preamble and then the recommendation. The Springfield Board of Education engaged the services of Grenmeier Leader Services on April 13th, 2026, to conduct a search for a new interim superintendent. With the help of thoughtful feedback from the stakeholder panels, the school board held several executive sessions to review and

2:12:27 thoroughly vet the candidates. Following interviews, the board reached a unanimous decision, began a background check, and contract negotiations. So it is therefore the recommendation that the board of directors hire John O. Stover, also known as Sean, as interim superintendent of Springfield Public Schools effective July 1, 2026, and approve the employment contract between Mr. Stover and the governing board of Springfield School District Number 19 for the 2026-27 fiscal year. Move approval of the contract. It's moved by Director Cole. I second. Seconded by Director Langworthy.

2:13:12 Any comments or questions? Hearing none, again, just I think it's been said by so many people in the community, and again, I want to thank the students and the community and the staff who participated in this effort. It really, really was helpful. So it was a team effort, and we're so excited to have Dr. Stover with us. I'll go ahead and call for the vote, and again, a roll call vote. Director DeGraff? Yes. Director Langworthy? Yes. Director Brew? Yes. Director Cole? Yes. And Director Light, an enthusiastic yes.

2:13:57 So welcome to the Springfield School District. And I've asked Dr. Stov-- Yes. Oh, sorry. Dr. Stover, if you'd be so kind as to share a few words with us. Sure. Thank you so much. I appreciate the trust you've put in me. I want to thank a number of people. First of all, I want to thank my family, particularly my two boys, Alexander, who is actually a school custodian in Wake County, and my other son, my younger son, Andrew, who works as a legislative fiscal analyst for the state of Maryland. And in particular, I want to thank my wife, who has allowed me to pursue my passion for 37 years and has been there with me.

2:14:43 And also, if you're ever worried that I'm going to get a big head, you don't have to, because she's probably watching this and I'll get the report and she'll say, "Yeah, you didn't do as well as you thought you did." So I want to thank her. I wouldn't be where I am without them. And I want to thank the board, and I love the analogy of the leader as a lighthouse. I actually think the school district is a lighthouse for our community, and I take that very seriously, and that's what we need to do. Education is the one thing that provides mobility for our students, can bring our community together, and when not done with the community, sometimes can pull our community apart, and that's what I seek to do. I love- Understanding the community, getting to know the community, and then bringing us

2:15:31 together around our students, our most precious resource. And they face so many barriers in their lives, and education can be the thing that opens up opportunities for them. So I'm excited to work with the board. I would also say this, our best districts in the country, they've got great governance. And great governance means all of us working together, and not the separation between the board, central office, and the schools, but one entity working together towards a common purpose, and I really hope that we can get there. Not hope, I know, and we will get there. I want to thank the community. The fact that we've had so many people speak about an issue they're passionate about shows the community support is there, and that's what we're going to build on.

2:16:16 The wanting of vision for our students and coming together for that vision. I'm going to need the community as part of my entry plan, which I'll present to you. There will be a lot of community engagement, and I want to hear from them. I've had some people already reach out to me and I've said, "Well, I would love for you to help plan what I'm going to do and who I'm going to speak with." And then mostly, I want to thank our staff, our principals, our teachers, our central office, and our staff. By all accounts, I don't think anybody here would be shocked or push back when I say it's been a hard year for the district. But even though things have been hard,

2:17:01 our staff has focused on the reason we're all here, the reason you sit in these seats, the reason I sit in this seat, because we're focused on the students. And they haven't let the hardness, the noise, the distractions take them from that. Springfield is a district on the rise, rising graduation rates, rising achievement. And we need to make sure everybody understands that, but we need to also critically look at ourselves and see how we can continue to get better. And how we're going to do that is by supporting our staff, particularly our teachers. The number one determinant of student success in the classroom is the quality of the teachers and the quality of support the teachers get, and I'm all in on that. And I know you are as well. So that's all I have. I'm excited about this opportunity.

2:17:48 I'm headed back to North Carolina tomorrow morning at 5:10. Going to spend two days there, and then I'm tooling across the country to come back by July 1st. So I'm excited. Thank you so much for the trust. I hope I can rise to the occasion. Thank you. This time we'll go ahead and move on then to action item D, the approval of designating a district clerk for the interim superintendent Resolution 2526.071. Okay. So the relevant data is Oregon Revised Statute

2:18:36 requires a governing body to designate at the beginning of each fiscal year the individuals who will have authorization to act as the district officers, clerks to designate the financial institution and the district uses for the investment of funds and to review the status of and rules adopted by the local public contract review board. As the district is transitioning to an interim superintendent effective July 1, 2026, it is necessary to have the school board authorize this designation. This resolution designates the clerk of the district as required by ORS 332.515. All other designations remain as approved by the school board on June 8, 2026. The recommendation is that the board of directors approve the resolution designating Sean Stover as clerk of the district

2:19:23 for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. So moved. Second. Moved by Director Leib, seconded by Director Cole. Any comments or questions? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Are there any against? Hearing none, the motion carries five to nothing. Nicole, was there a nay? No, I said aye. Okay. Because I didn't hear a nay. I assumed that... So moving on then to action item

2:20:09 E, the appointment of Assistant Superintendent. Does somebody want to read the preamble there? Beata. Open. Okay. So when the assistant superintendent position became vacant on February 28th, in alignment with the district hiring freeze, we did not fill that position for this year. It has always been our intention to fill the assistant superintendent position for the 2026-27 school year. The assistant superintendent position is in the adopted budget, and the district followed all of the required hiring practices. After speaking with interim superintendent Sean Stover today, he expressed his support for filling the position and is eager to have someone with familiarity with the district and with Oregon's educational

2:20:54 system. He believes this continuity will help facilitate a smooth transition into the coming school year. Therefore, as acting superintendent, I am asking the board to approve the hiring of Brian Megert as assistant superintendent for the 2026-27 school year. I'll move approval of hiring Dr. Megert as our assistant superintendent. Approved by, or motion by Director Cole. Do I have a second? I second. Second. Oh, sorry. Approved by Director Cole, seconded by Director DeGraff. Comments or questions? I've grappled with this one

2:21:41 a lot, because I've both served in this district when we had an assistant superintendent, but also before we had an assistant superintendent. And this is really squarely about the position, not the person. But in the financial crunch that we've been through, I feel that you really have to acknowledge keeping the budget focused on students. And, I just don't feel that I can support spending for this position. If at some point in the future budgets

2:22:27 free up or there's other opportunities, but from what I've been hearing, I'm going to have trouble with saying yes to this. My thoughts, I guess I think that under the circumstances of the transition we're experiencing, I think that it would be beneficial to have the position. I think that could be part of the discussion over the course of the next year as we head into the budget for that, we should be having discussions about what the organization looks like and with the new superintendent.

2:23:16 So, I guess I'm supportive of hiring Dr. Magert for the position and fulfilling the position. Okay. I've been really tossing this one around. Staffing rates for classroom positions have decreased with budgets, and some teachers describe their situation as working as a skeleton crew. And our enrollment continues to drop, and we're what, 8,700, I mean, somewhere in that ballpark. And this position, with benefits, it nears 300,000.

2:24:03 And it is definitely-- I've been having a hard time with this decision. I'll be honest, I just don't know what to do, just because I think about the kids in the classroom. We got 35 kids in my kids' classroom, and I just don't know how much pressure they can take. That's where I'm at right now. I'm struggling. I'm sorry, were you finished? Well, I did wonder if we could have more time on this. I mean, do we have to hurry this

2:24:51 decision? I've been feeling rushed, quite frankly, since I started on this board a year ago. Everything has been just full force. And I understand that that is the nature of this beast. But, this one, I really want to understand more of what we're doing and what we're asking of our educators and what we're asking of our community. That's where I'm at. Go ahead. I'm going to pull this card out again to say I'm really new. I'm still struggling to understand those

2:25:37 gray areas between how much the board is expected and allowed to intervene in the operations of the district and at what point the line becomes brighter. On the one hand, I think if administration feels they need this position, then on the one hand, I'm kind of expected to defer to their expertise. On the other hand, I think, gosh, if I knew that this position was going to be this controversial or, as in the dual immersion

2:26:23 program, I wish we could have had conversations beforehand and kind of all been on the same page. Because I don't consider my role to just be voting yes on everything that comes before me. All that being said, I recognize the time and effort that's gone into the work of this hiring, and I totally appreciate Jodi's wearing two hats during all this period of time. I know it's a big job. My younger brother who's done this job says, "Oh, you have no idea what

2:27:11 the assistant superintendent does." So, I am going to be voting yes on it, but I do hope, going forward, that there is a lot more conversation, a lot more proactive decision making and policy making between the office of the superintendent and the board. Thank you Nicole? Yeah, I agree with Ken, and I do think if there were concerns about filling the position, it should have been raised before the position was posted and candidates applied,

2:27:56 and the interview team invested their time. So I don't like moving the goalpost after a process is complete. It's unfair to candidates and staff. So I'm going to be voting yes. In fairness, I do recall Amber Langworthy asking this question, "When can we have this discussion about whether we need to fill this position or not?" And it did not make it onto an agenda. So, I agree we did not have that discussion, but I don't think that it wasn't requested. And I think to your point, Bob, it isn't really a board

2:28:43 policy issue as far as the administration deciding to hire staff. Well, we as a board didn't have the opportunity for the conversation, and there's two people, my understanding, that we do have the choice to hire, and that's the superintendent and the assistant superintendent. So I think it's an important discussion for board members to be included in, and especially in tight financial times. I would have preferred, and this the way that I've seen it done in the past, is

2:29:29 when the incoming superintendent has the opportunity to design their own cabinet. There is obviously an advantage of having somebody internal who knows the district, advising, particularly in a close relationship between the superintendent and the assistant superintendent. However, I think that that expertise and that understanding of the district can happen through others. And, so I think the conversation should have happened much sooner with the inclusion of the board or been left for our new interim

2:30:14 superintendent to manage that. So I do want to clarify just for the board that the board hires one person, and that's the superintendent. The board does approve both the assistant superintendent and the superintendent contracts. But technically, I believe that the board hires the superintendent, and then the superintendent hires, but the board has to approve all hires and the assistant superintendent contract. I just wanted to clarify that. That's all. I have a question. Are we going to be backfilling Brian's position if the vote is yes tonight? As Director of Special Programs? Yes, that's correct. Yes. Okay.

