4J School Board — October 7, 2026

0:09 Welcome everybody. I call the meeting of the Eugene School Board to order on October 7th, 2026 at 6:06 PM. Board members in attendance with me are Rick Hamilton, Morgan Monroe, Maya Rabasa, Tom Diliberto, Jenny Jonak, Judy Newman, and myself, Erika Thessen. And also we have in attendance for Superintendent, Dr. Miriam Mickelsen. I will now read the land acknowledgement. The Eugene School Board would like to acknowledge that our institution sits on the homeland of the Kalapuya people in the treaties of 1851 and 1854 through 1855, and the subsequent forced removals of many Indian people from Western Oregon. Some of the Kalapuya were moved to the Grand Ronde Reservation and some were moved to the Siletz Reservation. It is important to note that all of Lane County was an

0:56 important trading and gathering area for chemists and other resources. During the restoration era from 1977 to 1989, Lane County was designated as a service area for the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz, the Coquille Tribe, and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians. Eugene School District 4J acknowledges that the descendants of original and service area inhabitants of this land are still here today. They are thriving members of our schools and our communities. Countless members of other tribes now also call our community and schools their home. We wish to thank those original stewards of this land. We, as fellow stewards of this land, wish to remember that we need to take good

1:42 care of the land and of all the members of our school district community. So welcome, everybody. I appreciate folks being here tonight. Tonight is a particularly wonderful evening because we get to wear in our school board reps, and I just want to thank all of you for doing this. I know it's a lot of work on your end. You have to come up here and speak in front of adults, but it's so valuable. I can't tell you enough because the reason that the school district exists is because of you, is because of educating young people and students. And we need to be reminded every day, what are we centering? We're centering all of you, all of our students.

2:27 And so you being able to be part of the board and give us reports, meet with your board member buddies, different things, it really helps us know about what's going on from a student perspective, because I don't know. I've had three kids through this district, and the number of times that my children have told me, like, "Mom, you adults, you think you're doing the right thing, and occasionally you guys, you really miss the mark." And so it's great to have you students to help remind us of why we do the work and what matters. You are what matters, and so your voice is absolutely invaluable. So thank you so much for being here tonight. If I can find the email

3:12 I know we've had board members that were able to participate in a lot of neat things over the past couple of weeks. Some board members were able to go out to Twin Oaks for one of our teachers that won an amazing award through- American Legion. American Legion, yes. I'm trying to find your email, my fine Miss Judy, and I can't find it. I will eventually find it. I don't know. Oh, there it is. Haha. But yes, we also had board members that were at the Dolly Parton Day at Aubrey Park last week. So they were able to read to fifth and a first grade class. So that was really amazing, a 9:00 to 5:00 day, being able to really acknowledge the amazing things that Dolly Parton did with being able to get books

3:58 to students all over the country. So yes, congratulations to Mary Riggs, who received the American Legion Teacher of the Year Award, which was just really amazing. And then it sounds like we had board members at a cross-country meet that was hosted by South Eugene and the cross country, and also students from Churchill. So anyways, that's about all I have to say in board member comments. And next on the agenda is the introduction of our guests and superintendent report. So Dr. Mickelsen, you have the floor. I just skipped right over the meeting agenda. Okay, so agenda approval.

4:43 Are there any questions, changes, or corrections to the agenda anybody needs to request? Okay. Seeing none, no objections, then we will move on to our ever amazing superintendent, Dr. Mickelsen. Thank you so much, Board Chair Thessen. As some of you may know, every student attendance is one of our priorities in our focus 4J framework, and I'm just really grateful for the commitment of our school staff to ensuring that our schools are safe and welcoming and inclusive spaces for our students to learn. Our schools are hosting a variety of attendance campaigns, and later this month, I will share with the board some of the strategies that our schools are utilizing. But for now, I want to share that our priority is ensuring that our communication around attendance reflects our desire to communicate with

5:31 families compassionately, graciously, and sensitively as partners with our families in this work. Community engagement is a foundational pillar, also named in Focus 4J, and we have a couple of events this week that showcase our continued efforts to partner with our families and the community. Tomorrow night from 5:00 until 7:00, Edison Elementary will be celebrating its 100th birthday, and the community is invited to attend. They will have food trucks and games and building tours, and a variety of activities. And on the same evening, starting at 6:00 PM tomorrow night, He Lin, our Chinese Merchant school will be hosting their annual Mid-Autumn Festival

6:16 celebration. There will be student performances. This sounds really delicious, mooncake tasting, Chinese tea, traditional crafts, and more. And so we hope our community can join us in these two celebrations this week. And at this time, it is my pleasure to recognize our 4J transportation team who have earned state awards for their work every single day. They help get our students to and from school safely, and their dedication reflects the very best of our district. To present these honors, I would like to ask our Transportation Director, Stacy Cheshire, to come up to recognize our recipients, and I would like to ask our board to please join me in the audience for this recognition.

7:35 Good evening, everyone. Here in the state of Oregon, we have what's called the Oregon People Transportation Association across the state, and we honor people in different departments every year with the group. Last year, as a new director, I put out the nominations and asked for people in the department to nominate somebody that should be recognized for an award. And there's many awards. We brought home one, which is really amazing. The Oregon School Bus Driver of the Year award in the state of Oregon went to Brian Riveland.

8:22 Brian has been with 4J for 19 years as a bus driver. He was selected by someone in the department, and the department is proud to support him in receiving this honor. There are several components. He must hold his school bus certificate, which he does, be a current daily driver, and then also a positive reflection on students and teammates in our department. And I've seen that since I've been here, and I appreciate that, Brian. Super proud of you. The next award is called Buck Clum Special Needs Transportation Award.

9:07 It goes to Marilyn Van Buren. Marilyn has been with the department for 19 years. She's going to be hitting her 20 in April. Thank you. Marilyn has been recognized for her outstanding contribution in the area of special needs education with student transportation. We are proud that she plays a significant role on a daily basis with these students, and she is recognized by her colleagues in the department. The next award goes to Nathan Misner.

9:55 He's been with the department for 15 years. He was nominated in the state for Supervisor of the Year. Also, he was recognized for his outstanding contribution to student transportation, his leadership abilities, commitment to safety, integrity, attitude, cooperation, and committed to student transportation. He must be involved directly with student transportation in a supervisory position in order to receive this award, and a significant contribution to student transportation, and recognized by his colleagues. And

10:45 congratulations, guys. Not yet. We're going to have photos. May I ask the board, please, come join us in the beginning? Either. Yeah, unless you're-- Go with that.

11:36 Thank you. We are so very proud of our transportation team, and especially our award recipients. Brian, Nathan, and Marilyn, thank you. Congratulations. Thank you for all that you do. You don't have to stay for the entire meeting, just so you know. What? Yeah. I will not repeat what Board Chair Thessen said about how excited we are to have our student board reps, but I will say that it truly is my pleasure, on behalf of the board, to welcome our 2026/2027 student board representatives. Board Policy BCBA provides a formalized process for communicating and involving students in school board meetings via the positions of student

12:22 representatives to the board. And student representatives are to be installed on the board through an oath of office, which we are doing tonight. So may I please ask our student board reps to please come up here? Spread out a little bit in case. Okay. I'm going to have you introduce yourselves to the audience. If you could state your name and the school. Hello, I am Simon from Echo. Hi, I'm Emily, and I go to Echo.

13:08 I'm Lucy from Sheldon. I'm Esme, also from Sheldon. I'm Sophie from Churchill High School. I'm Monroe from Churchill High School. I'm Cora from South Eugene. I'm Diov, also from South Eugene. I'm Mariella from IHS. I'm-- Oh, jeez. I'm Lyra from EOA. And I'm Auraxie, also from EOA. Are you able to unmute yourself, Auraxie? Oh, sure. Yeah. My name's Auraxie. Auraxie. Yay.

