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on the 1st of March our prom tickets go on sale the tickets are seventy dollars from the first through the third after that from the 6th to the 21st they're going to be 75 uh and then last chick Last Chance tickets will be 85 from the 22nd to the 24th as well as guest passes no matter what time you buy will be eighty dollars uh seniors your FAFSA ends the 2nd of March on the sixth we have our second student Senate meeting on the 8th we have our Multicultural and elective Fair night um then on the 9th and 10th we have Breaking Down the Walls then the 16th we have our annual blood drive the very next day we have our spring drama production and then on the 24th uh our sale for prom tickets and um we're right on the Multicultural night yeah so uh we've been talking for a while in student government now to change our elective fare from just an elective fair to diversifying what we have there so uh we're gonna have our Asian Club we're gonna have our Hispanic youth leadership club and then we're hoping to have our BSU backup and running so they can also awesome and what date is that that is the eight um six thank you awesome thanks Bradley um superintendent and board report Mr ballen thank you president oh so uh this last month uh it's the first month I've had the opportunity to fill my duties as a governing board member during this time I was since I took office and during this time I was able to observe and learn a lot about the district so um on January 31st I had the opportunity to attend North Country student house reveal with superintendent layer and president Pope what a grand concept I applaud principal severt and her staff for introducing this unique learning and Leadership concept for the North Country students on February 1st I attended with superintendent Lair the Sacramento County School boards association dinner meeting at the Sacramento County Office of Education it was a nice event very informative and I would have to say that what I got most out of it was the featured speakers topic where is education in California headed in where what was presented was the education of the whole student I'm pleased to say that from what I observed thus far in our district and my role as board member uh this concept follows this Mantra very closely on Friday February 3rd I I toured both Dudley and North Country Elementary schools with superintendent Lair and trustee Anderson I very much like the classroom wall frog mural painted by the students and enjoyed visiting a number of classes Dudley which is an older School brought back memories of my elementary school days and I found the video production Studio an amazing place I look forward to the launch of their program to expose students to this wonderful technical environment both are outstanding schools that are committed to the students of their Community thanks to both principals holmsley and servette for their generous provision of time to show us around on Wednesday February 8th I attended the Aspire Solaire petition for land transfer request Hearing in Placer County held at the Roseville Joint Unified High School this school district office with superintendent Lair and board president Pope I do plan to attend the Sacramento County hearing that is set for February 25th being held in Center's boardroom at 10 A.M on Friday the 10th I had the honor uh of February 10th I had the honor of attending Wilson Riles Junior High School role honor roll breakfast I'd like to thank principal Kent and assistant principal Gian Cheney I hope I pronounced that right for their invitation to participate in this event I was quite astonished at the high rate of the number of students that achieved this goal amazing kudos to all that received such high marks to gain this recognition as well as all the teachers and staff that helped them to get there and I had some statistics I forgot what it was but I think it's out of 600 students 240 achieve that goal that's that's that's amazing so my my hats off to teachers and staff there um as my part of my campaign Plex to ensure the safety and security of all our students I've requested us from superintendent Lair to have me invited to all future technology committee meetings and safety committee meetings in doing so I look forward to learning how we keep our students safe and secure and perhaps I can make an occasional recommendation that will strengthen our District's security posture uh this next month I intend to tour Center High School in Oak Hill and be briefed by by The District's technology executive staff to learn of our districts technology Network and information technology security so in our January board meeting I proposed an agenda item pertaining to signage on the board's table I also want to make sure that it's known and understood and any person that personally places any signage in or around their immediate space at the board's table then any message they are attempting to convey is not necessarily representative of the whole board and is only that person's View and or opinion of what is presented on the signage that they place in or around themselves also in our January board meeting I proposed an agenda item pertaining to what some people deem to be inappropriate and inflammatory Language by board member during a school board meeting this was brought to my attention by Civil War of our constituents whereupon I listened to the board meeting recordings on YouTube for which I was advised they were concerned with and I too feel that the presentation probably should have been uh presented differently as such I sit here this evening in support of those who are concerned with this language that was used and how it could be misinterpreted by students as well as parents of our district speech and comments presented this by this board has meaning and those that listen and pay attention can misconstrue what is said if the words are not chosen carefully many of our students pay attention to what we say and how we say it so when a board member makes what is perceived as an inappropriate and inflammatory remark they can be Amplified and magnified even more so we the board have the responsibility to ensure that we send an example to our students as such language can be taken out of context additionally we have the responsibility to be considerate of all and come by any language that encourages Behavior to not follow the rules as this is an unacceptable Communications any language designed to motivate or persuade students not to follow the rules has no place in our schools nor in our board's conversations and I sit here today with those in the community that feel the same to send the message that this board should not accept such behavior and I urge my fellow board members to connect themselves accordingly and support this as well to governing board member Lee I am sorry that I will not have the opportunity