Summary of School Board meeting Feb 9

February 9, 2015 School Board Summary

By Marianne Deal Stephens

 The meeting began with unanimous approval of Consent Agenda items, including:

• Acceptance of gifts from Shorewood PTSA EQC (Education for Quality Classrooms) for: books; cooking equipment; transition and life skills training; orchestra coaches for orchestra; and many other projects.

• Adoption of DIMIC (District Instructional Materials Committee) recommendation for the DBQ Project.

• Change orders for Shorewood Athletic Fields.

• Approval of extended field trips:  Shorecrest DECA to Bellevue for state conference; Cascade K-8 6-8th graders to Technology Student Association Conference; Shorewood Drill Team to Yakima for state competition; Shorewood DECA to Florida for marketing competition; Cascade K-8 6th and 7th graders to Camp Delaney for outdoor education; Shorewood and Shorecrest ASB to CIspus Learning Center for leadership camp.

High School Schedule Alignment Update

Director of Human Resources Tam Osborne with Shorecrest Principal Pat Hegarty and Shorewood Principal Bill Dunbar briefed the board about two aspects of the high school schedule: cross-registration and the flexible instructional period. Currently, about 13 Shorewood students take a class at Shorecrest, and about 35 Shorecrest students take a class at Shorewood. Auto shop, astronomy, upper level math, and other courses draw students across the boundary. The new 30-minute flexible instructional period, called Highlander Home at Shorecrest and SAS (Student Academic Support) at Shorewood, began as a typical homeroom model and has since developed. Assemblies, student meetings, video bulletins, spirit activities, and community building activities take place during SAS/ HiHo, and the principals have begun offering directed academic support. The schools implement differently, but students with any failing grades attend a session with an academic coach to get them back on track.

Synthetic Turf Report

Director of Athletics, School Safety, and Facility Use Don Dalziel presented a report on Synthetic Turf Safety. The board had requested information following an October 2014 Dateline NBC story raising the possibility of a link between turf rubber and cancer. The district has 20 fields with at least some synthetic turf. Director Dalziel has reviewed scientific studies, investigations conducted by athletic organizations, and industry information, none of which have found a link between exposure and cancer. Neither have they found evidence of negative environmental effects.

Boundary Exception Policies

Executive Director of Schools Brian Schultz presented changes to the Non-Resident Boundary Exception Procedure. The district announced a few days after the meeting that it is closed to new non-resident applications for grades K-6 for 2015-16.  Please see the February 13 news release for details.   

Legislative Conference Planning

Superintendent Rebecca Miner and other Shoreline educators will attend the Washington State School Directors Association Conference in Olympia on March 1 and 2. Superintendent Miner outlined two areas of focus: financial and reform. Financial considerations include: support for the McCleary Decision; lack of support for any proposal to increase state funding for K-12 that simply redistributes local funds [the District will protect local levies]; and support for a budget as early in the legislative session as possible. Regarding reform, the District is operating "at full capacity" carrying out multiple legislative initiatives and so discourages "reform overload" from the legislature.

Community Comments

Four Cascade K-8 parents spoke about the boundary exception procedure revisions. Cascade K-8 has a high proportion of out-of-district families, with many out-of-district parents in leadership positions. One mother described how her daughters are better served in Shoreline than they were in their home district. All parents expressed devotion to the family atmosphere at Cascade K-8.

Shoreline Education Association President David Guthrie expressed his support for Superintendent Miner's legislative priorities and reviewed the SEA's own priorities.

A Shorewood parent announced a Shorewood PTSA presentation by Dr. Laura Kastner on March 11. The presentation, aimed at parents of juniors and seniors, will help parents guide their students through senior year and beyond.