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so a little bit up from that October first count I want you to take note that a lot of things affect these counts so things from District enrollment the opening of charter schools within our area some of our students will leave and go to those Charter Schools when we see a new Charter School open we sometimes will see a dip other things most recently that we've been affected by is obviously the refining of our mtss process but also the pandemic so we're we're seeing some different Trends in our numbers but they are slowly inching up as kids have are going through that mtss process and it's been identified that they need some additional supports within our special education department students can qualify to receive special education under 16 different categories students are able to be found eligible in multiple categories more than one the thing that's difficult is these categories are different from state to state so oftentimes students will move into the State of Arizona with a category that is different than what we are able to upload to the state as a student with a disability so we spend quite a bit of time with our our new parents to Arizona to explain to them that we're not changing in eligibility we just have to redefine it based on the Arizona categories So within our special education department we have many programs to service kids we have a Continuum of services that range from least restrictive to more restrictive and we use these programs to meet the individualized needs of each student so I wanted to review a little bit of these programs um review a little bit about each of these programs not every program is on every campus due to our size we have to group some programs together to service a group of campuses the first program is our speech and language program so that Services students who have articulation language needs pragmatic delays that program is available on all of our campuses we have a phenomenal speech and language team that has been pretty consistent over the years and they work with our students with those delays the next area is our resource and inclusion support so these are students that are struggling within the general education classroom and this support addresses learning social and emotional difficulties these programs again are available on every campus to support our special education students they um we can the resources where we pull a student out of that general education classroom and service them within a classroom just for special education students but we also have that inclusion support where we push a special education teacher into the Gen Ed classroom it's called co-teaching and those teachers work together to support the class as a whole which is our gen Ed and our special education students in that inclusive environment the next program we have is our cross-categorical program these are for our students that are a little bit more delayed and require a higher level of service and more support it provides adaptive academic skills and it's aligned to Alternative standards so for our students that are unable to master the standards at their peer level they may need support in our cross categorical classrooms for our elementary schools we cannot have this program on every campus so it is located at Cortina Centennial Chaparral and Coronado and then all of our secondary campuses have a cross-categorical program and there is a feeder system that we utilize to keep those students together to ensure that as kids transition from the elementary to the middle school they're not split up between Sossaman and Coulee so they're they're aligned to their feeding schools the next program is our mdssi classroom these are our most fragile students with our most significant delays we are very blessed we've had a teacher in there that has been there for years um Miss Shea Rose and she's done an amazing job with that program because of the significance of the delay and the need of these students we felt that the transition to Middle School may have been a little bit too much to do that two-year transition so the program located at Power Ranch services are K through 7th grade and then at that time they transitioned to Williams Field High School which is our 8th through 12th grade our best program is our program for our students with emotional disabilities this is a somewhat new program to the district we wanted to be able to try to keep as many of our students in-house and not have to utilize the services of our surrounding private day schools so we began the best program underneath the support of Greg Keith this program is located at Power Ranch Coulee middle school and Williams Field High School and our final program that I wanted to talk about today is our preschool program that services our youngest Learners they service ages three through five we have a preschool of our team that takes in all of our referrals for that program that has been together for quite some time and working to support that campus it's located in both of our Early Childhood Development Centers and if you haven't had the opportunity to visit those programs it's a beautiful Center and miss Patty Gleason has done an amazing job with those programs to kind of align with our preschool program this year is a monitoring year for special education and we were required to look at our data and identify an area that we felt we needed to focus on Ade and special education are on a six-year monitoring cycle and Higley has been assigned the fourth year as their state monitoring so in the fourth year of our monitoring cycle we are in state monitoring that is this year and so we when looking at all of our data to kind of identify what we wanted to focus on is an area that we felt we could improve in we identified indicator 6 special education preschool least restrictive environment as an area of focus providing an Inclusive Preschool program is very difficult and our surrounding districts have really struggled with it as well but we know that it's best practice and so we are working diligently to find a way to allocate staff to provide a more Inclusive Preschool environment this is going to take a lot of work and a lot of discussions and a lot of planning but we do feel that it's really what's best for students we are hopeful to roll this out during the 23-24 school year if we can make sure that we have all the resources and are able to do so so something that's really exciting for our special education students at the preschool level all right private day schools private day schools are another thing that we utilize to assist us in providing support for our students within the district private day schools go through a very specific application process with the Arizona Department of Education to be identified as a school that can provide private day services to students that are enrolled in a public education School currently we have students placed at six schools that are considered private day and you can see those six schools listed there those are the ones that we currently are using the list is very extensive and has a ton of schools on it but these are the only six that we currently use we provide quarterly updates to the board and you'll hear one tonight after this presentation of where we're at how many students we have placed and the cost that's associated with those while we know that the cost of soda associated with those is rather high at times these are our students that receive probably a little bit more funding than some of our other kids but they also have needs that we are unable to meet in the public school so pretty extensive needs that our staff are not capable of meetings so we have to reach out to ask for support from our private day schools we have very good relationships with our private day schools and are able to communicate with them and and our goal is always to bring those students back once they've reached a level where they have the skills needed to be successful in our programs here within the district some additional special education programs that we are excited to talk about is the first one is our htap program our Higley transition and access program years ago this was not a program we used we have students in our district that when they've completed their four years of high school they still have some additional needs in the area of post-secondary transition so these are work skills and additional life skills that they would benefit from a little bit more instruction so this program currently is located in our our buildings over by Williams Field Brittany Wittenberg has been the teacher that has helped grow this and she has done a phenomenal job at this we work closely with vocational rehab to provide our students with extra years to get them ready to enter the workforce this program also does a phenomenal job in supporting families and understanding the resources that are out in the community and the things that can support them as their students transition out of high school that's a scary time for a lot of our parents on what's next for their students and this program kind of bridges that gap for them um this program has been a true blessing to our to our district and at the end of the year you'll be invited to attend the htap graduation ceremony and if there's any way possible that you can do so it will be the highlight of your year um it's a neat thing Miss Miller before you move on the picture this Boeing picture I believe that one of the students was just hired by Boeing is that he was Boeing has put in place a special needs program for students they go through a vocational training program they're certified to do a lot of the circuit work and then they hire those students on so yes one of our students has been hired at Boeing and is working there the next program is our Unified sports program that's located at Higley and williamsfield high school this is a program that encourages our special needs students to participate in AIA Sports through the support of typical peers playing alongside each other um this has become a favorite among our families and students if you haven't had the opportunity to attend a unified game it is is a wonderful opportunity to just see the the relationships that are forged and developed in this program watching the interaction that develops is truly seen not just on the field but you see it on the campus as well you know leading back into that inclusive environment you can feel that our special education students are a part of campuses and it's programs like these that have helped develop that um we have a wait list on peers at Higley High School that want to join this program because we cannot have everyone in the program it's a truly true blessing again to our students to really bridge the gap between special ed and gen Ed funny thing with this program is you see just as much growth in the special education students but you see sometimes even more growth in some of our general education students that participate in this program sped in a strategic plan as we worked with cabinet and Dr Foley in the development of the Strategic plan we wanted to make sure that special education was a part of that and that we were making decisions that aligned to that strategic plan as a department we select a strategic anchor communication and community relations as our Focus this year and we've worked as a development to make sure that all the decisions we make the supports we offer the communication we put out aligns directly to the Strategic plan but specifically to the Strategic anchor this includes the implementation of our parent our bridging parent nights which you can see the Flyers up there these are meetings for our parents who have preschool special education students moving to kinder or elementary students moving to middle school or middle school moving to high school it's an opportunity for those parents to come and ask those questions that they didn't want to ask at the meet the teacher or the the special night that's for those middle school kids it allows our teams on those campuses to kind of present sent what it looks like at Middle School in comparison to elementary school and just have that one-on-one interaction and start to really develop those relationships with those teams on those campuses we know that these transitions are stressful for students and parents and this is an effort for us to put something together that will help ease that stress but also help us better prepare for those students on that first day so that we know who's coming and we're prepared for them as well our first parent meeting will be our preschool to kinder parent meeting which is scheduled for 1 25 January 25th and we actually anticipate quite a few parents attending that so we're excited to see what that brings in addition to these parent bridging meetings we've also implemented our special education special education parent University we after covid and everything calmed down we saw a need to connect with our parents and have those conversation about all the things sped um we know it's a difficult process we know it's confusing at times and we wanted to kind of open up the Forum and give parents an opportunity to learn a little bit more our first parents fed University was focusing on the evaluation report I believe at that presentation we had five parents attend so very small our last presentation was on the IEP explained and just helping parents understand the IEP we had over 20 people at that event as well as staff members that came to participate so it's been very successful our last presentation of this year will focus on understanding what's next after high school so the legal avenues that parents have to be aware of the develop the DDD Department of Developmental Disabilities that process and how to navigate that as well as vocational rehab so helping with that so we're excited to continue this we've already identified some areas that we need to refine to ensure that this continues and meets the needs of our parents and that's all do you have any questions um first of all phenomenal work um and I can't imagine the difference this is making um we all want to focus on tigley's a great District district and the things we're doing but just really focusing on people's lives because as you're as students are becoming or we're becoming more aware of students um and their disabilities and their struggles I can imagine there are probably parents that are probably running to the doctor as well and try finding out about their lives and then learning how to parent just and the fact that you have parent um uh meetings or communication really making a difference but my question and it may feed over into your next presentation but I just want to ask because I've heard um rumors and I hate when rumors are out there um but I I've heard that if a school recommends testing versus parents ask for testing there is a cost one goes to the school or one is school possibly funded and or partially whatever and one is more parent funded is that true and so which led to the well you know they didn't act on it or they want to do it because of president Schultz or vice president Anderson that is not the case so whenever the decision is made to move forward with special education testing for student the cost is 100 incurred by the district yeah sweet my question was um because I think it sounds awesome and I'm just interested if it's at both because my kids my daughter went to uh the preschool at Cooley the preschool inclusion is that going to be at both or just are you doing or sasaman for the the Pre-K inclusion classes president Schultz board member Wade the preschool to Elementary parent meeting will be held here at the district office is that what you're no I'm talking about because you talked about you wanted to I think it was for next oh the inclusionary okay yeah it won't be at both preschools we will have identical programs at both preschools that's awesome I just wanted to see if that both or not that's cool thank you um I said this when I attended the parent meeting and I'll say it again I think um I wish I had that when I was going through the IEP process with my daughter um it's very informative and so helpful for parents and even the night of the meeting when you suggested that parents should bring their kids to these meetings a lot of parents you know on the way out they're like oh I never even thought to bring my kid with me to IEP meetings and and I think that's really important to get the kids perspective involved in the process as well um and so I'm happy to see that that's being done thank you thank you I I just want to say I encourage parents to attend these meetings if they can't attend them then where's the best place to send parents to get information presidential we encourage parents anytime they have a question to reach out we want them to be an active member in their students IEP process the decisions are truly a team decision we will not always agree as a team we will have those difficult conversations but if we don't know there's an issue or a question we're not able to address it and we're not able to understand the perspective of the parent or and and all of the things that are going into the questions that they have so anytime a parent has a question and they're unable to attend any of our events they're more than welcome to contact our special education department and we will return their phone call and spend the time that we need to make them feel comfortable with the decisions that are being made within that IEP team so they can just go to our website and special education department and then contact you or the site school for more information exactly thank you any other questions I love all these programs and I appreciate it and personally I appreciate um the programs as well I've seen such a difference so thank you very much Mrs Miller 6.3 special education Day School report fiscal year 23 second quarter thank you president Schultz members of the board as I stated earlier this will come to you quarterly you'll receive the same report each quarter it will look identical except the numbers will change as you can see we have a total budget and where we're going to fall as of right now we're under budget and we anticipate to stay there again there are always unforeseen circumstances of special education is a moving Target but this is where we are at after the second quarter presidential one of the reasons that we bring these to you quarterly this is one of the things that our leadership team did in addition to fiscal transparency because some of these are very large ticket items we're talking about different budgets um and this was one of the things that we instituted is bringing quarterly updates so that you could see where we were in the spending of those and if things needed to be adjusted that also helped you give a gauge of what we spent one year so when we come with the budget for the next year you saw why we might have allocated different amounts for that based upon the need Dimensions would you mind could you please remind us of what the expenditures include and I think you gave information at our retreat but how much we're receiving per pupil you may not have those numbers with you but if whatever you have um these include this rep president Schultz vice president Anderson these include our tuition for our students that attend the private day school as well as any additional service that they may require for example speech and language support occupational therapy support Physical Therapy support counseling for some of our students this also includes transportation for those students when we have to Outsource Transportation due to our difficulty in finding drivers to do that it also includes esy so that's extended school year extended school year in Higley typically occurs in June but for some of our private day schools it goes into July which is why you'll see it on this report for those campuses that had extended school year in July foreign any other questions thank you Mrs Miller move on to 6.4 quarterly ESI report that's Mrs Richardson president president Schultz members of the board you will see expenditures in terms of ESI or our sub budget and I think it's important to remind mind you that we're here in October When Miss Martins brought a recommendation that we increase our sub rates we were having a really difficult time getting subs and so the recommendation was a daily rate from 125 to 165 and then a long-term rate from 145 to 185 after 21 days of subbing we also have learned Mondays and Fridays or challenging days so we look at that 185 number um I believe that Tyler can attest to the fact that in meet and confer they're getting positive feedback that we're filling these positions now thanks to this recommendation that that has had an impact on our budget but I think it's well worth worth it Mrs Richards can you just take a moment for our new board members to explain what ESI is and everything okay so we we work with an organization to um for them to approve Subs that can come into our schools they work closely with us to make sure that they're qualified they have the appropriate fingerprint background checks and that we put them in the right place in these buildings so it's worked out well for us Mrs Anderson vice president Anderson is well acquainted with how we used to do this correct used to be a spreadsheet and a cell phone yeah so Erica our sub coordinator gets here in the middle of the night and starts working with ESI to make sure our positions are filled so a lot of districts in the state work through ESI now rather than doing it all in-house um so for the remainder of the school year up to may we have the 343.
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did I tell you 20. yeah yeah and again I'll be the first to tell you I get that's why I said to you it's the parents that yeah that did the they I know that their parents out there that may not feel that way I totally understand that um I'm just give the only reason I gave you those numbers because that is how I started because to me the most important thing is we want kids to I always joke around and say we know they don't want to come to school right are they but for the most part I mean a lot of the deposits we hear a lot of positive things and there's I I understand there's the negative things but we wanted kids to feel safe we all we always talk about this all the time especially in the last time you're safe emotionally physically they want to feel one of the ones I didn't share was do they feel that there's at least one adult that they can go to that was I think in the 90s over to you like to me that's so so important and this person will be a person that like our school resource officer did when he first came in as another person for her kids to connect with and really because he's there and but they're also the the the disciplinary they're the bad guy and you when you talk about when Jerry talks about the counselor and stuff like that we have I I my counselors I tell them they're not the bad guys they're the advocates for you could ask your daughter they're always the ones that are Advocates if we're not around they kind of jump into some of those roles where now you know I don't want them to be I I want them Strictly To Be The Advocate I'm the bad guy I'm the one who gives out consequences to kids because the kids need to feel that there's still someone in their corner I hope they still think that way but maybe not at times because I give the consequence um if that helps anything else and then they um um well I'm gonna put a motion on for the total budget as presented are you going to make a motion to remember are you gonna or just let it go no I'm uh yeah all right so how much is this costing us how much would it How much would it be cost how much if we if we were to not include it in the budget how much would the budget reduced by so including that on average on a huh yeah 90 000.
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do I have a motion for approval all right so move thank you Mr Bowen do I have a second all second thank you Mr Bruno uh roll call vote please Dr Lee hi thank you trustee Brown aye trustee Anderson aye trustee ballen aye advisory vote aye thank you Mr Mason and chair votes I now we will have a motion to bring a consent agenda number 18 approved 2022 School accountability report card to the floor for discussion uh just briefly I had we got to bring it to the floor for a discussion please so moved thank you thank you okay Mr elect okay so uh I had briefed the board on this previously in Communications uh sarc's the school accountability report cards come from the state last year they did the same thing to us they have a a regulation that stipulates that we must have our sarks placed on our website by February 1st that's not a problem we bring it to January to the board however the state provides us some of the the stuff through calpads uh the material that's in those reports so the reports that you have in front of you all we're asking is that you approve with based on the material that's included in them we will then post those the state has said this is how we should do it and then once the state releases the data to us we populate our the fields that are missing and then we will bring them back to you but I think for full disclosure we wanted you guys all to know that this is not the done deal and this I'm sorry I'm not going to the wrap on this one this is not this is a state not us but they with all districts said get it approved and then come back at a later date because they want to meet that statutory requirement thank you for the clarification so do I have a motion to approve a consent agenda number 18.
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I recommend to the members of the Board of Education to amend the HIV report to remove any references to student names for item 239-198 CMS thank you so noted can I have a motion to approve that Amendment motion thank you Mr Bowles second second thank you Miss Musson all in favor say aye aye any opposed thank you so noted so the motion now has been amended and we will do a Volvo to affirm the group on items 14.2 14.3 just about yes yes Lima zip code yes the solution yes Mrs yes hi yes Mr Januzzi yes Ocean passes thank you we are up to item 15 and I will entertain a motion to adjourn motion thank you Mr Brown thank you um
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so presidential vice vice president Anderson here's here's here we like let's talk about what that means and what we're going to do in order to adjust for that so presidentials members of the board and vice president Anderson yeah so we we will have to uh we're assessing the the year-to-date spend and then gonna probably bring a recommendation um in March or February to increase this budget um again we approved this budget um back in June or July previous predated before we made that increase the sub rate so um we've been operating off this original budget from the 125 daily rate um 125 daily and then 145 long term Subs so um we are right now working to assess what the budgetary needs would be for the remainder of the year uh yeah 344 000 is probably not going to be sufficient so um but we wanted to do our due diligence first and bring a recommendation that will cover us for the remainder of the year um rather than bringing several increases so then what happens is then we know what it will cost us for the year so when we bring you the authorization at the beginning of next year it would look like what we know what the cost has been increased to so that we can project accordingly this is one of those things that we continue to do in fiscally address and address as we need to in alignment with our policy one thing I forgot is um do you anticipate a need for to raise the rate again next year so when you bring us the budget that will be accounted for president Schultz member support one of the things we've been discussing and me and confer is applying whatever compensation increase we come up to to this sub rate as well to continue to move that needle forward and rather to be reactive as a district be proactive because we know um this is a competitive area we're typically competing against Chandler Queen Creek Mesa and as soon as one District goes up the next District goes up and then all of a sudden our field percentages drop to 60 70 so we're hovering around 80 90 fill rates um and so we want to be proactive and and basically look at one of the conversation topics has been applying a percentage increase equivalent to what we are we would propose for next fiscal year to the sub rate to continue to move that needle forward and be competitive in this area as well as total compensation so that when we approve the teacher or the staff increases the sub rates would follow thank you any other questions thank you Mrs Richard moving on to 6.5 amendments to policy ikf graduation requirements still up Sennheiser president Schultz members of the board following our policy updating process bringing you two different policies today the first of them is the graduation requirements due to a change in state statute the driver for this was that we've changed the Civics test used to be a 60 percent to be considered passing starting with the class of 2026 it will now be a 70 percent and so that was the impetus for the change and so when you look at the verbiage and language that's in there you will notice that there's a paragraph identifying that in 2026 they will now have to have a 70 to pass additionally included when this is what the Arizona Department of Education is going to require from us for reporting and so you'll see those reporting things listed as well within the policy also we had discovered that there was some archaic language in there from an old diploma that we haven't used in many many years so we're going to take this opportunity to clean up that language as well and so this is directly driven by the change in statute and we are looking to to approve it during the action item so that you can look to indicate that we know that our class of 2026 must have a 70 percent or above a question I have just going forward before 2020 because I taught seniors so when it came around that they didn't pass before can we over the next couple years just make it a point to like look at how many kids fall between the 60 and 70 percent so like at least that way those at the high school when it comes to make it up we have an idea of a larger quantity of kids that are probably going to need it or is it really a huge impact or not because I was interested in that when I saw it yeah I think that's definitely part of the process that we'll look at in using our data Department with Marcus Berkshire that's going to help drive that and student information because we knew we know that not everyone passes it the first time and that's in eighth grade and then when they get to high school we got to make sure that they can we can provide the support so they can pass it then foreign moving on to 6.6 so that's amazing president Schultz members of the board once again this is uh driven by a change in statute and I know there was a question this was directly referring to the save women's sports act and so you will see language in there and I'll summarize it in my own words basically a biological males may not compete in any sport that's considered uh Co or excuse me female but biological females can compete in any sport it doesn't matter what it's labeled at and so if you look at the verbiage there there's a definition now in a section oh it's right up there at the top male female and co-ed designation and this is determined by the biological sex of the student and you will notice that as you scroll down it says athletic teams or Sports designated for females women or girls may not be open to students of the male sex and so that is directly coming from statute and following that process additionally this was another one where once we got into it I believe this policy hadn't been updated since 2001 and so there were some things about concussions and concussion protocols that we have already done for many many years but now we're putting them in the policy to make sure that we are complying with what is happening from there for those of you who are parents of athletes you're familiar with brain book and you're familiar with register my athlete and that is where we follow all the laws and guidance from the AIA and now it's spelled out in policy and so when you looked and saw a lot of the different things that were added it's just to make sure that we're following and put in policy processes that we are already doing to make sure that our parents are well aware of the implications of concussions and traumatic brain injuries during Athletics thank you any questions this is just updating us for the new laws and we'll move on I'm sorry it was just a comment I just found it you were stating about the concussion and I just found it humorous if you will that when you look at the policy in their 20015 since it was last approved yeah yeah what oh oh I'm sorry I was just making a statement that 2001 was the last time that the policy had been um happy to get it updated now though so we can move forward I think because if you're doing it all sometimes things get put aside right as far as it goes oh we know the policy we know we're supposed to do so I don't know president Anderson vice president uh president Schultz vice president Anderson thank you um one of the things you've noticed is the theme of processes and procedures that we've been working on is looking through the policy process as a way of documenting it whether it's in an exhibit or whether it's in uh it's more explicit and that's been one of that's been a theme of the work that we've been really working hard on over the last couple years and obviously the volumes of what needed to be done from previous years is what we're trying to catch up with as well as anything new and so we have as we kind of talked about what's legal and problematic and proactive and so that's why as you've seen we're lovingly referring to it policy palooza it's going to keep coming and so we will keep bringing those to you and updating them as needed but the documentation of that is really important and that's been one of the themes and focuses so hence you'll continue to see more of these coming to you mine's not a question so much as a point of clarification the idea that the uh save women's sports law is something that we are legally obligated to do and the idea of of an individual who's assigned a gender at Birth um and how they progressed through with sports in our district and a deal I just wanted to make sure that that was just clear that's all thank you thank you Mr watsonizer and we'll move on to action items 7.1 I approve or I move that we approve policy ikf graduation requirements seconded comments questions concerns all those in favor hi any opposed motion passes five to zero and 7.2 I move that we approve policy JJ IB inter Scholastic Sports I can't and I think yep all right and uh all those in favor I right any opposed motion passes five zero future agenda items I have a list here of our future agenda items is there something that any board members want to see coming up besides this um this may be more for your superintendent report but I think I would like to get information on the community attendance to these not only special special oh my gosh special education programs but drug awareness preschool kindergarten anything I'd love to know how we're doing on each one I agree and they're amazing programs that that you're doing good I attended the Snapchat program yes that was very well attended and it was very terrifying and great information so I encourage the community to look at the different information programs that we're providing because there's a lot of parent program or parent information nights that are going on Beyond special ed that Mrs Miller talked about tonight that are very very helpful as a parent trying to navigate social media and all of the different things out there Beyond School president Schultz vice president the other thing sleeping we're updating our website as you know that's one of the other Focus goals we've had where we can have a safe a nice place to store information so if you weren't able to attend that event but want to reference that information at a later time or organizing that in a way that people can go back and reference that information so we will provide those updates for you as well thank you anything else residential yes I just wanted to clarify as well when on our future agenda items we do try and put some time frames on them we used to not and then we'd be like this has been on here for a while when are we going to get to it so um that way you guys know when to expect um that we all know when to expect an updater information to come to us so if you ever want to see additional items added then it will be assigned a time sometimes it takes a little longer we've had these things on here but they go in a process and and do take time to get to so um but I just wanted to to mention that so in February we'll be getting an update on our marketing plan and and information so thank you and I was remiss at the beginning of our meeting to welcome our two new board members I apologize it's my first meeting too as president so um I want to welcome Mrs Wade and Mrs Van Hook to our board and I'm looking forward to a great rest of the year as a board and doing great things for the district so thank you for serving and being on the board with us and Mrs Anderson and Mrs Reese and this time I moved that we adjourned the meeting [Laughter] all those in favor motion passes five to zero thank you have a good night