13:55 All right. All right, we ready for the oath taking? Okay, raise your right hand and please repeat after me. I, please state your name. Sophie. Will support the Constitution. Support the Constitution. And the laws of the United States. The laws of the United States. The state of Oregon and the laws thereof. The state of Oregon and the laws thereof. And the policies of the Eugene School District 4J. And the policies of the Eugene School District 4J. And will discharge the duties of student board representative.

14:41 And will discharge the duties of student board representative. To the Eugene School District 4J School Board. To the Eugene School District 4J School Board. To the best of my ability. To the best of my ability. Congratulations, students, and welcome. We are so very excited to have you join. A group photo. A group photo. That's right. Swish.

15:27 Can you possibly come to the front here? There's some folks out in the lobby. Should I- Yeah. Congratulations, students. You are welcome to sit through the entire board meeting,

16:15 but we also know you have homework assignments and other responsibilities, so you're welcome to leave if you need to. But congratulations. We will hear from our student board representatives at a future meeting. Tonight is just the oath taking. While we're getting the table set up, I just want you to say that Maya just said what I was feeling, and that this is our favorite part of being on the board, is

17:02 when we get to meet the students and when we get to spend time with you. You guys have no idea. It reminds us why we do what we do. Anyways. Okay. Next on the agenda is hearing of the public, also known as public comment. The board values respectful public participation and appreciates everyone who takes the time to engage in our schools. As a school district, we strive to model respectful civil discourse for our students, and we ask everyone to help us do the same today. Each speaker has up to three minutes. A timer will sound when your time has expired, and I'll interrupt if needed to keep us on schedule. Public comment is an opportunity for the community members to share their perspectives with the board. This is a time for the board to listen.

17:49 Board members will not engage in dialogue or respond during public comment. Speakers are encouraged to address district programs, services, and operations. If your concern involves a complaint about a specific individual, board policy provides a separate complaint process. Please contact the superintendent's office for information about that process. So tonight, we have two speakers signed up for public comment. So Lisa, I'll let you introduce our guests. Thank you. Our first speaker is Blade.

18:42 Before I start speaking, trigger warning, very sensitive topics are going to be discussed here. So, if anyone can't handle it, they can step out of the room at any time. Where do I start? When it comes to the mental health of students, it definitely should be a priority. And unfortunately, right now, because of the administration just keeps on cutting funding to vital programs, the first programs that are getting cut are mental health programs. And when the programs get cut, students who have not enough opportunities won't get support.

19:31 And when they don't get support, it just gets worse and worse. And I'm speaking from experience because we attempted, in March of 2025, in junior year of high school, and fell into a dark hole. We've been in therapy, we've been in psychiatry, we've been in a lot of stuff, and we emerged out on the other side, but we didn't really have much of a support system in high school. We were really busy with sports, with music, everything. In seventh and eighth grade, we went down the MAGA rabbit hole because it was easier to go into a community because we were

20:18 just craving some community. It took us three months to get out of it. But yeah. I hope you all are taking care of yourselves, and I don't want you to expect any sympathy if you voted for the person that is in office right now, because the person that is in office right now is currently destroying the country. I was born in Missouri, grew up in Iowa, both red states. And despite the fact that Oregon is blue, there are some ways in which Iowa was more liberal than Oregon. Thank you.

21:15 Thank you. Our next speaker is John Stigler. Okay. Yes. Is this on? All right. My name's John Stigler. I'm a teacher at South now, a math teacher there. I was a teacher at Churchill. My wife and I came to this district, was our ninth year, so eight years ago. And we've seen a lot of change in the district and a lot of things that have happened. And there's a lot of decisions that are made that just don't make sense. And one of the things that we always looked at that's been a struggle is, at the elementary level, the way they forecasted numbers. So every single year, the numbers were wrong. They were never even close. And I couldn't figure out why until last year, the district released a formula they

22:01 use, which is to use an average of previous years to calculate a percentage. That makes no sense. If you have 60 third graders graduate, you have 60 fourth graders coming in. And so the district doesn't do that. They don't use previous years once. And so they calculate out school FTE allotments based on averages of student to teacher ratios and everything, but none of that takes into account bubble size classes, large classes, and by doing averages, it completely messes the numbers up. And so you end up with things like what are happening right now. So my wife's a second grade teacher at Edgewood. She has 31 students. The other teacher has 30. And there's no way to reallot the FTE that's been given to the school to make it so

22:48 that no grade level doesn't have. If you take fourth grade out to move a teacher down, now you've got 35, 36 in fourth grade. And so the way the district does the FTEs is completely wrong in that regard. We should be going grade level by grade level at schools and saying, "How many FTE do we need at this grade level to keep our class sizes low?" Especially at K three, because all the research shows where a student comes out of third grade, they're basically going to be there the rest of their education. And so we should be pumping all of our resources into the K three grades to keep them as low as they can, to support these students as much as they can. My wife is an amazing teacher. She's a distinguished teacher. She's the teacher they send all the hard kids to. She's the hardest worker you'll ever meet. She puts all of her effort into it.

23:36 She does an amazing job with kids. But with 31 kids, no EAs, no support, she's got five IEPs. She, at the end of the day, comes home and there's nothing left of her. There's nothing left for our kids. She eats, she goes to sleep, and she gets up and does it again. There's no emotional strength left. There's no energy left. And it's not fair to the teachers. If a teacher at one school has 20 students and a teacher at another school has 30, the teacher that has 30 has a 50% greater workload, 50% more kids she has to deal with, 50% more noise, 50% more things. And they're not able to get through the curriculum we're supposed to get through, right? Those elementary teachers are teaching 15 different curriculums, and if they're constantly having to behavior manage them, they're not able to get through

24:22 the materials and stuff. And so the district, I think we need to look at how the district allocates the FTE, and we need to make it so that it's a mandatory thing that at the K three level, and especially K two, that we are keeping the class sizes low. Because that is the most important stage. When we talk about mental health, if these students are running around crazy for an entire year, they're not learning how to manage their emotions or manage anything. It's just chaos. And then it moves into the next grade. And then so it's a snowball effect, years and years down the road. And so if we want to see our district really grow and do the best for these kids, we need to be putting that energy into the primary level and keeping those class sizes low and putting in as much support as we can.

25:10 Okay. Am I out of time? Time's up. Okay. But thank you so much. Yes. This guy seems- I think I'll be back to talk about other stuff, too. Awesome. But by the way, the block schedule is why our attendance is so low. Oregon attendance is low is because Portland, Salem, Eugene, Springfield, all of us are on the block schedule, and it's no reason that we have bad attendance. We need to go back to the three by five. That was it. Awesome. Thank you very much to our speakers. I appreciate it. It's hard to get up here and speak, especially when you're being vulnerable and honest. So, it's a real community resource to hear from all of you. The next agenda item is comments by employee groups. So, do we have a speaker from-- I see you first, so I'm going to say EEA.

25:56 You going to come up? Awesome. Thank you, Jamie. It's been a while. Good evening, Dr. Nicholson, Chair Thessen, members of the school board, and listening audience. My name is Jamie Myers, and I am the president of the Eugene Education Association. I'm here to speak to you tonight, in only the fourth full week of school, on behalf of hundreds of exhausted, overworked, and disheartened EEA members. But let's start with a story.

26:42 Many years ago, back in the 1980s, my brothers shared a paper route here in town. They used these heavy canvas newspaper bags that were essentially like ponchos they had to wear over their heads to hold the load. On certain days, Thanksgiving Day, for instance, the paper was substantially heavier than usual. I remember one specific time when my brothers were at the drop site loading up their bags. To do this, they had to kneel down, put the bags over their heads, fill the pouches, and then get up and go deliver the route. Once this heavy load was settled, my youngest brother tried to stand up. Nope Not going to happen. He literally could not stand up under the burden placed on his

27:31 shoulders. It's a striking image, isn't it? Well, it's the exact reality our teachers are facing right now. They are struggling to stand up under an unsustainable increase in their workload. Here are a few specific concerns that have been forwarded to EEA by our members. Escalating workloads. The absorption of larger class sizes, higher student caseloads, and increased numbers of students with IEP and/or 504 plans leads directly to extended hours required for grading, planning, and parent communication. Members report routinely working 10 to 12 hours a day just to stay afloat.

