Board Recap: Oct. 13, 2022

The Issaquah School Board held a regular meeting Thursday, Oct. 13, at the Issaquah School District Administration Building. The meeting was open to the public, broadcasted live on the ISD YouTube channel, and a recording of the meeting is available.      

Today we’re sharing a summary of a few of the topics the board and district staff discussed and action the board took at the meeting. It is not an official record or meeting minutes. To review official minutes from all board meetings, please visit our board meeting archive webpage.   

Review of Work Study 

Prior to the School Board's regular meeting, board members and cabinet members reviewed the newly revised Monthly Financial Report. The board collectively shared that they like how the newly updated report combines different categories of the budget, what they are for and that the report is in a format that is more approachable for our public.  

Watch the Review of Work Study on our YouTube channel.  

Monitoring Report EL-11 Discipline 

Superintendent Heather Tow-Yick shared that 2021-22 was the first year reviewing discipline data and reflected on the new baseline brought about by the transition to the 2019 discipline laws, which shifted to more student support and less punitive discipline.  

Major changes in the discipline law that impact our schools mean that prior to receiving any exclusionary discipline such as short-term suspension, long-term suspension or expulsion, the school must first have had to attempt to use another type of discipline prior to utilizing exclusionary discipline. Non-exclusionary discipline includes lunch detention, Saturday school or a parent conference discussing behaviors.  

Tow-Yick also shared that there is not simply an emphasis on physical safety, but also on psychological safety. This allows students to be their best selves and administrators to enforce the rules and consequences. Overall, there is a greater emphasis on inclusive schools, equity, clearly communicating and promoting student expectations.  

Director Sydne Mullings shared that she appreciates the reformatting, but challenged the report by asking what are we doing about the disproportionality that it shows. She shared that she is hoping for more proactive approaches than engaging with the data by taking individual accountability in our buildings. Executive Director of Middle Schools Sherri Kokx and Executive Director of High Schools Andrea Zier addressed a number of interventions that the district is implementing to improve the systems we have in place. The report was unanimously approved by the School Board.  

Watch the Monitoring Report EL-11 Discipline on our YouTube channel.  

Works in Progress  

Heather Tow-Yick shared that she has been in sprint mode, engaging with the community, as she concludes her First 100 Days in the position of superintendent. Tow-Yick said that one recent highlight was a visit to Issaquah Valley Elementary School. She is looking forward to the upcoming Community Forum at 5-6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 20 at the district office. She continued by sharing about recent Equity events as well as a reminder that in lieu of elementary report cards this November, the focus will be on Parent Teacher Conferences.  

Watch Works in Progress on our YouTube channel.  

Middle School Athletics 

Executive Director of Middle Schools Sherri Kokx began by highlighting that we aim to recognize the unique development needs of the middle level student through the opportunities given for athletic participation. Kokx shared data from the current middle school sports season, fall 2022, including the number of athletic teams by school. She brought up a reporting issue that the district needs to address as it relates to mis-gendering students; we need to enter non-binary students as non-binary students within our data systems. After Kokx presented a number of other data charts, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Donna Hood shared staffing procedures.  

Watch the report about Middle School Athletics on our YouTube channel.