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Rec for the you have my board my do and then it's e e e live on here um we have adjourned executive session but we are going to take a 10-minute break we will resume the meeting at 5:40 e e e you can hear it okay yay um okay we're going to resume the meeting um per the discussion in executive session I would like to make a motion to direct Annette and um Maria to present information uh um with examples working with Michelle and Deb R AG's um to present examples of things that can and can't be done with a meeting confer for asdb as a state agency um and have that presentation preferably in January if possible so we can then move forward with the discussion on whether or not to move uh to create an age policy I've made a motion do I have a second I'll second all those in favor say I I opposed hearing none motion carries okay I need to go back to my okay um item 6.4 discussion and action item approval of superintendent rikan's performance evaluation do we have any questions comments ly I think we're on a break no we came back at 5:40 um if you look at the video they're back okay all right I'm moving on to 6.4 again discussion and action item approval of superintendent rikan's performance evaluation any comments questions otherwise I will entertain a motion to approve uh I'll make a motion to approve uh superintendent rikan's performance evaluation I have a motion and a second all those in favor say I I I I I opposed hearing none motion carries 7.1 information and discussion item introduction and possible discussion of policies b a a i G A IMG and JF Maria Murphy director of policy and government relations good evening board president kifil members of the board superintendent rikman assistant superintendent staff and ASB Community for the record my name is Maria Murphy I'm the director of policy and government relations you have the um policies redlined before you I have not received any public comments or any questions about them these are for a first read so they will um hopefully go to consent agenda in January but at this time I'd like to make myself available for any questions if there are any any questions for Maria yes this is Lynn go ahead Lynn I have a question about JF yes ma'am okay um I would just suggest that we might consider uh where we're requiring uh me prior to placement that we also make sure that there's a current evaluation because when we have an me often times they just review old evaluations and you don't always have current information I'm getting a terrible Echo that's why I'm I can certainly take that under advisement and go back to my subject matter experts to see about adding uh that in and again as I previously mentioned it is a first read so we still have the ability to make revisions if need be yeah Maria this is Lynn again I'd be happy to talk to you too just from being in the field and sitting in on a number of the situations thank you ma'am I'm very happy to take you up on that absolutely great just just some suggestions from some of the situations we thank you any other questions for or suggestions for Maria thank you Maria thank you moving on to I just want to make sure 7.5 discussion and possible action items schedule possible work study sessions for febru February and April of um do you want us to take out our calendars right now or do you want would you would it be possible for um Leticia to pull us for available Thursdays I I don't know if I have the acdhh board calendar Katie do you have the ACD Board calendar I would lean towards this we're actually looking at um February and April so I would assume typically we do them on the same or Thursdays Le and Wendy's mics are not hot I think U mine is on now I believe mine is on now so I'm looking at the H cdhh website and on the calendar I don't see anything added to the calendar yet so would the is this and is asking about this Katie saying yeah I don't see anything there yet so could we tentatively schedule for the second Thursday in February and the second Thursday in in April for work study sessions this is superintendent rikman yes I think the second Thursday should be okay okay um so I'm going to go ahead and motion that we schedule work study sessions for the 2 Thursday and the second or the 2 Thursday in February and April 2025 do I have a second on that motion thank you commissioner Sano second I have a motion in a second all those in favor say I I I oppose thank you hearing none motion carries all righty moving on to 7.6 discussion and action item election of 2025 board officers pursuant to policy this shall be held at the last meeting of the calendar year any discussion any nominations I would like to Nom nominate Su to remain his president and Linda saying I second that that nomination um I would like to unless anyone else is interested I would like to nominate Britney to continue in the um secretary okay seconded we have a motion in a second for um the chair and the secretary position um for Su and Britany all those in favor say I I I and I I opposed hearing none motion carries 88.1 call to the public call to the public on non-agenda items uh we did get a submission of a public comment on a non-agenda item from Carmen roess is she are you here Carmen would you like to come down and comment or I can read it for you okay happy to have you hello hello there my name is Carmen Roes would you just move the mic a little closer thank you yes my name is Carmen robas and I'm from Sierra Vista and um I'm just trying to find the the comment thing that I did so sorry about that so I guess I'll read first and then I know there's some facts about which you probably already know that three out of a thousand children are DEA or heart of hearing and then imagine how many deaf children are deprived the fact that the brain has no preference for language input as long as it has a strong language Foundation this is language acquisition and this is sign language so on my comments um well my son elas he's a twin he's just turned six and he's death heart of hearing and he has a CER in the right ear and a hearing a in the left so um the thing about is that he can't attend asdb unless he's a residence there because there's a 50 mile radius and that's the transportation policy so I'm just and the thing about it is that he can't attend unless he's actually at the dorms and he can't do that he's he's been trauma traumatized and his mom passed away when he was just barely two of breast cancer and and being at the dorms is not a an option so uh I'll just go ahead and read what I had put in my comments and it says my name is Carmen robas I'm here to fight for my grandson elas roess Lavato and I I will not accept to give up fighting for him because asdb has a policy that is causing languish deprivation which means that he's not getting he's not my they're not giving my grandson a chance to grow in language this causes severe social and mental health elas needs language acquisition I am here to protect him and asdb needs to change the policy so my grandson can grow and i t an teacher of the death can do so much because he needs full immersion in ASL in a direct instruction of ASL in the classroom the policy states case by case so I'm fighting that he goes to asdb without going to the dorm because my grandson has lost many things in his life he has a twin whom they adore each other and they need each other after their mom died from breast cancer I can cannot take AAS away from his twin brother which would traumatize him more than ever so please change your policy so my grandson can grow thank you thank you thank you kman thank you for coming up and sharing your story okay thank you so much thank you and moving on to 8.2 discussion and possible action item agenda items for the next regular board meeting scheduled for January 16th 2025 in Phoenix any ideas for I have a question for uh Su um did we have something about the ELP for the Early Learning Program for the next board meeting or is that separate for the work study to that's my question I'm not sure if that's a separate item for the agenda or the work study so they are planning to present in depth in January and then after that if we need to consider another work study we can do that all right thank you for that clarification okay um if nothing here you can always contact myself or Anette to add to ask for something to be added to the agenda can I we we did we're just having a presentation from Maria about the I we we voted on that yes so that will be on the agenda as well um as well as the Early Learning Early Childhood learning okay okay all righty moving on to 9.1 action item adjournment this is Lynn yes I move to adjourn this meeting I know you're all surprised I have a motion to adjourn do I have a second seconded thank you commissioner Seno I have a motion in a second all those in favor say I I I hearing none motion carries we are adjourned at 5:58 p.m.

um call to or or excuse me attendance or Ro call President Melinda saski Charlene Diaz here Fred rushon here I ziki here would you please stand and say the Pledge with me no comma right NOA okay to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation our God isible with liy and justice for all better yeah felt better um do we have any citizens present I don't see any of those yes no that's that's Kate oh that's that's Cassie oh Cassie rather yeah that's Cassie Cassie and Sons uh call to public we don't have any of that so I'm going to move on to the adoption of the agenda how about donations donations donations oh my gosh what are quartet dry erase fors is that just it's a brand name okay yeah my wow Cory Bird is nice of him yeah and this is through a foundation that uh his family has yeah yeah yeah very cool we should have worn our shirts they should they uh the shirts the 40 shirts uh their staff shirts they look like baseball jerseys uh and with the Fox Creek colors and they have the staff member's name and a number on the front and the back very cool and so uh someday someday Jen and I are going to wear ours and go up to Fox Creek and be of Fox Creek I'll have to talk to Cory about the school board members to get me a shirts you maybe we need some too well I think we a big thank you needs to go to Corey Burgess and j& D ice cream or ice yeah for snow cones oh my gosh wish I'd been there thank you very much and I'm sure that donations have been made that probably were missed and Community is really fantastic with with taking care of yes okay I'm going to move to the adoption of the agenda I need a motion to adopt the adopt the agenda as presented I make a motion we adopt the agenda as presented I'll second motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred Rushton I Barb ziki okay M superintendent um okay so you have m M reports there uh if you have any questions about any of them I'll try to address those can you do the the student monthly totals for me the cumulative yeah yeah please just want to make sure how we're doing here um they look High um uh but we are reporting uh we have our folks have included in the reports this um this year some things that not necessarily were reported in the past so you'll notice that I put for October down at the bottom I put High attendance violations were reported at Fox Creek so they there were 50 students so when I looked at their count originally it was their their two counts were higher by 50 and uh I went back and looked at all the other sites and nobody else was reporting those in their report form so I didn't think it was a good idea to only include the bus writeups for one site and not for all the sites so I took Fox Creeks out um is but they did in the past I mean they did so you notice the red line just above so part of the reason the numbers are inflated is look inflated is because we tend to have we tend to have bus ride ups at all of our sites every month and so it's kind of a mixed bag here that they were included sometimes by some schools and not other times um uh when I get a minute I'll go back and look through the reports the previous months and take out the bus ride UPS so we can see what our numbers really look like now is that the reason because I noticed the individual Fox Creek report for October they had 189 listed on that one and this one well add 50 yeah so that's that's what I'm saying that's the difference because I was because when I looked at him I you I was wondering what the difference was so and then once in a while at Fox Creek and the middle school on their individual reports you might see a couple of kids in from the two grade levels that so Middle School might have a couple of disciplinary things for seventh and eighth graders that are in their special program but I don't have seventh and eighth grade listed here for that site yeah and and for Fox Creek when you look at their individual report you might see some things for fifth and sixth grade one or two um and I just don't include them because I don't have those grade levels and I figure one or two at each of those sites is not going to make that much difference in the overall um just confuses things um so um and then for coyote uh since we're including those this year of course that is uh only our grades 3 through eight that are in the um uh uh Life Academy not any of our preschool and what exactly is a High attendance violation uh a High attendance violation this is a high oh high attendance yes so if they are uh if they're absent oh my goodness we just talked about this today um excessive amounts of abs and it's and and it depends on where we are in the year so we're almost halfway through the year so students who have more than nine absence well technically students who have more than seven absences right now which is half the number that they are allowed by law to have which is 10% of the number of days of school so 15 is our 15 is anything over 15 for the total year yeah is considered excessive absence okay so at this point if they've got more than seven it's excessive absence okay and if they happen to be kindergarteners if they hit nine in uh this semester uh uh they're out I mean because uh kindergarten can't kindergarteners can't make it if they've missed that much school so and that's in our policy we we you know we didn't make that up on a rainy Saturday um it's in our policy and it's based on experience that we've had in the past with kindergarten so excessive absenteeism is a disciplinary violation we don't deal with it as a disciplinary thing in in that sense but um some of these particularly for the junior high it involves tardies as well so uh if we have kids or ditching okay ditch you know Kid ditches one period yeah you know that's an attendance issue for that class it's not an attendance issue for the day but it is an attendance issue for that class and uh so we have to look at those you know we kind of have to look at those uh differently I will tell you we have a new uh we have a new school re resource officer for all of our sites other than Fox Creek we we still have Officer James up there um excuse me it's officer Chapman uh he's been in our community a long time uh his kids went to our school or kid child one child maybe two um and Jen know knows him as a parent um and he just started about 6 weeks ago um uh our principals and even our uh instructional coaches when we had an instructional team meeting yesterday uh all pointed out and supported the idea dittoed when somebody said how much they appreciate our new SRO um uh he's out in he's out in hallways he's at lunchtime and and keep in mind he's for the whole rest of our district and he serves some other some of the charter schools as well so he's on campus he's visible um um uh and yet he's doing what we need done and he's already started with some truancy uh referrals to the you know to the Trent court so um uh really really we really appreciate the fact that uh that he applied for this position and and um got it and is committed to the community you know he's been here a long time and um uh really is committed to the community and and so we appreciate having him okay thank you is the nature of uh the infractions just just looking at the total numbers on the right we're we're pretty consistent with all the schools except Fox Creek and Fox Creek is well over double the the rates of infraction is that just because of the student population and feeling their oats and getting themselves into trouble pretty much Junior High I think that's part of it the fact that they're Junior High um they were also the ones who or they're also the ones who you know push the limits a little more than other kids do um they're also I mean I think I I think there are all kinds of factors spread um I think this year particularly having um having um Miss vote move up from assistant principal so they have a new principal for them a new principal um they have new assistant principal so it's a new Administration so a very typical thing of Junior High kids is we're going to test do you mean it and and uh you know that's part of what they've been doing is testing us um so uh you know I wish I could promise that those are going to go down can't promise that because we're going to continue to be um um try to be consistent with how we deal with things I will tell you that one of the things that was reported today in that little conversation about phones and backpacks our incidence of um Vape problems has dropped almost nothing awesome almost nothing um and um uh Amanda has had a year ago at the end of October she had had 13 hearings already this year she's had four great so these numbers you know could be a bit misleading too because the kinds of infractions are not as serious the ones we had right at the beginning of the year at Fox Creek particularly um remember we had the conversation about the difference between fights and aggression um assaults okay um on on uh for kids when you hear kids talk about it they use that term for both of those things you know oh so and so and so and so had a fight well it might not have been a fight because it might not have been a two-way thing um the other thing is when kids talk about fights and Report Court fights frequently they're talking about an argument a verbal argument oh so and so and so and so had a fight no they had an argument for us we distinguish between those things in our discipline reporting but in the conversations that kids have and people have the word fight kind of is the