Board Meeting Recaps

The Issaquah School Board held a regular meeting on Thursday, June 26, at the Issaquah School District Administration Building. The meeting was open to the public, and broadcast live on the district’s YouTube channel, where 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 the actions 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. For other board information such as upcoming meeting dates, times and agendas, and more, visit our School Board page.

 

Introduction of New Administrators

Staff introduced new administrators who will join the district beginning July 1 (and some current team members who are shifting into new roles), including: Peter Smyth, Assistant Principal, Issaquah High School; Valerie Li, Principal, Challenger Elementary; Michelle Moon, Assistant Principal, Briarwood Elementary; Cami Przybylski, Interim Principal, Sunny Hills Elementary; Kurt Holmes, Controller, Administration; Kathy Katterhagen, Director of Purchasing and Contract Management, Administration; Gregg Jacobs, Director of IT Infrastructure, Administration; Jacqueline Downey, Assistant Superintendent, Administration. Introductions will continue at future board meetings.

 

Reflections from the board about the 2025 graduation ceremonies

Board members shared that they attended the graduation ceremonies for Issaquah High School, Liberty High School, Skyline High School, Gibson Ek High School and the Academy for Community Transition. Director Sydne Mullings said the ceremonies were beautiful and that it was an honor to see the culmination of so much hard work on the part of all our graduates, staff and families. Directors Matt Coyne, A.J. Taylor and School Board President Marnie Maraldo echoed those sentiments. “It’s a full-circle experience,” said Coyne, the parent of a 2025 Skyline graduate. Taylor noted that Gibson Ek High School had the largest graduating class since its founding.

 

Works in Progress

Superintendent Heather Tow-Yick shared highlights from throughout the district, including:

• Our Dual Language Program at Issaquah Valley Elementary promoted its first group of fifth-grade students to Issaquah Middle School. These students started kindergarten and stayed together in the program. “On a recent assessment, those students outperformed the country,” Tow-Yick said. “They also performed really well on the indicators for reading, writing, speaking and listening in Spanish. That’s a really incredible success point.” Next year at I.M.S., the students will have social studies together in a class taught by a teacher who is bilingual in Spanish and English.
   
• Next week residents across the district will receive an end-of-year postcard from the district with culminating statistics, and a note of thanks to taxpayers for their support of our students, schools, staff and programs.
• Planning for next year is underway, with trainings such as Ignite teacher training; cabinet members met to capture information for monitoring district progress, change management, multi-tiered systems of support and more; XQ facilitated an educational outcome and analysis for our district.
   
• Summer work is underway. Administrators are delving into mental health and the impact of social media. Also administrators are reflecting about how and when they have been their individual “best self,” and how they can bring more of that to their daily work.

 

Capital Projects Update

Director of Capital Projects Tom Mullins shared an update with the board, including:

• 2018 Critical Repairs Levy projects:
  • 28 projects are complete
  • 7 projects are substantially complete
  • 7 projects are in process
  • 2 are future projects
• 2022 Critical Repairs Levy projects:
  • 1 complete
  • 1 substantially complete
  • 12 in process
  • 1 future

Mullins offered highlights from the second meeting of the Capital Projects Oversight Committee. Committee members asked questions and made a number of recommendations about how to better share information about projects with the community. A meeting summary is available on our website and the next meeting is scheduled for September 16.

Lastly, Mullings shared a few updates about the New High School. We anticipate breaking ground in March of 2026, with an expected opening date of August 2027.

 

Accelerated Learning Update

Dr. Melinda Reynvaan, Executive Director of Elementary Education, updated the board about Accelerated Learning (highly capable program). The district follows state requirements regarding its highly capable program, including an annual plan and the cadence for the universal screening.

Our district uses multiple measures that measure academic abilities, cognition and creativity, including the Iowa Test of Basic Standards, i-Ready, the Cognitive Abilities Aptitude Test (CogAT), and the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking.

Reynvaan shared about the district’s continuum of services from kindergarten through 12th grade, and goal areas for 2025-28.

Directors asked questions and approved the plan.

 

Review of Web-Based Platforms for Board Meeting Agenda and Documentation

Executive Director of Communications Mark Sherwood shared an update with directors about the web-based platform that the district previously used, as well as platforms that were evaluated to replace the aged system.

After evaluating other systems, administrators recommended using the district’s current website, which does not have an additional cost, is accessible, translatable and is included in community searches of the district website.

 

Superintendent’s Annual Evaluation

As its regular annual review process, the board met in executive session twice to discuss the performance of Superintendent Heather Tow-Yick. In an open session, the board of directors discussed the three-year renewal of the superintendent’s contract. Board directors shared accomplishments from throughout the school year as they relate to the district’s Strategic Plan.

The board voted to renew the three-year contract with Tow-Yick.

 

Calendar

The board’s next meeting will be at 9 a.m. Thursday, July 10, via Zoom only.