Students sang the National Anthem in place of the pledge

Connect Plus Teacher Ryan Grant mentioned the 8th grade Math is Cool team won state champions for our division.

Medical Lake had the highest scoring 8th grader and we really stood out at the competition. The 5th grade night at the Middle School had a really good turn out. Mr. Grant feels the articulation between the schools right now is really good. The way we're communicating between the buildings is as solid as he's seen it in years. 

The Outdoor School Program for Home Connections is off to a good start. The space is behind the disc golf course by the Middle School. Mr. Grant is grateful to Mr. Haugen for getting the program going. 

He's appreciative of the hiring process for the principal at (Michael) Anderson. It's been very open, taking input from staff and parents. The work put forth by Dr. Headrick, Mr. Haugen and Christy Nauta in HR to put everything together and get a pool of really good candidates was great. 

Lastly, he did a shout out to the livestock show taking place at the fairgrounds this week. He said our kids work hard to get their animals ready for show and said If you get a chance to go see and support them, please do. "It's great that Medical Lake can support the agricultural community with things like the livestock show and our farm-to-table coming up on May 1st."

Michael Anderson music teacher Art Corcoran and his students started the meeting with singing the National Anthem and sang one more song "welcome home". This is Mr. Corcoran's last year here, he will be moving across the country with this family at the end of the school year. 

Emma's report is from the High School. Students reported staff are doing an excellent job explaining complex concepts and checking in on student well-being. They feel there is a growing sense of belonging across different social groups and everyone noted that prom was a major success and high point for student morale. 

The sense of community at the High School is driven by student involvement. This is due to athletics and clubs, interpersonal connections where "everyone talks to everyone" which allows for different social circles to connect and school spirit. Students said assemblies continue to be a vital tool for bringing the student body together. 

Students give the school a 7/10 on the School Pride Scale. This is based on a few factors. 6/10 for some students still being in an adjustment phase on the new building leadership and 7-8/10 for students expressing school pride. Some students are still shy about outward expression, but are growing into it, while others fully embrace it. 

When asked about areas for growth and improvement, students said respect and kindness regarding students talking back to or over teachers, communication regarding school events, student input so students feel heard and community building outside the classroom. 

Lilly went to Michael Anderson Elementary and spoke with the 4th graders. They're enjoying many STEM and reading activities and experiments. She asked if there were any extracurricular or clubs they would like and they came up with Lego Robotics, Science Club or more STEM things. If there was something they could add to their school, it was better sports equipment for recess. When speaking with 5th graders they love being at school and feel very supported by their teachers. For their extracurriculars they said they wanted art and one student said a band class would be nice. Some students said they are excited to get to cheer in Middle School.  Students said if Michael Anderson had a super power it would be speed because, quote, "they're speeding through life." They love how their school makes students feel welcome by catching them up when they're new and feel they have a very good connection to everyone because the school makes them all equal. 

Nathaniel said that there were no reports from Hallett or the Middle School this month due to representatives being out sick, but they had the monthly student connections meeting and were able to get feedback from that to share. Students reviewed the CEE data regarding school climate. Middle School student's data highlighted a need for increased adult supervision in hallways during transition times. It was clear that students felt establishing consistent consequences for tardiness would help with the learning environment and reduce classroom disruptions. 

Data from students at Hallett shows an overall positive environment but students noticed a downward trend in peer-to-peer respect. Student leadership expressed a desire to dig deeper into this data to understand why students feel less respected by peers and how to reverse the trend. 

Dr. Headrick read the proclamations for Bus Driver Appreciation Day, Tuesday, April 28, 2026; School Lunch Hero Day, Friday, May 1, 2026, also our first Farm-to-Table Day; and Teacher Week, May 4-8, 2026.

Dr. Headrick brought up Board Procedure 6970P ~ Naming Facilities. She noted that while a procedure doesn't require Board approval, she wanted to show what we are wanting to make a change in our current procedure. This stemmed from a request from a relative of a long standing community member that just recently passed who has asked to have the tennis courts named in their honor. Our current procedures are for the naming of new construction. The changes we're moving towards keep the new construction language, but add in naming current facilities and specific areas within them, such as athletic courts, building wings, etc. by dedicating them with formal plaques and ceremonies. We will make sure there are no naming conflicts and that it meets all the general guidelines. 

The Board asked about naming the courts for Mr. Lemaster. Dr. Headrick said she will put that as an action item on the May Board Meeting which will be before Mr. Lemaster's memorial service. 

Mr. Grant loved the idea of dedicating the tennis courts in Mr. Lemaster's honor. 

He strongly urges we put up a plaque so that years from now everyone playing tennis on Leroy Lemaster's Tennis Courts knows who he was. 

The regular board meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m.. The Board took a short 5 minute recess and reconvened into a brief 35 minute executive session at 6:55 p.m. to evaluate qualifications of candidates. No action was taken. The Board exited executive session at 7:20 p.m..