School Board Meeting Summary

The Wenatchee School Board provides a "Board Meeting Summary Briefing" after each Board meeting. The summary includes a short description of the main topics and action items. These summaries are not meant to replace minutes. The minutes for each meeting are approved and posted after the next regularly scheduled meeting.

📁 Board packets including presentations and reports are available on our website.

📹 Meetings live streamed and archived on our YouTube Channel.

Consent Agenda
The consent agenda was approved as presented

Bright Spots

Math is Cool
Washington Elementary 4th-grade teachers, Sara Smeller and Shannon Reichert, brought a group of students to the board meeting to share an update on math instruction and the extracurricular Math is Cool program.

Citizens' Comments
There were no citizen comments.

Special Presentations

National Board Certification Recognition

During the meeting school board meeting, Director of Learning and Teaching Amber Birks recognized Shawna Gardner, Ann Young, Tamara Honeycutt, and Michael Lasater for achieving National Board Certification — joining an elite group of educators who have voluntarily held their practice up to the highest standard in the profession.

Educational Support Specialists Week

Executive Director of Human Resources Kelly Lopez recognized and thanks our classified staff during Education Support Professionals Week for their important work to support student learning.

Budget Update
📄 26_27 Board Budget Update - March _1
This is the fourth year of intentional budget reductions due to enrollment decline. The district is doing the right work to align staffing to enrollment. The superintendent shared a celebration that the district will be receiving the $2.9 million in federal grants that were at risk of not being funded by the federal government. There will still be additional reductions that need to be made in the amount of $2.5 million to balance revenues with expenditure. The district will be making reductions through resignations, retirements and administrative reorganization.

Discussion

Policies - First Read
📄 Policies - First Read

The policies were approved for a first read and will move on for second read.

Action

Newbery Playground Equipment
📄 Board Report for Newbery Playground.pdf
The board approved Newbery’s PTO request to add playground equipment to the school property after 10 years of fundraising to pay for the equipment.

Superintendent Report

Superintendent Kalahar provided an update on several district highlights and initiatives:

• The Superintendent shared a celebration of the recent JazzNight concert, noting the exceptional opportunity for middle and high school students to perform alongside professional musicians.
• In bond engagement efforts, 87 individuals applied for the Design Advisory Committee. The district will narrow this pool to approximately 40 members, with the inaugural meeting scheduled for March 12 at Wenatchee High School.
• The Restructuring Committee recently convened, with the objective of providing a progress update to the Board in April.
• Additionally, several school community events are slated for next week, including Migrant Family Night, Dual Language Discovery Night, and Sunnyslope Family Night.

Board Communication

• Director Siderius, finished school visits including going to Wenatchee Valley Tech. She plans to attend the WHS spring play, The Importance of Being Earnest

Integrus Architecture, the firm leading the design for the new Wenatchee High School, provided a comprehensive overview of their engagement process. Key highlights included plans for community, staff, and student design committees, school site visits, and project phasing. The board was also about to see early 3D model design concepts of the site. The initiative aims to establish an early design concept prior to the launch of the bond campaign this fall.

📄 WHS Bond Planning - WSD Board Workshop Slides - 260316.pdf,

Board meeting calendar