28:18 Behavioral management. Teachers are spending significantly more time handling behavior de-escalation and managing student conflicts, which takes crucial time away from instruction and impacts the learning environment for all the students. Erosion of prep time. The heavy workload burden is continually exacerbated by the loss of planning time for reasons such as being directed to cover unfilled staff absences or managing student behaviors. Overall, morale is at an all-time low. There is a deep perception among members of a lack of district-level support and poor communication, leaving staff feeling isolated, untrusting, and actively

29:06 considering leaving the district or the profession altogether. When resources are low, we're always told, "You are just going to have to do more with less." But there comes a point when the burden simply becomes too heavy to carry. We are barely a month into the school year, and we have already reached that breaking point, and we know additional budget reductions are coming. So if I go back to where I began, my little brother trapped under the weight of those newspaper bags and ask, what if he had removed some weight? Well, he would've been able to stand. It might have taken him a bit longer to deliver the papers, but he could've done it. So I have to ask you tonight, what is the district's plan to

29:54 allow teachers to do their jobs? How many proverbial newspapers can be removed from their bags? Can Wednesday professional development be suspended to give back some much-needed time? What about a commitment to truly protect prep time? How about refraining from texting members on their personal devices while they are teaching? Or setting a priority to send information through email rather than including it on a meeting agenda? I urge you to commit to removing something to reduce our members' workload burden, because right now, the weight is simply too heavy. Thank you.

30:40 Thank you, Jamie. OSEA, Lisa. Thank you, thank you. Good evening, Superintendent Mickelson, Chair Fessen, board, listening audience. Welcome to our student representatives to our school board. This is just one of the ways to become an activist and advocate for your peers and your community. My name is Lisa Jenkins Easton, President Oregon School Employees Association, Eugene Chapter one. I agree with my counterpart from EEA.

31:26 It's been a rough beginning of the school year. Our staff is feeling the pressures of the short staffing and high needs of our students. Additionally, the demands of representation needs across our system are high, but we continue to struggle with the labor relationship and lack of trust that exists. If you've not tuned into our ad hoc meetings regarding negotiations, I highly encourage you to do so. There's much to be discovered in how we can prevent the high turnover and retain the valued employees who have remained with us. I am concerned not only about the physical safety of our staff, but also their psychological safety. The offhand comments that are coded as a compliment for taking on way more than should be given is not landing well.

32:13 With the constraints we're experiencing, I want to continue to offer collaborative conversations with principals directly. This provides dignity and respect for our staff. Principals seem to be making some decisions that might seem okay in the moment. I would encourage them to take a beat, review the relevant parts of the OSEA contract to make sure we are on the right path to cover all the tasks we must do and avoid grievances. OSEA has an obligation to help our members when this happens. Our classified staff keeps our district rolling and in compliance, but we're the first to inadvertently give up our rights and voice because of the power dynamics that are in place. Please do not use this power to abuse the other duties as

32:59 assigned. I can assure you there are limits to this. My members are struggling to have breaks that are duty-free and timely. Our district cannot afford bully and OSHA violations right now. I know there's a tendency to want to squeeze our environment and to control how stressful things are, but that is not what will help our staff. Now, onto something positive. It was quite an honor for me to be here tonight while we congratulated two of our school bus drivers who received awards this evening from the Oregon Pupil Transportation Association. Brian Riblin and Marilyn VanBuren, OSEA also recognize and congratulate you on your recognition and dedicated service

33:48 to our district, our community, and our students. I am pleased to see our school bus drivers in this space being honored. Thank you. Thanks a lot, Lisa. Okay, last but not least, Joel Lavin from MAPS. Come on up. Well, good evening, members of the board and Superintendent Mickelson, and the listening audience. My name is Joel Lavin, and I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the MAPS, which is Managers, Administrators, Professionals, and Supervisors of 4J. While we often come before you to address pressing concerns that face MAPS

34:36 employees, tonight MAPS is here to shine a spotlight on the quiet and essential work happening every day across our district, specifically within our technology department. This is one of a series of public comments. They're meant to help the board understand what a large footprint our MAPS employees do district-wide. Right now, there is 14 MAPS professionals that serve as the digital backbone of Eugene 4J. That is down from 16 last year, which is a loss of two MAPS positions. Yet despite the leaner team, the scope and complexity and urgency of our work have reached an all-time high. Our technology director, Dr. Dan Farley, has worked directly with all 14 MAPS employees as well as classified employees in that department to accomplish an

35:24 amazing volume of work since early summer 2026. To put the sheer volume of support into perspective, allow me to share some brief data with you. In September alone, our technology department processed 3,657 help tickets. That includes over 2,000 desktop support requests, nearly 625 network incidents, and 482 student information system tickets, as well as hundreds more across the instructional tech, AV repair, and purchasing sections of the department. And I promise only about half of those were about turning your device on and off again. That was a joke, but you know.

36:10 When people think of IT, they often think of resetting passwords, but our 4J MAPS team members who span network services, student information systems, technology support, IT project management, and instructional technology manage the core infrastructure that keeps learning alive in our district Over the summer and into this fall, our small team completed massive physical and digital upgrades across 4J. For example, we did a large copier and printer refresh across the district. We replaced 127 copiers, retired seven outdated units, and migrated to a new vendor, and updated documentation for more than 350 printers

36:56 district-wide. In the areas of safety and communication, we installed brand-new intercom systems across four schools, including Churchill and Sheldon High Schools, while also at the same time syncing our bell systems. We have begun integrating the new Verkada camera systems to keep our students safe across the whole district. And we have also had an area of core network infrastructure improvements. We're currently executing the Juniper Switch infrastructure upgrade, video surveillance refresh, and managing district phone replacements to ensure secure, reliable connection in every building. Beyond hardware, our team supports the software ecosystems used daily by our

37:43 students, staff, teachers, classified staff. From Google Workspace, Synergy, Canvas, Clever, the new Renaissance Star testing, to Jamf device management, Rapid Identity, which helps keep our network secure and our email secure, Canva, and Adobe administration. We also lead critical compliance work, including our district accessibility project under the WCAG 2.0 standards and the publishing version of the first version of the District Educational Technology Handbook. We've also used considerable resources to develop our instructional data dashboard called Synergy Analytics, which is part of our Synergy student information system.

38:30 And this is to help provide our teachers, administrators, a clear picture of student progress, as well as our student intervention teams and our multi-tiered systems of support that are being developed across the district. And that was done not just within technology, but also in other MAPS groups, including the instruction department and the superintendent's office. Importantly, our MAPS technology team acts as a proactive financial steward. In this period of budget uncertainty, strategic tech choices and vendor negotiations led by our MAPS staff have already saved Eugene over half a million dollars just within that department alone. That financial efficiency is vital as our district prepares for high-stakes decisions ahead, as we navigate the critical device shortage that impact teachers

39:17 and students every day and evaluate potential cost-saving transitions to less expensive software to ensure solutions are fiscally responsible without disrupting our students' instruction in the classroom. Whether it's providing hotspots for McKinney-Vento qualified students, supporting transportation bus software migrations, or assisting with the Business Plus transition to the new Tyler technologies, our team steps up every day with extraordinary dedication. They keep our network secure, our classrooms connected, our budgets balanced, and our schools running smoothly. And they might have even stopped a phishing attempt in your email recently, too. On behalf of MAPS, thank you for recognizing and

40:03 supporting the dedicated professionals who keep Eugene 4J moving forward. Thank you. Thank you so much. I just want to say thank you to our employee groups that you come to the meetings and you come up here. The feedback that you give us helps us make better decisions as board members and understand things better. And, like all of you much smarter people long ahead of me have said, working conditions are learning conditions. But that also misses the point that working conditions are our staff's health and mental health conditions that they're living in, that they take home to their families. So thank you. I always appreciate when you're here. Okay. We now move on to the consent agenda.