to work with you this term the number of items that you have brought forth I too believe in very strongly at the top of that list is bullying which has absolutely no place in our schools you can be assured that I will do what is ever necessary to ensure such behavior is addressed accordingly and whenever remediation is needed will be applied to be sure that it does not happen again I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors and I as a member of this community appreciate the contributions you have made to this District in your time here uh in conclusion uh I have to report it on something uh again as I did last month I found quite surprising and saddening and this too I will focus on during my tenure as a board member I came to find out that there are far more homeless and homeless unaccompanied students that are attend our schools than I would have ever thought for those students keep your chins up and keep learning the more you learn the better the outcome will be and ultimately you will prevail I pledge that I will ensure that all that can be done for those these students will be done so they may have a bright future from their education at Center Joint Unified School District in my next month is my intention to tour Center High Wilson Rawls and McClellan as well as have a briefing by staff on the district's technical infrastructure and Technologies again and as I will always State at each board meeting I participate in I want all that of those that watch this board meeting live or recording please know that you are more than welcome to come here and attend this meeting in person and I know all the rest of the board would agree as well your presence here would be greatly appreciated by the board School staff and students and any input you choose to give would be helpful and beneficial to our district also please know that we would appreciate any comments on the district's social media platforms as well such as YouTube Facebook Etc remember it is you the parents and guardians of our students that have the strongest voice in how your children are educated this completes my report for February 2023 thank you very much thank you Mr Ballard the board report night I do okay um and um I really just want to start off my report by recognizing and calling into this space that February is Black History Month I'm not going to read my letter of resignation to the board you see the QR code behind me you can visit tinyurl.com forward slash Lee resign cjusd it is public and it should be public and the public should hold our board accountable for meeting its priorities and student achievement is the number one purported priority of this board so I'm hoping that my resignation will allow people to start to focus on that instead of me in honor of black history month every year that I've been a governing board member in this District I've pointed out that February is Black History Month I have yet to to receive any invitation regarding black history month or even to see information about it and there is a lack of Education around black history in this district and there's an extremely monocultural approach to education here and it's been something that I've mentioned many times and it's something that my constituents have also come to this board and commented on even if their comments don't end up in the meeting minutes the recordings the proof is in the pudding I want to thank the members of the committee of the not the committee but of the community who suggested to me to begin recording and making backup recordings of all of our meetings and for assisting me with that often since November 20 uh 2020 when I was elected I've been able to document and maintain backup recordings just in case they disappear or you know have a data retention requirements of every single reading that we've had in all of the things that have happened in them um so I just want to thank folks and for the people who have reached out to me with heartbreak and dismay and disappointment about my resignation I've even had the question you've been the only advocate for underrepresented and minoritized students uh there what's going to happen when you're not there who will speak for them um and that's a tough question to have to build from faults and I've had some really heart-to-heart conversations with many of my constituents I believe I was the only board member who held open Office hours where community members come and speak with me every single month for an hour and then just people seeing me around have mentioned you know that they are disappointed and I am so sorry uh to all of those people who feel like there's going to be a concern moving forward around the topic of cultural inclusion you see my shirt it says make racism wrong again that is my statement and it's something I'm committed to it's also on my hat um and I think that that's something that everyone should be committed to and shouldn't have a problem with some folks do though um but I just really want to tell people sometimes when you're fighting a battle for vulnerable populations and marginalized populations you reach a point where you can no longer make positive uh change especially once when monoculturalism is so deeply entrenched in a culture and at that point as a leader and as an educational leader my background is in education and that's what my doctorate is in educational leadership um it becomes important to weigh you know what's what is being affected and what is not being effective and for me I feel like I've done just about everything that I can in this capacity but please know I'm not abandoning you to the students who feel disappointed I'm not abandoning you either I'm simply repositioning myself this will not be the last you hear of me I will continue to do what I promise my constituents would do when I was elected and duly elected in 2020 uh and that was to promote student achievement in this District the burgeoning student achievement to try to do something about it to look at the monoculturalism and try to do something about it and to really try to advance a more holistic education and inclusive environment for everyone you will still see me doing that just not as a governing board member I don't feel I have enough levity in that capacity but as a member of the public you have a lot of levity to hold your school boards accountable and to make them focus on their priorities and there's a lot of tools at your disposal as a member of the public and I intend to utilize all of those tools so you most definitely won't this won't be the last that you all hear from me my constituents I will continue to fight for the marginalized students and for cultural inclusion for ending racism and homophobia and forgetting our board and superintendent to act on those items so you will hear from me I am still active I've always lived here I continue to live here and you'll see my presence incoming