synonym for all is is the word for all of those things and so we want to break that down so that we're talking about and so we can report the difference um uh I'm I'm happy to we've had way fewer fights at any of our campuses than we had last year good we have had some aggression some of the assault kinds of behaviors um and those have even dropped off in the last month knock on wood uh because we were consistently tough okay and none of them ended up on social media that's awesome okay none of them uh and that's because they didn't have cell phones that may have been one of the best decisions we've uh I think so made this year I think so and and the um uh and the incident the number of of news reports from all around the country since we did that indicates that more and more and more not just individual schools but the school districts are doing the same thing uh because they're noticing and it's not just because of the fights and those things it's the distraction um uh I was uh I was up at Fox Creek uh two days a couple of weeks ago because I had some things I needed to to do some things I needed to do up there and the second day I was there before school started so I went out and sat on a bench by where the big boulder is which is at the center of campus and so kids arrived and they're walking around and it was so refreshing to watch them and listen to them have conversations and talk with each other and joke with each other um and nobody had their face in a phone which is what I saw a year ago so uh uh they're beginning to they're having to relearn or for some of them learn social interaction that's not on a on a device and that's part of their education too absolutely absolutely and I will tell you I sat there and just smiled the whole 10 minutes because it was uh it was refreshing and fun to listen to them and and they're silly you know they're Junior High kids so they're silly and they're uh whatever so it was fun was fun more about discipline no or any of the other reports um so in my miscellaneous okay I will talk a minute about Den okay so uh uh the den project uh two weeks ago we were told that the houses would be completed by tomorrow uh that's not the case they will not be completed by tomorrow today in a meeting that we had with the gcon folks uh they're saying that by next Friday that the project will be done uh we will see um so uh but you can if you want to go visit the project uh during the daytime please don't go at night somebody might report you as being trespassing and we don't need you to do that but if you'd like to go up in the daytime go there the fences are down uh the streets are done the street is done um and at least you can you know at least you can look at the houses uh from the outside but if you go in the daytime uh Oscar is the superintendent and just introduce yourself and say hey can you know can you walk me through one of the houses um the uh uh the the stucco the colored stucco is on and uh that made a big impression big Improvement and how they looked because of course they were the icky gray you know uh for a couple of weeks and um um Jen Jen I went up with me on Friday it was the first time she'd seen it and so it was it was refreshing to me because she hadn't seen anything and she said oh these are cute and they are they're cute um the uh appliances were supposed to be here this week they won't be here until next week but we're moving along and then related to that I will tell you that uh I went to the um I I regularly attend the Chamber of Commerce government and business Affairs committee and they always meet on the same day that we have our meetings and um so today when I went um uh the Association of Realtors reaffirmed that they will write a grant to help us with landscaping and then uh one of the people who works for the Realtors uh is in the Colorado River women's Council leadership uh class this year and uh so she told me that she wants uh they're supposed they always do a project a community project and so um they're going to propose that their little team does uh their proposal will be that they help us with the Landscaping so we're looking at Hardscape we're looking at you know not live plants we're looking at at Desert you know a Desert Landscaping kind of thing so um so that's that's nice to know that some of our Community Partners have hung in here hung in with us for two years to to uh to go go forward with that part so and uh I will be meeting with an individual uh at the site on Tuesday the 19th at at 3:30 and uh we'll we will be walking the houses and looking at some of the other features of the property if you would like to join us uh please do so okay two 3:30 on Tuesday yes Fred can I bring my wife absolutely because every time we drive by she comments oh look they got this oh look they absolutely bring her along cool yeah thank you yeah uh for thqu foot houses um I will tell you when I started teaching I would have been ecstatic to be in a house like these um uh you know they're not very big but they're big enough and um uh they are cute little houses inside and out so um meet me there yes so if you plan to come let us know let us know on let me know on Monday so we can post a a possible Quorum oh okay yeah okay love to have you be there okay really want I think other question I have off of yours is um anything going on with our facilities air conditioning or anything like that uh well the needless to say the the uh facilities people have been busy but it's not been quite as crazy as that as it was for the first year and a half or so uh our project out here with the sewer um the actual sewer uh there will be some work at the end right over by coyote Canyon's uh Drive uh but because it's kind of out in the drive that's going to happen over at Thanksgiving break and then uh once we got that all replaced we started finding um Mark actually brought me a bucket that about this much of the bottom was full of shards of cast iron because the plumbing in the in the 200 Suite the old district office was original cast iron and it is disintegrating uh because it's probably what over 50 years old excuse me 50 to 60 years old it's disintegrating and now it's filling our new sewer so so we're having to dig it out you know so uh we did put out bids and and even though at some expense I felt like we can't risk all the work that's already been done we can't risk damaging all the work that's already been done by not taking care of the problem over there so we will be replacing all the plumbing that's in the 200 Suite reconfiguring those restrooms because now we don't have large numbers of people over there so each restroom will just be like a one person you know a one stall restroom so commercial toilets commercial sinks and then new Plumbing um uh to to get that all fixed and that will happen either over Thanksgiving break or over winter break um um when you know when we have the time to do that and as expensive as it is to do that we are saving thousands of dollars because we have a certified plumber on our staff and so we're not having to pay you know we're not having to pay a service for somebody else to come do that so all we will be paying for are the materials now we will have to pay for somebody to come excavate because oh I'm sorry because we don't have the equipment to excavate and then come back and fill back in but the actual ual Plumbing work the actual renovation in the restrooms will be done by our facilities people both the plumber and our Carpenter so um uh you know so it won't be anywhere near as expensive as it might be otherwise um at our in terms of school facilities uh division they have essentially approved finally uh repairing all of the places in the district that um where we have concrete that has raised and and the dangerous stuff so if you've walked our campuses you'll see areas on the sidewalk that have painted numbers and painted whatever um that's a long slow process it's been a year and a half already in the in the works um but that will be coming those those will be done um uh and everything else is just let's let's maintain what we have okay right now it's taken us a long time to get there if you noticed on this month's report Cass if you'll pull up the M the um the work ticket yeah if you notice up here ABM is gone all of the ABM work was finally cleared last month in uh in um September so from now on you're just going to see the work orders that are ours and um that's that's refreshing kind of fell off the the page there didn't it the graph yeah well well it's you know it's dayto day I mean so what I'm saying is they're way way down yeah and and you know some days so you're looking like at October 2nd and 3rd you know we didn't have many things come in and we didn't close many but that's probably because they were working on some big project that day and uh and so they didn't close any others because they were that may have been when we were working on Plumbing out here I don't know but then we have other days where lots of things come in and um and days where we're actually clearing more than um more than are coming in U they've also figured out that when the when the work orders come in um so first thing in the morning so uh usually between 6:30 and 7 Mark is meeting with the facilities people he's meeting with the plumber the plumbers helper the the uh Jesse the HVAC person and our Carpenter and the landscapers and handing out work orders from the previous day or you know whatever um but one of the things now is that when a new work order comes in during the day it pops up on their phones so if they happen to be at Sunrise and a work order comes in from sunrise and they're already there and they have what they need they go take care of it right then uh so some efficiency is now built in simply because we have better communication excellent okay thank you for pulling that up because I'd forgotten about that piece any other questions for Dr Stewart okay thank you that's all I have board member updates obviously Fred's been visiting schools Kudos Kudos what did you learn well a couple of things I went to Sunrise and um I happened to show up just around lunchtime and I saw the principal out there hustling back and forth in the cafeteria taking care of things but you know what what I did see was a lot of Hands-On stuff um when I was in the classrooms I visited um oh miss mlan I think the librarian oh I think it is oh no the secretary office secretary secretary she introduced herself as an assistant principal but maybe I misunderstood maybe she has aspirations no she's retiring but uh but she was very nice and we went we went through uh I think three classrooms there and I was really impressed with all of the um teachers and and the staff that was there there was a couple of classes that had some aara in there as well but the kids the one thing I noticed at both the schools at Sunrise and and uh Diamondback when my escort whoever I was with was Miss mlan at Sunrise and um um the principal Miss mccorkel Mrs mccorkel thank you at uh at Diamond Back all the kids would get up and run over and hug hug them and that just told me the kind of time and effort that they and and assuming the rest of the staff is following suit are giving to the kids so their education is not restricted to ABCs and one 123s they're getting a a I believe um some interactions and some loving and stuff that they may not get at their homes that's right so I was very very impressed and the one thing I was really impressed by is that um I'm pretty sure it was D was it Diamond maybe it was sunrise but they just um got their safety systems in where they have the badges and they can do the entries right and and um it was I was really really impressed with both of the facilities and how um their their safety systems were so far different from when I first came to the board um but the the what I what I got the most of it was uh seeing the kids interact with each other and interact with the and I I got some hugs too I got to tell you I liked it a lot so it's uh it's kind of exciting to see that kind of a social atmosphere being generated there and kudos to all the staffs I think they're doing amazing work I especially got to meet the maintenance guy at Sunrise he happened to be there at cleaning something up in the cafeteria and we had a nice little chat but he seems very very uh personable and the kids would do the same things to him they'd come up and you know so again I I really like and appreciate the atmosphere of the social engagement and the interaction and we hope to start seeing that refle in those surveys because you're witnessing it even if it doesn't show up there yeah go wor the time well I got had the privilege of reading a a book at the Desert Valley to a whole go of little under under two feet tall people well some of them were taller but yeah and actually having a couple up we was on kindness um Cassie basically put together a program because it was World kindness day or something and uh it was really kind of kind of a fun thing to do especially when those two little kindergarteners tried to help me up off the floor but it was it was a lot of fun it was a lot of fun to do so yes um consent agenda moving on 3.0 I need uh need a motion to approve the consent agenda or to yeah approve this I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda as as presented I'll second that motion all those in favor I'm Melinda soski I Charlene Diaz I Fred Rushton I barbar Zuki okay moving on through all these Pages um oh here we go it's pink again item 4.1 policy baa evaluation of school board board or self evaluation second reading are there any comments questions about this no can I have a motion to approve it I make a motion we approve B uh baa evaluation of school board in board self- evaluation I'll second that motion all those in favor I'm Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I I Fred Rushton I biki item 4.2 bbba board member qualifications second reading are there any questions or discussion that we need to continue with this I need a motion then to approve the policy Madame President I make a motion that we approve policy bbba board member qualifications as presented I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I Barbara Zari item 4.3 policy DJ bidding purchasing procedures this is a second reading of this one also is there is there any further discussion or questions I need a motion to approve please Madame President I make a motion that we approve policy DJ building or I'm sorry bidding and purchasing procedures I second it all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I'm sorry II this this this part of the whole meeting is pretty boring' already discussed all this stuff point of point of order question mam president is it possible since I think that we're pretty much all of the same of the same mind and this is a second reading is it possible just to approve them all as a batch or do they need to be done individually they have to be done they have to be done individually okay all right good that was worth a try I know okay item 4.

in the second floor heing room ashon Town Hall 101 Main Street Ash Mass 01721 this as public hearing can we join via Zoom conference uh please the attached plenty board agenda for this link the Plenty board uh will hear the petition of the town of ashon requesting site plan review and design review per chapter 48 section 6 of the Ashen zoning act in chapter 2 8 excuse me 282 9.6 design review plans and 9.4 site plan review of the astion bylaws the applicant is proposing to develop a dog park the dog park will be divided into two areas um depend depending on the dog type Andor size a 16,000 ft large dog area will be included in a 2,000 ft dog area for small dogs both areas will be Pro uh excuse me properly divided with chain link fence chain link fence will be surrounded by two areas um with an appropriate entrance site plantings will be installed according to the proposed Landscaping plan the site will include a 20 car par uh 20 car paved parking area in an infiltration Basin for storm water control the area will be developed excuse me the total area will develop excuse me the total area of development will be 1.47 acres and will provide the community of Ashland an additional recreational space for residents and their pets the property in question is located at zero MBTA access excuse me zero um Memorial Drive um that is a mistake uh assessors map 13 lot uh 138 and is located in the rail Transit District uh part which to be heard uh should submit comments to the Ashen planning board ahead of time into or appear in public please note that within your packet we did receive one email um which is provided too um with that said before I hand it over um the town of Ashland as I said has been working on this and we have um first and foremost um we have yolan Graves here from the dog park committee um also we have Cara Terell of the dog park committee um Town assistant Town manager Jem ball is also on the call and she will help represent this application as well as Michael rner Michael rner uh has been working with the town to design the proposed dog park Michael and his team will be draw walking us through the proposed site plan which is in front of all planning board members and I will be happy to share that online IND allow Michael to share his screen to allow that dog park for a presentation with that said would anybody from the ashon dog park like to step forward and add anything to the introduction of this project okay assistant Town manager Jen ball would you like to add anything to this project before I ask Michael to introduce this project and go and uh review the site plan uh hey Peter I'm sorry I couldn't unmute can you hear me now yep I got you I made you a co-host you're all set right thanks um so thank you for taking the time to hear this um this project has been going on for a number of years um we've had some fits and starts with our uh designer and so we have um worked with the the the community group that has been working on it for and Yolanda can probably speak to it a bit more in the room in care as well for a number of years um to bring this to fruition Michael rner has put together a a plan that really takes into consideration the site um and all of its um sort of uh topography and so I can turn it over to him to sort of explain um all the features and go through the plans thank you Jen uh Michael I am making