Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
Several members of the community took to the podium during a Yelm School Board meeting on Thursday, June 26 to voice their displeasure with Policy 5310 and how Yelm Community Schools is handling its budget after three consecutive levy failures.
The first people to speak in front of five YCS board members and Superintendent Chris Woods were YCS employees and Yelm Education Association (YEA) co-presidents Katherine Collum and Tasha Johnson.
Collum, a parent of YCS graduates and a Ridgeline Middle School employee, stated the two YEA members wanted to address the proposed changes to Policy 5310, which deals with administrator pay increases.
“We fully agree that all employees of YCS should have a competitive wage. We fully support admin receiving step pays, as indicated in Policy 5310,” Collum said. “We do not support an additional increase of 2.5% on top of the current administrator’s salary schedule. For many administrators, this means they would receive a 5.5% increase. The increase all depends on what step they are on, and their position.”
Collum and Johnson had several questions for the Yelm School Board, including how many employees are receiving a step raise, how many employees will receive the 2.5% raise, whether administrators have furlough days for the 2025-26 school year, what the total amount of admin pay increase is, and the difference between step raises and the 2.5% increase.
Collum stated that YCS counselors are currently overloaded, adding that each middle school used to have two counselors, that Yelm High School had five counselors, and that each elementary — six total — had a counselor present on campus.
In the upcoming 2025-26 school year, Collum claimed that there will only be one counselor present at each middle school, four counselors at the high school and just four counselors across the six elementary schools.
“We genuinely hope that students are not having as many mental health needs, and that they can be addressed by a decreased number of counselors,” Collum said. “Our class sizes are bursting. Our students are not getting the support they need in the classroom, because educators cannot reach every single one of them with so many in the classroom.
“We feel that the money would be better used keeping those positions intact and keeping them supporting students in the classroom,” she added.
Johnson highlighted several of the district’s stipend cuts to programs, including marching band, pep band, high school choir, band concerts, National Honor Society, limiting collegiate opportunities within YHS, and the removal of adviser stipends for homecoming and prom. According to YEA’s calculations, it would be approximately $50,000 to $112,000 to bring back some of those activities partially or fully.
“We were told repeatedly that the district did not have the money, but clearly they have the money. We have been told C-Team sports will be cut again, unless there is fundraising. The cost last year was $42,000,” she said. “Based on our calculations, on a high end, you have $154,000, and student-facing opportunities could be brought back.”
Michael Blank, a parent of a YCS student, took the podium after Collum and Johnson, and claimed from the records he’s received from the school district, there was approximately $500,000 in the 2024-25 school year to supply coaches with stipends. He compared this to the $126,000 of stipends for National Honor Society and “everything else adviser-wise.”
“My complaint right now is I asked specifically if there’s any records or any documents for pay raises for the district office. I received no response of records. What that tells me is you came up with Policy 5310 in the last three weeks,” Michael said. “I specifically asked for any pay raise information for the district office, and I was told there was none. Either I was lied to and I wasn’t given the records, or it just came up in the last three weeks — after June 2.”
He added there’s a lot of avenues the district could go with that money, but believes it has been financially irresponsible with how the money has been spent.
“If we’re that concerned with our sports, there are ways we can adjust stuff and we can make it so people can actually do the sports, i.e. our children and the students in the community. I’ve had conversations with people, and some people think sports are going to go to privatized coaches,” Michael said. “If we want to become financially responsible, we will start deep diving into all of it and truly see what we can afford, what we can cut, and what we cannot.”
His wife, Karen Blank, took the podium immediately after and questioned if YCS should be giving these raises despite having to cut numerous stipends for advisers, activities and clubs across YHS.
“They’re losing tons, while we want competitive wages and that kind of stuff. I get it, and we work hard for our money. I work here. But I don’t think now is the time to be giving those competitive wages when our kids are losing out on so many things,” Karen said. “We might have football, soccer and sports, but what about drama, what about choir? Those things where kids don’t do sports, and that’s where they feel they fit in. Stop taking from them and giving to us, and start looking at our kids. They need a voice.
“Just because our superintendent says something or asks for something, it doesn’t mean we say yes. Sometimes we need to stand up and say no,” she added. “I understand there’s always a backstory, there’s always something else. But the true people we should be looking at, each and every day, are our students and how we can make their education and environment better. That’s what is important.”