actions and events and things that I'll be doing to ensure accountability for our marginalized student populations and Center Joint Unified School District so thank you for the opportunity thank you for your comment trustee Mr Bruno uh first of all I'd just like to say wow quite the turnout tonight I think this is the most people we've had at a board meeting since I've been on the board and I'm sure the fact that this is the last board meeting before your hours are due is purely coincidental but it's great to see all of you here thank you guys for coming it's something I've been uh I've been thinking about a lot recently is the concept of teamwork and frankly as an individual board member there's absolutely nothing that I can accomplish it's only by working together as a team that we can get things done and I want to ask us all to refocus on our teamwork and strive to get better each and every meeting I you know I think we've made some progress and I think we have progress left to be made and I look forward to doing that work um the other thing I would like to say um it can be difficult being in this seat when things are said that are not accurate because I don't necessarily have a place to respond or the information in front of me in the moment to refute it um I just ask all of you don't take things at face value whether it's here or elsewhere look into things further do the research confirm on your own whether or not something is accurate thank you that's all thank you Mr Bruno Mrs Anderson I also was able to tour Oak Hill in North Country with Mr ballen and Mr Lehr and I have to tell you those classrooms were wonderful they had lots of African-American information up um I don't know where Dr Lee says that we don't recognize them Mrs Anderson that's trying not to make those classrooms no it's not um news board members names and attack board members in your public statement oh well um I don't know where that information came from but that's not what I witnessed in the classrooms and that's not what I see as a board member uh perhaps if other board members were actually out at the sites and actually saw what was going on they would have different feelings I praise our teachers for actually going out there and providing that information and putting the information up in their classrooms because I do see it out I attended the honor roll breakfast it was a wonderful event um we have I I think all of us as board members have told the public at meetings and at other times that we're always available our emails are on the website our phone numbers are available if they call District office we're always available they can talk to us anytime they want to so I don't know what office hours are all about but they can call us anytime day or night um next month I'll be attending the same tours as Mr ballen I think we're on the same schedule now for that and I'm looking forward to that I'm also looking forward to the completion of Rex Fortune Elementary School I don't know if all the students know it unfortunately we lost Rick's Fortune recently some of you may remember him afternoon I don't know how long's he been gone from the district Twitter hasn't been that long well I guess you wouldn't remember any of your parents probably would but anyway um unfortunately he didn't make it to the Grand Opening but um that's sad but he was a great superintendent we had him for a long time and that's all I have very well thank you very much um I did tour Center High School with Mr Lara Mr barassi and Mr Farrell we did observe the water damage that was in the theater and that was devastating to see um thank goodness for the restoration project that's coming so we can get that fix for our students we also visited the CTE buildings and they are coming along fabulously so that's um that's really cool we also stopped into the geography geometry and construction class and visited with Mr clatt so that was nice I also toured the North Country House reveal and if you want to see some excitement those kids were excited so I want to congratulate Missy Burton Mr Mr Farrell um for doing a great job students were having so much fun the board members and some of their attendants got to do some confetti so that was all fun the library at North Country this month is centered around black history month so I would like to thank um Mrs battle who is the librarian at North Country um so great job also on the 31st I did attend the safety meeting with our safety yeah with our safety group so that was nice and a lot of collaboration on the 3rd of February I did attend the Center High School first lunar Lunar New Year celebration and they did an amazing job they had amazing food and great tables activity tables I'm looking forward to the second Lunar New Year celebration I did tour Dudley Elementary and one thing about touring elementary schools is the administration receives so much love from their students from high fives to fist bumps to hugs to just you know hey Mr homesley hi Mrs Warner um it was just really fun to see and there was so much positivity we observed Mr homsley was busy in a meeting so Mr and I Lara and I did visit and watch the lunch recess and you could just see all the kids and I believe it was first and sixth right for second and second and six third and six together and they were actually engaged together having activities and it was really cool to see um Mr laryn and I and Mr homsley and Miss Warner also visited Marcy Phillips classroom she's an ell teacher and what a great representation of the many cultures in our community um it's just another way of we support each other is great um and every classroom we visited all the students were engaged and they were learning and it was positive and the curriculum activities in many classrooms were all centered around black history a month so I want to thank you for doing that for our district uh the facilities meeting this more this month was at Rex Fortune Elementary so we did a quick tour of that um I did attend the ASB student meeting and um I tell you those students are concise uh 20-minute meetings they did a great job Mr President and um it was just very good and very organized so great job future board members I see I also attended the land transfer hearing with Mr Lair Mr ballen um September 10th was the honor roll breakfast like 630 students they have approximately 630 students and 240 right that attended the breakfast so congratulations Ryle student March 6th is the annual Saint baldrick's event at Spinelli from 10 to 1 30 and I encourage anybody that would want to attend I've attended everyone and um it's just very moving so I would like I'll be going to that one again Mr Lair did share with us the Royal Siva Club they've been busy in their Studio producing their daily bulletins which is shared throughout the school February 3rd their teacher feature was Mrs Kennedy and some fun facts about Mrs Kennedy