you a co-host which also gives you you the ability to share your screen good evening can you all hear me uh yep we can hear you loud and clear wonderful thank you good evening um everybody my name is Michael Radner with Radner Design Associates a three Alli Drive in Dam and I I do have a brief slide deck I'll take you through which is U not all of the sheets that are in your plan um but I kind of picked out the most significant ones and a few pictures and examples of um what we think the dog park is going to look like so uh we'll get going with that and um the site I think that a lot of people are aware of this let me see if I can zoom a little bit make it a little bit bigger for you um is north of the Middle School site on Memorial Drive you can see the Dunkin Donuts here along uh uh 135 is just off the screen to the right um and this is uh the site uh right here and um this is we started on this last winter that's how long we've been working on this so I took some pictures last winter and this is the condition with the uh Middle School fields on your right and the site is on the left and you could see sort of various types of vegetation and here you can see that there's um thankfully the snow has help us helps us show the Topography of the site um a little bit you can see some of these rolling conditions in here here we have some Eastern White Pine and then back in the site is kind of like uh a lot of um Pine and and um oak trees and and it's a wooded site um there's some areas that have you know sort of 8 to 12 inch caliper trees and a little bit further in there's some larger caliper trees you can see uh the topographic conditions in there and I I only show this uh because as we uh as the town uh prepares for uh there or we're in the process of a Grant application with the Stanton Foundation uh who funds A large majority of the of the construction and the design of this project and um the grading of the site is a significant um factor in how we in in the cost of the site and how we design the site plan and so forth so I'll get to that momentarily this is a a picture of there's a uh existing uh oil line easement that runs through the site um Jen could talk about this more but basically it's an abandoned um oil line and um I don't think I'm going out on a Lim gen by saying that that Shell Oil is is in the process of releasing the um uh the rights to this so that we can um work in the site that is correct yeah um this is uh our topographic survey of the site and basically the area that we're talking about is inside this buildable area in here which is really defined by the existing uh wet lands that kind of surround the site on three out of four sides and um we we have been to the Conservation Commission we had one hearing there which we've believe we've answered uh many if not all of their questions um we were just waiting from a a a file number from the D before they could close that hearing but they have reviewed this they reviewed the uh storm water on this um and provided their comments so um and you can see the topographic lines in here which indicates you know the the sort of ups and downs of the site and um as I was saying as we go through the process of getting our funding from the Stanton Foundation one of the things that they um require or like to see and it's just good design is that we have a basically flat site so that um when there's a lot of paw traffic if you will over the site that um we minimize erosion it's um better just for the um environment and for the dogs to to basically run on a flat site um more easy to maintain etc etc so this is a nice little color graphic that we put together that shows um Memorial Drive down here the vehicular entrance to the site parking for 20 cars and this is a a paved parking lot we do have we will have pedestrian access to the site there is a sidewalk on the south side of Memorial Drive that runs the length of Memorial Drive so there will be a new crosswalk in this location here um with a a pedestrian activated um signal so that when you go to that location you press the button and the lights Flash and you can cross um a sidewalk along this edge of the parking lot and then I'm just going to zoom in a little bit here um this is the large dog park on the left and that's about 16,000 square feet I want to say it's maybe 150 ft long on the from end to end um and then the small dog park is 2,000 square ft the the whole large dog small dog thing is little bit of a term of art it's not necessarily determined by the size of the dog but more of their personality if you will um active dogs kind of like tend to go in the larger space and and little shy dogs like mine would would like to stay separate from those big dogs um and have a little more more quiet experience so um then we have a uh storm water infiltration area here we have some landscape buffering along the front of the site and then along the uh West and North sides of the site um this is a planting strip that was um talked about with the conservation commission which where they had a concern of basically dog waste being in this area and providing some protection to the wetlands uh uh around this area and and it's we're calling it phyto remediation um basically it's a planting strip that will help um interrupt and absorb some of the dog uh urine and dog waste before it gets into the wetlands um you have an erosion control plan in your packet I can certainly uh answer questions there we have a construction entrance here we also had I don't know that Peter mentioned we have Nick KC also on the call is a civil engineer from Highpoint engineering who helped us um put together the engineering plan for this and the storm water report as well so here's a little more of a a technical document which has a a materials plan which just describes the materials and I do want to talk about the fact that this area here is um the surface of this is going to be what we call Rice Stone it's kind of like PE Stone it's almost the same thing um it's going to be surrounded by a 4 foot high uh black chain link fence to contain the dogs in this area so what we have here is this this area here sort of along the parking lot is a cleared and graded basically flat area inside the fence line and then we are leaving natural the back part um over here there are some larger trees back here that we'd like to save it's already relatively flat here so that we think we can take out some of the underbrush and the smaller trees here and put a layer of wood chips down here and still have a successful uh surface and just to show you what that would look like this is um uh we also did the Framingham dog park if you've been over there this is what the rice Stone looks like it's a it's a very finely grad uh Stone it's very it's rounded and it tends to be soft on the paws of the dogs um and it you can see that the stone is contained it's set slightly below the level of the um concrete um walkway and we have a um we'll call it like a TX decking on its side kind of area here that contains the stone and keeps everything in place so that's kind of the the look and the feel of what you're going to see out there um there's grading plan in here you can see that the Contours here indicate a very flatten surface and then everything is pitching basically from east to west even the parking lot uh is U um uh surface drains uh all and a curbless parking lot here and the water flows uh into a series of basins that would fill up in a big storm over overflow into a structure and then um exit the site at this point over here and I'm I'll we have Nick on the call also and I'll get to him in a moment um and he can talk about the storm water design uh there is a landscaping plan in the packet um as I mentioned we have a series of larger plantings along the front of the site um this meets your bylaw in terms of providing landscape between the parking lot and the street um some uh eastern white pines here to kind of screen the storm storm water facility um and then you could see our phyto remediation plantings along the back edge of the site um in this location and then some details here you can see um this little section of what that Rice Stone area would look like so that the stone is contained within the dog park this is our phyto remediation planting with a little bit of a burm um there and you could see the the fence and the composite TRX board here and then just some other um pictures that will have some seating these are the you've seen these doggy doggy po or doggy pot I don't know how they're pronounced uh the trash receptacles for um that will have the waste bags in there and these are going to be several of these around the site um and then a water bottle filler um two of them actually within the second site it's a condition of the grant that we have water uh available at the site um here is the utility and drainage plan and I I'll just let nick uh I see Nick is here if Peter can you let him unmute yeah nick uh you're a co-host so please feel free to unmute yourself hi everyone Nick cond from High Point engineering we were the civils um on this project so to um get into some things Mike was talking about um so the drainage for the parking lot flows from plan east to west and there won't be a curb on that end of the parking lot so it'll kind of flow Overland into that sediment for Bay what happens that'll fill up the sediment will settle and then it'll spill over into the infiltration Basin and the infiltration Basin was sized for 100e storm um and it provides about um a little over a foot of freeboard and in a 100-year storm event there is very little discharge um to the surrounding Wetlands um via that that outlet control structure the remaining the remainder of the site is that Rice Stone surface and also past the r Stone surface it's kind of left as a natural wooded area so there's very uh little runoff that that will be generated um in those areas so the the site does comply with the storm water standards um and yeah that's that's about it for um drainage design goes so there are some bubblers on site and so we'll have to tap into a water main on the opposite side of Memorial Drive and that'll be a 1 inch one inch line we'll be providing a um water meter back flow enclosure right at the entrance you can see it labeled there thanks Mike and yeah that was that was about it for hypo one scope for this project any additional questions on drainage I can get into it more technically thanks Nick um that concludes the presentation um hold off just a minute um so I just wanted to um I just wanted to note um it's been a few years but Michael and I have worked on a project or two together it was quite a few years ago now I don't know if if you it's been I I didn't know that you did that you did dog park so it's a it's good good to see you again um so just one question that that I had first that this is also um these are labor planning board and Conservation Commission has it been through the Conservation Commission or is it doing simultaneously so simultaneously yes um they did file with both of us just way the schedules worked out they have already met with conservation okay and so this is are the plans we're seeing approved by conservation or in process or they're in the process right now uh as noted they don't have a a d a DPE file has not been issued so they did not close the hearing yet but um but yes this project was presented to the Conservation Commission okay great and and I'll I I'll add that we there were no uh issues I mean I think we we answered all of their questions in that hearing so we we didn't we walked away we didn't have anything outstanding unless something comes up between now and the next public hearing so what was the document you were mentioning Peter that that you needed a d excuse me a d file number oh okay that was one of the elements that you they the Conservation Commission needs to close a public hearing so I think Mike in Michael in his presentation noted that they're waiting for a d file number okay um and then they'll most likely move forward with limited with limited um concern from the Conservation Commission but um myself Becca Solomon um with you know we've been meeting with Jen we had a tech review meeting on this um with the DPW so we've all you know it's a town project we've all kind of you know kind of it's gone through the the normal process that any project would um regarding vetting okay great thank you Marcelo yeah I mean this not not much to to nothing really to object about this project but uh just one question maybe for the civil engineer at I I understand how the the drainage of the parking lot drains into this kind of sediment filtration area and then into catch basing uh typically on on every project I remember that that that we approve um private projects parking lots we we always ask to have um areas of of planting that that that filter that sediment or or gas spillages or salt sand um I don't see any any any plantings there is is is that something that that that is possible or has been contemplated um maybe the engineer can so so I I'll I'll take a first shot at this thank you for the question um so the the area if I go to the planting plan uh what we're what we're proposing right now is a grass filter strip is that first filter before the water gets in into this sediment 4bay and then within the footprint of the 4bay and the infiltration Basin is a native uh seed mix which is going to have a mix of of grasses to to uh filter the water and absorb the water and that that seed mix is um a combination of drought tolerant and and wet um tolerant um species no I I think I get it it's just that there's no no planting shown there and and we typically ask all private projects to I mean it comes time and again I I don't have any specific complaint but this is going to be kind of experience as a like a like a ditch isn't it that you it's not nothing else than so you're talking about having plants like within the in water well usually I don't know if I don't remember the ter but the the the design Review Committee always comes up with that recommendation for every parking lot that where that this curb L just like this one but for the water not to just go into a ditch and just leave the sediment there but just have some plants that little plants that I guess usually are used for for that purpose of filtering the water before it goes into the catch bacing so I I don't know if that was contemplated at all yes so is I guess so the question is is the catch Basin just like I guess how does that function talking yeah I'm sorry are we talking about this this area here as a yeah filter before it goes into the bbay OR you suggesting that that that's what I'm referring to because I think that's that's how we have requested a lot of projects to do okay okay well we can we can certainly um look at extending we do have some plantings here and you can see this these are um tall grasses and perennials and TR um that are extended into part of that that we could look at extending it along the whole length of that yeah so does that from your from your standpoint Michael does that make sense of the water draining off the parking lot going through like a filtering kind of I don't want to say burm but a filtering strip of plants before it goes into the holding area I think I think that's what yeah I think that's I think what we don't want to have is uh Nick's Nick will correct me but we don't want to have we don't want to have a burm there we want to have allow the water to flow off the pavement and directly into that or Bay so we just have to make sure that the way that it's graded is that we don't have like a buildup of thatch there that's going to impound the water at this western edge of the parking lot right so that we're not impeding the water from getting where it wants to go it's just helping to filter it before it gets there so I have a question Rel that so that that entire Basin is because we paved a parking lot like is there other things I think that's what it looks like I mean is there other like per there's peral Paving like is it if you if we did other you know compacted stone and you weren't Paving it would we have to do all that cuz I like it's a wooded area right and I mean the dog Park's Great love the start out so people aren't um thinking I'm against the dog park but I like this is the kind of one time to take a forest and make a dog park and try to make it to the best of our ability so I I don't I don't know that that's like the best design a paved parking my question was related to katees which is does the Grand application require a paved parking lot uh the grant the grant making Authority does not require a paved parking lot we the discussion that we've had with um people from DPW and Engineering are that they felt that a gra we did talk about a gravel parking lot and they thought that it was not maintainable in the long run they thought that this would the paving would be a a much more stable um long-term solution rather than having to come back you know every year every other year and repair ruts and so forth because I think there's going to be a lot of uh turning movements in here as people back in and out um so but but we did discuss it and and you know the town DPW and the people that are going to maintain the site had thought that that asphalt paving was the best solution so I I mean I have some comments I guess that have nothing to do with the presentation um and I really appreciate the presentation I think that anytime a client comes to a team this is exactly the kind of presentation that is expected so thank you so much I think it's great um I think my my comments are more for the planning board and kind of my reaction is as a dog owner and a lover of taking my dog outside um which is that when I travel to a city I find that City dwellers are looking for natural space like you go to New York people want to go to Central Park and avoid parking lots and paved spaces and they want shade for their dog especially in the summer I can tell you if someone who has walked a dog in Ashland State Park in the middle of the summer um in the heat you want to be in the shade my dog actually could make it all the way around during heat and certainly would not enjoy parking lot in any way uh many dogs are not comfortable in parking lots on their paws so I can tell you for me living in Ashland seeing a project being proposed in a wooded area I don't feel