There.
WLWV School Board: I'd like to call to order this evening's Wesley Wilsonville
WLWV School Board: School Board meeting. I want to turn over to Director Douglas for roll call, please. Thank you. Director, shoemaker. Here, director, sloop here, Chad Taylor, here, Vice Chair, Wyatt here, and Director Vidal here. Thank you.
WLWV School Board: Thank you. And to the community. We apologize for being a few minutes late. We were coming straight out of executive session, so had to do some housekeeping before we got down here. So thank you for your patience. I'm gonna turn right to district communications and we're gonna start with Riverside High School representative Laura Venegas.
WLWV School Board: Good evening.
WLWV School Board: Oops.
WLWV School Board: Alright! Good evening. Thank you for having me. It's lovely to see you all again. Thank you so much for having me. I've got lots of exciting news to share with you. From this last month February had a lot of student action. Starting with our winter sports celebration night students came to the riverside campus for dessert and recognition of all the hard work and dedication they put into their athletics this winter Varsity letters were awarded to participants on the swim team and wrestling team.
WLWV School Board: the very first letters in Riverside High School history. So we are super proud of the riverside athletes and the impact they have made on our school, and we are very excited to see what they do in the future.
WLWV School Board: A lot of the same athletes who are celebrated this winter are continuing to do sports. At Riverside this spring. Students have joined Riverside's track and field golf and tennis teams. Track and field is possibly Riverside's biggest turnout yet, and it's a great Testament to the determination of the athletic directors, coaches, and students to help them join as many sports and activities as they can. We are all so excited to see all the amazing things they do, that and everything that will be accomplished this spring season.
WLWV School Board: And speaking of student interest, Riverside High School has a new addition to our variety of offered clubs. Mr. Valentine began a disc golf club, and it's generated a lot of interest among students, and it has been great to see so many of them getting involved in various activities throughout the school year. We've had 3 new people join hosts at actually. So that's very exciting, and it's always exciting to see students exploring new interests and hobbies. And it's wonderful that riverside staff and students can provide so many opportunities. So big. Thank yous to them, for that.
WLWV School Board: Riverside is also offering chapters in the National Honor Society and National Technical Honor Society. I, along with 6 other sophomore students attended the National Honor Society and National Technical Honor Society meeting to learn more about applications. The National Honor Society recognizes students, achievements in leadership, service and character.
WLWV School Board: The National Technical Honor Society recognizes this as well, but in addition recognizes students in riverside Cte. Classes like health occupations, business and marketing and construction and architecture accepted. Students will be inducted on April thirtieth, and will have the chance to participate in various service projects.
WLWV School Board: It's a wonderful opportunity for recognition, and to make a positive impact in the community. We're lucky to have this program, and I, for one, am super excited to see where it goes.
WLWV School Board: And in February. Riverside also had its first ever winter formal. The week began with an assembly run by leadership with an exciting balloon popping game. We had in ninth grade, tenth grade, and staff competing in a race of pop, 6 balloons as fast as they could. In the end our staff representative, Mister Chapin, ended up winning so congratulations to him for that.
WLWV School Board: Yeah, we saw a lot of student participation and friendly competition with the life classes. The most student participants will win the spirit stick for our dress updates for Spirit Week. Oh, I lost my place
WLWV School Board: the winning class is still yet to be announced, for who had the most participation. And then that following Saturday, on February 20 fourth, the students attended Riverside winter formal. There's graciously sponsored by the Riverside High School Booster Club. There's a lot of enthusiastic buzz from students, staff and parents and ticket sales went exceptionally well, and the space was stunning, decorated with balloons, lights and snowflakes. Students put on their formal attire and look super sharp. So Riverside is looking forward to community are continuing to build on their success with future events for student community.
WLWV School Board: Big shout out to the Booster Club and the Riverside High school staff and event organizers and chaperones. They helped fuel a wonderful night.
WLWV School Board: And then last week, coming up on March Riverside hosted 3 Rivers, Middle School, Meridian Creek, Middle School and Wood Middle School students. This was the biggest student interest turnout we've had. We've had a student panel of 10 students who answered unprecedented questions from staff and students about their experience at Riverside, and I'm proud to say. They spoke very highly and very honestly of our school students, had a lot of interest in our CTE. Classes.
WLWV School Board: health occupations, business and marketing, construction and architecture. Riverside is also the only school to have an American sign language class, and there were a lot of students who attended that were interested in taking those classes.
WLWV School Board: Our student panel also led incoming ninth grade students on a tour around the riverside campus and incoming freshmen got more one on one time with riverside students, and asked as many questions as they desired. They were also able to see classes and meet a few teachers, and the student panel was very excited to host and see the middle schoolers, and gave lots of suggestions and positive feedback to Riverside Staff for Tours in the future. Athy Creek and Rosemont Middle will be visiting in April, and were super excited to meet them, and are looking forward to see Riverside's incoming freshmen class this fall.
WLWV School Board: And then this Wednesday theatre students will begin rehearsals for Riverside's spring production. Agatha Rex, Agatha Rex is based on a girl who stands up for her beliefs, regardless of the consequences, and as a part of the student Council at her school she vigorously defends a student who's being unfairly punished, and the process she could be expelled and lose an important scholarship, and the riverside students are super excited to be part of this empowering play. Agatha Rex will show at Riverside High School on May 20, ninth, thirtieth, and 30 first
WLWV School Board: and finally, students are forecasting for their classes next year, and are working hard on building their schedules. We have some exciting classes to offer our CTE. Level twos, ivy languages, forensic science, anatomy, and physiology as well. Psychology again, thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure seeing you all. Thank you for your time, and I will see you next one.
WLWV School Board: Thank you. Thank.
WLWV School Board: And that's that. Swimmers long, I think, that allows you to keep that pace. Thank you so much. And next up out of Westland High School we have Beat's Yolroy.
WLWV School Board: Hello, everyone.
WLWV School Board: 1 s. Sorry. Okay.
WLWV School Board: Can you hear me if I talk like that? Okay, Hello, everyone. I hope you all have been doing well since the last School Board meeting. We have had some exciting things happen at Westland High School in early February our black student Union hosted a successful black history Month celebration after school on the early release day the club offered many fun games, had music playing in the Commons, and organized the 3 on 3 basketball tournament in the gym
WLWV School Board: for food. Some of the club members brought in cultural food, and they also hired a caterer who served delicious chicken and pulled pork sandwiches.
WLWV School Board: A week later our Asian and Pacific Islander Club recognized Lunar New Year by selling, selling Boba at lunch, and hosting a celebration after school in Student Street.
WLWV School Board: at the after the school celebration, Api sold baked goods, offered crafts and games, and even had a traditional lion dance performance pictured on the screen in the top right.
WLWV School Board: Both of these clubs had a very successful turnout at their events, and received a lot of positive feedback from students and staff. They look forward to hosting similar events like this in the future for the school and community to enjoy.
WLWV School Board: Speaking of community, our Red Cross Club hosted an on Campus Blood Drive during February, after working hard to recruit donors and operate the drive, they were able to collect 47 units of blood, which has the potential to save 141 lives. So that was great to see.
WLWV School Board: During the month of February many of our winter sports wrapped up their seasons, both our girls and boys. Basketball teams made it to the second round of playoffs with Coach Kate's of the Girls basketball team receiving Trl coach of the year.
WLWV School Board: Our ski team finished fifth in League qualifying for State, and our unified basketball team had a very fun senior night game.
WLWV School Board: We even had 3 teams bring home State trophies as well, with the swim team finishing third in state, wrestling, getting second in state, and our cheer team earning first in state for the first time in school history. We are so proud of our winter lion athletes, and we are looking forward to kicking off the spring season shortly
WLWV School Board: at this time I also wanted to recognize Westland High School student, Joseph Murphy, who recently received the title of Oregon High School journalist of the year.
WLWV School Board: Joey is a very dedicated journalist who attends many events and games, capturing the action in an outstanding way, including the picture in the top left corner of tonight's presentation from a girls basketball game.
WLWV School Board: Westland High School is very proud of Joey and thankful for his hard work.
WLWV School Board: After wrapping up Kindness Week Asb jumps straight into hosting our 2024 amazing race competition. As many of you are already familiar with Asb hosts, an amazing race competition every year mimicking the competition that takes place on TV
WLWV School Board: this year the race's theme was video games, and the competition consisted of 12 teams of senior pairs, including Director Taylor's daughter, savvy competing to win money for a charity of their choice.
WLWV School Board: The longer each team lasts in the race the more money is given to their charity the 2 week race mainly takes place after school and on the weekends with some lunch and life class challenges.
WLWV School Board: All legs of the race are filmed by Asb and then edited. Recap videos are shown in life class.
WLWV School Board: Today. We wrapped up the competition by hosting our amazing race finale live during life class where our only co-ed team, Ryan and genina were crowned champions. This event definitely catches the attention of many students and creates a lot of positive energy on campus.
WLWV School Board: Some of my favorite pictures of the race are on the screen today. I will say that Director Taylor's daughter, Savi, and her partner Saila, had some of the most spirited and on theme outfits throughout the competition. So that was great. We looked forward to it every night
WLWV School Board: this week at Westland High School. Our theater department is wrapping up its production of exit. The King with shows happening on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7 Pm. You all are welcome to attend. We also have a few Wellness week, events being hosted by tab and sources of strength. At lunch this week
WLWV School Board: since March is Women's History month. We are also hosting a women's Forum next Tuesday, March twelfth. During life class during access time, where female identifying students will have a safe space to share opinions, thoughts, or concerns about campus. At Westland.
WLWV School Board: I look forward to speaking with you all next month. Thank you for your time.
WLWV School Board: Thank you. We had a lot of fun watching you guys do your work. And if you haven't had an opportunity to check out the Youtube videos of the amazing race at Westland High School on the Asp Youtube channel. It's it's pretty fun and amusing to watch the you guys do a great job on that. And our family had a blast with the the whole setup, so I know they were exhausted every night getting home at midnight.
WLWV School Board: so good good work!
Next up from Wilsonville High School.
WLWV School Board: Mr. Trenton Bonfilio.
WLWV School Board: Hello, again, members of the School Board. I hope you guys are all having a great evening. A second semester is kicked off over here at Wilsonville. We have new classes, new sports, and all types of activities that are exciting for students. As we approach the final stretch of the school year we've had a busy month this February, and we have a lot of events coming up this march that we are excited to share starting us off with our sports
WLWV School Board: all 3 of our basketball teams have had remarkable success.
WLWV School Board: specifically, our 2 unified basketball teams had just had their end of the year tournament, and after a well-played season they had tons of support from students, staff, and parents throughout the season. It was exciting to watch them go the extra mile. One team took home the bronze medal and the other team won silver in their respective tournaments
WLWV School Board: unified is not the only team doing well. Our boys basketball team has gone undefeated in league, and our girls has also done well in league, and we are moving on to the playoffs this week.
WLWV School Board: Our boys team will be playing in the quarterfinals at Linfield on the sixth, and we are ready to watch the team go for a three-peat this season.
WLWV School Board: We are also excited to watch the girls go into their quarterfinals, which is also Linfield on Thursday. The final set of sports that will be starting up here soon is going to be, including golf, lacrosse, softball track and field and baseball. They're all currently practicing, and we are looking forward to seeing them start playing soon.
WLWV School Board: Our students! Sports department is not. The only people hard at work, however, are performing arts center and program is holding all sorts of performances this month, right before spring break. The drama department has been practicing and performing Shakespeare's The Tempest. They already had one performance last week, and they are holding 3 more performances this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in our brand new performing Arts Center. Of course
WLWV School Board: we hope you guys all get the opportunity to attend along with our drama. Our band and orchestra are going to be hosting concerts in about 2 weeks.
WLWV School Board: and that's it for our performing arts.
WLWV School Board: Wilsonville has some academic news to share as well with the board. Our scientists and engineers at Isf have been putting up the final touches on their projects. Last week at the mock symposium, we got a preview of their incredible work. Some of our students are involved in projects such as water purification, reducing carbon emissions.
WLWV School Board: creating apps to help type, one diabetics, and investigating the impact on conclusions with other scientific inquiries that will no doubt change the world. These projects will be presented and judged at the International Science Fair, and it will take place at West Linn High School, and I think that will be happening next week.
WLWV School Board: We're also offering an act sat prep. Course for all students that are interested in getting the upper hand on standardized tests.
WLWV School Board: Considering a lot of colleges are going to start requiring them for admissions. Soon several teachers are leading these classes, and it is incredible to watch our dedicated staff create these programs to help benefit students when challenges arrive.
WLWV School Board: Since we have seen both students and staff go above and beyond this year Wilsonville Asb has installed both student and teacher of the month of awards with incentives to and continue the spirit and pride at Wilsonville this month our celebrated students who work to create an inclusive culture at Wvhs.
WLWV School Board: Got to get those awards the students were acknowledged for the way they include classmates and bring forward ideas and contribute to the school with community projects and incentives.
WLWV School Board: Wilsonville Asb has also been hard at work as well. Over the last month we have been greenlighting all sorts of projects, including the payment of $150 per life class to everybody out of the Asb budget. Our life class teachers at Wilsonville are being allowed to use these funds as they see fit to increase student engagement and increase belonging during their life. 100 classes
WLWV School Board: we have already seen teachers come together and combine their funds to life classes to hold joint activities.
WLWV School Board: Asb has also completely reworked our Springfest celebration. After noticing a lack of interest among the student body last year in the yearly tradition as being B has switched things up and we are turning it into a high quality game show. In conjunction with the Journalism department.
WLWV School Board: This game show will be uploaded to our Youtube channel later this month the game will have students rooting for their friends and contestants as they compete in an elimination style, show with the last one remaining winning.
WLWV School Board: We have recently showed off our contestants in a recent Springfest assembly, where we had them play a game of jeopardy, live in front of the whole school.
WLWV School Board: The whole student body just absolutely raved over this assembly, and the excitement for Springfest has been reinvigorated.
WLWV School Board: Great things are happening all around the school with Asb teachers and students showing their leadership, strength. Morel and pride at Wilsonville are at an all time high, and we hope to see more exciting things as we go into the final stretch of our last semester. I'd like to thank you guys for our time, and I look forward to seeing you guys again.
WLWV School Board: Yes.
WLWV School Board: wonderful job. You, you 3 always appreciate listening to your energy. It gives me energy. So thank you so much. So before we move on. This will be your opportunity to either stay and have fun with us, or you can go and enjoy your evening if you'd like.
WLWV School Board: I'll give you a few
WLWV School Board: alright
WLWV School Board: jumping right into recognitions. Mr. Pat Mcguff
WLWV School Board: Ueller, I am.
WLWV School Board: Good evening, Barb.
WLWV School Board: let's try that scamp. This is National school breakfast week, and it always triggers a time for us to get a chance to celebrate our nutrition services department.
WLWV School Board: and before I introduce the 2 people that lead the department. Lindsay Flores, our nutrition services manager and Barbara Finch our nutrition services. Coordinator.
WLWV School Board: I wanna just give everyone a reminder when we
WLWV School Board: When we were finally starting to gain real traction in the Nutrition Services Department, Covid Head. and it kind of suspended to everything when it came to nutrition services. I won't. I'm here to tell you tonight. Not only are we back. We came back roaring. Because of these 2 people in our department.
WLWV School Board: They have, they have increased participation. They have expanded the menu. They have the right people. It's one of the few places where our department gets to interact with students every single day, and I can't think of a group that has represented us better. So with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Lindsey Flores.
WLWV School Board: Good evening. Thank you for
WLWV School Board: having nutrition services here with you tonight. I'm gonna go ahead and go to the next slide. Con.
WLWV School Board: I'm gonna start you off with a few fun numbers, right? Our main event is breakfast and lunch, so we have to give some facts to that. So far this year we have served almost 60,000 breakfast and just over a quarter 1 million lunches. We're pretty proud of that. That brings us 35% higher in breakfast counts than last year, and 25% higher in lunch counts than last year.
WLWV School Board: and we expect the same growth next year with that same growth we will finally exceed where we were in school year 1,819, and that is a pretty exciting place to be
WLWV School Board: next slide.
WLWV School Board: So I'm going to start with some of our cultural influences that we've been working really hard to create some partnerships with Lucy's tamales.
WLWV School Board: I wanted to show pictures of the people behind these partnerships, because
WLWV School Board: not only are we wanting to introduce new cultural food that's minimally processed that meets Usda guidelines. But we want to introduce the people behind it that are working hard to help us make that happen, because without them we can't do it. So Lucy's tamales.
WLWV School Board: Delaney's Ethiopian sauce minimally processed
WLWV School Board: authentic food.
WLWV School Board: Next slide.
WLWV School Board: We've also over the years partnered with soul brothers, barbecue sash. You can see up there in the top, and many Septembers. We get a fresh harvest of grapes from vile vineyards. Local? Here in the Northwest.
WLWV School Board: and then recently, we were able to introduce orange chicken to celebrate Chinese New Year, and now it is a new staple on wealth, new favorite of the students. We brought jerk, chicken, Hawaiian Kilbasa's coming dumplings, beef, bogogi, egg rolls and empignatas. We're really excited about some of this new momentum, but we still have some of the traditional favorites. So don't worry. We'll get back to those shortly next slide.
WLWV School Board: What I want to highlight are a few really unique partnerships that we've been working on. And this is new for our team and new for our district. So you can see in the bottom right toilet. She is
WLWV School Board: a member of our school district, and she helped us create some traditional Vietnamese, Pha.
WLWV School Board: And from there we translated it to child nutrition. And here are the real pictures of us, creating that and sampling with the students over at Riverside. You will see this on our menu this spring. We're really excited to introduce that if you walk into the lunchroom.
WLWV School Board: words that we heard before was, Is that fun? And they could smell the broth. There are parts of it that are gonna be different. But there's the essence, and that's what the team is getting to bring to the students
WLWV School Board: next slide
WLWV School Board: taste of India. This is one of our most recent ones, and thank you, Kathy, for joining us to try some of the food we brought in a mango, curry, chicken, butter, curry, chicken doll, and popping seed rice. This is, thanks to some local owners at Happy Curry Foods out of Salem and Anjou, Nathan from our district, who was helping us work with this partnership and develop this new menu. Item. It's now been on our menu twice, and it will continue to be a regular rotation on our menu
WLWV School Board: next slide.