2:30:59 And this is a three-year contract? Is that correct? Sorry. I just got my packet as we all just got our packet as we walked in. Yes. I believe the contracts, it's law has to be either a two-year or a three-year contract, renewable each year. Okay. It's a standard administrative contract. Great. Okay. I was just wondering. Are there any other comments, questions?

2:31:45 Hearing none, I'm going to call for the vote. I'll go ahead and again do a roll call vote. Director DeGraff? Yes. Director Cole? Yes. Director Brew? Yes. Director Langworthy? The majority already spoke. I still struggle. I'm going to put my vote in as a no. And Director Light is also a no. Motion carries three to nothing. Or three to two, excuse me. Moving on then to action item 4F.

2:32:35 Mm-hmm. Please. Relevant data. This is Resolution 25-26.072. Relevant data. Springfield Public Schools posted an assistant superintendent position for internal candidates. Through the interview process that included an application and a thorough interview, the selection committee chose Brian Megert as the assistant superintendent. It is recommended that the board of directors hire Dr. Brian Megert as Assistant Superintendent of Springfield Public Schools effective July 1, 2026, and approve the employment contract between Dr. Megert and the governing board of Springfield School District Number 19. I move approval of the contract for Dr. Megert as assistant superintendent. Moved by Director Cole.

2:33:22 Second. Second by Director Brew. Comments or questions? I was incorrect. I did receive it in an email. I just wanted to make that correction. Okay, I'll go ahead and call for the vote. We'll go ahead and do a roll call. Director Brew? Yes. Director Langworthy? Yes. Yes. Director Cole?

2:34:07 Yes. Director DeGraff? Yes. And Director Lye, again, for the aforesaid reasons, I'm going to vote no. This is not against any individual at all. It's just the affordability of the position, and I will vote no. Motion carries four to one. Moving then on to the approval of the board meeting calendar, item 4G for 2026-27. Superintendent Omar? Do we need a motion? I'll move approval. I'm sorry. Well, there's two different calendars here, so I guess which one are we...

2:34:57 One has two meetings a month on it, and one has one meeting. It's not labeled. Yeah. So I will move approval of the one meeting per month calendar to start the ball rolling. To continue the ball rolling, I'll second. Okay. Pass that ball down. Comments and questions regarding the motion on the floor? So we talked about that the calendar was kind of up in the air. Do we want to just say for now that we'll just have the August 10th meeting, and at that meeting we'll adopt after... So then we'll have our retreat, and then we can adopt a calendar for the remainder of the year that would-

2:35:43 Yeah, I would adopt this calendar, and then if at the retreat the dates change, then you amend the calendar at the next board meeting. Yeah. And as far as, do we have a motion and a second, right? Yeah. Okay. So as far as a comment, I will not support the single meeting a month. I don't feel we have enough time as it stands to get stuff done. When I went through and put together sort of a projected calendar, I came up with a potential of 22 meetings. Even the two meetings per month is 18. So and I think particularly in light of what this district has been through, I'd hate to shortchange the district by only doing one meeting. I was feeling exactly the same way.

2:36:28 Given the number of things that we need to bring to a public session to discuss, I think we don't have enough time to do that. And, I'm anxious to get Superintendent Stover's opinions on this calendar as well. Okay. Other comments or questions? Let me find my notes here real quick. Da, da, da, da. Yeah, there's just a couple of things, again, I want to put on the record. It doesn't matter whether it's under the motion now, but for

2:37:13 our conversation, not only do I think we should have at least two meetings a year, but I think we should also be calendaring a retreat. I know we'll talk about that later. And I would suggest that we would go back to the habit of calling them regular meetings and work sessions, and all to start at 7:00 PM so as not to confuse the public. Special meeting, my understanding, the designation is supposed to be special in some way, so it's become routine and comments that I've gotten from the public has been that they've been confused. So a work session, you can have public comments at a work session. You can have them at a regular meeting. It's at the board's discretion on that.

2:37:59 And you can also have an action item. So if we had a work session scheduled and we wanted to add an action item, we could redesignate it a special meeting. So, it's just I want to be as transparent and as open with the community, so with those comments. Any other comments or questions? So I agree that it's confusing, the special meeting. I think we were just trying to mirror what's in the public meeting law about what meetings are referred to as a regular meeting or a special meeting, and I think a work session is a subset of a special meeting. I'm just trying to make sure we're following- Yeah, I understand the rationale, but when you look around the state, almost every district uses the terminology work session.

2:38:46 We use the terminology business meeting when that's not actually in statute. It's regular meeting. So, and again, retreat subject when we can sort of hammer this out. But this proposal, since it's on the floor, I can't support unless we want to have the motion to do the two meeting format as a starter for conversation. So since the motion's on- How about if we amend the motion to adopt the August 10th meeting and then table the remaining meetings until the retreat?

2:39:31 That's fine with me. Oh, sure. Yeah. Do I have a second to that amended motion? I'll second. Okay. So the amended motion by Director Brew, seconded by Director Cole. Any further comments or questions? Call for the vote. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Okay, so Nicole is no longer online, so motion carries four to nothing. Thank you. Then moving on to action item 4I, the Grundmeier Leadership Services Community Survey.

2:40:16 As you know, they did a survey, and I think round abouts we got 580. This was feedback from staff, community, students, all comers as far as the characteristics that they were wanting in the interim superintendent. We had a lot of responses, 580 round abouts. And so in the summary, I think it's called Stakeholder Feedback Summary. Is that right? There were a couple of pages of summary comments, and again, in the survey, the district promised, even though we didn't administer the survey, we promised anonymity and

2:41:04 confidentiality to participants. To honor that, therefore, this request is to provide a full report respecting those two ingredients, but pulling transcribed comments, which is what this one did, as long as it protects the participant from identification. And I think going forward, there is a lot of value in really having the board take a look at that information to see if it provides some trends or some insights. And actually, I would suggest maybe we want to entertain at a later date getting those same transcribed comments from our budget forums that we did. But this is to allow

2:41:50 GLS to provide that information to the board. Which then we would post on our website, right? To make available to the public. Yeah. Right? That's the intent. That's the intent. Yeah. And then also to inform the board for conversations. That might be a great topic at the retreat. Again, to be decided at a later date. I move approval. I'll second. Okay. Moved by Director Brew, seconded by Director Cole. Any other further comments, questions? So this would be posted on our Springfield website? I don't know if the full documents of all the-

2:42:37 Right ... comments would be- It's like what does that really look like? ... posted on the website. I know the board would get to see them, and then that would make them available through public records request. Yeah. Immediately would- Got it. Okay ... be provided for board members, but ultimately then once that's done, it can be requested. I just, I don't want- Or the board could be directed. And I don't want to commit to ensuring it's on the website- No ... prior to our dinner with superintendent. I just was just trying to get some clarity on that. Yeah. Okay. So I'll call for the vote. I'll do a roll call vote. I'll start with Director Langworthy. Yes. Director- Was there a specific motion?

2:43:22 I'll make a specific motion, because I mentioned the word motion, but I don't think it was formalized. Okay. Although, can't you- I just said I move approval. Okay. Yeah, but I'm, you know. So let me back up and do the formal motion. So I would move that the Springfield School Board give direction to Grundmeier Leadership Services to provide transcriptions of the comments provided in the stakeholder survey, respecting the anonymity and the confidentiality of the participant. I'll second. Okay. Now, I'll call for the vote. Director Langworthy?

2:44:08 Yes. Director Brew? Yes. Director Cole? Yes. Director Lait? Yes. Motion carries four to nothing. Moving then onto discussion topics. 5A is the 2026-27 board planning document. Superintendent Omar. So we made a copy of this for the board. It's the board planning document. I believe that you each also have an electronic copy of this. Wanted to provide this for you, both a physical copy as well as the online copy, so that you have this when you do your retreat for board planning. This has all of the items that need to occur monthly in your regular business meetings for the board, and so

2:44:57 you'll want to use this when you do your planning in your retreat for your board meetings. Okay. So I didn't know if you had any questions about it or not, but I wanted to bring it just so you have it, if there's any questions about it. Well, as far as a comment, I think this was something that we've talked about. I know when Director Cole was vice chair, we talked about some kind of a planning guide because sometimes life takes over, and it does in the school district as well. So having those actually scripted on a document allows us, I think, to be more intentional and more planful, particularly around requests for information or additional things that would help make us a better decision. This is where you would want to put, if you wanted to have

2:45:44 monthly presentations from different levels, elementary this month, middle school this month, high school this month, this would be the place to put that so that everybody in the district, whether they're a student or a staff member or a board member or a parent knows, "Oh, the elementary presentation is this month. What two schools is it or what three schools is it that's going to be presenting?" And so, it also gives district staff then the ability to say, "Oh, this next month is elementary presentation. Let's figure out what we're going to present and what's relevant and what is the board wanting," that kind of thing. So it helps to- With very clear, this is the plan for the year, this is when this is coming. You could put board events and activities. I know I've used the comment bagels with the board before. At which schools or if you're doing school visits, this

2:46:31 is the month we're going to be visiting elementary schools. Yeah. This is the month we're going to visit middle schools, this is the month we're going to visit high schools. And so it's all laid out for the board, and it holds people accountable to, this is what happened, this is what we've scheduled, this is what's going to happen. As long as you use the planning document, then it holds people accountable to know, oh, yep, this is happening this month. Right. Tom, answer questions? I think this could be a very useful tool. I think we need to get staff to help us out too, because there's a range of reports and things that are supposed to come on a regular basis, that those would be on there so

2:47:16 those aren't coming in late for whatever reason. And, yeah, so. And a lot of those are on here. Just from my perusal of it, a lot of them are on here. You also typically would put if there's policy updates. When the board has their retreat, you can decide how you want to do policy updates. Do you want to do them monthly? Do you want to have one meeting every quarter where you sit down for four hours and you go through all the policy updates? I've seen boards do it different ways. So you also can put that on here, because the policy updates come out at a certain time every year. When reports are due to ODE, when things have to be shared with the board before they go to ODE or before they go to the state or the federal for reports. So it's all on here.