comfortable with that as a dog owner um and there's so many parks in the area whether it's in Framingham Sherburn um that I take my dog to that have gravel parking lots where I would much rather walk my dog than what looks to me like a playground for kids rather than dogs so I very much appreciate the project and I think there's a lot of effort that came into it and so I for one am having a hard time even having an opinion because it's so late in the game the project is sort of cooked there's a lot of thought that came into it on a site that's fully wooded that's very natural um and I think the process is so far along that it's very difficult for me as a planning board member to even have an opinion that can be receiv expected by anyone who's been involved in the project um so my comment on this is what a wonderful concept and idea and how I wish we as a planning board had been involved way sooner so we would not take public land that's fully wooded and turn it into a paved playground for dogs when so many of our dog owners as you know prefer natural space like ashon State Park to walk their dogs and be with their dogs so I'm sure that this is very subjective and there's dog owners who will love this space more than I do but I can tell you I really wish we had more input way earlier in the process because I think it's a beautiful idea just not in the right space are you are you um trying to understand are you concerned about the material all the the the stone the rice Stone on the dog park area is that I mean I'm I'm just looking as a matter of policy we're looking at a wooded land owned by the town that we're choosing to Deforest put a paved parking lot because it's quote unquote easier to take care of so that our wonderful dogs can be in what looks to me like an urban space I'm making a comment aesthetically that I'm not sure this is consistent with what this planning board would have maybe thought about had we had the Town come to us earlier in the process to say hey these are some of the sites we're thinking about surely there's got to be a less um forested flatter space that the town owns so again this is the kind of thing Anna says that everybody then says well this was already pre-thought and how dare the planning board have such thoughts and so what I'm going to say is very very straightforward I will not be voting on this project I will not stand against it because so much work has come into it but I also can't approve it because to me taking forested land that belongs to the people of Ashland to turn it into paved playground for dogs just doesn't sit well with me maybe if we made it for kids I would have a different opinion maybe if children were playing there I would have a slightly different view but to me a dog for me as a dog owner is an animal that appreciates natural space and frankly love trees to pee and do other business with and so personally I have trouble with kind of having an opinion on this project this late in the game I really wish we had been involved sooner and I know that sounds very harsh and so to be clear I love the concept and the Heart of it which is let's give our dogs more space to play in I think that is so important I just wish the town had come to the planning board that actually plans a little bit sooner this late in the game to even have this opinion is probably like oh my God how dare she even have an opinion so I will have no opinion as a vote I will just share my view that really this process process again and I keep seeing this with every town project we come to it as a planning board by the time it's already pre-thought precooked and everyone loves it I I think it does have a very long history um which I'm not it has come before um the CPC so we've seen it quite a while ago um with some of the funding mechanisms um Yolanda are you approaching the microphone because I think you've been involved from a long time so yes um so there's also many Ashlin residents who have been involved if even though it's the first time I don't to Beed even though it's the first time before the planning board so so Yolanda in actuality this is not the first time it's come to the planning board I believe it might be the first time that all of you as members have seen it so a little history uh as a me and so Yolanda greeves 127 Prospect Street uh I'm a member of the Ashland dog park committee it is a committee who said we want to create a dog park in town and probably eight years ago they got together and they said can the select board appoint a dog park committee and we were based on how other things have worked in town volunteer committees sometimes can get things done a little bit sooner so we didn't as a select board we did not create a dog park committee we said to them if you guys want to do this do some work they got some volunt tear together as someone who heard many times from people that they were upset with how our state park was being treated like a dog park and dogs Parks you know dogs would be running loose and there was erosion on certain things when these people came to me I said great start working on it uh We've looked at numerous sites since we started this process like I said probably seven or eight years ago and one of the first sites was was over at the Cadillac paint site it was in a neighborhood we talked to the people in the neighborhood they said no we we really don't want it there another site was over by the animal shelter our our animal control over by by Public Works off of Ponderosa road with the Riverwalk going in there people are like no we don't want it there uh we looked off of Olive Street uh a couple of parcels there and again people are like we don't want it in the neighborhood it's going to add to the traffic so when the town purchased this property I forget how long ago we did that it was determined that this could be a great location for a dog park understanding that we'd have to take some trees and things like that but the support from the community as we started talking about this site was you're going to save the state park you're going to save some of the um running down of the trails because the dogs are running loose and here is a location that yes we'll have to take some trees but we're taking only part of them and like I said probably six or five or six years ago before I believe most of you were sitting as planning board members the committee came to both the planning board and the select board to talk about creating a park at this location unfortunately because of timing and other things that were going on in town this particular project kept getting put on a back burner and put on a back burner and there's an organization called the Stanton foundation and they grant money for dog parks which we've been working with them and getting information and the kind of dog parks they see Framingham is a Stanton Grant dog park they again the town has to put in some money and then you get some money from the Stanton Foundation at the St at the Framingham park there is a paved parking lot near their near their park and other dog parks have paved parking lots uh so I I hear what's being said that you guys haven't been involved in the process um but there was information brought to the planning board previously so if we knew if we thought we should have come sooner we would have come sooner but there was no indication in regards to the process that after that initial time that we came and said what we wanted to do when we got some feedback and we got some positive support that that going this detailed into the process that we needed to come to the planning board um I think the the the park itself has been made a hair smaller than what we originally wanted because of the Topography of the land and we want to with work with the conservation agent and the Conservation Commission we are keeping part of it natural the other issue that has been brought up is keeping it clean and being able to not just have the the the the Refuge from the animals just go straight into the ground and out into the wetlands so that's why you have the the base and the rice Stone in the two areas that are there um the other issue and why it's been why we're bringing it forward now is the Stanton Foundation is about to shut down and a year and a half ago uh we had thought to put this on the back burner as a town project and we were and it was notified that the Stanton foundation will stop granting dog park funds in 2025 if we can move this project forward we will possibly be one of the last Comm communities to get the foundation money and right now it's about half the cost of this dog park we are hoping to get about $225 to $250,000 from the Stanton Foundation to help pay for this dog park the other portion CPC was very kind they reached out to us and they say hey we hear you're working on a dog park we sat before them probably about a year ago and I think at fall town meeting last year the um CPC said we support this here's funding for it so again I I you know I hear what you're saying that you feel like you wanted to be involved sooner um and all I want to do is give you that history but also let you know that I I don't like saying this but we're under our time crunch so I mean again every town project comes to us so far on my personal time on this planning board I have yet to hear a town project where we don't get the message that this has been sort of pre prev vetted there's nothing for us to worry about and there's no time but to say yes so so I'm kind of can't speak to other ones speaking speaking conversation a little bit here so U that's all I have to if you have any other questions I'm I'm here to answer them thank thank you as well as other members okay do you have a I will say that if we're stuck with this because it sounds like we're stuck with this to me it seems like we should be minimizing the parking lot there's no need for it it's not required by the grant um and I think we should do everything we can to maximize tree coverage and not get rid of so many trees okay is any other comments from the board yeah um I I so the I I definitely have heartburn with Paving Paradise I let's face it that's what and and we it does not have required by the grant so I I there needs to be at least a conversation about that but I also think I mean this board I I don't want to entirely speak for the board but I've been on conversations about trees every time trees come up we all say we care about trees so I feel like part of this um discussion has to be what it's a town project where is the town going to mitigate and plant some trees we can't keep taking down trees and not doing something to replace them and I I don't think we're ask I'm personally not asking to go out and count tree for tree I know that's not practical but to do nothing is not acceptable it's not it's not acceptable to do nothing to mitigate that I I just want to Cle back because uh several things can be true at the same time and I I it doesn't happen very often I think Anna made a a very good presentation of of of of of some facts that that are that should be considered and Kate just runed it up I I think what I think the idea of the do Park and has been you know discussed and everything it's great and and I think this there's a lot that probably is going to be very successful uh but what when I started talking about what we usually request from private developers and uh and then we had the sustainability not the sustainability committee coming with a with a tree ordinance that we discussed several times um one of the discussions was okay so everything we're going to require from citizens uh from the residents of Ashland is going to be required for the town and like no no no the town would have an exception I objected to that so is it's more like like a philosophical point of I I think that that the project is great but but I think that there is the there is a base requirement that we ask for the for the residents that the town should be should be held to the same way if it's a tree a tree replacement I think it's logical to us that the town let's see how many trees are going to take because on all of the projects when they come up and say we're going to take some trees we are the first one to take you have to put twice or three times the amount of trees you're taking out so I think it's fair to us the town to to to do their put their share on on what we ask the residents to do in In fairness so if there's a chance that that we don't have to PVE these up I get it that it's easier to plow and and and maintain that's better for for the maintenance folks um if if if it could be done in a in a more natural way I I I would be happier uh but but I think in in in in general in the general sense the things that we uh ask the residents or private citizens to to to provide on projects and Landscaping wise or drainage or or parking should we should we should be consistent Diva I think Anna said it very well um not sure how much more I can add to what we just heard because when this presentation started um I was just surprised at the location that this was chosen um thank you Yolanda for the history because I think that was really important to understand understand that you have visited other sites and then you've landed with it what I was surprised is the community supporting the location and saying let's clear clot all these trees and create a dog park which just was contradicting to all that we've been hearing for all the other projects that's been coming to the board um and I'm also curious about how this small 1.47 acre of land really works with a bigger scheme of things of our comprehensive plan what is what is planned for that kind of that location how does this really work there's no residential neighborhood as such for this dark Park what is that bigger scheme of things happening and I'm curious if there was any thought or any conversations about how this ties to your bigger scheme of things of comprehensive plan can I answer okay um so as part of an open space and wreck plan that was worked on back in 2017 there was discussion about people wanting a do Park here in Ashland uh the current comprehensive plan we haven't gotten into the details details of what is going to be built once we have the comprehensive plan completed as we speak to the community we've gone out in farmers markets numerous times in talking about about the dog park we've had fundraisers about the dog park a lot of that happened before the pandemic but there was huge support we had members of our dog park committee at the farmers market this spring I'm this summer and again when people people who own dogs and even people who no longer own dogs but who used to own dogs who heard about this and have supported it have asked about it um in regards to the parking lot one of the reasons another reasons we're having it paved is this is an it has to be an ADA Compliant Park meaning if I am someone in a wheelchair and I want to take my dog to a dog park I have to be able to park my car take my wheelchair and go to the dog park so I think that's one of the other reasons it's paved and you know I I'm all for sustainability and trying to use surfaces that are that are more permeable um but as we know sometimes those cost more so because of our storm water requirements here in town we have done what we you know working with our de developers and our designers to do things to mitigate that storm water issue we can add more plantings if you're concerned about the number of trees that are being removed we can possibly add more at the front um but again part of what the Stanton Grant requires in regards to the area for the dogs is as flat and as clear an area as possible and if you look at the plan there's a good quarter of it that we're not taking as many trees down we're only going to take some of the smaller trees down right thank you I mean not we have another speaker okay sorry Mark you are coming to speak right yes I am but I want to make sure this is open for public comment okay thank you Mark the son 1119 Main Street I'm on the fense about this and I'm not fully against it and I'm not fully for it I asked the question in the conservation meeting one time and I couldn't get an answer about the uh any structures are going to be built there that's has nothing to do with here for this my question would be it's Town land yes how much of the town is going to take responsibility and we to take away from there rest of the town's responsibilities in case anything happens like winter that happen that's coming up soon and all that and the year after it's open is that going to be taken priority or is it going to be as duly noted to do because it's off the side of a road and it's on Town land which means town is going to be responsible for care and custody of it how is that going to work sounds like Yolanda can answer that question for you so as part of our work with the Conservation Commission and conservation agent is we have been requiring ired to create what's called a maintenance plan and as part of that maintenance plan uh the park itself will be taken care of by volunteers and we have a number of people who have spoken to us and said once the the park is up and running when they bring their dog there they're willing to help out as well as uh you know residents who use the park will help take care of it we've worked with Public Works they'll plow it in the winter and it'll be the last priority of plowing there's also been conversation that depending on weather we might close the park so that it doesn't get tore up as much otherwise the maintenance in inside the chainlink fence picking up the poop potentially replacing mulch potentially raking out piece the the the rice Stone as necessary we have a maintenance plan where volunteers will go and make sure that the poop bags are removed from inside of the park and put outside in a in a in a barrel that the DPW would pick up just like they pick up part um the trash from different parks in town um it's not more or less of a responsibility on the residents unless you are taking your dog there and want to be part of maintaining this dog park and um there was another question about what else is in that neighborhood so right now it is just if you're going up Memorial Drive we have the trail trolley Brook Trail is there and also uh we've just uh at our select board meeting we were given a presentation by the metro west YMCA so between the Dunkin Donuts and