At its Jan. 10 board meeting, the Clover Park School District (CPSD) Board of Directors heard a report from Superintendent Ron Banner, viewed presentations on census data/redistricting boundaries and the Clover Park High School (CPHS) mascot, and discussed a variety of topics as board member discussions. January is School Board Recognition Month, and Tillicum Elementary School Principal Jeff Miller recognized the school board on behalf of the principals advisory group.

Parker Howell from the law firm Porter, Foster and Rorick presented on potential boundary changes and the director redistricting process.

Potential Boundary Changes: It was recently determined that a section of Joint Base Lewis-McChord is currently zoned as part of the Bethel School District, but the 34 students who live in that area are served by CPSD. Bethel and CPSD must come to an agreement on how to serve these students going forward, which could include a waiver process, an inter-district cooperation program, transfer of students to Bethel schools or official transfer of territory in question to CPSD.

Director Redistricting Process: Based on the 2020 census data, director district boundaries must be redrawn. A plan for re-drawing of director district boundaries is due to the state of Washington by Nov. 15, 2022. Public participation is a requirement, which includes publishing the plan, holding a public meeting, amending the plan as necessary and allowing for additional written comments.

Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Schools Kevin Ikeda and Director of Marketing and Community Relations Leanna Albrecht presented an update on the process of the CPHS mascot change committee.

The Washington State Legislature passed a bill (SHB 1356) in May of 2021 prohibiting the inappropriate use of Native American names, symbols or images as public school mascots, logos or team names. Following a review of the bill and associated materials and written consultation with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, the committee recommended changing CPHS's warriors mascot due to its historical association with Native American imagery.

In his report, Banner discussed recognition of Martin Luther King, Jr., student achievement, staff appreciation, community engagement and COVID-19.

As part of its meeting, the board held discussions on hosting a public forum regarding the CPHS mascot change, a school discipline report, whether to hold future board meetings virtually or in person, posting recordings of board meetings online, and its standard operating procedures, district policies and Washington state law.

CPHS Mascot Change Forum: The board discussed holding a public forum to discuss the CPHS mascot change with the greater CPSD community. Due to the timing of the mascot change process and deadline requirements within SHB 1356, the board voted against holding a forum.

School Discipline Presentation: The board discussed district discipline statistics and the state of Washington's new discipline requirement with regards to zero tolerance discipline. The board voted to hold a workshop and receive a presentation on discipline in CPSD.

Future Board Meeting Format: The board discussed the benefits of holding board meetings in person or virtually. Civility and COVID-19 are considerations for which format is the most effective. The board voted for meetings to be in person going forward.

Posting Recordings of Board Meetings Online: The board discussed posting school board meetings online for viewing by the public and the potential costs associated with it. The board agreed it would like the Superintendent to explore the cost and feasibility of posting the board meetings online.

Standard Operating Procedures and District Policies: Director David Anderson discussed areas he believed the board's standard operating procedures and district policies were not in agreement with Washington state law. Anderson motioned to place the standard operating procedures and policies under review. The board voted against Anderson's motion. The board also voted against an amendment to utilize Robert's Rules of Order, 12th edition, as its parliamentary procedure in place of its standard operating procedures.

The school board held a regular meeting/workshop on Jan. 24. It heard reports on academic recovery due to the COVID-19 pandemic, discipline and graduation rates, received a board president report and discussed two topics as board member discussions.

Deputy Superintendent Brian Laubach provided an update on the district's COVID-19 academic recovery. The report included information on updated guidance from the Washington State Department of Health on isolation and quarantine, COVID-19 symptoms and when students/staff should stay home, and district protocols.

Laubach provided an update on discipline in the district, which included information on how and when to discipline students according to state law, district policies and procedures, and how school procedures for discipline have been updated since the most recent legislation on school discipline (SHB 1541) was passed in 2016.

When the Washington State Legislature passed SHB 1541, it noted that discipline excluding students from school was associated with negative school climate and had a strong correlation with reduced graduation rates and increased involvement in the juvenile justice system. As a result, discipline statewide has adapted to focus on less exclusion.

Laubach reviewed district data on discipline from 2014-2019, which showed discipline breakdowns by racial and ethnic demographics and the year-to-year changes in discipline rate and amount of time students are being excluded from school due to behavioral violations.

Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Schools Kevin Ikeda presented on graduation rates in the district. CPSD posted an overall district graduation rate of 88 percent for the 2020-21 school year, which was five percentage points above the state average. The district graduated at least 85 percent of students in each demographic cohort, which includes race and ethnicity.

Ikeda compared CPSD's graduation rates to surrounding districts and showed that when accounting for level of income, CPSD rates as higher or comparable to seven of the 11 districts in the comparison. The district is pursuing three strategies to increase graduation rates, which include increasing quality of teaching and learning, expanding graduation pathways available for students and implementing stronger tracking and engagement support for students.

As part of its meeting, the board held discussions on a citizen complaint about a board director and a mascot naming question from a board director.

Response to Citizen Complaint about a Board Director: The board president opened this topic to discussion prior to responding to the citizen. The citizen addresses a potential recall election in his complaint, which is not in the board’s purview.

Board Director Mascot Naming Question: A question had been raised by a board director about district policies detailing the board's inclusion in the school mascot renaming process. Policy 6970 and procedure 6970-P1 focus on the naming of schools and facilities and do not include naming school mascots. Renaming of mascots has historically been conducted at the school level.