Nutrition Services Supervisor, Jill Howard started by saying that May 1 was our first ever Farm-to-School day. The kids loved it and the kitchen staff dressed up to really kick it off right!

She said summer meals went smoothly. This year we qualified for USDA summer commodities for the first time, and had almost $14,000 worth of food delivered for the program. Her team served meals for 21 days, from June 30 to August 13, and handed out approximately 1050 meals, The cost to the district was $3,000.  Michael Anderson Elementary was a dine-in location, Hallett Elementary was a pick-up outside location and the Wellness Center was on an as needed basis. 

Dr. Headrick asked if this was the last year that Michael Anderson would qualify for the free program. Jill said it was, but that only 48 of those meals mentioned were served from that location. Dr. Headrick thanked Jill, saying that was good information to have.

Jill noted that the next Farm-to-School Day is October 7. It's not just Medical Lake's this time, but a nationally recognized event.

Maintenance Supervisor Chris Harris touched on some of the major projects completed over the summer. He said they knocked out a lot of their inspections, fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers and elevators. 

The district allowed them to hire 4 students for summer work, which was wonderful. The students were able to learn new skills and the district was able to get more things done. One of those being to clean out the area under the stadium. Chris said there was an exercise bike still there from when he graduated in 2002, that he tried to convenience the kids was the original peloton. This made the audience and board laugh.

Two big projects were completed at Michael Anderson, the roof and the fire panel. Summer cleaning was completed to prepare the school and classrooms for the upcoming school year. 

Hallett Elementary saw Halme Construction come in and remove a wall to create a space for an Early Learning Center. Sprinkler system repair is still ongoing. We were able to install/replace 2 classroom heat pumps. We also did summer cleaning to prepare the school and classrooms for the upcoming school year. 

At the Middle School we replaced a faulty compressor in a walk-in freezer, cleared chemicals from a few classrooms, irrigation repairs and prepared the school and classrooms for the upcoming school year. 

At the High School we replaced the 3 inch waterline at the soccer field that causes it to flood every year. Now our athletes won't have to change fields or play in a "pool". Apollo Mechanical replaced a broken sewer pipe under the library. We upgraded the ticket booth at the football field to make it a welcoming first look as you enter our facilities. 

Chris also shared a few photos he took of the crew doing a few of the jobs he'd talked about. 

Rob Haugen started by saying he didn't want to get too in depth as the principals, who have been working really hard to prepare for SIP presentations, will be sharing this information on October 20. 

He wanted everyone to notice the trajectory, if they noticed nothing else, that we're trending up. A total celebration for our students, and staff, it's a tribute to their hard work. 

With the remaining slides, Rob shared the results from spring SBA in ELA and Math in comparison with district's in our area/size. He did the same for WCAS in Science. Medical Lake scored higher in foundational skills than the Washington State average on the three subjects. 

Mr. Haugen invited everyone to attend the school improvement plans on October 20, 6:00 pm at the Middle School Library.

Dr. Headrick introduced, Dr. Wade Smith with Concertus to present the results of the Medical Lake Facilities Task Force Survey. 

Wade wanted to touch on the key findings from the survey. He thanked the committee for their help with prioritizing the needs of the district that drove the survey. They came up with five main components. We partnered with an outside calling company that made a total of 229 calls, this was in addition to the survey that was mailed out.

Findings are, there is a favorable perception of the district's performance and they're on the right track. Polls show people prefer no increase in their taxes, which with our current bond payoff happening, an increase wouldn't be the case. Building preservation and safety were highly prioritized. When asked about a bond versus levy, bond was more popular and at a 24 year stretch with a lower per thousand rate versus a 20 year stretch was the most picked choice. 

We looked at the District's overall operation and performance rating. It came in at 66%, with pretty good or excellent which is one of the higher ratings Consertus has seen in recent surveys.

The next slides were more in-depth on the project priorities and where they fell in the survey and the community's priorities with the funding approaches that were briefly mentioned earlier.

The final set of slides were around community sentiment. They clearly want to invest now in modernization with 72% strongly or somewhat agreeing. However, 70% strongly or somewhat agree that in this economy, they cannot afford an increase in property taxes to fund it. 

That's where our district is in a very good position as mentioned earlier. With the current bond falling off, putting a new one on, this doesn't increase anything, it stays the same or, at the 24 year option, lowers it. 

Most districts stack bonds on top of each other, we're unique in that perspective. 

Dr. Headrick shared a sheet showing the number of students in grades K-12 that choice in to our district versus those that choice out. The numbers coming in are much greater than those leaving our district. 

The second portion of the document showed where the students were going when they choice out and the number of families they represent. 

The School Board asked if we knew where the students coming to our district were coming from? Dr. Headrick said she did not, but that it is a column we could easily add to the sheet and she'd be able to report that at the next board meeting.