Preschool through college: October 1, 2018 Board of Directors meeting highlights

District Highlights - Students in black dresses and tuxes sang upbeat pop music and a beautiful rendition of "That Lonesome Road" during the District Highlights portion of the board meeting. Puyallup High School Choral Director Jason Brinker led the Norselanders, setting the tone for a focus on students from preschool through college.

Dr. Darrell Cain, newly appointed president of Pierce College Puyallup, greeted the board and provided data indicating students from Puyallup School District who later attend Pierce College have a high rate of completion. Dr. Cain is new to this area of the world, having started in his role as Pierce College Puyallup president on July 22. He and his wife moved to Puyallup from Indianapolis. While his move to the Pacific Northwest gained Pierce College a new president, it also gained Puyallup School District a new teacher – his wife Nicole.

Next, Shaw Road Elementary Principal Michelle Cruckshank introduced Jennifer Turner to elaborate upon the $20,000 donation recently accepted by the Board of Directors to be used to purchase new playground equipment.

Chief Communications and Arts Officer Brian Fox then introduced Right At School Regional Director Tiffany Bliss. “As you know,” said Fox, “childcare is now available at each of the district’s 21 elementary schools and is changing the lives of many Puyallup families. Previously, childcare was provided at a limited number of schools and reached between 200 and 300 students. There are now over 1,100 students enrolled in Right At School.”

Tiffany Bliss was eager to share about the success of the RAS summer program held in Puyallup. “Previously, Chicago has been our largest summer program, with just over 300 students enrolled. In Puyallup, Right At School served over 500 students in the 2018 Summer Camp.”

Finally, Fox reminded directors that two years ago they commissioned a Boundary Committee to evaluate and recommend adjustments of school attendance areas across the district. On Friday, September 28, the board heard the committee’s report in a scheduled study session.

“One of your priorities for the process of making this decision was the inclusion of all voices in the community – not just a few,” said Fox. “While the committee was quite large, with 36 members, and very inclusive with community members, students, parents, Puyallup PTA Council representatives, principals, and district staff members, it was the 32 public forums and concurrent use of the online tool Thoughtexchange which ensured all voices were heard.”

·        - Over 300 people attended the public forums.

·        - 1,219 thoughts were shared by over 2,000 people on Thoughtexchange.

·        -  Participants rated nearly 14,000 thoughts.

The thoughts were reviewed and sorted into 13 themes. Each theme was studied carefully by members of the Boundary Committee, and in their report a formal response was provided for each of the 13 themes.

To ensure participants can read all responses and understand the review process which will lead to new attendance boundaries, the PSD Communications and Information Department has launched several new webpages on the PSD district website. These pages provide information about the process, and include all thoughts shared, as well as the themes and responses from the Boundary Committee.

Public Comment – Two people addressed the board during the public comment portion of the agenda. The board welcomes the public to its regular meetings. If you wish to address the school board, please fill out a blue comment card upon arrival and give it to the board president or any administrator. Your name will be called by the board president. Public comments are limited to three minutes each. See the Puyallup School Board brochure for guidelines.

Action Item – Director of Facilities Planning Brian Devereux provided directors with the annual Capital Facilities Plan update. School districts are required to submit such a plan annually to each municipality from which school impact fees are collected to comply with local and state laws. For Puyallup School District, this includes Pierce County, City of Edgewood, City of Fife, and City of Puyallup.

Devereux presented the following:

• - Enrollments and projections from the district’s Facilities Planning Department.
• - Level of Service (“LOS”) standards
• - Revised student generation factors for single-family and multi-family development.
• - Inclusion of capital projects within the 2015 Bond Program and proposed junior high expansion projects funded by state match.
• - Revised School Impact Fee calculation of $13,333.07 per single-family unit and $4,569.69 per multi-family unit.

Directors approved the Capital Facilities Plan as presented.

Board Policy Updates – Directors were presented with a first reading of school board policies which have been revised due to legislative changes, suggestions by the Washington State School Directors Association (WSSDA), or to implement district efficiencies and effective use of available resources.

Assistant Superintendent Casey Cox provided directors with a review of the changes being recommended.

Policy 2336 -  Required Observances - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Disability History Month, Veterans Day, Constitution Day, Temperance and Good Citizenship Day) 

Policy 6220 - Bid Requirements

Directors will consider approval of these changes at the next regularly scheduled school board meeting on October 15, 2018.

Instructional Leadership Report - Dr. Vincent Pecchia, chief instructional leadership officer, and Michelle Cruckshank, principal, Shaw Road Elementary School, provided directors with an update of committee work related to Regionalized Preschool and Kindergarten Academy. Regionalized Preschool is scheduled to begin in September 2019 and Kindergarten Academy is scheduled to begin in January 2020.

The Instructional Leadership Department studied systems and structures needed to implement a regionalized preschool program and early entrance kindergarten program in the Puyallup School District during the 2017 – 2018 school year. The Puyallup School District Board of Directors approved the implementation of both early learning programs for the 2019 – 2020 school year.

To view the slides used in this presentation, visit the PSD website: Early Learning Report slides.

Business Services Report -  Director of Business Services Laura Marcoe presented financial statements for the General Fund, Capital Projects Fund, Debt Service Fund, Associated Student Body Fund, Transportation Vehicle Fund, and the Private Purpose Trust Fund.

In July, scholarships amounting to approximately $61,100 were paid out of the Private Purpose Trust Fund. A total of 70 scholarship recipients across all four high schools received awards, ranging from $100 to $2,000.

General Fund expenditures exceeded revenue, markedly decreasing the fund balance.  The district’s fund balance is expected to decline through the end of the fiscal year.

Human Resources Report – The Human Resources report approved by the school board can be found on the HR webpage here.

Upcoming meetings – The next meeting of the Puyallup School District Board of Directors will be at 6 p.m. on Monday, October 15, 2018 at Aylen Junior located at 101 – 15^th Street NW, Puyallup, WA 98371.