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this includes the health benefits of the teaching position but it could potentially be more given who is being hired because we have teachers that are very highly paid on this you know same average that Ken uses when he builds a teacher but it should potentially be more it can be potentially could be more absolutely it could be potentially a lot more because given we're asking the expectation of this person even though they're just a teacher well not just a teacher but um the things that were asked we would ask in this position for a really dynamic dynamic person absolutely I would have a hard time getting behind someone that's a not a veteran or seasoned teacher to be put in a role such as this Duchess my opinion okay one more question uh do we know how much so we're we're getting rid of a Spanish teacher at grade five do you know how much that is because we can know exactly it's not um it's not directly aligned because the that's why we have to use the average that Ken uses because we you know we have to have that as the model because we're not actually neces we're not necessarily reducing an actual human being right because of reallocations and backfilling the bilingual position we talked about and with certifications and so forth so it doesn't mean somebody's necessarily losing a job we're reducing that FTE Spanish FTE okay yeah so he uses averages on all of the pluses and minuses so and we try to use the consistent figure that we use throughout the budget building process I don't know um your microphone sure um I don't think under any circumstances money should come before the needs of our children and children have more emotional needs now then there was a six-year-old who shot his teacher so if we can't get them from this age Middle School is tough then I don't know why we're aboard we're here for the needs of the children so if nothing else has to go if you have to choose between heat and hot water you pick what's more important and the needs of the children should be the number one priority in every decision we make foreign any other questions all right so we're gonna We got some voting to do guys um so I'm gonna put a motion on the table if you remember we started this discussion as a discussion with a potential motion right so we're at a point where we need to decide are we ready to take forward a budget so I will start Us by saying the board approves the budget as presented in the amount of 50 million eight hundred and two thousand five hundred and sixty two dollars to be carried forward to the town as our budget approved board of education budget second okay so it's been moved and seconded uh any discussion and emotions so I like to make a motion to um to adjust the budget with the deletion of the dean of students role to the budget okay do I have a second okay it's been moved and seconded so um any discussion on that reduction proposal okay so we're going to vote all in favor of reducing the budget proposal as a as a proposed amendment by ninety thousand dollars uh please uh raise your hand and say aye hi Annie in any opposed to it please raise your hand and say nay nay any abstentions the one abstain so it the the amendment fails so we're back to the original uh motion uh to approve the budget as presented uh any further discussion on that okay hearing none all in favor of approving the budget as proposed in the amount of 50 million eight hundred and two thousand five hundred and sixty two dollars to carry forward to the town as the board's approved budget please raise your hand and say aye hi any opposed one any abstain Mike are you bony no sorry you're about to approval okay so it passes six one okay so we have a budget so congratulations and thank you to everybody involved in this process I will remind everyone that as much as it feels like we've been working on this forever we're not at the end of the uh Road uh we do need to submit to the first select Min this budget by the 31st of January what will happen between now and then as Mr post has some questions to finish answering update all the formats and Ken you will give us all updated sheets for our books so that this becomes the Baseline for all presentations going forward and we have to do a budget letter which I will work with the administration on putting a cover letter uh on our behalf um the it will be pretty dry to tell you the truth this is an inflation discussion right more than anything but I'll talk about some of the ins and outs of the budget and I know not expect it'll be a very complicated letter um the then on February 8th and please everyone marked your calendar for is it the eighth ninth or Thursday night the Thursday night the ninth we have a scheduled session with the board of selectment and the board of Finance to present our budget to them both and the reason it's important that we do that in the early part of February is because the first selectman needs to finalize the ninth which is a Thursday the first selectman has to finalize her budget recommendation by the middle of February sends it to the board of Selectmen who then have two weeks to review it before they send it to the board of Finance at the beginning of of March so there's a whole process that's now starting that will go between now and March uh we do have a chance to talk to the board of Finance about our budget um directly in the board of selectment about our budget directly but I'm guessing we will be asked to come in during the board of finances more extensive budget reviews during the month of March that I would want all of us to attend if we could so uh and it's usually a q a right where they talk about you know what's underlying this and you know they might have some ideas and we may have some new news right I mean for all I know I do know for example they want to talk about maybe budgeting in the middle of the range on on the benefits and they carry some contingency right and that's a fair discussion on how you position a better budget it's a question of where you know where you take risks in the budget whether you do it in the aggregate or in the individual pieces so so that's all ahead of us and then this will all go all the way up to the middle of May when there's a budget referendum so there's a still months ahead of us in terms of budget review so thank you all good discussion I think um thank you to the finance committee Rosa Bob joy for doing the heavy lifting okay thank you to the staff for all answering all the questions so next up on our agenda is the Candlewood Lake Elementary School building project update some um some updates um there are some challenges with Manpower and mud on the site but um they the the floors are starting to go in so that's why mud is kind of like a tricky thing right now they don't want to damage the floors or create too much of a cleanup issue but on the inside light fixtures are going in in the kitchen area taping sanding and painting is nearly done in the Pre-K and K wings those the last Wings to be completed Millwork and Cabinetry have started going into some of the kindergarten classrooms doors are going in around the building the media center stairs are in but they're not finished quite yet tile has gone in the locker rooms um the bathroom stall partitions are going in in the other restrooms the acoustic ceiling which has kind of like a really cool looking design is in the cafeteria is Being Framed out and some of the areas that have wood ceilings are having those currently installed on the outside the roof inspect actions are on roof inspections are ongoing the brick work on the exterior is done so if you take a look at if well you can't really see it but um if you all I'll post some pictures of it you can really kind of see like the nice design in the brickwork the steel for the main entrance canopy so there's going to be that that huge sort of canopy that's in the front of the main entrance so the steal for that is going up and I think there's some Timber and some wood that's going to be related to that so that'll be really pretty um and the cedar window trim has gone in and is being staining um the staining is ongoing the project is still under budget and the building itself is considered 80 complete but the site work itself is still less than half complete so it's just a good reminder that while we're building this huge brand new school the site the land that it sits on has just undergone some really dramatic changes and there are still a lot a long way to go with that that's it which Segways perfectly into the demolition of Huckleberry which won't start until the students are finished and the year is over hopefully that's before June 17th and Saturday uh the graduation date that Mr definitely before July yes yes exactly exactly I have a couple updates but if maybe Dave can make his way up to the podium as well uh Dr P has a few announcements too uh some of the uh the cultural things that are going on at the school which are really exciting I did want to let everybody know that move Management Services along with the project manager uh on Friday afternoon did visit with Debbie at CES and with June over at whiskaneer regarding moving because up until now move Management Services have been focused on Huckleberry but now they need we need to start getting the staff ready at the at the other schools so quite excited about that and I do want to say a reminder before Dave talks um thank the NBC again for approving the uh all hazards plan development is really really important for us Dave take it over please sure so we have a name for Candlewood Lake just a little bit of a process every classroom grades K through five we're given the opportunity to submit a suggestion we received suggestion for mascot for the mascot I'm sorry uh and so it was great some of them you know aligned with the alliteration that we have Brookfield Bobcats Western Air Wildcats so the Candlewood cookies it was a suggestion The Candlewood candy canes courageous chickens so there were a lot of really nice creative names uh we honored all of them and put it up to a vote so any classroom name that was put forth we put out there for the vote I asked for the top three and our top three were cougars Bobcats and cubs so then we took the top three and did our final vote and overwhelmingly we will be the Candlewood Lake Cubs so it's very exciting I'm excited about that thanks Dave I believe catfish was also one yeah it was there I heard crocodile too right crocodile there was a crocodile there's a lot of alliteration there um and to that end uh in working with Mr checo in the NBC I actually spoke with him the other night he's ready to get working with a graphic designer on what what the Cub logo May ultimately look like but first and foremost one of the the thoughts we had is kind of the commonality of a paw that works through pre-k through 12 and so they need to get moving on a Central logo for the gym floor and so we're thinking that it won't only be used by Candlewood Lake so you know how a lot of Park and Rec the community is going to be using it sometimes high school or middle school practices maybe using that magnificent gymnasium so there's some thought that's got to go into that so we're paying close attention there so thank you okay is that it that's it all right thank you all right next up we're back to public comment um this section is about anything that's under the board's purview and again I'll just remind speakers that uh nothing on school Personnel students or board members is considered appropriate we only have one speaker who's asked to speak in this section Mr Korea um sure you know that you know the drill yep Road um so it's interesting in a lot of board meetings um you know sometimes it's a lot of formality comes across sometimes as rehearsed like when we had an agenda item come up to you know try to quell the issues of the you know the FERPA issues and such that you see a little theater going back and forth but um you know if you look sometimes you get little windows with like hot mics right or you get body language right so I just want to let the board know in terms of that blurb that you read about really value you know valuing input if we go go and look at the tape right you'll see on December 14th at about 11 and a half minutes um one of the board members pick up the sign up list and look left and right and said look at this look at the sign up sheet all the same handwriting and we got a couple couple snarky laughs on either side and a smug look you know and those uh people that came up and spoke we're speaking about special education issues and have been coming up some of them you know for the better part of a year so that kind of reflects I think on the board in terms of public relations and real what they really think about input and it concerns me you know also at the board of Finance meeting on January 11th it was representative from the finance committee um you know they are discussing the budget I'm sorry discussing actuals if you go and you look at the board of Finance meeting that happened on January 11th around 33 and a half minutes he'll does a long discussion about how we're doing right and there's a lot of a lot of the word a lot of discussion about special education spending and the term is the town is suffering with increases in Board of Education spending the word suffering was brought up several times like the town was suffering and I kind of find that offensive where the you know children are suffering without the appropriate resources and the view of a representative of the town is that they're suffering and then at around 44 and minutes and 45 seconds um it was a discussion that there's sped overruns the demand keeps creeping up ever increasing demand and at 45 minutes and eight seconds the the speaker said that we're trying to keep a lid on it I told the administration keep a lid on it and to me that body language is very concerning because when you keep a lid on something you're trying to hold it down right physically you try to contain something well it bubbles up well it keeps creeping up needs keep creeping up but we're trying to keep a lid on it almost like a child is struggling and you're trying to keep them down so terminology is important right you know we often see you know in the board of Finance you know we're asking yes of course we have to support the kids but how do we how do we control the spending and when it comes out like that naturally you know it kind of reflects on you know what is the value of the board that's being represented right you know and then the discussion went on about your time's up Sir yeah about fuel costs and I don't think I hope it doesn't have to be warm so we can actually spend special education dollars next year thank you all right so that's it for public comment um uh three main points um I thought I would mention the special ed program review that we discussed the budget discussion and the presentation by Mr Renda I thought was helpful and the CL es update well I was thinking of that but I thought maybe Mr belanda would probably do a communication about that now what does everybody else think yeah what was your first one that you mentioned the special ed program review that we approved yeah so that the budget and the dean of students including the dean of students presentation and the cles update in the dean of students presentation Debbie would be in the board adopted the budget tonight that kind of thing okay everyone okay yep all right okay so uh coming events okay uh Center School has a Lions Club vision screening um the 24th that's an optional opportunity you need to pre-register for and on Friday January 27th there's a PTO sponsored glow dance here at the cafeteria at the high school from 6 to 8 pm Huckleberry has fourth grade field trips to the Capitol on February 2nd and February 7th with skinnier has a PTO meeting tomorrow it's virtual and at the high school as mentioned before midterms are starting tomorrow and running through Tuesday with an early release at 11 A.M anyone else anything else that's all I have okay hearing none thank you uh so we're gonna now move to an executive session I will move that the board enter into executive session to discuss the superintendent's mid-year goals second and seconded by Joy we'll give her one um and uh so all in favor of moving into executive session say hi hi and so for we will be ending our broadcast at this time so those of you been watching at home thank you for attending uh and uh we will formally adjourn the meeting when we exit uh executive session good night everybody
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
thank you and thank you Mrs Anderson Roll Call vote trustee Lee oops hi thank you Mr Broome aye trustee Anderson aye trustee Valley Hi advisory vote hi thank you Mr Mason chair votes I we will jump to business items um business item a flag salute disclaimer do I have a motion to bring it to the floor for a discussion until moved thank you do I have a second no second thank you trustee Lee um Mr Bellum this is something you wanted to bring forward yes thank you president um so as a Prelude to this agenda I brought forth as it came up during my campaign activities for this board seat I'd like to provide a little background information before I get into it this agenda item as well as others that will follow was brought to my attention and of which I advised I would bring forth to the board for discussion should I be elected I began my election activities in June last year and actively began campaigning about six weeks prior to Election Day November 8th during my campaign I contacted over 2500 voters in person in 17 different communities in both Plastering Sacramento counties and sent over 2 700 emails to registered voters in our district potentially between these two I reached over 5 300 voters within the center Joint Unified School District community during my campaign a number of items of concern were brought to my attention of which I plan to present to this board I'm going off memory as to how often I believe they were discussed and will present these items based on the number of times it was brought up by our constituents and this item was the one that was brought up the most to me so it was brought to my attention there is a high degree of dismay around the disclaimer that is read at each meeting prior to the board's meeting agenda item number two flag salute which is the pla our Pledge of Allegiance this disclaimer is also printed in each board meeting agenda as well as placed in each meeting subsequent minutes it was expressed to me of people's disapproval and concern of the district's disclaimer to many in our community who may have lost family friends neighbors co-workers or acquaintances throughout the years in serving our country and their perception that such a disclaimer is disrespectful and desecrating to those aforementioned others that spoke to this describe themselves as just being patriotic and felt it was unnecessary many adjectives were used to describe how those I was conversing with felt many of which I cannot repeat here however the words disrespectful unpatriotic shameful desiccating profane and violating were used I researched this practice and was able to find any organization entity or group that performs this practice of disclaiming the need to stand salute and pledge allegiance to our country there are and have been some for over a hundred years laws legislation policies and regulations written over America's right to free speech as described in our constitutions first amendment that addressed this issue and to my knowledge almost everyone knows of this fact The Pledge original Pledge was written in 1892 and has been changed numerous times up through 1954.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
many challenges to the pledge have been made on both National and State's levels throughout this time the pledge has never been a legal requirement one has never had to recite it by law however the practice of not having to recite was codified in a U.S Supreme Court in 1943 in which the Court ruled school students could not be required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance this led to the generality that all people are not required to participate which is known by most everybody well I could not find any reference of a pledge disclaimer made in a public forum I did find a number of writings relating to policies and resolutions including school districts where the policy is to provide for a recitation or recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and instruction with an exception Clause describing the ability of those that were to decline to participate in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance is the strongest and most unifying statements that we have As Americans members of the United States Congress built the House of Representatives and the Senate begin their daily business with the pledge of allegiance to swear in affirmness their support and defense of the Constitution of the United States Schools and Government meetings throughout the country recite the Pledge of Allegiance with no disclaimer prior to saluting the flag so when he pledge the legions what are we doing the allegiance is an obligation of fidelity and obedience to the government in consideration for the protections and freedoms that our government provides the Flag represents the embodiment of our national conscience and is easily the most recognized symbol of our nation The Pledge is our chance to affirm one's loyalty to America and to show respect of our nation and recognize those that died defending our country has given us the Freedom's America grants its citizens respect and loyalty to our country is the least we can do to show our appreciation gratitude and respect for those that before us have fallen and those who have stood up to protect our rights so what is the importance of the Pledge what is accomplished by reciting words that we may or may not agree with the importance of saying the Pledge is declaring what we are and what we hope to be now and in the future The Pledge is to honor the sacrifice in history made by those who founded and established this country and is a testament in the fight for equal opportunity that has afforded everyone today it has provided a sense of nationalism and pride in its citizens and is a sign of American Unity The Pledge was created to unite us and reassures Americans that the sacrifices made by others does not go unnoticed and has led to the freedoms and opportunities afforded us all in closing I noted many feel that a Plex disclaimer is only not disrespectful and unpatriotic but a waste of time as well advising one of their constitutional rights at the beginning of each meeting to say the Pledge is like telling someone they are constitutionally protected each time they use their phone and that their Communications are private on private and privileged or receiving a notice prior to each time you send an email advising that your Communications are constitutionally protected these protections are well known as such I would like for the aforementioned to be discussed by the board with consideration to rescind this practice of providing a disclaimer to pledge allegiance to the flag furthermore I would like a discussion around creating a resolution a policy providing that before each meeting the Pledge of Allegiance shall be conducted thank you I agree with you is there any other comments yes that was a over six minute comment from an individual board member so I'd like to contribute my own um and it really relates back to things that have happened historically here on the board I encourage members of the public and my constituents who've talked to me about this at my office hours to really go back to the uh April 2021 packet and read the commentary that I provided about business Item B which was the Pledge of Allegiance we definitely have some differences of opinion here on the board Mr trustee ballon just shared his I'll share mine that the Pledge of Allegiance as written and as inducted on this board with the Dynamics of it especially if you go back and read my statement about my experiences with it our very divisionary and divisive and exclusionary acts and it's really not related to the business of this board not every school board in our nation starts at their meetings with a pledge of allegiance or any other mandated speech from anyone and um you know just out of respect for the folks who have died and have sacrificed and have served so that we do have the right to in this country uh not participate in Acts that we may find morally objectionable religiously socially or politically objectionable that is precisely what people have sacrificed for and that is why it is absolutely something that's important for us to consider as a board if we're not going to take the Pledge of Allegiance out of our agenda it has no business being there really except for as an exclusionary act to others who do not align with the religious or social or political statements that are embedded within that a particular exercise so I think it's important that we know the history of what's happened and that there are members of our community who did ask for these items and that is something that's historical it's part of the record um and I just frankly have to strongly disagree uh with Mr gallon's comments uh that he had to deliver about the purpose of our nation our democracy disrespect and so forth I think it's very important that we respect all and that we create inclusive environments for all people and that's why I agree with having the disclaimer if we're not going to completely remove the Pledge of Allegiance from our agendas as many school districts have thank you trustee Lee is there any other comments yes Mr Bell or Bruno sorry babies um so um first I want to make clear that um what's being discussed here is the possibility and this is not even an action item this is only discussion at this stage the possibility of removing the disclaimer um not making it mandatory to say the Pledge um I would be against that if that was what was being proposed but that's you know I just want to make clear that we are not saying that anyone would ever be required to say um I do see your point you made some uh very good points I do see the argument that it could be viewed as a waste of time because people already know their rights I'm not clear on how it's disrespectful or offensive to say that everyone is welcome whether they participate or not um I I personally don't see that as disrespectful and I know that when we profited it was not intended to be disrespectful but I also know that sometimes the way I communicate is not interpreted the way I intended so can you further elaborate on how you view that as disrespectful well um my my my personal opinion is um I I don't think that the disclaimer in and of itself especially after speaking to uh numerous people about it is necessary um and a lot of people I won't say myself is I deem it to be the disclaimer to be disrespectful but but let me tell you there were some people that were extraordinarily passionate about speaking to this matter they are members of our community and um and I can see their point I did the research I found no other organization uh and and I could be could have looked in the wrong places but I found no other organization uh whether it's governmental or or otherwise that stated a disclaimer that you do not have to to say the Pledge of Allegiance and it's your right not to say so um so I I have to I have to decide on those that that spoke to this uh there were I don't know how many dozens of people I spoke to that brought this up and felt it was like I said inappropriate disrespectful and use they used all kinds of adjectives and words um and I myself would feel more comfortable that we just say we're having the Pledge of Allegiance or with this flag salute and people knowing whether you know it's their right not to to say the Pledge of Allegiance that they choose to sit they can sit if you choose to stand and not recite if they choose not to put their hand over their art those are their constitutional rights and that that's should be taught in school I hope it is because that's where I learned it so um I I have to say that I I agree with those that that brought it forth with to me and um you know to to listen to people that have lost somebody in battle as I was told stories of such it's pretty heartbreaking and they they see this as um like I said disrespectful Discerning um and inappropriate so uh I I prove like I said my preference would be that it be removed uh from our staple of monthly board meetings and that's that's pretty much I hope that answers your question thank you thank you trustee Anderson I see Nancy Mrs Anderson talking to your mic I see it as in your face and disrespectful to any family member or service member who has fought for this country to give you the right to stand up and say what you're going to say people whose sons and daughters have gone over and died for this country to say that at the beginning of every meeting and tell people you don't have to have respect for our flag you don't have to have respect for our country it's just in your face I think sometimes it's better less said or not said they know they don't have to stand up I I think I'm understanding your your point of view a little bit better are you thinking that it kind of invites people to to I do okay and I think we've seen it here with our students we never had students not stand up for the flag salute until that started being read before every meeting okay and that's my point this is exactly about inclusion um and creating an environment where people feel free to express themselves um I think what trustee Anderson said it was really captured in my uh April 2021 statement to the board about this item the environment that this board has created the leadership we provided around this item is one of compliance and absolute compliance and you'll whip us argue against us and this kind of attitude of disrespect and so forth um things that are not even present in in the in the disclaimer as we're trying to spin it multiple ways uh the disclaimer that's there on the flag salute is one that was collaborated on by the board um and that the board adopted um and so now to say that because you know we have a new board member um who none of those 5 000 constituents that uh Mr balance spoke about who shared this with him have ever come to us at a board meeting so far to date this has been in use for over a year no one's written into us so if they're so passionate and you know descriptive about it it seems like we should have heard something from someone of those 5 000 folds uh I think it's uh ridiculous to conflate uh patriotism with having a disclaimer about the flag salute to somehow conflate you know people dying as being a disrespect because someone doesn't scan I think it's absolutely ridiculous and frankly almost fascist to even suggest such and it goes against what this nation stands for and what people have sacrificed and died for inclusion is important it's important to have an environment where everyone feels welcome and that they have a seat at the table too um the frankly the flat salute Pledge of Allegiance is a divisionary it's a device so that and one that excludes people and when it's used by bully it works even more to exclude faults and to make them feel excluded and like they better stand up or else we have rights in this country this is America it's a beautiful country and this disclaimer is one of inclusion it is one that welcomes all and I fully support it and my constituents have only told me positive things about it so you know we have a difference of what we're being told okay thank you we will have Mr Mason have his advisory um uh comment and then we will switch to public comment because I did forget and if any other board member has something new to say we can add at that time Mr Mason um I'd like to say uh in Middle School uh we said the pledge every morning and there was this one kid who would not stand and the teacher would kick him out of the class make him go to the office so I think by saying that they're welcome here and saying you don't have to stand except everyone here I'll continue to salute the flag and I know most people here will too but saying that it you're welcome no matter your view I think that we should keep it that it's better to keep it than to get rid of it the disclaimer yeah um before we go to public comment my personal view is I agree with the disclaimer everybody does have their right to stand and say the Pledge or not however I don't think that it needs to be written and spoken at the same time but I do agree with the disclaimer and I think it should stay on the agenda we will go to public comment is there any public comment on this I apologize I forgot to ask I see nothing yes you can come to the podium please and state your name if you will it's not on there we go um just to just to answer Dr Lee's Quest or statement that nobody has ever come forward and talked about the flag salute I myself wrote in when this was first discussed two years ago so yes someone has come forward and someone did speak about the flag suit and many other people I remember that night spoke about doing the flag salute so just to let her know yes many people did come forward and speak about it thank you is there any public comment any other public comment is there any online Miss hunt okay I have one it says mm cave please unmute unmute your mic hello I am a brand new parent here in the uh Center Unified School District we relocated from Folsom and I agree with Dr Lee you know we are in the country the United States of America we have freedoms we have choices and the disclaimer is just advising individuals of their choice to either stand or not they're not saying don't participate don't put your right hand over your heart it's just they are reminding people of their choice so I think that the disclaimer should stay thank you very much now if the board has yes thank you if the board has anything new to add then we can discuss this at this time is it New yes okay um just regards to something uh trustee balance said um regarding uh not finding any other organizations that do this as I've said before whether or not others do something in my opinion doesn't affect whether or not it's right for us to do it and we need to make that call individually but also I I can understand both sides of this issue and I've heard very little from the community in either direction so um if we are going to move this to an action item at a later time I would encourage the public to reach out to us and let us know your thoughts that's all thank you thank you we will jump to business Item B discussion regarding signage displayed on the board's table do I have a motion to bring it to the floor for discussion so moved thank you Mrs Anderson do I have a second I'll second thank you trustee ballen uh trustee ballen you had brought wanted to bring this forward do you want to start discussion yes thank you president Poe so this is agenda Byzantine Item B discussion regarding signage displayed on the boards table uh so it was brought to my attention there were you had to bring the mic closer to you and put it down possibly better yes okay so it was brought to my attention there were questions and concerns around the placement of temporary signs as well as could be permanently displayed on the board's table this table here where we all sit uh also goes by their names such as Council table committee table command table executive platform as well as other names my research shows that this platform for school boards is typically referred to as the board's table I was asked on many occasions during my campaign what the wording of the signs being placed on the table meant and what they represented unfortunately was not able to provide them with an accurate and correct answer as I honestly did not know it's my understanding from what I read that any signings placed on in front of behind or next to a board's table during a meeting represents the entire board as a whole and as such personal message should not be permitted in this forum signs are an integral part of presentation of the presentation by the board and personal messaging can detract from the board's message image and character any signage placed on this form should be reviewed and approved by quorum on the board all signs permanent and temporary should be subject to review in order to ensure such signage complies with the board's Direction and messaging um I think I lost my spot hang on a second oh okay uh as such I would like the aforementioned to be discussed by the board with consideration to rescind this practice uh well my mistake where did it go it's a credit excuse me so to put this in perspective allowing placement of personal ad hoc signage by board member would be like allowing a board board members to post on the school's website whatever they saw fit without any discussion by the rest of the board or District staff therefore I would like this board to discuss this issue brought forth and consider sign composition presented via a resolution so there is uniform policy in this regard additionally I would like for this board to consider a general function subcommittee create and assembled for future consideration of signage placed on or around the board's table this table which represents all the board lastly I'd like to point out that this discussion should also include any computer screen presentation or Background by board members should they be attending the meeting via electronically from a remote location thank you and thank you trustee ballen do I have any public comment regarding this item I see no comments from audience present how about online Mrs hunt thank you I have one question from mm cave please unmute your mic hi there I'd like to know from the gentleman and I I apologize I I missed your name but I'd like to know if this uh proposal is geared directly towards Dr Lee because of the sign that she had at the beginning of the meeting where it said sitting in solidarity is that is that directed directly towards Dr Lee well to my knowledge trustee Lee is the only person that is placed uh signage out uh in front of the board's table and I believe that is what people are referencing to when it was inquired of me so we're circling back to the beginning when we have the disclaimer about the the um the Pledge of Allegiance as well as Dr Lee letting everyone know that she's sitting in solidarity so there seems to be and again I'm a new parent and I I'm seeing this antagonistic um energy you know this is my very first board meeting and everything that I've seen is directed toward this one individual and I cannot see everyone else on the diocese the dice because in the zoom meeting I only see Dr Lee and I see people in the audience and a screen and so I cannot zoom in to see the makeup of the other individuals of the board but it seems that there's some sort of um I I don't know it seems