Mrs. Russel's 1st graders, Donovan, Lucy, and Jaycee presented how they're working art into their curriculum. Mrs. Russel listened to the kids asking for more art, so she got creative on how to introduced art in our curriculum. 

Wit and Wisdom does a good job making opportunities within their lessons, where teachers can incorporate art and offer good ideas to make it happen. 

Her class created an ABCs Art book that shows how art can go across cultures and various art mediums.  The book contains four pieces of art for every letter of the alphabet. She tasked each of the four 1st grade classrooms to create a book so that every student in those four classes were given a letter to draw and write a story about what they drew. The artwork was on display during conferences. Mrs. Russel created QR codes for each picture in the book so when families scanned it, they could read story about the picture.

Mrs. Russel also started an Art Club. During their wind curriculum unit, they created objects that are affected by the wind. Students came up with airplanes and hot air balloons. 

They also used art to connect with military families, some by showing different seasons/weather at varied locations. One student created a winter wonderland using color pencil, oil pastels and water color. 

Motion by Dir. Cooper, Seconded by Board Chair Williams-Gilbert to table the approval until the May 27 Board Meeting pending further information as requested by the School Board. Unanimously Approved. 

Chuks, Trinity and Ashley asked students what it means to be an example to others and how to resolve conflicts. Gabby asked Middle Schoolers about being prepared for the future, areas needing improvement and any advice or highlights. 

Chuks was at Michael Anderson Elementary. 2nd graders felt a good role model was kind and nice to others. Being appropriate in the hallways, listening to the teacher and following directions were all things a role model does. They resolve conflicts by walking away until you're ready to resolve the conflict nicely. Overall, Chuks got a sense students are going to be prepared for addressing issues when they're in the Middle School and High School.

Trinity went to Hallett Elementary where they say being an example is to treat others as you'd like to be treated, listening to others and raising your hand in class. 

Students shared that being allowed to resolve conflicts themselves is more clear, but they recognize that sometimes it's necessary to have an adult step in. 

During Ashley's High School visit, students said being respectful to teachers, not disrupting class, and helping others are how you show respect. They said a little kindness goes a long way. To resolve conflicts they said don't ignore it, break it up if you see something happening. Not being afraid to ask a teacher for help, don't deal with it yourself, it could get worse. And always be kind.

Gabby said students felt they were prepared for moving to the next grade level. They feel comfortable about asking questions on what the next grade will be like. Misbehaving in the hallways has decreased, so they're happy with that, but say a little bit more work on rough housing and inappropriate language would be a good area for improvement. Overall, high school teachers and classes are receiving "shout outs" for being awesome. 

Middle School Assistant Principal and ALE Coordinator, Lyra McGirk shared the district-wide Connect + numbers. 

High School has 27 full-time and 23 hybrid/part-time students. 

Middle School has 21 full-time and 14 hybrid/part-time students.

Michael Anderson Elementary has 5 full-time students while Hallett Elementary has 1 hybrid/part-time student. 

The High and Middle School has more hybrid/part-time students than an elementary due to the varied class schedules.  

Medical Lake School District currently has 5 teachers who are nationally board certified. Lacey Bolin, 4th grade at Hallett Elementary, Dr. Kat Smith, Instructional Coach at Michael Anderson Elementary, Kailie Knutzen, English Teacher at Medical Lake Middle School, Rachel Backstrom, English Teacher at Medical Lake High School. Mr. Haugen noted that our Assistant Principal at Michael Anderson Elementary became nationally board certified, but given his administrator status, is not longer recognized for that distinction. 

Mr. Moss started by giving an update on our budget. He said we've been working on the expenditures side of the budget and are still waiting for state legislator to come through with their budget, they're supposed to have something in the next 5 days. Hearing good things on the expenditure side of their budget at the state level but waiting on the revenue packages. The MLSD fiscal team has been getting our budget dialed in as best as we can while we wait. We've been working on our cash reserve and just received our 40% impact aid payment which is roughly $1.1 million and will go into our cash reserve. We are projecting $4.2 million in ending fund balance, which is healthy. We figure we'll have a spend 1/4 million of that before the end of the year, given there's been a little dip in enrollment. Other factors include our insurance renewal is coming up, hearing OK things about it, but it's still up in the air. 

We held a Facility Planning Committee Meeting on April 2. Since Chad's last report at the March Board Meeting, the fire panel at MAE has been having issues. Intermittent issues some estimates, one was rather large, requiring an entire rewire and was around $325k. We're looking at different options, since it's on base, it's out of the county's jurisdiction. So OAC has gotten other bids, ranging between $15k and $100k which is more manageable.

A survey was sent out to the facility committee, after tallying their results, it was clear that safety was the number one priority, which starts with the fire panel at Michael Anderson. 

Last year we replaced one of Anderson's two boilers, now the second boiler is having issues. It's okay for right now, especially since we're beyond the cold weather. It will be around $50k - $100k to replace the other boiler. Hallett's boiler is needing replaced as well. Michael Anderson seems to be having more issues earlier than it should being 10 years newer than Hallett and that's disappointing. 

Replacing with quality parts and being good stewards of our money with those projects is what we will be very cognizant of moving forward.

Other items to note; roofing at MAE; the final roofing section at the high school; RTUs (roof top units) at the high school; the Early Learning Center; chiller at Hallett; bathrooms at all the buildings; wrestling room and flex walls at the Middle School in their ranked order according to the survey. Hopefully we can get some of these done and moved off the list so we can reorder the remaining projects.  

Ron Cooper and Gerri Johnson both attended the Annual NSBA Conference in Atlanta the first week of April. 

Gerri had never attended before and found it very beneficial. Both Ron and Gerri appreciate hearing the viewpoints from school board directors all around the country. Hearing what is happening in other districts really makes them appreciate the forward thinking and leadership we have in the Medical Lake School District. We're in way better positions than a lot of other districts.

The school district created a proclamation for our School Nutrition Staff to acknowledge them on May 2, 2025. 

Dr. Headrick read it out loud and shared sincere appreciation for the work our nutrition staff does every day. 

Dr. Headrick read the teacher week proclamation for May 5-9, 2025 to the audience and thanked the teachers for all they do every student, every day.

Medical Lake School District is hosting the WSSDA DA10 Meeting on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at the Wellness Center. Sarra has registered everyone.