she graduated from UC Chico her favorite color is black she enjoys archery which which is cool it's surprising but she enjoys archery and I have to ask her about this but a race car driver inspired her to teach that's interesting um The Daily Bulletin also had a segment on Black History Month and introducing Bessie Coleman who was the first African-American to have international pilot's license so thank you Royal students for doing that and great job students and Mrs topper I do want to share with you and I'm going to read an email that was shared with me the email is written by Oak Hills vice principal Mrs Oliver and she writes I wanted to send a shout out to a shout out and a thank you to our amazing Transportation Department for going above and beyond to support the needs of our families bright and early this morning we have a fourth grade student who was overflowed from Spinelli in January they had never used the bus so they had no because they were unsure of the pickup time the family arrived at Oak Hill at 7 15 to discover that they missed the bus we were preparing to give them a ride to Spinelli but unsure of booster seats and the logistics when the transportation department went out of their way to save the day a bus driver was in the nearby vicinity and they made a special trip to transport the student to school the mother the student's mother was beyond appreciative thank you all so very much we appreciate our Center Joint Unified School team and I want to thank Mrs Oliver for sharing this email for everybody and thank you transportation department thank you transportation department it's just another way that we support ourselves and we work together as a team um that is my board report so for advanced planning our future our next board meeting is on March 15th I'm right here in the annex at six o'clock oh Mr Lair is here you guys are superintendent has made the meeting would you like to share your board report so I I would like to add a few things you did most of you uh in your reports covered items that I participated in so I'll keep mine a little bit brief but two two things maybe three maybe four uh one was Miss Pope you mentioned uh transportation in that email another uh story of Staff coming together we had a parent that called us after hours uh panicked that their child had left their cell phone on a bus and the individual sitting to my right went up on the transportation after hours got the cell phone and personally drove the cell phone out to the very tip top of our district to give it to that family so I want to acknowledge Carol's effort uh Carol Hunt's efforts in that and then also slip in it was her birthday on Sunday so happy birthday [Music] thank you I I also think that we work in a we all work in a very difficult uh profession whether you're a transportation whether you're a food service whether you're a teacher whether you're a superintendent whether you're a board member whether you're a principal whatever and I think it's important that we acknowledge and thank everyone for the work because these items that you're doing and talking about are only made happen or only made happen by the work that everyone in this District does for the benefit of a lot of the people in this room so we think I thank everyone for their role and contribution in that the one that stood out to me was today I was in a meeting in a room that is co-shared with a one of our social workers social worker was out today uh the person had to put a note on the door because there were many so many kids I lost count that were coming in to meet with the social worker and so to me what that just reminded me what a great job our our counselors our social workers are doing for for the students of our district um and then I got to to finish out my afternoon today before coming to the meeting here where uh went on a tour I invited myself with principal Farrell for Rex Fortune uh was able to tour with the four newest teachers of Rex Fortune Elementary they were able to go in and see it under construction so Mr Farrell thank you for making that happen sorry I crashed it Miss hunt and I uh she hadn't seen it since it had gone up but it was just a really a great experience and to see the excitement of our our teachers and as the staff starts to build that school up there it's a great experience so with that I think y'all cover the rest of my report thank you thank you Mr layer I won't miss you next month I promise um Advanced planning March 15th right here in the boardroom at the annex at six o'clock suggested business name business items I do have naming of the CTE buildings that was talked about last month so we'll continue that as a suggested item is there any others about um bringing the names back for um board position are we going to be at that point how long are we going to keep it open no so we don't the the posting would go out it'll go out March 1st through I think it was the 17th we're trying to have a bigger window so it'll go up to the board meeting and then April will be where the candidates will be in degree why do we wait so long we're trying to keep a window open so it gives more people an opportunity instead of having a smaller window I wanted to make sure we opened it up so more people might have an opportunity and so I have a couple things we have to take care of and then we'll post it we want to get word out about it too so April is within the timeline so the person would be um named hopefully at that thank you Miss um Mr superintendent Lair for your commitment to attempting to reach a more diverse population and to really publicize the vacancy um so that more people may have the opportunity um to actually apply and perhaps we can get some representatives of the diverse members of the community there sitting on that board that would be amazing you're welcome is there any other suggested business items okay the board will not continue closed session and we adjourn the meeting at 8 15.
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I'm currently now u my bachelor's degree and I graduated from community college and like I said my support system was at Winward Community College. people there but women coming out it's really hard for us to trust people and to have a support system. So I do feel that if they have it inside then they can come outside and continue that together. Thank you for sharing your story. Just a reminder that we're going to limit testifiers to two minutes. Uh Dela Teroka from the University of Hawaii. Good afternoon chairs, vice chairs, and members of the committees. Um, so I'm representing the University of Hawaii Community Colleges. I'm the interim associate vice president for academic affairs. Um, we stand on our testimony in support of this program. Thank you for joining us. Lauren Walker from the Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice. Aloha. Thank you for allowing me to testify.
