October 26, 2015 Shoreline School Board Meeting Summary

By Marianne Deal Stephens

Consent Agenda
The evening’s Consent Agenda consisted of several items, including:

Approval of an Interlocal Agreement with Seattle School District for Title I Services. Public school districts provide Title 1 services for eligible students attending private schools. Two young Shoreline residents attend private schools in Seattle and choose to receive Title 1 services through Seattle Schools. Shoreline pays the Seattle School District (last year’s amount was $2,656.50) to provide the services.

Acceptance of $16,855 in Gifts from Lake Forest Park Elementary PTA to fund the WatchDOGS Dads program, Math Olympiad, Sixth Grade Camp, and other programs.

Approval of an Extended Field Trip for Shorewood Volleyball to attend the State Volleyball Tournament in Kennewick.

After the unanimous vote to approve all Consent Agenda items, Board President Mike Jacobs expressed appreciation to the Lake Forest Park PTSA: “We really do appreciate all of the hard work. The enrichment you provide makes us [as a District] who we are.”

Summer School Review
Details of the 2015 Elementary and Secondary Summer School programs will be covered in a separate article.

Capital Projects Update
Deputy Superintendent Marla Miller led a review of the District’s Capital Projects along with Facilities Modernization Coordinator Dan Stevens and Accounting Supervisor Garnet Osborn. 

Mr. Stevens explained the status of several projects, including:
• a new roof for Brookside Elementary;
• a new fire alarm system for Lake Forest Park Elementary;
• new ball fields for Shorecrest High School
• driveway revision and garage remodel of Transportation Shop;
• asphalt upgrade for Shoreline Children’s Center;
• demolition of Aldercrest Annex.

Most of these projects, except Aldercrest Annex, are part of the 2006 Bond Measure, which also covers: 

All school facilities will eventually have new card-based entry systems which will increase security and limit keys. Building security, along with traffic safety, is a primary concern.

Money for Capital Projects comes from several sources:

Deputy Superintendent Miller explained that the planned capital projects may pause as the District addresses the need for increased classroom space. Board President Mike Jacobs, speaking about new elementary fields as well as other projects, said that “we have told communities that they are in the queue, and we don’t want to tell them that they have to wait while another generation of kids goes through and has to use terrible fields.” Other Board Members inquired about the life of alarm and entry systems, and about the plans for renovations. Superintendent Miller anticipates presenting a facilities renovation plan for increasing classroom space in January of 2016.

District Instructional Materials Recommendations
DIMC, the District Instructional Materials Committee, recently reviewed several materials. Director of Teaching and Learning Dr. Teri Poff discussed the following:
• Schindler’s List film as a supplement to Social Studies in Shorecrest Grade 10 World History courses
• Look Inside Space book as a Language Arts supplement for Kindergarten Highly Capable classrooms.
• Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, a play, as an enrichment for grades 4-6 at Lake Forest Park Elementary.

The committee recommends that a permission slip be required for student viewing of Schindler’s List, an “R” rated film. A meaningful alternative assignment will be available for students/ families choosing to not watch the movie. All committee members watched the movie, and consider the historical value to have a worthwhile educational benefit.

Financials and Enrollment Update
Deputy Superintendent Marla Miller and Director of Finance Mark Spangenberg presented the September and October numbers.

The September student headcount of 9261 is 119 more than in September 2014, but 144 below projections for this fall. October enrollment is 100 higher than October 2014. October is typically the month with peak enrollment, and the first month that Running Start students are counted. There are approximately 137 student FTE in Running Start, which represents 234 individual students.

The District operates on a September 1-August 31 fiscal year. The administration will finalize the 2014-15 books in the next two weeks. For 2015-16, the expenditures are running below expected levels; neither expenses nor revenues are steady throughout the school year. To view the monthly reports, see pages 101-112 of the October 26 Agenda Packet .

Board Reports
Director Richard Potter continues to visit schools, and attended STEM for Her at Shorewood. He enjoyed the Shorecrest Homecoming assembly, saying “my ears rang for a couple of days.”

Director Debi Ehrlichman visited her alma mater, Stanford University. Shoreline graduate Kelsey Josund is part of the Stanford Solar Car Project, and has been competing in Australia at the World Solar Car Challenge. See Ms. Josund’s October 23 blog post World Solar Challenge: Day Five.

Director Ehrlichman also commended several individuals and community groups:
• Cascade K-8 Teacher Rebecca Drury, who was named Washington Science Teachers Association Teacher of the Year for Middle School Education. See Shoreline Public Schools October 20 news release.
• Shorewood Teacher Colleen Kiyonaga, who was named a “Symmetry Hero in the Classroom”. See Shoreline Public Schools October 19 news release.
• Lake Forest Park Rotary for packing bags of food for needy kids every week.
• all of the often-unrecognized churches and community groups that support our families and schoolchildren.

Director David Wilson praised the Shorewood Math is Cool team for its recent win in the 9-10 Grade Division at the competition in Redmond on October 17, with a particular shout out to Advisor Corrie Crowder. See Shoreline Public Schools October 23 news release.

Director Wilson also drew attention to the Shorewood and Shorecrest fall productions, which are coming up. Shorecrest is presenting Once on This Island (tickets at brownpapertickets.com) and Shorewood is presenting All My Sons (tickets at brownpapertickets.com).

Director Dick Nicholson praised the “terrific management” of the Shorecrest Homecoming assembly, and noted that his eardrums are still intact. Director Nicholson is a member of Rotary, which has adopted Parkwood Elementary. Rotary is currently interviewing Shorewood students to give out senior scholarships.

Student Representative Areeya Tipyasothi noted that the first Kolus student newspaper came out on October 23rd. She is Editor of the Kolus, and is preparing for a review. Director Ehrlichman requested issues of the newspaper for the board.

Board President Mike Jacobs noted that ballots have come out and encouraged everyone to do their civic duty and vote.