2:48:02 So it's a collaboration between the board and district staff to say, "This is what needs to be on the planning document." Is this looking forward or is this looking back over the last year and- Some of the stuff on here just carries over because it's the same report. Like in February, it's the same report that you would get before you report to ODE. You have to report certain things to the board. So some of them are carried over from what has been happening in the past, but there's definitely room and opportunity to add other reports and other presentations and information that the board wants. I was just looking at the action items in February, and it says- Mm-hmm ... "Action on info discussed in executive session."

2:48:47 And that would be one of the ones that was carried over that may not nece- It hasn't been cleaned up- Okay ... to take out what- Oh my gosh, we've got them that far ahead and you know something's coming up. Oh, yeah. So it hasn't been cleaned up enough to, like you said, take that off. That's fine. That's good. But yeah. That was a good point. And once we have our discussion, whenever we have our discussion about more board meetings, I would actually like to break it out even more definitively, more discreetly around the meeting schedule. So right now, this is sort of per month, and I get that, but I'd like to make it even more definitive of this is what's going to happen on this meeting, and this meeting, and this meeting so that the board can give direction.

2:49:32 I would also like to somehow designate those things that are required versus those things that are optional. So nutrition services, et cetera. Mm-hmm. We are required to do those, and so knowing that that's required, we can't take that off, we can't flex that, I think would be important for the board to know so that with the many questions we have, then we can insert them where it seemingly where it looks like we have time. There was also the suggestion from Director Cole in another conversation about maybe when we move to the nitty-gritty of our actually posting of the agenda, that we time things, or rough time, so that we can sort of stay on track a little bit more. We can always get more time, but again, wanting to be more intentional with what that means and how it

2:50:19 works, I think is important. So there's one other addition I think we could add to this, is that when we have these meetings, oftentimes there's follow-up that's supposed to happen or action items to put in there and so that we're tracking those, that when those could be submitted or when we receive that additional information. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I know last year I attempted a request tracker for information. Or you could put that on here. Okay. That way we could keep up with what our questions are. Yeah. Okay. I sort of have that on my own agenda setting spreadsheet, but I think it'd be very useful, so I move them forward and then we don't lose track of them.

2:51:05 Be even better in a Google Doc so that we can all say, "Oh, yeah. Right. I need to do some homework on that," or whatever, so that's a great suggestion. And you can assign it in Google to- Responsibility ... a specific person, and then it can go to their email notifying them, "Hey, by the way, Jonathan, this is assigned to you." And then there's an email reminder, "Hey, I need to make sure this gets done." And I can make this work? Yes, you can make this work. Just saying. Remains to be seen. In theory, it can work. Yeah. Good feedback. And I would like to suggest when we're doing our year plan, that we leave some room at each meetings so that we can deal with stuff within a reasonable amount of time.

2:51:53 If it's like, "Okay, we'll discuss that next month," not like, "Okay, in October we got some time." Well, and we've talked about placeholder is what you call them. Yeah. So you leave a placeholder that's open- Yeah ... and literally call it open. Yeah. And as you get closer to the meeting, you will know whether you can use that time or not. And God forbid we would have a meeting that ends early, so. That could happen too It could happen, in theory. I was looking back at old minutes from 2016 and on, and it was amazing how short they were. Just how short the agenda was then. Okay, so any other comments,

2:52:38 further, or questions before moving on? No, thank you, Jody. Okay. Thank you for providing the copies to us. Discussion item 5B, procedures for meeting minutes. And that's supposed to be meeting notice. Director Cole had questions about how the meeting notices for the agenda are sent out. And so people sign up. We have a Listserv, and I have one copy of it. When it goes out, these email addresses, they're embedded in it, but they're not discoverable, and part of that is just for confidentiality purposes. So I can show you the list, but I will ask that you give it back. So what happens is, for anyone who wants to receive a copy of our meeting agendas and the notice that we send out, they notify and sign up,

2:53:26 and we add them to the list. They can also say, "Take me off the list." I don't know that people typically do that because it's a pretty long list. So that's how, when the list goes out, they contact us. And I can pass this around. You can look at it if you want to. But typically, that's how they sign up for it to go out. Yeah. Was that... Well, I brought this up because, when we had our public meeting law training, it came up that individual board members are responsible that the meeting notices go to everybody that it's intended. Mm-hmm. And we're out of that loop. Correct. Likewise with the meeting notifications, including the agenda. Mm-hmm. And I did see, recently, where there was

2:54:12 several, I don't know if it was all of the members of this Transportation Planning Advisory Committee in Portland, and they all had to sign, "We did this bad thing. We'll get training," because they held a meeting online and it wasn't online. And so it's something I would envision that is outside of our control if this meeting doesn't get distributed, and yet we are personally responsible, individually responsible for that. Right. So it's how do we ensure that- Yeah. Well, and I think you asking the questions like you did, how do we manage the Listserv, how do people get on the Listserv, and then ensuring that it goes out. And Marty's pretty

2:54:58 type A about making sure that everything goes out on time when it's supposed to go out. If it says it's going out at noon, it goes out at noon. If it says the deadline's 2:00, the deadline's 2:00. She is very aware of that and really takes that- Yeah ... responsibility to heart. And so, if there's somebody who's not getting, or if somebody's not on the Listserv and wants to be, or you're not receiving it, just quick email to say, "Hey, I didn't get it" would be- I'm certainly not- ... great. So I- Yeah, yeah. I'm not questioning Marty's work in this case. It's just that hearing this, that we're individually responsible and- Yeah ... doing some due diligence about that. Yeah. They said it several times. Yeah. Oh, I'm sure they did. Yes. They want to make sure you know that, and I think that's good to then ask the questions, how does this happen?

2:55:43 How do we help ensure that that happens? Yeah. Okay, any other questions? Okay. Moving to action item 5C, family exit survey. Director Brew, this came forward as your suggestion. Yes. So this is going to be... And we can discuss this more in the future, but I know that we've talked a lot about what is happening with our enrollment and so on, and I think everybody has anecdotes. We can tell you about declining birth rates or my friend moved their kids over here, or they're homeschooling because of this or that. But I'm

2:56:31 a data guy, okay? And so, just out of curiosity, I looked at what our fall enrollment survey was for our high school seniors this last year, and we had 798 as of the fall enrollment survey, according to the state. And just out of curiosity, I went back to 2014/15, and we had 885 first graders, that in theory would be seniors this last year. That's a reduction of 87 students, 10%, which would be like, "Well, that happens." It's like, "No, it doesn't." When I look at

2:57:19 our four closest neighbors, Eugene, Marcola, McKenzie, and Pleasant Hill, they went up 229 students. All of them, with the exception of McKenzie, went up. McKenzie lost one student. So for whatever reason, we're losing 87 students, and they're gaining 229. And even if you back out Marcola, which I understand does a lot of online stuff, it's still 187 students that are being picked up by our neighboring districts that we're losing. And there's a reason for that, and I'm not going to speculate on what that reason could be.

2:58:04 But I think that it's worthy of a survey or some type of study to figure out really, what's the actual data? What is going on? It may be just rents are too high, and if that's the case- Okay. But just speculating and anecdotes isn't getting us any information, and we can't do anything unless we have really good data. And I know the fall enrollment data isn't perfect, but it's the data we have. And if it's imperfect for us, it's also imperfect for Eugene, and Marcola, and Pleasant Hill and so on. And just for those that are curious, while we were losing 10% of our students, Lane County schools as a whole were going up 5%. So,

2:58:54 somehow we're 15% behind the curve. So, it would be good to find out why. So, just to add to the topic, potentially at our retreat. Well, as you know, I'm highly supportive of this because I think we're making decisions in a vacuum. Declining birth rate I'm sure does play in, but the students that we're talking about, the 2,500 that we've lost in eight years, that's a $27 million impact on revenue if all those kids were still here. So, I think it's critically important. Is it online? Is it home school? Is it church school? Did they move? Was the pay better in another district? I don't know, and I think it'd be wrong to conjecture what that reason

2:59:41 is. But to me, just having someone who needs hours this summer, get on the phone, get on the email, start contacting people so that when we have these larger discussions, we have the data at hand. So, I don't know if there's room in the budget now, but I'd certainly rather have the information sooner rather than later. We heard tonight that here's a dual immersion program that kids intentionally, or I should say families intentionally selected, and now they're questioning that decision. I've heard from a number of parents and staff about the students feeling not safe and not in a good learning environment.