the trail the new Metro West YMCA is going in there and you know they know about the potential of the dog park and it's one of those things that they are going to connect Trails so that people can leave the y go to the trail and go to the you know so it's it's going to be a connected area and again we've heard from people that they like the idea of it being there it was talked well maybe don't add parking one of the issues is we had potentially said well okay we won't have a parking lot because there's the school across the street but they didn't want us to use their area as a parking lot and because of the size of the park and the ADA compliance is again some of the reasoning why we're going with a paved parking lot for the dog park just for the dog park um and again that's just some of the rationale behind that so I don't know if that helps but thank you thank you J don't Jen yeah Jen Ball but before Jen speaks I just wanted to make note that this project does require design review so any comment from Marcel of that storm water run off into that Basin or trees um we do have to make a we memo um regarding um design review comments for the design review committee so with that said Jen ball you have your hand up up so please unmute yourself yeah so I just wanted to also just follow up on Yolanda's comments um as part of our funding mechanism through a CPC uh I believe that the motion had us having a maintenance plan so we've been working on that with the committee and that would be signed so that we'd have the shared maintenance um to Mark's point about sort of priority I think yoland to outlin most of um all those points um and I think you know at for for plowing it would be we would still do you know Street School schools municipal buildings sidewalks and then some of the other parks and then dog parks so that's the it's it's on the um tertiary sort of priority list for them so you know two or three days after a storm all right thanks Jen Mark do you have another comment yes I do kind of gave me a quar of an answer about that but still it's going to be your responsibility of the Town maintenance and the um Public Works people you're going to spread them out to do something that has nothing to do with the residents and the residents are more important than what the dogs would be at at this moment in Winter and I'm only talking winter season when the snow is there and they got to do the roads and back rows and stuff like that so the residents would need should get more a say of what the world should be like that the dog happen to find land to to poop on because dogs don't work the residents do and they need to get out to do that and the rols needs to be done thank you thanks Mark um this obviously has you know uh come up through CPC when they were asking for funding and I I believe then it went to town meeting about that funding um was that a year ago yeah year um so it it has been out there and um I I don't see the problem that some of you are saying and maybe because I I have disagreements about some of this as well and I'll kind of repeat some of um some of my points on having to do with the trees because I agree too as we've discussed before no one you're not going to find a person in Ashen that says I hate trees let's take them all down down maybe in the fall when they're covering your leaves with yard with leaves maybe yes but if you start to say okay trees or YMCA trees or new school trees or dog park you're probably going to be taking some of those trees out trees in themselves no one wants to get rid of but we we have other things that we use and want in our lives as well and some of those you have to take some trees out to create them and sometimes frankly there's not a a good place to put them if there is in town but it would be putting them in someplace that's an open field but we use those Open Fields as well right so it'd be great if we can plant them somewhere else um but we would have to figure out where is open space without trees that we don't use for something else personally I think this is a good site it's going to be tucked in between the ym CA and the trolley book Trail and and the solar field right in that little piece of land and there's a lot of other still forested area behind it that's going to re remain forested area um I think that it it would be great if there'd become some kind of solid peral permeable paver that would allow that water to seep into the ground but it it does need to be accessible I remember that conversation with the CPC and also the big point the big thing is not allowing the the water to leave the site and it's not it's just going a few feet over and then soaking into the ground that way as far as the dogs got I I have a dog too that loves to to run this is a completely loves to go in the state park this is a completely different environment for that this is this is about socializing and playing where the state park might be really about being with your owner this isn't about being with your owner dog parts this is about being with other dogs where the owners are being with other owners and the dogs are being with other dogs and while that state park is great and and while you might need some shade definitely when you have those 90° days um I can tell you on a day like today you're really looking to get out in the sunny Parts where there's where there's no trees and be able to warm up a little bit so I think there's it's about looking at both sides of this um and um I think that this is something a a dog part is is something that a community of our size frankly I think people have been wanting it for a long time both not only dog owners to to be able to go someplace with their dogs um but um people people in the state park who would rather have as many dogs as possible get out of the state park um I'm not saying that's going to happen but it'll certainly alleviate I I would think some of the some of the congestion I'm not saying this is perfect and I think it's great to go to the design Review Committee um get some other ideas about plantings are there a few more trees that could be saved in a more wooded area what's the downside to that but um but otherwise I I think this is a I think it's a good area for it I'm I'm surprised at the the feedback actually um so that's my statement on it if there's any other comments from the board will take them if there's any other comments from the public will take them but obviously this will have to go to the design review is there any way like the people want the dog park I don't have a dog anymore I think the dog park having nation's great is there any way because there like that that drainage is a lot of money and work and Grading and like comparing that to some kind of permeable pavement and I just wish I want I want our town to like not always say next time right it's expensive like I want us to at least really really really consider that and like that's the town that we say we're a green Community we have this like Net Zero by 2030 and we always keep kicking the can and I I I'd like to at least try to get what that cost difference is and it shouldn't like cost is important right it's public public and private but like I want us to have values I want us to live the values we say and it's kind of frustrating to get those kicked to the side right about permeable Paving and about tree replacement I do not think they all have to be on the site I I cannot believe that there's no places that need trees in town or what if we said the trees and you offered like there's whatever somebody wants a tree in their yard that replac like I I think we like we hear over and over again to our community sustainability I I think I probably am more passionate now being part of the comprehensive plan that came out very clear in those surveys so I just I just I just hope we can do better I think um and then I have comment so I we started our project checklist there was a technical review meeting do you have the date and then we didn't get a memo yet are we getting a memo you know what I think that's just something I'll circulate that out I think it's just something that we just forgot to add into the package tonight but we'll take care of it with a memo and we'll circulate that out with a date off the top of my head I do not recall okay so that and then I'm just keeping the notes it's so technical review We Said Yes it goes design review um conservation yes I I don't know that we necessarily need it's always us parallel making sure it's covered it sounds like it is but if we want that um I I'm not sure we need traffic but I'm kind of just going through our list if anyone thinks anything about traffic there um I mean we can think about that as we talk about parking since we're talking about parking yeah no I'm just going um the I guess if the uh drainage got through conservation it does not need to go to gcg but I I don't know because we usually often every time have gcg look at drainage calculations M if if the board would like we can send it to gcg G uh you know it you know Becca is the most thorough conservation agent in the state of Massachusetts um and I can say that she's reviewed it she's worked with myself and and Michael to design this plan and and there seems to be no uh red flag at this point okay I'm and I'm kind of just going through so it's I I will just put no and if that's what we're saying not needed third party review I it depends how we all feel about the parking I I do have three comments I don't know if you want to keep going through this um I'm just ging to at sustainability checklist we kind of talked about I that's it on this list so if we those are the things I I mean I'll say as a dog owner I've been hearing a lot about a dog park and I've been very excited but not once did anyone say oh it's going to be on a wooded surface with tree removal I honestly imagined it would be natural whenever I heard about it that was my assumption so unless we've done a survey of people who've been excited about it I don't think I'm the only one who would be like really that's what we're doing um I will say that you know I'm not an ADA expert but what I'm finding online really quickly the Ada does not require paved for ADA compliance you can have gravel surfaces it has to be firm stable and slip resistant and apparently gravel is one way to do it although it's Technical and tricky but the idea that it has to be paved to be ADA Compliant seems to be f although again I'm not an expert in ADA compliance and I don't think any of us are um so we could maybe get a legal opinion if someone wants to explore that but I'm not seeing any kind of understanding that you can't be ADA Compliant in fact I've been to I believe municipally owned or nonprofit owned or perhaps even state owned properties where there is no paid parking lots so it' be shocking to me if that's considered against federal law um the other thing I'll say is uh ultimately there is a parking within distance and while someone of the school may not like the idea that is part of our Resource as the public and so I think that is a natural solution to have some gravel that more natural space and if people want to use a parking lot it's not far other comments from the board yeah there's two people oh sorry I was going to get the board first Okay no Okay then we'll take the comments online uh first with their hand raised Michael um please unmute yourself yeah so um it's a good healthy discussion thank you uh I I just wanted to add a little bit of I'm going to make two com well three now that we talked about ADA um in reverse order so um I I actually am an expert on on handicap accessibility and um and I'm the town's consultant so I think you can pound on me not just as an advocate you know on working on behalf of the dog park but for for the town as well um it it's true that it it is not a um technical requirement of the Massachusetts architectural access board to have a paved parking lot they do they require a p a stable surface I have never done a public parking lot that hasn't had pave handicap uh spaces I just haven't done it and I would be um I would have to think about putting my stamp on a plan that just had gravel parking for handicap access so I'll just I'll I'll leave that there for the issue of um permeable Paving um and I can we I can talk with Nick uh and the Civil team about this offline but in New England we typically don't do permeable Paving for vehicular spaces because they tend to get clogged with salt and sand and they do become a maintenance issue um they have to be vacuumed um by a special um equipment a special truck um I don't know that Ashlin has that um or you would have to contract it out so um we do permeable Paving all the time for pedestrian spaces because it doesn't have that uh the amount of grit that you would get from tires and and and um salt and sand um and then I'll say the last thing and I'm going to share my screen one more time um just to give you a little context this is uh Park in Danvers that we did which is almost kind of the same approach that we're we would like to do in ashline which is half of it is this open area and here you could see that Rice Stone again and the concrete Paving um and and this is the wooded area this was the area that was to be preserved so I did this probably I want to say 10 years ago and this is what it looks like this year this used to be a fully wooded area and you can see what happened is that you know we let the dogs back there and all of a sudden they're trampling on on the roots you start to get exposed roots and exposed Stone here and you start to get erosion and this is a very flat site what we have in Ashland is not even this flat in the wooded area so I get a little bit concerned about preserving more areas of where there are trees and and what happens to that over the long term um that said uh you know we certainly can look at things like adding um more trees you know in in and around the site or maybe even inside the um rice Stone area to provide a little more shade um you know there are certain things like we can we can sharpen our pencil and kind of go back and look at the design of this to try and mitigate some of these uh concerns so I'll I'll leave it at that I like that approach I I I think what's being proposed is reasonable I think they should go to design review and we should ask for especially the planting part because they are there's more experts there that than we are on that and just to hear their opinion uh but but I think the the idea of of maybe just of course this was a a first pass without this feedback but maybe some trees can be left or introduced um I think we'll make it get better yeah I agree I think there's a there's a um there's there's a middle ground here I think that's anytime you look at sustainability it's that choice between do I cut my trees down so the solar panels work yeah or do you know like you said there choices to make there's choices to make and of course it's a dog park so it's it's not like the YMCA right it's a different kind of level of choice uh but but but it goes back to what we said before like everybody gets really excited when they're going put a new regulation to get the citizens or the residents to comply with this and that and then we're going to force them to do but then when it's a town it's kind of different so I I think this approach would would get a more balanced uh kind of side that that's that's that incorporates a little bit more of I think you want to be careful though like even when we're talking about the the public private I mean I guess the the two buildings we've been doing we did we the school and the public safety building which are both public buildings and a lot of trees had to come down for those projects to get them in right oh yeah um and you know more trees like I said than we then obvious like I'm not sure we'd have space to replace them maybe if you're giving away to private citizens that were you know putting or or medians on the streets like we've talked about before sometimes yeah but I I think that also you know we we we we're talking about a tree bylaw and I think um you know it wasn't clear coming out of that conversation if those trees can be replaced one to one right and how practical that that actually was so that I would just want to make that comment I think Jen ball has been waiting to speak can I speak yeah hi um so thank you can you guys hear me y y okay so thank you for all your comments um just to sort of build off what Michael was talking about I mean I think the other um piece so I think to Anna's comments about sort of the envisioning As Natural as possible that's certainly something that the dog park committee had also hoped for and so trying to find the balance between um the the the topography and and what we have to work with with the site um but then also with the grant requirements and again with um you know with ADA compliance and again you are correct in the fact that like you do not have to have a paved site however we do still also have to think about the capacity to maintain that with our current Staffing levels and so you know the gravel often times does become rutted um we have some issues with the Riverwalk at Ponderosa we that um stoned us with basically a polymer That was supposed to kind of keep it all glued together and be compacted um but with a good with a good rainstorm you end up with a lot of divots and you have some issues and so just making sure um we can certainly look at it but we just have to also think about long-term maintenance that was one of the push backs I think from CPC is to really think about how we keep this um because obviously we can't use that type of funding for maintenance um in future years so again I think it's like a real Balancing Act I completely understand your point um a real Balancing Act of sort of you know all the requirements that we're trying to meet all right Anna I mean I I definitely appreciate that I think that that's the nature of this kind of work right every everybody wants something and it's hard to make everyone happy and find a perfect balance and we got to sort of weigh our values I suppose you know I'm thinking about ADA compliance is there a way to make that parking lot truly for ADA compliance alone and allow handicap spaces but the rest of it is gravel is there a way to make that parking lot way smaller but allowing a handicap van to get there and maybe those of us