WLWV School Board: We had a learning walk. Thank you for those of you who could come and join us, and we were able to teach them about some of our nutrition services at Rosemont, and they were able to join us for taste of India. And don't forget Dr. Ludwig was there. She's our photographer. Thank you. It means a lot that you take the time to honor our team, and you can see in the picture that they were just joyful to share a part of their day with. You.
WLWV School Board: Slide. So a few fun facts that we want to make sure that we leave with is
WLWV School Board: all of this beautiful cultural inspiration. But we cannot forget some of the favorites and chicken nuggets still remain a student favorite, and we recently introduced shark shaped chicken nuggets, and we have many more shapes coming, so those tend to get pretty exciting, and they keep that participation up, which means students are eating good, healthy food.
WLWV School Board: So then we also partner with crest. So taste. Testings are a unique opportunity for our students, and these carrots are what they tried last year. Whole fresh carrots and the unique part about partnering with crest is that every single student gets to try something that they maybe haven't had before. They don't have to just be getting hot lunch. And so this week. They're also trying whole broccoli on the stem, and I've heard that it's even sweeter
WLWV School Board: and maybe a little bit more enjoyable this time of year. So if you have students trying them this week, you'll have to ask them what they think. And we're really excited about these partnerships, and our team gets to help introduce that to the students next slide.
WLWV School Board: So with that. Those are some of our big picture things about our department that our team is so proud to be a part of. And now I'm gonna bring up Barbara Finch, and she is going to share some of the details and the little stories that you might only get to see if you're there to experience them, or if someone shares them with you.
WLWV School Board: Hello! It's an honor to talk about what our staff does every day, and every once in a while I get the chance to go work in a kitchen. And yes, it really does happen.
WLWV School Board: Our staff is amazing. They take breakfast to the office for students who arrive late just to ensure that those students also get a meal because they're not likely to go down to the cafeteria and knock on the door and say, Please feed us.
WLWV School Board: We're really proud. We're team oriented. We have substitutes who come and help support our teams.
WLWV School Board: They're a huge part of our everyday.
WLWV School Board: We're organized.
WLWV School Board: We're not afraid to smile at the students. Say, Hey, how is your day. If we don't get a response, we have time on our side. So 5, 6 years later, we're bound to get a hey? I'm good. How's your day
WLWV School Board: we offer many choices.
WLWV School Board: We
WLWV School Board: try and focus on the students needs not always easy with the Usda, telling us what to do. However, look this beautiful, made from scratch breakfast. Item that is available once a week to our students.
WLWV School Board: We're always smiling. When you walk into our kitchen you will find everyone smiling, saying, Hey, how are you doing
WLWV School Board: if you don't want to try it first time we're going to find a way to get you to look at it and go. Hmm! That does really look good.
WLWV School Board: We cook from scratch, not everything. But when we have a chance we do. We measure the the saute. We don't just take it out of a wrapper.
WLWV School Board: Beautiful strawberries. The produce we have this year is amazing. If you get a chance to walk by and to see the offering.
WLWV School Board: Great.
WLWV School Board: we're proud. This is, this is a lunch.
WLWV School Board: There's our amazing Indian food.
WLWV School Board: We offer taste tests. Students aren't always sure if there's a new item. So we have little spoons, and we offer a taste. Hey, this is on the menu tomorrow. Come, give it a try.
WLWV School Board: and a favorite is chicken every other Thursday we have breakfast for lunch
WLWV School Board: on Thursday. Students love it.
WLWV School Board: We couldn't do without a careers who helped support our staff, hey? I'm short on this, could you quickly bring it over? Just so we make sure the needs of our students are met.
WLWV School Board: We're so honored to be able to support our school staff
WLWV School Board: and work hard every day to make sure that our students benefit from everything we do.
WLWV School Board: So, as Pat said, it's national Breakfast week
WLWV School Board: we invite you to stop by see our staff in action, and they'd love to meet you. Thank you for your time today. Thank you very much.
WLWV School Board: and
comments, questions. from our director superintendent.
WLWV School Board: Okay.
WLWV School Board: I just wanted to thank you for your service. Thank you for telling us a little bit about the work that you do, and your great staff, and a while back my middle schoolers proclaimed lunch as busin.
WLWV School Board: which I'm told, is the highest compliment that can be given. So thank you for making bus and meals and making sure that they're healthy, and also just taking care of all of our kids. Appreciate it.
WLWV School Board: And I again, I just wanted to thank you because
WLWV School Board: before our first like listening session that we had with the middle schoolers, they gave this amazing Powerpoint presentation about lunch.
WLWV School Board: and
WLWV School Board: I can say that there has been so much improvement. Direct. Director Vitall and I were there, and we had the doll, and last year I was at Wilsonville I was able to have one of their breakfast bars, and it tastes like a chocolate oatmeal cookie.
WLWV School Board: so I appreciate all of the thought, and I am am so excited that
WLWV School Board: I wanna come for the far like, let me know when that's gonna be at schools.
WLWV School Board: So thank you so much.
WLWV School Board: Anything. No. I just wanted to thank you and your whole entire team across the district. Thank you for having Director Sloop and I come to Rosemont. That Indian food was amazing and it was so delicious, and it is really difficult to meet the requirements of the Usda, and especially with the amount of flavoring
WLWV School Board: and sodium and sugar our kiddos eat now, and processed foods, and I really appreciate your creativity and making it delicious, and my fifth grader at Lowry also really enjoys chicken and waffles. I get to hear about that as well. So thank you so much.
WLWV School Board: and the only thing I have to add to this is that I've done the walkthrough that you that to participate in, and
I was disappointed to not see the grilled cheese sandwich pop up on there as a favorite.
WLWV School Board: I would argue that it's a top 5 that should have made the list, but as long as you don't get rid of it, and we can still be friends.
WLWV School Board: Thank you guys, for all that you do. I really appreciate it, and I know you put a lot of time and effort into making sure that menu is something that everybody's attracted to. So thank you.
WLWV School Board: I just want to Echo. coming back to pat your comments when you opened this evening.
WLWV School Board: When Lindsay came on board she was working really hard to move the nutrition program in the direction that you're hearing about tonight. And then, of course, Covid happened.
WLWV School Board: and the only thing I would say, Pat, is.
WLWV School Board: I know that we're we came roaring back. But I also want to recognize the heroic work that our nutrition services team did during Covid.
WLWV School Board: So it wasn't that they took a backseat or
WLWV School Board: stopped, you know, and just put things on pause. They shifted like experts and began making meals that could be delivered at home and making
WLWV School Board: meals that were packaged. Well, all the different requirements that then I came because of Covid. They just shifted, and the team did such remarkable work in the face of so many changes. And of course we heard about that nationally and and other school districts as well. So I wanna thank you for
WLWV School Board: adapting to that, doing that so brilliantly as well.
WLWV School Board: We never took a backseat. We just kept moving forward, and so thank you both for your leadership.
WLWV School Board: Lindsay, especially during Covid. That was a remarkable time, and you brought such positivity and can do spirit to your team to get us through that. And now here we are, the other side.
WLWV School Board: and you and Barbara have just been an amazing partnership, and with your team at the at the operation center, thinking now about
WLWV School Board: expanding menus, and being creative and helping children enjoy food, and and finding health and pleasure, and eating just delicious, delicious food, and expanding their palates as well, and exposing other cultures and and food around the world. So thank you so much. Really appreciate you both.
WLWV School Board: And your team. Tell your team thank you as well from us.
WLWV School Board: Thank you.
And up next we have more recognitions.
WLWV School Board: our director of human resources. Ms. Shila. Walder.
WLWV School Board: good evening, School Board of Directors and Superintendent Ludwig.
WLWV School Board: So we're excited to have the opportunity to recognize our amazing classified colleagues tonight, and I also have invited our Osa. President, Leon Manjo up to join me. So I'm just gonna say a few words and then give him an opportunity to say a few things.
So this is our classified appreciation week. Each year that we get to celebrate. We do have a gift for every classified staff member, and a few little things inside that will be delivered to them at their school site this week.
WLWV School Board: and the term classified in our district includes a great many people who serve in so many different roles and help support of our district and help in support of our district. So the roles include administrative assistance, maintenance, nutrition services, para educators, custodians. It. Specialists, school and safety engagement specialists, building engineers, internship coordinators, accounting technician, athletic trainers, warehouse bookkeeper, and our license journey
WLWV School Board: and electricians. Hvac and plummer and we would not be able to run our district on a daily basis if we did not have these people here to contribute and to help make us the amazing place that we are.
WLWV School Board: So here to accept the recognition on behalf of our classified employees is Leon Manjo, who's our Osa President. This is a voluntary position in our district that includes many meetings after his regular work hours that he gets to attend and and help support with, and Leon became the Osa. President last May.
WLWV School Board: and he's done a great job of engaging the classified staff in district processes and hearing from them about what is going on in their school buildings and departments.
WLWV School Board: And I really appreciated the collaborative and problem solving nature that he's come into this work with. And I've enjoyed getting the opportunity to work with him this year and things can sometimes be complicated, especially when we're working over such a wide variety of different positions in the classified group, but we always have the opportunity to sit down and talk about it and come to a resolution together. And I've appreciated that. So
WLWV School Board: thank you for your commitment to our staff in the district and to the students in our district.
WLWV School Board: It is an honor to stand up here and have recognition for all the classified staff. Such a diverse group of people is wonderful to be able to celebrate with them in the moments that they have great joy. And be
WLWV School Board: self or smaller group celebrating half of the classified staff would choose to operate as ghosts. We would like to show up, fix whatever problem is going on and be gone before anybody knows that we are there. The other half of the staff have such a desire to have impacts on the students. They want to be part of their whole days on recess, at lunch with reading groups. They have a real heart
WLWV School Board: to really just be a presence in the students, lives. It's been wonderful to represent them and to learn all about all of the different staff members. The trials and their tribulations as well as we go throughout our work days, and we work with other people. So we appreciate the recognition.
WLWV School Board: Thank you so much.
WLWV School Board: Thank you any comments?
WLWV School Board: I just wanna say, thank you for your service. Thank you for representing, as you said, such a wide and diverse group of professions and professionals. And I love that. You called out the fact that so many of the people working in your organization are
WLWV School Board: sometimes unseen, and I wouldn't want to call them ghosts, but the fact that they come in they're like magic ghosts. They're fixing things, and so just want to recognize and and glad that we have some time to recognize our classified staff. So thank you for all you do for them.
Anyone else.
WLWV School Board: director, shoemaker.
WLWV School Board: I would would comment that I was in a few schools last week.
WLWV School Board: and I saw many, many of the ghosts you're talking about, and they just quietly go about doing the work, and it's necessary work, and it keeps our schools moving and running and kids learning so
WLWV School Board: as always. Thank you
WLWV School Board: anyone else. Dr. Ludwig
WLWV School Board: Leon. I just want to thank you for stepping into this leadership role this year on top of everything else you do. And you've just done it with great.
WLWV School Board: calm, incredible competence and
WLWV School Board: compassion for everyone's situation. Being a listener. First problem, solving and collaborating. You've gained people's trust, their respect. You truly have stepped up as a leader, and I'm so grateful. And I would echo the same comments that
WLWV School Board: What our classified staff do is remarkable sometimes in the quiet and unseen. But I also want to focus on the fact that they do play a significant role in the life of so many of our children.
WLWV School Board: and for many of them it's that person smiling. At the lunch line. Someone greeting them at the door, taking the time to listen to them at recess. An engineer stopping what they're doing to support they know each other. They know kids, names, kids know their names. There's real deep relationships, and then those who don't work as directly with children are all about supporting that work in the school.
WLWV School Board: and they're humble, and yet they're incredibly committed and so valued.
WLWV School Board: So please extend our gratitude to the hundreds of folks in your association, and we're so grateful and thank you again for stepping up for leadership, and and maybe give a little bit of credit to Jared, too, when you think about it. But I helps out every now and then. But you you truly have taken the helm with this, and we're so grateful.
WLWV School Board: Thank you.
WLWV School Board: And I'd say, before we get into board reports, I was going to extend the offer to
WLWV School Board: Lindsey and Barbara and Leon to probably go about their evening to have. I imagine, if you didn't have the recognitions you wouldn't be sitting here this evening, so wanted to wish you well, travel safe if you decide to leave, and if you decide to stay, of course you can have fun with us.
WLWV School Board: I bet. Thank you
WLWV School Board: alright. That will take us into
WLWV School Board: board reports and kicking us off this evening is Director Shoemaker.
WLWV School Board: anticipate spending more time talking later. And I'm going to defer my time for that tonight.
WLWV School Board: Okay.
WLWV School Board: director sloop.
WLWV School Board: Thanks. I want to share a few takeaways from our listing session with the high school students and their experience with the career technical educational programs in our district.
WLWV School Board: We have a listening session on February twelfth with students, and it was one of the highlights. As a board member.
WLWV School Board: The Board's goal was to hear student voice and authentic experience in high school. I am so inspired by these students. they are articulate and honest.
WLWV School Board: The common messages these students shared is they gained valuable leadership, skills, confidence, independence, pride, and they felt connected with their peers.
WLWV School Board: Some learned what they want to pursue through these courses, and some learned what they didn't want to pursue.
WLWV School Board: The students asked about funding and having adequate space.
WLWV School Board: One of the mob robotic students has learned to write grants
WLWV School Board: write adequate and appropriate emails. She does community outreach and team management.
WLWV School Board: The students stressed the importance of communicating and educating the eighth graders about Cte versus clubs and throughout a possible suggestion of inviting them to an outreach event.
WLWV School Board: And then they also said, communicating and educating the teachers and counselors about the cte programs is important for scheduling. I appreciated their passion and openness
WLWV School Board: for tonight. It's exciting. The literacy curriculum. Adoption for K. 5 is finally here.
WLWV School Board: as we've heard. Dr. Ludwig repeatedly assure us. Trust the process
WLWV School Board: and I mind myself with many in the room, as well as our K. Through 5 teachers, specialist principals and the Literacy Literacy Adoption Committee are vested in a curriculum that is encompassing foundational skills, cultural responsiveness and high quality techs.
WLWV School Board: Literacy is a foundation for all learning. literacy and a sense of belonging are closely intertwined.
WLWV School Board: I have read the Oregon Department of Education's early literacy and framework several times, and each time I glean something new that I'd missed the previous time.
WLWV School Board: and there is a graphic of a tree with 8 sections which are guided by principles.
WLWV School Board: The principles are, literacy begins at birth. Families and communities strengthen school-based learning foundational skills matter.
WLWV School Board: Every child is full of literacy, promise and educator knowledge and classroom practices are essential. These principles are so are basic, but so profound.
WLWV School Board: The ever child is full of literacy promise resonated with me. I have shared my personal story before, where our son struggled with sensory processing issues, and early reading was a struggle.
WLWV School Board: One day in kindergarten, my! Our son was dragging his book bag to the car, and I asked him what he checked out from the library with excitement. He pulled out this huge encyclopaedia type book, titled How Things Work.
WLWV School Board: I giggled and said cool, and then I asked him if he checked out a picture book to help with his reading.
Our son, replied Mom, those picture books are just stories. This book is real stuff.
WLWV School Board: Besides, when you read the book to me. We will both learn something. He then went on to check out that book each week for about a month.
WLWV School Board: As as I was reading over the literacy curriculum adoption notes for tonight. I was so appreciative of all the planning which occurred over the last 14 months.
WLWV School Board: I also came to the realization that switching to an entirely new type of literacy curriculum which is more of a structured literacy, it can be overwhelming, and we, as a district, must provide protected protected professional training
WLWV School Board: to our teachers and Para educators. Our K. 5 K. Through 5 teachers have the least amount of time to prep. For their school day
WLWV School Board: in adopting structured literacy curriculum. I see an added bonus of expanding our hiring pool. The district can hire qualified teachers who have previous experience in the structured literacy format or Hmh. If this curriculum is adopted, these teachers would be an asset to share their wealth of knowledge and offer support in additional to the professional training, provided
WLWV School Board: I know with any curriculum adoption. There's a lot of unpacking and instructional materials. During my school tours I was inspired to hear. There's a lot of collaboration between the teachers in each grade.
WLWV School Board: not only for bouncing ideas and suggestions to each other, but to aim toward a direction of consistency and cohesiveness.
WLWV School Board: I do have further questions about the implementation, but I'm going to save that for the actual discussion during the process adoption process.
WLWV School Board: I want to thank our community for their comments and feedback. They are experts in their own right because of their own lived experience. I am so appreciative of the Literacy Adoption Committee for their dedication and time in the selection process
WLWV School Board: the priorities are definitely intentional and student focused. Thank you to the Administration for facilitating the process and providing updates each month. and I will close with a quote by Katuro Matura. Taken from the ode Literacy framework.
WLWV School Board: literacy is inseparable from opportunity and opportunity is inseparable from freedom. The freedom promised by literacy is both freedom from from ignorance, oppression, poverty.
WLWV School Board: and freedom, too, to do new things, to make choices to learn.
WLWV School Board: Thank you. Director Vidal.
WLWV School Board: Today my report will focus on reading curriculum adoption as well.
WLWV School Board: Growing up. Reading opened doors for me that wouldn't have otherwise been opened. Given my family's socioeconomic status, my love for reading and for school got me into a university that absolutely changed the trajectory of my life, and I wouldn't have the career and family I have today if it wasn't for my education.
WLWV School Board: 55 of third graders in our district are not reading at grade level. According to the Oregon Department of Education
WLWV School Board: in our district, 16% of students are on free and reduced lunch, and of those 16%. Only a third of the third graders who are on free and reduced lunch are meeting grade level reading expectations.
WLWV School Board: which means in our district, in a third grade class of 21, 3 students are on free and reduced lunch, and out of those 3 only one student is reading at grade level.
WLWV School Board: These reading disparities are only exacerbated in Wilsonville, where nearly 30% of Wilsonville third graders are on free and reduced lunch.
