Marci has been teaching after school robotics for 4th and 5th graders going on 9 years. She uses the Lego series previously used by the high school. The program helps with building and coding so students ready for robotics in the high school. Wyatt Long and Cooper Dayton talked about why they love robotics, and what they find challenging. Wyatt says they get to learn how to be a team. Cooper says teamwork can be challenging but that it is good for problem solving. They also noted that programming the robot to get around obstacles and coding can be challenging as well as coding. 

They demonstrated what they programmed their robot to do on 3 separate challenges. They use a program off their Chromebook that allows them to program their robots. We were able to see the challenges they have when the robot didn't quite do what it was supposed to. 

4.23.2024 Consent Agenda

Resignations - Tommi Ogle ~ 4th Grade Teacher, Hallett Elementary (effective 8/31/2024); Jessica 
Sharp ~ 4th Grade Teacher, Michael Anderson Elementary (effective 6/13/2024); Alyssa Choi ~ Core Sub, Michael Anderson Elementary (effective 4/19/2024);

Leaves - None at this time
Staff Contracts 

Administrative Staff - None at this time
Certificated Staff - Holly Rasmussen ~ LOA School Counselor, High School (effective 4/8/2024);
Certificated Substitutes - None at this time

Long-term Substitutes - None at this time
Classified Staff - Sarah Puzycki ~ Extended School Hours/Year Para, High School Golf Program 
(effective 3/11/2024); Jake Klein ~ Assignment Change, From Sub Driver to Contracted Driver, 
Transportation (effective 3/27/2024);

Classified Substitutes - None at this time
Extra Curricular Activities - Other - None at this time
Teachers Teaching Out of Content Areas - None at this time
Staff Travel - None at this time

Board Member Compensation - Laura Parsons (2/27/2024 - 4/18/2024);
 

Financials

The following vouchers/warrants as audited and certified by the auditing officer, as 
required by RCW 42.24.080, and those expense reimbursement claims certified, as required by RCW 42.24.090, were approved for payment.

General Fund (Accounts Payable) for March 29, 2024, warrants 135126 - 135148 in the amount of 
$67,199.29; 

ASB Fund (Accounts Payable) for March 29, 2024, warrants 135149 - 135152 in the amount 
of $3,309.11; 

General Fund (Accounts Payable) for April 18, 2024, warrants 135153 - 135214 in the 
amount of $269,758.41; 

Capital Fund (Accounts Payable) for April 18, 2024, warrants 135215 - 135215 
in the amount of $4,252.80;
ASB Fund (Accounts Payable) for April 18, 2024, warrants 135216 - 135222 in the amount of 
$12,782.26;
 

Each of our student representatives chose a school building to walk-through. They asked questions of the students and staff.

Ashley started at Michael Anderson Elementary. Every grade identified math as something that is good, it is something that they like. Students love free time and brain breaks. They said the teachers are awesome. Areas to improve on, they would like more recess and negative interactions with other students, most are not being reported. They'd also like better playground equipment and more after school opportunities.

Gabby started at Hallett. She interviewed grades 3-5. Things students said they liked are Wit and Wisdom reading curriculum, they also like all the staff and teachers and really l like the lunch staff. When asked about things they'd like to see changed, the 5th grade students would like to have a second recess like the younger grades. Less computer time, more hands on activities and more time for specialist such as music, PE and art.

Trinity did her walk-through at the Middle School. Students there said they love the school environment and teaching staff.  When she asked teachers something they like about the school, they all said they love the newly implemented block schedule, students however, do not like block schedule. 

Chuks surveyed students at the High School.  Most students say the work load is good and that they feel good overall. He and the other student representatives say they agree. Students also said the classrooms are good. Things they'd like to focus on is less technology and more hands on learning. 

Next month student representatives will be at different schools and are planning to interview students during general activity time, like lunch. It will give them more of a feel for the climate and culture during free time in each building.

Mr. Moss said the budget is in full swing. It's still early for the F203 to be ready. The District is currently sitting at $3.5 million on our ending fund balance.  We received additional impact aid payments this year that we weren't expecting, usually they're a few payments behind. There is still a lot of work to be done but we think we'll be sitting pretty good when all is said and done. 

