Highline School Board Summary: 02/01/2023
Board Meeting Agenda
Board Meeting Recording
Board Meeting Transcript
Special meetings held before the Board Meeting (Recording):
4:30 – 5:15 Work Session on 2023-24 Budget Development
5:15 – 5:45 Work Session on Bond Sale and Bond Project Next Steps
Roll Call:
President Van, Director Garcia, Director Howell, and Director Hagos – present
Vice President Alvarez – excused absence
Superintendent Duran – present
Recognitions:
- Director Van – Formally recognized and thanked past President Director Garcia.
- CTE Month – Proclamation read by Director Howell
- School Counselors Week – Proclamation read by Director Hagos
- School Presentation – Mount Rainier High School – Kyle Linman, Principal
- 10-minute presentation, highlighted 2 of the 4 stated Action Plan items
- Pilot school, fast-growing, Standards-Based Grading, SEL, DEI, family engagement, 91% graduation rate. Student Experience videos shared.
- Director Howell – commended him on DEI, Standards-Based Grading, post-pandemic, and Street Data efforts. She asked what improvement indicators he is seeing.
- Director Hagos – asked how priorities were chosen, how (and what) data was collected, and what is the role of the student’s voice. Glad to see kids engaged.
- Director Van – asked about co-teaching and how they measure success.
- Mr. Linman – shared challenges but expressed his desire for “all kids to have the same good experience.” Diverse student body (1873 kids). He aspires to get kids more engaged. Discussed varied learning needs (IEP, IB, Special Ed, Multilingual). Teachers are treasured.
Scheduled Communications:
- Corina Yballa (Community Workforce Agreement) – Represented MLK Labor and HEA. Urged the board to create at CWA relating to 2022 Bond Projects to support the community with good wages and opportunities for a career path in the trades.
- Jessica Pisane (Community Workforce Agreement) – Mom with a 1st-grade daughter at Madrona Elementary. She says her daughter already aspires to build homes in the future. Encouraged HPS and the board to partner with the community (through CWAs) to create economic opportunity for thousands of working people, particularly disadvantaged (women, POC, veterans, etc.)
- Sandy Hunt (High School Infrastructure Replacement Project) – Thanked the board for work on current projects, then commented on the CFAC (Capital Facilities) meeting. Future replacement projects include Choice Academy, Big Picture, and Highline Virtual Academy. Maritime may have an alternate funding partnership. Suggested putting an Education Center in one of the future buildings, instead of rebuilding the Central Office.
- Katie Carper (Guidance Counseling in Highline Public Schools) – Raisbeck Aviation HS counselor. Thanked the board for counselor recognition and support. She is “thankful for the policies supporting race, equity and identity, and gender-inclusive schools.” Requests that the board considers how to better support students and counselors regarding mental health in schools, including improving the counselor-to-student ratio.
- Patricia Bailey (School Reform) – Retired Seattle teacher, stated that students develop their thinking based on polarities – up/down, right/wrong, male/female. When teachers say the male-female polarity is a spectrum or peers of a different race are “oppressors,” students’ minds are confused, their mental development is undermined, and their intellectual development arrested. Teachers have fooled the children. Schools are wasting precious educational time when teachers are diverted from their subject matter. Therefore, destructive, extraneous tasks need to be curbed or abandoned.
- James Payne (Curriculum) – Father of two at North Hill Elementary. Do not allow the Teachers’ Union activist members to sneak the racist, BLM radical manifesto into our schools. The BLM movement admits they are a Marxist organization, “unapologetically black.” They “seek to disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure,” embody and practice justice, liberation, and peace. He insisted that the Board “should never ally with extremist organizations like BLM or use their absurd curriculum. Teach MLK, not BLM.”
- Katie Kresly (SEL Listening Session) – She documented parent comments at the SEL Listening Session at Highline HS (January 18), now published on Burien-News.com. Parents in attendance at the session were segregated by language and by race/BIPOC before comments were shared. She wondered how this reflects Diversity and Inclusivity. Secondly, on January 18, HEA Representative Sandy Hunt introduced a curriculum for BLM Week (Feb 6-10), so Ms. Kresly asked if the board had sanctioned the teaching of the BLM 13 Guiding Principles, which include Marxist activism verbiage like “comrade,” “dismantling,” and “disrupting”? Third, she stated that “Parents deserved to be recognized as Primary Stakeholders in their childrens’ upbringing.”
- Joe Lipp (Knowing Students by Need and Strength) – Commented on the divisive environment currently being created in the schools. Very disturbed that prayer, Bible, and the Ten Commandments that were removed in the 80s are now likely being replaced by the BLM curriculum. He called for schools to stop dividing the children by race.
Superintendent’s Update:
- Labor Partner Update – Melanie Bowman, Business Agent Teamsters Local 763
School Board Reports
Legislative Report:
- Directors will be in Olympia to meet with Senators (Peterson, Wynn, Reeves) and Rep. Davis on February 27. Director Van invited fellow directors to join him that day.