40:50 There are two items on the consent agenda, meeting minutes and approving routine personnel actions. Do I have a motion and a second to approve? I move we approve the consent agenda as presented in the board packet. Okay. Excellent. Okay, so we- I second ... we have a motion from Maya and a second from Rick. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda, raise your hand and say aye. Awesome. Passes unanimously with yes votes from Rick Hamilton, Morgan Monroe, Maya Rabasa, Tom Diliberto, Jenny Jonak, Judy Newman, and myself, Erica Fethsam. All right. Excellent. Now we will be moving on to items for information.

41:38 We have two items for information. The board members have already read the materials in the packet, so presenters are planning to be somewhat brief in their presentations because we have the information from the board packet. But this is great because it will give the board members the opportunity to ask questions and engage with our staff. So the first one is the monthly financial report. So Bob Blythe, come on up. Thank you for being here with us. Thank you, board members. I'm happy to be here tonight. So, I take my glasses off so I can read my notes, but you're a little blurry, just

42:24 so you know. So the first quarter of the new fiscal year has just ended on September 30th. And next month I'll be presenting your first quarter report. At this time, we'll also be adding information related to our ADMR. So that'll give the board an opportunity to see how our enrollment is kind of tracking throughout the year. So the information presented here is through August 31st. Just so everyone knows, when we close out a month, there's about two weeks of additional data that we're entering that goes back into the last month, which is why I'm always going to present to you about a month behind. So,

43:10 you can see here that our general fund revenues collected through August are about $32 million, or 12.4% of budgeted operating revenue. And our general fund expenditures and encumbrances total just under $31 million. We'll go ahead and-- next slide, please. This month, at the request of the board, we're also showing data on other funds. Expenditures shown in table two, this is on page three of your packet, has special revenue funds, all at the top of the page. So those are all our 200-level funds, which include our grants, our nutrition services, our student body funds.

43:55 And, I've broken those out because those are ones that we like to be able to see on a month-to-month basis. And then also you'll see that I have all other funds at the bottom with that service, capital funds, and our other funds for you. Capital funds currently have a large encumbrance in there of about 19.7 million, and that's accounting for ongoing projects that they front-load with purchase orders in anticipation of the projects that are coming forward. So some of the things that I just want to highlight here are our local action revenue and our property tax revenues. We receive a majority of that in November and

44:40 December. So, in a later slide, which is also brought back from last year's presentations, you'll see that we have a big spike in our revenues in that time. About 90% of that revenue comes in, and that's because that's at the moment when all of our lovely property tax bills go out, and we all pay them happily so that we can pay for education and streets and everything else that we really appreciate. Our other expenditures show 74.2% of the budget spent already, and this is due to the timing of annual payments for PACE, which is our insurance coverage, as well as other insurances that we pay through Brown & Brown, and they're all paid at the beginning of the year. So that is anticipated and expected.

45:28 Our supplies and materials budget currently stand at 22.9% of budget, which is ahead of where we would be on a time basis for the year. But that, again, is a sign of the schools front-loading their supplies, purchases, and other things as they get ready to start the school year. So again, not out of line with past years and not something that we're currently concerned about, but we definitely will be monitoring that as the year goes on. And next slide. So, I've also added back the two slides, like I said. This one is showing our revenues. It has the last three years of complete year actuals, as well as this year's current numbers. So the blue line, you'll see in September, goes down to zero because we haven't

46:16 shown any of those expenditures. But this will give you an opportunity to see how we're tracking against previous years. And on the final slide, and it's also here, we track our expenditures. So our expenditures, as you can see, typically flow at a regular basis, month to month to month. The major part of those expenses is our payroll, and so obviously, our payroll hits every year. We often see a jump in expenditures at the end of the year. That's primarily due to schools and departments getting ready for the next fiscal year and doing their purchases at the end of the year. So with that, I can open it up to any questions that the board might have.

47:02 And I'll put my glasses on so I can see you. Morgan? I've got two, and one I think is probably short, and it's, how's the audit going? So the audit has just begun. Yep. As many of you know, we hired an amazing CPA back, who we had lost for a short period of time. She is amazing at her audit. She has an amazing relationship with our auditors. And so she's in the process of putting together our work papers right now. And the audit process is just at the beginning, but going well. Great. And then my second one is probably not even a question you can answer tonight, but I wondered is, with our spend down of the reserves, how does cash flow feel for the year? Cash flow is all about the timing of money-

47:49 Mm-hmm ... not the total in a column. Correct. And that just knowing that things come in at kind of a strange timing for us- Mm-hmm. That's been something I've been wondering about. It's a great question, Morgan, and I can definitely answer that tonight. Because that is something that I was looking at right away at the beginning of this year. So when we have a large fund balance, there is money in the bank that can allow school districts to cover that expense for the first several months of the year before we get those large revenues in November and December. Small school districts across the state typically don't have the ability to have cash flow, have money in any kind of reserve account that's going to allow them to get through those Novembers and Decembers. And so they will go out for what's called a tax anticipation note.

48:37 And that's basically a short-term note, which is like a bond, but for a very short period of time, that allows them to have money that they're paying back and they're paying interest on, but it allows them to maintain cash flow through those November, December dates. We currently do have sufficient funds to get us through. But I will tell you that in the 10 years that I've been here, this has been the leanest period of time. So, we're down into the $3 million of remaining cash in the bank before we start seeing our large revenues come in. But that is plenty for us to maintain operations and stay compliant with state law.

49:23 Judy? If we do have to take a note at some point- Mm-hmm ... there's an interest, I assume. Do we have to pay more back than we borrow? Correct. It is a loan, so there is an interest rate attached to it. There are opportunities for us to pool with other school districts and get a better rate because we're going out for more funds. And so, that is something that I would work with, with Piper Sandler, who is our bond representative. And we would probably work to be part of the state pool if we got to that point. It is something that I hope we can avoid, and potentially, if

50:08 we maintain our fund balance close to where we have it now, that is something that we could probably manage without going out for a TAN. Okay. And $3 million is a month of expense? Or- $3 million is about a week of expenses. That's what I thought. It sounds like a lot of money, but it doesn't go that far. No. Yeah, not at all. Hi, Jenny. Hi. So this probably is a larger question that might not be able to be answered tonight, but if I'm listening, probably one of the biggest questions on my mind is, we had a deficit that was larger than we realized last year. At what point will we start to have solid numbers about what we're

50:55 looking at in terms of deficit this year? And what will be the key dates where we might have significant updates that affect that? These are great questions, guys. I do really appreciate them, and we can definitely answer yours as well, Jenny. This is a year of unprecedented uncertainty as far as what our revenues will be for next year. So I have mentioned before that we're entering a new biennium. And we will not know for certain what the state legislature has provided to the state school fund until after we built our budget. So what Dr. Mickelson and I have been working on is making sure that we will be able to present a range of possibilities.

51:40 And so I'm doing my forecast with different assumptions as far as how much the state school fund will increase in total for the biennium. The other wrinkle that we have this year is, as most people know, there's a governor's race going on. So, even with information that might be coming out of Salem as to rumors of where people might land, we won't know because we don't know who's going to be in the governor's seat as well. So major dates, I can tell you one date that's already passed is for our PURS rate. We received our PURS rate this week, so we know what that is going to be. The increase is slightly less than what I was projecting, so that's a good sign.

52:25 Some of the other dates that'll be important is, usually we see a governor's budget coming up in the next couple of months. Then we get Ways and Means that weighs in, and that'll come maybe in February. But it's really not until April and May that we're going to start to see where the legislature is really leaning as far as the amount of money they're going to give us for the state school fund. Yeah. And I guess I have one other question. In addition to all those external factors that could impact how much in funding we get internally, are there other things that we're projecting doing for this year to try to make sure that earlier in the process we

53:13 have an understanding of what our costs are, so we don't have unanticipated deficit amounts from that? Yeah. Absolutely, and part of that is these monthly reports that we'll be providing to you. On the first page of these, I will always be listing some of the key kind of insights that I'm seeing or variances and trying to explain those, and then if there's any action that I feel like the board could likely assist finance in some of the decisions that we're making, I will put those in the reports. Some of the things that Dr. Mickelson has been asking people to do is to really, really be conscious of their spending habits this year. And so when it comes time to make a decision for a purchase, are you really contemplating that purchase? Are you evaluating its need?