very antagonistic that it's all directed towards Dr Lee so is there an agenda basically my question is is there an agenda uh of for with the board towards Dr Lee um public comment um is just that we don't comment okay and I understand so maybe that can be on the record in the next board meeting that can be addressed but as a new parent I'm trying to understand the school district that my child is currently in because we came from a public excuse me a private school and I put my child into a public school and now I'm looking at this this is my first board meeting I'm thinking okay what the heck is going on here um I'm sorry um I missed your name so I apologize for that I'm cave yes it's it's on there yes thank you um if you wish um all our email address um email addresses are on our website if you feel free to email all of us or whomever you want in regards to your concerns and we would be happy to address them and uh superintendent layers as well okay thank you thank you very much ma'am I appreciate your comments um is there any board comment um is there yes um and I I just want to say that um I'm also noticing a trend in the business items for tonight uh all three of them are focused on me and uh really it's making clear the bullying pattern that is existed on this board and the board majority since my tenure started in 2020 and I won by an upset election defeating incumbent Nancy Anderson uh then proceeded to call out some of the racist and homophobic things that she said in Open Session that my constituents wrote about and that I also complained about that we never censured uh trustee Anderson over um and then you know the Pledge of Allegiance issue happened um and you know other issues have happened like the Heritage Month uh celebration issue you know where I really tried to advance cultural inclusion and celebration and recognition of Heritage months in our districts which takes a very monocultural approach to these topics and instead at that time then president Bruno um you know stated that we should have German History Month in Polish History Month just willfully ignoring and misunderstanding and refusing to take a look at the purpose of Heritage months and what they are intended for or to uplift marginalize communities they're federally established for that purpose but I don't want to revisit everything I just want to Simply note that I welcome you trustee ballon to the board you're falling in quite well with the board majority Dynamic two of your business items that you've Advanced today are direct attacks on me I really wish that these attacks on me could end and that we could focus on student achievement in this District that is the mission of this board that is why I ran all of these distractions about everything else are purely distractions it's embarrassing as a former Civics educator and current Civics educator and diversity equity and inclusion specialist to have what happens at every meeting happen again the dysfunctionality needs to end the bullying needs to stop thank you thank you is there any more business skills um I would just like to say that the business items might be interpreted as an attack but I would like to remind everyone that the flag salute disclaimer being added to the agenda was a business item that I had put forward originally um and I think describing this saying that this is a waste of time we should be focusing on other items other items can also be added to the agenda so during Advanced planning I look forward to those suggestions thank you thank you trustee Bruno Mrs trustee Anderson I have a question for Dr Lee if you're going to have a sign on the board table during a meeting that says sitting in solidarity I think we should know what that solidarity is thank you trustee Anderson and trustee Bruno for your comments too I'm sorry I can't you know I think it's important um that this was as I mentioned I point us back to the April 21st 2021 uh agenda packet there's a written statement from me there it explains exactly what's stated in solidarity means uh and my concerns about having this as a an item on our board agenda so the board declined to remove the Pledge of Allegiance um and we instead came up with this disclaimer to just show welcomingness and inclusion for all um so that's uh about that part in that aspect of it um the discussion about the signage displayed on the boards um table today is quite interesting I heard Mr Allen's uh opinion about it I happen to disagree with him and I just again see it as another veiled attack but actually very direct attack on me um and I really wish we could we could stop it and and move ahead with focusing on diversity equity and inclusion and the burgeoning student achievement in our district to do that we as a board have to directly confront the racism and homophobia that's present among us so that we can effectively lead uh efforts towards diversity equity and inclusion and we've been struggling for a couple of years now to do that and I hope we'll continue to struggle because it's a worthwhile struggle and that's what we should be doing as public school servants and trustees on this board thank you trustee Anderson we're going to close discussion right now and we're going to move forward to business item c um business item C resolution number 11 20 22 23 resolution of center of trustee tabiali do I have a motion to bring it on the floor for discussion let's have a quiet please so moved thank you do I have a second I'll second okay at this time I'm going to read the resolution Center Joint Unified School District resolution number 11 2022 23 resolution of censure for trustee tavioli whereas Center joint excuse me Unified School District board bylaw 9220 States recognizing the Public's right to know if the board members continue to meet the qualifications to serve on the board and in effort to provide transparency within 30 days prior to the governing board's annual organizational meeting each board member must provide verification in the form of at least two documents that they continue to reside within the school district boundaries the annual verification will be made with the superintendent's office with the superintendent and at least one other staff member witnessing the board member addressed the board member addresses shall not be made public further the documentation is for verification only and neither the address or the documentation will be kept on file and whereas Center Joint Unified School District board law 9220 further States upon verification from all board governing board members and no later than the next regular board scheduled board meeting after the annual organizational meeting the superintendent shall report whether or not each board member has provided address verification within the district boundaries and what types of documentation will be provided by each while the status of the verification and forms of documentation will be discussed the addresses themselves will not be disclosed and where and whereas Center Joint Unified School District of bilot 9220 further States if a board member is unable to to provide at least two documents to verify their residency they will discuss with this with the superintendent as early as possible to find a reasonable accommodation for verifying residency and whereas Center Joint Unified School District by law 9220 further States if residency cannot be valid verified actions would be taken up to and including censure and whereas trustee Lee did not provide verification of residents prior to the December 15 2021 organizational meeting and whereas trustee Lee did not provide verification of residency prior to December 14 2022 organizational meeting and now therefore be it resolved that the board does not condone trust easily lack of compliance with board bylaw 9220 and it be further resolved that this board does not hereby excuse me that this board does hereby sanctuary and formally express its disapproval of trust easily conduct described above be it further resolved that the board hereby directs trustee Lee to properly perform her duties as a board member by complying with the board member annual residency verification portion of bylaw board bylaw 9220 be it further resolved that if trustee Lee chooses not to comply with board bylaw 9220 specifically board member annual residency verification a letter along with a copy of this resolution will be sent to the California attorney general for further investigation at this time Dr Lee do you is your opportunity to make a statement oh and I have an opportunity to make a statement am I on trial uh president no that that is um per the uh policy of censure that is in our policy what portion of our policy states that um Mr layer do you have that by chance can you bring that up I don't recall that being a portion of our newfangled censure policy was it in the policy that we found that it's under the procedure portion it's in the backup for the agenda so it's the um when in the opinion of them yeah so on the second page of it the board member who is a subject that said Center motion shall be provided the opportunity to explain his or her action so not a statement necessarily but just if there's any reason a rationale behind it okay I excuse me you said the the word statement it's you have an opportunity to speak if you will thank you for that clarification uh superintendent Larry that's a big difference I am what was stated but I'm president um so yes I would like to direct the public um to my November uh 2022 statement it's in the board packet it's published on this very topic um of uh the development of a board residency verification policy um which uh then president Bruno admitted he thought of from his mind um and we had one public commenter who at that time stated that she didn't believe that the people advancing all that Equity stuff really lived here and so she wanted to see a policy developed to have our board members annually verify residents it really reminds me of like Jim Crow times uh you know when folks will be accused of not living somewhere or not belonging somewhere they shouldn't be somewhere they should verify and show their papers and you know really I encapsulate related my resistance my continued resistance to this Ward policy that only our district were the only District in the state of California that I found and I asked my colleagues to produce a state of California examples and they have not yet but like they mentioned we like to be Trailblazers not about student achievement not about elevating our marginalized students and communities and combating racism and homophobia at every step and every turn what we're passionate about policing each other and getting Lee to shut up and unfortunately Lee was a dulia and is a duly elected official I was elected by my constituents two Advanced diversity equity and inclusion in this District it's in the monoculturalism that's here I will continue to speak about that if that causes people to question if I live here or not and then to make policies to make sure I comply with them I'll continue to resist that I love this resolution I love that it says that this board will take legal action which is why what I've asked them to do from the beginning present it to the attorney general and to the Board of Elections officials let's get the ball rolling on that because it's out of line it's out of order and as I told the students at the November meeting when something's out of line and out of order you have a duty to resist it and to not comply with it when someone tries to make new rules to subject dually elected officials who already need eligibility criteria to new local rules it's ridiculous don't comply with it always resist when you think that something's immoral or wrong I continue to say that this is an immoral and wrong act it's just elevation of the bullying and the harassment that's taken place from day one here and this is the grand culmination of it get that letter out to the attorney general get that letter out to whoever needs to get it so that we can move ahead and focus on student achievement that's all I have to say about this resolution thank you for the opportunity thank you trustee Lee at this time we'll have public a comment I do have a commenter on Mrs excuse me I do have a public commenter that wrote out a card they don't need to write out a card they can just they can stand up after the one that after the person that did write a card so I will call on Mrs Hughes please no yes no okay I just want to start off that this is another um way that Dr Lee is wasting the money with the censure thing she says that it is not a big deal to verify residency well I want her residency I am one of the people who would like your residency verified I am a Community member and I would like that done the policy wasn't written for just you the policy was written for every single board member up here every single board member showed verification of residency what you are doing is holding out it is not immoral whatsoever if you think of it as immoral for yourself then I think you need to reevaluate your morals really again I addressed you in my letter that is this something that you protest every time someone asks you to show ID or verification no and another thing you're wasting money again from the general funds this is a total waste of money that is coming out of every single person's um taxes right here just to get you to show residency so thank you so much for wasting the money are you responding to me I'm sorry are you because I cannot hear you we will not respond to public commenters we will not respond to public commenters thank you Mrs all right my other question was oh we didn't um if someone is censured do they remain or do they get paid while they are on censure because again she is being paid by the district from our tax money she is getting paid while she's centered if she gets censured and not following policy thank you Mrs Hughes okay um so there are several people in the audience that would like to come up to the podium so please file single file please state your name if you will my name is Jacob Conroy I'm a student at Center hi Jacob um I'd just like to say that I think it's ridiculous that you're comparing the fact that you won't verify that you live within this district with Jim Crow laws I think that's utterly and completely irrelevant to what's going on people want to make sure that someone who is on our Board of Trustees can actually decide what's best for our district making sure you live here and with you deflecting that it's that it's somehow going to become that it's somehow racist or homophobic which is an irrelevant point to bring up and then also saying that it somehow somehow has to do with Jim Crow that's ridiculous you're acting like a child trying to deflect all this because you don't want to prove that you live here you're you're saying that this is all because of the Board of Trustees agenda and because people don't like you no it's because you've you had a duty to prove on December 15th that you live here and you've rejected that duty to do so instead you're putting the blame on everyone else instead of just doing it this wouldn't have been an issue if you were just done when you were asked [Music] foreign ER uh just to add on my name is CJ and I'm a student here at CHS is abundantly clear that the growing trend on this school campus especially with board meetings is my first board meeting I really like the energy going on here especially with that last speech but I must say that most of my teachers do agree with that statement not going to name a lot of teachers but it is a pretty well-off opinion that you're not really good here in regards to that you mentioned that there needs to be more equality there needs to be more diversity how would you know that if you haven't been on a school campus or attended any events I'm sorry as I'm not good for public speeching but I think that's because you do not live in the district and that's why you deny that that's all I have to say thank you is there any others [Applause] please Hey so uh I'm not really here to disagree with you Miss Lee at all because I kind of do understand what you're saying like I'm gonna lie we more focused on like all this extra stuff but the school really not going that crazy right now like we're not focused on what the school is doing we focus on where you live at and I really don't see the point in that either because why would it matter if none getting done here like I don't know I can't speak for the other students but really how I feel is worth doing a bunch of rambling about what should be said or how to say it right and it's really not getting nothing done I mean the world hard on its own and we just not we're not getting to the real the real point of like we gotta make improvements to the school and not come worry about where you live at so I ain't here to disagree on I'm not going to agree with everything you say but I don't I don't harshly disagree with you at all that's all I gotta say we need to get to the facts though [Applause] hello my name is kamiya Jackson I just moved here from Center I was recently at Oakland Tech um I just want to say that the way students and like others have been acting towards you I'm sorry for that I feel like that's disrespectful but everyone's open to their own opinion I also agree that with the money that's being wasted and either aspect could go towards the school in hbcus and learning about different College opportunities for different students I just want to bring that to the board's attention thank you very much [Applause] okay Mrs Hunt is there any online comments thank you at this time we'll have some board discussion we'll start with Mr Bruno if he has anything to say um I would just like to reiterate what I've said in previous discussions that I strongly believe that all board members do reside within the district that's not the the issue here for me for me the issue is the willful disregard of our policies and procedures um the rule was created through proper procedure and trustee Lee is is choosing not to follow our procedures and that does concern me on the other hand um at the California School Board Association conference in December of um there was some discussion about censure and it was stated to me that censure should be reserved for the most serious offenses or when the district needs to isolate themselves for legal purposes from the behavior of an individual although I'm very disturbed by the disregard for the rules I'm not convinced that it rises to that level thank you thank you Mrs Anderson I would like to address why it's important that we do this and why it's important that she lives in the district by law you have to live in the district to be a school board member if a school board member doesn't live in the district that means every vote that's taken at this table is brought into question and maybe an illegal vote that means every dollar that she receives which I admit is not a whole lot but may have to be repaid to the government or every dollar the district receives is brought into question it opens up a whole can of worms and I feel that as a board we are obligated and responsible to our community and to our district to forward this and get to the bottom of it she is deliberately set it up to refuse and absolutely refuse to just show the superintendent her address and verify it with him and it is a requirement to be on the school board that you live within the district boundaries and most of us believe that she does but she's just refusing to verify it and that is part of the regulations so we have an obligation she has an obligation to the district and to the community but she refuses to do it so she's tied our hands and she's wasted all of this time and money and effort by everybody just so that she can prove her Point nurse she thinks she can prove her point so that's all I have to say my comment um students follow policy and procedure our staff follows policy and procedure we the leaders of the school district should also follow policy and procedure I believe it's very important for the board members to set a precedence for the people in our district and if the leaders don't follow policy and procedure well then what's going to happen chaos trustee Valley well thank you president Pope so um being the newest member of the board I'm on a somewhat of a quagmire here because I was not involved in this process prior to uh uh the last board meeting and and this and this evening's board meeting um my position is is I agree with everybody and I disagree with everybody if that makes any sense um I took the opportunity to educate myself I spoke to an attorney and a public policy um official uh very high very high up very well known uh and I think I got some really good information um the points taken by trustee Lee uh some of the points she's taken uh I believe are true um there is no uh requirement once you are elected to again prove your residency unless a certain criteria or set of circumstances that is requires attention at a very high level to my knowledge that has not occurred with trustee Lee it was just an inquire my understanding was just an inquiry by a number of community members it was brought forth to trustee Bruno I believe it was or trustee so well several trustee members let's just put it that way so my concern here is is that was the right path taken I I I'm not going to say because I wasn't here on the other side of the coin is the fact that there was a resolution it was created there was a policy not a policy I'm sorry uh we had the our our attorney take a look at it it was deemed to be not in any violation and that we had the right to do so by law so like I said I'm in a quagmire um my personal feeling is I provided my uh information to superintendent Lair it's pretty painless uh he didn't write down my address just wrote down what I presented um that is what is being required just showing proof that you in fact live in the district um how trustee Lee feels that is inappropriate and moral illegal and some of the other terminology she's used that's entirely her right um but I I'm I will I will side on the on the fact that or I believe I'm going to side on the fact that it's if if the board passed this and and the consensus is this is something we should do and it doesn't violate anybody's rights uh then it should be enacted thank you Mr Bell do you want an advisory comment please or if you wish you don't need to I I represent the students up here and I'd say the students feel 50 50 on it half the students feel that we should get the ball rolling and pursue legal action the other half don't feel it's necessary very well okay thank you at this time we will ask for a motion to approve resolution oh is there a motion to approve I'll move it to approve resolution number a business agency second out second thank you um we're going to call for a vote at this time trustee Lee you are unable to vote um per the policy Mr Bruno oh still I guess I'm obscene thank you I'm gonna vote now okay I it's like speak in your mind I um for the fact that first of all I want to State I believe truly believe Dr Lee lives in the district um I believe we all live in the district as Mr Bruno said and as I stated before policies need to be followed and there is a policy because community members emailed and spoke to the board several of us in regards to residency of board members so for that reason we chose to write a policy and it was approved by the board um four to one it was done in public comment or a public meeting a business meeting in public for these reasons um the policy was not followed by one individual so for that reason I'm going to vote I trustee ballen aye advisory vote thank you business item C passes student board report Mr Mason so coming off the winter break coming off the window is it on coming off of Windows coming off the winter break uh we don't have we don't have okay Howard's mic no uh we don't have much going on um we still have our uh boys and girls basketball going on but unfortunately due to the facility um the football field soccer field all of our games home games have been postponed until further notice for soccer both boys girls um coming up though we have our financial aid on the 24th of this month our financial aid night sorry and then the week of Valentine's Day the 14th through the 17th we have a spirit week and then on the 17th we have our winter rally um and then I'd like to invite all members of the board to come to a student business meeting on the 8th of February we start at 7 40.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
in the morning okay 7 40 on the 8th of February oh uh room 603 thank you thank you uh Mr Bruno would you um I'm Gonna Keep it very brief uh this month and I just want to say this storm recently has been really bad and I did not want to leave my house so I was very thankful and appreciative for those who were leaving the comfort of their homes to deal with the situation um yeah I I was avoiding driving as much as possible we got our groceries delivered to us so we wouldn't have to drive um but you guys came out did the work and prevented further disaster thank you trustee Anderson leave it to California to be in a drought and Flooding at the same time conflicted state um just welcome everybody back from the holidays welcome everybody back from the holidays and I don't think we had any tragedies this time so that's great news and thank you all for attending um we've been very well behaved and I'm always so impressed with students from the high school you've done a great job um I hope I can go to the meeting you talked about Mr Mason um maybe Del Rey will drag me along with her and we can do it together um other than that happy New Year stick to your resolutions and we'll see you next bye Mr ballon thank you president Pope um to reread reiterate uh trustee Anderson welcome back from the holidays hope everybody's getting back into the groove so for me it's been a busy 15 days that's how many school days there were since I took office last month due to the winter break I didn't have as much time to acclimate myself to the my new role School Board member as I would have liked but I believe I was able to see a lot during this time so first in keeping with my campaign promise to ensure the safety and security of all our students and the opportunity to attend a regional safety Symposium in San Mateo on January 11th hosted and sponsored by the San Mateo County Board of Education and the Northern California regional Intelligence Center also known as enrich I had the Good Fortune to attend this event with director of facilities Richard Putnam and Center High School principal Gerald Ferguson a real like thank them both for making me feel welcome during this trip I'd like to uh a lot of really good information was provided so the time and travel was well worth it the information we obtain has been provided to superintendent Lair and we plan to review the material we returned with to see how some of the initiatives practices and policies developed in the San Mateo region may be adopted here in Center Joint Unified School District to ensure absolute safest environment for our students teachers and staff on Friday the 13th fortunately it was a good day nothing bad happened another little bit of rain I had the opportunity to be briefed on the Career Technical education program commonly referred to as CTE program at Center High School and to visit the CTE buildings being built for the information and communication Technologies and the Building Trades and communication construction programs the buildings are coming along nicely and I have to again applaud our facilities folks for delivering the highest quality projects on time and within budget I look forward to the opening and know that many students will learn a lot in these locations for decades to come my thanks to superintendent Lair Center High School principal Ferguson director of facilities Putnam and director of curriculum instruction and special education Mike Jordan for the general provision of their time in briefing me on the CTE program and providing the tour of the new CTE buildings also on Friday the 13th I had the privilege to visit Spinelli Elementary School it was an honor and privilege to have been there and see how our district provides the highest quality education to our students a big thank you to Spinelli's principal Erica Olmsted superintendent Laird director Putnam and director Jordan for the tour and briefing of this outstanding school I very much enjoyed sitting on in several classes and watching our teachers do the great work that they do in educating our community's children something I noted while I was at Spinelli which I have to comment on so while in the first grade class of teacher Sabrina golubick I hope I pronounced that correctly upon entering of our Entourage to her classroom Miss golubick did not miss a step in focusing on her children's activities she did not look up or acknowledge us focusing only on the students of whom she had their complete attention and they also were not distracted by our presence due to her attentiveness to them to me this is the caliber of teacher that we want and need for our district and what makes Center Joint Unified School District as that as outstanding as we are uh kudos to miss goliben next I'd like to thank Carol hunt and all the school state staff that participated in and presented January 2023 report to the board I thoroughly enjoyed reading what all the sites are up to and their remarkable accomplishments keep up the good work lastly I unfortunately have to report on my understanding around the funding of our special needs students I was quite surprised at learning of the lack of funding that is available for these special children it is my intention now to also focus on this matter during my tenure as a board member to ensure all that can be done is done for these students moving forward so they too may have a bright future from their education and Center Joint Unified School District in the next couple months that's my intention to tour Center High Wilson Riles North Country Dudley Oak Hill and McClellan as well as having a briefing by staff on the district's technical infrastructure and Technologies inclusion I want to be sure that all that watch this board meeting live or recorded please please know that you are more than welcome to come here and attend this meeting in person and I am sure all the rest of the aboard encouraged us as well your presence would be greatly appreciated by us and any input you choose to give would be helpful and beneficial to the board the district our schools and our students so this completes my board for a report for January 2023 I want to commend the students in the boardroom here this evening of their courteousness attentiveness and patience it's very much appreciated thank you very much uh trustee Lee all right so greetings all welcome as some of us have said to 2023 um I'm really hoping that everyone has remained safe and well and in good health as we're navigating this extreme weather emergency that continues to impact our state and our community at this time I really want to take a moment to thank the facilities team for working efficiently to address the water issues that are happening at our schools and to get those facilities restored as soon as possible I really just want to know that we've wasted a lot of time today we're Folks at the same time expressed that they believe that I reside here in the district and that they wanted to continue to stand by of residency verification policy that should have been rescinded when I asked for it I think twice previously and gave very cogent reasons and shared my research with a Board of Elections officials in California Department of Education officials and their statements about out this particular policy so I'm truly looking forward to this advancing and to the apology that will be delivered to me for this today's censorship once I am Vindicated um also I think that this has shown the true priorities of our board majority and their supporters it's really made it clear once again but I remain focused on taking meaningful action to improve student achievement and cultural inclusion in our district by any means necessary second earlier this month I had the pleasure of virtually attending the California school board association's annual education conference as part of my board member development activities after some access issues were resolved and I just want to take a minute to thank superintendent Lair and Miss Hunt For assistance with those issues with the California school board association's platform we made it through one of the standout workshops for me that I attended to learn more about how to to Be an Effective governing board member was a session on Effective Government practices with an equity lens and this was a facilitated by Nicole Anderson and there were a couple things that stood out about that presentation to me while I hear about some of us visiting School sites and doing walk-throughs of school sites one thing I haven't heard about is doing a walkthrough that's focused on equity and Equity walks are something that Miss Anderson presented about in her workshop on effective governance practices with an equity lens and it's something that I would find very meaningful and informative as a board member both for our in-person and independent or online study classes as many of you know that my tenure was started during a global pandemic and two years almost a lockdown so but I am very familiar with our school sites and I have relatives and I've had children enrolled in our school side so I have a deep awareness of that and it's something I spoke about in my campaign for my dually elected position so I really would like to see us learn more about Equity walks um and to start using them as part of our practice as soon as we can maybe it's something that the equity committee can take a look at another thing Miss Anderson pointed out during her Workshop that resonated with me is that an equity statement or policy isn't something you just knock out in a couple of hours or at a single board Workshop she explained that Equity statements and policies take time to develop and she suggested that an effective Equity policy can take more than a year to develop and to me that really made sense especially as I reflected on the manner in which we developed our own Equity policy as a board so finally I really do just want to assure my constituents that I will continue to do what I was elected to do here on this board to shine a light on the burgeoning student achievement in this district and to do all I can and to put an end to the monocultural homophobic and racist practices that we engage in so that we can open the door for greater diversity and student achievement it's really important because these things are interrelated student achievement is related to the levels of diversity equity and inclusion that we see present in a learning environment this is research supported so I really just invite folks to keep sharing your perspectives with me I continue to have my open Office hours that I've had since I started my tenure they are virtual you can pop in anytime it's drop in four to five first Mondays the next one's on February 6th and the link is on the board website and by all to continue to just drop in share your concerns and I'll keep bringing them forward thank you trustee Lee before we go to our student representative um yeah we all do um not all but we do when we can walk the sites and Dr Lee I'm excited to hear um your board report when you do your equity walk we would love to hear it so Ah that's a great idea so once that happens I'm excited to hear your board report well it's actually a practice president uh Pope and it's something that we would need to learn about and Implement in a strategic way it's usually something that a board suggests as part of their Equity policy but watching Miss Anderson's I think we have on-demand access to her presentation watching that will really help you as president hopefully make some machinations for us to make a resolution maybe to start supporting and doing Equity walks in our district that would be wonderful yeah that'd be great um so as soon as you know we hear some information from you I think what you're referring to is actually trustee Kelly I don't believe it was trustee Lee or trustee Anderson no I'm I'm referring um to the person that I mentioned uh who was the facilitator of the workshop at the California school board association's annual education conference the workshop title was effective governance practices with an equity lens and that was facilitated by Nicole Anderson who is the CEO of Nicole Anderson and Associates Consulting LLC for my understandings just declaration I apologize I thought you meant Mrs Anderson my apologies um Mr Mason you want to give your horror report um yes I'm all confused thank you it's my turn and then we'll go to superintendent Larry prior to break I had a great opportunity to visit a Wilson Riles Winter concert and Mr Johnson have you ever seen that music teacher he is amazing he engages the students of his musicians in choir and in band he engaged the students in the audience with the presentations at the the musicians were doing it was a great it was enjoyable Mrs Kent read Twas the Night Before Christmas and in the background the band entertained us with some sound effects so very enjoyable um a few months ago we received the employees received a newsletter the first newsletter actually from our business office and I wanted to tell Mrs um Miss Coronado once again to that it was a brilliant idea just another way to inform our employees of what's going on in our business office there is so much goes on and I think it was a great idea so thank you for doing that for all of us um I would like to say thank you to our school site administrators so for submitting their school board or school reports the board reports to us I know it took time but I appreciate it and it's amazing what you accomplished in the three months that excuse me that you provided I would like to say how proud I am to be a part of a district that supports one another and works together as a team the recent storm could have caused catastrophes within the district our district is in full safety mode following our district safety plan section 18 severe weather the district utilized the emergency phone