NORTHWEST EDUCATION SERVICE DISTRICT 189
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
REGULAR MEETING

MINUTES

October 27, 2021, 6:00 PM
Northwest Educational Service District
1601 R Avenue, Anacortes, WA 98221

Call to Order / Pledge of Allegiance

The regular meeting of the Northwest Educational Service District Board of Directors was called to order by Chair Mark Venn on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 at 6:00 PM via Zoom. The public was provided the option to attend the meeting through telephone access and all persons attending the meeting were able to hear each other at the same time.

Members present:

Charlie Crabtree
Cory Duskin
Alan Erickson
Merle Kirkley
Susan Phillips
Jack Thompson
Mark Venn
Oscar Escalante

Staff present:

Larry Francois
Fredrika Smith
Jennifer Longchamps
Les Valsquier
David Forsythe
Lisa Matthews

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of September 23, 2021, regular board meeting were presented for approval. Jack Thompson moved, and Oscar Escalante seconded to approve the minutes of the September 23, 2021, regular board meeting as presented.  Motion carried.

COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC

No public comment was provided.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Additions to the agenda were identified as: 5.i. Additional Personnel Report; 5.j. Additional Election of Certificated Staff; 7.a. Reclassification of Director of Behavioral Health and Prevention Services Position; and 7.b. Request for Approval of Position Description.

Jack Thompson moved, and Sue Philips seconded, to approve the agenda, as amended.  Motion carried.

Approval of the General Fund Warrants

General Fund warrants #201842 through #201908 in the amount of $390,503.74 and #000000038 in the amount of $6,227.57 and #201934 through #20200 in the amount of $475,842.22 and accounts payable ACG payment #9000000001 through #9000000023 in the amount of $4,085.18 were presented.

Approval of the General Fund Financial Report

Draft General Fund Financial Report with the total ending net position equity in the amount of $7,971,990.54 was presented.

Approval of Payroll

September payroll warrants #201909 through #201920 for salaries in the amount of $26,356.25, #201921 through #201933 to payroll vendors in the amount of $44,501.70, repayment to accounts payable for health care authority costs in the amount of $188,786.00, reserve for compensated absence reimbursement in the amount of $8,637.23, an electronic transfer in the amount of $558,081.40 for payroll tax liability and DRS contributions, and an electronic transfer of employee direct deposits in the amount of $841,02.73 for a total of $1,667,455.31 were presented.

Approval of Labor and Industries Trust Warrants

Labor and Industries Trust warrant #202001 in the amount of $3,751.00 was presented.

Approval of Labor and Industries Trust Financial Report

Draft Labor and Industries Trust Financial Report with the total ending net position equity in the amount of $244,808.05 was presented.

Approval of Unemployment Pool Warrants

Unemployment Pool warrant #202002 in the amount of $1,776.83 was presented.

Approval of Unemployment Pool Financial Report

Draft Unemployment Pool Financial Report with the total ending net position equity in the amount of $9,635,220.81 was presented.

Approval of Out-of-State Travel

Out-of-State Travel in the amount of $10,805.60 was presented. The amount of total out-of-state travel request was amended to reflect that Charles Crabtree is no longer attending the AESA conference. The amended amount is $8063.60.

Approval of Personnel Reports

Personnel Reports indicating terminations, hiring, and reclassification of NWESD employees were presented.

Approval of Election of Certificated Staff

Election of Certificated Staff reports indicating hiring of certificated employees were presented.

It was moved by Alan Erickson and seconded by Sue Phillips to approve the Consent Agenda, as amended. Motion carried.

REPORT TO THE BOARD

Les Valsquier, Technology Director, presented information about cybersecurity measures.

  • What is ransomware?
    • Hackers use technology experts to gain access to networks and data. They hold data hostage and demand a ransom. And sometimes will go after your customers to apply extra pressure to pay the ransom. Many organizations pay the ransom as directed by insurance.
  • How do they gain access?
    • Phishing and acquiring passwords, emails sent to users with links to files that can run code in the background looking for passwords to get more access to your network. Other ways: social engineering, brute force password cracks, leveraging other data breaches, or old operating systems.
  • What is NWESD doing about it?
    • Training staff to recognize bad emails, two factor authentication, Geofencing account access (only North America access to nwesd.org accounts), separate operating systems and administrative credentials, air gapped backups and honeypot servers (look like our server but just track suspicious activity).

