On January 14, the Olympia School Board and several executive directors in the district met with the Griffin School Board and several staff from schools in the district. The district leaders discussed the transition between Griffin’s K-8 district and Capital High School.
While the Olympia School District broke out measurements on student belonging and graduation rates for Griffin students, Griffin came with SBA scores in math and ELA (English Language Arts) that reflected average and above average scores, respectively. Griffin School District noted a lack of physical science in all but one OSD middle school and proposed a collaboration for increased advanced middle school science between the districts.
Griffin leaders then pointed to the student representatives, shifting their focus to possibly having representatives of their own. They asked about the recruitment process and asked the students and staff more generally about insights on AI policies and procedures. Superintendent Patrick Murphy said, “I really do think it is the existential question, challenge for public education and society in general moving forward. We have a tech levy coming up in February. And a big chunk, or a significant portion of that levy is for teacher training and professional development, and to our student rep’s points, I think we have an academic, moral, and ethical obligation to really teach students about this tool to enhance learning, not replace it. And I think that’s really hard because it’s so new, and it’s so new for our staff, and it’s so new for students, and we’re learning at the same time.”
The student representatives were continually congratulated for their contributions and the meeting adjourned after they discussed legislative priorities.