tree to keep one another abreast of the situations within the district facility maintenance and operations did an amazing job keeping the facilities grounds safe and clean anticipation for the arrival of our students and staff thank you everyone for keeping our students and staff safe superintendent layers leadership and guidance made for a smooth mood smooth smooth move between the 10 storms that we've had within the area he kept the board constantly informed and was available for questions when needed so thank you Mr Lair and District staff or district office for getting us through the weather related issues board members mark your calendar for March 7th a Spinelli Elementary will once again host their Multicultural night the last time they did this was prior to the pandemic and the students had dressed they danced they shared food of different cultures it was an amazing time this is another way that our school sites bring diversity and inclusion into our school district congratulations Spinelli I will be there on the 7th we have many successful and talented people within our district for instance our own Mr Bruno's wife is a publisher of two children's novels or books I recently came across this book blintered Birthright splinted Birthright is a story that follows a young girl's school a young girls high school living in a human part of a supernatural Planet she lived a normal and happy life one day her life turned upside down after a surprising turn of events I'm not going to read any more you got to get the book this student Rebecca Rebecca Lynn is a Center High School student she published an author she's the publisher of the auth of this book splintered Birthright she is currently 17 years old and a senior at a high school she plans to pursue dance education at College After High School she intends to work and publish two more books in the novel of this series splintered Birthright she enjoys dance modeling and active and Girl Scouts and loves writing she's active in leadership and aspires to to be a mentor to Young students congratulations Becca Lynn for publishing your first book I am so proud of you [Applause] other than that welcome back everybody and have a great second semester Mr Lair uh yes thank you uh president Pope it's my pleasure to share a few things with you here and uh one I just want to start with was sorry thank you I couldn't hear myself uh one of them I just want to give a shout out to to uh principal Farrell for his role as we take on and the opening elementary school I know he's hired a secretary now and is working and so I want to just congratulate and thank him for that as he also is out knocking on doors putting Flyers meeting and greeting and doing everything you can to really pump it up if you had not had a chance to talk to Mr Farrell uh you uh are missing out on some excitement because this guy is pretty jazzed about this opportunity so thank you Mr Farrell for that additionally we've covered this quite a bit but I did want to thank Richard and his daughter I'd not plan to come out uh Saturday drove to my father's house was driving that way and I'm like I'll just swing by Spinelli because there's one little area pull in there's Richard in his first grade daughter and I was like I don't know how they got out here because I did some magical things to get here and anyway they just jumped in and helped but the bigger one I want to acknowledge too was technology through all these storms power going in power going out technology and Lauren back there and then Eugene uh just did remarkable things we rely so much more on technology than the backbone than we ever had before it's not like the good old days is where when you're entering or your your lights go out it's just the lights well now it's the Internet it's the access to the internet some of our systems our phone lines um so it's really working um now to see how we can have some redundancy on those things to make them work work better and smoother but I have to give a huge kudos to them for making it go very very well and I've told Eugene probably Eugene is uh over Tech you made me look good about 25 times in the last week so keep doing it um also just acknowledging our expanded learning opportunity program is uh getting up and running Mr barassi I appreciate the work he's done to make that happen we're starting to see that expand and hopefully by next year we'll continue to see it grow uh additionally I have shared with the board but wanted to share publicly you know we had modernization projects out there for uh North Country Oak Hill and Center High School at that time we were in a funding piece for it to be under a hardship status we've learned some new information late last week so we will be coming back to the board and talking about whether or not we are in hardship status for those projects or not and then we'll need to consider whether or not if we are not in hardship status do we want to continue with those projects or or not so more to come on that another one that's out there that that was new to us too is to our North uh where it is uh will be where Watt Avenue becomes Santucci at the very top of the district there is uh Santucci drive and um Pleasant Grove or Pleasant yeah Pleasant Grove I mean there's a neighborhood there that is petitioned with the county to Annex into another part of the district about 100 homes and so that process was just kicked off last week we'll be working with our legal team to to see what what what that all means and what the process so board you will be informed and we'll make sure the community is also informed as we move forward with that there'll be some public hearings it's a long process but I want to get get you guys informed on that the other one is and you echoed this and trustee ballon you did this our tours on Friday I think when we finished I said probably the best part of our job it's why we do what we do and it's really cool to see our folks out there really really giving it all for for our students and our families TK is another transitional kindergarten is a big thing we now have transitional kindergarten at all our schools we plan to open one uh at Rex Fortune Elementary and so we're looking at creating promotional materials to get more word out to our community about when you can start enrolling your transitional kindergarten age student so more to come on that and then finally she was quick to give no credit to herself but I have to thank Lisa for her work with that clean audit clean audits seem like oh that's easy they come and keep tell us it is a lot of work and it is a huge huge effort so Lisa thank you for what you do her staff is incredible the state District staff that support that work it's hard but it starts with her so I have to thank her for for that effort and with that I think I'm done thank you Mr Lair and thank you everybody that he mentioned it's uh it's a team effort and we appreciate and love our team Advanced planning future day the next regular board meeting will be February 15th right here in the boardroom at the annex is there any suggested agenda items absolutely I do um hold on hold on if you're gonna talk you have to talk in the mic I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell yes thank you thank you Mrs Anderson excellent message the flag salute message okay um yes before I go I think we should vote one way or the other okay so for so just because I'm Miss hunt and I are taking notes so I'm trying to decipher so are you asking that we bring a um a vote back to consider whether or not we want to keep the disclaimer ated nothing is there any other option we can get creative thank you for making lifetime read it post it both or nothing I guess is there any other suggested business item yes Mr Bruno I have one um I've made public in the past uh my concern with naming facilities after people and at last month's board meeting for Sacramento City Unified School District they actually presented changes to their report policy which at the time was pretty much identical to ours Court policy 7310 um which is the rules for naming the facility and they introduced new rules that give much more leeway into what names can be considered so I afforded their policy to president Pope and the superintendent Lair and I would like to uh to discuss and possibly adopt the same policy hey we're using one from another District this time uh because I think that gives us more leeway for other types of names for facilities um actually more policy very limited as to what we can can choose yep so so um this policy would change that a little bit um we could either adopt it as is or make Provisions to it I'm open either way okay so what I'm hearing is to bring forward a City Unified School District's board policy 7310 for review for the board and if we need modified not modifications we can do so at the whenever it comes to actually would probably bring it in next month I think we're doing some other board policies yeah okay I didn't want to like be snuck in there or anything because when we at least bring our own back so that we can compare the two and decide what we want so anytime we we are on schedule to possibly bring a first reading of a big batch of policies of the recommended policies so we can ex we can set that one out separate a little bit so it calls a little more but anytime we bring a batch forward we always bring the current policy and then the recommended policy so members Community can compare those two policies sure valid points ballot point the the policy yeah the policy that was shared was is more okay is there any other um or the few I do yes I'd like to see us um discuss and get more education around Equity walks and the practice of equity walks in our district um I don't know from superintendent Lair excuse me trustee Lee I'm really having a problem hearing you excuse me just one second please thank you audience I'm sorry trustee Lee could you please repeat yes um can everyone hear her yes I can hear you thank you okay so um I'd really like to uh see uh agenda's um Equity walks um and some information about Equity walks for the board um uh what is the practice um what are potential policies around it um I don't know if that's something that superintendent Lair is working on with education uh trust or our partnership with that organization if that's even come up but if we could have a presentation on what is an equity walk and why are they important for Equitable instruction um that would be most helpful I'd really appreciate that that's a great idea trustee Lee could you please uh put your I'm sorry I was going to say that is something that we're actually working with West Ed on oh and that is going to come up likely when we start looking at plans in the future so if if if if it's agreeable it that is naturally going to come up in the coming months um Dr Lee are you still there is that um agreeable to you how soon do you think that we would have information about what an equity walk is a superintendent Larry well I would need to work with our consultant who's doing it I also have been through training with um Miss Anderson from Anderson Consulting so I'm familiar I need to I don't I don't have an answer but I I would say before by Spring something like that that we're going to come back with a plan as a result of the work that we've done all year and certainly if it's not meeting the needs we could certainly add to that uh if if there's more detail but it it I don't want to Veer us off the topic that we're doing with West Ed because I think it will be included in there perfect thank you uh trustee ballen you said you had something to add to add yes um so as it related I don't know where we left off with the um business uh item agenda uh item business Item B pertaining to signage um that has not been brought up yet okay so I would I would like to move that as Miss Anderson did for the uh first agenda item that I presented I'd like to bring it out too for a vote okay could you submit in writing what you request in detail and if there's any appropriate backup please provide that as well and then we will review it for for a future business and um um I think trustee ballen has a farsuit just one second and see if he's done okay I'll go that way was that it Mr Bowen no okay so the next um item I would like to place on the agenda is to have a board discussion uh pertaining to the use of inappropriate and inflammatory Language by board members during school board meetings okay the same request please could you put it in writing with detailed information and if there's any backup of sorts could you provide that as well for review and send it to superintendent LaRon myself that would be most appreciated okay thank you more more okay I'd like to place on the agenda discussion around Reckless and inappropriate driving on the district school grounds during prior to and just after school hours okay continue Mr Bowen um to place uh on the agenda a discussion regarding the naming of the CT buildings now being built for an individual or group that made significant past contributions to The District in the area of vocational development training and education very well same email please are we done um I am finished yes okay thank you regarding that last one it might be good to put that on an agenda after the finalized the policy 7310 my thoughts as well um to uh I I have to say I would not be opposed to that however the buildings will be completed soon and there will be some form of a formal ceremony and that is the most appropriate time of which a building is named in recognition of persons or organization and so time is not really on our side so perhaps we as a compromise we can do both at the same time I think the CTE buildings shall be complete by May June summer I think June so we have trustee ballon did we did did we hear the date when we were toured Mr do we know when the CT will be finished I know so we should be able to have the policy a place that happens yeah so just just for the trusty balance award typically with big batches of policies which I'm if you bring that policy next month that'd be we would do first reading with the big batch second reading could be done in the policy would be in place by March and then we could so if we well my understanding is if we postpone it and then we propose it for next month it won't be heard until the April meeting in which case it would be discussion then it would and be wouldn't be too main until it became an action item and voted on and by that time the buildings maybe have already been commemorated yeah and that well we have time school doesn't start until August um so they won't be utilized until August when will the ceremony for the buildings be I didn't know we were going to have a ceremony so that isn't even a discussion yeah the only thing that's typically with any buildings we would try to do some sort of like little ribbon coming some yeah that hasn't been discussed yet so we don't know yeah we have no idea no idea but that's a good point so once we get the details um we can talk back and forth and then figure out when the best time to put it on the agenda it's fine is that okay with you Mrs Anderson you wanted something on the agenda no okay so just because Clarity so what you just agreed for the naming discussion we would just from my tentative planning I'm going to shoot for if it's February March we would look at the April meeting to balance point is that what I'm hearing or would you like me to try to go for the March meeting after you've already done a first reading of the policy so then you'd be secondary I'm just I'm just trying to get the timeline ahead so we don't scramble I don't I don't want to so labor it but I also want to make sure we have clear uh directions so um would it be best to determine when we're going to do the ribbon cutting and then prior to that we can name this the talk about naming you get the plaque that's I think you want to do it before like a clock I have no idea yeah so I mean it all depends on the ribbon cutting and so what I was suggesting is set a cut the date for the ribbon cutting and then go back to Mr ballon and said this is ribbon cutting and then choose a month to bring It Forward I think we just do it the next meeting well because our next meeting we might potentially be moving on that policy that would change our our naming groups well do we necessarily have to do that before we do this one building yes it would make sense for naming it before sorry I opened that can of worms again I feel like we're back to the same conversations do it give us the most flexibility we'll discuss it at that time okay we'll figure it out okay at this time do I have a motion to adjourn this meeting I so moved do I have a second second and roll call vote trustee Lee I thank you Mr Blue yeah trustee Anderson aye trustee ballen aye representative Mr Mason and uh care about I
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
but uh welcome to the January 19th uh meeting of the Ann Arbor renters commission the purpose of the renters commission is to advise the city council and the city administrator in matters affecting renters in the city the commission is made up of voting members who are appointed by the mayor and approved by city council of City Council Members appointed by city council of non-voting Liaisons to the house and Human Services Advisory Board of non-voting members representing different landlord perspectives and of a non-voting representative to University of Michigan student services um to speak during any of the public comment opportunities you'll be able to speak through the webinar link or by phone depending on your method of access to this meeting and I don't know if there's anybody here right now oh yeah there's two uh for phone access you have to call 877-853-5247 or 888-788-0099 and enter the meeting ID 935-8080-1941 and then you press star 9 and or use the raise hand feature I guess when we get to the public comment part Kristen will walk you through all of that so I'm going to skip ahead so let's do a roll call I know we have some new people here um and just say uh that you're here and then where you're calling from because we're remote so commissioner Chen are you here today yes I'm here thank you are you calling from Ann Arbor oh yeah I'm from another great commissioner Kelly I am here and also calling from Ann Arbor commissioner Mukherjee isn't here tonight uh commissioner Cohen Smith here and calling from Ann Arbor commissioner Cato commissioner rumel commissioner droppleman I'm here and I'm calling from Ann Arbor great welcome to the commission thank you commissioner else here and from Ann Arbor as well the commission uh commissioner Lowe's commissioner Tibbetts here and Colin from Ann Arbor great welcome uh commissioner Rosen here and I'm calling to man our commissioner wanza council member Regina here in Ann Arbor and I will apologize in advance for my glitchy camera tonight uh you might notice me going a little crazy no worries council member Harrison I'm here and from Ann Arbor great and Kristen is here and is the City Attorney John Riser here tonight he will be joining a little bit later he's attending an event that should be wrapping up shortly great um so to get started we have a couple new members as I'm sure people notice so it would be great if um everybody who's new could introduce themselves and I'll just call on you so that you're not awkwardly calling on other people and you know just say who you are what brought you to the commission and anything else that you want to share we could start with uh Jamie if you want to go ahead and introduce yourself yeah thank you um I'm Jamie um I'm a current master of Social Work student and I've worked in the field of social work for a few years now um most recently I was working for an organization that um supports families experiencing homelessness um so doing that work I gotta interesting perspective of the challenges that people with low income and people it's particularly people who have um rental subsidy vouchers part of that program the challenges that they face when they do find a rental property um and just noticing that they seem to be especially vulnerable to sometimes predatory practices on behalf of landlords um yeah and that really just piqued my interest in tenants rights and this was one of the first things I learned about when I moved to Ann Arbor and I'm really excited to be here and meet everybody great to have you on the commission welcome um Bob do you want to go ahead and introduce yourself sure um I'm Bob droppleman uh I am one of the non-voting uh individuals providing landlords perspective we own one house that we rent uh and um uh so we would represent the small landlord perspective um that's been kind of um I guess you could call it a side hustle um I work for Michigan medicine uh in information assurance as well great great to have you here and Jordan be granted yep oh you ready for me okay yeah go ahead I'm Jordan I know a lot of you who already know me because I've been kind of uh attending as a as a watcher for a while um a little bit about us my husband and I uh own rental property in town we own and manage everything that we manage um on our own with a couple of employees I am a nurse practitioner by degree but once I had kids that was not a workplace that um could sustain my life with two small kids so I've been home with my husband since then um I rented in Ann Arbor as a student as recently as 2014 so I do have a little bit of experience with that um but other than that I've been very active in parent spaces and kind of connecting and trying to figure out what what students do need and want and advocating for that um even if it means that I am blacklisted by uh landlord organizations so something that's really important to us is to make sure that we are always listening and fighting for those perspectives and I think we we have a um a good number of tenants that we are able to connect with varying from the you know working Professionals in the city to um undergrads though we do end up being mostly student housing um and so that's kind of our love um I do a lot of activism work in the community outside of this and um that's that's kind of our role in this city and something that we hope to uphold so I'm really glad to be here and listen and learn and um yeah thanks for having me it's great to have you here good to have so many new people and I know that there's at least one other commissioner who couldn't be here tonight so commission is filling out which is great um if did everybody get the agenda because the next thing is to approve that so if somebody could make a motion to approve the agenda I can motion to approve the agenda great motion by Patrick and a second oh second grade all in favor and for people who are new we just um vote by voice you can just say yay if you vote Yes thank you yay oh wait we can't vote how does it work for Robert and I we can we like motion for something or can we not or I guess I don't know the logistics of that question uh Kristen could you answer that for us sure um since you both are non-voting members you um can't motion or second uh can't move or second something or vote um but your input is definitely welcome uh in discussion of those items yeah um I think I think everybody said yeah but if anybody wants to vote nay this is your chance those opposed say nay okay so the agenda's approved and then we also have to uh approve the minutes so is there a motion to approve the minutes from the December 15th meeting I can make a motion to approve thanks Patrick in a second foreign okay so we have a public comment now and if there's any listeners on the line to make a public comment you can call in at 877-853-5247 488-788-0099 with the meeting ID 937-50801941 or you can join by Zoom so are there any uh anybody wishing to make a public comment we do have one caller um um let's see if you'd like to address the renters commission you can go ahead and raise your hand by pressing star nine give it just a moment and then we'll give it a moment too if anyone's calling in or trying to log on foreign listener has not raised their hand um so we can close public comment okay um and there's another at the end so if you're listening on the phone you can you'll have another chance to speak but let's get into it so the first thing on the agenda is a tenant education committee update and I'm not sure if this is actually happening because we haven't met since the last meeting and rich is not here but Hannah do you know something different is there an update from the tenant education committee no I believe the only update would be that where we have a scheduled meeting now for in February so we'll have a more robust update at the next meeting right and I guess since there's new people uh if you're interested in joining the tenant education committee that would be something to let Kristen know and then you could come to that meeting which is on February 2nd um okay the next one is the right to renew committee update and this is actually for me am I able to share my screen yes I'm gonna do that so just to give a little bit of background we've been talking about different issues with right to renew especially around enforcement and some of us got together and um Drew very heavily on on Jordan's right to renew policies actually to drop some best practices for the right to a new ordinance which is a kind of a new ordinance that protects tenants from predatory early leasing so we put together some best practices to share with the larger group best practices for landlords best practices for the city best practices for the University of Michigan and then for renters themselves I'm going to share my screen and go through it and then I don't know if we have a quorum in this meeting so maybe in the next meeting that would be a good thing to vote on to say like this is um kind of the way that we as a body would like people to be approaching this ordinance because I spent a lot of enforcement issues uh so I'm gonna share and walk you through it can you see that yes so the top just gives a little bit of background um and essentially it explains like where the where the right to renew ordinance came from in the city council passed it fairly recently and um you know the idea is that it restricts just for anybody who doesn't know I'm not sure if everybody does the idea is to restrict landlords from showing and leasing Apartments really early in the season because that creates a lot of pressure early on in the leasing cycle and people are scrambling for houses and for apartments and that often means that people who don't have as much Financial Security end up being in a situation where they're left um without enough housing options because they can't sign early um so yeah these are just some ideas we had for best practices for different groups of people so like I said um the landlord section really comes from wessinger properties which is uh Jordan's company and you can see them here this is in this section it's basically saying that you shouldn't start showing leases uh until four months before the big leasing dates so December and for leases I started may start showing in December for leases that start in August start showing in March established States when you could conduct showings and renewals and make those dates visible on the website so a lot of landlords don't have public information it's really useful to put that on there when are you going to start showing have a policy and commit to it have that on your website inform tenants when you're signing what your policy is don't keep waitlist this is something we've been talking about a lot like just because you can't legally sign leases don't keep an informal wait list to give people who sign up early priority don't charge fees to be a in kind of a first come first serve wait list uh don't keep informal informal wait lists behind the scenes uh having people on Deck don't prioritize do prioritize current tenants for renewal unless there's a reason not to renew to them uh ask current tenants about renewal one month before and um give them that month to decide whether or not they want to renew before you start showing and these this one's obvious don't sign leases until the legal date but you know it's it's worth saying anyways and then don't ask prospective tenants to sign until it's legal to sign so those are the ones for landlords and I'll just pause here unless any in case anybody wants to comment on any of those ones yeah go ahead Jordan um just two kind of minor things uh I would say on the bullet point to hold an apartment that isn't available for leasing I think we even need to include the squishy that may not be available for leasing because a lot of these times the landlord's saying and I think with right to renew having specifics about when you can ask about renewal um that we're going to have even these situations where they're saying well I can't ask about renewal but I'm going to take a b and it may or may not be available um I think that's kind of an important gray area because we the tenant still has no idea the prospective tenant still has no idea what their actual chance of actually getting that apartment is so that kind of covers a little bit further um and the only other thing that I might suggest addressing is um uh the what was I gonna say the um I guess you've kind of you've covered most of the things that it just it's tough it's tough because there is Nuance in the least start date I mean there are some landlords in Ann Arbor that have July leases um they're definitely more in the minority but um I think making it clear that there are the timeline is based on the dates not this arbitrary May December Connection by date um and I don't know I'll leave it up to you renters do you feel like that's captured well enough because if it's July it's going to be a different timeline um than is listed here so I'll leave that up to the renters to comment on but I think just that that is part of this that gets confusing is that you know there's Late July leases and there's you know so how do we and how do we cover the non-student population that's working on leases that may be totally not related at all to May or August uh necessarily yeah that makes sense to me I think that's a good change I mean I think that this does capture most leases but you're right it's not all of them um I where is the first comment that you made I didn't catch where that should go okay that was um that was the the one two three four five six seventh bullet point do not charge fees refundable or non-refundable to hold an apartment that may not be available for leasing yeah I mean basically the bottom line is do not charge fees period um so you could even just put period uh or especially to hold an apartment that may not be available for leasing um and then the only other the third point that I might consider in there is um you know tenants and I don't know part of this is how do we want to approach this morally too right like if tenants want to I also when we're speaking of tenants rights we're empowering tenants I also want tenants to understand that tenants per even the the right to renew could come and say I for sure am staying this is my third year of dental school I would like to sign my renewal you know um at the first day that it's able or I guess how do you cover that how do you cover the piece that the tenant could could request to sign earlier if they wanted to or do we not want to I guess throwing that out to renters is there any any point in bringing that up foreign yeah does anybody want to respond to that directly before um moving on to Zechariah that's a good question yeah go ahead Hannah um yeah this isn't fully formed but this is actually something that happened to me recently because of like a risk to like a buyout of where I live that it was important to me to extend my lease and I had to look up the rules myself and like be like oh I I wish I had this more front and center I'm wondering if there's a way that's like since this is for landlords and not for the renters but to make clear like only extend or add on to a lease before the deadlines if approached by the tenant or like or something like like something about Proactive or approach language might be helpful right yeah I think that's a really good comment um Jordan and then Gail Zachariah did you put your hand down because you would be I didn't mean to oh then then you're up okay thank you um just to try to figure out how much the delay there is um I wanted to ask Jordan uh and Bob here what you to think about wait lists that don't have fees do you see um you know validity there uh would it do you think it's helpful for landlords to hold those uh wait lists if they don't have fees and I'm just curious from your perspective do you think that that would maybe hurt any prospective tenants uh having uh fee that's waitlists go ahead Bob uh yeah I don't think so I mean I think I'm the wait lists it feels like just another uh sort of constriction of uh of supply for for people who are trying to get in or if you're brand new to the city and everything is wait listed then what are you gonna do um it I don't know that it just doesn't feel like wait lists are are a good thing to to use um having said that it appears that they that there are a number of companies that are using them um but again I don't I don't see how that I don't see how that helps tenants and I don't see well I I don't see how it helps tenants yeah I generally I generally agree because that's you know you're you're artificially giving them some hope that they're going to have something that could be zero chance they could be 10th on the waiting list the apartment could not be available I think it provides a false sense of reassurance but I will lift up you know Gail and I have been working with um some landlords and U of M that are uh looking to do better that are more corporate perspective and I will say that for them you know for me I'm leasing a number that's reasonable but for them they have mentioned to to us that um if they don't have wait lists they're then trying to fill 300 beds in a matter of a couple of weeks even maybe and that's really tough so I just want to lift that up I don't I don't have a lot of commitment to it or um you know effort behind it and Gail may be able to chime in on that too but I also want to note that there is kind of that perspective that isn't being represented here and also I guess to lift up that we're talking about um you know these are often students that live in these buildings that are dealing with this actual physical piece of it and so if if the idea is that they can't do wait lists and then you know the handful of students that they have doing leasing um are slammed with all these things we have to be you know well they're owned and managed by higher rise folks um sometimes the Fallout comes down on those students so I just I guess gently bring that up and say that that would be something to investigate um in my perspective is the impact on on completely outlying wait lists on landlords that are trying to do the right thing that are functioned very differently than Bob and I yeah go ahead Gail well I think Jordan and I can continue to kind of give you guys information as we continue to have meetings with them because it is a different animal completely and so you know we're there are people as Jordan has mentioned who are trying to do the right thing and we're going to try to work with them but but back to the the point of could I I think um you know whether or not a tenant could sign earlier um then the hundred then before the 150 days I mean there is a provision in the right to renew ordinance that says the provisions in the section can't be waived by the parties to a rental agreement so I wonder you know how that's going to impact things as well yep go ahead Travis so I I was going to speak to that too and I was going back and rereading the exact language and it might be worth a further conversation with attorney Riser at some point um the way that I'm reading it the the early leasing portion which sets the actual timelines um stipulates dates that the landlord must abide by um in terms of like no later or no sooner than um can they notify that they have to let them know um I think there might be some wiggle room to allow for a tenant to come earlier but I'd like to double check on that as I'm kind of rescaming the language right now um and I do know that we don't allow them to kind of waive their rights but the language does appear to be landlord-facing not tenant facing uh Hannah um this probably depends on the answer to that question when we officially get it but um I'm wondering is this a place where we could have another bullet or within a bullet about like okay assuming that people can Pro like if the renter wants to resign early or go back and like extend their lease or something um is this where we can say like the landlord should not be I know threatening rent increase this is something we've been talking about like um there's just some ways that it's like clearly a thread versus like this is a normal rent increase and I don't know if that can be captured here but the stuff that says like the rent is going to go up each week until you re-sign right I wonder if that can be involved in this best practice somehow yeah I'm glad you brought that up that was missing from here any other comments on the landlord best practices and my thinking is that we can I can share this document with everybody after the meeting and then you know we can refine and make comments over this month and then maybe we can vote on it next month if we feel ready for that um so this is just our first discussion okay I'm gonna move on to the city of Ann Arbor because I don't see any uh hands up some some suggestions for the city and we might have more to talk about here because we've talked a lot about landlords and renters and less about the city but I'll just run through them so um sending information to landlords on postcards describing the law and the best practices sending postcards to renters themselves explaining their rights um sending best practices for landlords oh I think this is just a repetition oh no sending it through the Washington area Apartment Association which communicates with a lot of landlords so that's just getting information out then um auditing the the bigger landlords and kind of assessing their compliance auditing auditing landlords that have had