3:00:29 And folks that have the wherewithal to go elsewhere or have other options, I think are declaring, this isn't just Springfield, this is overall in public education. But, I will fight tooth and nail to keep those folks here, giving them the programs to the best that we can that will make them feel that this is where they want to be. So, thank you for bringing this forward. And I'm very proud of Springfield Schools. And you make a point about how much it would cost to do this survey, but I look at it as an investment because the more students we can keep and get into our district,

3:01:16 the better the financial prospects for the district are. So... Well, and as far as the cost, it's actually quite minuscule. If you're picking someone, they don't have to be certified, they don't have to have an administrative license to do this. And I think that there's a lot of folks that in the summer could use the income, and if they're multilingual, that would be an advantage. And I actually think that even a couple people, and we could get the information faster. I've had the comment made that it's difficult to do because people don't respond, and I get that, but, A, districts have quite a bit of

3:02:02 contact information among the family, and non-response is actually a data point. So, it would be good to know what that level is. I think it's an opportune time as well. The public has been watching us, especially this year, and let's jump on that. I would be interested to see what this kind of exit survey rollout would look like. But yeah- Yeah ... I do like what I hear. So, I'm supportive of that. I guess I think about it, it's easy to just talk about it in general terms. It becomes more difficult in practice to lay

3:02:49 it out, what questions you're asking, what data you're collecting. And I would say, are there other districts that have done this, and how they modeled that, and how they did that survey, and the data they collected that we could copy rather than just reinvent the wheel? I spoke to two other superintendents, who will remain nameless, in districts, and neither had done that or had any ideas to do that. And in fact, my suggestion was maybe it's a shared interest, so we could all work together on that. So, I'm not aware of any other district doing that. So is there something that we'd advocate

3:03:36 OSBA or even ODE to help understand that we're not the only one losing students. I grant we're losing probably a greater rate than the state average clearly, but is there other places we can get that maybe data that's readily available we can use and just... Yeah. I would hate to go down the road of doing the information, this is not very detailed in what we're asking for, and then get information back that's, "Well, that's not what we were expecting or what we wanted to see." And having maybe more of a proposal of what that would look like. Director Brew? Well, I think this won't get us

3:04:21 all the way there, but I'm sure that if students transferred to other districts Um, especially in the local area, Lane ESD will have that data. If they're homeschooling, Lane ESD will have that data. It won't tell us the why, but it will tell us the where. Mm-hmm. Um, and so even if we don't get responses, at least we'll know where those kids went for the most part. At least it's a place to start. Okay. So, I think if we talked to Lane ESD, they may have data folks that could help us with that. Yeah. And the reason I'm reluctant to add layers, uh, I agree with Lane ESD because they do have the homeschool information and that

3:05:07 online and all that. Um, but I'm concerned about Springfield in specific, and I think we can move faster. Every layer that you add will slow down the process, and I just want to get in there. To me, it doesn't have to be 100% accurate, but it will probably, if you reach a critical mass of participants, you'll start seeing trends, and that'll at least give us a little bit of information that we can have conversations around. Other input? Okay, it's just discussion and, you know. Um, so at a future point, we'll come back and probably need to have some kind of an action item. With

3:05:52 permission, could I reach out to Lane ESD and just say, "Is this something that you can help with?" So I have more information to bring back at our retreat. At this point, I would rely on maybe our new superintendent when he comes in. Things are kind of, we're in this last week of school when maybe things don't get done. July can be a challenging month because people take off, but I'll bet our incoming superintendent will have some ideas probably on this. I was just going to say, I'm actually taking some notes on some thoughts and ideas to also- Thank you ... share with Sean about ways that that can happen. So just hold off on ESD. They're also going through a transition of a new

3:06:37 superintendent, so yeah. Yeah. And we do have a lot of the- I just met her. I bought a refrigerator from her on Marketplace. We do have a lot of the information because they report to us- Yeah ... like on homeschool. But anyway, thank you for bringing this forward. Um, it's okay to move forward? Mm-hmm. Okay, so moving on to discussion item 5D. Again, uh, Director Brew. This is- Anti-bullying policy ACB/GBNA or JFCF. So this was also me because when I got my board briefing notebook, all I had

3:07:22 was that all that's in that section is policy ACB. Um, and I thought, "Boy, this is pretty light." And so, but when I got the other two, I thought, "This is good information," but I would love to have at some point, and I don't know who is the thought leader on anti-bullying district wide, but I'd love to have a presentation, perhaps at a meeting, a work session, or whatever, on what this policy says on paper and what it looks like in practice,

3:08:07 and what is the one-pager that we can share with parents to say, "If your kid's bullied, this is what happens. Once you file the report or whatever, this is what typically happens, and this is what the rights are of the people involved," and so on. Because I think there's a lot of miscommunication or misunderstanding, um, and I think it's something that we could, as a district, really stand to be proactive at. I would encourage you to write that on this planning document. I will. And then, yeah, I think that's a great presentation to add to this. And even if it's just a list of these are presentations we'd like to see from district staff or in regards to bullying

3:08:55 or the harassment policy, and you write that on the list of a presentation, then district staff can say, "Gosh, this is a perfect time to do that. We're going to do it in October." And then they can fill in where it might be more appropriate to have it, but at least then they know these are presentations that the board is wanting to have. So I would definitely add that to the list when you're doing your planning document. Okay. When I started hearing from folks who were concerned with the behavior issues, and this has come from staff and subs and parents and students themselves, um, I asked the question whether we had a district-wide behavior plan. Um, and I was told we have a student rights and responsibilities. But along your process, I think we need something

3:09:42 for parents, for students, and for staff that sort of outlines, uh, behaviors, responses, too, so that they're equal and so it gives some kind of a guide as far as a starting point. You don't want to make it ironclad, but I think that would be a tremendous value, and I'd love to have a broader discussion about this. The policies that you reference sort of break it down in different classes, uh, but is it inclusive? Does it include everyone? Because I think we can work better with families if we can point to a certain thing and saying, "So here's what happened, and here's what we could do, but let's sit down, let's talk. Let's figure this out." Uh, because we've got to get back

3:10:29 to where teachers can teach and students can learn. Every student, every day. Other thoughts or responses to Bob's suggestion? Okay. Going to move on then to discussion item 5E, and Bob, this is all about you again. I know. So, this is a proposal, and we can discuss this more at future meetings, but the idea of having an attorney present at all of our meetings. Just in all the other public boards I've served on,

3:11:14 there was always an attorney basically at the table. And there are a lot of reasons. They can let you know if you're straying off topic in an executive session, or if you're making decisions that you haven't properly noticed, or if there are First Amendment rights being violated during public comment, provide real-time information on legal risks of potential decisions. It removes the middleman. It takes the district staff out of being the person trying to interpret what the lawyer said to the board.

3:12:01 And they can be sometimes a neutral third party, either between the board and the public or between the board and the administration, if that should be necessary. So, there are a lot of reasons to consider it. On the other hand, I've heard it's not free. But if it saves you from one lawsuit, it probably pays for itself. So- Mm-hmm ... I think it's worth some further discussion. I know there are different models. Some districts have an attorney there all the time, some never do. Mm-hmm. And so I don't think there's one right way or wrong way, but

3:12:48 I think it's worth discussing. Director Cole, any thoughts? I'm not opposed to that. It'd be good to get what would be the charges. It'd be great if there was somebody, a firm locally that... I think we have at least one firm locally, if they would be willing to do that and what that would cost would be good to know. We do have a local firm that is on the list that you approved at the last board meeting for attorneys. We did reach out knowing that this question was coming from Director Brew. And the estimate, and I'm going to say an estimate because prices go up, is that it would be around $304 an hour.

3:13:33 So that's something the board is going to have to think about, and see how it aligns with the board's budget. Mm-hmm. And it is something that in the past has happened for Springfield School District. I don't know how long ago, but in my history of learning, that they did used to have an attorney sit on their school board. A lot of school boards do. They're usually larger districts, Portland, Beaverton, Salem-Keizer. Some of the boards, they will have an attorney sit on their board. But there is a local firm that is available, and they are the ones that sat on the board previously, so... Thank you. Director Langworthy. I was just wondering if anyone knows anyone that would do it pro bono.

3:14:18 No, I would be entertained by this too. Again, it's been a really challenging year, and it would be helpful to have guidance. At times as a board member, you feel a little bit like you're in a silo, put on a deserted island, and then it just would be helpful to have someone who can provide some guardrails, and just makes it feel a little safer to continue doing our governance work, because that's what I came here to do, is do board work.

3:15:03 And so, yeah, I'd be entertained by that. Thank you. As the old-timer on the board, I remember when we had that attorney. And at that time, we rarely utilized his services, but it was nice having that presence there, and we could refer to him in real time, and I think that's really what we're missing. Obviously, things have changed a lot, particularly in the area of public meetings law and serial communication. And though there is an expense involved, there's often an expense on the other side when you do things and you don't fully understand the ramifications. So, I would definitely be supportive of looking

3:15:51 further and having that conversation, determining actually what the cost would be, and going forward with that discussion. Because we want to make sure, and again, because of the budget challenges, that we have to be really, really intentional in how we manage those dollars. So, and again, the retreat agenda might be a good time to have that discussion. At least give some guidance to the superintendent as far as pursuing it. Anything else on that topic? Okay. Thank you, Director Brew, for bringing those forward. We're going to move on then to item number 5F, the retreat. I have to acknowledge that Amber Director Langworthy has done most of the

3:16:39 legwork on this. But I'm highly supportive, and I can't tell you how many years I've been asking for this. I think it's critically important that at the very least we have annual retreats, and maybe even mid-year, so that you have the opportunity to check in. Again, it's that intentionality. What are the goals we're setting? Our goals and mission and all of that, I don't think have been revisited in maybe a decade. And are there metrics? How do we know when we get there? I think that's really, really important. We want, I think, our goals and strategies to be intentional. If I'm going to put my name on it, then I would like to have some ownership over that.