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Dr haber's projections showed steady enrollment growth with the effect of new housing and separately uh with the effect of just the organic growth of the population without the effect of new housing report also presented a possible grade reconfiguration that could uh remove as much as 100 to 150 students from one of the most crowded schools and and best balance the load of student enrollment without having to add costly classroom additions that report is on my agenda tonight for uh consideration and hopefully approval from the Board of Education also at the operations committee meeting was the presentation of the annual comprehensive financial report the auditor's management report from Miss Valerie Nolan which you heard the presentation earlier so I'll save those comments there's a resolution also on my agenda tonight for approval of the acfr the AMR and the corrective action plan that's required the next item is the 2324 budget update Rod Grant update including recent visit from post architect and engineer and I introduced the topic of the 23-24 budget where I indicated to the committee that all revenues for the 2324 budget all Appropriations have been updated many light items still require the use of estimates as we are waiting for information from third parties one of the largest one is is the line item for health benefit expense health benefit premiums through the district very labor intensive organization and we and we looked at each month's loss ratios and claim utilization to negotiate the premiums here with the health insurance carrier that will continue for the next month I indicated to the committee that the 23 24 budget is is currently over cab it's a manageable figure and administration is working hard to refine the appropriation to get the revenues and Appropriations and balance also included in the 23 24 tenant full improvements uh to continue to maintain the Investments that this community has made in your schools right now the state of New Jersey is offering a unique Rod grant program it's called a regular operating District grant program where the state reimburses school districts up to 40 percent of eligible costs for Capital facility upgrades so we introduced a architect by the name of Richard aldoriso from di group and he brought an engineering to the schools and also on my report tonight is a proposal from the dni group architecture for the compilation of 14 broad Grant applications to the state of New Jersey some of these topics are boiler systems to be replaced at the high school Lafayette Elementary School Lemont Elementary School Smalling Elementary School also some of the group toilet facilities in the schools we were identified as needing to be replaced those include the high school Community Middle School Lafayette element on Annex and small e-school we're also considering adding school vestibules to three schools that do not have them yet and that's a Community Middle School a lot of Elementary School Beaumont annexed and the other projects are Roof System replacement at the district grandstand field house and concession stands just because we're applying for those 14 Grand seniors they were all approved it doesn't mean we can still get the 60 into the budget that's yet to be determined by the members of the Board of Education which are the priorities that we do this year and the final item that was discussed at the committee level was a change order from the contractor working on the Lafayette cafeteria project many years ago there was an underground fuel tank that was removed but what was unidentified at the time of the project estimate was that there was a large concrete slab remaining buried underground that had to be removed in the section where we're adding new footings so there is a change order tonight on my agenda to approve the change order from the contractor to remove this unknown large slap so that it could house the proper footage for the school and that concludes the operations any questions I think I have a couple questions um first did I hear something about a great reconfiguration at one of the schools I did read at least one of the reports I didn't see that in there but I mean it was pretty dense report so I may have missed it what are we discussing or was that just a recommendation if it's a recommendation made by the architect and also the demographer they both have an independently to the same conclusion and you know if the board would like me to introduce those now I could I'd like to hear I mean if you could do it briefly yes it's certainly considered but one of the considerations that the two gentlemen came up with was uh to remove third grade from small League school to free up classroom space which will remove about 100 to 150 students Smalling school is one of our most congested right now and this would be a non-quastly adjustment to moving those students Lafayette school would then become serving rates two and three and LaMont Annex would serve K and one uh the report Illustrated that the simple grade reconfiguration would balance the student enrollment currently and in the future without costly classroom visions I guess my only question is Pre-K where where do they end up at that point okay okay so I'm sure that's something we'll be talking about right now I know it's only talking about at the next committee once it has become more secure this is just a recommendation at this point one of the things that I want to do is I want to have our staff go out and actually make sure that the since it's an information that was given are accurate or by counting classrooms counting students this way we can make a recommendation to the board and tell us what we're going to do great and my other question I think I know the answer but we talked about adding vestibules that's for safety reasons right we want to have that two-door system yes yes many of our schools most of them have vestibules which which creates a what's called a man trap yep to prevent someone entering the school just to be able to have quick access to go wherever they want they're secured in a location they have to furnish identification through the lobby guard system go through a background check here to uh to conduct your business in the school right okay anyone else okay so that brings us I believe to the community engagement yes mine's going to be a lot shorter okay I was unfortunately not able to attend the last community meeting but I had gotten some um members in attendance that they went smoothly however we did invite uh libero management manager to attend and unfortunately she was unable to do that so um month we're staying in communication with the Alumni Association I know they're working on some award programs now and they do have on top of work with Dr Freeman on projects like the trophy cases and things once they get somebody delegated on their side to get that up and running so we'll just keep keep in contact with them um the PTO is an excitement to announce designer bag Bingo and the proceeds from that are going to go to university mom so I'm excited about that um now that we have the PTO supporting High