Board delays decision on adopting Wayfinder high-school SEL curriculum until Sept. 22

The Battle Ground School District Board of Directors voted 4-0 on Aug. 11 to table the second-reading vote on adopting Wayfinder as the district's high-school social-emotional learning curriculum until the Sept. 22 board meeting.

Board President and Director, District 1 Mary Snittley opened the agenda item as the second reading of the proposed high-school SEL curriculum and invited the committee and pilot participants to present their findings and answer questions. The district asked the board to approve Wayfinder for use in secondary schools, with a phased rollout and building-level implementation planning.

School staff, counselors and teachers told the board the curriculum produced measurable engagement during the pilot. Oliver Root, a math teacher and leadership adviser at Prairie High School, said the work helps students manage the frustrations of learning: "80% of my day isn't spent talking about actual solutions to math problems. It's getting students to the point where they feel comfortable and brave enough to confront the challenges that come with learning." Valerie Louise, a school counselor at Battle Ground High School, said a tier-2 small group found the materials "easy to plan for me, not a lot of total prep, but more importantly, it was very engaging for the students." Carrie Koehler Oberg, a prevention intervention specialist, said students called the curriculum "Spotify for SEL" because they found it engaging and relevant.

Superintendent Shelley Whitten told the board the district favors adopting a guaranteed, district-approved curriculum so staff do not rely on ad hoc materials and so the district can set local guardrails and implementation expectations. District staff and committee members described Wayfinder as a comprehensive product with about 2,000 lessons available from the vendor; the district said it would create district- or building-level "collections" of lessons for use rather than expecting teachers to select from the entire library without guidance.

Several board members and community members raised concerns about specific lessons, alignment with CASEL or other frameworks, how certain activities (sometimes labeled "meditation" in the vendor materials) would be worded for local implementation, and whether the curriculum should be used districtwide (tier 1) or targeted to small-group interventions (tier 2/3). Director Terry Tate said he had come "prepared to vote no" and urged a focus on targeted interventions for at-risk students; other board members said they were uncomfortable voting without the full board present. Committee members and student panelists said students in the pilot expressed enthusiasm for Wayfinder.

After extended discussion and a motion from Director Terry Tate to table the adoption until the board was at full membership, the board agreed to delay formal adoption. The motion was restated to table the motion to approve the second reading and adoption "until the Sept. 22 meeting." The motion passed 4 to 0.

Outcome and next steps: the district will keep Wayfinder on the agenda for Sept. 22 for further action. District staff said adoption would not immediately require daily classroom lessons and that rollout planning, training and building-level decisions would follow any formal adoption. Staff also said the district would work with the vendor on language and local collections so lesson wording better aligns with community expectations.

Public comment and pilot evidence: multiple staff and Project AWARE members described small-group and classroom examples where Wayfinder activities helped students with anxiety, study skills and interpersonal conflicts. Panelists described specific small-group outcomes and classroom activities used during the pilot but did not provide quantified program-wide outcome metrics at the meeting. Speakers asked for continued public conversation on lesson selection and implementation before full adoption.

Clarifying details: the board's motion to table was to "table the motion to approve the second reading and adoption of the high school SEL curriculum as presented until the Sept. 22 meeting." The vote was 4 to 0. District staff and committee members said Wayfinder offers roughly 2,000 lessons and that the district would create narrower, district-approved "collections" of lessons for staff use. The committee reported student enthusiasm during the pilot but did not present districtwide outcome numbers at the Aug. 11 meeting.

The discussion will resume Sept. 22, when the full board is expected to consider adoption and next steps for training and implementation planning.