3:17:25 And again, it's about working as a team and having all the information out there that we can agree to. So with that, do you want to say sort of where we're at now? Yeah. I've reached out to Mr. Stover, and I've talked with you guys about August 5th. I haven't heard back from Nicole. I know she rescinded her resignation. So I have not heard back from her yet if that works. But, yeah, I have August 5th so far. So, I will bring up, I guess that's very short amount of time between now and then. And

3:18:10 I think we need to, in a public meeting, kind of establish the agenda for that. Mm-hmm. So this is our last public meeting. We've got until August 10th. Is it going to be facilitated? Who's going to do the facilitation? Where's it going to be? There's not very much time between now and- I'm looking over at Stover, and he looks like he wants to come up here. Make a suggestion. I think it would be wise to have a two-person board planning, retreat planning committee to talk about goals, outcomes, because you already have a long list, and all very worthy. But we have a finite amount of time, and what I've done in the past is we've had a

3:18:56 board planning committee that is the minimum number that you can have for the committee structure, and then they've presented their recommendations to the board, and we've done that. And I agree, retreats are extremely useful. If you don't have a vision of where you're going, then anywhere is fine. Right? And I don't think that's what we want to do. So that would be my suggestion. I can expedite that as quickly as possible, but I think the meeting structure is going to be tough with the 10th and then having a retreat on the 5th. That would make it hard if we want to have full input. So you could either have a board planning committee, they could distribute, get some feedback, and then schedule it, or you could have the planning committee then make a presentation at the board meeting of

3:19:44 tweaking it and then having the retreat sometime after that August 10th board meeting. And there's always the option of calling another board meeting to talk about the retreat if you want to. But again, July is tough because so many staff members take off, and we want to make sure we give them that time. Yeah. I'll be here, but... I'd like to follow a little on that. We do have our organizational meeting, and usually it's in the first Monday of the month, which is the 6th, and to my knowledge, that doesn't have to necessarily be limited to just voting for chair and vice chair. I know that's a traditional thing, but we could expand that. Is that correct? To maybe include retreat. I'm going to defer to... I don't see any problem with it, but I want to make sure I don't tell you- I shouldn't have asked you.

3:20:29 Yeah, no, but I think the board sets the agenda. So you can add or take away from the agenda. And I love the document, the planning document, and then even taking that down to quarterly and then kind of charting out every meeting is going to be very helpful. Yeah. And we can make sure we give the board all the information they have. But I think the key is because there hasn't seemed to have been a retreat in a while, you're going to want to talk about a lot, and there's only so much time and energy and head space you have to talk about weighty matters. So it helps when you have a board planning committee, and then you present that to the rest of the board to make sure everybody's on board, and then we have the retreat. That would be my suggestion.

3:21:14 So just to be clear, so are you suggesting we do it sometime post August 10th? I'm suggesting you let us know when we can have it. I think the plan is that if the chair can establish a committee, we can meet as soon as I get here July 1st, talk about it, and then find the best mechanism to report that to the board on makes any tweaks that are needed. And I think it's probably better if the board goes ahead and sets a date for the retreat, and we can work backwards from there. Okay. Thank you so much. Sure. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. But the one thing I would request is that when the board communicates about dates, anything like the retreat or scheduling it, that you make sure to please include board secretary-

3:22:00 Yeah ... so that she knows what- Mm-hmm ... the timeframe is. Yeah, and I did let her know. Yeah. Yep. So my understanding, there could be a two-person board planning group to meet with Superintendent Stover, and we could do stuff by email, and then just show up on the 5th with a itinerary, or do we need to have another board meeting to approve the agenda? So it's my understanding, I think with public meeting law, is that we could solicit input But we can't deliberate on what the agenda is. So, board members could send

3:22:47 in what their topics are, and then I think it seems like a good idea to have a committee, a couple of board members that we delegate as the authority to wade through that and set the agenda and work with the new superintendent on to make that happen. So if that's the case, I'm totally on board. Now, Amber and I have never been to one of these, so we don't even know, do we dress up? Is it formal? I was thinking a face mask. Yeah. So if y'all had even a draft template so we know what to submit to the committee. Okay. I was actually going to read through, because I've been through- Yeah ... actually quite a few. And again, since we haven't had one in a while, there's some things that

3:23:33 maybe in future retreats we wouldn't visit, but I'll just run through a list. Understanding the school board governance structure. This is all based on shared understanding so that we all have sort of a common... We may not totally agree with it, but we'll understand where people are coming from. What's the purpose or purposes of having a board of directors? What's our role? Who's the board responsible to? What's the board responsible for? Who is the superintendent responsible to? What is the superintendent responsible for? Given the climate around public meetings laws and serial communications, and then our training with OGEC, which was a little less than illuminating,

3:24:18 might we want to decide as a board what is allowable, what's not allowable? Again, probably with guidance from an attorney. Generally speaking, you revisit your board mission and goals. This also helps the superintendent when it comes down to evaluation. Are you sort of hitting the mark? Do you all understand? Do we all understand what the metrics are? How do we know when we get there? Who do we want to be as a district? That's a sort of philosophical question, but what kind of a district does our community want? And we, as representatives, are obligated to at least bring it forward. Generally, there's a review of operating agreements, particularly when you have a new board member coming in, as they're sort of signing on to these

3:25:05 operating agreements. Do we understand them? What do they mean? Even in our own operating agreements, between operating agreements and policies, there's differences in language that makes it hard to understand what exactly is being said. And perhaps I will put out there, maybe we need to reduce and simplify. We used to have a three-pager, now it's a seven-pager. And then, yeah, who sets the agendas for the meetings, set up a schedule of evaluation for the superintendent so that we can be planful, work it right into this master plan that we have. And we are still moving forward until the board decides otherwise for the permanent superintendent, so that would be a biggie for this

3:25:50 one. And yeah, the whole evaluation thing. And then do we want to have annual retreats, mid-year? So that's probably more than a day's agenda. So we'd want to reduce those and allow time for free conversation. But again, if it's intentionally down, then we can move things and make sure they don't slip off our planning document. Is that helpful at all? I'd be willing to send this out if- It is. If I had my druthers, I would do the roles and responsibilities training later, as a separate thing, and make this more of a work session with us planning our calendar, doing the

3:26:35 policy review, and so on like that. But that's just from my perspective. And again, I think that there's going to be some input- Mm ... from our incoming superintendent on that. A lot of times in a retreat, you set out the big picture stuff, which helps guide the other stuff. But there's no hard and fast on that. It's really at the discretion of the board. So do we want to delegate a couple of board members to be that committee to facilitate the retreat and work with the superintendent? That would- I think that makes sense. Yeah. I'd be happy with that. Okay. Thanks, Ken. Since you brought it up.

3:27:23 So, yeah, I'm willing to do that. Who else would be... I'd be happy to serve in that capacity. Okay. If that's okay with the board. Yeah. Okay. Those were my two nominees, so yeah. Also, I don't think- We don't have to vote ... we don't need a motion for that, right? We can just, yeah. Can I make a proposal? Absolutely. I can work with staff to put together, I've taken notes of what you want. I can put together a draft agenda with some options for the board planning committee to look at, and then that's the document we can go from there. Okay. Would that work for the board? Yeah. Sure. Yeah. All right. And then we just plan on meeting sometime early next month. Is that the- Yeah, I think I'll have to, let me put-

3:28:09 Yeah ... but I think within the first two weeks, I can certainly get you a draft agenda. I'd rather underpromise now and overdeliver than the opposite, but I have many to pull from. So- Yeah ... I can get a draft agenda and I think that will help as a starting point, and then we'll go wherever the board wants to go. And so I guess, hearing this, I think the August 5th date may be a little too optimistic about making that happen. But if we've... Be nice if we could shoot for something- I think we'll know more ... in August. But I think we'll know more in a couple of weeks. Okay. So I wouldn't say no to the 5th, but- Yeah ... I do think it needs to be before the start of the school year.

3:28:56 Yeah. Because I think it sort of sets things working forward. Yep. And I'm flexible. Yep. Except for a week in July. Just saying. That works for me because I spent my husband and I's anniversary with Ken and Jonathan at OSBA training. So, August 9th is off. Not doing that again with you guys. Sorry. No, I think all of this sounds great. Yeah. Okay. Thank you for hitting the ground running. Yeah. Thanks for the input. So moving on to discussion item 5G, the review of the Division 22 findings. Superintendent Amaro.

3:29:43 Yeah, let's start there and then... So we did get the review of the findings from ODE, and it was determined there were three different complaints. One was related to district curriculum, and I'm going to skip to the... And then one was in regards to the human sexuality education, and then the other one was in regards to physical education requirements in the district. For the first one, whether or not the district

3:30:29 was in violation of Oregon Administrative Rule 581-022-2030 by failing to provide a K-12 instructional program that includes common curriculum goals, academic content standards adopted by the State Board of Education for science and social science. I'm going to skip back to the history of it. In early May of 2024, so this complaint was filed in 2024, the district sought technical assistance from ODE. As a result, the district submitted an instructional materials action plan, and it included K-5 science and social science. The instructional materials action plan is an ODE-approved corrective action plan. It's designed to bring the district back into compliance with that OAR.