54:01 And then are you looking at how it is directly impacting student outcomes before you just go ahead and make that payment? So that is one thing that we're putting in place to hopefully slow down spending this year, because every penny that we can save this year is additional funding that we have available when we're building our budget. And hopefully, when we continue to bring these monthly reports to you, you'll start to see that some of those spending thoughtfulness decisions will be coming into the actual month-to-month expenditures. I want to just add a couple of things. Back to the question around key dates, I have been sharing with board leadership, and this will be a discussion at our next board meeting planning meeting for

54:49 October 21st. My hope is to bring a resolution to the school board, asking you to authorize me as superintendent to begin planning for our budget forecasting and reductions. And so that resolution will include a range of preliminary budget forecasts for fiscal year 2020. And then from there, we'll make sure that there's frequent communication, without overwhelming staff and the community too much, about our budgeting process. So, I wanted to share that. Other things that we are doing to ensure that we can stay, to the greatest extent possible, within a reasonable margin of error when we talk about forecasting, even though so much is unknown.

55:38 Finance and HR are working really, really closely this year to make sure that we don't have staff members hired not showing up on the finances budget. So I know that Bob and Michael from HR, you have been collaborating and checking- Mm-hmm ... right, to address the position control issues that came up last year. Every week when I meet with Cabinet, I ask for an HR and finance update to make sure that-- We said we would reduce positions up to 200 or 265 FTE last year. Are we staying within that? What's showing up on the budget? Is that showing up on the HR's side of the equation? So those are a couple of examples that we're trying to make

56:27 sure that there are no surprises. And one of the other things that I'm doing this year, just because of all the uncertainty, is I'm performing a lot of collaborative reaching out to the other CFOs and business managers that are in the 10 largest school districts and making sure that we're talking to each other, that we're in alignment on the assumptions that we're using. And, just having that open level of communication in case someone hears something that we don't all hear, that we're all working towards the same goal of providing the best forecast that we can for our public and for our boards. And you can see it across the state. Salem-Keizer just brought forward their initial number, which they say can change, but they're saying $46 million for the upcoming year.

57:15 So, working in collaboration with them, I think, is also going to help maintain the integrity of the assumptions that we use for the forecast and the numbers that I'm going to be bringing forward, too. Can I ask a really granular issue, but is the school district-- Are we affected by these historic diesel costs? Because I actually don't know how many-- Are all of our buses diesel? Yeah. Do we have some that are not diesel? I'm just curious because I didn't know, if we bought gasoline in a pool and so we're somewhat insulated or if we're really heavily negatively affected by that budgetary- So we don't have a lot of diesel-powered buses, and we have made moves in the last few years, part of the Clean Energy Bill, to swap out some of our buses for

58:03 cleaner-burning fuels. But we have been affected. Our fuel costs are about 36% higher than what we had originally anticipated. So we are seeing that hit the bottom line. Are there any other types of interim checks that we do to test the data that we're able to access about the costs of our system, just to make sure, continuously, that the assumptions that we've made are checking out in real-time while we're in the budgeting process? Well, I'm trying to see if I'm fully understanding what you're asking.

58:50 We have been going back and looking at the assumptions that we made when we built the budget to see where we're seeing variances, fuel cost being one of them. I think that the main takeaway that the board can come with here is that we're doing things very differently and we're looking at things many, many times a month, whereas in the past, we would run reports maybe once a month, get ready for our board presentation. But I'm running reports on a weekly basis now, making sure that we're not seeing any spikes. We also have a lot more controls as far as what Dr.

59:37 Nicholson alluded to for new hires and position changes. Previously, those would be vetted through HR. And HR would be the final arbiter of whether those changes were going to be made or not. They all flow through Finance and HR now. So considering that 90% of our expenditures are our people, it is a huge workload lift, I will say, for the Finance department because previously we didn't have to look at every single change form and every single new hire form. But it's something that we recognize as extremely important in order for us to maintain some controls on those expenditures because that has been something

1:00:22 that in the past has really driven expenditures that were a surprise to us later on in the year. So we are doing more internal controls. We are looking at the numbers more frequently. And all of this is in an effort to make sure there's no late-day surprises. And I assume that our updated monthly reports will reflect that continuously updated information. Absolutely. And again, we'll be giving you the ADMR reports, and we can potentially do other information if the board feels there's other things that they want to see. We can add those to the reports, absolutely. One of those budget topics that I've been wondering about is unemployment payments. I remember when we were putting the budgets together-

1:01:08 Yeah ... that you project out what if everybody takes that- Mm-hmm ... because then the district would be paying more. So that's one of those spaces I was wondering about, which may not be this evening. Yeah, we don't have that data yet. We expect to be getting our first unemployment bill coming soon, probably in November. But we haven't seen the actual impact yet in numbers from the Oregon Employment Department. We have seen it in the number of claims that we've had to process. Mm-hmm. So that information will be coming out to you as soon as we get it from the State of Oregon. And then for the PERS rate you said it's coming in lower than anticipated. Is that the one that was increasing 25% or so the last couple of years, or is that

1:01:55 a different thing? No, it's that same one. Okay. So, as I mentioned before, our PERS rate is being affected by two things this year, right? So, it's the new biennium, so we're seeing the increases that we always see, and we're also seeing the end of our side account, which is that bond that we took out in 2004, which basically lowered our PERS percentage. And you'll see some things in the news that is a little bit misleading because it'll say some school districts are going from zero to 27. That's not really the impact on their budget because they were still paying 22, 23% in debt service costs, which is the offset. So they're seeing maybe a 5% increase, which is still significant. But we were happy to see those numbers come in slightly lower than what we were

1:02:43 projecting in our original budget. It's about 1%, a little more than 1% lower than what we were originally projecting. Thanks. Mm-hmm. Thank you so much, Bob. I really appreciate it. Thank you, guys. Seeing in the hot seat is not great, but I hope that you- That was not the hot seat. That was the fun seat. I love questions. Okay. I appreciate it. Dr. Nicholson knows I love questions. That's good. Okay. Because we genuinely appreciate your hard work. Oh, wait, wait, wait, Craig has a-- Oh, no, I just missed you. No, I just had a comment. Yes. And I think everyone here hears you loud and clear, and I think it's really appreciated that you share information if there's a trend or anything

1:03:29 like that coming up, and that we're just advised of it so that we don't feel like suddenly people are getting blindsided or what have you. And I think that was Some things that came up before. Mm-hmm. And so in listening to you, I can tell you're working on that not happening that way. Correct. And we also understand, I'm pretty sure, that this isn't a precise process. And so no one's expecting you to be right on the money, so to speak, just to be informed. And we really appreciate that. Yeah. And at the very least, we will be very clear on the unknowns and the things that we don't know and how we got to the numbers that we got to. Thank you. Thanks. Officially, you rock, Bob. Thank you.

1:04:18 Yeah, and so we will have those regular monthly financial reports. We're always going to have them at the first board meeting of the month, which is our public business meeting. I mean, they're always public, but you know what I mean. Our next item for information is K through 12 PE resource materials. So we have Assistant Superintendent Brooke Wagner and Elementary Curriculum Administrator Erin Gaston, and Middle School, High School Curriculum Administrator Courtney Leonard to lead us through this presentation. So welcome all three of you amazing, hardworking ladies. Good evening, everybody. It's great to see you all. So the first item regarding updates to curriculum instruction tonight is the K12 PE instruction materials adoption.