a lot of complaints and kind of communicating with those landlords about how to uh be compliant with the law so that's not um it's a more proactive way of making sure that this law is being enforced and then sending warning letters if there are landlords who are suspected of violating this and I know that Richard has some good information on um who's not abiding by the ordinance processing complaints swiftly publishing aggregated data about violations so that people know how widespread it is that could be on the city website then revising the Complaint Form this is something that we've talked about but there's the way that the Complaint Form is written is pretty confusing to renters so they're dissuaded from filling that out so that needs to be corrected and then producing a yearly compliance report for the next five years because it's a new law to see how it's working out any comments on that yeah Jordan um I agree with you on the Forum I mean I think something that's like a forum that can be just filled out and clicked like the idea that you have to download the form then fill it out then send it to Janet the the whole like process it just seems um not great either um and piggybacking on that too um the thing that I get from so many people and even when I'm like like I've talked to Zechariah about like a handful of situations where people don't even want to email the renters commission um with an issue that like we really need to be hearing um the idea of anonymity and how that is all working and what is done with the information seems to be kind of missing in all of our processes here and I'm wondering if that wouldn't help students and renters in general feel more comfortable um like what happens with the information when can you expect to hear can you remain fully Anonymous with information that goes back to the landlord just kind of how to make that um better and I don't I don't have any answers just things that I hear from parents and students uh yeah Travis um I was gonna wait until our Council update to to share this as well but um since it's relevant to this conversation I did also want to let folks know that council member Harrison and I did have a meeting yesterday is that right Cynthia um yesterday with um the administrator and some other members of staff to chat about enforcement um and uh to share some of the concerns that renters commission has been passing along through us um it was I would classify it as a pretty good conversation um I think that they're I am expecting I know for a fact that that attorney Reiser as well as a couple of other staff members are working together on a more formal communication and update to the body um and so I would expect that soon as well and some of it does cover kind of the some of the education pieces that the city is doing um and I also shared some of the frustration with with enforcement or the perceived lack thereof and and so so I know that they are looking into that some more as well and plan to provide an update to this group as well so hopefully that will help um as we're crafting some of these recommendations um am I missing anything council member Harrison from our conversation no you're not missing anything that's great thanks for that update any other comments on the recommendations to the city the once for the University um need a bit of work on it maybe maybe gal can help here because I didn't know exactly the timing of uh campus leases but you know the last meeting somebody had called in and said one concern that they had was that the right to renew ordinance would be out of sync with um Michigan University of Michigan Housing leases so I was just thinking here we could say let's let's try to get those on the same timeline if they're not already then communicating renewal laws and best practices to incoming students that could be through beyond the diag and other channels I think students get a lot of their information from the University so they can help a lot there uh not advertising or providing a platform for landlords who are advertising off-campus housing really early on keeping a list of landlords that are keeping wait lists or have in in other ways violated tenants rights so that students know to avoid those landlords and then I just put this on here I don't know if other people know about this I just learned about it from Gail but eliminating that the pay structure for advertising off-campus housing foreign and yeah maybe somebody who knows more about any of these things would like to speak to them I don't really know I can find out but don't really know the process for on-campus housing um you know as far as the rest of it I mean that's something to discuss with with beyond the diet but um you know keep keeping some of the information the communicating renewal laws that that's I think we're going to try to do maybe with the the work that Jordan and I are doing um but I can't really speak to you know how they'll respond about the rest of the suggestions Jordan yeah I I agree I mean this is tricky and this is something that we've had conversations with beyond the diet like ourselves personally Nick and I for years um you know it used to be it used to be a really open thing and then it switched over and for those who don't know I know I've talked to Zechariah about it too and um this is we we pay beyond the diet to be a part of it and when that started and I would say that since I've known my husband so maybe 10 years ago um is when that change happened and so it's an apartments.com based platform so as everyone can imagine apartments.com caters to apartments and high rises and the more commercial structure and so the thing that we're gonna hear when you say don't advertise a platform for landlords to advertise is you're going to hear every high-rise say we're always leasing it's year round and so our model unit is going to be up because you never know like even when you sign a lease with some of these high-rises it rarely happens but Gail and I do hear about it where they come back back to you you know in March and say oh you signed a lease for a one bedroom and all that we have is the penthouse one bedroom and it's twice as much rent and that's all we have for you and so if you want to live with us you know you have to take this thing and so there's this problem with they're always open for Leasing and they have model units and so they're not advertising unit number 1428 whereas Nick and I are advertising unit 1428 because that's the only 14 28 that we have and I'd say that's probably true for Bob and most of us other small landlords and some some larger ones but so that's kind of the problem is is they're gonna say we're always leasing we're always open we have vacancies at rolling times a year um and so we you know we deserve to advertise for this thing that we're paying a lot of money for um at any time that we want and so I think the pay structure as you note it is is like really a huge part of the problem um but this is a resource for you know I got two emails this week from um incoming either post docs or PhD students that are actually just moving to Ann Arbor in February and so we do have to keep in mind you know that there are people that are outside of those um cycles and that we want things to be available in them to maybe know about Woodland Muse that might have something on a rolling basis and so I think that's the feedback that you're going to hear about that um and the question about the pay structure you know Nick and I had complained for a while about it to the Past director um Mark Simmons is head of it now he worked for Avalon in general uh find Tim to be really lovely human and he really does want to make things better um and also there's this huge financial piece to this now that is unfortunate so I think we have to look at that um but I do hear that anybody can advertise on it now um so I think it is a little bit different say in the last five years or maybe just before kovid that they have opened it up so it's not locked into only those things but the one thing that is a lockout is the are the housing fares so like Nick and I said make us the most basic package to have access to the website we pay I think it's like eight or nine hundred a year for the service but we are on a very bottom package so we're locked out of the in-person housing fairs so when you go to an in-person housing fair you may not see Nick and I or Bob or someone else um because of that and so then the the students go to that and they come back and say oh my gosh all of these options are well over twelve hundred dollars a month or something like that and so there's there ends up being this that's all they think there is for housing the one fair that we did go to just before kovid the most common thing most common statement that Nick and I got was holy cow I had no idea that there were other options um for people who are just new to Ann Arbor so I do think that not only the pay but the piece that is what is beyond the diet representing as the available options for on-campus housing and what they're promoting is a whole kind of side piece that's related not related okay looks like there's a lot more thinking that needs to be done in that section than that that's useful uh okay and for renters this is the last one renter should familiarize themselves with the law don't sign on to a wait list although it seems like there's some complications there too don't pay to be added to a wait list don't sign leases um with landlord tour known to violate renewal laws and you know that would be contingent on that information being available and If you suspect that your landlord has violated your rights to file a complaint is there anything missing there from the renters section or any comments that people want to make on those okay so that's what we have so far and like I said I will send that out to the larger group and we can keep working on it over the next few weeks and come back to it in the next meeting and that's all I have for that update next thing is the University of Michigan Community partner and Grant update Zechariah are you speaking about this foreign yeah I guess if uh someone else was at that meeting might want to speak about it I I can open it up to them I know Patrick was there I guess I can just briefly say that we met with um some a faculty member two I guess technically two faculty members from school of uh Public Health to talk about um a study that they're undertaking and uh they're submitting a grant proposal and uh We've signed on as a community partner um but I know since Patrick is an Alum from the School of Public Health and he was there I can pass it off to him if you have any other details that you remember from those meetings yeah I don't have a much more to add it's an exciting opportunity and I think um I don't have my notes with me uh but I think uh this opportunity was really to I think some funding from the Ginsburg Center if I remember correctly and it would be sort of like a sub study of another study that is uh being undertaken um and and I think would involve some uh key informant interviews um with the student uh renter population um and we can definitely provide kind of more of a official summary of of what was proposed but I know Kristin did reach out and um and said that we have the full uh permission to participate in the project and I believe that the proposal was submitted uh Zachariah have you have you seen any confirmation of that on your end I don't think so no but uh I have no reason to suspect that it wasn't yeah any other comments on that okay oh Zechariah are you speaking um I think I oh I would just add really quickly yeah can you hear me yeah okay uh sorry uh I just wanted to add just to clarify for people who weren't there at the um the meetings where we did discuss this this is a study on the School of Public Health to um uh learn more about how the stresses of the Ann Arbor housing market affect U of M students specifically so it's just to look at student registers um so I just want to make sure everyone and we can resend the The Proposal materials out after the meeting so um everyone has them that's a good idea Zachary you broke up a little bit at the end there but I think we caught everything that you were saying um yeah it's an exciting study I think we can be of some some use to it too the next thing is that we've invited uh rental housing to attend one of our meetings to ask them some questions what they know about renters and renting in the city and Kristen made a form so to facilitate um gathering information and questions that we want to ask them so Kristin if you want to take us through the form you made that would be great sure all right so a link to this is um in the email I sent out earlier today and then also in the email from Friday with the meeting agenda um I wanted to create a form where you all could see um what other people are requesting um to to be able to kind of collaborate remotely um there's just a drop down here with some topics and then um spaces to write your in your more information or kind of whatever you'd need to clarify I'd like to provide this information to rental Housing Services um so that they have a pretty good amount of time to prepare so um about a month to collect any questions I don't know what rental housing is planning for the format of their like if they're going to do a presentation or be kind of an informal q a um but I think that providing them with questions gives you the best chance that they'll be prepared to answer them so great thanks for putting that form together Kristen anybody um have any questions or comments I want to make about that but in advance of rental housing coming here now we have one more meeting in between then and now so you have a lot of time I just want to give one more chance if anybody has anything to say moving on to the plan for the February 16th meeting Christmas entail just deciding what will be on the agenda yes um so it sounds like you might want to have your uh the best practices document back up for discussion and maybe um approval or Rec um I had some questions about that um like an approval to say like these are the renters commission official best practices you could also decide to provide it to city council as the communication um something like that does that sound like what you'd like for next month yeah I think the right to renew committee yeah I think that should definitely be on there for next time because there's a lot more to talk about and I mean hopefully people will leave comments in the next one yeah Travis I have a suggestion although I need to follow up with one of my colleagues who would be responsible for the presentation um but I know that I need to and here's the video thing I was talking about um lead to uh follow up with council member uh Cornell but I know that we previously discussed that she had been exploring uh some ideas around carbon carbon monoxide detectors in in apartments um and so I can check in with her on where things are um and depending on that she may have interest in in joining us or asking me to give some sort of update to the commission because I know she would like your feedback if we're going to move forward I just don't know where she is in discussions yet so I will I will check with her and can follow up with you Kristen foreign I think also for February 16th that that would be a good time for the tenant education committee to talk because we're going to meet on the second and I is there anything on the waitlist report Gail would you want to talk about that at the next meeting sure yeah we can talk about that next meeting it takes me too long to find out figure out how to unmute myself foreign I'm not sure if I missed other committees I can't remember all of our committees but if you're on a committee and you want to be at the next meeting this would be a good time for you to talk okay that sounds good um I know there was something about sending in like a picture of who we are for something is that something that we would put on a meeting agenda um yes so I could talk about that a little bit more or I don't know um I also emailed about Community Academy Community Academy is a program that the clerk's office puts on um that highlights kind of city services and functions and there is um there'll be a presentation on the renters commission during one of the sessions so I would really appreciate um a photo like a headshot or like a photo of each of you and then a couple of sentences you'd like uh to describe yourself um that would be great if you could provide those in the next couple of weeks I have one commissioner uh so there's in already so I can um pull up about render or uh Community Academy also I definitely encourage all of you to look at the different sessions that are available since this is such a new commission or if you're new to the city it's super interesting it is a little bit limited for in-person sessions and I've been hearing that it um a lot more people are signed up earlier than usual so definitely take a look cool that sounds great uh anything else that people want to discuss at the next meeting or have on the agenda for the next meeting okay let's move on to reports uh report from city council so if Travis or Cynthia if you have updates for us what the ing Cynthia do you want to go first do you have anything I've kind of given my up the main update that I wanted to give which was that we did have that conversation with staff um John is here now I don't know if he has anything else he wanted to add to it I don't know if you were here for my first um update but basically just filled in that we had the conversation that I'm expecting uh more formal communication from the administration uh filling folks in on enforcement and education efforts and those types of things um and so once we receive that I think um if we have more questions or follow-ups or anything like that then we can we can chat about that but I don't believe oh the one other thing I guess I could bring up because um Jordan uh mentioned to me that that I think a few folks were talking about the um legislative policy agenda that that Council passed um we did uh adopt our kind of legislative priorities for the upcoming year um and wanted to highlight that there are a few very specific renters um pieces in that we have a much more comprehensive list that we've passed in previous years that we've provided to our lobbyists but it was a really really long document with a lot of things and we really wanted to focus in um but a few of those included a repeal of the state ban on rent control um allowing or incentivizing municipalities to do duplexes triplexes and quadruplexes by right and a Statewide band to reflect Ann Arbor's ban on source of income discrimination so that there's more consistency across the county as opposed to just in Ann Arbor and Ipsy and so those are a few of the things that were pretty clearly renter related but there are other things that certainly impact renters in there because it has to do with housing and things like that but just wanted to share that as well that we are hoping to have some Partners at the state level that might be able to move some of our more ambitious policy agenda forward now that's great thanks for sharing that uh Cynthia anything on your end no not this evening thank you and I don't think the hhsa B liaison is here so let's move on uh Steph Kristen you have anything for us my main items were Community Academy and the submitting the photo to yourself so I'm pretty much covered um definitely uh submit your response to the rental housing uh question thing and um yeah that covers up and to any of the Commissioners have updates or reports that they would like to give if you have something just raise your hand yeah Jordan just a question are we going over the the handbook separately or is now Kristen I don't know if you I know you sent that out and said read it but I just had a couple of oh yeah questions that should be a great time okay um so a couple of things just uh I know I've seen people be like out of state it didn't address anything about people like not being in Ann Arbor and saying your location so I had a question about that didn't seem to be noted anywhere um in there um you can attend virtual meetings from outside of Ann arbory just important to uh during the roll call but we would just have you reference where you are we've had um Commissioners like at the airport or sure you know all over the place so cool just wanted to say that that might be a nice thing if we're handing this to new people um and then the removal for caused by the mayor like we have a pretty supportive mayor right now but just kind of thinking about if something changed does the commission have any input or say if a mayor if the mayor at some point decides that they want to remove someone for cause I don't I was just kind of wondering about how um that would work so maybe something to think about there um 0.6.4 more than one office I was just that wasn't clear to me where we were talking about like you can't have one office within the renters commission you can't be on multiple commissions I wasn't sure what that part meant um and then if committee meetings followed the same like open meetings stuff and having to be announced so those were my four main things that seemed unclear to me as a newbie okay um so for uh the mayor removing members it it's a little bit Case by case I think that if if there was a case where a member missed the meetings um for a situation that staff was aware of and the commission was aware of Ali would communicate that to the mayor I think that um typically members are removed by the mayor if they um are constant no-call no-shows or uh some different reasons like that um so it hasn't I don't think it's a big issue that I've seen with uh members being removed when the commission thinks that they shouldn't be removed but that's a good question um and then holding more than one office at the same time the renters commission only has the chair and vice chair but other groups have like a secretary or some other positions I think that we probably don't need that item in our bylaws if there's only two offices um but today um we had Lucy Vice chair around the meeting I was thinking to myself what if Lucy wasn't available today and we don't have a secretary so um something to think about and then what was your last question the last bullet point was um I know that the the commission meetings and the committee meeting were like in separate so yeah just about committee meetings and kind of the duty to notify how those work or if they're public or that that I left that section feeling a little unclear yeah so um for our formal committees we have a couple of the formal committees and then we have some of the work groups um if there is more if they're more than a quorum on the committee we definitely need to do all of the open meetings act stuff um sometimes there may be less than Quorum on the committee um but kind of depending on what's going on it's always good to to have it noticed and available for people to attend and speak during public comment Riser I do you have a comment about that no some Quorum committee meetings are fine hello I've uh just saw your kind of pop up at the bottom um for folks who uh were here at the beginning when Riser wasn't here this is John Reiser he um is in the attorney's office at the city hello everyone and hello again to most of you and hello because some of you that are new I was a the investiture for uh new judge Aryan slay at Pioneer High School so um sure I was great to have you here sorry I didn't say hello when you came in that's right um Jordan did you have anything else no I think that that covers it just things that we could make it a little more solidly hand off to a to a new person right yeah and you know on that I I should go through the Committees we have so that you all know what they are we have a tenant education committee a right to renew committee um and is that in chapter 105 enforcement committee and then there's a work group right for application review and maybe that's all what am I missing I think this research study is the some kind of work group or subcommittee is that all right Christian I think I saw my name on that yeah just kind of one of the informal um the community partner for the grant the group that does the research on wait lists and fees um and then also um because we've had so much uh like vacancy and turnover a little bit there's been a group looking at applications for members also and kind of reporting back those and making recommendations those are meeting or those are groups that we haven't been doing um public notice for because sometimes they're only two people any other reports from commissioners or things that people want to say yep Zechariah uh I wanted to let everyone know that I've been in touch with council member Cornell regarding carbon monoxide detectors I know that she's working on evaluating our current rules for carbon monoxide detectors it looks like new structures are required to have them but existing structures aren't so there's some holes there and there is somewhat recently a very tragic accident that happened in a motel or someone was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning so I think there's a reminder um kind of spurred this effort so I'll let you all know if anything you know as I come as I learn more information from the council member and let me know if you're interested in potentially working on that I'm guessing she's going to uh have a resolution uh sometime and then probably the next few months yeah Jordan that might be a good thing to have on deck for the housing um people when they come in March too I mean just thinking about like we we bought them for all of our buildings um after that we had them some places but we just made sure that we had them everywhere that made sense but there are some logistical things that even Nick and I can't possibly think to consider because they're so outside of our stuff just about like where they're they should be placed in things so I think making sure that we are involving um the inspectors and and fire department question mark like people who know about the logistics of where carbon monoxide you know where is not a risk and where is a risk um in those discussions I think is is important yeah go ahead Bob um I would second that uh I know that uh they're required by code if you have any uh electric work done uh or permanent electric work done on the uh done on the unit um and there is some code specifications on where they have to go uh and I think it would be really really valuable to uh to learn that as well as honestly especially for old houses um uh personally uh I would support a resolution from Council definitely thanks for bringing that up Zechariah any other reports or comments updates from commissioners it's a quiet meeting tonight isn't it um okay so let's move on to our second public comment then and Kristen do you do this part I just realized um that that I kind of awkwardly read the first part but normally you do this I think oh either is fine um it's just important to um say it so people can hear it and call in if they need to so right all right so this is the second public comment um public comment can be made by phone at 877-853-5247 or 888-788-0099 with meeting ID 935-8080-1941 or you can join the zoom meeting by going to a2gov.org renters commission meeting right now we don't have anyone in the waiting room except ctm um so we'll give it just a moment right there are no callers or attendees okay the last thing is Communications to the renters commission they're included in an attachment on the agenda and yeah I don't know if anybody wants to respond to the communications we got or you know say anything about this yeah Kristen um I'll share that so those come into the renters commission impacts that I see and then um I kind of depending on what the issue is either put them in contact with Janet or ask them more questions and put them in contact with Janet and then they're always asked if they would like their communication provided at a renters commission meeting um so I've just been including those that come in that are kind of um kind of tough cases that residents are experiencing um and Janet has been super responsive um like responding within the hour so um kind of just passing those along yeah Gail for the ones that are for the folks that reach out that are students you can also refer them to our office for assistance will do thanks we have a automatic reply that goes out when people email the renters commission I will include your office's contact info in that also uh anything else I mean does anybody want to say anything about these communications foreign okay um that brings us to the end of the agenda just uh anybody want to speak before we move to adjourn yeah Gail sorry I I do think we need to respond to folks so I mean I I haven't I didn't look at them ahead of time I can look at them and maybe make some recommendations for how we should respond but I don't think we can just leave them without more response and so Kristen you said you have a um usual response that you send uh yes I'll pull up um it kind of says if you're like if it is a code violation we'll put you in contact with Janet um if it is actually about something else at the city we would put you in contact with that department um if it's like a general Clerk's thing we'll get back to you kind of like we'll get back to you no matter what but these are the kind of different situations that could happen I don't include rental housings information in the automatic reply now but I think that definitely could um I can pull it up here okay I I will send you the the best link for our office and I'll take a look at these and then just make a record make a recommendation for what we should do if anything more than that for these yeah Hannah yeah I think I just um have a question about that because I think I got something wrong so I guess I heard what Kristen was saying as like somewhat like Janet has been responding to these but Gail are you saying like we want to make sure that we confirm like the render's commission has seen this um separate from that yes I think so I mean I think it would be they're reaching out to the renters commission so I think we should let them know that you know we've seen it you know maybe we think where they've been directed is sufficient or maybe we have some other suggestions or not but I think if they're going to reach out to us we should respond directly to gotcha okay cool is there a process that we can set up for doing that like how would we go about responding to these people it's definitely something we could look at they're not super frequent um and kind of depending on the issue it's always like a different response right so sometimes it could be an easy code violation and sometimes it's not um I I really like the idea of providing Gales resources because rental housing can only enforce like approvable rental housing code violation and maybe there's some other issues that a person would need assistance with um so definitely getting a conversation could be had about how we should be Fielding these uh Jordan I think another resource I mean my my standard reply whether it's in a Facebook group or if somebody contacts me via email or text or whatever is also includes legal services of South Central Michigan um you know Gail is awesome who is the Gale for non-students I think is something that we and if we don't feel that legal services of South Central Michigan I mean maybe John maybe you have an idea I have no idea if it if it they do much if they respond like is there any other help and maybe Gail you know too like a resource for people who are not student tenants feels particularly important um so I don't know if there's crowdsourcing that come and come up with others but that's that's the general resource I give though I admit I haven't heard many successful stories with it I think Nick Rommel and I put together a list of resources but maybe I never shared it with anybody so it's not doing anybody a lot of good I'll send that to Kristen as well because there's also there's also the U of M Legal Clinic we do a lot of like paralegal tenant counseling and Geo as well just because people have so many issues so you know if they email there's I mean we can't do anything legally of course but it helps just to talk with someone about their issue talk it through uh so that's another place that we can refer people to it's a little bit off um of that topic I had one more update about the tenants um the rights and duties of tenants booklet um kind of the state of it post right to renew um we went through all of the booklets in the clerk's office and we have about 4 000 copies that were updated in March 2022 so they include yellow but they don't have right to renew but they now all have um right to renew um like in them as a leaflet and we have plenty of those available in the clerk's office and if anyone has a book that says a date other than March 2022 it's not up to date um it doesn't have up-to-date voter registration information or uh housing code information that's great that's good that we have new books um anything else from anyone in terms of the communications we got I have some ideas about how to respond so I'll just email you about that Kristen if that's okay okay does someone want to make a motion to adjourn we made it through our agenda get motion to adjourn and a second a second all in favor yeah yeah any opposed okay and with that meeting is adjourned it's great to see you all
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
