Three Diverse Presentations at the May 24th School Board Meeting

The school board meeting opened up with a Student Achievement Leadership award for Cascade High School (CHS) senior, Ellie Camp, who attended the meeting over Zoom. The award, from the Washington Association of School Administrators and presented by Dr. Michelle Price, the NCESD superintendent, was given to one student per region of the state. Camp was nominated for the award by district staff for her passion for equity and as a leader of social change in the schools.

Next the board heard a presentation in regards to the district’s partnership with the Leavenworth Farmers Market (LFM). The district hosts the market on school property. The presentation concerned the sale of topical cannabidiol (CBD) products by a few vendors. Cali Osborne, the market executive director, and Karen Petersen, a vendor and owner of the company Ocanna, answered a variety of questions from the board.

CBD, unlike THC, cannot result in euphoria or intoxication. Petersen explained that CBD in topical products, at a standardized level of 0.3% or less, is regulated like other cosmetics. Alpine Lakes Elementary principal Kenny Renner-Singer asked if his sixth grade daughter could buy it at the market, and Petersen said that there is no age restriction, and that children can also buy such products at drug stores and grocery stores.

Osborne shared that other farmers markets throughout the state are including vendors of CBD products, and topicals are marketed for adults, not children, and thus the packaging isn’t aimed at promoting greater use of marijuana products.

Two board members, Judy Derpack and Cyndi Garza, shared that they found therapeutic benefit from topical CBD usage. The board voted four in favor to allow the sale of CBD topicals at the Leavenworth Farmer’s Market, with Cindy Puckett dissenting.

Next, CSD Business Director Dwight Remick gave a short 2021-22 budget presentation on revenues in preparation for the vote of adoption on July 19^th. CSD is using an FTE enrollment estimate of 1132 students, which is lower than pre-pandemic numbers. Some fluctuations in revenues from years past include an increase in property tax revenue and a decrease in local revenue related to food service because the state is mandating free meals for all students again.

Areas of revenue that will drop due to decreased enrollment include state basic funding, special services, transportation and other federal programs. However, the ESSER funds allocated from Congress, which can be spent between now and 2024, serves as a safety net. Allocating a portion of those yields a net revenue of $22 million, two million higher than the current year. Much of this extra revenue will cover the payroll expense of more educational support staff, added to help students who may have fallen behind.

Tyler Cox, school psychologist, gave an update on the Highly Capable Program, which he coordinates. Hi Cap includes enrichment at the elementary and middle school level and then transitions into advanced classes and college in the classroom classes at CHS. The program engages those who have qualified with opportunities for higher level thinking in a non-graded context and a chance to socialize with like-minded peers.

In the past year, in addition to creating a Hi Cap manual and formalizing Cox’s coordinator position, the program has switched to a nonverbal assessment tool, which equalizes the ability for second language learners to qualify. The cutoff for participation is the 96^th percentile.

Hi Cap, in part due to the new test, has grown from 34 students over all grades in 2018-19 to 44 students currently. Cox creates Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) for each student to help teachers understand the accommodations relating to learning pace, amount of review and organization of content needed for these students.

Cox said the small Zoom meetings he held this year covered a range of topics including philosophy, current events, engineering and economics.

The school board voted to approve the Hi Cap plan for 2021-22, which will bring this year’s model back into the classroom next year.

The board also approved the hire of eleven new staff, primarily paraeducators at all levels.

The policy review included a first reading of a policy about Beaver Valley enrollment. Beaver Valley is a small school with a student limit of 10 kindergarteners and 26 older elementary students, due to room capacities. The policy will define how to execute a waiting list, which is likely, due to an influx of more residents in the greater Plain area.

Another policy that is being reviewed deals with protocols for naming of facilities.

The board approved a resolution concerning an Academic and Student Well-Being Recovery Plan, required by the state. Superintendent Tracey Beckendorf-Edou said that CSD’s plan was informed by input from principals, other staff leadership, parents and students.

Finally, Beckendorf-Edou announced that the district had received a grant to cover the start-up costs of the transitional kindergarten program from Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and she read a note to the board from school nurse Shelly Zehm thanking the board for enabling the vaccine clinic that vaccinated 144 “brave students.”