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Ellensburg School District board meeting, date not confirmed yet

1 h 40 min · 4 public speakers

This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 1 h 40 min.

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What happened

What happened at this meeting

Ellensburg school board approves consent agenda, hears two school improvement plans 4:33

  • The board approved the consent agenda. 4:33
  • The board heard school improvement plan presentations from Mount Stewart and Lincoln. 7:02
  • A district administrator said the state is $2 to $3 billion in the hole heading into the new biennium and the district expects more significant cuts than in the past. 56:46
  • One board member recommended MSOC, substitute costs and local effort assistance as the board's three priorities. 1:17:57

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Item by item (12)
  1. Opening and student representative oath 0:42
    • A staff member welcomed two new junior student representatives to the board to join two returning seniors. 1:18
    • The new student representatives repeated an oath that included contributing to board discussion by providing student insight and perspective, serving as a liaison for the Associated Student body and reporting to students about the work of the board and district activities. 2:29
  2. Consent agenda 3:43
    • A speaker said board members had the opportunity to review the consent agenda items individually and to seek clarification from district administration before the meeting. 4:17
    • The consent agenda was approved. 4:33
  3. Student representative introductions 4:50
    • The new student representatives introduced themselves and said they wanted to bring student voice to the board. 5:26
    • A returning representative said the group hoped to meet soon and report back to the board on its goals for the year. 6:41
  4. Mount Stewart school improvement plan 7:02
    • The Mount Stewart plan set an 80% fluency goal and a 3% increase in benchmarks starting from the fall. 7:47
    • A speaker asked what professional development or other steps might address disparities in how disrespect, defiance and disruption are perceived among students. 28:18
    • The presenter said the school would look at referral data for patterns and offered to follow up later. 29:12
  5. Lincoln school improvement plan 30:19
    • The Lincoln principal said the school's goals include 70% of first graders meeting foundational skill benchmark fluency assessments by the end of the year. 43:25
    • A speaker asked about the difference between a 70% goal for second grade and a 60% goal for tested grades, and the principal said it was a formatting error on the document. 50:29
  6. District operations and legislative outlook 51:53
    • A district administrator said a stormwater plan required by the Department of Ecology and the City of Ellensburg was the last barrier before bus lane construction at the high school. 52:19
    • A district staff member said the district had $1.4 million in substitute costs and was reimbursed by the state $92,821. 58:04
  7. Enrollment report 1:03:35
    • A staff member said the district is starting about 30 students under its projected budget and that kindergarten enrollment is down to 172, 174 kids. 1:03:41
    • The staff member said elementary numbers are down across the board while secondary numbers are up in many areas. 1:04:52
  8. Financial update and early learning budget 1:05:22
    • A finance staff member said the adopted budget is $66 million and about $22,751,000 is budgeted for preschool through fifth grade. 1:06:18
    • The staff member said the district added a 0.5 teacher and a 0.5 para at the ELC because of increased enrollment. 1:09:27
    • A staff member said the Ignite Reading one-on-one online tutoring program is being used for first grade. 1:12:29
  9. Legislative priorities 1:15:46
    • One board member said the board needed to give the WASDA legislative and advocacy group its top 3 priorities and recommended MSOC, substitute costs and local effort assistance. 1:15:46
    • A staff member said the district's insurance went up 8%, and one board member said lawsuits are driving high insurance costs. 1:17:17
    • Cathie Day said the priorities must be sent in by the 4th. 1:20:16
  10. Board chair report 1:24:18
    • The board chair said residents at a farmers market asked about language immersion programs, cell phone policy and how technology is used in classrooms. 1:24:18
    • The board chair said the board plans to attend another farmers market in mid-October. 1:24:18
  11. Public comment 1:24:18
    • Speakers at public comment raised teacher burnout and communication between staff and district leadership. 1:26:48
    • Speakers at public comment also raised large class sizes, para positions and problems with new special education software. 1:32:32
  12. Closing 1:38:59
    • The board chair asked for new business and reviewed next steps before closing the meeting. 1:38:59
    • The meeting was adjourned. ~1:39:36

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

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Video: posted by the district as “Ellensburg School District Board Meeting - 9/23/26”