LWVSJ Observer Corps*: Orcas School Board, November 28, 2023

The Board heard a presentation from Carla Shanks who teaches social-emotional skills to students in grades K-5. She provides materials to take home for parents in English and Spanish and provides age-appropriate skills for dealing with problems large and small; how to handle bullying; and to protect and respect body autonomy.

The Board swore in returning member Greg White and new member Michelle Rodrigues and elected new officers with Linda Sheridan taking over as Chair, Greg White being Vice Chair, and Bridget Broderick as Legislative rep; she will mentor Michelle to take on that role next year. The Board also honored departing member Ayn Carillo-Gailey.

Student representatives reported that the fall sports season had wrapped up and basketball had begun. The first quarter of Middle School was complete. They were back from Thanksgiving Break and had taken the Healthy Youth Survey; the results will be available in the Spring. The Reps said they planned to liaise with the ASB to see if there were any issues ASB wanted raised with the School Board.

There was a detailed report on multilingual education which receives federal dollars for supporting rapid English Language acquisition and focused on academic achievement. The program provides resources and support to classroom teachers for integrating language acquisition into the existing curriculum. The district started the year with sixty students in the program, of which 44 were federally funded, and another several students recently joined for the highest total in recent years. They had three students transition out of the program. Nearly all the students speak Spanish as their first language and one family is Japanese. They have family support events, and middle and high school programs where older students mentor younger ones and all three Islands send kids to a Latino Leadership conference.

The Council reviewed the final budget report from the 2022-2023 school year. All funds ending with a positive balance, in most cases up from last year, with $3 million ending cash of which $1.3 million is held as reserve and $1.7 million is unassigned. Revenues were $442k below budget and expenditures S1.24m below the $14 million budget.

The Board approved placing a school levy on the February special election ballot and will complete the work to get all the pieces filed by the December 15 deadline including recruiting pro and con committee members. The Board committed to doing one public outreach event each month by board members. They post discussion of policies and protocols until the February meeting.

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization encourages informed participation in government. The Observer Corps attends and takes notes at government meetings to expand public understanding of public policy and decisions. The notes do not necessarily reflect the views of the League or its members.