1:05:04 So we're proceeding in alignment with 4J board policy IIAR, and PE is distinguished as an independent adoption because it is a non-core instructional material. Interesting to note that our last adoption, 2008, a very long time ago. So, this independent adoption is also aligned with requirements for Division 22, and the state's instructional materials adoption cycle, and that includes the timeline for implementation of standards aligned PE. And that's to begin in fall of 2027. Because we plan to use open education resources for instructional materials,

1:05:49 we anticipate little to no curriculum purchasing cost and open educational resources, as you likely know, are teaching, learning, and research materials. They're free to use. We can share them. We can modify them because they exist in the public domain, and they have an open license. So that's really useful because it allows our teachers to make and to own and control copies of resources so that they can adapt them, they can modify them, they can translate them as needed, or even edit the content. We are anticipating some equipment funding, and that will support implementation to make sure that our sites and our teachers have the resources that they need in order to provide standards-aligned instruction.

1:06:36 We recognize our fiscal responsibility in this, and we've allocated up to about $50,000 for that equipment. We do not anticipate needing to use that full allocation, but we're erring on the side of what can we find and what can we do to best support our teachers. What we do anticipate, because we have a really important and robust process to include teachers in this adoption timeline, is that about $25,000 will go to support teacher extended contracts and set release time so that teachers can work together. Our teams are really good at collaborating, and we want to make sure that they can engage in that kind of standards alignment and curriculum resource mapping.

1:07:24 So we think this is a small investment in this moment of time that will give our teachers and support our programs to provide them with the resources and the time that they need, especially when we're looking at coherence across our K12 system. So this, again, an independent non-core K12 PE. We're bringing it forward as an item for information tonight as we begin the adoption process, and this, of course, is also consistent with established policy. So thank you. Tom, go ahead. Yeah, I have a question. It's kind of a broken record for me whenever we're talking about curriculum. A real concern for me, and I know for a lot of educators, is to

1:08:10 what extent is there flexibility in whatever curriculum that we're adopting, and it sounds very promising. I believe educators will be very grateful to have something there that's flexible, adequate resources, up to date, that has baked in UDL. This is wonderful. But I always ask the question, to what extent is there flexibility? And I guess, what message are educators getting with regard to how flexible that curriculum is? To what extent must there be

1:08:56 absolute fidelity, I guess? So the message is what I'm curious about. So I think that's a really good question for this item for information and then our next item, which is an item for action for the elementary social studies. So with supporting Erin and Courtney through this process, there's three parts to any type of adoption or curriculum. You have the important pieces. You provide our teachers with appropriate materials. You make sure, second, that they're aligned to the standards that the state has given us. And the third is the art of teaching. And so that's where that creativity piece comes in. The communication that we give our teachers is, yes, we provide them with the materials. Yes, we provide them with pacing guides.

1:09:41 Yes, we provide them with professional development where they can look and examine their work together. But that piece about the art of teaching and how they apply that in the classroom is where the magic happens. Particularly, that's where that individualism can come in. And one of the things that at the beginning of the year, there was messages to our staff reiterating those things. And so we message staff. We also use our adoption through the policy. We use our adoption teams to disseminate that information back to their buildings.

1:10:26 We have an elementary and secondary hub, which has an enormous amount of resources online that teachers can access. But again, there's never been a message where it's hard and fast this date, this time, this lesson. And so that's that piece where we're really focused on making sure that teachers know that they have these resources at their fingertips. But we also don't want to take away the art of teaching. And we were all in the classroom, so I think that's one of the things that we message to our people, we message through our teams, we message through our teachers. All right. Does that help? It does help. Yeah. Thank you.

1:11:13 You unfortunately followed the budget presentation- So I feel like I need to ask this question. First of all, will this add another newspaper to our teachers' bag, as EEA said? I mean, is it going to be a bigger workload for people to go through an adoption? I know there are state rules about timelines, and I'm also concerned what it would cost us. Have we budgeted in- It's in the current ... to buy new curriculum? Is it in our bond left still, or what? So we have a curriculum reserve account that this money has been allocated for this school year. It was part of the budgeting process last spring. So, that money is there that has been allocated.

1:12:02 I would say that one of the reasons we're asking for an extension on the next agenda item is because we recognize capacity with our staff, but anytime our curriculum policy, we're not going to go through any type of process without teacher voice. And so we are being mindful of that piece, and so that's one of the reasons we're asking for an extension for social studies. We also recognize that our PE, physical education teachers, haven't had any type of access to the updated standards since 2008. So we believe, and all through that time, even though we recognize that PE is an independent adoption, it is the only required state minutes

1:12:49 related to a subject. So it's interesting. So we know all of our students have access to physical education, so we believe it's an important part. And we allocated some funds from our curriculum reserve funds this past spring. To add to that, I just want to emphasize that we're really looking at open resources. Thanks for that. And so the money that we've allocated is for teacher release time, and then any PE equipment that would come. So the curriculum materials that we would be using would not be purchased. They would be open source. So I've got Maya, and then Jenny, and then, did you-- Okay. Rick, you need to get in the queue? Yeah. Okay. I really appreciate looking at open resources.

1:13:38 To have access to materials at zero cost, essentially, to us on that level is critical at any time, but also it feels as though it's in line with a lot of work that's happening across the nation to make these types of resources less aligned with dollar building industries. I'll leave it at that. So I appreciate that tremendously. I also really love that we're going to be including teachers as we always do. I would love it if you could tell me a little bit about what that might look like. Because I don't know that we've used, in my time working on this, these types of resources. So does that mean that they're going to be compiling a

1:14:24 list, like an annotated list and just letting links? Is it going to be picking one? What does this look like? Yeah. And then the last thing for the folks who are listening who have been hearing language, one of the things that maybe we need to say outright is that it's not a core subject, so we do not vote on this as a board. No. So I really appreciate the extra time and attention you're giving to this for us, because you don't have to, and so I appreciate that you are. So can you tell me what it looks like when teachers get together and look at how they want to pick stuff that's free? Yeah. It's really fun. That's the first thing. I think Oregon is really unique, especially when we think about Senate Bill 3 and

1:15:10 the transformative social-emotional learning standards. Those are two fundamental pieces. The PE standards themselves haven't changed significantly. We still do skills, we still do awareness, but there's a big social component that maybe hasn't existed in the last number of years. So we've done little teacher work groups over the course of the last few years to address some of those new standards specific to Oregon. Oregon will put out their resource list at the end of October, so the end of this month. So we'll have that as a resource. And then when we look online, there actually are a couple already that we've been looking at. As a comparison, when we did the social studies adoption for secondary last year,

1:15:58 we ended up with one of our supplemental resources as an OER project that happens to be funded by the Gates Foundation. So there are a lot of really unique funding options and nonprofits that will put forward different kinds of resources. So we'll have our teacher teams look at the current standards, look at Senate Bill 3, look at the TSL standards. We'll take a look at what those lists are. We'll talk about what their experience has been in the classroom. And we will create some protocols so that they can really engage in that deeper conversation. Normally, what we'll also do is have, we could call it an audit, but we could also call it an equity checklist when we're

1:16:44 looking at these online resources. Are they high quality? Do they fully address the standards? Is there going to have to be a way that we're having to supplement extra? So I would say it's a pretty organic process, but it's also fairly structured. So when they happen, we'll invite you. Yeah, so I've heard somewhat about teacher input into the choice of curriculum and things like that. I'm wondering, is there also staff input on the time or burden of adopting a new curriculum? And, do we collect that kind of feedback and input and take it into account? Because we heard about capacity earlier today.

1:17:30 And if we do, do we also take into account input for how we create more time for that capacity for staff to adopt the new curriculum? Yeah, that's a great question. We have a professional development committee that we collaboratively run with EEA. Okay. One of the things they have done is they've surveyed their members, so that's one way that we can solicit-- I'm sorry. It's okay. It's happened to me, too. We have some cough drops if you want some. I'm really not crying because I'm so emotional about answering this question. Thank you. Thanks, Jenny. Let me get a hold of myself.