with this one foreign thank you he means well we were just doing a presentation with the newborn members okay [Music] foreign can you hear me on the computer okay okay very good so I'll just stay on this link all right very good thanks Eric okay good evening I'd like to open the regularly scheduled meeting of the Clifton Board of Education for Thursday January 19th 2023. if you all would please rise for a salute to our flag followed by a brief moment of silence thank you roll call please Mr abadrabo Mr Awad miss basford here Mr Brunswick here Mr Mejia here Mr Paris here Mr Santiago here vice president Danny here president Smith here we have a quorum um Mr Awad uh is um uh on what's the word under the weather yeah under the weather um so he will not be uh here tonight um we hope that he's feeling better um and um are um our leader of our district uh is uh on the screen there um at our Stadium on a beautiful sunny day uh so Dr robitosi will be participating in our meeting uh remotely uh nice to see you doc okay mission statement Dr Danny would you read that please the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and reciprocal Community Partnership is to provide all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong Learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a Democratic Society in an ever-changing world the open public meetings act the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right to the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Clifton Board of Education has caused no has caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date time and place thereof posted at the city clerk's office Clifton Public Library administration building senior citizen Nutrition Center on cable TV in the local press on the district's website and mailed to presidents of parent teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy zero one six eight um at this time the board is going to um break for executive session uh to discuss a Personnel matter action will be taken um so in order to make this a little bit easier for the board and shifting around we ask the public if you would uh kindly vacate this room uh security guards will take you up to a a room where you could stay until our executive session part is over uh and then we'll come up and get you to come back down again so we appreciate your cooperation with that again we are hoping to be on schedule uh to start our regular meeting at seven o'clock but we'll go and let you know those that are here uh that are waiting upstairs so our security team uh in the hallway will take you upstairs thank you so much a motion to go executive session please motion by Mr Roberto second by Mr Paris any objection over there a full system okay roll call from executive session Mr abadrabo here miss basford here Mr Brunswick here Mr Mejia here Mr Paris here Mr Santiago here vice president Danny here president Smith here we have a corner um the uh the board met in um executive session uh for a uh Personnel matter um no action is needed correct correct okay um I don't know where my poor dogs went oh here's okay so we're going to uh move into public recognition this portion of the meeting is open to the residents and non-residents of the city of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to and or directly related to the operation of the Clifton Public School District residents and non-residents are requested if in person to sign the register provided for this purpose all speakers are asked to State their names municipality in which they live and subject matter before speaking comments are limited to five minutes per person issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and are responsible be forthcoming if and when appropriate your questions may or may not be answered by board members the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when they are speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded to them by the state of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments okay we'll start with um we don't have anyone nobody in the virtual sorry sir yes no one okay motion to close the version what Mr Roberto second by Mr Paris okay so we'll move to uh in person if anyone is here to address the board if you kindly step up to the podium uh state your name and municipality and subject matter and you'll have five minutes to speak to the board oh yes good evening uh welcome and God bless everyone I'm so pleased to see the public is here which is so important my name is Trini maestre and I reside in Clifton I got too happy I forgot to say the first uh I was here last month or maybe two weeks ago thank you and I was saying how important it is for the new generation to be part of it and I'm glad to see that there are a lot of young faces in this public attendance at that meeting or maybe the meeting prior to that there were some concerns that there were not enough security not enough police uh helping and this past Tuesday at the council meeting I heard something so terrible I almost cried a child had a leg broken and another hand his face sort of this figure cut why are these things happening in our school system I was looking at the three cities Patterson Passaic and Clifton Clifton has the least amount ten thousand and change compared to the others and population so I don't think it's a good thing for the image of the public school system in Clifton I am so pleased that we have a young member of the new generation maybe we should do something to create something a program for the school at the high school in the junior high school where children will learn to be like the big brother like watching for the younger ones this is not a good report to have someone a child he's LED broke and you can check that with the city council because it was made public so I'm concerned education to me is is the bridge to success whether it's Financial whether it's to do things to accomplish so education is very important so I implore I really would like you to be a little bit more concerned with the safety of our students and if there are students that must be disciplined Soviet but it's for their own good thank you anyone else wish to address the board your buddy good evening my name is Lori lalama and I'm the president of the association since this is School Board recognition month the cea wants to thank you for your hard work and dedication to the students and staff this is a new year for the Board of Ed so I want to talk about four steps that I read which are important to think about for this upcoming year number one having a Clear Vision for the district effective school board members can see a path forward they understand where their District succeeds and where their district has challenges they have a vision for not only what a better district will look like but how to get there the foundation for this vision is deep understanding of the district and not just a passion for public education board members are successful when they Master the finer details of their district and use that to fuel their ideas for the future setting goals though having a critical vision is critical Visions alone don't make a change goals do setting goals is one of the most vital signs of effective school board members because goals give shape to what school board members will take during their terms when when this gets tough school boards can return to their goals as a litmus test for whether or not to do something if the initiative doesn't tie back to the goals it doesn't move forward goals are also the best way for school boards to measure success they can reflect on the progress they've made towards the goals and use that to report back to the community and to the superintendent focusing on student achievement school boards are pulled in many different ways they're elected as the community's voice on public education but they also have to win the favor of Educators and staff within the district however these are both essential effective school board members never forget that their top priority is the student's success no matter how loud the voices get school boards are successful when they remember that they must protect the interests of their students influential school board members can manage other expectations and also help them understand and even support their unwavering Focus for student outcomes number four build positive relationships throughout the district school board members need to become part of the district not just a silent group overseeing District activities instead they need to Foster constructive relationships with everyone from the superintendent to the teachers successful school board members know that these are the relationships that will help them get a closer look at The District's day-to-day and create action that will make change where it's needed the support of the District staff is indispensable to school boards effective school board members never forgive this do when you listen don't listen to respond listen to understand first then respond accordingly thank you very much and I wish for a successful New Year thank you anyone else wish to address the board foreign happy New Year everybody I have a complaint I went on the webinar last night the informational on the LGBT ma'am if you could just please state your name and municipality before you excuse me Marcia Miller Clifton I went on the website last night as a attendee and partially way through I was taken off the website and it stated that the host removed me and I and I could not retry and rejoin so I found that very unacceptable I have an article here it's dated from December 27 twenty thousand twenty two Sweden pulls way back from gender affirming care for children Sweden's National Board of Health just updated its guidelines on the care of children with gender dysphoria and caution is the new watchword it declares that extended psychosocial Explorations are key young people suffering from gender dysphoria need to be able to quickly receive an investigation and be offered adequate care measures based on the health care systems assessment of care needs good psychosocial care is fundamental says Thomas Linden head of the Department of the national Board of Health and Welfare contrary to Biden's Administration and gender activists assertations that the science has settled this is a pelosity of studies on the best approach for caring for gender dysphoric children the national Board of Health and Welfare has previously based on among other things data from sbu which is the sweetest National Agency for medical and social evaluation they concluded that systemic documentation documentation and follow-up of care does not take place to a sufficient extent and that the scientific data is insufficient to assess the effects of puberty inhibiting and gender sensitive hormone therapy for children and young people the need for good clinical studies is clear from the knowledge gaps listed by sbu follow up an evaluation was something we emphasized already in the knowledge support in 2015.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
okay this is a one minute warning one minute warning okay it's four o'clock we're gonna get ready to start in five seconds five four three two good afternoon uh it is now four o'clock now is the time set for the regular board meeting of the Arizona State schools for the deaf and the blind we start with 1.01 call to order um it's okay president Dave David girl president Brittany Buchanan debow present Colette Chapman president Lynn Davison present Mike Gordon president Lillian Lee present PV Gents present and myself suitcase thank you next we have 1.02 information item introduction of new board member and recognition board member leaving um as uh you all know Aaron wonders uh was on our board for several years he was appointed by superintendent Kathy Hoffman um superintendent Kathy Hoffman left that role we now have superintendent horn he has appointed a new board member from Ade her name is Colette Chapman and Colette is on the phone today Colette if you have any comments and want to introduce yourself that would be great yes thank you president I am an associate student s uh adult education health and nutrition and Career and Technical education and I will serve on the board and I'm very happy to be here to meeting all of you all right uh thank you very much we look forward to working with you our next item is 1.03 call to the public call to the public on agenda's items and we have through um how many uh or in person okay um so we have uh we again as we um uh coming out of covid we have an email submission route uh that everyone knows about you can submit online comments that are posted on the website and are retained on the website for a period of time and then we also have the in-person comments today we have four for the agendized port in terms of the time allowed it's going to be three minutes for spoken comments four minutes for ASL communication and the suitcase is the first one back at Bailey all right Becca Bailey um I will stand when the time is up I have my timer here so I'll stand when the time is up to communicate that you'll need to finish and finish your comments hello everyone foreign [Music] who graduated back in 2017.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
[Music] good morning Wildcats it's Friday it's fun day season two 2023 is here A new year is upon us it's a little late frankly for the happy New Years you know time to reset set some goals see how things are going we're halfway through the school year let's check in with our students see if they set some New Year's resolutions and see how they're going these first few weeks in 2023. all right good morning Wildcats I'm here with Ella Hardy I love what you're in school are you I'm a senior senior heading into her last semester of high school so it's the new year did you make a New Year's resolution this year yes I I did did you know that last Friday the 13th that's actually now known as quit day when most resolutions have already been forgotten did you know that I did not know so what was your New Year's resolution my new year New Year to read 10 books this year and books this year all right here we are 20 days into the year you feeling good about it I am I am yeah did you have one done yet yeah I do good job do you have two done yet no you still got that you're on Pace you're on Pace 12 months in a year she already got one done she's gonna get to that 10 no problem morning Wildcats I'm here with Andy Garcia and what year in school are you Andy senior last semester of high school you excited about that yeah it was New Year's Day just a couple weeks ago two weeks into the semester did you make any uh New Year's resolution sadly no no that's all right why not just gonna come up with any goals for your last semester of high school anything you're looking for uh just graduating and going to college finishing strong way to go Andy all right good morning Wildcats I'm here with Mariah Bernardo Mariah what year at school are you I'm a sophomore first semester go well for you yes very well good good to hear did you make a New Year's resolution this year I did not but I can make one up real quick let's make one up right now on the spot it's not too late uh I would say I want to dance more because I stopped dancing for a little so if I dance more I feel like that'd be good just dance she's already starting that new year's resolution right now morning Wildcats I'm here with lamb Chong I am I believe you've been a guest multiple times here on Friday fun day what year in school are you again lamb I'm a junior your first semester go well maybe okay did you make any New Year's resolutions as we turn the calendar to 2023.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
let's go it is 7 P.M we will call the meeting to order welcome to the January edition of the Columbia Board of Education meeting I'd like to start off with Colleen roll please Kimberly here perfect we have a quorum so thank you all for attending if you all stay with me and recite the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justices around thank you hi Welcome to our visitors to join us we've got a faithful crowd comes every time appreciate you guys participating welcome to everybody and uh at home watching our YouTube channel do we have any public comments this evening no public comments all right perfect uh correspondence I think is going around there are no correspondence okay that's easy enough get right down to business we'll start with our consent agenda Mr Grote if you'd walk us through that please we've got the minutes and the financial reports and the expenditures we had a resignation our aggregate cultural science person who you might remember took a leave of absence for her maternity well she's going to work in the private sector and stay at home with the newborn child so we wish her well but she is leaving us and so that's our one resignation we've got some Employments uh Timothy Gould is going to be our high school English that's um for this year we will be posting that position we were expecting him to apply but uh he's going to finish out this year for the English teacher that we had resigned last month we've got two extracurriculars Kelly langraf is coming back to the volleyball position and Chelsea Pana is the volunteer softball coach and then we've got vacancies as I said we've got the AG science teacher we've got the high school assistant principal High School Middle School business teacher that's a retirement high school English that's the position that we've got that gentleman working for this year in a middle school special ed that's going to be an expansion and then a halftime music teacher the halftime music teacher is really going to be for Eagle View and Parkview right now we double up classes and um the preschoolers don't even get music so we're looking at uh see if we can get a half time we don't really need a full-time um but trying to take our staff and make it work it doesn't work either so we're going to be looking for that halftime teacher those things said uh Administration recommends the board approvement as presented or any questions or comments concerns suggestions then I entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented I'll make a motion thank you Andrew enjoy your second second Lisa seconds roll call please yes Craig Myers yes hi yes yes unanimously I'll move right on to our Communications and reports the enrollment reports in your packets we'll go on to our administrative reports um so we have had an exciting end of second quarter and for our first semester I wanted to include some awesome pictures again the first two on the left top and bottom are of Miss Haven science class they were learning about food chains and food webs and they connected it to the game of Jenga and after the game the students connected the balancing of bricks to the balancing of organisms in the ecosystem so it's always Hands-On in there and she always does an amazing job and the kids love being scientists in her science class the second two are also in the sixth grade science wing and they were learning about how glaciers shaped Illinois through topography and they at the top they connected the continents through Pangea and the different types of rock formations and Mountain formations on the bottom they used they they used their imagination to put together what Illinois how Illinois was shaped because of those glaciers with Plato so um really cool to see them doing Hands-On learning and explaining it to me as I walked around to see what's going on the top picture is kind of hard but that's in Miss reps class they were using shaving cream to practice their spelling words so they loved that and I loved that the desk got clean you know as well and the bottom is our boys enjoying biotech class and dissecting a baby pig but they were able to explain to me the purpose and how they do that and Mr Birch always has them also engaged and excited to head to his class so lots of exciting things and this is just a glimpse of if you go into any classroom all of the excellent ways my teachers incorporate the kids into learning so very proud of all those pictures I have three slides so we'll continue on um the next one is of our eighth graders they started having Pals back at Parkview and Eagleview and they're really excited on our half days to go over there so at Parkview they interviewed third graders and they call them their third grade buddies and during third and fourth fourth quarters the eighth graders will write and illustrate an original children's book for every third grader so they'll get to keep it and then they also went over to Eagleview where they read stories and books to the kindergarten and first graders about kindness so it was an awesome day and they all really loved doing that I think and lastly is just our fun way to end second semester we all um got new CMS shirts thanks to two blue and we had dress-up days the whole District had dress-up days and the students at the top left and right the left one was dressed like a Snowman the right one's your favorite Christmas characters can anyone guess what those two from Home Alone the wet Bandits and and then of course there's Buddy the elf and Jovi we made Mr Elliott and I made appearance over at Eagleview and they really thought that we came you know and from the North Pole and they were all super excited so it was it was a fun time so lots of great things happening all of the time and speaking of great things Miss Alexander was going to tell you about our February and fifth grade yes so we have a date set for the fifth grade stargazing night I had to say this oh hold on um so it is going to be Friday March 24th and the river bend astronomy club coordinator last year um made a comment that it was such a great turnout last time and the kids were so interested and well behaved and they made a great impression on the members of the club so that was nice to hear and um I know that the fifth graders and their families really look forward to that stargazing night so um Friday March 24th um also there's a kindness day coming up in February so the student council actually celebrates kindness week and they've kind of challenged each grade level to come up with some kind of act of kindness or a way to maybe give back to the community so each grade level has a service project that they're planning for that week in fifth grade we are going to be working on care packages and pen pal letters to soldiers that are deployed with um with a focus on the Navy we have a student teacher in fifth grade right now who was formally in the Navy so he has a connection and we're kind of teaming up with him and he's getting us some soldiers and military people to send packages and letters to um in sixth grade they're going to be donating to the house of neighborly service seventh grade the Bria nursing home they're going to donate items and make cards and eighth grade is working with helping Strays to walk dogs and donate items so those are our plans to do our service projects in February a lot going on I'm very lucky thank you very much and we'd like to thank the PTA for supporting the stargazing night on there all right on to our assistant superintendent report um so I'm gonna start with some shout outs so I'm gonna start at the high school with our special ed department so Chelsea Adair uh Mark hasser John Guinea and Derek rozicki um so they send out a weekly accommodation check-in um and it's just one of those great ways to see how the technology ideas that they used during covid are actually helping and simplifying things for the school so they send this out to all the teachers the teachers can quickly fill out things going on not only with their students that are in the Gen Ed classes but also if there's a test coming up or there's a big project or they're concerned about one of their students the teachers can quickly fill out these Google forms and get it back and those teachers can then have pretty quick things we know that everybody's time is very limited so finding time to meet together to talk about these is difficult so they are using this the picture on the far right is Sarah Klein and rosemary langing from the middle school and so obviously they work with students a lot kind of when they're in crisis or they need something but what I'm really excited about with those two is that they are taking very much of a proactive approach to things instead of a reactive approach so instead of waiting for kids to have issues they are coming and saying in the past we've seen a lot of problems with whatever a situation might be and they are wanting to try things and Implement things ahead of time to prevent those problems so you know it makes things go smoother it makes those kids more successful that have those moments of struggling and like I said it's just nice to be able to play offense instead of Defense all the time so um the picture in the bottom middle is a picture of our coffee crew from here at Parkview so I want to give a shout out to um Caitlin Lish and Amy Vollmer who um their class is the coffee crew so they come around and take coffee orders um I'm very thankful I'm not a coffee drinker but they added hot chocolate to the list so I was very happy for that one but they also are finding other ways to um contribute to the building and so they are now also our mail delivery here within Parkview so they come up every day and bring Kim the mail and take the mail back down to miss Robin in the office and they are starting tomorrow working in the cafeteria helping out doing some things so um they are very excited and it's um just you know the brainchild of those two teachers exploring and thinking outside of the box of of getting their classes involved and then the last picture there on the left is Tish lineman um talking about custodians over at Eagleview she is usually our evening custodian at Eagleview and our day custodian had to go out and so she has stepped up changed her schedule and it's kind of hard once you get used to a set work schedule and she's now the morning custodian she comes in um but she is phenomenal not only is she like I said changed around her schedule but she's always helping um ketchup packets and syrup packets are the much to the Chagrin of the adults at Eagle View but the kids love them and so she doesn't hesitate to jump in and help the kids with that she's not not just there doing those typical custodial duties so um just wanted to give all of them a shout out um I wanted to just kind of touch base a little bit about some of our our growth data so this is looking at our map test that I brought so we do these benchmarks three times a year um and you know this is tied to our school Improvement goals at Parkview and at the middle school um so this just kind of Compares it goes in sets of two but the fall Benchmark to the winner Benchmark and so you can see you know obviously we're wanting that blue and green section to grow some of our scores you know didn't grow as much as we would have liked to see from beginning of the year to middle of the year but one that is typical historical data not only in our district but kind of all over will tell you that the winter benchmarking is a little bit harder partially because you spend first semester when you first come back right getting new routines in place reviewing things that might have happened over the summer finding out where those deficits or those holes all are are and working on those skills and then we also take this testing in December um which is not the greatest time of the year when you're trying to get kids to focus when we're really excited about is is there a snow day coming up um it is when's Christmas break how many more days till that um so it's it's a little difficult so um like I said there are definitely some positives in here so this was the math scores um reading kind of we're kind of seeing the same thing like I said a couple of grade levels we've shown some greater growth a couple things dipped just a little bit um but I am just looking at this data and kind of comparing it to where we were last year um I am confident that when we take those scores in May and we compare beginning to Middle I'm sorry beginning and end of year scores that our teachers will have gotten the growth out of our students to help us meet those School Improvement goals in the buildings so I am I'm excited about that um and then just a couple other things we have a lot of PD going on and coming up in the district um from all different Avenues we're looking at a lot of we have some teachers going to some positive psychology training um to kind of help you know how do you focus on the positive um we have some academic things we're sending out some teachers to help look at improving like the extended responses and areas of our state standardized testing that we have now identified as some areas of weakness so really excited about that next Friday on our half day we're running our own mini edcamp so we're taking the expertise of the teachers in our district because we have a lot of expertise in the buildings and the teachers will go through rotations they'll be able to pick areas that they want to focus on and learn from their peers so I'm very excited to to see that and how it goes and then the only other thing I kind of wanted to share with you was that at the high school there's some changes as far as with weighted classes so um a long time ago there was a switch um from taking out weighted classes for freshmen because what they were finding was happening was students were being pushed into weighted honors weighted classes students that wasn't the correct placement for them for whatever reason or they were struggling well when you struggle with a weighted class and your grade shows it it kind of Tanks your GPA pretty quickly and it's hard to rebuild from that so they eliminated those weighted grades at those classes um parents and students are now much more involved so the teachers still make those recommendations but parents and students have a lot more say in evaluating if that's a good placement for them and so we feel like those students should be rewarded for being challenged and putting in that extra work so starting next year honors biology honors English one and honors Spanish 2 will be weighted classes that our freshmen can take advantage of so that's what I have which is a superintendent report all right well at that time of year where we uh start looking to graduation Believe It or Not we've been going through a brief history looking at what we've done in the past and graduations have fluctuated um with all of school scheduling it's just it's near never able to find a perfect time from athletic competitions and post Seasons to Mother's Day weekend Memorial Day weekend it's just hard to find the best time we do know outside is definitely preferred um we've sat through mild rain you know and and stayed outside that is a good thing without a stage inside in the gym rain days are then the next day putting to a Sunday we used to have a graduations on Sunday and it got moved to Saturday to make the rain day because we could have it done the next day if you have a stage inside you can do it on the same day and do it during downpours because you're inside it can be the same day a air conditioning is better currently projections in the Commons area to so people can see the graduations are better um we're looking at all of this the point is being is that we will be bringing to you a graduation date next month and our goal is really to be able to say we do a graduation on you know the third whatever on this date at this time and try and find that date that will not in the future have issues so that people can start saying okay graduation for next year is always going to be on the fourth I'm going to say Tuesday because we'll never have one on Tuesday that I don't want people saying he said it um but we're going to bring that to you next month and so if you've got any thoughts or concerns or if any of your neighbors with graduating people put in their two cents to you all please make sure that Mr Reeves and I hear the input because we do um want to find the the best that we can um we'll also be bringing forward a calendar for next year I Believe Miss Smith shared it with the association today or we'll be sharing it with them today spoiler alert the point being that if you hear some of this we always think to the future but we live in the now you know we're talking about next year we're posting for next year's but we're living in the now I I kid you not um I was alerted today that there is a storm coming in next week and Wednesday get your bread and milk early because people have been asking me if Wednesday next week's going to be a snow day um I don't know anyway you live in the moments um we're going to bring a calendar for next year but we are focused on this year um that brings me to the five essential survey those will be coming out soon uh we want everybody to take it all of the faculty and staff will take it and they'll report what they feel about their buildings it gives us a cultural thing all students from fourth grade up will will take it and then we're going to be strongly encouraging parents to take it um it gives us a look at what people think about us in Broad in Broad ways and and we want to look at that data and be able to craft the culture that we can to make this the the place we want it to be um those are my three things that we've got going on and uh thank you thank you so they have a couple items for Action the first one is the approval of the Cobalt as our representative in the construction projects yeah we have um I want to thank Mr Hampton and Mr Myers for sitting in these committee meetings and going through this we went out to bid for construct construction managers as advisors or owners representations we were looking for someone that can um with a flat fee represent our interests and has the expertise in the constructions as we look at big projects we've got Kimberly Pollock did I say that right in the audience she's a member of cobalt um I'm going to let Mr humpkin and Mr Myers kind of talk about the company and whatnot but the administration recommends that you approve the um engagement of cobalt pending legal review of the contracts and some details that need to be worked out but we would like to engage them at a flat fee for the looking at the facilities Mr Myers we'll take it Adam or go ahead it's been a long day all right so basically as we know we're to have the high school project that's coming up and which is a very massive project and fortunately Adam and I both have construction experience so we we have a pretty good handle on things however neither one of us has the time to really oversee it um before the district and what we're worried about is we don't want to pay a percentage because to me it's kind of productive if you say I'm going to pay you X percentage of the project there's no incentive for them to hold the line the more they bill the more they make and so like I said I feel is counterproductive so we were very excited to uh and interview Cobalt we interviewed four companies we're supposed to see bids from four bids fruit companies so we had a lot of a lot of interest in the project we weighed everything very heavily and interviewed Cobalt seemed to be our best choice and we appreciate all their information and meeting with us and they jumped through all the hoops and we had a lot of Hoops and and uh with the project this size we don't want to take any chances we want to make sure everything is is there so the idea behind an owner's rep is there are eyes and ears so they're going to help us with the design they have a lot of heavy construction experience so they know the process from start to finish so they're going to be involved in the design and implementation to build everything so they're kind of our eyes and ears and so basically we're going to control the creep and so we don't want the thing to go 10 over budget we want it on budget and uh and so with with being proactive it's funny we met with the attorney for Mundo from Gwen and the attorney is especially special specializes in these type of contracts and he was just very excited you know it's funny because you have an attorney that does all these school districts and all this thing and it's very mundane and to hear him really excited about something he's like you know this is the wave of the future and uh he was really happy with what we're doing and and actually being more proactive and controlled our costs up front instead of after it's too late and dealing with it so what'd I miss I don't think I have anything to add actually perfect Miss Pollock is here to answer any questions should anyone have any they've got extensive experience in the fields and and let me say for the record she survived Adam's question so he is extremely thorough and uh yeah I was glad I wasn't hurting that time though I we're very worst comments suggestions questions and uh the three of us in the committee feel this is definitely our best way to go and I think it's going to definitely control costs and it is an added expense that you know some people look at um off the board not for the bat but uh it's I'm very confident it's going to more than pay for itself so what are you feeling yeah I mean I agree it's the whole the whole concept behind it is just the The Advisory service the expertise that they'll bring to the table to help us make good decisions up front put a good requirement out for any construction help us decide which construction is absolutely necessary what we can do in phase is what we can't all those things that cost you money if you don't know up front and you you leave two assumptions or to open bidding so the better we can Define our requirement figure out exactly what this build is going to look like the better we can do our price estimates the better the Project's going to run overall and that's where we don't have the time the resources to oversee it the way it needs to be to be ran effectively on on schedule on budget so that's where you know Cobalt will be able to help us significantly to make sure this runs smoothly so yeah that's I mean that's the whole concept behind it it does cost money up front but experience shows it saves money in the end so what is the cost well that's going to be that's still I think some of it's being negotiated still so I think that's what we're putting on the table is that that all the final terms and conditions are going to be you know they're they're not the negotiations are finalized um so I think what we're asking is for Mr Grote to be able to enter into that we're basically delegating to him to enter that once those once the paper Works final and we're we have agreeable terms at the end is that correct Chris that's director and what and just to be clear we're this is a professional service so um you don't need to be with the lowest right it's not it's not something that's that's specked and bid and I mean yes we we gathered that information correct but um and we interviewed four different folks or you said we have interesting four responses to that but um it's it's choosing the best fit for the um for the district it's not you know looking at Lois and best bid it's it's really choosing the who we feel are going to represent us the best yeah um there's a lot of factors involved in that too you know what kind of works have they done before Miss Pollock lives in the community her kids go to the schools here and so she's got vested interest in making sure that things go the way it's supposed to be and so there's just a lot of Dynamics but ultimately the administration would recommend that we engage Cobalt to provide these services pending the legal reviews and the negotiations and really to answer your question it's the total fee correct me if I'm wrong I think we're around the two percent of the entire project area previous projects that there's not enough for us to do more um we do have a flat fee for design phase and then a flat people construction page just because typically that there's more you know time involved with the construction side of it however we can it all equals I think when we looked at the project and did a whole Manpower out it was less than two percent when you look at your project budget compared to what our uh full fee would be I think it's important that it's not based on a percentage look at a project like that you you know insurance is going to be a percentage labor is going to be percentage materials Consulting so we kind of put it in that mind frame so you guys have an idea what what kind of dollars we're talking about so and then just curious like historically how much does it on average does a school district go over on a project like this versus with you guys my personal experience with education projects we haven't gone over budget um but it actually went reverse we were able to help get more into a project and uh and that's been the case multiple times so I want to say like 100 if not over um that you can hold me to for this time too but I don't have that historical or general I think I'd say from my experiences talking to other superintendents uh change orders and going over budget is usually around maybe a quarter quarter percent so I mean depending on the scope of your work and whatnot I've had the project within 100 year old building that was almost 50 percent of change orders water you mean total costs 25 yeah not a quarter another percent right and to clarify make sure but it's it's when you're remodeling an old building you don't until you get into there you don't know what you're dealing with electrical or whatnot I mean you know so you sometimes get in there and you find out that it was wired with stuff that now it all needs to be torn out or you know so there's a lot of various areas and there's other solutions that you can work around to try and make sure that the and we've had a lot of conversations as well we're still post covid so we're still supply chain shortages and that sort of thing where you know that's we had a long conversation in what do you do this isn't available we get to figure something else out we just don't let the project sit or overrun you figure out another solution another supplier another method something and that's where they really shine is is to keep things moving along so that's that's going to be a big part of it it's these are different times to build in believe me I just got done with the project so uh I can I can tell you definitely different times but uh I think we welcome their expertise I would but any other questions would anybody like to make a motion to approve Cobalt as our owners rep in the construction project pending legal review and authorizing Mr Grody to enter into a contract should everything be copacetic yes I'll make the motion thank you a second seconds all right perfect roll call please yes Andrea Corey yes Craig Meyer yes is that middle camp aye Lisa Schumacher yes Tyson search yes yes unanimous thank you very much and welcome aboard big things comments we're excited as well all right uh last item for Action is the approval of the second reading and Adoption of the board policies for the Press issue 110.
