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Yakima School District board meeting, Oct 5, 2026

1 h 11 min · 0 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 11 min.

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What happened

What happened at this meeting

Yakima School Board approves superintendent travel to conference in Durham, North Carolina 59:35

  • The board heard a presentation from the principal of Whitney Elementary on the school's first full year piloting inclusion, then toured classrooms during a break. 12:08
  • The board also reviewed monitoring reports and proposed policy revisions, which Norm Walker said would come back for a decision at the next meeting. 54:01
  • The board approved travel for the superintendent to attend the Heads and Principals Conference, which the superintendent said would cost around $3,500 from the superintendent's travel budget. 57:42

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Item by item (11)
  1. Opening and land acknowledgment 0:32
    • Norm Walker opened the meeting at Whitney Elementary School and said Spanish interpretation was available. 0:32
    • A staff member called the roll and named the directors who were excused. 1:50
    • Speakers read a land acknowledgment for the Yakama Nation. 2:45
  2. Recognition of principals and assistant principals 3:46
    • Norm Walker introduced a recognition of the district's principals and assistant principals. 3:46
    • Presenters read the names of administrators at elementary, secondary and high schools. 5:26
  3. Whitney Elementary inclusion presentation 12:08
    • The Whitney principal said the school is one of 2 schools piloting inclusion and that all kindergartners this year are in general education first. 12:53
    • The principal said the number of students in the category the school called LRE 1 went from 6 last year to 14 this year, and that two 2nd graders now at about 75% were at about 60% last spring. 16:12
    • A district staff member said the district had ranked number 3 in the bottom for inclusionary practices out of 295 school districts. 32:07
  4. Board member updates 33:15
    • Martha Rice said retirement proposals for about 25 long-standing items at General Assembly did not pass and that Martha Rice submitted top 5 proposals that were primarily about funding. 33:30
    • Martha Rice said board members now need a wa.gov email address to communicate with WASDA. 35:49
  5. Tour of Whitney classrooms 36:59
    • Norm Walker called a 10-minute break for the board to tour classrooms. 37:13
    • The principal said the school has 72 kindergartners and every class is maxed at 24, and one board member said they wished class sizes could return to 21. 40:01
  6. Superintendent's update 43:09
    • The superintendent said 2 delegates from a partner school in Japan visited and that visitors from Japan will come in April. 43:55
    • The superintendent said the first Student Senate meeting of the year was held. 44:51
    • The superintendent said the 3rd annual Navigating Public Education Funding session would be held the next evening from 6 o'clock to 8 o'clock at the Performing Arts Center, with about 6 districts signed up. 46:55
  7. Policy monitoring reports 48:45
    • A staff member presented monitoring reports on Policy 1000.2.7, emergency superintendent succession, and Policy 1000.2.8, compensation and benefits. 49:23
    • Another staff member presented the monitoring report on Policy 1000.2.9, communication and support to the board, which the staff member said has 10 sections. 54:26
    • Norm Walker said the review of Policy 1000.3.4, Board President's Role, was a first reading, and Raymond Navarro, Jr. asked whether the rating would cover each of those or the overall package; a staff member said each one. 55:50
  8. Superintendent conference travel 57:24
    • The superintendent said the Heads and Principals Annual Conference is in Durham, North Carolina, and the fiscal impact is around $3,500. 57:42
    • A motion was made to approve the travel for the conference slated for February 3rd through 6th, 2027. 59:35
    • Norm Walker said the motion carried. 1:00:11
  9. Proposed policy revisions first reading 1:00:51
    • A staff member said the proposed revisions would change language such as will not fail to language stating the superintendent will ensure. 1:01:41
    • A speaker asked whether the board would be interested in discussing the coherence model, and another speaker said many other policies have the same language. 1:03:33
    • Norm Walker said the revisions were a first reading and the board would decide at the next meeting. 1:09:18
  10. Public comment 1:09:33
    • No one signed up for either public comment period. ~48:45
  11. Executive session and adjournment 1:09:56
    • Norm Walker said there was a need for a 15-minute executive session to deal with potential litigation, and a motion was made to meet in room 306. 1:09:56
    • Norm Walker declared the meeting adjourned. 1:10:42

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 “Yakima School District Board Meeting October 5th, 2026”