WLWV School Board: It would be difficult for a family to afford a reading tutor to supplement their child's public education. If there's if they are also receiving free and reduced lunch
WLWV School Board: in 2022, the US. Census Bureau reported that families Median income in Wilsonville is 38% less than in West Lynn.
WLWV School Board: So really, this new curriculum is not only about reading. It is also about equity.
WLWV School Board: The reason why adopting the new Hmh. Into reading curriculum in English and Spanish and supplemental materials is vital for the future of our students is because it gives our excellent primary teachers the tools they need to teach all children through a science-based reading curriculum, with consistent and explicit instruction.
WLWV School Board: paired with high dosage, tutoring and literacy coaches who will pinpoint students instructional needs.
WLWV School Board: I want to make it clear that I'm not pointing the blame at our teachers for these reading scores. Our teachers can only do so much with antiquated reading, curriculum, lack of training, not enough classroom support, and a global pandemic.
WLWV School Board: H. Into reading curriculum alongside literacy coaches, high dosage, tutoring teacher training and data assessment will provide our teachers with better tools and the support they need.
WLWV School Board: Now, the data I've described today doesn't even factor in the fact that 20% of people have some degree of learning disability. And of those people, 80% have dyslexia. This means in each class of 20 kindergarteners.
WLWV School Board: 3 kinders will have dyslexia
WLWV School Board: over the past 14 months. I have listened and stood alongside many parents and teachers in Wilsonville and West Lynn, who have expressed their frustration.
WLWV School Board: anger, and sadness with the current curriculum by Fontas and Pinell.
WLWV School Board: I hear you and I see you.
WLWV School Board: and I am sorry that it has been such a laborious journey to get where we are today.
WLWV School Board: I hope, as we adopt our new curriculum, we will see higher achievement in third grade reading, especially in our students who need help the most in their school setting, whose parents can't afford tutors to supplement their public education.
WLWV School Board: And as we roll out this curriculum hopefully with the vote tonight, in the next next fall, I look forward to updates that include data assessments and qualitative information from our interventions.
WLWV School Board: That. Explain to the board how our primary students are improving.
WLWV School Board: Thank you.
Vice Chair Wyatt.
WLWV School Board: As Director Sleep mentioned, we had a listening session with high school students, and I just wanna thank her for organizing that for us. It was a board goal this year to value community voice and hear from our students. And so it was organized in such a nice way that we were able to have some questions to learn about our career and technical education curriculum. But then also just talk with students about their experiences. So really appreciate that. So thank you.
WLWV School Board: And then, at our executive session earlier today, we were completing what I would consider one of our most important jobs as a school board, and that's evaluating our superintendent.
And so, just for awareness, we take an iterative approach where 2 times during the year we offer feedback and ask questions and ask for more information, and then at those meetings the superintendent has a chance to hear us and then respond and provide us with the information and work sessions and opportunities.
WLWV School Board: That help us do our job. And so all of this leads up to a June final evaluation. But just wanted to share out that. You know, we all take this very seriously. We know that. That doing that evaluation is a big part of our jobs, and we really do not take for granted the fact that it's something that we spend time and energy doing. And really
WLWV School Board: I think it's an important part of doing it. Well, so that's where we were. This evening during executive session and we'll be coming forward with that final step. In June of this year, and that's all I have for tonight.
WLWV School Board: and I'll briefly touch on
WLWV School Board: my experience with our listening session also. I'm always amused by the conversations that you have with kids when you get them one on one or in group settings where they're comfortable.
WLWV School Board: and they just get an open form to be able to allow you to tap into what their experience is. And and I think some of the takeaways for me. I had a pretty fun group and inclusive in that group was
Dr. Pryor.
WLWV School Board: and I think we had a lot of fun.
WLWV School Board: and it was. It was interesting just to hear that we had kids that were science focused. We had kids who wanted to become teachers. We had kids who were very involved in the robotics program.
WLWV School Board: so on and so forth. And what I was amazed at is that even with all the things that we're working to accomplish within our district.
WLWV School Board: We have some pretty bright kids. I mean, these kids are so far ahead of
WLWV School Board: where I was. Now, that's not saying much. That's probably a disservice to them, but they're so far ahead of where I was at the same age in high school.
I was fortunate to have
WLWV School Board: Laurel Venegas in my group, too, and that same speed and breath of energy that she shows when she's at the mic. She has that same energy when she's talking to you in private. So that is who she is right. And I got to see how driven that young lady is, and it's just inspiring. And one thing that I took away from that. And I think Dr. Pryor would say this also, that you know, kids.
WLWV School Board: although they're they like our cte programs and whatnot. They don't just like them. They want them to go even deeper.
WLWV School Board: And and and what I found is that I don't know that we have the resources or the teaching capacity to go even deeper as as as they were asking for. And I think that there's also some challenges when kids say, hey? I'm really focused on the sciences, and this is what I wanna do.
WLWV School Board: But
WLWV School Board: the credits and the things that they have to meet, whether you have to go get an elective that is in PE or an elective. That is something else. But your interest lies in sciences, and it's like, why do I have to go take.
WLWV School Board: you know, visual arts, and that there's nothing wrong with the arts but my interest is in science. Can I take another science class. But the State doesn't allow it. And I think we do our kids a disservice. Will we disrupt that energy or disrupt that learning process because of something else that they have to go take that they have 0 interest in.
WLWV School Board: And we know that many of the things that we learn in school we take a pee part, we take away what we want. and we apply it to our lives, and some of us don't use math. Some of us use math everyday. Some of us don't use art, although we appreciate it. And so I just wish there was a format that allowed more flexibility.
WLWV School Board: based off of what the kids are saying is important for for them to substitute
WLWV School Board: these 3 credits for something that they really have an interest in. And so
WLWV School Board: I think that was universal. meaning that if I was interested in becoming a teacher, I want to take more things along that pathway
WLWV School Board: in that pathway, you're gonna get all the things that you need, whether it's learnt reading, mathematics, and so on and so forth. But it was really interesting just to hear what their feedback was on that as far as the way they felt
WLWV School Board: from a belonging standpoint.
WLWV School Board: Our schools are offering a lot of different opportunities to connect with other people who share interests, whether it be your robotics team or whether it be you're an Asb, I mean, there's so many different groups that you can be a part of outside of sport.
WLWV School Board: the one thing that they say, too, is that we don't need any more groups. We got enough of that.
WLWV School Board: So it was really fun to do. Thank you, director Sloop.
WLWV School Board: for putting that together. Thank you, Director Vital.
WLWV School Board: I think you played a part in that to know. No? Well, I'm thanking you, anyway, just for showing up so that's that's it for my board report. But anytime I get an opportunity to spend with the kids. It's always fun and such a learning opportunity. So thank you.
WLWV School Board: and I will pass it to you, Dr. Ludwig.
WLWV School Board: Thank you. And now you can put up the Powerpoint. Thanks.
WLWV School Board: Thank you. We'll go to the next slide.
WLWV School Board: I just actually have one slide tonight, cause I'm not going to do A. K 5 literacy update, because there's experts in the room who are going to do exactly that tonight and let you know everything that they've been up to.
WLWV School Board: as you've already
WLWV School Board: mentioned just a couple of events. I want to highlight from February another great opportunity for us to meet with our Pto Pta parents across our K 8 schools.
WLWV School Board: We try and do that 3 times a year. We've been doing that for a couple of years now. And we actually took the same format that we did for the Broad Board work session
WLWV School Board: around. What are the processes, procedures, policies in place in the district for responding to student behavior. We had that visual and then those scenarios.
WLWV School Board: and engaged our parents in that, so that they could deepen their understanding of those systems, but then also ask questions. So you can see that first picture on the top left was one of the tables where a couple schools and parents were together in that conversation.
WLWV School Board: If you've been out and about in February there are a lot of these international nights that were mentioned Chinese New Year, but other ones that celebrated the diversity in our schools and families got to share their culture and their heritage with booths and information as well as music teachers getting involved in sharing
WLWV School Board: global music pieces, students singing rhythms and and all sorts of events and activities. I think the favorite it does is always the taste testing at every booth, because families bring different samples of food as well.
WLWV School Board: So those are fun to to go around and visit a number of those you've mentioned the School Board listening session. You can see that picture in the middle. I want to thank
WLWV School Board: our 3 principals who did a remarkable job of not just hosting, but finding students who are available that evening who are interested and preparing them for that session.
WLWV School Board: And I can't echo enough. The same comments you have that these were remarkable students who felt comfortable right away, sharing what was on their hearts and minds, and afterwards just, even unsolicited, said, thank you so much for letting us talk to you and for listening.
WLWV School Board: So wanna appreciate the School Board for demonstrating your level of interest and commitment to our students through that work session want to thank Dr. Jennifer Spencer Iams as well, who did a lot of coordinating to make that work session happen.
WLWV School Board: The Awab Conference, another one that we are deeply committed to the work of the Oregon Association of Bilingual Education. A number of our teachers at that conference presenting. I'm seeing Maria in the front row. Who is
WLWV School Board: Consistent presenter at a number of conferences you'll get to hear from her tonight on literacy, but just want you to know that we have talented educators who are sought out to present and share their expertise at these conferences on the far right.
WLWV School Board: You'll see the Logo of Awabi, and you'll see our own Elisa Lee, who's on the board presenting
WLWV School Board: a scholarship to Jocelyn, one of our high school students, seniors at Wilsonville High School, who was awarded a student scholarship for her academic excellence, as well as
WLWV School Board: some writing that she did an application for the scholarship, and it was great to see her grandfather there, so incredibly proud as a family member.
WLWV School Board: Earlier in the evening I mentioned to you that we had our first educational Equity Advisory Committee meeting. This was an orientation for them to get to know each other, and then also to unpack. What is the legislation around the committee, and then some overview of components that the district has in place around equity in terms of policies and practices and programs kind of getting their bearings.
WLWV School Board: they'll be meeting each month. As for the remainder of this school year, to start to put some structure around the committee and some agenda format, some norms, processes and protocols as they get their feed out from under them.
WLWV School Board: As you may remember earlier, when I shared with you about the committee in the year I mentioned that we didn't have to go. We didn't have to start this year, but that we chose to in the legislation districts that have 10,000 students or more did have to start last year. But districts with fewer than 10,000 students do not have to create this committee until the fall of 2025.
WLWV School Board: But we went ahead and started this year because we already had a parent committee, and we had a district committee. and it just didn't seem
WLWV School Board: It just didn't make sense to delay bringing those together in the form of this advisory committee. So I want to thank the Board for their approval last month
WLWV School Board: and for us to be able to get this group up and going.
WLWV School Board: And I'm going to end there because we're going to, I mean, yield the rest of my time for conversations later. This evening about K. 5. Literacy. So thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Ludwig.
WLWV School Board: and that will take us into our consent, agenda, which requires board action.
WLWV School Board: and so do I have a motion. I move we approve the consent. Agenda.
WLWV School Board: I second
WLWV School Board: a vote to Director Douglas.
WLWV School Board: director, shoemaker. Yes, director, sloop. Aye, chair, Taylor.
WLWV School Board: Vice chair, Wyatt
WLWV School Board: direct, Vidal. Yes, thank you.
WLWV School Board: This will take us into public comment.
WLWV School Board: This first session of public comment is for residents who have something that they would like to share with us in regards to an item that is directly
WLWV School Board: tied to tonight's agenda. and we have
WLWV School Board: 2 guests for that. But
WLWV School Board: gonna just go through our public speaking and public comment. kind of rules of engagement.
WLWV School Board: so to speak. So first off we're glad you're here, and we're glad you're coming to share this is not an opportunity for you to use it as a soapbox to preach to a community beyond the board. It's an opportunity for you to speak to us directly. It's not an opportunity for us to actually respond. So we just are here to listen.
WLWV School Board: To you. We ask that we don't cheer or move, and that we treat everybody with common courtesy.
WLWV School Board: Please keep it to 3 min, and if you go over 3 min I will let you know that you have gone over And our first
WLWV School Board: speaker is Andrew Clark.
WLWV School Board: Yeah.
WLWV School Board: been little over a year and a half since my family. Began a journey of literacy advocacy. And so it's a very exciting night, I think, for a lot of people in this room.
WLWV School Board: But really, what I want to do is, I really want to show my immense gratitude to the teachers who participated in this process. I think
WLWV School Board: the sheer number of teachers that showed up to provide input that were engaged that wanted to join later because they heard of what was happening, I think is a great sign.
WLWV School Board: I think it shows several things. One is that the teachers are engaged and invested in our students in our district, which is what everyone wants, and 2 is that it's beyond past time for a change. So I think they realized that they need help with what's happening in their classrooms. And so they showed up in force and with their opinions, which is great. Ultimately, this is a tool that's going in their toolbox.
WLWV School Board: And so, you know, this is just the start of that journey right today
WLWV School Board: we're giving them the tool. But how are we going to teach them how to use it? How are we going to provide them? The support moving forward. I think, seeing the engagement that we have from teachers, it's a great opportunity for us to allow them
WLWV School Board: to help provide some of the direction on that.
WLWV School Board: Because who knows better what's needed in a classroom than the teacher? Right?
WLWV School Board: So what opportunities they need for professional development? What opportunities do they have for feedback.
WLWV School Board: How do we make sure that every month we're coming together? The last thing I think we want as a school district is teachers going back in their classrooms and doing something different and hiding that
WLWV School Board: right. We know that we had that in our district previously different classrooms, different curriculums, because what they had was not working.
WLWV School Board: So how can we ensure that moving forward? We have everyone on the same page. We're providing these opportunities.
WLWV School Board: We see the opportunity with the Mz training.
WLWV School Board: seeing the engagement of teachers wanting to get this. There's there's a hunger in the community of teachers.
WLWV School Board: This conversation has never been an attack on teachers. It's been about the students, and it's been about giving the tools and support. Right? We know our teachers are underpaid and
WLWV School Board: probably
WLWV School Board: not respected enough for the work that they do with our kids. It's a hard job.
WLWV School Board: And so really, this is about putting them first and giving them the tools to show up on a daily basis for our kids. because for every kid that we're able to teach to read.
WLWV School Board: that's another family that's not going to have to experience what we've had with struggling readers in our house.
WLWV School Board: And so that's why this is so important to us. We would love to see, continued transparency around reading
WLWV School Board: without providing clear, short term and long-term goals, how do we know where we're going?
WLWV School Board: We're gonna put this nice shiny object out into the public.
WLWV School Board: But how do we know it's working?
WLWV School Board: And we shouldn't be ashamed of saying something's not working either, right like that's not people use that to attack people. But that's not what this is about. This is about doing better. And if we can't acknowledge that we're gonna have a hard time making those improvements. Thank you for your time. Thank you.
WLWV School Board: And our second and
WLWV School Board: final speaker is Mr. John Mccabe.
WLWV School Board: Good evening, John Mccabe Western Oregon.
WLWV School Board: I won't be taking the full 3 min. Each member of the Board will. I sent an email out
WLWV School Board: after the meeting began, because I didn't want any questions from the administration on it. But this district this year sent out 2 separate audits. One went to the
WLWV School Board: Oregon Department of Education on January fourth another one went in the month of February that went to the Secretary of State other than the opinion of the Cpa's.
WLWV School Board: Both audits were completely different. Numbers were off by millions.
WLWV School Board: As a board.
WLWV School Board: there should be answers of why are there 2 separate audits? It's not allowed under Federal or State law? 2 separate odds were sent out like I said one dot E. Went to Secretary of State.
WLWV School Board: Every Board member has those audits. Now you can review them.
WLWV School Board: You can ask questions of anybody.
WLWV School Board: but I hope it's sometime you also ask questions of me, so I can show where the errors are.
WLWV School Board: But it's an unfortunate issue. Thank you.
WLWV School Board: That concludes public comment. Is there anyone who that was going to be my question, who did not get to sign up?
WLWV School Board: And
WLWV School Board: would you please come forward and we will make room for you, and you can just state your name. And I know you're Wesley Resident, just for the record
WLWV School Board: up
WLWV School Board: for all the hard work into the literacy team for all the hard work that was done. In order to come to where we are today, my son, my oldest son, was diagnosed in October of 2,015. So it's been
WLWV School Board: a long road of trying to convince somebody that
WLWV School Board: this is a better way to teach kids how to read
WLWV School Board: And talking about the equity piece, you know, I went. Yeah, use tutor, a tutor for my oldest son, and then I tutored my younger one myself, but it was $65 an hour, and in order for any progress to be made they need to.
WLWV School Board: They need to go twice a week.
WLWV School Board: and you know, and it could last for 2 years or more.
WLWV School Board: And nowadays the going rate is $95 to a hundred dollars an hour. So it is huge to have this in place to in order to reach everybody, because it is an equity standpoint. And so I just wanted to say, Thank you.
WLWV School Board: For making this, you know, move forward in order to help everybody with the literacy.
WLWV School Board: Thank you.
Alright. Are there any others that may
WLWV School Board: have forgotten to sign up? No.
WLWV School Board: all righty.
WLWV School Board: and that takes us into board business and leading us off from department of teaching and learning Dr. Swisson. Good evening, and Dr. Pryor is
WLWV School Board: going to join at the desk, and then would like the other presenters from our adoption team, if you would mind coming up and standing kind of like a small choir just around the around the podium as as we speak, and Dr. Pryor will introduce them, but then, if you would, each
WLWV School Board: before you
WLWV School Board: speak to your slide, maybe kind of say who you are again, so that our our board, and our audience knows who's speaking
WLWV School Board: next slide.
WLWV School Board: So we want to begin by saying that the renewal and adoption process has really been an example of
WLWV School Board: teamwork and everybody being in the boat together. And it's a testimony to the skills and the collaboration and the commitment of our teachers, our specialists. So teacher librarians, our instructional coordinators, system principals, and principals, those who are doing the work in the schools every day.
WLWV School Board: We also want to say that we are grateful for the parents in our community, and this long year and a half that we have actually been working on this. There have been many one on one conversations. There have been times for listening. There have been times when they have given an incredible amount of their time to bring forward things in the spirit of partnership.
WLWV School Board: and so we would be losing part of the team. Not to think that the parents and some of whom are in the room this evening are part of this process.