who who don't require that can actually use the school parking lot and walk um how how there's so many different ways to approach it without necessarily just aiming for frankly efficiency and cheapness for the sake of a grant that we now have a deadline of a month so um to me that makes me really uncomfortable when we're being asked as a planning board to figure out those really tough balancing design related therefore we have jurisdiction decisions with so little time to do the right thing it it it frankly makes me really uncomfortable because I very much appreciate that a lot of people have already put a lot of thought into it and have done their very best to make lots of people happy so by the time it comes to us we're between a rock and a hard place or gravel and pavement and and it's very difficult to to be helpful I just want to also just make one more quick just um for the parking across the street um that isn't actually a parking lot so there is no curb cut um it's like people have just sort of parked there on the field I've talked to the school department they potentially have future um expansion plans for that that it would no longer have ability to park so it wasn't just like no you guys can't park here that's not convenient for us they're planning um for future sort of expansion um on their campus and so it is part of the school's property I think it's also frankly important to have um even if you're not Ada to have um parking available for older residents and residents with young children and who might have a hard time parking far away and yet making it to the to the dog park so I think there's there's again a variety of citizens and a variety of residents we need to to think about here um is I see Jen is do you have your hand up again Jen Okay so I think we want to um maybe take this one comment but then look to see um if we're just ready to send it to design review if we want to create a memo about that maybe we do to summarize this conversation um and then let um let design Review Committee take a look at it so it looks like Helen so yes we have one hand up uh miss Helen Nicole uh Helen I'm going to ask you to unmute and introduce yourself with your name and address you are now uh unmuted Elliot Circle so basically Trish uh just made my full point because I I wasn't really exactly sure where that parking across the street was but I did want to mention that for older people especially for older people who may not be um in possession of a handicap clock or going that far with a dog and across the road especially in the winter time uh might be very very hazardous and actually a problem for them to be able to do that so I just wanted people to take that in consideration when they were thinking about that that that was my point Thank you thank you okay so um let's look at um creating one of our typical memos about this obviously related to the relevant issues um of things we wanted to would want them to look at that would include um obviously the main one is vegetation but it could also vegetation water run off um do we wanted explore the idea of Designing that parking L slightly differently so it's not so much pement well I think we'll we'll we'll put um obviously the the paving they should they that that's part of what they look at anyway but they can look at the paving they are I mean we can tell them to I want to make sure we're agreeing to tell them to look at the payment yeah we can we can put it on there is there a way to find a middle ground where part of that is gravel and part of it is payment minimize some of the payment I I I'm kind of more in an agreement with you than not Anna but I don't think that's practical in a on a parking lot of these size I think once you have a construction of it's it's a very small lot I'm not sure that that would be but they they should look maybe they have good ideas I mean let's explore it it may it may not be worth it it may not it may be more worthwhile to save some of the trees and and add plantings than it is to care about the parking lot I agree but I say add it to their list I mean I agree and I was confident with the um engineer that things will be looked at based on the conversation so I think we're in pretty good shape that way CU you're talking about one accessible spot if you you have 20 cars you're literally talking about one access yeah we may be stuck with the parking lot my question is let's explore yeah whether we're stuck with the parking lot if there's other mediums of kind of is there a way do this the parking PCT yeah okay so we will be looking at um I don't know when the design Review Committee meets next so I'm going to work with Alvaro obviously we'll iron that out um the planning board has one meeting in December we could always schedule another meeting in December if I pull up my calendar um obviously the the next meeting for the py board is going to be on the 28th of November we will not be meeting that is Thanksgiving um with that said um our next meeting in December would be the 12th at this point and and I'm confident that the design Review Committee could meet between now and then to discuss this yes so why don't we so we should then uh we we should move it to the we will be U moving to the 12th yes right 12th of December yes unless unless for any reason I think two weeks is actually puts us at December 5th we could if we would rather go December 5th well so the shot clock on I believe if I did this right is March 4th of 2025 we we are hearing that that's not practical I'm just saying so if we put P that in December that that is it that's the one meeting say we're happy and I guess because that depends on the grant right I think yeah no I get it that's why I'm talking about but it's kind of the same thing like do we want to give us just one meeting for MBTA Z before the town meeting like I feel like we should try to um possibly have another one so then there's the 12 that can happen for or do something because otherwise like we don't really need to talk about it we could hold the meeting on the 5th and we could hold obviously invite the design Review Committee we could have a joint meeting it's not out possibility I think that's fine but that would be fine but I I don't think we're talking about a very complicated project here I I think if the design review is going to have a look at the few items it's like three items y I don't I don't see why we could not bring to the next meeting and be done with but but um where do people sit I'm thinking about for other reasons as well just looking at our schedules quick where do people sit for December fifth um would everyone be around at that time and the 12th both for days right we would I think well I think we'd go the fifth and then we and then see if what we have for the 12th or the or the 19th or another you know fine for me because right now we would only be meeting now and once in December and we would be done for the year if we move it to the 5ifth we at least have a possibility for fitting in something quick if we need to was that I have a potential trip but it's not confirmed yet so okay in Ence it's postive the fth is fine so look look at the fifth deer do you think the fifth is good for you yes okay and that but but you said that that would be as a tentative depending we have to continue this to a date and so I was looking to continue it if possible to December 5th okay and let's take that earlier date and if we get our work done we get it done but if we don't we have have opportunity to have that second meeting if things aren't resolved we we're not under the same pressure yet not throwing away this potential grant money which I think would be really stupid of us to do so okay so do I have a motion to continue this until December 5th oh wait oh sorry Michael just just to make note Michael do you think you're free on the 5ifth to to join the next PL board meeting yes okay thank you thank you I'm sorry for include you on that one no good good call I'll make a motion to move the site plan review and design plan review of the dog park project to December 5th all right your second okay and a roll call vote Marcel I Katherine Jers guy and Trisha Kendall I do we have uh there anyone well I guess there's anyone that wants to to help put together this memo I always like a second pair of eyes on it usually it's it it's been Marcelo typically unless anyone else okay everyone's okay with Marcelo all right so we put something together and um we'll get that to design Review Committee all right thank you everyone from dog park thank you all right next on our agenda is the MBTA community's question and answer but I think um I think we have some I think if I if I'm if if I'm right um in understanding that you had come for the our agenda item about the discussion of the 40b project is is that right right and in general um I apologize that's on our that's on our agenda because we want it on our agenda in case we want to discuss it at any time so we don't have anything specific about that but we'd be happy to hear your comments and answer any questions you have about it before we go to our our MBTA agenda item okay hi uh Paul flarity uh I own the property adjacent to th this project at 63 wavely Street uh I was a longtime Ashland resident went to high school with Mark um and uh this the property that we own small residential property was my grandmother's house our family's been there for a long time I've owned it since 1981 lived there for a while um and we have now three Apartments there which um we've been renting over the years we have two of them are occupied by family members but um you know so we we try to uh help out the family and uh the project I understand it's something that's needed in the area but we're at the end of the property that has a 25 foot buffer zone so we have an existing one-story residential house at this wall and at the door is going to be a fivestory apartment building 25 ft away doesn't seem acceptable in my humble opinion um I I oppos the changed to the uh zoning at the time I believe it was um for this specific reason and uh was assured by the planning board at that time that they would never let anything of that size be built that close to a a uh existing residential property but this is where we stand now now so I'm hoping that the developers of the project could cooperate in some manner to maybe give us a little bit more space you know be good neighbors like they say they want to be but I believe we're the only ones really being affected much by this project um so that's where we stand and I just want you know when when something's being discussed about about this project I just want to be here to hear it and you know be able to say my piece yeah so this project and Peter can jump in here um but this project U that you're talking about is a 40b project yes and that means that it does not come before the piding board it does not it does not that means it it will be going um in front of the zoning board of appeals in Ashland okay I don't know what the schedule of that is it it they have meetings just like we do they have been still all online I think they are I don't know how they'll do it for these projects coming up but Peter do you know more about that that yeah so I can tell you traser is correct all 40 BS throughout the state go in front of the zoning board of appeals what's known as a comprehensive permit right um 40b law enacted 1969 right after the fair housing market act the Fair Housing Act um that that's kind of the process it does take right Paul you and I have spoken a couple times I know I sent the email and I connected you with Mass housing so at this point Mass housing did Issue a letter of Eligibility which was issued to 61 wly Street and also 10 to 60 Main Street okay um and that happened at gez at this point maybe a month and a half ago two months ago um I can tell you and I've I I can tell you again that regarding 61 Waverly Street the applicant has not signaled to us when he and when he plans to file his full application for that comprehensive permit but that application does not go before the planning board it will not come in front of this planning board it will go in front of the zoning board of appeals I can tell you right now is you as a butter and if you are on the the you will be legally noticed when that goes out I think if you are the owner on the tax record you will receive a notice obviously you are within 300 ft and obviously you and I have been communicating over the last couple months um with that said um I'm sorry I lost my train of thought um the planning board more than likely like all towns and committee all boards and committees will be asked to maybe submit a letter of of their opinion um into a memo stating their opinion on the project or what should be looked at that will be done and I think that's why you'll see into the future that you'll see comments or this is an agenda item on the planning boards okay so I should be looking at the zoning Bo zoning boards meeting yeah and myself and obviously the big the best thing to do PA to stay in touch stay in touch with me um I can tell you right now that letter of Eligibility that Mass housing issued uh about a month and a half ago two months ago that's good for two years right that's a that's almost like a live permit that the pling board would issue right so that applicant really has two years to file a full application with us um after the mass housing did issue that letter I reached out to open the lines of communication you know softly with the applicant and um they signaled we'll get around to it when we get around to it yeah they didn't seem too interested in any oh I'm sorry oh okay yeah mine's muted I think thank you um it might be you Peter I think your laptop is speakers work was it this one yeah my volume's off I it's the mic's muted I'm looking for the speaks yeah I would encourage you while you're uh say while we're figuring that out just to when those meetings start um the process is probably going to be long it's going to be arduous and to come anyway okay yes I mean they're open meetings and I'll stay in touch with Peter um it'll probably be in the the newsletter that Michael puts online it should be everywhere that those meetings are happening but are you connected to the newsletter Paul I am not okay that's through the town managers to to through our ashon town website you can for the newsl okay should I I come in to sign up withone you can find it um and I will say that it's been discussed internally that the zoning board of appeals um not internally it's been discussed with the chairman of the zoning board of appeals that they will be coming back in person and so when these 40 BS come in since the pandemic they've stayed virtual um that will change that will shift and that will be they will be then coming back into um either most likely this meeting room um and if there's a large crowd and it this this probably not I think I'm I'm the only one that cares well so here's the thing you came to us other than pointing you towards other people I think we can take some responsibility and I can tell you that when my when we draft the letter to the zoning board of appeals I will I will suggest to this planning board that we request a buffer zone for you or some trees be trees or not this is something there's not really room for trees there may not be room but there may be room on their side of the property to plant some trees to create a buffer for you that's visual because if you have a five-story building you're staring at maybe that can be the buffer that they create and so these are some of the things that we can potentially request so that you're not staring at a building I wouldn't mind staring at a building that's a little bit further away or if they can't move it's right to the South so we will be in the shadow the entire winter but anyways I'll I I'll just stay on top of it thank you for your cooperation and uh good luck with everything all right thank you Paul thank you I see one hand raised Miss Joan G Friday Miss Joan I'm gonna ask excuse me as Miss Miss G Friday I'm gonna ask you to unmute yourself yes thank thank you um jungan Friday W Shore Road um on the historical commission but speaking as an independent resident um I have a question about the um the and something that I'm looking at the um the mill building and the 6 the 61 wav Street um I noticed in their apartments that I I think none of us really believe they're affordable but um given the fact that that's what they're called I'll use that as the example um so when you compare the affordable versus the market um see that it actually ends up the way I looked at it and I think maybe I'm wrong and so I'm asking you this question um is that the it the market does not require does um not pay any utilities and the affordables do pay utilities and when you add the utilities in the affordables become more expensive than the market but then I see a note down there that says utility um um utilities to be paid by tenants so I'm just wondering it's um both both projects have that issue so I'm just wondering if I'm if I'm crazy or if that's something that could be looked at and and you could let me know if if that's if I'm correct or if it's or other otherwise regardless I think that that's a very small difference between affordable and Market when you look at the at the number so but it's a great question I don't know if I have the answer specifically regarding the the payment of utilities um I will say um I do know that those affordable rates are dictated by the state um and those are annually analyzed uh by the by the um executive office of Housing and Community Development so um the town does not really have any control over the um quote unquote affordable units um that's dictated from the state no I yeah I I understand I agree with you but um I'm just wondering whether the developers are using some kind of a way around it by having the affordables pay the utilities and the market rate not that that was that's really my question so thank you I yeah I I don't think I have any answer I I don't think I have the knowledge to to at this point in time to answer that question directly okay all right thank you all right uh next on our agenda is um the m ta communities and I don't think there's really again we're kind of our agenda has kind of become this really really long list of things that we should do and uh and we you know don't