Due to technical issues, Lyra McGirk's ALE report will be done at the May meeting. 

The Medical Lake School District has four National Board Certified teachers. Dr. Kat Smith at Michael Anderson Elementary, Lacey Bolin at Hallett Elementary, Kailee Knutzen at the Middle School and Rachael Backstrom at the High School. Dr. Kat is a trained instructional coach. 

Pursing a national board certification is not a light task. Candidates must complete four components; content knowledge, differentiation in instruction, teaching practice and learning environment and effective and reflective practitioner. Component 2, 3 and 4 will take no less than 50 - 150 hours to complete, outside of their regular teaching day. 

Benefits to pursuing a national board certification aside from a bump in pay; direct impact on students, relevant and impactful professional development, it's created by teachers for teachers, changes to teacher practices. 

Ron attended the NSBA annual conference April 6-8 in New Orleans this year. It was 2.5 days long with breakout sessions and keynote speakers. He was thankful to be able to attend. An attendee from Spokane Public Schools noted that their restraint and isolation reports had been going upwards of 5000 approximately 3-4 years ago. With the implementation of SEL those numbers have been reduced dramatically. 

There are several new topics this year, some of which are centered around AI. The speaker said that 40% of jobs will be affected by AI in the future.  Ron thought it was interesting when they said that "AI won't replace people, but it will replace people who don't use AI." 

Ruby Bridges was a keynote speaker, she was the first African-American student to attend an all white school in New Orleans in 1960. She advocates for every student receiving opportunities. 

Another keynote speaker was a migrant worker from southern California who worked at Frito lay as a janitor. Years after he'd started working there, the company CEO announced they'd be doing lay offs and asked employees to submit ideas for new products. The janitor added some chili seasoning  to his Cheetos and loved it. He then pitched the idea to the CEO and it stuck. The research and development departments were displeased since that was what they're supposed to do. His take from that was "no one is created to fit in, they're created to stand out" and, he encourages everyone to try to do just that. It might get you somewhere exciting.

Ron said the student performances this year were fantastic. Bands, singers, dancers, all very emotional performances, by inspirational students. 

NSBA 2025 conference is in Atlanta. 

Dr. Williams-Gilbert, attended the latest legislative assembly meeting. She says District 10 covers a huge area on our side of the state. All the representatives met after the legislative session to see what they wanted to move forward and advocate for students. 

One aspect the team agreed was something that needed to be focused on was having consistent language around literacy. Adequate funding, so that programs required to be implemented are being paid for by the district themselves. Another was giving schools local control, they know their communities, allow them to decide what needs to be taught.  

Credit for student representatives came up, should they get school an elective credit for representing their schools? 

Director District representatives will get to vote on these and other topics during the general assembly in November.

Dr. Headrick read the teacher week proclamation and thanked all Medical Lake School District teachers. Each one will receive a small token of appreciation on Monday, as well as recognition on our website and Facebook page.

Wednesday, May 1 is School Principal Day. Dr. Headrick gave a shout out to all our school principals and introduced our newly hired Middle School principal Shelby Schoesler. 

School Lunch Hero Day is Friday, May 3. This team of people keeps our students fed and ready for their learning day. Thank You 

Rachel Brannan's family has attended Michael Anderson Elementary for the last 5 years. Her husband is active duty. They've had several positive experiences in those 5 years, but have had recent challenges for their 2 special needs students. 

She decided to become a substitute teacher to help with the sub pool shortage. She observed a specialist being rude to students and let the teacher she was subbing for know when they returned.

Mrs. Brannan feels she was let go from subbing without knowing why following her reporting the issue. She felt her character was in question and believes she's been retaliated against for speaking up. 

Alex Brannan, husband to Rachel, had been deployed 6 months and was gone when she was dismissed. He says they love the teachers but have issues with the administration. Mr. Brannan stated that his job requires him to keep people safe and believes that is also the minimal job of the school and wishes they'd step up.

Ms. Hobson wished to advocate for additional mental health professionals in schools. She had requested services for her student but was not contacted for 3 months so finally sought out services outside the school. She would like to see more help available for students and correspondence to families in a timely manner. 

Executive session ended at 7:42 p.m.