WLWV School Board: There's another thing that we just want to clarify. I know there've been some questions about this. Dr. Pryor and I were sitting at the desk not too long ago.
WLWV School Board: and we were talking about the early Literacy Success School District Grant.
WLWV School Board: and it overlaps with the adoption process, and some of it comes in the terms of what we've already heard this evening. The commitment to the actual ongoing training and professional learning and hiring that has to be in place to do this. So we'd be remiss not to talk about them together. So, as you recall when you approved the Literacy, Grant.
WLWV School Board: Wesley Wilsonville School district made a commitment to 4 of the 5 choices for what? You spend your money on
WLWV School Board: the high dosage tutoring which is beginning this spring, and that is a commitment to students who need that tutoring receive 90 min a week.
WLWV School Board: some of it during their literacy block
WLWV School Board: some of it in other times, but the intent of that, and the intent of it being in the legislation is again what you heard this evening about school districts providing that tutoring rather than families, providing that tutoring.
WLWV School Board: So that is one area that we have committed to
WLWV School Board: the other is the professional learning. We know that
WLWV School Board: we were not the school district that adopted curriculum
WLWV School Board: in the most quick fashion
WLWV School Board: that it didn't take us a couple months because we use this language, that Doctor Ludwig started sharing with you over a year ago about renewal and renewal really means the professional learning. We started last spring with
WLWV School Board: sessions for our instructional coordinators and around the piece that we knew we needed to do the most work with, because we hadn't had a structured, dedicated way to do it previously, and that was foundational skills.
WLWV School Board: I recall being at Stafford Primary school
WLWV School Board: last year, actually around this time and doing one of the first pieces of those sessions. Then in April we had sessions with teachers after school to start to get into. What are the big ideas
WLWV School Board: of looking at the foundations of literacy?
WLWV School Board: We offered it again during the summer. During a 4 day course. That was a start. And then, because not everyone and every teacher attends in the summer we had sessions in October and November.
WLWV School Board: But we want to be really clear that we felt like we needed to provide this so that those who were going to be on an adoption team had a lens, and that those who were going to get new materials
WLWV School Board: had some background, not only to select them, but to begin using them.
WLWV School Board: However, that's not over. The district is committed to in looking at hiring the literacy coaches
WLWV School Board: to be continuing with this for the next 2 school years.
WLWV School Board: The research tells us that selecting the materials is relatively the easy part.
WLWV School Board: it's the work
WLWV School Board: in using them and in using them consistently and in using them with fidelity and in using them coherently. That makes a difference in student learning.
WLWV School Board: which is the reason for our investment in
WLWV School Board: the top 3 things. And then the last thing is the extended learning, which will be not the same summer learning program that we have had previously, but in K. 5 extended hours.
WLWV School Board: an extended focus on literacy, because we know also that the idea of extended learning some children need to have that opportunity and practice, and not just have schools over, and what happens again in the summer.
WLWV School Board: especially children who might not have, as as you know, many opportunities, to do this at at home on their own.
WLWV School Board: There was a question around the one piece that Weslen Wilsonville is not spending the early literacy grant funding on, and that is on the actual materials themselves. We budget
WLWV School Board: for curriculum adoptions, and prior to the grant had budgeted
WLWV School Board: for the materials adoption.
WLWV School Board: So that's just something in looking at. There were 5 ways you could spend the money, and we have opted to look at 4 out of 5. And again it took us a while to lay that groundwork.
WLWV School Board: to bring teachers in and to start the cycle of professional learning that you want to get going before you even select the materials, and then to continue to live into that
WLWV School Board: next slide
WLWV School Board: alright. Our adoption team leaders who are here tonight. They represent A. They'll be doing the bulk of our presenting and they represent a very wide range of 67 teachers, learning specialists, language specialists, literary coaches, and instructional coordinators who all volunteer to participate in the process which will be telling you
WLWV School Board: more about this evening. But let's pause here, and I'm gonna introduce each person and and as Dr. Swiss and say, you can say, refill to the whether our board of directors here. So we have Nancy Nancy Fulther, who's a first grade teacher?
WLWV School Board: Yeah, she's up Atlantic records.
WLWV School Board: Aunt Melissa Hall, principal
WLWV School Board: and Megan Hogan, our literacy coach.
WLWV School Board: and Maria Vera Wiser, a dual language teacher of kindergarten.
WLWV School Board: and Dorothy Valentine a first grade teacher.
Okay.
WLWV School Board: yeah.
WLWV School Board: So I think that. We have told you about the support we just wanted to remind you, this is truly a group of volunteers. We heard a strong ask from teachers and community members to be very transparent and to not be perceived as putting together a team with a preconceived outcome.
WLWV School Board: So we opened it up to anyone who wanted to attend, not really sure how many people would want to. We were not expecting 67 people. But that's how many we had. Our goal was to ensure we had representation for all schools, all grade levels and all specialties. And we we hit that no problem.
WLWV School Board: And then people kept coming. Every time we met, Dr. Swiss and I would set up chairs, and every time we did that and people arrived, we would have to go look for more chairs, because the group kept returning each time. So it was a highly engaged, very hardworking group of people who came right after the school day and brought forth their absolute best thinking
WLWV School Board: principals and assistant principals and instructional coordinators. They did attend, and we were asking that a leader from each group, a school, always try to attend, but they were there to observe and learn, and not to influence the process. So they weren't directly participating, but they were listening carefully to understand the needs of their teachers and occasionally answering questions as necessary.
WLWV School Board: There are also strict staff there, mostly in the role of facilitating, bringing in the speakers and the materials on the assigned dates.
gathering materials, locating resources, and trying to lightly facilitate to ensure all voices were heard, and that diverse opinions could be brought together to come to a consensus.
WLWV School Board: There was a lot of care given to let this be. Let the teachers ideas lead. The outcomes of the work
WLWV School Board: next slide, please.
WLWV School Board: So this will be familiar to you also, as you've been hearing the updates each month. But if we think about the the process as a whole, you know there are 3 parts. You want to look at it in this way, and tonight we're in the middle. But as a review we began by renewing practices back in March and April of 2,023 with foundational skills, training for our instructional coordinators and some of our teachers during that time.
and then that moved into foundational skills and literacy best practices, training for teachers and specialists during August and November, through November of 2,023.
WLWV School Board: And that's when we began our first Mz intensive training during the summer, which A large group of teachers came to in August 2,023.
WLWV School Board: And so then that led to a the specific adoption process which we're going to describe to you in more detail tonight. And that went through from September 2,023, until
WLWV School Board: it is March March of 2,024.
WLWV School Board: And then, as one of our community members said tonight, it's not over with tonight, you know, we have a lot of exciting and complex work ahead of us, because it is truly the teacher that makes a difference for students and teacher that has good materials and knows how to use them. So we're going. We already have many, many teachers signed up to attend an Mc. Intensive training in June and a second session in August, because we had so many people interested in it.
WLWV School Board: We will be training all teachers and specialists with the new materials. That will be a year-long endeavor, because it is complex work, and we need to move at the pace that teachers feel like supports their work, as they also teach everything else that they're working on teaching throughout the year.
WLWV School Board: We will repeat the Mz. Intensive training, June and August of 2,025, with the goal of every, especially every early grade level teacher participating in that.
WLWV School Board: And then we'll we're going to need to continue one year is not enough to bring up everyone's to the level of expertise that I know Weslyn Wilsonville teachers would want to achieve in one year as well as we also have turnover. We'll have new staff coming into our district. So we will continue training the following year in 2,025 and 2,026
WLWV School Board: next slide, please.
WLWV School Board: So before I turn it over to our team members here. I want to review a few key elements of the adoption process. First of all, we had 10 sessions beginning September thirteenth, and we're not done yet. We have a final session on March thirteenth. Assuming August smoothly tonight to begin hearing from teachers exactly what was mentioned tonight, their views on what they need around professional learning and training with the new materials.
WLWV School Board: and that will influence how we bring that training forward.
WLWV School Board: We have collected input throughout the process in a very transparent way. We've collected input from all teachers and specialists. Part of our adoption team members. Work was to go back to their schools, talk to their grade level teams and bring that information back. They also helped encourage their peers to participate in online
WLWV School Board: digital input forms. And then we took all that and we collated and we made it available to everyone on the committee so they could read all the responses. We did the same thing with our 2 parent sessions. We provided multiple ways of community members to give. Input and then we collated and type that into a shared document so that community members could see so that participants on the adoption committee could read the input community members and and consider that as they were making decisions.
WLWV School Board: as you know, our purpose was to identify and select
WLWV School Board: core curriculum and a supplementary foundational skills program. And we also knew that the supplementary program I heard somebody the Nice say, had to play well with the core program, have alignment in terms of what we might use to support the students who need additional help.
WLWV School Board: The adoption team started with a blank slate. We just began with the Ode approved Materials list, and we used a rubric, and we started identifying what our priorities were. The consideration of supplementary materials was based on materials. Teachers have been piloting in some schools, and with some eagerness began piloting across several schools this year.
WLWV School Board: and all 9 primary schools are adopting the same core program and supplementary program for gauge K. Through 5. It was really heartening last week when we held our second community member meeting, because
WLWV School Board: at the adoption committee meeting we had a vibrant discussion around the importance of really committing toward using the same thing across all schools. And then we heard parents ask for the same thing which was really heartening. I think the reasons stem right to what's been said tonight around ensuring every child gets what they need, regardless of what school, what grade level. And I think, even maybe more importantly, for teacher satisfaction
WLWV School Board: and staying in the work, knowing that it's easy to collaborate with your peers when we're thinking about a great little team coming together to support all the levels of instruction needed. When you all have the same curriculum, it's much easier to plan and to share that work and bring forward your best ideas.
WLWV School Board: So with that next slide, please, I think Megan is going to take over. Hello, everyone. So to begin, I'm going to provide a brief outline of what we did during the adoption process. So to begin, we grounded ourselves collectively as a literacy adoption team in both reviewing research as well as data.
WLWV School Board: In regards to the research we looked at research that was grounded in evidence-based ideas to guide both. What we value in our instruction as well as in our chosen core and supplementary curriculum.
WLWV School Board: Along with this we analyzed our student progress and outcomes data looking at both aims web data in kindergarten and first grade as well as map data.
WLWV School Board: Once we had this foundation and research and data, we then went into the portion of both identifying and evaluating curriculum.
WLWV School Board: To begin, we grouped ourselves into teams, either by specialty or by grade level. Within those teams we generated a list of look fors or priorities within the curriculum we would be choosing.
WLWV School Board: Once doing that. We then looked at the Oregon Department of Education's approved instructional material list, as David previously mentioned, and we looked at the curriculum that are all included within that list
WLWV School Board: when deciding which curriculum to them move forward with. We looked at Ode's Rubrics to evaluate the materials along with the State Rubrick. We also looked at the Institute for Education Sciences, National Rubric. We did this for 2 reasons, first to get a broad sense of where a strong rubric comes from and what it entails, as well as making sure there was alignment between both the state and national curriculum.
WLWV School Board: Now, in doing all of this, we then decided the 3 curriculum to move forward with. To then interview publishers. The 3 that we chose were Hmh. Into reading, benchmark advanced, and savvis my view literacy.
WLWV School Board: We developed questions, 10 questions that would be asked to all 3 publisher presentations. Along with that we asked each publisher to then model a foundational skills lesson to see what that would look like, and we asked them to cover what a literacy block would look like for both whole group, small group, and individual instruction.
WLWV School Board: Then, throughout these presentations we then used our own created rubric, based off of those look fors and priorities. We had developed that also aligned with both the State and National Rubrics to decide and evaluate each program.
WLWV School Board: Then we use all of this information to select both. A core curriculum as well as a supplementary
WLWV School Board: can go to the next slide, please. Thank you.
WLWV School Board: So we're now going to dive deeper into each part of this adoption process. So first, I'll cover this research review. we ask the question, what is the most important in teaching, reading, and writing so that all of our students are successful.
WLWV School Board: To begin, we focused on peer-reviewed national research. Now, when we say Peer reviewed, we made sure that the research was conclusive
WLWV School Board: that it maintained credibility, especially when scrutinized by others within in the same field, and that it was also evidence-based.
WLWV School Board: We did this so that as an adoption team, we could have a collective and shared understanding of our priorities moving forward, and what we know works to teach students how to read
WLWV School Board: the last 2 under key research that the adoption team reviewed show what we focused our time on. The first was what works Clearinghouse Institute of Education Sciences summary.
WLWV School Board: Now, what this outlined was evidence that strongly showed students ability to read and what worked for them, what had moderate evidence and what was weak evidence, and what Clearinghouse found is that the strongest evidence aligned with teaching students, phonics, and their ability to relate single isolated sounds to those letters, and also to decode whole words in isolation and in context. So we really put this at the forefront of our foundational skills. Moving forward
WLWV School Board: along with this, we looked at Oregon's early literacy framework as a guidepost throughout the process, focusing especially on the 5 plus 2 pillars.
WLWV School Board: So once we had kind of unpacked some of the research and identified what was important. We laid that alongside our data here in West and Wilsonville. We looked at Ames Web and our
WLWV School Board: and W. Ea. Maps data to nationally normed assessments, highly correlated and we were able to. Then, you know, look at those multiple data points and really determined, similarly, that we needed to
WLWV School Board: identify curriculum that would support students in phonological awareness. Phonics.
WLWV School Board: And this work of looking at data, was something that we needed to put into our practice as well, and it's something I think many schools have started to do already within this year.
WLWV School Board: I mentioned to Barb that those were not my triangles. My triangles were slightly different at the beginning of the year a whole whole lot more red but with some of the shifts already this year we did our winter benchmark, and we started to see growth.
WLWV School Board: and I am hopeful that with our new adoption that our and our continued to look at this data, we'll continue to see student growth. It's really exciting when
WLWV School Board: you can see that change
WLWV School Board: next slide.
WLWV School Board: So then, once we looked at our research and looked at our data, both school and districtwide. We were able to then
WLWV School Board: really look at the Od criteria for our different grade level bans and be able to identify curriculum programs off of the od-approved list
WLWV School Board: and be able to kind of rank them using those rubrics. And again, we went from 5 down to 3, those benchmark advance H. Into reading and my view literacy.
WLWV School Board: We also identified that, having a common curriculum that was also provided in Spanish, would create that co-planning and co-teaching and that alignment.
WLWV School Board: so that grade levels, regardless of dual language, regardless of school or team that we could team around those. And so these 3 provided materials, both in Spanish and in English. And we want, you know, our teams using the same curriculum and the same material, so that we can have that alignment and that teaming
WLWV School Board: next slide.
WLWV School Board: the art 3 criterias area that our adoption team returned to
WLWV School Board: in evaluating the materials, and the first one was foundational skills.
WLWV School Board: including vocabulary and writing. cultural responsiveness
WLWV School Board: with high quality, text and strategies representing diverse cultural and language backgrounds and experiences.
WLWV School Board: accurate and representative.
WLWV School Board: telling of historical and current events, and, like, she said. a Spanish with authentic text.
WLWV School Board: so do our language. Students experience the same curriculum.
WLWV School Board: The high quality text with instruction and but pacing to promote reading and writing, for meaning, challenge and use their reading skills to understand and use information.
WLWV School Board: We also talk
WLWV School Board: has a dual language team. We were thinking about a curriculum that promotes explicit metalinguistic connections between English
WLWV School Board: and Spanish.
WLWV School Board: and that this curriculum is able to support the needs of our multilingual students. It. We also were coming
WLWV School Board: with the lens that
WLWV School Board: we needed a curriculum that provided multiple access points for our Els students as well.
WLWV School Board: and
WLWV School Board: it also that have tools.
WLWV School Board: for all of our children
WLWV School Board: are newcommerce and have different level of education. We know that we are receiving more and more migrant students from different part of the world that has had interrupted education. So we wanted to make sure that we had a curriculum that allow all this students
WLWV School Board: differing access points, so
WLWV School Board: regardless of their language. real caution.
WLWV School Board: Oh,
WLWV School Board: we
WLWV School Board: yeah. So we created a list of questions for each grade level for students, so we can include their views and experiences of reading.
WLWV School Board: Some questions are responses to materials. They they wish
WLWV School Board: be shown.
WLWV School Board: and our colleagues at the school contributed to and review the question for students.
WLWV School Board: We
WLWV School Board: were able to ask our
WLWV School Board: peers to also help us
WLWV School Board: to see. What question do you want
WLWV School Board: has to pass this publisher
WLWV School Board: to ensure that we could evaluate programs based on the same criteria.
WLWV School Board: So we prepare questions and prompts from the 3
WLWV School Board: publishing companies and receive that
WLWV School Board: answers when they gave us the presentations.
WLWV School Board: I think that what is most important is that we were able to come back to our schools and make sure
WLWV School Board: that our peers
WLWV School Board: told us. What do they want? What are the question that you have, that we want all the companies
WLWV School Board: to answer for us.
WLWV School Board: And that was really important. Because
WLWV School Board: when we ask some questions, we let's see. Okay, this is a question that. But this is an aspect that they are not as strong
WLWV School Board: for the complaints.
WLWV School Board: So this is the ode rubric that we've been talking about, and I'm not gonna read through all of them for you. But just know that we were more particular
WLWV School Board: in a lot of these, and we also that, wanting to make sure that the curriculum was really culturally responsive. So these were all the things we were looking at when we checked out the 3 different curriculums next slide.
WLWV School Board: So here's the 3 curriculums, and it's hard for me to have my back to people. So here are the 3 curriculums, and I'm just going to tell you all of them say they have all the things.
WLWV School Board: And so then we want to take a look and be like, what do we think? Who really has the things that we really want. So my view literacy fell off relatively quickly.
WLWV School Board: Their foundational skills weren't as strong. And there it wasn't very user friendly.
WLWV School Board: So then it was benchmark. And h, that we were really looking at.
WLWV School Board: Both of them have pretty good foundational skills. But Hmh, separated their foundational skills. So when I say, foundational skills. That's that's phonics, phonemic awareness, that science of reading that you hear people talk about. That's where that is. And H. Pulled theirs out
WLWV School Board: separate from that vocabulary, learning that knowledge, learning, they pulled it out separately. It's like 30 min a day. K to 2. This is what you're doing.
