Yelm superintendent provides update on levy efforts, legislative priorities for school districts

Chris Woods, Yelm Community Schools (YCS) superintendent, provided an audience on Thursday, Sept. 24, with an update on Yelm’s levy campaign efforts and legislative priorities for school districts across Washington state as the legislative session approaches.

Woods, during the YCS Board of Directors meeting, said the district has done a strong job of pushing out social media posts in an effort to reach voters in the area.

So far, as of last week’s meeting, the superintendent said YCS has posted six times across social media with more to come. The district’s “Open Letter to the Community” post has 12,600 combined views across multiple platforms, while a second video, the levy listening session, also has over 12,000 combined views.

“We did our first video with our friends down at the end (Cali Stein and Rebecca Rankin), and Ayden (Williams), who’s not here,” Woods said. “I’m very proud of our student board reps. They did such a great job talking about how programs they’re involved in have impacted them, from dance, to sports medicine, to football and to ASB. I just can’t say enough about them and how articulate they are.”

Woods noted that specific video has over 10,000 views as well.

Additionally, the superintendent said a second video has been posted to YouTube, this time featuring Yelm High School (YHS) Principal Curtis Cleveringa, YHS coach and teacher Alex McIntire, and Anne Ford, a para educator at the elementary level in YCS.

“They all did a great job speaking about their roles and the impact that they see working with students. I encourage you to go watch that tonight,” Woods said. “There’s a lot going on these days. I will continue to keep you updated in the calendar of events that I send you on Fridays.”

You can watch the full video at the following link: https://tinyurl.com/YCSlevytalk2.

Later in the meeting, Woods shared his belief that YCS has not shied away from difficult conversations with community members.

“I think we’ve demonstrated that we’re not going to shy away from the difficult conversations,” Woods said. “We’re going to listen to the things that are hard to hear. I hope the people will keep coming and I also understand that, in some cases, people can’t physically show up. I hope they will engage through the videos because we are sending all of those out as well to people and asking them to be informed that way.”

He added that more community members are showing up to these conversations than before, which he views as “really positive.”

Woods also said that OSPI’s binding conditions letter will be updated soon, and that YCS will make it available to the public just as it has with the other two letters from OSPI. The letter was readily available to the public as of Monday, Sept. 28, and can be read at: https://tinyurl.com/YelmOSPI.

“I think it sheds some light on where we’re at in the process,” Woods said. “I think it’s important for people to read and look at.”

Lastly, Woods spoke on the upcoming legislative session in Washington state, and said there are three shared priorities across all districts in Washington. These priorities include special education funding, materials, supplies and operating costs, and costs for substitutes.

He noted YCS doesn’t get allocated resources for substitutes and spent nearly $2 million on substitute staffing last year.

“That’s across the board for any employee that requires a substitute when they are gone,” Woods said. “If we can’t fill those, we’re filling with other staff members through their planning periods and that kind of thing, and then we have to pay them for doing that. It’s an unfunded mandate.”