generally get there but maybe after the new year when some of these things are off the list so MBTA communities what what um what we had intended for this meeting is that um in in your um and we'll bring can you bring it up y um I did make a very few tweaks but they're all graphic um so we can use this one so I think in number one there's both um the slides you'll see the pages of the slides this is my draft slide presentation which I'll maybe I'll be able to go to the microphone and can I do that go to the microphone and like a I won't be able to get my all my thoughts together and then after that there's um the this um frequently asked questions sheet so what um Anna had missed that meeting so she listened to the meeting and she wrote down the questions that people had asked at our um at our public hearing um most of them but not all of them were really um appropriate to be a part of um this document which is the frequently asked questions about MBTA we have to be careful because we it has to be kind of a just a factual kind of very neutral document so um uh first that list of questions that Anna had written down went to Peter and Alo and they filled in the factual kind of the factual answers to those questions as best they could then that document went to Amanda who insisted that she would be bored and that she would need something to do so I sent it to her she still wanted to do it so she went through it and um kind of massaged it a bit and then it came back to me and then and I did the same thing um kind of massaging it the things that um I felt as being on the committee for this long we really needed people to let know things I thought were unclear or not complete so that's what this is just so you know that both the presentation do I still have Jen on there no she left both the presentation and this frequently asked questions document I need to give to Jen and to Adam Schuster on by Saturday or on Saturday because that's the timeline they need it before town meeting so um oh and after that um in the book also is this chart which compares the NBTA communities to 40b projects that's not something I obviously want to get into in my presentation because it's supposed to be with MBTA but people keep getting confused about it so there's this sheet and I kind of assume in the question and answer period at town meeting some stuff will come up um Peter are you going to be at town meeting oh yeah okay so I assume between you and Michael you'll be handling that stuff that is out of the realm of the working group which is the realm I want to stay in uh so November 16th is town meeting just so those of us who want to come 19th it's 19th Yeah Tuesday Tuesday the 19th be there be square um I actually I'm glad you mentioned about getting it to Adam and I it's obviously sounds in the works but I think if you're doing a presentation you technically also have to ask yeah we're I know it's a I talked to him um I know him I talked to him um I was concerned about the amount of time we need to present because usually he's like you get this much he realizes the importance of this um um so I I think he we talked about maybe around 10 minutes of presenting personally I feel that after that you yeah people start to not be able to follow so I'm trying to keep it basic and then other things will be picked up in the questions and answers so what I thought I could do is just go through the slides I'm not going to be perfect in how it won't be exactly like town meeting haven't practiced at all I actually will because I used to do speech contests and that's how I got it right when I practiced so I'll probably practice a little bit so make sure I get it all on 10 minutes but if you see something that Trish that isn't clear in fact I'm going to take my slides up there or you can make notes on your slides too if something isn't clear you have to understand this more you misspoke here make a note of it um so that this can really be a good dry I guess I'm just um one minute I'm just going to hold on a sec um did you send the power presentation to Al on the drop I I it's just the one that you guys sent to me okay I it's fine just use that one I I have literally the the tweaks I made were tiny and they were graphic it wasn't it wasn't like a substance okay tweak so I'm just trying like oh my yeah no no just use the one that you guys sent me okay let me grab this stuff I'm sorry for everybody thank for your patience let me jump back and got drop box yeah said I brought my computer a you no I shouldn't you know draw box sometimes it's not my friend compliance the updated dos I'm going to say download and open y there it is okay you want to put on SL slideshow mode or whatever just to make it bigger okay so um again oh also looking to how it reads this obviously the auditorium is much bigger I don't know like how what point size I can get and have it be readable that's there's no way for me to test it out but anyway okay um so do you want this timed oh yeah I'm sure it won't be exactly the same but um so just to give a little history about um about the process of the MBTA and this is part of what one of you guys had mentioned about having a little bit of history in it that um section 3A which is part of 40a of Mass General law um was created as a part of another legislation to strengthen the state's economy in order to in order to create multif family housing your train stations to lessen the housing shortage so that was done um it was signed into law in January of 2021 after um an anonymous vote in the Senate and a very um High approval rate R in the in the house um and as a bipartisan effort um that was in 2021 in December a year later um we got draft guidelines were released to communities and that was followed by a comment period where the states sorry with the communities could um provide feedback on those regulations final regulations were then released in August 2022 that's a little over two years ago the first first part of that um for compliance was to sub for communities to submit an action plan to the state Peter I think that date wrong I think it's I think elro got back to me that was January 2023 it was submitted in January 2023 you I correct the state the letter of compliance that came back to us is dated March of 23 okay so the letter of compliance from the state is March we submitted it I believe it was January 31st so we knew we in compliance so far in March of 2023 correct so that same fall about six months later the ashin select board and the planning board formed a four-person working group that included Town planner Peter machic assistant Town planner Alro aspara select board member Joe manani and myself um to start working on our our mandate was to find a way that Ashlin could be in compliance with um with the D new MBTA communities law so when the four-person working group met um we oh no I'm jumping ahead here because I don't know my slides I might actually that might mean I I'm just checking something okay I might change the order of my slide I'll go from where I am but what I'm wondering if I is I have a slide later on that talks about the working group and I think it it actually might make more sense right after this but I'll think about that do you think so yeah because it says working group all right so so um keep keep this where it is Peter but oh it doesn't matter we'll put that slide ahead so um when the working group got together the first thing we discussed is what was important to us as a group what we thought would be important to Ashland and the first thing we talked about is the comprehensive plan process the comprehensive plan was fairly new in getting started at that time and we wanted to make sure we respected that process the town was putting a good deal of money into studying the future of Ashland and a large group of people was involved in that process so respecting the comprehensive plan process was important to us the second thing we wanted to do is to reuse the housing and Zoning we already have everyone in Ashland knows that we have been we have been building housing here in Ashland not only Cirrus but we have a development going up at 100 Chestnut Street we have another approved project at 501 Pawn Street and there was um a friendly 40b that was planned for a long Memorial Drive so we have been looking very seriously at housing here in Ashland and we wanted to reuse what we've already done and the third thing through those two things was to minimize the overall impact to Ashland as much as we could if there's changes in housing that's going to come out of um if Ashen is going to make changes in housing we want those changes to come out of the comprehensive plan process rather than the MBTA process or the working group so those were our three considerations going back to what is the MBTA communities first we need to go through just a few important definitions that will help it in our understanding of what the bylaw is that we're talking about tonight first of all is zoning zoning is what the planning board does zoning is what this MBTA community's act requires zoning is about what uses are allowed in our town in Ashland and where those uses are allowed so it's it's important to note that the MBTA Act is about zoning it's not about building this bylaw will create an over an overlay zoning District um this means when it's an overlay District it's a zoning District laid on top of existing zoning that allows for new use options so this will be zoning laid on top of all our other zoning that simp simply allows for this multif family development and allows it to happen according to the new state regulations a dwelling multif family will come into play here um and that is a building containing three or more dwelling units so we're required to create multif family housing sorry to zone for multif family housing and as of right these zoning units must be as of right that means that the development can proceed without a special permit it does mean however that developments still have to follow environmental regulations the building code and they still have to have a site plan review with the Ashen planning board but it is a site plan review and not a special permit so next slide is where the MBT communities are in Ashland so it's important to understand that the NBAA communities applied not just to Ashland obviously but to all the communities shown on this slide um depending on if your community has a subway stop a commuter rail stop or if you're just next to a community that has one of those it will depend on how much housing and how much acreage that you need to zone for so Ashland is characterized as a commuter rail Community for obvious reasons and our requirements are based on that designation so again it's important to note that the law the MBTA communities law requires the creation of a zoning District it does not require the housing to be built all right next slide so on this slide we're showing this is where I might get too small I might have to make I think I'm gonna have to make this bigger um so this slide is showing first of all in black the um the requirements for the MBTA first of all we're going to look at the number of acres for our communter rail community in Ashland we need a zoning District that totals at least 50 acres all right our proposal as we will show you later um totals 56.1 12 acres so just above that 50 acre threshold you can divide your acreage it doesn't have to be all in one piece you can divide it into subdistricts we have divided um our district into five subdistricts that are at least five acres each so if you divide it into subdistricts each of them has to be at least five acres half of our zoning District uh must be contiguous this is another one of the rules so if we have 56.1 2 Acres half of that has to be all in one piece one chunk so for us we have 50.3 Acres that are contiguous that's kind of just over that threshold 28.26% of the Acres have to be located within .5 miles a half a mile of the T Station we have we do that very well we have 61.3% of our Acres within 05 miles of the MBTA station next Slide the next category of regulations we have to deal with is the density for all the districts that we create the one district and the five subdistricts they have to have each a minimum of 15 housing units 15 dwelling units per acre um as we look at the our five districts they range from 15 units per acre to 30 units an acre in density we also have to create through our zoning a certain we have to allow for a certain number of units to be built so by taking um acreage and timesing it by density we understand how many units we need for Ashen we need to accommodate 15% of our housing units from the 2020 census that's the regulation as being for being a commuter rail community so our housing units as of 2020 was 7,495 we take that times 15% and we get 1,124 housing units that we need to zone for not to build but to zone for right now our proposal um would allow for 1,100 and 44 units just that's that's just 20 units over um what is um the minimal that we can produce okay next slide so which is yeah the working group so I ski that so the proposal um our overlay District would consist of these five subdistricts shown in green a b c d and e um and you can see the ones that uh the the MBTA circle is shown on the map you can see the ones that are completely within that Circle and the ones that lie with um outside of it we're going to be going through these one by on so that people understand where they are you can also see the Memorial Drive a that's Cirrus Apartments that's our 28 contiguous Acres um so that's our our biggest component of this each of the other components are five to seven acres um in size um next slide so subdistrict a this is serus Apartments along at the end of Memorial Drive um past the Dunkin Donuts up over the hill um until you get to the TR near the train station so again this is our largest component it's 28.26% so what this means and when we go back to one of our goals is that we're trying to use the housing developments and the the housing that we've already produced this is housing Ashton has already produced so we can assign a larger density to that area without actually building anything on it and though the property owners if this is passed though the property owners would have the right to add more housing there if they could um we find it very unlikely and it that would be very difficult to add that housing um there with the current housing already already in place so we're using using that asset you want show the next slide subdistrict B this is Pleasant Street I might retake those photos because they're dark um this was stretched from Community uh sorry connect Church through Burnham's um Supper Club um this stretch of land is just uh 6.86 Acres it its current density does not go by units and eight units and acre but it goes by something called floor area ratio or F which is a two by studying this very carefully we have determined that a that a floor area ratio of two actually allows a much greater density than the MBTA communities would allow at 15 so it would be um unlikely that a developer would follow MBA density at 15 at 15 units an acre to build on these properties if they did they would use the current underlying density the current underlying zoning which is already more dense um than the MBTA would allow next slide oh so subdistrict C is 10 to 60 Main Street these are the mill buildings as most of you probably know there is a 40b project that is proposed for this site um that 40b project is proposed that is density of 36 units an acre we are proposing the MBTA density at 15 units an acre so again this is a property that um is very likely going to have housing on it of some kind so we are trying to use it as a our MBTA communities so we get kind of a double use out of it in a way next slide is subdistrict D this is Chestnut Street Queen Isabella away this is the project that's currently in construction that you likely have driven by the built density of this site is 28 units and Acres 28 units an acre again it's still in construction we've proposed that it's just slightly higher at 30 units an acre um for the same reason um we feel we can add added density onto that and it would be actually very um very unlikely that um that the that the Builder would be actually would want or be able to add that greater density with a project already this far along in construction next slide and finally subdistrict e this is 501 Pawn Street that the district actually includes both 501 Pawn Street which is currently an empty lot and The Residence at Valley Farm which is next door to it so um these two lots together together give us 7.24 Acres because we have to have at least five on 501 prawn Street there is up an approved project um that had went through the planning board two years ago it's meant about about a year in front of the planning board it is 120 units of housing that is a 25% affordable project so all of them would count toward our affordable housing count with commercial and a kind of a a public um green space in the front of the building so again that is housing that we have already approved and we want to make sure we use it in our MBTA communities so that is currently to looking at just 501 not Valley Farm it is a density of 32 units an acre however the underlying zoning of Pond Street would only allow a density of about of about 22 units an acre so if that project does not get built we wanted to set the density at what the zoning already allows which is 22 units an acre and not the 32 units an acre that it's currently that it's currently proposed as a 25% affordable project all right other details other details that we in in the MBTA zoning that um whatever project gets built or that has to be um um in the zoning is uh the kind of occupants so for these um for these developments there can be no age restrictions and there um the apartments need to be suitable for families with children meaning that the the town can't put restrictions on the number of bedrooms or the size of the unit that has to be um up left up to the developer the setbacks and height um follow besides what's actually written in the bylaw which changes the density it follows all the underlying zoning um that's already in the Ashland bylaws so if it's not listed in the bylaw it's following what the underlying zoning is um that goes for all of the setbacks and height I think the one exception to