On March 12, 2026, the Olympia School District (OSD) discussed The Evergreen State College (TESC) pool closure, the reduction in force resolution, which student and community populations get to be heard, and multiple OSD policy violations.
There were 5 student and 6 community public commenters at the top of the meeting and one at the bottom of the meeting. Three commenters had made comment in the last 30 days. It took up 28 minutes of the meeting.
Keenan Wong, a sophomore at Olympia High School commented about the proposed closure of the TESC pool. Wong referenced how difficult it can be for students to change sports. “This swim team is the only sport I can participate in and share a genuine connection with people, and more importantly, being able to express my passion for the sport unlike the others. And it is especially upsetting to me because it appears that the Evergreen State College has decided to make this unilateral movement without any reasoning. I, for example, cannot. I was born with multiple disabilities and malformities, limiting what sports I can and cannot do.”
Superintendent Patrick Murphy said, in his comments, that the district has been speaking with the college, legislature, city council, and the Thurston Regional Planning Council about the future of the pool.
Initially, the board approved Resolution 684: Reduction in Program. Director Renee Fullerton said, in closing comments, “I’m sitting with our challenges tonight. As a school district, and as a policymaker, there are easier times and harder times to do this work. And that authorizing resolutions to potentially take away jobs in our community is not the easy time at all.”
The superintendent said initial cuts would be proposed to the board at the March 26 board meeting, prior to the budget survey results. The survey itself has been rewritten to be “broader.”. The superintendent and board spoke about having a survey and community, as well as student forums. Student engagement was relegated to secondary students and Student-Led Advisory Council (SLAC) membership. While SLAC membership is by application to 10th through 12th graders in the first month of the school year, students not chosen by district leadership, or in elementary school, were not discussed.
Vice-President Flores inquired about the evening’s biggest mystery, which was how policy 1430 disappeared from the policy list in August 2025, after the summer board retreat. Superintendent Murphy’s executive assistant Nicole Gonzalez took the blame, saying it was a clerical copy/paste error, while Director Fullerton pointed to a change in the 1000 series in February 2024. The change to policy was on the consent agenda 7 months after the initial reading, violating the policy adoption policy, 1310, and former procedure, 1310P.
The proposed policy 1400 makes in person sign up conditional on less than 10 online signups, and extends the sign up period without any signup on the meeting day. It involves ranking students first and members of the public that comment within a month last, using a digital randomizer.
Regarding the policy, Miles Garver, a 7th grader at Jefferson Middle School, said, “I’m concerned about the student voice in these changes. I want my voice and the voice of my peers to matter in decisions that affect our learning experience at school. For students, the district has clear outcomes for learning, such as being compassionate, advocating for wellness, discovering passions, thinking clearly, and collaborating with others. These are important skills, but I don’t see how these policies show that adults in the district are expected to do the same.”
Opinions differed on the equity of the public comment policy. Vice President Flores made her position clear saying the revisions were not inline with the purpose of the Open Public Meeting Act (OPMA). “I want to respect our time. I want us to be able to get business done, but I also want to respect our community members’ time, and if they take the time out of their life to come and give public comment, then I’m going to give them their 3 minutes. I mean, that’s how I feel about it.” Flores proposed multiple amendments she would propose at second reading, including making in-person sign up on the day of the meeting and not cutting off the total comment time or commenters.
Director Hillary Seidel, who made it known that she and President Jess Tourtellotte-Palumbo would not run in 2027, had a different view about time constraints. When ORLA student representative Emma McDonald said that she wanted to know if students would have to stay if meetings went long, Seidel said, “We need the student reps to be able to participate in the meeting and not leave when we get the report, so that they can ask good questions, so they can hold us to account when we get these reports… We’ve had in the past is that public comment goes on for so long that we’re not able to make space for the students who have dedicated time during their school year to be here and represent the viewpoints of the students in their schools.” McDonald proposed a separate student sign up sheet as well. “It pains me to think that students might want to sign up for public comment, but it’s filled. And I would like them to still be able to say their thoughts.”
Though some language was agreed-upon language in policy 1400, opening the online signup time to 96 hours up until 4pm, the day before the meeting, will be adjusted immediately. Also adjusted immediately was striking agenda items posted after the 5 business day policy. Flores noted multiple violations. “We’ve had many meetings where we have not publicly posted the materials that we’re going to take action on 5 days prior to the meeting, and then we took action on it. So, we’ve already violated a couple of times doing that. I do want to make sure that we are very, very careful with what is posted is what is posted 5 days prior.”
Toward the end of the meeting, was the second reading of proposed policy 5410. While Director Seidel made sure it was not at odds with Washington State School Directors’ Association model policy 5410 on Holidays, it was amended and adopted as Policy 5412, Leave and Accommodations for Survivors of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Stalking, and Hate Crimes to much applause from the paraeducators’ and educators’ unions. The policy states that district employees have the right to take leave to seek legal and law enforcement assistance, obtain medical treatment, access, counseling, or advocacy services and make necessary safety arrangements for themselves or family members.
Check out the new short OSD recap with Director Lamont!