Director Rose had a good meeting with Superintendent Rue and thanked her for the meeting.

No updates.

Directors Baker and Frevert plan to meet with the Finance Department the Tuesday prior to the regular board meeting to "spot-audit" warrants each month.

No updates.

Director Rose stated WSSDA had not updated the policy priorities yet. She said she would like to have a meeting with Superintendent Rue in December to go over the list of policies when WSSDA released them.

Director Osterberg stated that it was time to think about what committee each Director would like to be on this next year.

Each Director was given a sheet in their folder to provide feedback for the Board Chair. Superintendent Rue explained they could decide upon the committees at the December Study Session.

Director Frevert asked if they should explore committees that they had not been on yet.

Director Hefton stated it could go either way. If you had momentum on a current committee you could stay or if you would like to shift to a new committee that was okay too.

Superintendent Rue explained they might get some more information at the upcoming WSSDA conference.

Director Rose stated she would like to know more about the Policy committee. Superintendent Rue explained that the district needed about 3 weeks ahead of approval for policy review, and she needed to evaluate the appropriate timeline for the Policy committee.

Director Hefton stated that in the past, the Griffin School Board had historically not had a Policy committee. She noted it was a time commitment to review policies.

Superintendent Rue explained that WSSDA sends out news and updates throughout the year. Provided the policy manual was up to date, these updates could be made throughout the year. Griffin needed to continue to update their current policy manual. She suggested the policy committee review the 6000 series and identify what needed to be updated.

Director Baker asked what the full scope of the Personnel committee was. Director Rose explained this revolved around hiring. Director Frevert stated she and Director Rose put systems in place that could be replicated. Superintendent Rue stated that WSSDA just updated the Superintendent Evaluation. Director Frevert and Director Rose said they have learned a lot being on this committee.

Director Osterberg commented that it would be nice to have a returning member on each committee, but acknowledged that might not be possible. Director Rose stated that they needed to keep in mind working with different people on committees as well. Director Osterberg noted it was important to review the timeline of each committee and to take into account the timing of commitments throughout the year.

Principal Keiser presented the Special Education Foundations that was also presented to the Griffin Staff. 

Additional handouts were given:

Overview of Procedural Safeguards 

Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines

Griffin is a part of the Special Education Co-op through the ESD 113. The district has a direct contact that comes to Griffin once a week. The Co-op provides a School Psychologist, Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist, Speech Language Pathologist, Audiologist, Vision Specialist, BCBA Support and an RBT.

Principal Keiser explained the best environment for a student is referred to as the LRE (Least Restrictive Environment). Superintendent Rue stated the law requires the least amount of intervention as possible. Griffin cannot take a student that has challenges and remove them fully from core education.

Principal Keiser explained the transition from 5th to 6th grade has challenges, and the SpEd teacher Mr. St. Louis helps with this transition and provides direct instruction if needed. She is a part of the IEP (Individual Education Program) meetings and helps identify processes for looking ahead to the transitional years.

There are two paths to go down for identifying a Special Education Timeline. A parent can ask for a referral or a teacher can ask for a referral. The evaluation process then begins to determine if an IEP is needed. There are also eligibility guidelines that are followed. If an IEP needs to be put in place for a student there are guidelines and protocols that the team follows. Principal Keiser is at all of these IEP meetings and is the note taker as the case manager leads the team meeting, and the school psychologist provides evaluations as well. There are IEP considerations that entail data collection and progress monitoring. There are procedural safeguards given to families at each meeting. Principal Keiser also presented an example of a service matrix. 

Next she explained the difference between accommodations and modifications. Accommodations maintain the same learning content and standards, but HOW the student learns or is tested is modified. Modifications change, or reduce the learning content or standards by WHAT a student is taught or expected to learn.

Director Frevert asked what the difference is between a 504 plan and an IEP. The response was: 504 Plans provide Accommodations to ensure a student with a disability has equal access to the learning environment and curriculum as their non-disabled peers. A student may not qualify for special education IEP, but needs accommodations. It is reviewed every year. It does not have specially designed instruction. The process of getting a 504 plan is not as in-depth as the IEP process, and there is a matrix that is followed.

Director Rose asked about the transition with moving on to high school. Principal Keiser explained there are meetings that happen with OSD. But if a student transfers mid-year, the IEP goes with them.

Superintendent Rue stated this was a new policy deemed critical by WSSDA. Adrenal insufficiency is a rare condition, but the district needs to have a policy in place to provide an individual health plan that is designed to the specific student.

Director Rose was curious how this policy came to be. Director Frevert suspected this might be related to those needing a feeding tube and the school needing to be able to accommodate that.

If needed, Superintendent Rue explained there would be a parent-designated adult that has been trained. Director Baker asked if this would be a Griffin employee, and Superintendent Rue stated that it could be. The district is expected to take extreme care and follow the specific health plans. She stated she would look into the WSSDA news in how this came about, by the next Board Meeting.

Superintendent Rue stated she would like to make everyone aware that the Legislature updated the wording of the Oath of Office. Griffin is required to file the oath with the Thurston County Auditor.