School level I think it's going to be a great event um and I think I know Daddy in super Brooklyn that's kind of a side note the Alumni Association um just they were so excited about the scholarship programs and they just recently got another scholarship so they mail up to four yes which is really nice they're very excited about work absolutely great and I think we're just going to keep the momentum going and social and how we're reaching out to the community that way Dr Freeman's doing an amazing job with a social as well as his own um Crusader superintendent uh account so it's exciting to see all of that interaction and it's exciting to see him in the classrooms and interacting with all of our students so um oh yeah I was in the room listening to the PTO meeting and I would just like to say kudos to you because they were very excited to have you on the call and have us be a part of our organization and partner with them so there's a lot of good energy for sure yeah okay Miss hi that brings us to you in Somerset County [Music] and yeah it was you know they did a presentation they had their um start stronger presentation there they were talking about you know just the makeup of the student body um Etc I also attended their uh they had their teacher of the year award there was the night that I went um they discussed their budget and it was interesting that they do not they get very little or no tax dollars are allocated so it's all funding and it goes to uh Somerset County it's presented to them they vote they decide how to move forward and the thing that I was really interested in is what was our role as a participant and our role is you know being it's a board of directors it's not a Board of Education um it should be there for business and uh discussions and decision making attempt they had meetings every other month they they don't have monthly it's every other month and just to promote to the Board of Education what is going on you know with them and their services they have a career center an integrated program which was wonderful it was construction electrical employment and in the last year or so they brought that all together they used to have separate but now they actually build rooms and they have the plumbing and you know all the electric Roofing everything it's really it's it's extensive is really interesting they also have a small engines but they also work on cars um teachers bring their cars there for oil changes um you know automotive automotive also lawn mowers you know any all of those engines that need to prepare they also have a small chakra set up right there so they have the eyes just as they are on the ShopRite you know in Bound Brook they have the prices there's a truck that comes from loading dock the the students unload they put everything they stock it they price it um and they get they entry into a mastered program in that the students who work there if they then want to go to a ShopRite that they have a certificate that they've actually completed their training so it was fair it just was very interesting they also had um a program called New Dawn which is for students anxiety anxiety School phobia um it just dealt with a lot of things suicidal ideations and it works with the behavior records behavioral uh growth program there's a member on staff there they have a beautiful new gym they're just silly it's really it's six years old and six maybe ten yeah but it's not that old the gym was so beautiful and they said prior to the pandemic they were meant to get out five days a week and their goal is to have it 24 7.
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Uh, I'm testifying on behalf of Lauren Walker today of Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice. My name is Diana Bethl, PhD. I'm an anthropologist by training and my dissertation research is on the dehumanizing impact of institutionalization and the way people counteracted its effects. I serve as coordinator of the Hawaii friends instructors who support the peer tutors in this higher and continuing education pilot project at WC. We strongly support SB710. We're an educational nonprofit that joins with community partners to develop, implement, and measure the outcomes of our projects. Uward Community College has been an invaluable partner in this pilot program. Our goal is to help women uh go to college and uh chart a different course in their life for themselves and their families. But one important thing to know is that it's a pilot program and it's about developing a model. And so we currently are drafting a guide book to help other correctional institutions implement the program.
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not sure how that's going to come about but they wanted us to know that the options were there um they also were very um great dealing with Transportation associate County the president would have 306 groups they work with 44 districts and 55 bus contractors they monitor the vendors they they add the person out they do get a five percent administrative fee which is what sustains them and keeps them going they have who coordinate all of this and they also have a surplus of buses so we want to buy a bus that seems to be the place to go um again it was it was an informative meeting the people there are very dedicated to their students very dedicated to their staff it just was very very possible hey any questions before we close out committee reports okay this time we really are open for agenda item is home I don't think anyone put anything new on their top but let's check just in case nope okay and anyone in the in the room seeing no one moving okay we will move on to item 5.1 approval at the minutes the minutes for the following meetings regular and executive meeting events of January 18th 2023 and then you get a motion it was high and a second seconds thank you Mr Dawson any questions comments or concerns okay voting on the minutes Mr Bell yes Mr Dawson yes yes Miss hi yes Mr Vollmer yes okay moving on to Personnel resolutions District the years up superintendent recommends for approval the resolutions as outlined in District Personnel resolutions that is 6.2 all the way down to 6 20 27.
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The reason our program is so successful, I believe, is based on a cooperative learning model of education that's interactive and though the peer and through the peer tutoring program stimulates the desire to serve and gives many of the women a sense of meaning and purpose. And this motivation to learn and help others isn't necessarily found in a traditional um model of education. And this is precisely why we wanted to do this project. It seems that simply duplicating the traditional model in a prison context doesn't inspire the same transform transformative lifechanging experience the way a cooperative learning model does. In any case, finding the meaning and purpose seems to be the key to feelings of empowerment and hope that may sustain the women when they encounter the challenges of re-entering society. And so we urge you to pass SB710 to keep this innovative program going for its third year of implementation.