1:18:17 I'm so excited about talking about this. So there's ways in which we build solicitation of feedback. One of the ways we also get feedback is through our UP survey, which is anonymous. So there are two survey ways we get feedback, in addition to soliciting feedback from members of the team who step forward to be a part of our adoption teams. I have to think everything that I'm saying. I think the only thing I would add is participation on the adoption teams is completely voluntary, and so teachers do volunteer to be part of that process. We also have an incredibly robust process as a district. I think our past superintendent maybe said it's one of the most robust he had ever

1:19:03 seen. And so that does require some additional time to have that process happen. I also think it is really valuable because it does put our teacher leaders at the center of that process. It's not a team of us going through materials and going, "That one." It's instead teachers coming together to deeply understand the standards, look at the resources available, and then make decisions through piloting them in their classrooms, using them, and then coming back to say, "These are the ones we think are best." And so to the greatest extent possible, we want to make sure that teacher voice is prominent there. When we speak about the next item, part of what you'll hear from us is capacity is why we're asking for the extension.

1:19:51 So our intent is to, once we've done this item for information with you, to reach out to our PE teachers with a request to see who would be interested in participating. And then based on that is how we'll move forward. Yeah. I'm going to put myself in the queue real quick, because it's my soapbox. I'm so sorry. Anytime we talk about health curriculum or PE curriculum, I always want to say whatever we're doing, I just want to make sure it's trauma-informed and it is supportive of students that have eating disorders, disordered eating, orthorexia. So it's just my thing. I'm sure it already is, but I just want to say we always

1:20:36 need to center that when we're looking at PE and health curriculum. It's very important. Thank you. No problem. And then I guess, linked to that, which I thought we were going to go to is, will this include work with our folks who are doing unified PE? Oh, yes. Okay. Yeah. Awesome, because I know kids who would love to be in unified PE, but there's not-- So yes, more unified PE, more work in that realm, expanding that opportunity so that it's just PE. Thank you. Yeah. So usually we have incredibly long pilot cycles for the curriculum. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And so how does it work in a structure like this?

1:21:21 Is there a pilot element to it? What does that look like? Do you want to answer? Go right ahead. Okay. I think this one is somewhat unique in that for the first time in a long time, we are looking at a suite of free and open resources. So based on some of the conversations from the PE teachers that I know, they've already gone out and found things that have been working because it's been so long since we've adopted curriculum for them. We had a little gap filler a couple of years ago of a resource that we gave to our elementary PE teachers. But I'm guessing a lot of them already have things ready that we can fit into categories that will need to be covered. But absolutely, when they find things, they can actually go right-- It's actually

1:22:10 going to be different than a regular adoption because- They can look at a couple of lessons and go, "I'm just going to go do that next week and let you know how it goes." Right? And so they're often much shorter than a general curriculum adoption pilot cycle would be. Yeah. So it's like you're taking a brain trust of all the best things that our PE teachers are doing across the district and making it so that people can share them easily between each other? Yep. And give feedback. And give feedback on their experience. Yep. Yeah. Board members, if you will permit me, I know we eventually need a bio break, but we have for the next presenters for items for action, we have two of our staff members up here. So I was kind of hoping that we could move on to items for action,

1:22:58 to looking at approving the extension of the elementary social studies curriculum, so that when we're done, we can release our hardworking staff to be able to go home to their families, and then we'll take a bio break after that, if that works. Okay. So for the listening audience, we are moving on to items for action. By the way, thank you. Thank you, Courtney. We have two items for action. So this first one is to approve an extension of elementary social studies curriculum adoption. And thank you for both of you, Erin Gaston, Elementary Curriculum and NTSS, and then Administrator Brooke Wagner, Assistant Superintendent. You have the floor. Okay. We're here tonight to request an extension for the elementary social studies adoption. We opened the adoption in the spring of 2025 with the goal of having

1:23:44 updated social studies materials in the hands of teachers by this fall. Due to a variety of circumstances that our district was experiencing last year, we do need some additional time to complete this work. I'm pleased to share that even with the extension, our teachers already have access to strong instructional resources that meet many of our updated social studies standards. Sarah Knudsen, when she served as our humanities content specialist, used grant funds a few years ago to convene a team of teachers already to curate and create resources for those new standards, including lessons that meet the requirements for Senate Bill 13. Those are currently available to teachers and are linked on our elementary resource hub as part of their pacing guides. This extension would provide us time to finish the review of our current materials, to assess their alignment with the social study standards, and to identify any

1:24:32 instructional gaps that still need to be addressed. The teacher team will then review available open education resources that will address any remaining standards. Finally, we'll develop a recommended scope and sequence and professional learning resources to help support implementation of the social studies materials district-wide. We do plan to use open education resources and teacher-created materials, so we will not have costs at this time for purchasing materials. We do anticipate approximately $25,000 annually to print student-facing materials like maps and interactive workbooks. We also anticipate costs for bringing teachers together to engage in this work to be no more than $50,000. With your approval of the extension, we can take the time we need to bring teachers together to collaboratively and thoughtfully complete

1:25:18 this work. Thank you both. Mm-hmm. Do I have a motion on this? Maya? I move that we approve the extension of the elementary social studies adoption through 2028 with a full curriculum in place in classrooms by fall of 2028. Is that...? Yes. Okay. And second, I've got Judy. Okay. So it has been moved that the board approve the postponement of the elementary social studies adoption through 2028, with full implementation by the fall of 2028, and it's been seconded by Judy. Is there any discussion?

1:26:03 Yes, Morgan. So I just want to double-check that even with the extension, there's a real focus on making sure that teachers are getting the resources they need to meet state standards- Mm-hmm ... and that you guys are really prioritizing those spaces where there's been identified gaps in the current material- Correct ... to make sure that the standards are met and that the teachers have the resources and support that they need. Absolutely. One of the things we know is that by adopting a knowledge-building curriculum for language arts, some of our social study standards are actually covered there. So one of the things we want to ensure is that we are integrating to the greatest extent possible so that we aren't asking teachers to teach one thing and then go teach it again somewhere else.

1:26:48 But instead, as much as possible, if we're already teaching some standards through the materials we have, we'd like to check that box and focus on filling the gaps that are there rather than adding an entire new curriculum for something else. Because at elementary, they have a lot of standards to cover. Yeah. And they've been through some pretty robust adoptions in the very recent past. They really have. Yeah. Yep. They're doing a great job, those elementary teachers. Yes, they are. Okay. So next up is to vote. All those in favor of the motion, please raise your hand and say aye. Aye. Okay. Passes unanimously with yes votes from Tonya Liberto, Jenny Jonak, Judy

1:27:36 Newman, Rick Hamilton, Morgan Monroe, Maya Rabasa, and myself, Erica Thussen. So we will now take a little bit of a break. So how about, it's 7:33. It's now 7:34, so let's say we'll be back by 7:45. There we go. We will be back, I promise. Okay, everyone. Thank you. Welcome back. The next agenda item is our budget committee selection process. So I know Bob Blythe is going to come up and help us with this. So he'll join us. So the board members, we have-- Oh my gosh, do we have four

1:28:23 openings? Yes. Yes. I don't know why that still keeps shocking me, and I question every time I say it out loud. We have four openings on the budget committee, and we're incredibly grateful to have had so many involved community members who have applied. We had 12 respondents. Their qualifications were impressive. So really, the board wants to thank each and every one of you for your interest and for applying. So before we begin the task of selecting the six, we're going to select six finalists, I'd like to underscore a few points to remember about the budget committee. And that includes candidates, staff members, students, current budget committee members, the 4J community, and the board.