- Legislative Items include: HB1305 (access for students with disabilities), parental rights, minimum employment requirements, zero-emission school buses, depreciation sub-funds, 9th-grade success grant programs, and expanded school year.
Director Reports:
- Director Hagos
- Mid-year – focus is on creative ways to reach academic goals, including a special math project in Des Moines.
- Staff & families focused on early learning, met with Tina Orwell on ICAP Advocacy Day.
- Regional Engineering Design Award – Miss Grady’s Future Cities Team (Pacific MS)
- Director Garcia – none
- Director Howell
- Black History Month
- Gov. Inslee & wife Trudy – Toured Maritime High School on January 20 – named Principal Tremaine Holloway as Washingtonian of the Day.
- Director Van
- Directors Van and Hagos attended CFAC Committee (Capital Facilities) Meeting.
- Pre-Apprenticeship Construction Program – Career & Technical Education (CTE) staff were in Olympia to certify Highline’s new dual-credit, pre-apprentice partnership in the trades. Recognized credits and Priority Hires from HSD – great for the community.
Consent Agenda: (Approved 4-0)
6.1 Approval of January 18, 2023 Minutes:
- Special Meeting – Public Hearing Minutes
- Special Meeting – Executive Session Minutes
- Regular Board Meeting Minutes
6.2 Approval of Accounts Payable Vouchers, Director Alvarez and Director Howell
6.3 Approval of Personnel Report
6.4 Approval of Financial Report – Fiscal Year 2021-22
6.5 Approval of School Board Meeting Calendar Change: Moving the April 5, 2023, Board meeting to March 29, 2023, at 6:00 pm. This change is due to spring break.
6.6 Motion to Approve Annual PSSC Perkins Grant, approved for the amount of $67,958.
6.7 Motion to Approve Tyee High School Design Project- Approval of Contract Amendment No. 2 and Increase of Purchase Order P201436 – Integrus Architecture – Architecture and Engineering Services. Approved increase of contract by $4,014,834 to continue with the post-bond services.
6.8 Motion to Approve Evergreen High School Design Project – Approval of Contract Amendment No. 2 and Increase of Purchase Order P201331 – Bassetti Architects – Architectural and Engineering Services. Approved increase of contract by $4,786,031 to continue with the post-bond services.
Items Removed from the Consent Agenda: None
Action Items:
8.1 Motion to Approve Resolution No. 02-23 Issuance of Bonds. Initial bond issuance for $280,000,000 to build three new schools. The remainder of the $518,397,000 bond will be sold at a later date. (Approved 4-0) [This was explained at the Work Session]
8.2 Motion to approve Resolution No. 03-23 Requesting a Waiver for Parent-Teacher Conference Days. Approval of this motion would approve the resolution for a three-year waiver request from the 180-day school year requirements for three (3) days for 2023-24, 2024-25, and 2025-26 school years for the purpose of student-led and family-teacher conferences. (Approved 4-0)
8.3 Motion to approve Resolution No. 08-23 Capital Projects Funds Budget Extension Adoption (Fiscal Year 2022-2023) Increasing the budgeted expenditure amount in the Capital Projects fund by $63,579,132 to $82,860,132. [See Budget Plan] (Approved 4-0)
8.4 Motion to Approve Resolution No. 09-23 New-in-Lieu of Modernization for Evergreen High School Replacement Project and Tyee High School Replacement Project (Approved 4-0)
8.5 Motion to Approve Resolution No. 10-23 Authorization of Signatures for Bond Projects and State-Assisted Projects (Approved 4-0)
Introduction and Action Items: None
Introduction Items:
Approval of this motion would authorize the Superintendent to direct action to implement the reduced educational program for certificated staff for the school year 2023-24 and notify certificated non-supervisory staff adversely affected by the reduction before May 15, 2023.
Approval of this motion would approve Contract Amendment No. 04 and increase Purchase Order P201415 for $X,XXX,XXX, which will bring the total contract to $X,XXX,XXX, to continue with the post-bond services.
10.5 Motion to Approve Evergreen High School – Approval of Value Engineering Study Report. Report prepared by Sazan Environmental Services.
10.6 Motion to Approve of Tyee High School – Approval of Value Engineering Study Report. Report prepared by Sazan Environmental Services.
Items Added to the Consent Agenda: None
[Unscheduled Communication]
[UPDATE – as of 02/01/2023, this has been removed, per updated Policy 1430]
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Adjourned at 7:13 pm
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NEXT Meeting: February 15, 2023, 4:20 pm – 5:50 pm
- School Board Special Meeting – Work Session
NEXT School Board Meeting: February 15, 2023, 6:00 pm
General Meeting Information:
- Highline School Board meetings are generally held on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month at 6 pm in the Central Office Boardroom.
- Community members can give new (two-minute) verbal commentary in Scheduled Communications.
- Call the District Office at 206-631-3070 – New (Sign-up begins at 9:00 am on the Monday of the week of a Board meeting; sign-up closes at 9:00 am on the day of the meeting in order to be included on the agenda.)
- Board Meetings can be viewed via Live stream.