3:31:16 The district's currently implementing that instructional materials action plan. If you remember, just a few months ago, you guys approved the K-5 curriculum adoption for science. So that is the first step in the corrective action plan. The next one will be social science, which will be coming for 2027. So the district is, as noted from ODE, the district is currently implementing an ODE corrective action plan, and it will bring the district back into compliance with the instructional materials adoption. So there is no further action needed by the district. We've already got a corrective action plan in place for that. On the Division 22 standards, which for those of you who don't know, Division 22 standards are 22 different standards that every school district in the state of

3:32:02 Oregon has to meet. If you don't meet it, you say, "Oh, we didn't meet it this year, and here's our action plan to correct it." And there's various reasons that districts do not meet certain standards. One of them could be instructional minutes for the year, and that could be because the year we had snowpocalypse, and there were too many days taken for snow days. And so you didn't meet instructional requirements, so you say, "Nope, we didn't meet that on Division 22 standards. Here's our corrective action plan. Here's how we're going to make sure that we meet that the following year." And then ODE reviews that, they approve it, and then next year you either say, "Yes, we did," or, "No, we didn't." And so every year districts have to report the Division 22 standards, and you can look it up. It's

3:32:48 long, but might be good reading. So anyway, so while currently the district is on a corrective action plan with Division 22 standards, we are on track to become compliant with that for our Division 22 standards. When it comes to the physical education, whether or not the number of minutes were provided based on the record developed during the ODE investigation, ODE found that the district was in compliance with the physical education minutes. And in regards to human sexuality education and child sexual abuse prevention instruction in grades kindergarten through grade 12,

3:33:36 based on the record developed during this investigation, ODE finds that the district is in compliance with that OAR as well. So no further corrective action is required of the district based on the ODE investigation, and that is in large part due to the fact that we already have a corrective action plan in place with ODE. And that, yeah. So. And the board has this, right? Yeah. The board has a copy of it. Yeah. Yep. So those are the findings. Okay. Questions or comments? I hope we're able to do some kind of, I know it's not really sexy stuff, but I hope we can do a press release or something, because clearly the word hasn't gotten out that we're on a

3:34:23 glide path towards a better place, particularly on the social studies. Sure. I can work with communications to- Yeah ... see what we can get out positive about what the response was and what it indicated. Yeah. Thank you for that. Because it's a win, I think. Yeah. So my question is, I guess my recollection is it started out as a complaint at the district level. Correct. And is there something we could've done that would've Kept it from going to ODE. No Is it- No, that's one of the options that complainants have. So they follow either policy KL, which is the district complaint policy, starts at level one, then it can go all the way up to the board. And so

3:35:10 unfortunately, ODE is- No, I understand that. But is there something in the response the district did to the original complaint to the district? Is there another way we could've handled that so that it didn't end up going to ODE? If we would've done something differently and it wouldn't have ended up in ODE, I'm just wondering. I don't know, only because I wasn't here at that time. Yeah. But I do know when it comes to complaints at ODE, it's an option that anyone has. Yeah. It doesn't have to start with a complaint in the district. It can just go straight to ODE. It's unfortunate if it does that, because you would hope that we would follow the complaint policy in place here, starting at level one and moving up as needed. So- Yeah, and I think that's what it did.

3:35:55 It started with the district, and then I'm not sure that the response ended up... Yeah, we didn't respond in a certain way. My understanding was that it started with a letter, and then was told that there was n- no problem with it. And forget the exact chain, but then finally, maybe a year later, the actual complaint was filed with ODE. So I think that there was information- So- ... prior to that. Yeah, so the timeline that they provided in their document was that on November 10th, 2023, the complainant filed a complaint with the district, and then the district provided written responses regarding the three different

3:36:42 allegations. And then on June 21st, the complainant filed a complaint with ODE. So the complainant filed one complaint with the district, and then they got the response and chose to then file the complaint through ODE. It should be noted that, yes, the complainant filed a complaint on June 21st. Let's see. Let me find the date. In early May of that year, the district did contact ODE to ask for technical assistance based on the outcome of the complaint that was filed with the district. The district staff did reach out to ODE and say, "Hey, help us out here. Did we miss something?" And ODE said, "Well, actually yeah, you

3:37:29 kind of did." And so ODE's response was, "Yep, you did. We should have done an independent adoption of science," which the district has now done. So we submitted what ODE asked us to, which was the Instructional Materials Action Plan, and we included that action plan with our Division 22 standards that we turned in in November of that year. And that then allowed ODE to accept the Instructional Materials Action Plan, the Corrective Action Plan, and move forward. So that actually happened in May. So the district did recognize, based on the results of the complainant and the investigation that came from that, that we need to reach out and see, did we miss a step? And we did, and we corrected it. Well, did- So now we're moving forward with it

3:38:14 ... did we provide that information to the complainant, that we contacted ODE and they concurred? I don't know. Yeah. I honestly don't know. I'm reading from the ODE... This is the- Okay ... timeline that ODE created based on their investigation. And so I don't have that information about whether that happened. So, Dave. Does it indicate in the record there on the November 10th communication, was that filed as a complaint under KL, or was that deemed a complaint by the district under KL? It says the complainant filed a complaint with the district. Okay. I know the letter of concern that when I became board member, it was a letter of concern that the district thrust into a complaint.

3:39:00 I don't have documentation of that in here. No, that is what happened, and I believe that we spent $17,000 on attorney fees for the district to run an investigation of their own. Simultaneously, ODE was running a free investigation. I'm concerned with, in the future, if an educator comes forward and says, "Hey, we got a problem"- Mm-hmm ... what is the threshold at which we listen to people? It just seemed to have spiraled, and here we are having this- Well, and I think part of that is because with the complaint

3:39:47 policy, and it's meant for not just community members or parents, but staff can utilize it as well. It starts at a level one, which is with the administrator, or with the teacher, or at the base level. And that's where it starts, and that's the hope is that by filing that complaint, by having that communication and that dialogue, that the complaint can be resolved at that level. And then if it's not, then it can be- Mm-hmm ... elevated to a level two, which is then the district level directors. Mm-hmm. And then they can investigate. And then if the complainant still isn't satisfied with the result, then it gets elevated to level three- Mm-hmm ... which is the superintendent level or designee.

3:40:32 And then if they're not happy with the result of that, then it goes up to the board. And then typically, if they don't agree with what the board's resolution to the complaint is, then it typically goes to ODE. Unfortunately, there was only one investigation done on this at one level. It didn't necessarily go through all of the steps. There was two investigations. I'm just looking at- Yeah ... I'm going based on the information that- ODE provided in theirs. Yeah. Um- And I know- So- Yeah. Yeah, I get it. You're- That's where I am coming at ... you're kind of cruising in on this situation. Yeah. So I hear you. I think there are... I mean, that is the purpose of KL, is to start that dialogue at the very base level.

3:41:18 Um, and then as it's not addressed, um, to the complainant's satisfaction, then it escalates up. And then yes, eventually sometimes it does end up at ODE. That's why they have a complaint department at ODE. Yeah. Um, you know- Yeah ... it's another avenue for, um, people to complain about. Yeah. Or to, you know- And- ... to voice concerns. And I hear that. Yeah. I also heard concerns from educators, um, in that, um, that they were afraid to even participate in that investigation due to fear of, um, reprimand. Um, and yeah, that's concerning. I want our staff, uh, to come forward and, you know, they're the ones that are there in the classroom, and I want to

3:42:05 hear what's going on. They know best, the principals, the teachers, they really know best. And to, um... I feel like we owe them an apology. Um, you know, and I just really want us to do better at listening. Uh, we've been spending a year watching each threshold just kind... You know, we just keep pushing through these thresholds of people coming and talking to us, and I just, I keep looking around. I'm like, "When are we going to listen? At what point- Mm-hmm ... do we listen?" Uh, we can't self-reference forever. So I'm glad that we were able to get this on the agenda, and I appreciate that. Um, because in the past I had

3:42:50 been told I can't even mention the word Division 22, and that was extremely frustrating for me. You know, I mean, it affects me. Um I got a kid- Yeah ... so that's presently in the elementary school. So, I mean, this is big for me. And so with that being said, what is the district going to do with, um, you know, like kids have missed a- Mm-hmm ... you know, their science and their social studies and, uh... So what is the district, uh, has the district, uh, worked on any ideas on how to help students, you know, get back up to where they should be at their grade level? So that would be an instructional, um, uh, instructional level at each individual school.

3:43:35 Oh. Um, and the reason I push it back on the schools is- Yeah ... because that, I mean, they have the schedules. They have, um, now the curriculum. Um, I mean, they had it, but now it's actually been adopted and, um, can be scheduled in and used. And so I feel like that's the expertise of our staff, of our admin, our instructional leaders- Mm-hmm ... and our principals and our teachers to ensure that those standards for those students at that grade level are being taught and met. And then it's our responsibility to hold them accountable to make sure that those standards are taught at that grade level for those students, and that's our role. Um, and so I think, you know, there's always room for improvement. Yes. And I think that we just need to make sure that that continues to happen, and that

3:44:22 we're continuing to have those conversations. These are the expectations, these are the standards. How are we going to ensure that they are taught, and how are we going to make sure that every student receives that education that they deserve? Yeah, and, uh, that's all I really want to know. Um, well, and to follow up throughout the year, um, next year and I know this, you will, this is it. Mm-hmm. Wow. Um, I just want to make sure that we as a board that has oversight, that we are watching and we're getting information back on, you know, how is this going and what is going on. Um, so, um,

3:45:08 yeah. I just, I would also really love to have a conversation where, you know, to ask, you know, what lessons have we learned here? I think a deep reflection is, um, really well needed right now. It's- Okay ... those are some of my thoughts. Okay. So, and I will, uh, in regards to your comment about the press release, I think that's important. Every time you have good news, celebrate. But I want to make sure that we understand there's a difference between Division 22 compliance and are the students actually getting the well-rounded education. So I would like to see the same intentionality that we give to language arts and math to the other six areas as prescribed at the very least.