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uh can I have a motion and a second thank you Ms Casino any questions um I just want to point out just say that it's really awesome to be able to see so many people requesting to attend different conferences I noticed the same thing this month yeah it's it's really awesome to see that that people take it for management anyone else [Music] yes just the exception of the items that are thank you Mr minhas yes hi Mr Palmer abstained motion passes oh sure um I've just been told we have a new celebrity in the back our new director of ESL and World Language is here miss kleisterman thank you and welcome to the district okay we are on to 7.1 education resolution's District be it resolved about Brook Board of Education approves the resolutions as outlined in District education resolutions at least 7.2 through 7.15 I can have emotions emotionally thank you Mr Dawson and a second thank you miss high do we have any questions any comments uh again just yes saying so many trips and events coming up it's so good to have them back after years without anything anyone else okay can I have a roll call please Mr Bell yes Mr Dawson yes Miss Casino yes Miss Lima yes with the exception of the items that are in the double abstain motion pests okay moving on to uh items item 8.1 we resolved The Foundry Board of Education that approves the resolution of this outline in board action resolutions that is 8.2 down to 8.27 can I have a motion please question Anderson thank you Miss High comments questions see none can I have a roll call please Mr Bell yes Mr Dawson yes this casino yes Lima yes I don't think there are otherwise so yes thank you Mrs yes it's high yes homer I'm saying thank you motion passes okay this brings us to other matters to come for the board a new business does anyone have any in your business they'd like to bring forth at this time again yes Miss Casino wants to mention dodgeball again and I think we right I think we need to build a better team than we have last year for sure if you are invited to the other team you are welcome to on the team and we would love you to be able there's no pressure here it works like we throw a bullet another team in China uh that I I don't know I'll do more than 23 .
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Thank you. Perfect. Thank you, Miss Bethl. Uh, Linda Rich from the Women's Prison Project. Aloha. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. Um, you have my written testimony. I just like to emphasize a couple of uh items in it. One is I want to clarify what this program is because it's been characterized as being a duplication of the GED testing program, which it is not. The testing has always been done by the state and will continue to be. What this program is is includes educational counseling provided by Winrook Community College, the very successful peer tutoring program you've heard about, access to college courses leading to an associate degree for Winward Community College, academic advising for women transitioning out of WOPC, and facilitation of their post incarceration enrollment in community college or the University of Hawaii. And that's what the program is. Um the results have been incredible.
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it's at night hopefully we stay a very long time because we win and stayed last time we were out quite quickly so we didn't have to stay long at all [Music] those things yeah [Music] uh our student representative you do have a report this month uh you can go ahead and get that down then even better okay so in the past two weeks um yeah um we've also granted by Mr survey that will be sent out the English departments um we've also bring some method to improve the attendance rates and we are hoping to conduct an interview with the principles of the other buildings hopefully sometime during the morning thank you sounds like you're you're off and running excellent nice job right anything else to come before the board okay then I think we are open to the public for discussion for anything do we have anything online talk go look one more time looking anyone in the room nope nothing in my mind we've really hammered that one I think we're good on that okay then at this time we are going into executive session I don't know the number so I'm gonna have to ask for that result foreign for the purpose of anybody have numbers for us it's my gift it usually is putting it together they're putting it together for numbers one and three okay can I have a motion motion thank you Mr Dawson in a second second second I think we just saw this one say all in favor right we do a roll call on going through executive usually we do okay then let's roll so we can roll College okay that executive session Mr Bell yes that's awesome yes yes Lima yes it's been us okay foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you you're unmuted 13.
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Um the program um in its first 10 months had 20 of its um students pass the GED while the prison averaged only two women uh a year previously. Um you know I just want to say that this is what rehabilitation looks like. We know that education is the pathway to better employment. It's also a pathway to learning more critical thinking, how to decision making, this is what rehabilitation looks like. And it's being successful. Um, and if we really want to have a system like we say we do that's going to be re rehabilitation, this is the kind of program that needs to be supported. So, Women's Prison Project urges you to pass this bill and to um ensure an appropriation to Winward Community College to run this program. Thank you so much. Thank you, M. Rich. Cat Brady from the Community Alliance on Prisons has submitted testimony in support of Simone Camu.
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okay we're back to 13.1 the result number Bound Brook Board of Education the improve of the resolutions that's outlined and approval of hip cases under high school 13.2 13.3 can I have a motion promotion thank you Mr Dawson second thank you Mr Casino any comics okay okay Rocco just about yes yes Miss Lima yes Mr red house yes Miss hi yes Mr Vollmer yes okay item 14.1 Theresa Alabama Board of Education the approval of the resolutions as outlined in approval of hip cases under middle and elementary schools items 14.2 and 14.3 and I have a motion motion thank you Miss High and a second U.S Casino um comments okay uh can I have a roll call please Mr Bell yes Mr Dawson yes Miss Casino yes Lima yes it's hard yes Mr Palmer yes motion passes okay then what we've all been waiting for I know 15.1 can I have a motion to adjourn all right
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So, I submitted my testimony, but I'd like to read it to you also. Says a we teach and we learn. My name is Simony Kamu, and I'm sharing on how this program has helped me as a person, built my confidence, and helped me further my education. I have been trying to get my GED for about 17 years. I tried books, taking classes in and out of prison, online, in-person testes, but I just couldn't get it. While incarcerated recently at WC, the Women's Community Correctional Center, I heard about a program that will have tutors helping with GEDs. I thought to myself, hey, why not? I tried everything else. So, I signed up and it was one of the best choices I've ever made. The first day, I was kind of surprised at how many other others signed up, too. I walked into this class not knowing how much this would change my life.