Director Frevert noted that the new policy does not state as in the current policy: promote the interests of education. Director Rose commented that the statement is vague and wondered what this meant exactly.

Superintendent Rue explained there were legal changes that came out of the latest Legislative session. It asks that the school board also adopts this procedure pertaining to the policy. She noted expectations around involving parent involvement, and shifts in this procedure. Citizen access to core materials and processes for submitting a complaint. It defines where different types of materials are established and who gets to establish each. She asked they walk through them and identify any questions. She stated she would send the Board the news updates from WSSDA prior to the Board Meeting.

Director Frevert asked about Supplemental instructional materials—she felt it seemed fairly vague on what teachers can freely use versus what requires approval. Superintendent Rue stated that supplemental materials are at the discretion of the teachers. Director Frevert asked how the district ensures they are using core materials and not just entirely supplemental materials. She also asked how the focus is kept on core materials, and if there is much movement for having supplemental materials. Superintendent Rue stated most of the staff she has worked with over the years have used good judgment, with a few exceptions. She said it was important that they consult with the principal as well. Parents have opt-out pieces that the district has to honor. Teachers are to be up front with families about what supplemental material they are using.

Director Rose asked if they are required to get approval from parents. Superintendent Rue stated the district has to trust their staff to some extent to make those decisions as they have guidelines but also freedom to utilize current resources that are relevant. Director Frevert brought up the topic of consistency, especially in the elementary, to make sure one 4th grade class wasn't getting too much supplemental materials whereas the other 4th grade class might not be having the same material, so she asked how consistency was being maintained with students.

Superintendent Rue explained it was important to be clear on the core curriculum and what were the supplemental materials and outline them. Griffin will need to utilize these procedures and they will be used as Griffin needs to approve health curriculum in the future. The Curriculum page on the district website has been updated with the core curriculum.

Director Rose noted the "appeals process" in the procedure, stating it didn't look like it ever made it to the board. Superintendent Rue noted that Principal Keiser will be leading this process.

Director Rose asked that at the end of the Policy, the word "Excluding" be changed to "Excusing". This was noted and will be changed for the vote at the next board meeting.

Superintendent Rue noted this was marked as "Important" from WSSDA and to be updated. She commented on the updates regarding staff communication to the public, public health information, collection of disciplinary data, and a district annual report. In regards to the district annual report, she was not sure if OSPI had a plan for what that would look like exactly. Griffin reports on a regular basis.

Director Rose stated this looked like a "big lift" and more formal for a small district. She wondered if this could be modified into a reasonable format for Griffin. Superintendent Rue stated she would do research into similar sized districts to see what they were doing.

Director Rose had a concern about the "Collection of Disciplinary Data" and that it was not restrictive enough about the information. She proposed adding "Any identifiable information".

Superintendent Rue also noted that WSSDA no longer had a policy 4000, but a 4001, and the district needed to retire 4000 and adopt 4001.

Superintendent Rue noted there were not major updates in this policy. The language was updated as well. Director Frevert appreciated the more "legal" tone to the update.

Superintendent Rue explained that the most recent review from the Auditor noted the district needed to include a Cash Receipting document. Finance Director Ferra did some research on similar districts.

Superintendent Rue asked if this language would be more appropriate in a procedure instead of the actual policy. Director Rose agreed that it seemed to fit more as a procedure. Director Frevert noted if it was a procedure it had the flexibility to be adjusted as needed. Director Hefton noted it was a fraud prevention piece. Superintendent Rue confirmed that she would add a line regarding a fraud prevention piece in the policy. Director Rose proposed adding: "maintains best practices procedures as outlined in the procedure."

It is required for review. Superintendent Rue commented that the district was lucky to have a full-time registered nurse. She said the nurse is thorough and diligent about making sure that students are taken care of with medication and the procedures are in place. Nurse Chelsea Madison does a great job and thoroughly documents everything.

The WSSDA Annual Conference was coming up and she included a list for review of the sessions offered as well as a digital copy that she had shared with the board. She planned to focus on budget related topics.

This was on her set of goals for this year. From her perspective, she felt the district needed to increase student voice, and was taking steps to do that here at Griffin through the Grizzly Compass Crew and the ASB club where students get to have a say in how their school operates. She said the district was starting to train student advocates the following week and they would gain leadership skills. She stated that in the second semester she would work with the board on how to identify a process to implement for the following school year.

She stated she intended to get started on this in the second semester with two Directors at a time attending classrooms. She said she would begin setting dates and had ideas on how this would look.

Superintendent Rue spent the past few days serving as a juror on a criminal case. She wanted to thank the Leadership team while she was away. She expressed gratitude that everything went smoothly while she was out of the office.

Director Osterberg wanted to discuss the travel to WSSDA on 11/20/2025, 

Reminder that the next board meeting is on a Tuesday. 11/18/2025.

We are working with OSD to have a joint study session in January here at Griffin. 

Director Frevert noted we need to have a joint meeting with the Squaxin Tribe. 

Director Baker reached out to Steamboat Customs regarding board sweatshirts for the conference. She will proceed with ordering. These will be paid for personally by the board directors.

Director Frevert noted there was a great band concert last week.