NEW AND PENDING BUSINESS

Reclassification of Director of Behavioral Health and Prevention Services Position 

Larry Francois noted that we have seen a significant growth in the size of our Behavioral Health and Prevention Services program. This has increased complexities in budget management, state and federal regulation compliance and supervision of additional staff. It seemed appropriate to reclassify to align with the added responsibility.

Jack Thompson moved, and Sue Phillips seconded, to approve the reclassification of the Director of Behavioral Health and Prevention Services position. Motion carried.

Approval of Position Description

A new position description for a COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing Coordinator was presented for approval with recommended salary placement on Schedule II Range 7b. Larry Francois shared that this position will provide testing and contract tracing support to partner school districts and agencies under the direction of the COVID-19 Screening and Testing Coordinator. School districts can receive funding to hire their own testing coordinator, or they can reach out to ESD’s for support. This position is not posted but having the position description approved will allow hiring to proceed should school districts request the support.

Oscar Escalante moved, and Jack Thompson seconded, to approve the COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing Coordinator position description and recommended salary placement as presented. Motion carried.

ITEMS FOR INFORMATION

Independent Contractor Agreements

Independent Contractor Agreements were presented to the board for review.

Board to Board Report

The September-October 2021 Board to Board Report was shared. The board commented positively on the report and appreciated the recognition of former board member, Claudia Buxton.

Districts Running Education Programs & Operations (EP&O) Levies

Larry Francois shared that there are 20 of our regional districts up for operations levies and noted that it is a challenging time to run levies.

Superintendent’s Report

Staff Vaccination/Exemption Update: Larry Francois noted that we had 100% of our staff that either verified their vaccination status or received an exemption (5.5%).

Teacher of the Year and Classified Employee of the Year Presentations: Larry Francois was able to visit Everett Public Schools to award Sarah Manus as the 2022 NWESD Regional Teacher of the Year.  Tammy Oommen, a paraeducator at LaVenture Middle School, was named the NWESD Classified Employee of the Year. Larry Francois presented her award at a recent school staff meeting.

COVID-19 Updates:

  • Student vaccines: expect that within the next week vaccinating youth ages 5-11 will be approved. No expectation that there will be a mandate for student COVID-19 vaccinations.
  • Booster shots: now available for all vaccine options. No indication that there will be a requirement for COVID-19 booster shots.
  • Quarantine and contract tracing: In Snohomish County over 20% of the cases have been in school aged children. Managing the different quarantine scenarios is a significant burden for school districts. There is significant funding available for districts from the Department of Health to hire additional staff or nurses to help manage all the requirements and contract tracing.
  • OSPI Data collection: press briefing October 28, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. to share our vaccination and exemption data. High-level overview will be shared regionally.
  • Staff shortages: not as significant in our region but still gaps have been identified with food service and transportation staff.
  • Student and staff testing: There is testing available at the NWESD. It is open to any NWESD staff and their families.

ITEMS ORIGINATING WITH THE BOARD

AESD/Legislative Report

Larry Francois shared the AESD Making a Difference article – spotlighting how ESAs impact the nations education system.

AESD re-design update: Larry Francois shared that we have received the second draft of the AESD re-design document. The group is now working on how to operationalize systems and distributed leadership so that not everything runs through T&L Assistant Superintendents. The re-design project also aims to update their foundational AESD documents creating a business/financial model that will support the AESD future and define the role of the Executive Board.

Revised Board Member List

The NWESD Board Member list was revised and shared with the board.

Upcoming NWESD Board Meeting Plans

Next meeting is November 15, 2021; at 7:00 p.m. on site at NWESD with a hybrid option. December 15, 2021 is the date for the December meeting and will include a work session with Dr. Tammy Campbell.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:20 PM.