WLWV School Board: Benchmark did that as well, but it tried to blend it in.
WLWV School Board: and that separateness to me created a much better world to all of us
WLWV School Board: of a much better foundational skills program and a better knowledge building program. It was like.
WLWV School Board: I felt like benchmark was trying to do it all at once, and it hurts both of them. Also. H. Also has slides to use to teach. So when you're in front of 24 kids, and it's a new curriculum
WLWV School Board: trying to remember what to do. And when to do. And did I leave that
WLWV School Board: poster in my car that I was supposed to have at the slides or in front of you.
WLWV School Board: you can go and edit the slides, which is also really helpful. So if my class didn't get it yesterday, we're gonna see that slide again in today's slides.
WLWV School Board: So and also just across that the district having everybody using those slides to teach, I think is really helpful. So and I'm gonna look at my crew, too. If there's anything that I forgot of, why, hmh, for us kind of stood out
WLWV School Board: and it was k to 5. Really, how everybody voted like when we went, cause we'd meet like in first grade, and then you'd all get together and think. I don't know how everybody else voted what they thought, and it was amazing that everybody kind of came to that same place.
WLWV School Board: The materials were trans adapted and not translated.
WLWV School Board: So that was really
so. Ask.
find it out there?
WLWV School Board: Yes. yes, so they had. They had authors that were from different cultures. And so we weren't just listening to
WLWV School Board: white authors, so that we had a bunch of different ones, which is very, very helpful. I also forgot to mention that H. In their literature that you use. You use real books that you would have read to your kids, or have in your house to teach the writing to teach the knowledge building. So there's, you know, fabulous literature that we love because we don't want to get away from that. We love that part.
WLWV School Board: So that was another piece.
WLWV School Board: and I would also love to add, on as Nancy mentioned, hmh, had a really strong K 2 foundational skills program. But that same program continued from kindergarten through fifth grade and each year built on previous. So that there was a really comprehensive scope and sequence for our upper elementary students as well.
WLWV School Board: Yeah, so so yeah, like something that we are super super excited. For
WLWV School Board: one language is that
WLWV School Board: we can also start using the English curriculum
WLWV School Board: that foundational skills.
WLWV School Board: So we can start teaching English conditional skills since kindergarten.
Okay, that you respond.
WLWV School Board: we should speak.
WLWV School Board: Hi.
WLWV School Board: So again, you use that. Od, rubric. Nancy and I were in the same group. We're both first grade teachers, and it was a really open process. Principals didn't weigh in barb, and David didn't weigh in. It was very authentic in that it was that back and forth between teachers
WLWV School Board: with our literacy coaches and our learning specialists weighing in and it definitely emerged that hmh, was stronger. That high quality text.
WLWV School Board: you know. It has 33 big books at kindergarten. It's got 10
WLWV School Board: big books at first grade. I think one of them is at Rocket in my school shoes with Pete the cat. So again, but also it had culturally relevant, and that trans adapted. And so that high quality text really emerged, that hmh was strongest.
WLWV School Board: The same with you know that writing. So we looked at curriculum that would support, you know, those 4 different domains, domains. So reading, writing, speaking, and listening, and with this knowledge building hmh, into reading, we really saw a lot of student talk student voice. Also a lot of prompts to help teachers know how to support their multilingual learners. It comes with an eld flip
WLWV School Board: book with some really beautiful anchor charts. So again, things are already created. Things are there. They're aligned. They fit together like a puzzle where, I think, you know teachers have been creating some beautiful, you know, anchor charts or some beautiful sentence stems within their classrooms. But it's really nice to have it created, and to have it aligned across grade levels and across classrooms.
Slide.
WLWV School Board: Oh, so I talked about just that knowledge building.
WLWV School Board: it's really nice to see that it also aligns with our Oregon State social size standards and our Ngss science standards. And so again, you know, classrooms will have similar materials and similar experiences and teachers can team around those same materials.
WLWV School Board: The same with our foundational skills. So includes a structured literacy scope and sequence as Megan kind of talked about that that those skills build across K 5. But it's really systematic and explicit in all the different areas, including handwriting, phonological awareness, letter knowledge print concepts.
WLWV School Board: That all of those different areas are addressed within that 30 to minute, 40 min lesson. And you can see the flow and how those skills build.
WLWV School Board: Yeah. So that structured literacy pathway is included within H. And H. It's 30 to 40 min.
WLWV School Board: I also think. H. Had not only authentic literature, but also a plethora of decodable text. I also know that Barb and David have kind of budgeted also for additional high quality, decodable text, because we know even one or 2 stories practicing that Ck sound or the magic E, that you're going to have groups of students that need additional text
WLWV School Board: and really shifting from those levels readers to more skill-based, decodable text. And they even have printable, blended books that we can send home so that homeschool connection.
WLWV School Board: next slide.
WLWV School Board: Also it. It really did reflect a range of text types. So like, I said, those big books for kindergarten and first grade. But then there's Mentor text within grades, 2 through 5. It also has separate. Read aloud books. Second grade has 30 titles. So really rich. Text
WLWV School Board: that are integrated throughout the literacy block.
WLWV School Board: I also think H. Emerged for me. With their assessments. Just like our literacy adoption team looked at multiple assessments. Any good teacher, you know, is going to look at multiple data points, especially for our struggling students, you know, if they do poorly on one assessment, we want to back that up and say, was it just the assessment? Was it this?
WLWV School Board: And so?
WLWV School Board: H. Has that correlation where you can use different types of assessments to really understand. What do students know? What are they ready to learn what to do if they already know it? And it makes planning for teachers? Really easily as well. So there are online.
WLWV School Board: what was it called? Ed, their Ed platform is pretty user friendly that when you put in that assessment data, it can then direct you towards what skills, what lessons, what tools to use that also allows for our learning specialists
WLWV School Board: and our El D specialists. To use similar materials. They have a word study studio, where, even if you were a fourth grade teacher with, say, you know, a student who was very emergent in their foundational skills. You can go to the studio, collaborate with your literacy coach or your learning specialist and be able to pull out lessons that are gonna address their needs.
WLWV School Board: So I think that also really was a point that many teachers really liked, that we could provide that high dose tutoring. We could understand even our more gifted learners
WLWV School Board: how to extend their learning, and that the curriculum really made that very user friendly where you didn't need to go to multiple places, that it was all right there, and that across grade levels and across support systems that we could have this common tool to help us plan.
WLWV School Board: Oh, and I talked about assess.
Okay.
WLWV School Board: So the adoption team is bringing forward a supplementary or what we would call a complementary foundational skills program along with the Hmh. Core program.
WLWV School Board: the team reviewed 4 programs for foundational skills that have been tried in the Westland Wilsonville School district.
WLWV School Board: The 4 programs that were considered were foundations, Hegorie hue, fly foundations and words their way.
WLWV School Board: Now the Oregon early literacy framework outlines that our core curriculum should work in in conjunction with the supplementary curriculum. So that's something we kept in mind
WLWV School Board: when looking at these supplementary curriculums, the team used the ode rubric focused on that foundational skills. Section
WLWV School Board: reviews of the program, considerations for special education and dyslexia along with how the program again fits with that core curriculum so that we can have consistency across the district.
WLWV School Board: Next slide, please.
WLWV School Board: At this point in time the adoption team is recommending U 5 foundations as the supplementary or complementary program to be used with all students.
WLWV School Board: Some reasons for this is that you fly is systematic, explicit, and has evidence-based results that we've also seen here in the Westland Wilson Mill School district. Along with this, the district has mentioned that we are dedicated to furthering our professional development through the Institute for multisensory education, or Nz, as we've called it.
WLWV School Board: Now, the great thing is that Ufi and Hmh. Correspond very nicely to the Mz. Approaches and strategies, and that we can then incorporate these Mz strategies in our foundational skills teaching of Hmh and Ufi, and that we are committed to all K 2 teachers and specialists being trained
WLWV School Board: along with this, as I mentioned, Ufi has been piloted in the Westland Wilsonville schools successfully, and it is also in use by our learning specialists in all schools across across the district, and that we plan to continue using this in special education.
WLWV School Board: On top of this, I want to outline that. I went through the Hmh scope and sequence for their structured literacy program as well as the foundational skills taught in 3 through 5, when I broke down by grade level. The skills taught it aligned really nicely with those taught by Ufi and I compared the 2 and the similarities and differences
WLWV School Board: with these similarities between both Hmh and Ufi. It's a really cohesive match, and teachers can use this to have a really well rounded tier, one curriculum as well as tier 2 and tier 3 instruction for those students who need it.
WLWV School Board: So I'm going to speak a little bit to just the overall process, and I really want to bring forward
WLWV School Board: the principal lens or the leader lens to this. And then also just some things that we're thinking about implementing the spring and what that's going to look like moving forward. I have to say, you know. I think you hear from my colleagues here, there. It's a pretty, thoughtful, incredible group. There are 67 people.
WLWV School Board: I'm at Stafford. You think I can get to Riverside quickly and on time, but I never could, and it would be standing room only for me by the time I got to the room, but it just really speaks to the commitment and dedication. And just
WLWV School Board: you know how student centered our educators are. So it was a pretty for me as a leader to go, and I tried to go to as many as I could to be able to be a fly on the wall to listen in, on conversations, not only for my own staff, but
WLWV School Board: across the district, was really powerful, because it gave me just a sense of
WLWV School Board: our vision, and how we're moving towards that. And also what are the needs of our educators right now? And our teachers in the classroom. I also really feel
WLWV School Board: that there was a lot of value. And there's not. It's not often that we get to come together. All schools. K, 5. And for colleagues to be able to collaborate and talk about. Here's what's happening in my classroom. Okay, what's happening in your classroom and
WLWV School Board: seeing that we're kind of in this together. And also things are happening outside of our schools that we can learn a lot from. So I feel like that was a really important experience. I know that my teachers who are on the adoption team came back really feeling invigorated by the conversations that
WLWV School Board: they had in the process. They took part in. You know, overall, too. As a leader we're always thinking of. How do we make space for what we're learning and sharing with the staff. There's a select few who are on the team from each school site. So we really work to bring that voice back.
WLWV School Board: I'm speaking for Staffer, but I know all principals did that, too. During teacher workshop times our adoption team brought back materials and left them in the lunch room, and you would often walk in, and they would be eating their lunch and looking through the hmh. Talking, you know, like light light lunch banter over that. But so there was some really casual conversations around it, and then also structured times during teacher workshop, where we brought forward
WLWV School Board: the team brought forward what they learned and shared the process collected feedback brought it back to the adoption committee, and it was a really reciprocal process that way. So I know. Staff felt, heard, and felt like they were part of the process, even when they weren't in those meetings. And they really feel, listen to in in that process, which is an important piece when you're bringing in new curriculum and looking to implement something new.
WLWV School Board: I think another thing that I'm really excited about in this process is that I think it's easy to say, okay, we've done this. And now we're moving to this. And it's really important to remember that we have so many strong foundational pieces in place and some really amazing work that's been happening across all our schools in the area of literacy. So this is an opportunity now to refine and calibrate
WLWV School Board: and continue to build upon those foundations. You know I can think about it, Stafford, right now you know, across the classrooms that I'm in and out of every day and looking at what my teachers are doing and how they're helping students grow in the area of literacy and other areas, and
WLWV School Board: it's just an opportunity for us to get better and better. But to remember that there are so many, there's so many good things in place that we get to build upon, which is an exciting process.
WLWV School Board: Next slide, please.
WLWV School Board: So I think top of mind is the implementation piece. Once we have a
WLWV School Board: our material selected, the big work happens. The big lift of what's this gonna look like day in, day out. And how are we going to implement this in a way that is cohesive and with fidelity, and that is also providing teachers support that they need in this process in service of our students.
WLWV School Board: And so the team's already spoken to. One of the biggest pieces is continued training around the Mz training. And I'm really excited. I was looking at the list again today, at the number of my own staff who are interested and have signed up and are waitlisted
WLWV School Board: in K. 2, but also 3, 4, and 5. And that really speaks to our upper grade. Teachers.
WLWV School Board: seeing the need to understand foundational skills to best meet the needs of their students and to understand the trajectory that we are teaching for our students. K, 5,
WLWV School Board: and I think the piece that we're really working, and I should say the through line for all of these bullet points is that
WLWV School Board: this is such a planful process, and that we're not waiting until August to implement and to plan that that planning is starting now
WLWV School Board: and starting on multiple levels. So
WLWV School Board: on a school-based level, even the adoption team is is where we have begun, and some of that is in more structured workshops, where we're beginning to look at, what do we have in place.
WLWV School Board: and what do we need to get ready for for the following year? It happens in individual conversations. For example, you know, just in today, in my office that Prince, a first grade teacher came to me and she had some questions around, okay, here's what I'm doing currently
WLWV School Board: in my foundational skills. What's it gonna look like when we bring in this material. And just some of those genuine questions around practice and how we're gonna make those shifts together are really important and laying the groundwork. But bigger picture we're meeting in principal leadership teams with our Ics and principals and Aps to start to look at. What's that professional development? Gonna look like, how do we build in those structures now and start laying the groundwork even before materials arrive to get ready for that process?
WLWV School Board: A piece that we are looking at really carefully as a principal team, as our primary level team or our school data teams. And what do those look like
WLWV School Board: at Stafford. We're in year 4 of Mtss. Where we are really have a really tight data team cycle in place, but we have a lot of room to grow still. So that work, even next week, we're meeting this Wednesday. Actually, we're meeting in our data teams. And we're looking at existing structures bringing forward data
WLWV School Board: and saying, What are our guidelines right now? What are school guidelines for? Where we want our students to be? Tier? One tier, 2 tier, 3. And how are we going to begin to shift and move the dial for those students and accelerate growth through the rest of the year? What more do we want to bring in, based on what our data is showing us around interventions and resources and materials. And that work is happening across all of the schools right now. Some exciting work, I think, and teams again spoken around coherence
WLWV School Board: with
WLWV School Board: implementation of materials. But it's also as
WLWV School Board: principals. And in our schools how do we build coherence across the systems that we are putting into place to ensure that we are building our capacity as leaders to build the capacity of our teachers in that process. And when we're all on the same page and working together in service of accelerating learning for our students, that's the exact place where we want to be.
WLWV School Board: You know, we're in another interesting place, too, with the 120 min Literacy block we have that in place. Now. We have that time blocked out in our schedule, but we have an opportunity to look at it and see where can we tighten that up? What's that gonna look like. And it's gonna look different. K, 5, we're not gonna put kindergartners into 120 min straight reading block. That's gonna be that would be a lot right? Fifth, graders
WLWV School Board: have more stamina. They have a little bit more ability to do that. So that piece around, what does it look like to block out a schedule
WLWV School Board: school-wide for 120 min. And then what will that look like by grade level? And how do we gather, teacher voice in that piece, because I think, if anything, the adoption process taught me
WLWV School Board: with all of our teams is that when teachers have a voice and when they're part of this process, we can ensure that fidelity to happen along teaching the curriculum.
WLWV School Board: So we are working closely with our leadership teams within our school sites, and as a broader primary team to look at that 120 min, and then soon compare it across the materials that we are getting to ensure that we are providing everything that we need to within 120 min. A piece that I'm really excited about is the high dosage tutoring. And that's another area. When we link that to our data teams
WLWV School Board: where we look at and have opportunity to create schedules that not only provide the 120 min of literacy instruction. But also, where's that additional time living to make sure that for our students that we've identified, who need additional instruction. Who are our most striving readers are getting that? And what are the systems that we're putting into place to ensure that that happens within the core block and outside of it if they need it.
WLWV School Board: And I think that really links back to our work plans as principals, the plans that I know you all have been a part of, and been in schools to see and hear and learn about. And it really starts there where we're saying, what is our data showing us in the area of literacy, knowing that we're bringing forward a new curriculum, and we have opportunities to tighten up structures and systems and our instructional practices.
WLWV School Board: What does it show us? Our most
WLWV School Board: the biggest areas of need creating shared goals as a staff. And I think you all saw that the importance of that shared goal shared learning, working document where we are
WLWV School Board: coming back again and again to see where we at. Here's our goal. Here's our action plan. Here's what the data shows us. Where do we need to make adjustments? How are we gonna do that together? And I think again. This this process really speaks around that collective efficacy when we're in it together, we're gonna make the biggest impact for our kids.
WLWV School Board: And so I know we, you know, you start the planning at spring. We're finishing up the year. We're already thinking around to the fall. And what are our goals gonna be. And how are we gonna begin to implement those and involving our teachers in our in that process?
WLWV School Board: and I think the the other piece, the last piece on here that has been such an asset this year is having the addition of literacy coaches in our schools.
WLWV School Board: We were joking today. Kristen Hales shares Stafford and Bolton, and we're like, Oh, man! If only we could replicate you, you know, like, have a couple of Christians in the school, and a couple of Christians over at Bolton and
WLWV School Board: couple Megans everywhere, right? Because that the work they're doing is really incredible. And
WLWV School Board: it's you know, they're impacting
WLWV School Board: teacher learning and student learning, and they're doing it with such grace and expertise. And so we really are. That's a moving that's evolving as we go. You know. I know literacy coaches are part of
WLWV School Board: leadership teams at every site. They're sitting inundated team meetings, Plc meetings, working closely with teachers really on the ground,
WLWV School Board: gathering data working with students all towards those shared goals. So
WLWV School Board: that's gonna be a really important part of our implementation plan next year. And we're already starting that work this spring getting those pieces in place.
WLWV School Board: Okay, I think II think I hit. So most everything I wanted to say
WLWV School Board: I'll turn it over to
slide.
WLWV School Board: So in in thinking about this, you know, we the triangle there. Curriculum instruction assessment. Wesley Wilsonville didn't invent that. That's been sort of unknown that captures the research about you don't look at just one of them. You don't look at just the curriculum, and you heard them talking, and Melissa just talking about the the plans for instructional practices. Also, there was a question about the board receiving
WLWV School Board: ongoing data and starting with data. And that's the assessment. That's the how's it working part? And we'll be using that, of course, to
WLWV School Board: inform
WLWV School Board: how we use the curriculum, what the instructional practices are, and sharing that, and not waiting to look at, you know. Let's wait till the end of the school year and see what percentage of third graders and how do they do? Sort of thing? But looking at the
WLWV School Board: 9 primary schools have these data teams, and how can we continue this process of sharing practices that happened in the adoption process with looking at how we're doing, and we're looking forward to doing that.