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so all right so um we have an agenda here and under any modifications now we have two presentations that will be postponed at a later date um Elizabeth Hills in her presentation for the wellness committee for Brown County schools and then Mark Bruner and the way of the eagle um unfortunately we have to postpone those to a to a later date so the only two modifications all right um do we have an emotion to approve the modified agenda I said no sick any discussion Amy yes Carol yes Vicky yes yes yes all right um next to the three we have recognition of visitors um we have some forms over here for anyone who would like to be recognized during this portion Clarity you have something yes and then we have a three-minute limit on that so if you want to sit there in the front row and go ahead and speak and then um I don't have my cards oh that's right I will um we just to make sure that we're always very equal with everyone we do set a three minute timer and I'll just kind of give you a little signal um and do just start with introduction yourself who you are what uh you know what your interest in Grand County Schools is and we'll go from there okay my name is Lauren McKinney I am the President of vertica PTO new this year uh one of the I guess the main reason I came today not only to get more involved in the school uh the referendum has been something that we've been talking about a lot it's kind of a way to call a bit that failed I'm sure it's not news film with anyone here so like some PTO members from not only my school but other schools and other people that how we could be a concrete plans yet anything that we could do to help you know it might be a little late to begin during the first election obviously didn't go our way but um I know I feel I was told that people reach out to me to speak to a president before the election and that didn't happen so maybe I should push more but basically here we are as parents as PTO members machine saying that we don't want to give up you want to keep fighting and we just want to know that you know you may not have been a supervised we could before but obviously we should have been and we don't want that mistake happened to them so they just want to be more involved have someone from PTO here in every meeting if possible and just know that we are a resource that we want to be even like more to ensure that the school system flourishes and survives very good for any other comments I want to say happy board appreciation day oh thank you thank you so much for supporting schools thank you any other comments all right we'll move on uh thank you Mr Kenny for your service um all right number four we do have one presentation is that right yes and at this time I would like to introduce Chandler coffee um to come up she is our benefits advisor um she helps us with everything medical dental vision she is our liaison and our partner between proactive MD in our health clinic and she has brought um two presentations uh to me and um just highly impressed and would like for the board to be able to hear it for our future consideration so great I'll turn it over okay thank you so much Emily and thank you board for allowing us this opportunity here my name is Chandra coffee I'm a consultant for Brown County schools with brown and brown and you know one of our roles and value hopefully that we bring to schools and our clients is finding really those outside of the box type of cost-saving programs uh so we're going to be talking about two programs today say too much here but I'm still their Thunder but one of one of the programs that we're going to talk about today is a center of excellence it's an orthopedic center of excellence we have partnered with Hendricks Regional Health we are just so proud of this partnership and you're going to learn more from Brandon Smith who is the director of Business Development the other program that we're going to talk about focuses on prescription you know really prescriptions and the cost of prescriptions that count for at least 50 percent of Total Health Care spend so we're trying to focus on those type of procedures surgeries RX what what has the most impact on the cost of Health Care RX protect make Hughes is here with us today he's the CEO of RX protects and he's going to be talking about uh his program and just to get a couple of Statistics you know really there's about three to five percent of your employee population that really accounts for at least 50 percent of your total RX spend so what RX protect does is focus on that five percent dragging down your spend for RX so I'll get out of the way here I'm going to introduce Brandon Smith if you can go ahead and kick off the presentation and again thank you for being here thank you for having me thank you sure so do my best not to turn my back too do you need to do we need to switch inputs or anything yeah um I'm a registered nurse but by training and been on the business side of things for about 10 years now um with our organization so um I was going to ask that question they could even know where Hendricks County is so we're the county um adjacent to Indianapolis we're on the west so if you ever go to the airport you drive into Plainfield I live like 10 minutes from there and into traditional Health was a little bit further west than that it's in Danville um so that's always an important first thing I ask people is I've heard Annex County interstitutional Health is a health system there so we have a couple hospitals a lot of medical offices things like that um this is a program that we put together with your benefit are you set in Brown and Brown that has been I guess live for a little over a year now it's specific to orthopedic surgery um which I'll get into kind of how the concept Works um Center for excellence the idea is that you want to find a partner who offers a specific service in this case it's orthopedic surgeon at a really high level from a quality standpoint first and foremost certainly safety um also there's we have a ton of expertise in this area so we can be really efficient and help hopefully drive you some cost savings as well but we really that's that's the lowest priority it should be for you high quality and excellent patient experience is what you should as an employer and your employees should be most concerned about so this is um not something unique to us but the school systems or the setting group this is a concept that big employers you've all heard of that they've been on this train so to speak for several years they have National footprint so they use a little bit different model it's a little more dramatic you might have read about it in the news called medical tourism where they'll fly somebody from Arizona to Johns Hopkins and Boston and it is cheaper for them than doing orthopedic surgery remotely ours is not a national footprint we have all indiana-based employers 162 employers to be exact which represent about 58 000 people that's employees and then their spouses and dependents um so specifically what you would be looking for and what our program offers and the programs that these companies uh partner with are those high quality outcomes comprehensive services so it's not just we don't just do one surgery we do all four um episode of here is relevant if it's not lower if we had a High episode of care costs then that wouldn't make sense for you um we have designed our program to have no out-of-pocket costs for the employee um that's not necessarily the case with all of those programs that they work with but that's how ourselves and it gets employees back to work faster Maybe okay so uh next slide is going to start a video it's about four minutes long what's hard for me to relate to you is the culture of Hindu so in the video you'll meet our surgeons uh our Sports Med Physicians um and also our CEO and some others um hopefully sound goes if not um [Music] approach to Medicine we deliver quick efficient effective care that is second to nine we are a high quality low-cost High patient satisfaction organization with Incredible associative care passionately about the patients that they're here to care for you treat everyone like they're your neighbor friend and family what I love about it we all focus it around patient care we have been recognized by Health grades for 14 years in a row for patient experience there's only seven other organizations in the country who have that sort of track record from patient experience perspective it's a big responsibility that we don't take lightly the Partnerships for our schools are critical to Our community's Success we need to be a solution for our school systems who are pressed for resources who are pressed to find resources to pay teachers more and Our obligation to that is to try to find low-cost high quality options for all of them currently we are taking care of every High School in Hendricks County as well as Putnam County I'm really excited very proud of our Orthopedic Center for excellence I'm Dr Chad Waits my name is Brad Prather Beckley my name is Kyle Ritter I'm an orthopedic surgeon at Hendricks Regional Health one of the real advantages that we have here at Hendricks is the scope of the services that we have to offer in the world of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine surgery isn't something that anybody wants for patients there's a natural set of fears concerns and to be able to take them from really not having a good quality of life not be able to enjoy their Hobbies the things they like to do several weeks or several months later and turn around and say I have done that for years that's probably the most gratifying part about it I have about an hour to make a change in you and as long as your wounds heal well then I'm just a cheerleader for you the rehab let me take months and so really what I do is a small portion of their Total Recovery their goal is really Patient First there's that ability to communicate that between the surgeon with the therapist sports medicine doctor to be able to facilitate the best care possible for them because of the size of the hospital and the players that we have they are able to you progress quicker than other places because it's the right size to a lot of things to happen one of the most important benefits of the team approach that we have in our Orthopedics program that it allows us to provide our care and is efficient and timely manner as possible the smoothness of the operation is something that I hear from my patients all the time they were expecting that this knee replacement is super placement was going to take everything out so they just don't fight for them so I go days without even thinking about my hip thank you for doing such a great job communicating with me throughout the process and the fact that I can walk pain-free is all that I really could have asked for one of the biggest advantages of having as comprehensive of a line of musculoskeletal health care that we have allows us to take care of as many orthopedic and sports medicine issues in-house the importance of the growth that we've had over the past 10 years from an orthopedic standpoint it's allowed us to not only treat more patients and to be part of the state-of-the-art procedures and instrumentation which ultimately benefits the patient we open the new surgical weave a year after we started in this state-of-the-art facility the most rewarding thing about what I do and it sounds cliche but I enjoy helping people and that's kind of why I get into medicine to see somebody that's come in and say thank you so much I never thought I'd be able to do this again that's a good thing whether they're manufactured or they're high functioning athlete who are all kind of working towards the same time the most rewarding part of what I do is the patient interaction it's nice to be able to see someone walk better their swing your arm better or just be on opinion so uh this is the team of providers that were introduced in the video orthopedic surgeons are on the top left there um our Sports Medicine Physicians are on the right at the bottom here we have Dr Miller was not featured in the video but it's a spine surgeon so spine surgery is also included in the program and then the physician's assistants who support that team um okay so this few slides here this is to give you some sense of um reassurance I guess or a system that you've not heard of you absolutely should be concerned with the quality that we bring to the table um so uh we do over 2 000 orthopedic surgery um um saying that they would uh recommend the practice to others um another 95 great supervisor is a 9 over 10 out of 10.
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leading to order for uh January 19 2023. I'm Miss jaczynski please call the roll here thank you all rights for the pledge good evening everyone large audience this evening um and vice chairman grippo filling in for uh Mr prayer Mr prayer genius evening you couldn't make it or it was under the weather actually um not that he's advocating his duties give that impression um so I will move on to student Representatives Monica and Michael the floor is yours good evening everyone um thank you for having us I hope you had a great holiday break and um so to start us off the band had their holiday concert back in December and they had this with the orchestra in the John H Auditorium and then today was the first day of midterms for CHS students and they're lasting until next Tuesday and then um there's also a bunch of midterm prep that was being offered in the past couple weeks by link crew which is like a freshman orientation team that also paired with scope which is up here um peer tutoring group and they um offered help to any students who signed up in the back of the library throughout the past two weeks which was very helpful and had really good feedback and then quarter three and semester two begin next week on January 25th for all students and the Winter Guard will be performing in the East gen on Friday of next week February 3rd at 8pm which is a free event also back in December Winterfest had a very successful run for their year and we don't have the exact amount of money that they raise but I'm pretty sure it was around like 3 000 which is very good all right so the supermarket challenge is taking place on January 29th from seven to eight pm at ShopRite in Wallingford this challenge is run by the peer Health educators um and then they they gather sports teams and clubs from CHS in groups of four to six and they raced around the store to see who can be the first to collect a hundred dollars worth of food all the food collected goes to the Cheshire food pantry so if you're shopping at ShopRite on the 29th between 7 to 9 pm and you see a bunch of students running around the store just know it's for a good cause the student Senate is running a warm Gear Drive from January 16th to 27th gently used or new winter gear will be accepted our beloved secretary Mrs Stewart just recently retired she dedicated to 31 years to CHS and she was truly an amazing secretary who did so much for our school on her last day CHS students and staff surprised her as she parked her car by giving her a grand welcome the band played the drums as she walked in and we all lined up to cheer as she stepped into those doors for the last time there were many balloons as well at the end of the day athletes lined the doors and cheered for her also she'll be missed at CHS and we wish we wish her the best we got to welcome former Dodge secretary Mrs Braun into CHS she will be the new secretary to Dr Gad we know that she'll do a great job and we're grateful to have her on January 9th Dr Solon held a pizza lunch with students we got to eat some pizza and we had a fruitful discussion on social emotional learning for students and ways we can improve our school the class of 2024 just recently held a fundraiser for their prom which is scheduled to be on April 29th also bathroom vandalism is often a big issue at CHS unfortunately tens of thousands of dollars have been spent just on repairing our bathrooms so they can be usable for students this money could have been used for many better causes like buying incoming freshmen new Chromebooks or funding fun and educational field trips but instead it's unfortunately wasted because our bathrooms are destroyed not only this but due to the vandalism numerous bathrooms are locked and shut down causing students to in some cases walk to the other side of the school just to use the bathroom causing them to miss important things in class this affects every student in the building and everyone desires for it to be better so to try to fix this Kobe Zhang a junior at CHS and myself are creating a video to stand up to this behavior and show that we're better than this as CHS Rams Monica is actually featured it so we're making a video and yeah it's the show we're better than this and then part of the video includes getting interviews from CHS students sharing their thoughts on the issue as well as the qualities that us as students should strive to uphold including caring for our neighbor kindness Integrity things like that it also includes multiple groups of students saying clean bathrooms rule or vandalism is not cool to show unity in the student body and show that we were striving for safe clean and open bathrooms and we're hoping this can Inspire some change in our bathrooms and in addition we're putting up some pictures on the bathroom doors with the one and only Ramsey our school mascot to remind people to do the right thing in the bathrooms also business teacher Mr PC is starting up a group called the boys bathroom Improvement Squad which is a group of guys who it hasn't started yet but it's a group of guys who um will go into the bathroom and do like a basic cleaning of the bathrooms during their study halls and we've been working with Mr Todd rally assistant principal to try to develop a plan as to when and what to do to reopen our bathrooms and we're continuing to strive towards positive change um the Cheshire track and field start Colin Brown has been going off this indoor track season and recently he beat his own School record in the 55 meter dash for the time of 6.42 seconds that's impressive and mock trial the treasure mock trial team is going to the playoffs for the first time in five years which is very exciting and the trial was held on December 20th in the New Britain Courthouse and then the chorus concert was last week January 11th and they had a stellar performance and also they were joined by Dodd Middle School who performed right before them and then on Tuesday of this week January 17th was the first day that District chorus day was held which is similar to District Orchestra day in that the sixth graders from all around treasure Public School Systems came and they were in the auditorium and they um saw performances by the Cheshire High School choir and The Dodd choir and then they themselves gave a performance to the both of us which was pretty exciting and that's all we have for tonight so that's all thank you guys thank you and um I guess the the bathroom issue has been one that we've been trying to deal with for many years so I'm glad to see the student uh some student Solutions out there student teacher Solutions uh so we'll try and work in league and maybe further that cause are there any questions good unfortunately I have a bathroom question is it do you think it or do you know if it's um the male bathrooms or the women's bathrooms or the men's bathrooms so it's mostly the males bathrooms that have been vandalized and stuff um yeah it's just it's it's mostly the males and um we're just trying to show that we're better than this and stuff and you know that's not cool to vandalize bathrooms that money can be um like you know go towards positive costs and stuff and educational causes and hopefully we can try to you know make some change with that and you're teenagers you're not children right right exactly thank you great go ahead I just want to commend you on that um especially on what you're doing well with everything but especially on the bathrooms and um the fact that you're cleaning them like I couldn't ever get my kids to clean them so I really applaud you guys and um I along the lines of questioning with of Ian's um is it going and you guys may be able to help is this going on during the day is it going on weekends during games do you because I would think someone would hear something or and do you have like a will you do a see something say something campaign or um yeah yeah definitely we're going to try to you know because like really it's up to us as students to stand up to the issue because we're the ones that use the bathrooms and stuff so you know it's up to us to show that we're better than this and definitely like you're saying you know the if they see something we encourage them to try to you know stand up for that because I'm not being snitches by telling an authoritative figure they're doing the right thing because it's causing the person that's doing the destruction to stop and it's also helping the people that have to use the bathroom in the future so it's actually a win-win situation because it stops the destruction and it helps the other people for when they have to use the bathroom and you know I guess while we're talking about bathrooms so at 6 15 tonight the planning committee met my three colleagues here and we went through this five-year Capital plan right here so this is a list of all of our school buildings and different projects across the district so anything you can do to stop the bathrooms being vandalized we greatly appreciate because we have to make really hard decisions as to what happens at our schools and you know it's it's better for us to be repairing roofs that are leaking than going after and putting good money towards repairing bathrooms that doesn't get damaged because there's only so much money to go around so thank you Michael and thank you Monica as well I heard you so you're in the video though so Monica is featured in the video okay and um my next you know Board of Ed meeting we should um have the video shown to students and stuff and we should have an update for you guys on on um on what the status of the video and stuff oh absolutely okay yeah we'd be happy to share it with you guys so I I PSA loved the idea do you have a next step besides the video is there another plan moving forward tracking any data just to make sure like okay we know it stopped for a bit but it might come back again so what's what's our next step definitely um so there's been some some proposes and stuff like when our boys bathroom Improvement Squad eventually starts up you know we hope to Mr Pizza was suggesting like you know if we can record a certain period of time where there's no vandalism at all then we could reopen our bathrooms or you know Mr tartarelli is also thinking about ways we can reopen our bathrooms so definitely it's being talked about and then change is not far ahead it's it's coming up soon and um you know we're hoping we can get those bathrooms open get them cleaned and um let's make our bathroom experience better oh I love that you're called the squad and I think that that is really important because you're you're take the students themselves are taking ownership of their property and that's what's going to make the difference it's a completely different thing if other kids are ruining their peers experience and their peers equipment than if they're doing it and having the adults and the authority figures as you say do all the picking up after them but if they're making their own peers clean up after them you know it's going to have an impact so I commend you for for all that you're doing thank you and um yeah that's the thing you know we hope that since it's a student-led thing that you know it'll Inspire some some good behaviors and stuff and you know we're hoping that the people that are doing the vandalism can get the the help that they need quick supplement uh shout out to Colin you guys made the shout out to Colin Brown he was a record Journal athlete of the week this year or this week was kind of nice to see and then uh I second that the concerts were really amazing they're available on our YouTube channel as well if you haven't seen them yet and want to check it out good stuff Mr sullen's Instagram page is a real supporter of the concerts so and okay uh well Monica and Michael uh thank you very much for your report you can stay if you wish but you are uh free to go and uh yeah good luck with midterms thank you have a great evening okay uh moving on I'll move on to audience um is there a member of the audience who wishes to address the Board of Education please step up to the microphone and uh give your name seeing none okay we will um move on to committee reports um first up is finance uh that would be uh uh my committee um let's see let me get the right reports here and uh as usual I like to hand off to Mr maciano thank you I'll keep it brief this evening as you've heard enough for me on finance and and funding on Tuesday night the board members do have the finance report through December and and really the report is simply that you know despite some of the challenges of inflation electricity you know cost of heat and energy it's been a relatively mild winter uh fortunately for us you know our budget is still holding well the the show's budget is 80 million 664 000 420 and we will meet that budget based on what I'm by all accounts and all measures at this point in time we still are holding about 50 percent of our budget funds for non-payroll expenditures in reserve as as we normally would be doing at this time of year we're about halfway through the year so we'll keep that going until we get probably into Feb February and then we could start releasing so that the schools can make purchases as as they need it that is the finance report and if you'd like a touch quickly on the medical benefits report which a copy was distributed on Tuesday evening at the budget Workshop but I do want to highlight some of the December numbers which again the board members do have the report the claims for the month of December you know did come down off of November which unfortunately was a record high 1.6 million and that is an all-time record high not just an annual High December's claims at 1.1 million you know were a significant decrease about a hundred thousand dollars over the one million dollars per month expected um but we did receive some um stop loss and prescription rebates during the month so even though our claims exceeded the million dollar Mark those rebate and stop-loss reimbursements actually helped increase the fund uh Reserve balance by 171 000.
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I just wanted to call the meeting to order that pain at seven o'clock seven or five just want to welcome everybody uh thanks for coming out this rainy night we appreciate it um turn this over to Kevin and John in front of the presentation and um Mr Wilson I'll just start with a good evening when I think our guest for joining us this evening and making their way through the tough weather that's out there tonight also want to thank our families to maybe watching from home and I know we have a couple of also appearance impacts and thank you for doing everybody as well so I have an agenda I'd like to walk everyone through tonight is our Workshop night tonight and so we have an opportunity to roll off our sleeves and dig in and ask ask the questions that we typically may not have time for during the regular board meeting I will ask I think it will run smoother if the team and I have an opportunity to go through the slides because our board members you've seen a lot of the slides that we initially opened with I saw a move a little faster through those and then of course spend more time on on the slides that that is a little bit more meaningful so let me just start with superintendent overview that's me Kevin Wilson again good to see you everyone number two School enrollment projections you'll see in the agenda and so previously we had opened with talking about enrollment and really talking as an aggregate talking about district-wide enrollment and so we so we make sure we found an opportunity to break it down k568 and 9-12 and ending on I-12 appropriately so we can then transition to Danbury High School enrollment and Staffing give everyone give the community an opportunity to all the certified Staffing requests and when we say other it's Staffing outside of the high school some of it does impact the high school so it does not we want to make sure we address that and then in this fences you have heard from John Spang and Mike Seeley previously about some of those other expenses we will define those as we go through the slides but it's things like energy utility increases and also laptop Replacements and that reality that is in front of us right now last but not least I will then come back and wrap up with covet relief grants SO2 talk about some next steps hopefully for us as a school community so the next slide in there are you taking care of that for us we will do an everyday thing and so the proposed annual budget see each group three beautiful kids on the front page and then on the next slide you'll see our board members so I want to thank you for your foreign years ago we spent a lot of time developing a vision for this District admission for this District some of our board members Might Recall really a lot of time that we spent on providing transformational learning experiences I I just want to say tonight that that line that word is really uh resounding with this District right now as we're in the middle of launching uh what we've been calling the Career Academy that's really going to change experiences for kids in the school district and there's another word that oftentimes I include in my emails and that is this idea of the partnership the partnership with our families that have been a priority across school district and in partnership with our community members here in the district and of course I want to thank it's a very key community members who are here this evening mayor thank you and council members thank you for joining us and so on the next slide thank you Ken are two things that really serve one thing that's really important for us as a school district and that's this idea of a portion of the graduate which frankly serves as the North Star for Danbury public schools how we get there is our strategic plan and so that kind of serves as the road map if you will for this journey to continue to get to this North Star which we call our portion of the graduates thanks bye program needs reminded in our last meeting or budget drivers and it's really a combination of both we will explain as we go for salaries and benefits you'll see a big number there five million dollars It's Quickly this is really if we had not one additional staff member salaries and benefits will increase as a result of fair and competitive contract negotiations for our labor units energy utilities and I will be providing a brief overview on that one Energy's utilities and inflation uh John will cover this from for us and think a little bit deeper on what that means and itemizing those areas that lead up to the 1.2 enrollment increases 2.6 million and so I will cover some slides on just kind of walking you through the enrollment increases number one to slam projections that's our demographer but in then projections versus actual not least walking you through those things and then following me will be Dr casaniro and Kelly trucius our two assistant superintendents then talking about um what that means for Staffing increases to address the enrollment the enrollment increases and we have a special guest tonight and that is principal Donovan who's also going to be talking about what this means to go to high school the extra shortfalls John will be talking about that talk about our expiring grants and what that means for SO2 and the state where else the respective staff that's in that Grant right now technology replacement cycle the one million dollars Mike Dr seelick has talked about this in committee meetings but he's going to talk about that again tonight for additional questions and last but not least equipment and services in John and Michael take this one and it's a combination of equipment and services that's involved in both respective portfolio's performance slide thanks it's just our district profile I'll go to this question at the time of our submission we had when I say submission 12 210 students on October 1st so annually we have to submit to the state how many students we have and then that kind of serves as our attendance number of course we continue to grow after that number has been submitted I'll talk about that a little bit later but that's two that's 12 210 and then of those students we have 48 of our students are identified to economically disadvantaged 14 identified as students with disabilities which frankly for a district as needy as ours is a really low number and then 34 multi-language learner you've also heard us refer to this group as English Learners as well next slide and so an overview of our program increases savings and efficiencies and that is a slide later on I'll be talking about I just want to talk about these lines in aggregate so Sally's a benefit's five million dollars enrollment increases and this is Staffing to address the enrollment increase 2.6 energy increases 1.2 technology 1 million equipment and services 2 billion Institute shortfall 2 million and that means the Staffing that's in Institute with that Grant expiring into June 30th the subtotal is 13.8 Millions but savings and efficiency and we'll talk about the details of that lands us at a request this year of 9 million dollars or 6.4 percent increase so fiscal reality and I I've actually highlighted a couple of things to walk you through this slide and that is enrollment continues to grow beyond our Productions and that's nothing new here in Danbury for us those gain those enrollment gains mean increased Staffing primarily and you're going to see in our detail Pages primarily in um for our multi-language Learners and our special ed students Pre-K is a number that also needs to be addressed and so Kelly will be talking about that later those the Staffing increases also improve the high school they get our special guests will be talking about that Staffing costs have also increased significantly through contract negotiations and I'm open to talk about that initially um and that's that five million number inflation in the great economy has impacted us here at Danbury and last but not least in an effort to reduce the funding requests we conducted of our own kind of internal reviews and again we'll be talking about that to wrap up and this is just reiterating the 9 million dollar request proposed request from six point four inches salaries and benefits so you will see where we were last year at 79.7 for salaries 29.3 benefits I believe we were anticipating a increase in benefits we did not experience an increase and so we're really happy about that but but still just in terms of normal increasing costs our benefits are projected to be a 1.3 million dollar difference for the 20 to 23-24 school year our salaries the 79.7 million told me 83 .4 million next year and that's a gain of 3.7 million and that's for a total of five million dollars again this is reflective of our contract negotiations step movement for our teachers Etc across the system and you know again just a reminder we do have over 2 000 employees in the district and so 4.6 to that many staff members these are the kind of numbers so enrollment growth and the board might may recall this slide I just want to review for the board again and for our visitors tonight and then we're watching um the key on the actual account and that's kind of the yellow orange on the left right but first I'll start with the key the yellow is the number that we submit to the state of Connecticut on October 1st annually and so you'll see 21 22 22 23 because that's who we are now the blue is the projected number from our slave report so you'll see those three numbers for the next three years from slamming in our demography report the red number in most districts they don't have to worry about this but in Danbury we do because we continue to experience increased enrollment we're not upset about that it's just our reality we're happy about that but this is our reality and so last year in 2122 the demographer projected 11 843 that was adjusted because by October 1st we had 12 190 students um we've lost some students and then by October 1st this year again I'm looking at the number above the red we had 12 210 students however you'll see once again that outperformed the slang projections of 12 110.