3:45:53 Because not prescribed is digital responsibility, um, you know, some of the other things that the kids are going to have to learn. If we're not giving due diligence to social emotional learning, are the kids going to have the tools to deal with the future as it comes roaring down? So are we allowing enough time, and are we explicit in the time that we're saying to teach these different subjects? And if it, if we can't, then let's own that, and then let's figure ways that we can be creative on that. But I think from what I hear with parents, they don't really understand nor care to Division 22.

3:46:39 I mean, that is really about compliance, which is largely curricular. But are we providing the resources, the expertise, the materials, and, uh, not the least being the time. Because, uh, I think when we do the exit survey, we're going to find parents that have taken their kids out of Springfield schools because they didn't feel that they were getting this or that. Now, if that's only a perception, then how do we address it? Again, it gives us information where, in fact, if we're teaching this, now that we know that that's an issue, then we should definitely address it. But those are other conversations that I think our public was asking in the petition, in the letters from

3:47:25 teachers, and just the input that I get from people on the street, "Is my kid getting science? Is my kid getting the arts? Is my..." et cetera. And I think using your planning document and having regular presentations from schools, "Hey, at the elementary school, this is what it looks like at Page Elementary," or, "This is what it looks like at Yolanda for science, or for math, or for social emotional learning, or..." I think having those in here and knowing that they're coming, that's going to give a lot of information about what's being taught in the classrooms. Mm. It's going to give you that information. And so having those specifically laid out when that's going to

3:48:10 happen in your planning document is going to be very clear, and I think that definitely needs to make sure it's in there. Yeah. Yeah. And I really hope, too, that we take that time to look at the report card template. My daughter gets graded on her effort in science, her effort in social studies, and it's just a lot of efforts. I want to know how she's doing, just like she does with the math and reading. So that is also something I would like to put forward onto the document. And I just hear from... This is out of my expertise, but I know as a parent what I want, and I know as a community member from what I hear from others. We've heard from students who have mentioned that they didn't

3:48:58 feel that they got what they needed as a prerequisite to moving into middle school and high school in certain areas. And so, I think our public is telling us we, again, in your words, need to listen. Other thoughts or comments at this time? Okay. Yeah. So moving on then to the added item, discussion item 5H, structural repairs. Director Brew? No, that was- That was my item. I was actually thinking Cole, and I said the wrong name. My apologies. That's all right. Yeah, so we were told there was a fair amount of urgency with this project. I know at the last meeting we talked about it and had

3:49:46 some alternatives we wanted to consider, and we were also waiting on the financing information, which we got. I'm a little concerned that there's not an agenda item to approve the contract and move forward, and we don't have another meeting until August 10th. So, there's a disconnect here in my mind. So, when we reviewed the June 8th board meeting, there was not even a second for the structural repairs resolution, and there was no discussion about even bringing it back. The discussion amongst the board was to bring back financial options, because the board wanted to review those and talk about those,

3:50:31 to have financing ready to go before. And I'm trying to find my paperwork, and I can't. Yeah, I guess it was my understanding we'd get the financing and then be able to say that was part and parcel with moving ahead with the contract. Yeah. I- And so, what does this do to the timeline of doing the work? I mean, it well, I'm never going to- Oh, it pushes it out. I think that was, I mean- I know, but now it's being pushed out even further till if we're not meeting till August. And it just feels like that we ask questions, and so it was kind of rather than being proactive and saying, "Okay, we'll answer the questions and here's some alternatives about maybe a lower contingency and how we can respond to that, and here's the financing information, how we'll do that.

3:51:19 And so if we look at that, then we can move ahead with the contract," it kind of feels like it's board, you put a stop on the whole thing. Yeah, I- Well, the board kind of did, because there wasn't even a second in the motion to approve. And all we were asked was to bring financing options back because the board- Okay ... wasn't in favor. There was no- I- ... tabled or anything. Sorry. I'm sorry. I felt I was pretty... What I meant to say, and if I was unclear, is I'll support this if you can show me how you'll pay for it. And so I was kind of waiting for Mr. Yancey to come back and say, "Okay, this is how we're going to pay for it," and

3:52:05 then I would vote for it. But maybe I didn't do the protocol correctly. And on our draft agenda for this week, I saw the structural repairs was on that. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And then it wasn't on this- Correct ... board meeting. Correct. We reviewed the minutes, and the minutes didn't... Or not the minutes. We reviewed the meeting. And in the meeting, the board asked for financing options. So that's what we're bringing forward to the board, are the financing options to finance the structural repairs. Because it was our understanding that you wanted financing options settled before you would approve the contract. So, what this says in the back is, "If the school board directs administration to move

3:52:50 forward with the financing option, an authorizing resolution will be brought forward to the board for approval. The authorizing resolution would be prepared by the district's bond council, Foster Garvey PC, to ensure compliance with applicable legal and tax requirements." So if the board is in favor of these, so either one of these options, we would have The bond attorney draw up the resolution for the board to be able to finance it. Yeah, because as I was reviewing, I know Jonathan was out of town. You were able to review it, I think. But on there, it had the resolution for that, so I didn't make any comment about it, and I was fine with it.

3:53:35 I made some additions, and I did a reorganization. So, when it went off to print, I was a little surprised that it wasn't on there. So, it sounds like we had a miscommunication. Yeah. So this report is, basically, it's intended to provide the additional information and outline potential financing structures for board consideration. And then once... If the board wants us to act on either one of these, we can have district's bond council help with the resolution to bring back to the board to approve financing, and then the resolution for the structural repairs can be brought as well. Okay.

3:54:21 So I guess the questions I have is, does this financing include all of the contingency as well that was in the... Because it's not clear. All it tells us is the annual payments and the interest. It doesn't say how much is- I believe- ... actually being financed. So- I believe based on what was presented at the last meeting with the numbers that yes, it does. But I can get clarification on that for the board. All right. So, and I guess, where in the budget does this money come from? Where in the budget will this be allocated? And I guess, is this the same mechanism that we did for the turf fields?

3:55:08 I presume it is, but I'm not sure. So... Okay. All right. I can get those answers to the board. And then if the board, I guess maybe if you want to direct administration to move forward with the financing option... So I guess what I would like to see, I guess, is an alternate proposal that maybe has a reduced contingency with a plan to come back in regular monthly or whatever and report and if they need... We've had emergency meetings. If something pops up and we need to

3:55:54 replenish the contingency, but to have regular reports. But that's what I would like to see, I guess, is- We might have to be planful with when we see the reports, because I believe we asked that when we were talking about the consulting end of it, too. So- I didn't catch that, Jonathan. What was that? We might have to be very intentional as far as when we want to see that, and again, we can put that in our planning document. But I believe we asked the same consideration when we were looking at the structural engineering report, too. So- Yeah, that was something that got brought up, that we hadn't got that information, and it was noted that to correct the record that we had, but we hadn't. I went back and looked at every Friday update- Mm-hmm ... every email, and we were never provided that information till about a week

3:56:41 ago. So- Yeah ... yeah. So I would say, yeah, at least monthly, that we should get a report on the progress and if there's how expenditures and how it's going, and if there's a $250,000 contingency and it needs to be replenished, it gets used on a project, they can come back and we would see what it is and what the change orders were, and yeah. Well, at the very earliest, the opportunity we'll have to actually have the further discussion and the vote would be on August 10th. Well, can we do it sooner? If there's a sense of urgency for this- We can always call- Because that was what we were told ... a special meeting.

3:57:26 Then I would- That's at the board's discretion to do that, working again with Marty. But there's nothing saying you can't have meetings in July. Yeah. Is it urgent or is it not? Okay, so just to clarify, the board is asking for questions. Do these quotes for the financing options include a contingency of 30%? And where in the budget is the allocation to pay for the financing options? And are these financing options and/or which one is the one that was used for the turf fields? And then- Yes, similar. Yeah. Is it- Right, and similar to. And then you're asking for an alternative proposal

3:58:14 to come to the board for the structural repairs, with a lower contingency suggested at $250,000 with regular monthly reports regarding the contingency. Is that correct? Yeah. And the board would authorize additional contingency as needed to complete the project. I guess, do you need direction from the board on which of these financing options to pursue? Because I think there's somewhat of a recommendation for which one was the more regarding to proceed with the purpose of acquired structures. Well, so yeah. So on the very back page, it says, "Both proposals provide viable financing options for the district.

3:59:01 The First American proposal offers lower administrative complexity, so there's no additional financing fees, annual payments, and no immediate impact on the '26, '27 adopted budget. The Piper Sandler proposal provides a full faith and credit structure with slightly lower total interest cost under the 10-year option." But it includes additional issuance fees, semiannual payments, greater administrative complexity, and a required budget adjustment for the current fiscal year. Given the timing of the project, the recently adopted budget, and the need to preserve operational flexibility, the board may wish to consider whether the simplicity and delayed repayment schedule of the tax-exempt lease purchase option better aligns with the district's immediate

3:59:48 need. And so the requested board direction is district administration requests the board to give direction regarding whether to proceed with the preparation of an authorizing resolution for financing the required structural repairs, and if so, which financing option and repayment term the board prefers for further development. So yes, it sounds like to not impact immediately the '26, '27 adopted budget, lower administrative complexity, and no additional financing fees that the First American proposal... I'm not saying it's recommended- Yeah ... but it- I think that's what... Yeah, in essence. So- So if the board wants to go that route, we just need direction for district staff to develop the financing

4:00:36 proposal utilizing our district bond council- Yeah ... to ensure compliance. So it makes sense to me that if we can defer the first payment until the next budget- Mm-hmm ... cycle, and so it doesn't affect this budget, that seems to make sense even though it's some more interest. So I don't know, I guess I'd ask Bob, your thoughts on the five-year versus the 10 year. You have more experience. But I mean, being able to... I liked the first option better. Five-year. Yeah. I mean, certainly we have to then come up with an extra 300 and some odd thousand dollars to make those five-year payments, but we would be saving

4:01:22 half a million in interest. I would, since I was out of town, I didn't have time to review it. I'm going to have to go back and take a look at the whole thing, make sure that all my questions are answered and so, yeah, that's where I'm at. So are you wanting to postpone it to the August 10th board meeting? I can come in any time except for my vacation, which is going to be until the 8th, so July. In terms of structural support, I don't believe we'll have any snow. There aren't students in the schools at this point, so I think we don't have to rush to action at this point.

