December 11 was another 3 hour Olympia School District Board Meeting that came with many changes.
- President Scott Clifthorne and Director Darcy Huffman both stepped down.
- New directors Renee Fullerton and Gil Lamont were installed.
- Board leadership for 2026 are President Jess Toutellotte-Palumbo and Vice-President Maria Flores.
- 2026 board liaison duties were assigned
- Director Lamont: Washington State Legislature
- Director Hilary Seidel continues with the Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC)
- Director Fullerton: Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA)
- Vice-President Flores: Olympia Education Foundation (OEF)
- President Toutellotte-Palumbo: Olympia Student Supportive Education Council (OSSEC).
- The agenda also shifted with the Long Range Facilities Master Plan 2025-35 and the Olympia Education Association (OEA) Collective Bargaining Agreement moving from the consent agenda to the regular agenda.
The main part of the agenda started with Executive Director Kate Davis’ Prior Years’ Analysis of Financial records. The ending fund balance (EFB) has come in over projections for the past 7 years, reaching as high as 7.4% of the total budget. In breaking out costs, teaching and teaching support were the highest investments. Davis said, “Central administration really has shrunk from both the cuts that we’ve taken in central administration, but also we did shift a significant portion of business services and human resources to the tech levy temporarily. We do expect for the 25-26 year for central administration to increase… because we’re shifting the staff from the capital projects fund back into the general fund.”
Vice-President Flores noted that the legislature will not allow the district to display that the Educational Programming and Operations (EP&O) levy is paying for a portion of special education. Flores said, “I’m not trying to belabor this, but this just feels sneaky and weird that the legislature’s doing this, because I think that they do not appreciate the shame that they feel for not funding special ed, and so, I hope the board members would support me in asking for additional analysis so that we can continue to advocate for the special ed money that our students deserve.”
The second reading of the 731-page Long Range Facilities Master Plan was addressed by Director Seidel. “Just for a point of clarification, explanation to my fellow board members and also to the public, this was originally planned for the November meeting, but unfortunately, it took us a little too long to develop, and so we need to both change the date and also update the board members who are approving it in the document.” The amended resolution approving the document passed unanimously.
Addressing a public commenter who thought the OEA Collective Bargaining Agreement should not be on the consent agenda, Vice-President Flores acknowledged the imperfect timeline of the agreement overlapping with the legislative session. While she noted the strength of the agreement, Flores noted, “It is difficult to be like, I’m making a commitment to something that maybe at some moment in the future we might not be able to afford. This is how we retain staff. This is how we’re able to have strong labor relations.” The OEA agreement passed unanimously.
The final report was on Outcome 3. The outcome states that our students will advocate for the social, physical, and mental wellness of themselves and others, and be hopeful about the future. The presentation focused on student’s sense of well-being, extracurricular offerings, college and career readiness, and crisis prevention and intervention. District Social Worker Denise Hammer stated, “Olympia School District also has school-based mental health services with Behavioral Health Resources and SeaMar Community Health Center. That school-based support looks like having clinicians from those agencies come into the school and providing mental health services 1 to 2 days per week at our schools.” She continued, “We also have Catholic Community Services and Community Youth Services providing wraparound services, and we also partner with them in putting those sort of community and school and family connections all together in place and, helping have all those supports for those students in need of some wraparound supports. In addition to that service, we are continuing our partnership with the Olympia Education Foundation to be able to offer parent education opportunities.”
The next Olympia School Board work session is uncharacteristically on Wednesday, January 7 at 6pm, and a board meeting follows on January 8 at 6:30pm.