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okay let him know okay so Carlos will you please tell the audience thank you okay today is the regular board meeting of January 19 2023 at 5 30 PM members of the board in attendance president MIM fam present vice president clerk Andres Quintero she is on his way member Linda Chavez present member here members of administration superintendent Dr Bauer present okay uh thank you very much Maribel so with that I'll move on to the land acknowledgment so the Board of Trustees of the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District does hereby acknowledge that the district's schools and Facilities sit on the traditional lands of the Milwaukee people and Board of Trustees further acknowledges with respect and reverence the Milwaukee people tribe of the San Francisco Bay area for their stewardship of these lands and so I asked my colleagues to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance okay and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you very much so uh we move on to item 1.02 discussion in or modifications of the agenda the board may change the order of business including but not limited to an announcement that an agenda item will be considered out of order that consideration of an item has been withdrawn postponed rescheduled or removed from the consent calendar for separate discussion and possible action is there any requests for uh discussion or modification yes superintendent Bauer yes I respectfully ask the board that we need to pull items 7.11 or bonds okay and the other one is under consent calendar there is a contract on item 1201 that we need to bring in a future uh meeting and that is the phone number Association that will be brought back to the board at a later meeting uh if I may have some advice uh how do you take well because they are all part of one item in that way when we get to consent if we pull it then you know if the board doesn't have anything else from consent it's item 1201 oh yes I know I'm just trying to foreign okay um any fur let's see here so with that uh let's see here do I have a motion to approve modification of the agenda motion motion by trustee Chavez second second by uh board uh vice president Herrera low era okay okay so with that I will move the signal for the comments any comments from other members of the board okay seeing none will uh we'll take a vote uh I'll call you as I see you trustee Chavez uh board vice president Herrera loera aye uh um Rusty bejarano aye and myself voting I the motion passes uh four with uh was it uh or clerk Quintero not voting okay so next up item 1.03 welcome an explanation to the audience um do we say uh um I was gonna say can we say he was absent versus not voting oh minutes purposes oh it sounds better okay okay very well so yes and we'll call it an absence day okay very well so we will move to item 1.03 uh welcome and explanation to the audience wait a minute yeah oh I know that right but any person may okay okay any person may address the board on any item on the meeting agenda persons who wish to speak on an item on the agenda will have an opportunity opportunity to do so when that agenda item is introduced and presented during this meeting if you wish to speak on an item on this agenda please use the raise and function on Zoom as described above when the agenda item is called and there is a limit of two minutes each to two minutes for each speaker the board has the right to limit total public comment on any agenda item to know more than 20 minutes persons who wish to speak to the board about any matter within the jurisdiction of the district but not on this agenda will have an opportunity to speak during 2.01 item 2.01 on this agenda as stated below so because that is an explanation I will move on to item two public members who wish to address the board so public members who wish to address the board on matters not on the agenda requests to address the board provides members of the public an opportunity to speak about any manner under the jurisdiction of the district but not on this agenda if the subject you wish to discuss is already on this agenda please provide your comment when that item is called during the meeting those who wish to speak on a topic within the jurisdiction of the district but not on this agenda should use the raise hand function on Zoom as described above when this agenda item 2.01 is called the brown act prevents the board from discussing any item not on this published agenda but the board May refer to staff to follow up any formal written requests that are brought before the board at this time there is a limit of two minutes for each speaker the board has the right to limit total public comment on any agenda item to no more than 20 minutes written matters may be placed on the future meeting agenda however given the length of the agenda I will uh in order to facilitate the timely flow of this meeting I will exercise my discretion to limit public comment to one minute one minute per speaker uh for the duration of this meeting so uh well I want to make sure that the staff that is uh monitoring the timing um please to set the timer to one minute for any public comments on any of the uh items on this agenda okay uh very well so with that uh so I will open the floor to uh to the public on item 2.01 or president there are two speakers first speaker is Patty Rocha Rocha you have one minute please unmute yourself and when the timer will begin when you've been speaking you have the floor Miss Patty Rocha my name is Patty Rocha and I'm the mother of two children at belante for the last nearly three months our campus has been disrupted by allegations of inappropriate touching by a teacher first I learned of this serious issue for my daughter who informed me that principal Gutierrez called on her classmates to question them I immediately wondered what the process was when allegations of this nature were made I am still unaware of the protocol the district has in place for our schools where is this documented where do administrators refer to when this happens I understand that this is an extremely sensitive issue and confidentiality of students is Paramount but parents and teachers have been left in the dark we have no principle no Vice principle the morale of teachers is horribly low you feel the moment you step onto campus by no means am I suggesting my principle be put in place just to fill you have one minute please unmute yourself we have the floridelia um the reason I'm I'm speaking tonight is because of the chaos that is happening at our school we have no principle we have no vice principal the principal that's been there every single day receiving at the end of the month and then what happens we have two two extras uh substitute principles that are there Monday through Thursday so who's there on Friday we have nothing no idea what's going on and also um what is going on with she was a principal where is she her stuff is still in the office so is she gone or is she not gone you got you have to let us know what is going on with her situation it is we cannot do many activities at our school because we don't know who to go to because it's kind of like we'll wait and see wait and see wait and see it is unfair to our school is unfair to our students and ends unfair to our staff administrators and teachers and everyone at this school we need more transparency we've been talking about transparency where is it okay thank you or president there are three more speakers our next speaker is Karen McDonald please unmute yourself the timer will begin when you begin to speak and Miss McDonald you have the fourth thank you to um God the Board of Trustees and Dr Bauer for allowing me to do these two minutes to communicate with the district there's a lot of negative to say but um I got a shout out for this year for um our district two things I'm very grateful for one of them is that you gave me permission and allowed to support me for a conference that I went to this past weekend in Santa Clara the 49ers weekend they were all there at the Hyatt um it was really good because you hired me as a fifth grade teacher and I am teaching Kindergarten now I need that training also to the substitutes Mr Bauer and uh Joanne Patton please uh thank them for me if you know them well thank you our next speaker is you have one minute please unmute yourself and the timer will be good Dr Ballard trustees have any of you taken the time to come out to Adelante to speak to staff students parents and teachers do you know what it has been like for any of us do you know what the morale teachers has been tell me what you would say to the students who say who are where is our principal I'm here to tell you we are still not okay and we will not be until there is clear communication and transparency I think by any means you did us a favor by providing us with two weeks of counseling remember Dr Bower and trustees you have been elected to do right by this entire Alum Rock Community that certainly includes us teachers and for the record my name is Elvia Rodriguez Diaz eighth grade teacher at Adelante Academy and I think it is disgusting that you took away time from us this evening and only gave us one minute to speak foreign the timer will begin when you speak hi my name is Belinda Sanchez and I'm also a parent at alalalante my daughter has been going there for over a year now miss guiteras has helped my daughter through everything not only my daughter but myself and it was very disappointing to find out that she is no longer there I want to know where is she at and it's not fair for all you guys to keep us in the dark and not tell us anything about what's going on and I understand again about you know what the obligations about what happened with the teacher is a very sensitive subject as well as confidential I get that I understand that but us as parents we do have every right to know about what's going on with our principal now I think that she should be coming back because she has done nothing but good not only for the students but for the teachers as well as the parents board president there are no more speakers uh thanks seeing no further comment from the public we'll move on to uh I agree special presentation discussion consideration and action so uh first time item 3.01 the racial Equity committee will provide an analysis from the Panorama survey this item is in for information only do you want me to introduce yes superintendent power please please please kindly introduce the racial Equity committee thank you board president it is with great honor that I ask uh Miss kasturi vasu and Veronica the leaders of the racial Equity committee to bring before you a an analysis of the data of the Panorama survey that our parents teachers and students took during this fall semester so marivel or it team would you please promote miss vasu and miss Dalton to our meeting thank you thank you Dr Bauer good evening my name is Veronica Talton and I would like to first begin by greeting all of the trustees word presidents uh and ask uh that we again nervous on this January School Board appreciation month for some reason I would like to also ask that we do a screen share or if the boys presentation that we submitted to be shown on the screen are you able to do the screen share let me uh look for the um or if you would like Miss Basu to do it yes that would be fine she there's she you can share your screen okay is anyone here Rebecca when I talk I'm hearing you know okay and I'll just continue I just want to want it to be hurt so thank you again to the board of uh trustees and uh honor a board of appreciation Board of Education appreciation month thank you Miss vasu and so we'll be presenting tonight the Panorama survey for our district centering equity and student data and this is the fall 22 report we first want to acknowledge uh the land on which we live and work and that land is being offered in homage and respect to the moekma aloni people past and present who were skilled Artisans and Hunters as District leaders and racial Equity we acknowledge the Erasure of indigenous people and we honor the presence of these original caretakers of the land we're committed to standing against systemic oppression and working towards racial reconciliation our context tonight includes the out of our division which you see before you as well as the guiding principles those guiding principles are service Student Success diversity collaboration and transparency with all of the stakeholders families students and staff we provide the students of Alum Rock with high quality 21st Century Learning what our Focus as a racial Equity committee is to have a culturally diverse community so our students can go into the world as lifelong Learners and be prepared for their future um so looking into our Alum rocks approach to academic growth and College and Career Readiness which is based off our strategic plan focuses we have three priority areas the first one is whole child and whole family development second one is Multicultural and multilingual education and the third one is early and expanded learning again our Focus as racial Equity committee is around Multicultural and multilingual education we also want to and for say that in a strategic plan one of the guiding principles or core belief is that is embedded in all district work and should never become compromised is diversity excuse me may I interrupt just for a moment because I want to make sure that we help um apparently there is an echo when uh the speakers are talking we don't hear the echo here in the boardroom but I'm letting the RIT Department know that on the other end uh Brad and Louise the audience is getting some Echo especially from Miss Dalton just to kind of let you know Miss Basu has a less of an echo just to kind of see if there's anything that we can do to correct that pardon the interruption uh thank you Dr Bauer uh one thing I'm wondering is for the two speakers are you close to each other no okay well we'll troubleshoot on this side thank you so are today's uh data presentation objectives are again we are going to ground it around um equities Equity focus and the first thing is we're going to ground in the synergies between school climate SEL and racial Equity work they all go in hand in hand as all of you know we are going to review key highlights from the recent climate student survey um we're going to discuss the survey results shown Equitable and inclusive lens and finally we're going to explore an ideate resources to support ongoing growth and development so um just um going back I we are going to review Q highlights from school climates student survey from teachers and staff so going into a false survey overview for this school year 2022 and 23.
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[Music] thank you [Music] days [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] talk about time [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] stop the time [Music] foreign [Music] good afternoon [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] but I'm still here [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] get up [Music] baby [Applause] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] steps [Music] ouch I love the gavel quiet everybody down so welcome everyone uh we're reconvening the meeting we have Pledge of Allegiance and in closed session uh report out first of all we'll have the Pledge of Allegiance by okmar cartray please stand up car yeah your right hand your heart ready foreign so as many of you may know every month is a different kind of awareness month so January is the awareness month of cervical cancer and more than 14 000 women in the USA are diagnosed annually so although medicines and vaccines can prevent this disease um there are other diseases that women have to face in this country and I think we should um think about those so the pay Gap restricting gender roles and period poverty are but some of the many issues that plague society today so for this moment of silence I would like to devote the time to the woman that I fought for the rights and have shaped society and in camaraderie with the women that continue to fight to rectify the problems that they face so that's what I want to dedicate this moment of silence to so if you may yeah thank God next we'll have the closed session report out by the clerk one no reportable action taken regarding public employee performance evaluation superintendent 4.2 no reportable action taking regarding existing litigation 4.3 the Board of Trustees unanimously approved the settlement agreement in oah case number 20221000 for one resolving all issues and students do process complaint by providing compensatory education and other reimbursements item 4.4 the Board of Trustees unanimously approved the settlement agreement in oah case number two zero two zero two two one zero zero seven three seven resolving all issues and students due process complaint by assessing and providing compensatory education and other reimbursements item 4.5 no reportable action taken regarding negotiations 4.6 no reportable action taking regarding Personnel 4.7 the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to dismiss employee hr-2022-23-08 4.8 was pulled 4.9 the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to dismiss employee hr-2022-23-1-0 4.10 the Board of Trustees took formal action with a 5-0 vote to vote to approve the expulsion of students 22-1422s-1822-19 and 22-21 4.11 the Board of Trustees took formal action with a 5-0 vote to accept settlement on claim auhsd 13-07 thank you madam Clerk next we'll have recognitions start with hope school shoe Drive kind of an unusual thing to be thanking people for but it's a wonderful thing that you have all done the Board of Trustees will recognize the Obama city councilman natash Patel as well as Each one teach one it's a foundation for providing an amazing back to school event for all hope school students as a welcome to the 22-23 school year each and every hope school student received a new pair of Vans shoes along with a backpack full of school supplies additionally lunch was provided for the hope school students and staff and I can't imagine this happening in other schools I have never heard of it before so I think it's a wonderful opportunity that all you students are are taking part of and helping to to provide underprivileged students or anybody you know shoes backpack like you have done so thank you so much and I know you have done things in the past not only within our school district but it has been provided for other areas within the southern California area in the way of supplying the underprivileged so we thank each one teach one for for that also so with that said we're going to make a presentation here take some pictures and thank you again so much and is this the whole group or are we missing some people therefore this is their board okay thank you all right why don't we come down and have a picture [Applause] money in here you guys did a good job on that too that worked these two are the presidents right there why don't you hold that why don't you go over here I'm gonna get in the back I'll just get back with you okay foreign [Applause] okay and now nitesh Patel who is a council member from La Palma also part of Each one teach one and he wants to say a few words I'd like to I thank the Board of Trustees the staff superintendent for recognizing these children you know when I get certificates or a recognition it's not me first I'd like to take you on this little journey on how this happened because we've been giving kicks for kids was the event shoes out for past three years which my daughter Tulsi and Krishna and then Aiden I can just say he's like my son but they all came up with this concept and was to give kids shoes growing up I come from an immigrant family and a pair of Nikes went so far for me and we only got them once a year and that was during Christmas because parents couldn't afford it so I was telling my children these things and they're like well there are a lot of kids that don't have that so we started the program at Boys and Girls Club Salvation Army and then we did an event at Hope School where Each one teach one donated I think over 500 roses and we were talking about doing a backpack drive and shoes there that's when I met this fabulous man special education teacher Joseph King through this summer he worked with all children at Hope School to get their shoe sizes we had a form that we gave him and he made sure that he got every student on there and then we got changes and changes but that just shows you that the value of our teachers it during the summer he's working to make sure that every student was accounted for at Hope's school and making sure that they had shoe sizes and that we would get them a backpack and Supply so when we say thank you it starts off with Educators like him so let's give Joseph King and she's not gonna like it but the second person that's always been supportive and making sure these types of events happen is principal Houston at Oxford Academy she has gone above and beyond to make sure that these kids have the resources and the ability to be able to participate in these types of events and you know when they came with the idea of eoto at Oxford she got right onto it to make sure that these kids could succeed and she doesn't just do it for these kids but for all kids and so let's give her a big round of applause and last but not least these kids are special you know they came out it was a two weekend ordeal they packed the shoes they put the backpacks together they put names on every shoe so that we can have a seamless transition and passing out process they gave up two of their weekends to make this happen and you know they always smile they're happy and seeing them interact with special needs children you could see their compassion their love their kindness and you get to see a different side from their academic side to seeing them being human finally and this event is going to continue I know my daughter Krishna is is going to be a part of the auhsd family soon and uh she'll be continuing on with the school that she goes to but again these children they're gonna most of them are gonna be going to college soon so I know they'll carry this on forever and it's it's been an honor to work with all you children because you always teach me something every day so thank you to YouTube all right again thank you very much thank you what a wonderful opportunity to show you what students do out there in the world because you are our future and so carry that forward next we have 7.1 student Representatives report and we turn it back over to amkar hello I'm back so um we'll start off with Anaheim then so Anaheim High School recently had an rfdp taste testing so because of their rscp Summit they um had the opportunity to take six students from each grade level to taste new foods for their cafeteria this included the new Sheikh Ramen and vegan hamburger in all of these new editions at uh Cambridge Virtual Academy the newly elected Anaheim Mayor Ashley eichen and the city council member Carlos Leon visited cva's Market day and they got to engage with the community as they were engaging in their marketing so Cyprus recently had their Cypress basketball compete in a Las Vegas tournament and they are more than ready to start competing in the current season so big for them uh Gilbert held a rapping party where people could wrap gifts together and they would offer supplies to decorate all their presents it was just a fun little get together for Gilbert students Katella held a senior picnic where seniors got together outside and they were given Chick-fil-A and they got to watch a movie Elf outside for the holiday season so great way to kick off second semester for the seniors um Kennedy had an IB winter Gathering so IB Juniors and seniors held a party where they ate cookies drank cocoa and of course watched a movie loera held an end of the year winter assembly which included new gifts for students and a whole lot of cheering for student organizations and their teams at Magnolia they held a winter wishes fundraiser where a whole bunch of toys and other gifts were congregated and given so they could distribute them to students in need at Oxford they competed recently in a JPL challenge so it's they created it's like included actually corporate company as well and they qualified to compete at JPL so those students will now be competing at like the major league so very exciting for ahsd um Savannah had link crew and PT say organize a movie night for students so they watched Alvin and the Chipmunks a personal favorite and they enjoyed the night at Western they had I was told to talk about their winter sports because it's starting off with a bang there so wrestling soccer or basketball they're all doing great in their league games and they're the Pioneers are looking forward to the upcoming School semester for those Sports and also one more thing off of the board report I spoke about this with Mr mitsuda yesterday as well and I recently had the opportunity to take part in the implicit bias training with the OC human relations partnership we have and I was it was a really profound moment because I got to engage with students and teachers alike and I saw them like move to tears as they recognized their own biases and how it influenced their life around them and they were talking about how they wish they could reach more Educators they could reach more teachers so I really hope this partnership continues in the upcoming year for with human relations and if it were to also be promoted to more Educators because the conversations were very deep and they got very personal and in like a good sense where people were finding more like self-actualization realization through those conversations so it was a great opportunity thank you so much great report especially the last part yes very nice yeah uh student speakers do we have any student speakers in the audience okay seeing none uh reports from associations Mr Grant Schuster good evening Board of Trustees cabinet and everyone joining us tonight for the meeting I want to First congratulate trustee Guerrero and welcome her on behalf of the teachers welcome her in person as I was unable to attend last month so I want to congratulate you and look forward to working with you throughout this term tonight I'm thrilled to be focused completely on serving our teachers and students in the classroom as successful School Board campaigns and contract negotiations are behind us it is always a rewarding time in the year to be able to focus specifically and completely on students and staff and what their needs are and moving forward with the school year we are well into the development of our community schools model and we have learned quickly that the development of any systems of delivery of any Services is dependent upon the first Community School pillar shared leadership part of the reason we have developed such a strong steering committee and are building what will be strong site committees has been the belief in shared leadership that we have embraced we know that this is not new to our district and is exemplified in many of the different programs that we have built over the years we have shared leadership on the insurance committee that has continued to provide our District employees and their families some of the best Health and Welfare packages in the state uh during the pandemic the shared leadership of the teacher input group and auhsd administration helped us navigate The Impossible situation to improv to provide students and their families uh anything and everything that they needed during that time this shared leadership has continued through the return to campus and helped address student and family needs as we recover and build a better public education system in Anaheim on the other side of that our teacher support network is currently working through a shared leadership process to create a more meaningful process for evaluation and teacher support throughout our careers as we continue to develop professionally and hone our teaching skills we have learned through all of these examples that progress travels at the speed of trust it always will we must recognize and always remember that institutions whether they're school districts teachers unions non-profit organizations or parent organizations their default institutional default is to govern from the top down and make directives we must vigilantly fight to make sure that we continue with the shared leadership model that will battle against this default and provide us with programs that are best for our families and Community whether we're looking at insurance coverage developing new academic Pathways supporting teachers through their professional development or even implementing a new Special Education Service delivery model the level of shared leadership and in the decision-making process will determine the level of trust that is built in and how much progress we will make in achieving our ultimate goals which are thriving students thriving schools and thriving communities thank you thank you grant aye Heather hutner do you have any thank you bring forward to us yes she does good evening board members and Community my name is Heather hettner I'm the new CSEA Chapter 74 president so I just wanted to come and introduce myself to you all I'm proud to represent such a diverse and amazing group of people and positions in our district um we're really looking forward to some quick and collaborative negotiations this year and I'm really excited to see what this year is going to bring for all of us thank you thank you and welcome thank you welcome aboard anybody else in the audience oh okay Amanda good evening um president O'Neill Board of Trustees superintendent matsuda cabinet students parents and Community joining us in person on and online we um in Ulta really hope that everyone had a wonderful winter break and was able to get some rest and fun times with their families um and we're really looking forward to finishing strong this second semester at our school sites we're we're really busy over the break hosting a variety of athletic activities and currently in the process of celebrating our winter Athletics the big thing on campus these days is preparing for the upcoming course selection season and master schedule process for the 23-24 school year during this time our schools are collaborating collaborating with each other to introduce the eighth graders to their new high schools and to introduce the sixth graders to their incoming seventh or their junior highs so they're hosting a variety of events going and meeting with students individually helping them pick their classes really making sure that students are being offered a broad course of study and are receiving courses that they want that they need and are able to support them for their academic success we know as administrators that students Thrive when we are um working with all stakeholders and making sure that everyone is involved in the process we're also happy to report that we're continuing our apparent learning walks and parents now have the opportunity to connect via e-cadence and even earn a badge for their learning walk and last but not least our districts students and Community will be participating in a variety of upcoming events like the tech parade celebrating Lunar New Year the black college Expo in LA to learn more about College and Career and this Saturday we are celebrating Martin Luther King through our servathon and ahsd's way of spreading kindness and compassion and putting those five C's into practice every School site has a service on events with over 4 000 students committed to serve the Greater auhsd Community we know it's going to be a great start to the year and we're really excited to uh to get going thank you thank you look forward to that service I had a quick question yes I'm so sorry can you explain how that quickly how that e-cadence will work for our parents I don't have the specific details okay so uh maybe Jared the more generic level but but essentially just like they would log into Aries the same credentials allow them to log into a Cadence they can access their students portal but they also have their own portal so when a parent engages in a parent learning walk they are actually they're a reflection that they use at the end they now can do any Cadence they can do it so it's now housed in a Cadence and the beautiful thing is if you're a parent and you have students that let's say catella and South you have the ability to to have that same you don't have to log in separately it's all linked with you and then through that they can earn badges that that are connected to them that they can use for potential job interviews or things that demonstrate their skills and the things that they've learned while they've been with us so think about parents The Ready Set Go curriculum our parent leadership academies all those things potentially could be badged to really upskill our parents with those skills and because of Amanda's work we're able to secure uh Google certificates for parents as well first time in the country so Amanda congratulations hi and on a side note thank you Mr matsuda and we are launching that with our parents tomorrow at the parent Summit so we will be hosting two sessions on Google certificates to explain what they are how they benefit and um get survey data on how parents would like to be involved okay thank you parent teacher Association uh public comments this is time for Open Session items we have anybody wishing to speak on public comments seeing none no reports okay item 9.1 School sponsors student organizations the motion and a second any discussion I'm current any discussion seeing that all in favor say aye aye opposed that's six zero uh Business Services 9.2 Financial audit for fiscal year 21 22 this is information only and we have a long presentation about 30 40 minutes no whatever you like um so we have um our um partner from e Bailey uh that will be giving a short um summary of the audit for um prior year thank you definitely not 40 minutes um so before I get started I usually like to Define what an audit is it's a process designed to provide reasonable Assurance whether the financial statements are free of material misstatements we always say reasonable Assurance because there's no audit designed to provide 100 assurance that would require us to be here day and night looking at every single penny transactions so basically the goal of the audit is to provide the auditor's opinion and the highest level opinion that an entity could earn it's called the unmodified opinion and the we the way we get there it's through a risk assessment approach reviewing the district's internal control and ultimately testing a sample of transactions that being said the first page I want to draw your attention to it's page 103 or PDF page 110 if you're looking at a digital copy this is one page in the auditor's report it's called the summary of Auditor's result which tidies up all three opinions we provide over the financial statement Federal Awards and state Awards on the financial statement the district did our unmodified opinion as I mentioned that's the highest level of assurance we provide with no material misstatements or significant deficiencies noted and then the next opinion on there it's the federal Awards opinion the district again earned a unmodified opinion we tested one of the major federal programs we noted no significant deficiencies or material misstatements and then on the state Awards opinions the district did earn an unmodified opinion as well the next page I want to draw your attention to it's called the schedule of financial Trends page it's page 88 or PDF page 93.
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and since then very little knowledge has been added it is important that the health and medical care regions work to ensure the systemic documentation and follow-up of Care at the national level is realized and that clinical studies can start says Thomas Linden the board also wants to cut back on what activists call Top surgeries that is mastectomies of children there is also the recommendation regarding breast surgery similar to hormone treatments that the assessment is that such treatment should continue to be given without the framework of research and that pending the onset of a research study it can be given an exceptional exceptional cases according to the criteria contained in the knowledge support as with the previous presented recommendations on hormone therapy the uncertain state of knowledge suggests caution at present States Thomas Linden the swedes also note the explosion in cases and the day transition phenomenon several factors have pointed towards increased caution and offering hormonal and surgical treatment insufficient scientific evidence as yet to be explained increase in the number of people by being diagnosed ages 13 through 17.
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