WLWV School Board: And lastly, just this idea of our commitment to the Equity. You know the the model that Wesley Wilsonville selected those 5 pillars comes from the National Reading panel in the year 2,000. But as there has been more attention to all learners since the year 2,000. And looking at what does that mean? To talk about equity and practices, and looking at for literacy.
WLWV School Board: oral language.
WLWV School Board: knowing your background, knowing your culture and acting on it instructionally, daily, and connecting it to writing, is key.
WLWV School Board: We are so privileged here to have. And you heard examples this evening.
WLWV School Board: excellent teachers, and we believe in them. And we know that that's what matters most, and truly have
WLWV School Board: tried to facilitate this process so that we can allow them to select and own the very best tools to build on their excellent teaching.
WLWV School Board: So if you have questions, There's 7 of us who will look at who will look at each other and decide who's going to answer what?
WLWV School Board: Yep, we'll open it up
WLWV School Board: for questions, and I had to get my mic on here. So I was taking a note.
WLWV School Board: the before we get into questions, though for this do we need an initial motion. And a second before we have discussion. because it sounded like you were opening it up for questions prior to that?
WLWV School Board: Or is this just a free open Q. And a. I think you can do either, and then distinguish
WLWV School Board: what you would want this question section to be about, and then the motion, and then what you want the discussion
WLWV School Board: after the motion discussion about to lead towards a decision. Okay. And this is a big topic and a big, I know. And because we've invested a lot into this, and there's a lot of vested interests
WLWV School Board: not just in this room. But I'm sure
WLWV School Board: on that camera. Yeah, I'll open it up for a discussion in a Q&A prior to a motion being so that, yeah, we can speak freely for a little bit. Yeah, and then we'll move into
a motion
WLWV School Board: and a vote beyond that or further discussion. If there is further. and then we can pass it down to Director Douglas. But I'm gonna I'm just gonna start from this way this way and
WLWV School Board: and and come back this way. So I'm going to start with you, director, Shoemaker, and I'll open up the floor for you to have questions that you may have on
WLWV School Board: your list. So let's start with you. Yeah, I will start by saying, Thank you so much for for the process. Thank you. To district folks who directed a process. And then the people who just owned it. So thank you for all that work.
WLWV School Board: I think by all accounts it was a really good process, and we have more goals
WLWV School Board: right here, and one of them was around adoption. So we're hopeful that we can get to that tonight.
WLWV School Board: I heard toward the end some discussion of data. I wonder if anybody be willing to talk a little bit more about data, because, there's an underlying belief in in in the belief that we needed to make some changes, an underlying belief that data has to drive smart changes and not just the existing data. The some of the data that Director Vidal referenced earlier. But the ongoing data we get from students do these materials support that.
WLWV School Board: So I think that's one of the pieces that really emerged as a strength of H. And H. Is that it had a variety of assessments. I think our next step as a team and as a district would want to have alignment in what assessments we feel are going to inform our instruction and going to be valuable. You know we want to continue to compare apples to apples, oranges, oranges.
WLWV School Board: And so I think you know, as we unpack these materials being tight as a district, or as at least 9 primary schools.
WLWV School Board: what are the assessments? That we feel are valuable, you know. Are we going to give those end to module assessments? Do we feel like that? Gives us information that informs our instruction. I think we need to make those decisions. You know, as teams, but also as a district so that we can share
evidence. We can make improvement plans make actual steps.
WLWV School Board: But I also think, you know, when I looked at the variety of assessments, it's really skill based? It's not, you know, on level off level. It's what does this child know? And what are they ready to learn next? And so it's really actionable. As a teacher. I can take that and say, Oh, I gotta redo this or this child's got it. I'm ready to move on. So that's what I appreciated about the assessments
WLWV School Board: that both just with within all 5 of those pillars, you know, we looked at those different assessments.
WLWV School Board: And they were represented within that curriculum that had to provide
WLWV School Board: of assessments that could drive that construction.
WLWV School Board: and to add on to what Dorothy just explained. Really, could you come to the microphone? Yeah, to add on to what Dorothy just explained. Really? Well, not only do we have a variety of assessments within. But we want to think about the purpose of assessment as it corresponds to our tiered instruction. So district wide, we'll have that screener assessment to see who is meeting our expectations and these national norms, and who is not?
WLWV School Board: And then, beyond that, those students who may need extra support. H. Provides diagnostic assessments, so we can see, like Dorothy said. What do they know? And what do they still need further assistance in, so that we can have really targeted tier 2 and tier. 3 instruction for our more emergent readers and writers
WLWV School Board: and
WLWV School Board: forget. Go ahead at home can only hear when there's a microphone, even though we can hear in the room, and I think it's important to also to know that as Shamage
WLWV School Board: Is now partnering with maps
WLWV School Board: with the NWUA, and
WLWV School Board: that information will be because they are partnering the 2 systems. What they are planning is that the 2 systems talks to each other so we can get
WLWV School Board: what there are certain maps in English and Spanish, and then we can send the curriculum. Okay, this is what map is telling me that this kids need. This is students need. And I can go to my curriculum and see the correlation. And what do I need to do? So? I think that's key, because right now, when we see
WLWV School Board: in the conversation with T. Shirley is like, Oh, I get the report from that, and it tells me, oh, this keeps this this, but I don't have the curriculum or this section what I need to go, and the materials to really individualize that instructions and provides that.
WLWV School Board: And then I heard, and earlier you were talking about. Well, how will you know this is working?
WLWV School Board: And so what you just heard is, how do. I know day to day what I should be doing with specific students and all students tomorrow, and they have selected a curriculum that informs them of that.
WLWV School Board: But we have. And you heard that we use Aimsweb and Aims. Web is an example of something where you can see from those results. What are some of those areas. So then you want a curriculum that shows within those areas.
WLWV School Board: Here's the key skills. So you can match that up. And then at a higher level in terms of bringing skills together. You have NWEA map
WLWV School Board: which looks at there's foundational skills. There's vocabulary, and there's literary comprehension and informational comprehension. So then you can see all right. Once students can
WLWV School Board: decode words once they can distinguish sounds, match them to letters, what sense do they make of that when they begin reading. And Nwa. Map begins
WLWV School Board: in kindergarten. And so that's what we were looking for is something that informs teachers and specialists day to day, but that also matches up to more universalized data beyond the curriculum program itself. And so that's what we will be doing. And then, in looking at.
WLWV School Board: If we don't see shifts and
WLWV School Board: the Ames web, if we don't see that in our map data.
WLWV School Board: because map data is tied very closely, which is
WLWV School Board: the reason that we use it in our school district to that annual Osas data.
WLWV School Board: Then we look at
WLWV School Board: programmatically. What are some things that we
WLWV School Board: be need to be looking at. So we'll start this data collection right away. You have to look at variables, you know. You don't say, well, let's change the whole program in the first month that you're using it. But you can pretty quickly with the data teams that schools have and the ways that they look at all of this data altogether, you start to see patterns and trends
WLWV School Board: that then you can be more nimble and make adjustments to what are you emphasizing? How are you using the program?
WLWV School Board: Director, shoemaker, anything else? Director, sloop?
WLWV School Board: That's the same thing I was thinking.
WLWV School Board: what about me?
WLWV School Board: Oh.
WLWV School Board: I do have a couple questions. Well, more than a couple.
WLWV School Board: so first of all, thank you for all of your thoughtful and intentional student focused work. I appreciate
WLWV School Board: every one of you and the and the other teachers and committee members who weren't here.
WLWV School Board: One question I have is. what does the
WLWV School Board: what's the data or the results about hmh! Nationally like, how is that
WLWV School Board: compared in other schools? Other states
WLWV School Board: do you have?
And
WLWV School Board: any information? I'll start that, and then others can chime in that has come up a lot with. Actually, that was one of the questions that we had at the first parent session is, why don't you look at the national data and what you know about this? Well.
WLWV School Board: h some of these curriculums, the earliest one was published in 2,019, and some of them are 2,022. So other districts might be a year or so ahead of us with this curriculum. But it's usually 2 to 3 years into a curriculum program where it gets beyond the reviews of
WLWV School Board: do they have all the components that rubric say to, can we isolate the changes, and how students are doing with reading to that curriculum. So we don't know of any
WLWV School Board: national data at this point about an entire curriculum program. That's on the state list. Because if you look at the publication dates they haven't been in use that long. But that will be forthcoming. And that's why we wanna start looking at our own use of it.
WLWV School Board: Because we looked for that. It would be it would help us if we could say, Oh, this has been shown to be the most effective nationally, I don't know if others have.
WLWV School Board: I think, what's comforting to me
WLWV School Board: is there is good data on you fly. Which is that supplementary curriculum. And the way that you fly is set up
WLWV School Board: is exactly how the foundational skills are set up in hmh.
WLWV School Board: so you go over. Here's our new concept of the day. We're gonna do phonemic awareness. Now we're gonna do our phonics skill. Now we're gonna write it. Now we're gonna read it. Now, we're gonna do decodable text with it. It's that same pattern.
WLWV School Board: And that's the pattern that we're seeing that really helps kids to code.
WLWV School Board: And so that's you know, K, 2 teachers. That's what we were looking for.
WLWV School Board: And that's what we found in Hmh, and in Ufi and Ufi has that data. It's just been around earlier, and it's associated with the university. So they built in that research piece.
WLWV School Board: I hope that helps. Yes.
WLWV School Board: And then another question I have is, you mentioned that they have a handwriting component?
WLWV School Board: Is that K through 5? Or is it just K through 2. Because II have
WLWV School Board: received. I've met with several parents whose kids started in kindergarten during Covid. And so they were working on the computer. They never really learned how to their penmanship, or even how to hold a pencil or pen even the spatial
WLWV School Board: part on of a paper with the lettering they were mixing uppercase with lower case
WLWV School Board: is that
WLWV School Board: curriculum for handwriting through all of those grades. So some of those kids that are older can kind of get caught up
WLWV School Board: on how to write on a piece of paper. or is it K through 2.
WLWV School Board: So I know it's K through 2 and there is handwriting in 3, 4, 5, but it's going to look
WLWV School Board: different if I remember the representative and talked about how manuscript starts in second grade end of second grade going into third. So I know it continues. I would say that along with handwriting along with many of the foundational skills we're going to see. That there are students who may have some gaps in some of their skills.
WLWV School Board: And I think that's where that high dose tutoring where that supplemental curriculum. But I also think that word study studio, where we can really pinpoint, where students gaps are and really start to fill them in that. Now we have this set toolbox to go to where we can start to give some direct instruction.
WLWV School Board: Whether it be around handwriting, whether it be around decoding letter sound knowledge. So I'm I'm pretty sure that the handwriting goes K. Through 5. It just looks different. And there's maybe a different routine. But I know it's solid from. And it's a part of that structured literacy. It's, I think, 9 different steps. And that's one of them.
WLWV School Board: Okay.
WLWV School Board: to add on to that I think a difference we'll see as well is that when shifting to hmh, this handwriting is really explicitly taught, so that students understand how to write these letters, and it's also taught in cursive as well. So that's something that I think is really well rounded within. Hmh, but the bulk of it does happen in, but because it's so explicit, I think we'll see that transfer later on in grades 3 through 5, yes.
WLWV School Board: and then, as far as training on in our memo. It says that para educators
WLWV School Board: will receive support in training in small groups and individuals, but I didn't hear that tonight. Will they be trained as well in hmh, and
WLWV School Board: you fly.
WLWV School Board: Yes, they will, we if you recall this year we actually extended the workday for our fair educators. So they are available after school for time that they used to not be. And we've already used that for explicit professional
WLWV School Board: learning, and we know that they are valuable team members when it comes to that. All hands on deck style, you know, support, for you know all the fourth graders in our school, or all the second graders in our school, so they will, you know, under the direction of their teachers and their principal be working right alongside teachers, and they will need training to participate in that we are gonna start with teachers, and then the next layer will be
WLWV School Board: educators. But it won't be. We'll wait. You know, that's just our priorities right now is the classroom teachers? Thank you. And then another question is regarding the implementation. So if decisions are being made where you might have to pivot on something.
WLWV School Board: because based on some assessments or some data that you guys are getting about our students.
WLWV School Board: is there going to be like a uniform documentation piece that will be
WLWV School Board: filled out for each school like, how are we going to be documenting what's working? What's not what we have to pivot.
WLWV School Board: So we're all kind of on the same pages, and it's all cohesive.
WLWV School Board: Speak to this a little bit. So
WLWV School Board: when we think about adapting our instruction. We can think about it in a few different ways. First off, if it's not working for that whole class tier, one instruction that's a shift that we have to make when we're working with the whole classroom using Hmh, or supplementing Ufi as well.
WLWV School Board: However, if we're finding that it's a really small group of students who need further support. We can think of that tiered instruction in a few different ways. First is extending the duration of it, and the amount of time that they have, because sometimes students just need more opportunities to really master that skill
WLWV School Board: on top of that. This is when the training from the Institute for multi-sensory education will come into play because it really does take on a hands-on approach. And it students then have an opportunity to interact with what they're learning in kinesthetic ways and auditory ways, orally as well. So we can think about it, then, that we have those tier one adaptations we might make to our whole class instruction. But when it comes to those small groups of students who need more support
WLWV School Board: would then alter instruction by duration amount, or the type that we're providing by using both hmh, or supplementing with U. 5,
WLWV School Board: I think to add on to that, too, when we think about like, oh.
next slide, please.
WLWV School Board: II think a lot about the professional development. So that lens, and one thing that's really powerful on our data teams right now is that while we're looking at
WLWV School Board: data and centering students in that process, it's also an opportunity to look at trends. And so, like, Megan was saying
WLWV School Board: there might be something in tier one that's not in place. If we're seeing many students showing gaps in a specific skill or area that speaks to something that we can tighten up around a particular part of that of the materials or the instructional practices. And look, there first is tier one in place. So, or is this an area for a staff? Or we need to do some more professional development around implementation piece? So those data teams are really powerful as far as looking at student needs, but also
WLWV School Board: a way to address professional development. And teacher needs if that makes sense. So I think next year I really see it as looking at so much of our work will be coming together. To say, how is this going? What's working? What's not working, what do we need together to move forward? And when we're noticing some of those areas that might not feel like it's working as well as we would have expected it to
WLWV School Board: and then make those adjustments.
Okay?
WLWV School Board: And then another question I have. And I. It's not
WLWV School Board: pertaining to hmh, but
WLWV School Board: it has to do with the old curriculum. So I was reading our policy, and it says something that you can.
WLWV School Board: that it's kept for another cycle.
WLWV School Board: But then
WLWV School Board: I also see here that we can get that we can remove obsolete or inaccurate material which
WLWV School Board: the former wasn't on. Odze list wasn't ever officially approved. Who couldn't find any record. Has there been any talk about what's gonna be done with the old curriculum that's in all the classrooms? Because for me, if I'm learning something new.
WLWV School Board: It's more, much more comfortable for me to go back to the old. the old, what I know
WLWV School Board: we we have talked about that
WLWV School Board: first of all, the just the bandwidth, you know, within our teachers and specialists. To not move to the new and to use a combination would would not work well, and we actually have to make space. So that has already come up. Of how will we look at collecting it? Our district has some ways, so we we certainly don't throw it away. We have some ways and other
WLWV School Board: other places where there are those who need it, where we actually set it up at our district operation center. So there will be a collection sort of piece. When we talked earlier about building on and keeping some things in place. Those are structures. For example, the previous curriculum had some structures for working with small groups, for working with individuals, for having a short focused lesson.
WLWV School Board: It's not the materials, but some of those structures where all children have an individual bookbox to practice their skills. And we need to put more decodable books in them. So when we say keeping some things, that's what's meant by that, it's the structures, the practices, but not the actual stuff. Besides, we don't have room for it.
WLWV School Board: I would just also add on that. I think that's kind of our next step is to look at what are those practices that we felt
WLWV School Board: through our lookforce, through our research through our data. What are those things that we're just gonna keep and carry through? You know, you talked about your son bringing home the encyclopedia. We still want kids doing that. We still want, you know, book boxes and enjoying books. Time in books. But what are those books? So I think our next step is really to look at it through a student. Lens of what? What's a day in a life
WLWV School Board: of a student in kindergarten, or like Melissa said in fifth grade, what does that 120 min look like? And I think we're really discovering that it's going to look different
WLWV School Board: for students, you know, depending on their grade level and what they need, but that I'm really excited, that whether you visit my classroom at Beckman or Nancy's classroom at will limit that. You're gonna see the same visuals that you're gonna see the same kinds of books that you're gonna see the same stories. You're gonna see the same anchor charts. You're gonna see a similar flow and continued consistent language. So I think that's what I'm really excited to see.
WLWV School Board: and I also hope that we continue to collaborate across buildings. I think this process has brought forward the value of that that getting to you. Hear what happens in Maria's first grade dual language class and what happens in Nancy's, you know, first grade class that will limit. And I think it'll be that much more powerful when we have this same material in these same toolbox to pull from. So I'm excited to see the rollout and that next step, and looking at
WLWV School Board: the day in the life of a first grader given now our structured literacy routine. Given this high quality text given, A book box filled with books that they can read, that every single word they can come across and decode and sound out and scoop up and understand. I talked about today having a first grader decode drumstick.
WLWV School Board: Those are all sounds that I have explicitly taught. That's a really long word. It was all about a Grandma Dot, and how she fried up some chicken, and he wanted the drumstick and my emergent reader was able to decode that entire word and go back and sound it out. And he's like, Yeah, I like drumsticks, too.
WLWV School Board: And then my last question has to do with
WLWV School Board: the the Spanish version is that
WLWV School Board: is there? How are we going to be able to include our parents like our Latino parents? In this curriculum reading? Would they have? Is it? Is any of this available online
WLWV School Board: for them?
WLWV School Board: Yes, and that's something that we're really excited is totally bilingual for Latino patterns and English patterns, too. So if you have a child in dual language.