1:29:08 So our board policy DBEA states, "It is the function of the budget committee to approve appropriations for expenditures before the start of each new fiscal year, as presented by the budget officer to the committee. The budget committee may choose to change appropriation levels. However, it does not have authority to make programmatic changes." In other words, we spend a lot of time understanding what the district's finances look like next year and what level of appropriations we'll need to adopt to best meet the challenges of next year. However, this is probably the most difficult part in the process to remember. I know certainly for me, but for everybody involved. The superintendent, with the help of her staff, is the one who ultimately makes the

1:29:55 very difficult programmatic changes to make sure we serve our community as best we can, ensure we spend within our means, and as per Focus 4J's foundational pillar, position our district towards fiscal sustainability now and into the future. It won't be a shock to anyone that 4J, like most districts in Oregon, continues to face some very difficult financial decisions. But you might be wondering if the role of advocacy has changed in the process. The answer is most definitely not. Decision-makers need to know clearly what is happening in our district, where we are in critical areas, what is working, and what needs to improve. The information is especially vital to our superintendent, who has a legal

1:30:40 responsibility to make what will most probably be the most excruciating decisions on staffing, facilities, and other operations. This whole system depends on information from all stakeholders, and even more so in times like these, when our funding continues to be woefully insufficient. The superintendent and her staff have already begun working on budget processes, and soon Dr. Mickelson and her team will be making budget forecasting presentations to the board, meeting with the community and staff and key stakeholders to discuss the budget issues. We'll have a lot more to say about the budget and the budget adoption process. But now it's time to get to the first step in that process. Board members have read through all 12 of the applications and will now

1:31:28 determine who the six finalists will be by listing their top six on their individual ballots. If we don't determine the top six with the highest votes on the first ballot, we will eliminate those candidates who receive less than four votes. So Lisa, could you please pass out the ballots? Thank you. Thank you. Okay. And board members, one of our applicants has had to

1:32:13 step away from the process because of some things in her life. So we appreciate her application. So when you see one of the names will be crossed out, it's because that person has stepped aside. So let me give us all a little bit of time, and then when we're done, I guess, let us know and we'll give them to Lisa.

1:35:46 Just for the listening audience at home, they're tabulating our vote sheets. I'm going to try to be better about doing a better job about narrating for listening audiences that aren't watching us, so that you understand why there might be pauses or different things like that. And I always welcome, to the general public, if there's folks out there that are listening on the radio, and you need some feedback about having the way that the meeting's flowing, that we announce things to be easier to listening audiences, please let us know, especially if it comes down to any accessibility issues for folks who have disabilities.

1:37:31 Also for the listening audience, so just a quick review while they're tabulating of the timeline. So the application process opened September 4th. It closed on September 29th. 30th. Oh, the 30th. Oh, okay. And then the staff then confirmed statute requirements with applications and then prepared the presentation for the school board on 10/2. And on 10/2, the staff gave us information on the number of applicants received. So on 10/7, that's today, the board reviews applicants to determine the finalists to invite to speak at the next board meeting. And then on October 21st, the finalists will speak for three to five minutes and the board will complete ballot voting, and the four new selected members will be

1:38:17 announced and appointed.

1:40:50 So just for the listening audience, so we have five people who have four or more board members voting for them, and then we have two that have three board members voting for them. Would our board be interested in maybe inviting all seven of them? And inviting all seven of these back instead of six? I think just the way that the math is lining up. Motion. Yes. Maja, I would love for you to make a motion. I move that we invite back a total of seven finalists, including the five

1:41:37 finalists who received four or more votes and the two that received three. So it has been moved by Maja Rabasa and seconded by

1:44:24 Jenny Jonak that we will be inviting back the, may I say the names? Yes. The following seven applicants. So Pamela Culbertson, Scott Fellman, Bonnie Glass, Kristin Rush, Courtney Selik, Debra Smith, and Abby Stille to join us at the October 21st meeting as... No. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's our current motion. Was seconded. It was seconded by Jenny. So now discussion, my fine friends. Judy. I was just curious because that wasn't the process we set out. So we are just making a motion to change that process.

1:45:18 Any other questions, discussion? Anyone? All right. How about we vote on this motion and see where it takes us? So all those in favor, raise your hand and say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay. So and then nay. All right. So we have yes votes from Rick Hamilton, Morgan Monroe, Maja Rabasa, Tonya Liberto, Jenny Jonak, and myself, Erica Thessen, and we have one nay vote from Judy Newman, so the motion does pass. So at the October 21st meeting, I'm just going to read it out loud again, we'll be having Pamela Culbertson, Scott Fellman, Bonnie Glass, Kristin Rush, Courtney Selik, Debra Smith, and Abby Stille come back to provide their comments for the board, and there we will be making a

1:46:05 final decision about our four budget committee members. Thank you. Before I just close that out, really, again, thank you so much on behalf of the entire board to all the applicants. We are all very grateful for the continued interest and support of our school district receives from our community. Okay, on to our next agenda item. We don't have any items for action at a future meeting.

1:46:50 So we'll move on to committee reports by individual board members. So I know that the Workforce Negotiations ad hoc committee has recently met. And Judy, Maja, and Tom serve on this committee. Who would like to give a report? Judy is our chair. Judy is our chair. Let's go for it. Well, let's see. We've met twice since we have had our board meeting, and at the one meeting, we did a debrief of the EEA negotiations. So the two district representatives talked about what they thought went well, what they didn't, some of the challenges, and some

1:47:35 things to carry forward or ideas. And EEA, the two representatives, did the same. And then at our last meeting, we did that same process with OSEA. So the two reps from the district and the two from OSEA talked about those same things. And coming up next week, I think it is, we have a little bit longer meeting. We'll hear from East and the district in East and the district in MAPS, which is a very different process, but we wanted to also include what we could do to possibly improve that process and what we could learn from it. So that's where we are. And we're taking notes about themes

1:48:24 as we go along. So hopefully we'll be able to pull that together in some recommendations to the board. Thank you very much to the board members and all the staff and employee group members that are serving on this committee. We appreciate your hard work. Any other committee rep? Oh, yeah. Oh, goodness. Okay, go ahead, Jenny. I just have a really short one. At LCOG, Lane Council of Governments last meeting, there was a review of the Lane Regional Broadband Plan, and that was very interesting because that's basically a collaboration between numerous different parts of government, including Lane County, the City of Eugene, the City

1:49:10 of Springfield, EWEB, the Springfield Utility Board, Oregon Department of Transportation, et cetera. And the idea is to try to coordinate so that the county can take advantage of rolling out broadband in a way that's very coordinated, prevents having to dig twice, and hopefully takes advantage of existing grants that are available. Awesome. It's still a several-year process, so I don't want to make it sound like it's suddenly going to happen instantly, but it was very interesting talking about some of the challenges and the efforts to coordinate. Mine's quite short. I'm on the EEF committee this year, and

1:49:57 we had a fundraiser on, a couple weeks ago. So Tuesday night, the server said that we had a lot more people tonight on Tuesday. Tuesday's usually our slowest day, and that was positive, so I think a lot of people came. And thank you to North Bank for donating, I believe it was 50% of all sales that night to EEF, and that goes to our kids. So we were happy about that. Had some board members there as well. So I think it was pretty positive. Well, thank you. Anyone else? Okay, next is consider board requests for agenda items or information.

1:50:46 Does anyone... I have something. I'm just trying to figure out if I want to bring it up or not. One of the things that I'm wondering about is, I don't know, something that we could think about in leadership, or I just would be curious is on evenings like this evening when we only have two people speaking at the public comment section, have we ever thought about also allowing people to sign up in person day of on slips of paper?

1:51:31 Just something to think about on the nights where we maybe have somebody that maybe would like to speak but didn't sign up in time, but is here in person at the meeting. Just something in the back of my mind. Anyone? Okay, lastly, good of the order. Do I have a good of the order? I'm opening up my phone to do my good of the order. I just want to shout out for Bethel School District, our other school district here in Eugene, that Willamette High School social studies teacher, Nate Jackson, was named as the Oregon Lottery Regional Teacher of the Year. So I just want to shout out all the good things that happen in our community, and that is a great, good thing. So many congratulations to our partners in Bethel and

1:52:19 to that amazing teacher. Anyone? No? Okay. All right, so I will be closing us out in this meeting Wednesday, October 7th at 8:11 PM. Our next meeting will be Wednesday, October 21st at 6:00 PM. Thank you so much. Our meeting is adjourned.