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Philomath School District 17J board meeting, Sep 17, 2026

2 h 05 min · 2 videos

Click any moment below to jump the video to that second. Video length 58 min.

Playing part 2 · 58 min of 2. Back to part 1

What happened

What happened at this meeting

Part 1 · 1 h 07 min

School board adopts set of policies, including credit for proficiency 56:17

  • A district staff member gave a report on a city transportation safety action plan, the ParentSquare communication application, interdistrict transfers and preliminary enrollment data. 0:55
  • The board discussed how two district policies apply to a proposed spring break 2028 trip, and a speaker offered to draft a policy merging the two into a three-tier system. 26:01
  • A speaker outlined a superintendent evaluation process, and the board moved a work session to the 14th and its regular meeting to the 20th. 46:32
  • The board voted unanimously to adopt a set of policies the policy committee had approved. 55:22
Item by item (11)
  1. District staff report 0:43
    • A district staff member said a city Transportation Safety Action Plan named 17th and Main Street and South 19th and Applegate as priority areas. 0:55
    • The staff member said ParentSquare would let teachers send messages to parents of students in their classes by email or text. 7:07
    • The staff member said Clemens Primary School had 157 students last year and is at 149, and the high school has 90 seniors and 132 freshmen. 14:29
  2. Financial report and budget committee 23:48
    • A staff member said two budget committee members said they want to return, and a speaker asked members to suggest other candidates for the committee. 24:12
  3. English learners annual report 24:32
    • A staff member said the board does not take action on the state report but must see it. 24:51
    • A speaker said the state report listed 247 unique languages, with 75% Spanish speakers. 25:00
  4. Student trip and travel policies 25:31
    • A staff member said a trip proposed for spring break of 2028 could fall under either policy IGDK on non-school-sponsored trips or policy IICA on field trips. 26:01
    • A speaker offered to draft a policy merging the two into a three-tier system and have it reviewed by lawyers. 36:35
    • A speaker said the hope was to review and adopt the policy and decide on the trip next month. 39:47
  5. Board planning sessions 45:33
    • A speaker said the first planning session would focus on information sharing and the next on objectives. 45:33
  6. Superintendent evaluation process 46:14
    • A speaker said about 15 to 20 staff and community members would give input through a Google Form on performance standards. 46:32
    • A speaker said the work session moved to the 14th with a 5:30 executive session, and the regular meeting moved to the 20th. 50:41
  7. Board self-evaluation process 52:17
    • A speaker said board members would rate themselves against district objectives and performance standards from an OSBA guidebook. 52:39
    • After a call for those in favor, the speaker leading the item said the self-evaluation process was official. 54:08
  8. OSBA meetings 54:24
    • A speaker noted the OSBA regional meeting on October 15th and the annual convention in Portland. 54:24
  9. Policy adoption 55:22
    • A speaker said the policy committee approved the policies, including credit for proficiency and a state-mandated immigration policy. 55:22
    • A speaker called for a motion to approve CBG, EBB, GBA, IKH and KNA with their ARs. 56:59
    • The board voted unanimously to adopt the policies. 57:21
  10. Next meeting agenda 57:29
    • A speaker listed district objectives and Division 22 assurances for the next meeting agenda, and a staff member said those are due to the state by November 1st. 57:29
    • A speaker proposed a policy requiring board review of large legal settlements, and a staff member said Portland Public has a $75,000 threshold. 58:25
    • A speaker asked whether surplus pickup could be repaired through donated work. 1:00:09
  11. Board recognitions and reminders 1:02:59
    • A speaker reminded members to complete safe schools training and public meeting law training. 1:04:14
    • Speakers thanked district staff and those who helped at the welcome back lunch. ~1:05:41

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

Part 2 · 58 min

Philomath board hears pension bond briefing; presenter says current rates too high to proceed 23:45

  • The board approved the consent agenda unanimously after no objections were raised. 1:40
  • A presenter reported on a summer learning program funded by a 3-year grant of just under $700,000 from the Department of Education. 6:13
  • A banker presented on pension obligation bonds and said that if market conditions held, the district would almost certainly not go forward at current rates. 23:45
  • A speaker said a resolution on pension bonds had been placed on the October agenda. 52:36
Item by item (4)
  1. Opening and consent agenda 0:22
    • The meeting was called to order at 7:07. 0:22
    • Erin Gudge led the Pledge of Allegiance. 0:39
    • The consent agenda included a few personnel items and one set of minutes. 1:15
    • The consent agenda was approved unanimously with no objections. 1:40
  2. Agenda change on surplus property 1:46
    • A speaker said the district was able to get the bus back and that the surplus property determination on the truck would be postponed until next month. 1:51
    • A speaker said a clarification was needed that the bus was never taken off the books because it was unsafe but was about meeting the proper criteria. 2:43
  3. Staff reports 3:16
    • A staff member said all staff and classrooms have the emergency action plan flipbooks discussed last spring. 3:46
    • A staff member said staff wanted to encourage visits to the schools as much as possible for events such as honor roll and Veterans Day assemblies, book fairs, and homecoming and Halloween parades. 4:13
    • A speaker said they attended 5 out of 6 open houses and heard that transportation was going well. 5:07
  4. Summer learning program report 6:05
    • The presenter said 84 students attended the 6-week program, 9 withdrew and the program ended with 75 students. 7:01
    • The presenter said 78% of regular attenders met the literacy goal against a goal of 80, and 100% of students who received intervention met or exceeded. 7:01
    • The presenter said the goal for next year is 120 students and that teachers suggested a 4-day week or half day and capping classes at about 16. 11:11

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

Who spoke

Who spoke

Erin GudgeBoard member

Video: posted by the district as “Regular Board Meeting 9-17-2026”