WLWV School Board: you can see what we are doing, and it's explaining to you. But we're doing in English, but you can also switch it to Spanish, and it's really powerful.
WLWV School Board: Because even another teacher can enter the classroom
WLWV School Board: and see what we're doing if they grab the teachers side. But everything
WLWV School Board: is totally online. So kids can access that our parents can access the whole curriculum online.
WLWV School Board: Great. Thank you so much for answering all my questions and director sleep. I really appreciate that question. We as you recall, we also have
WLWV School Board: fall goal-setting conferences with parents, and we frequently bring out materials and use those to show what we're doing. Now, we'll have materials in Spanish that we can bring out, so that will be a one on one opportunity to basically collaborate with a Spanish-speaking family or a family that's multilingual, just as we would in English. Only family at that conference.
WLWV School Board: Thank you.
WLWV School Board: Thank you. Vice chair, Wyatt.
WLWV School Board: I have some comments from we discuss as a board. My questions have all been asked at this point.
WLWV School Board: Director Vidal
WLWV School Board: for stuff. I wanna thank everybody everybody today. Oh, my goodness, it's it's late for me. All 5 of you have been exemplary tonight. I have really enjoyed your presentation. I appreciate the thoroughness of your answers.
WLWV School Board: I appreciate the district's leadership in leading 67 teachers. I do have a question. I do have a question. Okay. Given that the adoption process was intensive and comprehensive. What would be some of the shortcomings? Of a process of this process if it was sped up. If you didn't have this year to look. To go through this process.
WLWV School Board: Well, we we do study what others are doing around us. We shared with this team. And I think with our parent community that we have been watching for the last couple of years, because not every state is on the same cycle. And so we look at who adopts. We also are networked through our
WLWV School Board: Esd through various groups we're in. So we kind of know where others are in the process. And one of the things when you go too quickly is you don't develop the ownership. And so it's harder to
WLWV School Board: have everybody leave what you've been doing into. If you have not completely immersed yourself in having a lens for what you're looking for and then
WLWV School Board: creating kind of this. Oh, this is why we're moving towards this. That's one of the things that's talked about. There was a a study done in 2,019, 2,020, a major one around professional learning and saying, you really have to do it with the curriculum and not have it be separate, and you really have to start with
WLWV School Board: taking time with selecting, knowing the curriculum. So you own it. Otherwise it's something that could appear in your classroom, and we know it's messy and long, having full participation also, you know, September thirteenth was the first date that we met, and we do know that they taught
WLWV School Board: all day. Yeah, we're principals all day, and Literacy coached all day. We compensated for time, but we did have those sessions spread out so we could go back to schools. So it wasn't just those who were on the team, because sometimes if you create and do it more quickly, an inside group. They're fine with it. But what about everybody else? They're still using the same materials
WLWV School Board: or other things. And you don't bring this unified. If you're going to make the investment. You know, in the curriculum how much is everyone invested in it?
WLWV School Board: Of course that does take more time to go back and forth for them to collect and share, and for principals to make time at Tuesday workshops for the adoption team members
WLWV School Board: to talk. You have to have 2 weeks between sessions. If you want to do something, and 4 months or so, you just can't quite
WLWV School Board: do all those pieces. So that's one thing that's been seen is, you don't necessarily have full ownership and thorough use. Now we don't do this with, say everything you know when you have, say
WLWV School Board: science or social studies, not a a subject that requires as much shifting or a curriculum that's as huge and complex as your literacy clip curriculum. We don't believe in stretching it out just to stretch it out. But Literacy just, you know, a hundred, 20 min of children's school day is spent with that. We have heard so much around and believe so much in
WLWV School Board: what literacy is, literacy being freedom. And so we intentionally
WLWV School Board: took the time to build the under the common understanding, to try to bring everybody into the process and to have it be something that that our teachers owned and you know, wanted to work with. So that's one of the things that's been found is you don't get that full ownership and fidelity, and then it's more gradual. It can take a couple of years then, for people to start to live into even using the curriculum.
WLWV School Board: I would also just add on that, you know, throughout the process we had some really difficult conversations around. What are the things we want to let go? Of? What are the things that are not serving our students based on research based on data based on, you know, the Od's rubrics
WLWV School Board: and that if we didn't have those time for those conversations, I think the outcome may have been the same. But I think again that buy-in from all teachers from all specialists may not have been there. So I appreciated
WLWV School Board: the ability to unpack
WLWV School Board: the shift that is needed. Through these conversations with my colleagues, I would also say, you know, Barb and David were incredible facilitators of those conversations that at no point did they not call on a hand that was up, that every voice felt comfortable in sharing, and that that voice was heard and honored. I at no point felt that I couldn't
WLWV School Board: say what I thought or felt, and I think that the team would agree, and that principals also were incredible listeners, and that they did not insert their influence throughout the process that it was really teacher and specialist driven. And
WLWV School Board: yeah, I think it's evident that all 67 of showing up even on Valentine's Day.
You did
WLWV School Board: all right.
WLWV School Board: Anything else? Okay? Sounds good.
WLWV School Board: A. I don't have
WLWV School Board: any questions for you. because I've heard. I think lot of questions. So
WLWV School Board: yes. Do we have a motion I move to adopt. Hmh. Inter reading with you fly foundations as the Westland Wilsonville School district's K, 5, Ela, instructional materials.
WLWV School Board: I second.
WLWV School Board: I guess I'll open it.
For discussion.
WLWV School Board: If anything has been left out or any other input
WLWV School Board: may need to be added, you have something. Okay? So I'll start with Director Shoemaker. Yeah, I want to first thank Director Sloop and Director Vidal for their earlier
WLWV School Board: comments and statements and and remind folks that we don't talk about this stuff outside of board meetings.
WLWV School Board: because that would be in violation of public meeting laws. So it's really nice to hear your thinking on that, and I'm going to share mine
WLWV School Board: here. So I'm sometimes asked what boards do.
WLWV School Board: and obviously we adopt curriculum. We're looking to do that tonight. But effective boards do more than that, we set goals for the district. We direct priorities
WLWV School Board: as elected community members. We select a focus, and we push for implementation that reaches goals. effective boards, work well with superintendent offices. And I'm happy to say that we have had a good relationship with the superintendent and the superintendent's office.
WLWV School Board: and I'm
WLWV School Board: I want. I want to say that we established some board goals, this fall, one of which included working through an adoption process
WLWV School Board: for these materials, and in adopting these goals and adopting this
WLWV School Board: this goal, we acknowledged that our reading scores, as measured by benchmark testing were simply not good enough. That was.
WLWV School Board: that was a driver for us, I think, for most of us.
WLWV School Board: we also acknowledge the critical role. Early literacy plays in K. 12, education and the strong value our community places on reading achievement.
WLWV School Board: Those beliefs and values don't end at adoption.
WLWV School Board: and I was very pleased to hear the thinking around what happens next.
WLWV School Board: I believe we need quantifiably measurable achievable goals around improvement.
WLWV School Board: This is a local issue, but it's also an issue for democracy.
WLWV School Board: Public education must support an informed citizenry which is the foundation of a democracy. and in a diverse society this is absolutely an issue of equity.
WLWV School Board: So again, what do boards do
WLWV School Board: we set goals? We drive a focus. We push for results.
WLWV School Board: I want to say tonight that I cannot think of a higher priority
WLWV School Board: than improving literacy across this district, particularly in the early grades
WLWV School Board: adopting materials at just the beginning. I believe adoption was done. Well.
WLWV School Board: And I'll be voting for adoption tonight. But what comes next also has to be done. Well. teacher training, high dosage, tutoring, assessment, data collection intervention strategies, the things we've heard tonight. All those have to be done well.
WLWV School Board: Board and district leadership that gets us to our goals must be steady, determined, and effective and supportive.
WLWV School Board: Our outcomes must improve, and this will not be easy. We'll need data to tell us what is and is not effective. We must have the willingness and agility to adjust as needed.
WLWV School Board: There are districts that have succeeded in this this work. We should learn from them. There are districts that have approached this work with the best of intentions and failed.
WLWV School Board: Some gave early efforts, but when they faced challenges they lost focus
WLWV School Board: as a board. We cannot allow that, and I believe it is the Board's role to see that the focus remains constant. Early literacy is a national concern. It's one which our State is trying to address. Fortunately with funding.
WLWV School Board: we are in a good place to raise the trajectory of achievement in early literacy. With funding and with intention. the challenge will be ours as board and district leaders to be accountable
WLWV School Board: for that improvement. That's what I have to say about it.
WLWV School Board: director Sloop. Any additional comments.
Yes.
WLWV School Board: lovely.
WLWV School Board: So I was just going to say that
WLWV School Board: in in adopting hmh, I will be a yes
WLWV School Board: this is a big shift in structure moving towards structured literacy.
WLWV School Board: and as director shoemaker mentioned, the hard work begins. Now, which is the implementation
WLWV School Board: with teacher training, we must have a feedback loop and adjust as needed, and be willing to admit that something is not working, and that we need to change it, fix it and move forward.
WLWV School Board: and also ensure that I want you. I want the teachers to know.
WLWV School Board: We appreciate all the hard work, and we fully support you, moving forward with Hmh. And Ufi. And I hope, Dr. Ludwig, that you will continue giving this little
WLWV School Board: reports as as the training goes and the implementation implementation goes of the if we adopt Hmh.
WLWV School Board: Director Vidal.
WLWV School Board: I will be voting in support of hmh, as well.
WLWV School Board: I've made plenty of remarks this evening.
WLWV School Board: I just wanna thank the teachers and the district. One more time for this. This extensive experience. I really appreciate the highly engaged end principals, principals, teachers, and district. It really shows what what we can do when we partner together, when teachers and parents and administrators partner together to do better. So that's it.
WLWV School Board: Vice chair Wyatt.
WLWV School Board: Yeah. Throughout this whole process. I've had my own triangle similar to the one on the screen, or my own like sense of balance about how we need to run this process. And it's really balancing
WLWV School Board: speed, inclusion and best practices with the idea that if we moved too fast we were, gonna leave some voices out of the process, and maybe not do as much research as we could, but that if we were overly cautious, we were gonna slow things way down and not get the solution that we need.
WLWV School Board: And what I heard tonight from this team was that you found that that balance, that perfect balance. That gives me the confidence to support this curriculum adoption. Because because you've shown that you were inclusive and intentional, and how you had these discussions.
WLWV School Board: You relied on research and best practices, and you were mindful of the timeline that you would set out at the beginning to follow. And and that matters because I think what that does is, it builds trust in the work that's been done.
WLWV School Board: and our ability as a board to show that we trust your recommendation.
WLWV School Board: And the other thing I've been reflecting on has actually been related to school visits and seeing the muscle that all of our primary schools are building with data teams and the the walls of data at the student level class level grade level
WLWV School Board: school level. It's a work in progress. But it's incredibly impressive. And it's something that now it sounds like you're going to have even more data points that you can look to to use that data driven decision-making for what's best for our kids. And so
WLWV School Board: I know that there's still reporting and planning that needs to be done. But I also just have a lot of faith based on again that trust that you've given us through this process.
WLWV School Board: And then I just wanna make sure that if folks at home have looked at the agenda packet to me some of the most powerful sections on here are the last 2 bulleted items on implementation, instructional improvement, planning
WLWV School Board: and then also adoption team requests for implementation. Because it shows me a plan that's gonna be used for implementation. And that also reminds me that this adoption team has been very vocal, and what you think needs to happen next, which, again, I think, is so critical in thinking about how this plan can be most successful. So.
WLWV School Board: to sum it all up, I just appreciate the trust that you've built through this process. It gives me trust in what you're recommending. And hopefully, it gives the community trust in what we are. It sounds like, gonna vote to approve this evening. So thank you all.
WLWV School Board: yeah.
WLWV School Board: you know, for me, I don't have any questions.
WLWV School Board: I think would I have more is just appreciation for the people in the room who've put a lot of time into this.
WLWV School Board: And I think that one thing I've learned throughout this 14 month journey is that
WLWV School Board: it's had to have a lot of consistency.
WLWV School Board: And I think that group in the back over there you you might be the most consistent group of parents that I've ever met.
WLWV School Board: and I think that
WLWV School Board: you know we've had a lot of tough conversations. I think over the last 14 months.
WLWV School Board: You've all had your own tough, individual experiences within this district. and I guess I you know, I wanna thank you for staying committed to
WLWV School Board: to this cause, knowing that many of you may not have district kids in the district anymore because of your experience, and you've taken them and put them in someone else's hands. And I hope that through this process that
WLWV School Board: maybe you've
WLWV School Board: just moved a little more towards the teachers, the educators, the board that would give you at least a sense of like, it's okay for you to put your kids back in our hands. And we do want them to have a good experience and good outcomes. And so with all of that, though
WLWV School Board: I'd also want to put out there. There are gonna be mistakes made. And this feeling of man we got it right.
WLWV School Board: You know, we can exhale. I think it's gonna be short lived because you people have to learn how to teach this. They have to figure out how to fumble through it. And so I hope, when the mistakes are made, because they will be made, that you have the same patience that you're having right now
WLWV School Board: towards the people who make those mistakes? And so if we can finally start to change the culture of one of being transparent, I know I'm gonna make mistakes. I continue to make them. You know I own them. I just try to get better.
WLWV School Board: but as we make them we have a choice, and how we respond to mistakes. We can respond in a way that is a wedge between our community, or we can respond in a way that brings our community together, and I hope we choose the latter, and that's all I have to say about that.
WLWV School Board: You may now call the vote.
WLWV School Board: Thank you.
WLWV School Board: director, shoemaker. Yes.
WLWV School Board: director, sloop. Aye, chair, Taylor. Aye. vice chair, Wyatt, directive at all. Bye, thank you.
Let me find my place on this agenda, so bear with me.
WLWV School Board: Is
WLWV School Board: before we move on? Should we take 5?
WLWV School Board: Do we have?
WLWV School Board: Yes.
WLWV School Board: Oh, what do we got? Oh, who? Oh, I forgot.
WLWV School Board: Okay, that's right. That's right.
WLWV School Board: Okay, then let me gather myself here.
WLWV School Board: The auditor. No, I'm sorry.
WLWV School Board: Gotcha.
WLWV School Board: What we'll do is we'll take a break in between this and before Doctor Queues
WLWV School Board: comes. Is that.
WLWV School Board: or is it all together? It's all together. Okay, then we'll wait. Power with her. You're right.
WLWV School Board: I'll let the room kind of clear first, and then
WLWV School Board: then we'll move on. Does that work?
WLWV School Board: Okay?
WLWV School Board: Oh, okay. What kind of okay makes sense alright moving into?
WLWV School Board: the auditors or report?
We have
WLWV School Board: Pauli Rogers
WLWV School Board: online? And will we be able to patch them in to where we can see them on screen? Okay.
WLWV School Board: good evening, board member. It's so nice to see you this evening, so I do know that our audit proposal for 2023 had been complete.
WLWV School Board: so tonight I have what needs a Brad and Brian, the other team from Polly Roger. They zoom in
Brad Turano: so before everyone.
WLWV School Board: before Brad and Brian present the audit responsibility, the scope and the audit fighting. I would like to take a few minutes here to share with you about the background of the audit.
WLWV School Board: so we often hear our audit report the audit reports it capers
WLWV School Board: annual comprehensive financial reports is a set of financial statement that comply with the accounting requirement established by the Government or accounting Standard Board.
WLWV School Board: and it must be audit by an independent auditor using general and accepted government auditing standard.
WLWV School Board: So this reports a finalized post, this on our website and submit to the Secretary of State. One of the common that we hear is SIM, like there is, do report that submit one to odies and want to. The Secretary of State.
WLWV School Board: Okay. but that life already is is on December 20 first.
WLWV School Board: and when the auditor finish the audit on December 40 thirty-first, we submit the financial information to the auditor.
WLWV School Board: At that time the auditor submitted
WLWV School Board: graph of the final report to the Ode, so that the the Ode
WLWV School Board: doesn't help to
WLWV School Board: keep the money back from what? From Brussels, from the stay Spoon Fund support.
WLWV School Board: So after that
WLWV School Board: there are, there was several recommendation for 2, No. Entry. One of the assemble was when we receive
WLWV School Board: the money from Lacomac, Esd. That came to us in September, and supposed to come to us in August, so we port that revenue in the 2324 year, but
WLWV School Board: that's supposed to be posted in 2223. So therefore. after the photograph of the audit. We have some tuna entry to Matt
WLWV School Board: to make sure that our expenditure and revenue recorded into the right year, and because of that
WLWV School Board: we finalize all of the financial information by early wit of February.
WLWV School Board: and that time where our audit does support that report to the Secretary of state, and I believe they might already submit the final one to ode and audio might not update the report yet, but I will have Brad mentioned about that?
WLWV School Board: So the the net one is when we look at
WLWV School Board: Messa Iglis.
WLWV School Board: Okay, yeah. Yeah. Network, please. This one. When we look at the annual comprehensive financial report we recognize that
WLWV School Board: is considered up 3 session. The first one is introductory, this session
WLWV School Board: Orient and guide the reader throughout the report.
WLWV School Board: and then the second section is a financial section that present the district basic financial statement
WLWV School Board: at Wellset North, on the Simon and the Independent Auditor Report.
WLWV School Board: The last
WLWV School Board: is the session, and that provide the additional financial and statistical data that include financial trying. That may that help the reader understand better. About a district activity.
WLWV School Board: So the purpose next one please.
WLWV School Board: The purpose of the artists is to conduct its using sampling in query and analytical work to all pies on the fair presentation of the basic financial statement and compliance with
WLWV School Board: generally accepted accounting principle and art in standard.
WLWV School Board: The Oregon Municipal Artist law and the related administrative groups lasts.
WLWV School Board: federal, State, and other agency rule and regulation related to expenditure on Federal world.
WLWV School Board: So with that, I would like to invite our audit team to present and share with you about their responsibility, their scope of work, and the audit fighting.
Brad Turano: Thank you Sunly. My name is Brett Toronto, and with me I have Brian Thompson.
Brad Turano: So I'd just like to say good evening and thank you for allowing me to present the district audited financials tonight.