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I was a part of the first group of tuties. The tutors were other inmates, so it kind of made me feel comfortable to be okay with not knowing things. It's a little bit more difficult when you don't know how to you don't want to seem dumb in front of strangers, but for me, it is. That day, I also met Lauren Walker. Lauren Walker. She had a plan and a way of how the tutors would work with us, and it was definitely different. We broke into groups um to where I needed to fit in, and I got help. It was personal. My tutor didn't do judge me on how little or how much I knew. After about a month of working with my tutor, I felt I was ready to take my test. And again, I failed. But this time, I knew I had it in me.
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My my tutor broke down exactly where I was missing. And I focused on that area. Again, I tried again and I got it. I passed. The team of tutors kept cheering me on and didn't let me give up on myself when I could have. I passed with my GED within a two and a half months time of starting this program. Getting my GED opened doors for me to be a part of cohort 2. So, I became a tutor. The styles and methods of teaching and learning were working and I had the had the opportunity of helping one of my ties get her GED. That felt awesome to be able to give back what was given to me and that sparked something in me. I wanted to further my education and I wasn't and now I was able to do so by signing up for college classes.
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taking classes, getting certified, teaching, helping others, and training cohort three and four have lit a fire in me that made me feel good. My confidence was boosted. I believed in myself and others. My family was proud and everything was falling into place. I didn't want to go back to my old lifestyle and I found a way that I didn't have to. Education. Being a part of this program just didn't help me with my GED. I had a job inside. It helped me set goals, rebuild my relationship with my family through huahi circles. I left the prison with six college credits and two different certifications. Um, helped me set a foundation and helped me reintegrate into society. Now that I have reintegrated back into society, I'm a full-time student at Winward Community College, pursuing my degree in Hawaiian language. I'm also a Hawaiian study student assistant at Winward.
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My family relations are healthy. I'm clean and sober, living my best life, and this is all because of a program that believed in me. This has definitely been a life-changing experience. Mahalo Noah for taking my testimony into consideration. And lastly, I ask you to pass SP 710. Mahalo. Thank you. Thank you for sharing your story. That's all I have is individuals indicating they'd like to testify on 710. Is there anyone else that would like to join us? Please. Aloha. Akayaka chairs, vice chairs, and the committees. My name is Angela Melody Young. testifying in strong support. Um I just want to applaud the women who testified and their strength. Um and um I just want to say that um yeah, they're so strong. So um you know, the purpose of this act is to appropriate funds to support the counseling program for incarcerated women. Um recidivism rates of Hawaii proves the inefficiency of our criminal justice system.
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Incarcerated women are some of the most vulnerable and marginalized of our society and um they experience socioeconomic disparities and inaccessibility to resources and it can be addressed through legislation by creating equity in the system. Um, you know, there's been a lot of talk about transformative approaches um in the criminal justice reform system and rethinking how to address um systemic flaws. Um so instead of just um going through legal proceedings or um you know jail um there should be resources provided so that people can be given a fair chance to um correct their behavior and be given opportunities um and so that they can um also be positive contributors to society. Um, thank you for the opportunity to testify. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on 710? Yes. We're on this side. Okay. Good. Good. Good. Okay. So, my name is Tammy Wilcox. I'm currently an instructor and counselor at Winter Community College, but I'm not here representing the college.
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I'm representing myself. So I currently am with the Puhanoa program. Um I am in the prison at women's facility in Kyua approximately 22 hours a week. So I see firsthand these are my students. So it's kind of like I got choked up when not to give her speech. But um I see firsthand the difference it's making. The GED is such a great program. How they've put it together in clusters. how they tutors are actually prisoners themselves who are encouraging these girls that they can do it no matter what. Um, just an example, the other day I was having a class. I teach IS- 103 in there. And one girl kept pacing and pacing because she had failed her science area for like four times. And the instructor came out to give her her score. And he said, "Okay, everybody quiet." And I said, "Okay, wait.
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What's going on?" And he said, "We're going to say her score." She passed and she only missed one question. She almost had a perfect score. and seeing how it made a difference in her whole outlook um on life that it can give them. They're using this education path as a way to have this self-confidence that they were never given from parents, family, friends, or anybody else in society. So, taking it away would be so detrimental. And so, that's why I'm here just to tell you firsthand. I see it every day. It's a wonderful, wonderful program. Please keep it going for bill 710. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, T. Uh, anyone else wishing to testify on 710? Members, questions of those who have joined us. We have a question for uh, let's see, McKinley High School or Community School for adults. Helen, so Helen, you um says you support the intent.
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