4:02:10 But it is a two-year project. It's going to be years. Okay. And it's summertime too. And the work can only be done in the summer- Yeah ... when students aren't in session. So yeah. That's where I'm at with it too, because they need to start soon. Well, now they won't be able to start work- Yeah ... this summer. What you need from us is basically direction on should they prepare something for option A or for option B? Correct. Five-year option, First American, Piper Sandler, or 10-year option, First American, Piper Sandler, and then coming back with a proposal that I... And I could restate it again if you want me to. And if the board wants to call a special meeting to handle this, that's fine

4:02:58 with me. I'll be available. So what's the mechanism to how we do that, Jonathan? Because I think to call that, by our policy, we have to have three board members- That's correct ... to call that. But how do you do that outside of a meeting? It would have to be in a public meeting if we have a quorum of board members calling for setting a board meeting. That's got to happen in a public meeting. So we'd either have to do it now or we can't really have another meeting the board calls until August 10th. Well, somebody can make the motion now, and with a second, we can vote on it. I'll be abstaining because I don't have the information before me and I... So.

4:03:43 Can we just call for a meeting? You certainly can. You can do that tonight. Do that tonight, and then I know there's logistics involved and, but can we get the answers in a week or in a few days, or what is the- So the end of our fiscal year is June 30, and there's a lot of rollover that needs to happen, especially in the finance department in this last week and two days of the year. And so my recommendation would be if you are going to add a meeting, that it is in early July- Okay ... rather than in the next week. Okay. That's just my recommendation. Yeah. And I don't know what that schedule would look like. I'm- Marty, do we have the organizational meeting scheduled yet?

4:04:30 It was August 10th. Yeah. We can do that. Hmm. August 10th was going to be our organiz- There isn't one scheduled in July. Yeah. If we want to do a special meeting, I'll be there. So, if there's urgency. I got the feeling there was some urgency, so. I mean, at this point, I guess we need input. If we take action in early July, is there work that can happen, or did we miss a window? I mean,

4:05:15 I don't want to do a special meeting if the work's still going to be put off till next summer, right? Yes And my guess, just based on June 8th board meeting and conversations that happened in the meeting and then after the meeting, is that the window may have been closed because it's not just a matter of passing the resolution to approve the work, it's then going out and... Because it says right here what we were asking for on June 8th was to award an intent to bid for required structural repairs to Essex General Construction, so that they could get started on it this summer. When that didn't happen, and the

4:06:01 intent to bid was not awarded to Essex General Construction, they plan other projects moving forward. So, because the board didn't act on it and approve the bid on June 8th, that window has, I'm going to say probably closed. I can't say officially without contacting Essex General Construction. And I can work with Brad on that. But, so if the board wants to schedule a July meeting, and then we find out the window has closed, and there's no option for the structural repairs to happen this summer, then the board can cancel the meeting. So I guess I would advocate that we schedule the meeting, and if it turns out to

4:06:46 be moot, that we just cancel it. But that would be where I would go. And so- So do you want to make a motion with a date? What day would be... And I don't... So I'm assuming Friday's a holiday, right? The 3rd, because the 4th is on Saturday. The 2nd? Do we want to set something up for the 2nd? Is that doable? Are you talking about July 2nd? Yeah. I mean, I'm just trying to... Yeah. Is that too not doable? That's a- I'm just thinking of your interim incoming superintendent- Yeah ... getting his feet a little wet before you-

4:07:33 ... make him jump into that. And I don't- That's, so- ... know availability of staff for that- Yep ... that close. So yeah. So how do we schedule the meeting? Well, meetings are generally on Monday, so that would be maybe a safer bet. July 6th. July 6th. 6th would work better for me. I can do that. So I will make a motion that we schedule a meeting for July 6th that... Do we want to do 7th, or the July 6th at 7:00, we have a special board meeting? Okay. And with this agenda item on there? Yeah, and if we're doing that meeting, then we should probably also do, it'll be

4:08:19 the first, do the organizational meeting, election of officers, and... Yeah. Because we'll need- I will be out of town, but with the structural, I trust and, yeah, I would like to be a part of a vote for the organizational, so I don't know how to go about that. But it'll be July, so technically both of your terms ends at the end of this month. Mm-hmm. So the first thing for sure business is to elect officers. Mm-hmm. We would need to do that. 15th work? Well, then we're pushing it too far out for the structural. And it may be a moot point. And it might be a- It might be ... tentative meeting.

4:09:06 Yeah. I'm fine. Yeah. Okay, you guys are thinking the 6th of July? Okay. I may be traveling and might have internet. We could just put it in. Okay. And I'll see what I can- Sure ... what I can swing. Yeah. Could I offer a friendly amendment? I know it goes against everything we've just said, but maybe we do a 5:30 so Marty doesn't have to stay here for two hours after her workday. Oh. Since it's going to be a short meeting anyway. Doesn't matter to me, but we need a motion that reflects whatever

4:09:54 date and time. Because the motion on the floor is 7:00. Would 4:30 be better, Marty, for you? So how about a motion that we schedule a special meeting for July 6th at 4:30? Second. So motion on the floor and a second motion by Director Cole, a second by Director Brew. Any further comment, questions? Call for the vote. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Against. Motion carries for the 6th, 4:30 PM, four to zero. Any changes to the clarifications I made before with the answers to the questions

4:10:39 you want, the alternative proposal? Any- Can you send those out? Yes. Oh, yes, we'll email the answers to those questions. Okay. Okay. Got it. Okay, so moving on to agenda item six, reports and information, superintendent communication. So I just want to thank the district for the opportunity. I've had an amazing time. Yes, it's been a challenge, but I've really enjoyed my time in the district. I will be here this week and Monday, Tuesday. But I just want to thank all of the district staff, teachers, everyone. The bus drivers, the custodians, the food service workers, transportation workers.

4:11:26 I mean, the facilities people, everyone is amazing. They've been very, very welcoming. And I just want to tell Shawn that he better take good care of the district or I'll be coming back. And I just want to thank the board for the opportunity to serve your district and- Yeah. I appreciate it very much, so thank you very much. Thank you. Board communication? Jody, thank you very much for your service to the district. I really appreciate it, and the board does. And so thank you, and best of luck. Thank you. Yeah, for myself, Jody, thank you so much. You've made my first few months

4:12:13 pleasurable. It's been interesting. Yeah. And you've made me feel very welcome, and I thank you. I know it hasn't been easy, and I appreciate all you've done. I did have one other thing that I wanted to say, and this is probably for Superintendent Stover. My question would be, what would it take to fully restore the dual immersion program, and what changes could be made to allow the program to grow and thrive? We've heard today about some of the problems with the low enrollment in the program. Could it be due to some barriers to entry and participation?

4:13:00 Are there things we could do to remove those barriers? Obviously, it's very popular. Are there ways the community could get behind it and support it? I think it may be, at this point, small, but it's obviously important and very meaningful to people. So I'd like us to see if we can think a little bit outside the box. Thank you. Yeah, I also would just want to say thank you, Jody. I do wish we met each other in a healthier environment. I would've loved to have seen how that would've looked. But you

4:13:47 created that first wave of calm, and you were a bit of a shelter from the storm, and I appreciate that. And I appreciate you also listening, because you listened to staff. People were so thrilled when they said they got the opportunity to meet you. And I also heard you say you got the opportunity to meet them, too, and the way you phrased it was really wonderful. It's not that you had to, you got to. So yeah, you were put into a very unique situation, and I do appreciate your first wave of calm. That's not an easy thing that you've been doing, and I don't

4:14:34 actually know what it all is that you do, but I know you've been working really hard, and I appreciate it. Thank you. I do, yeah. Well, I want to thank everyone who has helped this district move forward. So, and that goes back to petition signers, letter writers, the committees that helped in the search process, all of the input we got. It really speaks to the village that I think is so evident here in Springfield. And I know that it takes effort to do that, and even standing up. The participation we've had in the last two meetings from people in the community and staff, and I think that's what makes a district great.

4:15:21 So I definitely want to thank them. I also want to thank you. You stepped in at a very challenging time. So from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate you coming in and accepting that challenge, and setting us, I think, in a direction that'll serve us well. And you have a very outgoing personality and people respond to you, and I think that's what we needed at this time. So on behalf of the district, thank you. Really do appreciate. And enjoy your... Is this your second retirement? So anyway, thank you. Board members, I don't know if, did everybody get the invitation? Mm-hmm. Okay. So just want to make sure you've seen that and the RSVP

4:16:09 date is coming up. It was on our desk. So you- 28th, June 28th. So do respond. They probably won't bar you at the door, but nevertheless, it's nice to have a head count for them. If you've not participated with Satin Love Orchestra as the band, they're pretty amazing. Bring all your spangle and high shoes and satin and all that stuff. So anyway, thank you everyone. Thanks to the staff. So with that, our next meeting tentatively is July 6th, and then following that will be August 10th. So this meeting is adjourned.

4:16:54 Amen. Thank you