Brad Turano: I'm the Super, the audit supervisor in charge of the audit for Westland Wilsonville School district. Roy, the managing partner, sends his regards, and I'm sorry he can't join us tonight. I know we all have a busy and full agenda
Brad Turano: sort of plan on taking too much of your time. First I'll go over the highlights of the board letter.
Brad Turano: Then the audit results. Briefly discuss new items this year.
Brad Turano: then I can answer any questions you have.
Brad Turano: So if I could have you turn your attention to the governing body letter.
Brad Turano: This letter goes over our responsibility as the auditor, the responsibility of management as well as our best practices, and a few other miscellaneous items.
Brad Turano: First off, as we look at this letter.
Brad Turano: I would like to say that this letter has a lot of boilerplate and standard industry jargon that we like to use for all of our districts. So just keep that in mind as we read through it
Brad Turano: on page one of the letter, you will see 3 bolt in points under the purpose of the audit.
Brad Turano: Essentially, these are the 3 audits we conducted and reported on
Brad Turano: the first one I thought, there's you said, was the generally accepted accounting principles or gap audit. Then we have the Oregon Municipal Audit law, and related administrative rules, audit or oms audit.
Brad Turano: And lastly, we have the Federal State and other agency rules and regulations related to the expenditure of Federal awards. A little below that
Brad Turano: you talk a little bit about our our responsibility as the auditor. we have a responsibility to express opinions
Brad Turano: whether the basic financial statements prepared by management are presented fairly in all material aspects
Brad Turano: and conform with the Us. Gap
Brad Turano: we consider internal control over financial reporting in order to determine audit procedures for the purpose of expressing an auditor's opinion on the basis of financial statements
Brad Turano: and compliance to test in accordance with the uniform guidance.
Brad Turano: We also look at examining on a test basis evidence supporting the amounts
Brad Turano: and disclosures in the financial report
Brad Turano: as well as using this to understand holistically the district as a whole and its environment.
Brad Turano: including internal control.
Brad Turano: and we use it to assess whether the risks of material misstatements of the basic financials is there, whether they're materially misstated or not
Brad Turano: on page 2 the letter. you'll see the results of the audit.
Brad Turano: I am happy to say that we have issued an unmodified opinion. and have found no exceptions or issues with State minimum standards
Brad Turano: were the financial awards, and we did not need to issue a management letter, which is exactly what you want to see in an audit.
Brad Turano: We found no issues of noncompliance and no question costs. We, as the auditors, have a responsibility to review these programs
Brad Turano: and to give our opinion on the schedule of expenditures of Federal awards, and to test internal control systems.
Brad Turano: compliance and laws and regulations
Brad Turano: and requirements mandated by these various grants and Federal Federal money.
Brad Turano: We counted, encounter no difficulties in performing and completing the 2023 audit. and have no disagreements with management.
Brad Turano: Additionally. for the past couple years we've been looking at the student investment account money or Cm. Money that the district receives.
Brad Turano: nor to assist with covid-related expenses. We tested all reimbursements and expenditures, and and have no findings in that area.
Brad Turano: Additionally, over the last couple years we have implemented Gasbi 87,
Brad Turano: and Gaspy 96 of which the district has chosen to use debtbook. A third party service that we have recommended they use
Brad Turano: in order to help implement these complicated standards really saves us a lot a lot of time. Using that book.
Brad Turano: In addition, we took a look at the district's long term debt
Brad Turano: and capital bond finances. and we're happy to say, everything is in compliance in that area as well.
Brad Turano: This was a clean audit, and the management team has done a great job.
Brad Turano: We asked for a lot of information and documentation to conduct these audits, and everyone was helpful and enjoyed to work with overall. We want to point out and applaud management staff.
Brad Turano: Specifically Dr. Hughes, Geraldine, Annie.
Brad Turano: and Doctor Ludwig. As there are no material witnesses or significant deficiencies, and we have issued a clean opinion. which is exactly what you want to see in a financial audit
Brad Turano: overall again. Everything looked very clean and well done.
and it was truly a joy to work with your district.
Brad Turano: That is everything I have. Does anyone have any questions for me?
WLWV School Board: Okay.
WLWV School Board: any of you have questions up here?
WLWV School Board: I just wanted to remind the board members. It's it's a hundred 18 page document. So that's why we sent it to you electronically.
WLWV School Board: So if you were looking for some of the things that Brad was referencing.
WLWV School Board: You can just click on it online. And
WLWV School Board: or I can help you find it on your laptop. If you were wanting to reference it. We didn't make a paper copy, and
WLWV School Board: you have any questions.
WLWV School Board: Is Brad still here? Hi, Brad?
Brad Turano: But
WLWV School Board: So you use the term internal control a couple of times in there. Could you help me understand that a little bit? What? That? What that refers to?
Brad Turano: Yeah. Absolutely good question.
Brad Turano: Internal control refers to just the district's internal processes in in regards to the different levels of approval, or
Brad Turano: basically how the the finance office operates.
Brad Turano: they have certain controls that they have to abide by in order to
Brad Turano: to function properly, and we take a look at those.
Brad Turano: Did you want me to elaborate more. Oh, I think that's good. Thank you, Brad. Thank you.
WLWV School Board: So for the internal control. We have a lot of procedure in the business office, like one of the sample, is the person who do. The bank. Reconciliation will not have the authority to transfer money between the accounts or the account receivable, who, receiving the revenue in, should not
WLWV School Board: receive the money direct. The money will come to one other person or the staff in the business office. That staff will do the counting the money and then recording how much that coming in, and then give that money to the account receivable staff to do the deposit slip
WLWV School Board: also like. When the school submit the recordation into the financial system, we have one step, review the reparation, and then another stop, turn to Po, and then process payment. Another process, the payment print check and then send it out to vendor.
WLWV School Board: director, sloop, anything. director, Vidal. questioner. What
WLWV School Board: just want to say? Congratulations, I mean, that's a huge accomplishment
WLWV School Board: and a reflection on the business offices, professionalism, and a way to signal that, you know independent third party auditors have looked at our financial operations. And I mean, we have the best possible results. So thank you for all of your work and to your team for all of their work as well.
WLWV School Board: Thank you.
WLWV School Board: And I do not have any questions for them either.
WLWV School Board: So this is not an action item. So
WLWV School Board: yeah, no action. Yeah, no actions required on behalf of the board. Thank you, Brad, thank you, Brian.
Brad Turano: Thank you. Everyone. You guys are in great hands. Thank you. Thank you.
WLWV School Board: So the net items I have is the financial statement for the general fund.
WLWV School Board: So this information for this month is, I have several updated compared to last month. Report
WLWV School Board: next one, please.
WLWV School Board: So as of December 30. First, I would report into the board at
WLWV School Board: the total and revenue that we estimate to receive throughout this year
WLWV School Board: weighs about 130 million.
WLWV School Board: but that month
WLWV School Board: we have 2 changes. One is in the common school fund, and another is the in the inter supply items that met our revenue estimate to 131 million.
WLWV School Board: The common school fund projected to come in a little bit less than the adopted budget by 73 0
WLWV School Board: when we put the budget together last year, we was estimated to receive 1.2 million for the common school fund.
WLWV School Board: The common school fund is a source of local revenue, and that come to Ross from the Department of State land where they invest and earn interest, and they use that entry to distribute out to 197 school district in Oregon.
WLWV School Board: So we received a statement from Oregon Department of Education sharing that
WLWV School Board: the Common School Fund estimate to come into Ross around 1.1 million would say 73,000 less.
WLWV School Board: Another item's under that revenues, either entrant.
WLWV School Board: So as of January 30 first, the actual year-to-day interest earned
WLWV School Board: for gender-on fund
WLWV School Board: was already 1.5 million.
WLWV School Board: And when we build a budget together.
WLWV School Board: the business office use 3% entered earned. But throughout the year the entered earn came in very high 5.5, someone even 9. So therefore, add up year. Today, we already have 1.5 million actual entered earn in our book.
WLWV School Board: So to project from now until year in the business office, and please pay to receive another at least 750,000 in this fly item, so that. Why,
WLWV School Board: the estimate ending the estimate revenue for general fund for date month
WLWV School Board: report came in a little bit higher compared to the December report
WLWV School Board: under the expenditure. I have 3 items that slightly different compared to December report.
WLWV School Board: The first one is
WLWV School Board: salary and associate payroll costs when we say 100. 200. That's the object. Quote
WLWV School Board: the optat quote and accounting quote that we received this guideline from Oregon Department of Education.
WLWV School Board: So
WLWV School Board: when we build a budget together. We was in in the process of using a do staff at the third company to provide services for us on the cell. So we budget us up, and the benefits actually with salary. In the 100 200 object code.
WLWV School Board: On July fourth, of 2,023, we contract with addo staff, the third company who provides up for us, and because Addo staff is at the third company serving at the professional services for the district.
WLWV School Board: Therefore we cannot pay them through the salary or payroll association object code. We have to use professional purchase services within the object code 300. And that's it. A recommendation to dot from ode.
WLWV School Board: So the total cost that every step will cartridge
WLWV School Board: the actual, and then the projected and 2 gn. Will be around 2,000,001.8 for salary, and another 2.1 point 2 for so payroll. Actual share costs.
WLWV School Board: So you will see at the end of the year I will do the budget appropriation to make sure that our funding align with our
WLWV School Board: spending fun.
WLWV School Board: So right now I'm just give you a hiccup. I haven't do anything any of that yet.
WLWV School Board: And then, under the purchase and services. the
WLWV School Board: actual expenditure, and they're projected for year in
WLWV School Board: coming higher, due to several reason, and one of the the main reason is not a man, but one of the reason is when we purchase for the electricity utility. It was 11 in 2,023, and then they raised another 17 in 2,024,
WLWV School Board: and so, beside the utility
WLWV School Board: that raise up height. We also have the gas going up by 24% in 23,
WLWV School Board: and
WLWV School Board: it will continue to increase.
WLWV School Board: So under the 300 update code. the one that
WLWV School Board: Tetris expenditure higher than the adopted project is
WLWV School Board: utility. Yes. water and weight. What on wages going up by 10% and then
WLWV School Board: other expenditure that we wasn't aware of. We are way up, but detect every 3 to 5 year as light of the sprinkle system.
WLWV School Board: So every 3 or 5 year we have to re replace it at pro. We have to replace it.
WLWV School Board: or
WLWV School Board: unexpected expenditure shut at the trans compactor for the High School and for the Riverside High School there, right, and milligation for the primary school. So there are several unexpected projects that
WLWV School Board: them that arise now.
WLWV School Board: and then, after those purchases services.
WLWV School Board: The 400 update code with these supplies and material in here.
WLWV School Board: based on the December report, I was estimate this area might have 500,000 over the budget. But I receive another protection from teaching and learning department, sharing the cost of the curriculum and instructional services. So we might have a million over than the budget
WLWV School Board: bye.
WLWV School Board: So with the expenditure that
WLWV School Board: the estimate for the expenditure total expenditure will be 146.5 million, and that give us the estimate ending fund balance about 19.5 million with a 14.4% of the total fund.
WLWV School Board: So with that, I'm open for question
WLWV School Board: any questions, no
WLWV School Board: directive sloop
WLWV School Board: director, Biddle.
WLWV School Board: and so given the recent media coverage of the State's largest school districts. Staggering budget cuts of 30 to 40 million. How important is keeping the districts reserve
at its current level of around 7.3 million.
WLWV School Board: This is a very good question. And I, you know, throughout the Board meeting a lot of board member asked that question. Public is curious about. So we've been
WLWV School Board: followed a gallery of G up, away. So g up, away is a virus to have like 16% or 2 months of our revenue.
WLWV School Board: or 2 months of our operation on expenditure, and not only the Gfoa recommend this reserve and then fund balance, but the OS the Oregon Department of Education. School finance also agreed, and advice. School district should follow the guidance from Gfoa.
WLWV School Board: So based on my the yeah.
WLWV School Board: My December report.
WLWV School Board: It's worth about 21 million dazzly, about 2 months of operation known as furniture.
vice chair white?
WLWV School Board: None. I don't have any either. I just have one more quick question. Sorry, everybody.
WLWV School Board: I was wondering. There's been a lot of news coverage about summer learning and I was wondering how much we budget for summer learning and how the States decrease in 20%. Okay.
WLWV School Board: how does the state decrease of 20% in the of our summer learning funding. How will that impact us this year?
WLWV School Board: So we
WLWV School Board: when we set the budget back in in May and June, yeah, we didn't put the Governor's grant in there because we didn't. It wasn't on the table. It wasn't being discussed and even last summer
WLWV School Board: the grant that we got it was just for that summer, so that there was no guarantee that it was going to be
WLWV School Board: given every year. So we budgeted just in our general budget. The cost of summer school, I think about 250,000
WLWV School Board: in our general budget.
WLWV School Board: as you know now, the Governor proposed going into the short session 50 million dollars again for another summer learning. Grant. My understanding is that it's going to the Ways and Means Committee at only 30 million.
WLWV School Board: So less than anticipated.
WLWV School Board: I don't know if some districts were counting on it, and and then didn't put anything the budget. But we have money, whatever our allocation is whatever gets passed.
WLWV School Board: we then likely have to do a 25% match, because that's what the other Grants have always asked. So we'll we'll see what the conditions are.
WLWV School Board: with this grant, when it does come out through the short session, the amount per district, and what kind of requirements you know strings attached in order to get the money.
WLWV School Board: and then we'll adjust accordingly. Certainly we could use more money and do a little bit more.
WLWV School Board: sometimes it's hard because teachers don't want to teach. All summer long they'll give maybe 3 or 4 weeks. So we we can't just
WLWV School Board: just create something
WLWV School Board: more extraordinary than what we have the time from our teachers to provide as well, but it can certainly provide some relief. And then, last year some of that took the pressure off of our general budget because we were able to use that, Grant
WLWV School Board: said, Help.
WLWV School Board: thank you for paying attention to what's happening through the legislation. It's yeah.
WLWV School Board: Could could I make a a comment about these monthly reports and just something to to pay attention to? So I know it's really small font on the screen, but maybe you have it on your laptop. So when Dr. Hughes gives these updates.
WLWV School Board: and you've you've become much more, you've become really astute at understanding the different columns in that blue column around Year End projection, which is, what are we working with right now?
WLWV School Board: Because adopted budget happened way back in May. Things have changed since then. It stays static. It's what you approved.
WLWV School Board: But the blue column the green is the working budget. But the blue column is what we're projecting.
WLWV School Board: I think it's important for you to notice that our expenditures
WLWV School Board: exceed our revenue.
WLWV School Board: and they have for several years we've had esser funds. We've had various grants that have come in that have allowed us to do more with less revenue because of Federal or State assistance. And now what you're hearing is
WLWV School Board: some of this.
WLWV School Board: that bubble of funding going away. So when you think about those
WLWV School Board: that relief, that kind of came almost like a savings account, as districts expend that they have to live more closely within their typical revenue expenditures.
WLWV School Board: And that's what some of these districts are trying to
WLWV School Board: correct that because if you put
WLWV School Board: expenses in that long
WLWV School Board: long outlive a short-term grant. then you have to when the grant is over. If you decide what to do with that staffing. With that program
WLWV School Board: we're no different. We're looking at a period of time now, where
WLWV School Board: each year, as we go on our ending fund balance is getting smaller.
WLWV School Board: which means we have to live more within our revenue, and our expenditures have to be closer together.
WLWV School Board: Our grants are accounted for. We have to
WLWV School Board: spend those, but based on the requirements. So you'll hear. Likely a budget message from me in May that speaks to that reality.
WLWV School Board: and how we work with our associations as we go into negotiations. Is an understanding about that as well. That's what you're hearing. Statewide is what's happening, and will be no different either.
WLWV School Board: So I just want
WLWV School Board: you to notice that in there, if you have questions beyond this meeting, certainly you can set up a time with me or Dr. Hughes.
WLWV School Board: but we'll be sharing more as we get closer to that budget. Time
WLWV School Board: alright
WLWV School Board: is.
WLWV School Board: I hope that. I won't ask the question that I really wanna ask. I'll wait till after
WLWV School Board: we get more financial data. But I know you've got
WLWV School Board: negotiations coming up. And I I just start to. When I see a trend like this. It makes me think with negotiations coming up. How long is it before? If we're talking about a break even point. It's not a break even.
WLWV School Board: How long is it before we may end up in a position like we've seen in other school districts, whether it be
WLWV School Board: Portland public or it be Kaiser.
WLWV School Board: where we know that more than likely our staff is going to be asking for raises. But we're already operating at a deficit. and we got to eat really good during this kind of
WLWV School Board: time of everyone believing that the world was going to end. And now getting back to reality. And so it'll be interesting to see how
WLWV School Board: that plays out. And I wish you the best of luck with that and I just hope that people who are sitting on the other side understand that?
WLWV School Board: you could either be really good for a couple of years and then get laid off, or you can potentially right if budgets don't happen and we don't get political support, or you can
WLWV School Board: make sensible decisions that
WLWV School Board: allow us to not run out of money so
WLWV School Board: too many variables out there to have a educated conversation about it. But
WLWV School Board: I hope that the State commits more to education, because this is evident that it needs to. So
WLWV School Board: that's it from me
WLWV School Board: and doesn't look like we have anybody for second public comment. So
WLWV School Board: oh, yeah. someone to you. Michael, would. Could you come up to the
WLWV School Board: oh, this is Mr. Michael Lloy. He's our new assistant business manager in the office and worked with Polly Rogers and
WLWV School Board: gets the award for sitting through a very long first meeting, but just wanted to introduce Michael to all of you and familiar face to us. Person. We've worked with the number of years, and now, of course, we get to work with everyday. So, joining the team.
WLWV School Board: Welcome to the party, especially the Budget meetings.
WLWV School Board: Well, if there's nothing else. Next board meeting is
WLWV School Board: April first, next work session on the fifteenth, and
WLWV School Board: you guys can look at the rest. So
WLWV School Board: session is our second one with our high school students. Remember, we have that second topic already decided on directors loops.
WLWV School Board: That's all right. That second one done, thank you. Guys. Meeting is now officially adjourned.