that is 100 Chestnut Street where in 100 Chestnut Street if you were building all residential it would only be able to be three stories um here as that building is already built and we feel it very unlikely that it will change we have let it go to four stories in that location the parking minimum is a one space for studios and one space for one bedroom apartments two or more bedrooms be 1.5 spaces um and those would not be able to be lessened um in any way under the underlying zoning affordability um the affordable component of these projects would be a minimum of 10% we are hoping to get that to 12.5% for most of the districts probably everything except 501 Pawn Street but this depends on the um that depends on state approval of the of the bylaw so that's all I have I need a conclusion already oh you did I think it fits better there I think that's great what what time what time is it 1 minutes oh that sucks okay I have a I mean I I have a couple of marketing tricks that I think will help you or just ideas that might help you kind of shorten your points so I think the strength of the presentation is you're starting out with the concept of the state had a purpose and the purpose is to increase housing next to the mvt I think you need to start with sort of a premise what is the state after and I think you need to tell them at the beginning the state's purpose is to add housing as close to MBTA stops as possible to make it easier for people to live in Massachusetts and commute and work and live right like that needs to be said at the very advantage of ex that needs to be said at the very of existing infrastructure that's right the public needs the public needs to hear from the very start of this presentation why are we here because the state cares about having housing next to our MBTA infrastructure that is the goal right and if you start there then the public hears why we're doing this that's important and I would not I would not nobody no offense no one cares when that happened all they care about is why is the state doing this to us so you need to tell them that in a constructive way because there's a positive intentionality the legislature has a reason that is public interest oriented I don't think anyone is going to Care it for you to say these things they can just look so good to have them up there but no need to say them great idea but people really don't understand they're like why is the state requiring this the audence read it okay yeah yeah and then I think your second slide has to be the working group consideration but I would rethink the use the you you used two words I would rethink you you used the word reuse and you use the word double use I would stay away from those the reason I would stay away from those is they hint that it could be reused in some way or they hint that we're trying to get some kind of advantage in double using it I think a better term of use is recognition or credit because Ashland has Ashland has already done what the state wants that needs to be said outright we're trying to get credit for what we already did you're giving the people a sense that because their attitude rightfully so as mine is that the ashin has has already done a lot why are we still doing it okay well we're we are creating this in a way that you ashin get credit for all of our hard work in development and my last point because if you start that way if you start with those two points is every single slide you're doing a really good job to basically reinforce look we're getting credit look we're getting recognition for what's already there so this is just like a ploy because you have a short amount of time think about little boxes at Each corner and a little check Mark like a credit Mark like look we get credit for something that's already there and you're going to some of you may be upset with me the only box that's not going to get a little check mark where there's nothing there yet that is of that size is Pleasant Street but this is important because the public needs to understand this is the rest of them there's a little check mark we already have a multi family development that the state would be happy with do you see what I'm saying yeah no I I like little check mark little check mark gets you there because then you can shorten your presentation because every slide you were like okay see we're already going to right not on Main Street sure well hold on Main Street but but the 40b is coming so I think you can check that's what I was saying it's coming I think so it's coming yeah it's a 40 otherwise otherwise we would VI well you don't want to check it off because essentially it's been a for your marke yeah but that's like it isn't a deal I don't want just because someone said the application can go forward that's so we could okay so forget my little check mark idea because that gets too controversial I I took I took the check mark I mean I get it if it's too controversial that's fine but you to but we you to we're going to get credit for this housing we already have it to reinforce it app sure I mean I think for Main Street you could you could have a a half check mark a a see-through check mark in the sense that there's an application and if that project ultimately is approved I agree with 10% because yes it's a project right it was in front of us at 200 units right now it's we are minimi we we we we're zoning it for 15 units well under what this well under what's being proposed well under what's being proposed and well under what the planning board reviewed and so whatever goes there is going to have housing at a minimum of 15 units per acre so I see I I agree with an saying a half check mark just little like one of these little suckers the whole idea is there's an application that's pending correct there's an application that's pending that's under review an application under review and you can tell the public there's a check mark where there's either a An approved application or an application under review we haven't I thought the state did essentially yeah well well he did is the one you rejected they did they did submit an application upon review there was missing elements so I rejected it okay but but they are it's in the process it's in the process I think okay how about we say how about we we say the word in or we say no I I'm not saying it's a done deal I'm trying to give the public a visual that there's certain certain districts here where there's either a permanent project approved or it's in progress It's under review maybe the word under review is the right thing so you could have a little see-through check mark but I think the public needs that quick visual because slides can be important important in a visualization I mean I don't know because you have one slide at a time and and I I guess when I'm but do you see what I mean like a little yeah no I I think this is the only one and and as as controversial as Pleasant Street is it's important to be transparent about the fact that that's the only one where it's a blank one for now but the rest of them we are getting credit the rest of these districts there's credit being done so the public is coming into the presentation understanding why are we here because the state cares why does the state care about housing next to MBTA and guess what Ashlin you've done a great job already look at look at the fact that these these districts you already are on your way you've met the requirement so whatever we're requiring of you to approve tonight you're basically already de that that's your presentation yeah of the first little bit faster for the distance what about the I mean like I I feel like this is like the meat of it I can't that right I like a lot bigger I like that slide I like that slide I thought it was a very informative slide but the rest of the slides I I think people are lay people are going to be glossy glossed over a little bit so there has to be thinking any of these we we could I think we can or if they can't read it on the if they s back and can't read it can we do that like yeah you know I think we can oh yeah maybe um I think we could like like this one if you Pages what happen with this other details yeah so those two things could be a part of this is what you're saying yeah QA yeah like um yeah so do a Q&A and put obviously this in format it and have a double sheet so you just one thing off and it's one it's double sided and then you can slip that you know the to the to the you know when you Walky get a warrant you a warrant yeah but typically there's you get the warrant and then there's other handouts that you can ex hand but like we can put we can put the the just the purely information sides these and the other requir the other it can be contained on one page it doesn't have to look the slid be stapled stapled into this um I I've just related to that so A thank you for all the efforts because I think it was a lot from several people who are doing it um the select board was supposedly doing some kind of thing and it may have been this MBTA and 40b but I said make sure they that we're not duplicating that's this this is oh that was from the board yeah this is from the SL board okay and so again I went through it and uh yeah it's all yeah so it's a it's by now a collaborative effort to make sure that I just want to make sure because I found out and I said please and they said they were going to get in touch with you yeah so that's what this is so that again I don't really really want to get I I'm sure questions will come up about about 40b but at least there'll be some information but also there a question maybe the the title of the this thing yeah this gets confusing you almost need to like gray out the 40b and just no but I'm saying quick comparison between NTA and 4 if I just why do I care about EXA MBTA commun is not the same as exactly y MBTA is not 40b it's not the and then okay now I understand why I'm comp okay okay okay yeah that makes sense because otherwise it's kind of saying vote for MBTA not 40b no exactly I don't want both yeah right right okay well that was any does anyone anyone else make any notes or I mean I don't think it's helpful to talk but I did put some times where you ended them but they were like I'm looking at 11 so when you got to the when you got to the SE the subd districts they they went pretty quick they were about to like um 11 11 minutes 20 seconds to 12 minutes 36 so like they were about a minute I don't really need to I don't really need to I I shouldn't say like I mean I have it printed the size of the Acres I shouldn't I shouldn't say that right it's on the slide how many acres each one is I agree with that and I think you can kind of summarize and say I'm about to go through how many The five subd district five subd districts highlight a few and just be aware that the majority of those I think the majority what we're approving is actually what you just yeah with what said at the beginning is like we're going to go you're getting credit The five district that were created with the objectives of taking credit for what has yeah uh the the data is there and I'm going to read the first one as an example then you can get the other through or you could go through all of them but not need to explain each one I think you just need to summarize I'm about to show you the five districts that meet these requirements yeah you'll see a little corner check mark that will show you where we're getting credit check and maybe focus on one is an example like I think a good one to show them might be um well I think the Cirrus would be a really good one because Sirrus isus is the Keystone that's the best example I would almost through what I would do is I would go through a through e boom boom boom boom did you all see the check mark let me show you one of them let's go back to slide a and show you how this works use Cirus as an example what do I mean by a little credit well we build this thing and look it's already there what are the chances of somebody tearing it down to build something of higher density like probably unlikely here we go you know what I mean like check mark we get credit for it under this particular version that would be I mean you don't do that way but that way Cuts your presentation down they can still read every slide get point so there's no reason to under there's no reason really to go and understand hey it's this under current zoning and now it's this like that's it's too much detail I me I think the slides are good so I would I think would change slides okay very technical what we doing like it's helpful for us it's helpful for the S board but the Public's perspective is like world is this what's the bottom line what's the bottom line of what I'm agreeing to what in the world is it it's housing that's yeah but don't remove what you have in the slide right it's helpful information they should read it right okay if you use one slide to explain what it means they can make the conclusion about the rest got it actually because you start single time going to lose their yeah I was getting bored with myself just be like and I would just literally copy slide a and make it right under e so as you click through you go a b yeah to back to a like I'm going to walk through my five slides and come back to this first one and use it as an example like you don't have to go backwards I see what you're just double it up book It book some like you're making a point like State wants this we got credit I'm going to show you the little slides with the credit bar and then I'm back to that first slide to sort of educate you how to interpret it look at us we get credit we're done like so I have on the actual town meeting I mean related to this like there I would be shocked if there's not lots of discussion right and that's what town meeting is for anyway so that is I mean I guess it might be coming to the working group or might be at select word but if someone doesn't say I have a question for the planning board how is how is that going to be directed and to who I assume it's going to mostly come to me because I'm going to be standing I'm going to still I'm not going to be sitting down I'm going to be at the mic ready to answer any questions but there will be some if anything comes up about a 40b I'm letting Michael or Peter will take it myself Michael and Lisa me Lisa me will be here on Tuesday night uh I'll be there close to the microphone I'll probably be sit I'll probably sit right now next to be are the good time to go back to like if people live next to one of these districts then you go back to that slide right yeah and you can explain it more rather than doing so so and I'm thinking though I'm just trying to make sure it goes as smoothly as possible um so like when people came to the planning board last year they said so what about infrastructure and oh my God it's in the paper right now about drought and please don't take as many showers that really came out okay and what is this going to do and I you so that that was one of the ones I took out of the uh of of the frequently asked questions because I'm like this policy yeah this no no I'm just trying to prepare you or how are they Fielding that question that question would probably go to Michael you know but that's not my per that's not my purview right that's outside of my yeah thought the perview of the NBTA Zing no no I know I'm just trying to ask the questions to be like so it goes smooth if when these questions will probably be asked they were already asked once yeah so I don't know if um Adam will direct it to back to me but if he does I'll be saying that's not a question for me Michael can you take that questionare or Peter can you take that question or yeah we we did have quite a few like that and that's what I I but a few like that I mean maybe they were doubled up but like I said the Anna had about 15 questions that she wrote down and I I mean some of them I combined but I want to say maybe there was three I took out that this just maybe give those to Peter to review with Michael because those are probably the ones that the Public's GNA ask yeah I'll review those the original thing that you did yeah no I have the original item that I did and went through it and we can kind of go over it and I'll mention it to Michael and I'm sure we'll meet on Monday and Tuesday leading up to the meeting okay well this is really helpful thank you to if you have amount of time I think you know your turn I think taking out reuse and putting in those two words the credit or recognition yeah and yeah it is the public infrastructure and that's what the whole if you go back to the purpose of the MBTA law you know it's kind of like you got to go back and get the direction from that yeah my brain is starting to fail and I've had a migrant this whole meeting so I think all we have is meeting minutes I don't I don't think we need to do anything else tonight I know I just want to give you a before the meeting wraps up um we did get an application for cell tower updates antenna updates at 400 Cedar Street just to give everyone the heads up on that I think everyone's been through those before um and so that was a we did that for different company yeah we moved one off the top to the side remember now this is just a replacement of antenas that are on the side with new antenas yeah it's you guys know the drill uh just give everyone the heads up okay so first meeting minutes is from September 18th so this was when we had oh this was the joint this is a joint meeting uh that the plany board had with the select board um and it was for for the excuse me it was for the um goon doing the comp plan presentation to the select board so it was a Wednesday night I believe um but I think some of ever I think some Andor most joined via Zoom um but it was at the select board meeting I don't think I okay I think I know check I'll double check I know you're reading it and you're like I know I remember okay this was a um this was a week I remember there was a lot of night meetings CU I remember then the following Thursday we had a compant meeting I know it sounds like you Mo motion to adjourn I did that's what it says yeah I'll double check I'll double check on their meeting was the meeting it was a meeting on their meeting I to the one that was there it doesn't feel like you were there you I wish I wasn't there I'll check I check the film but you were powerful okay I was confused okay say and then the other one just so we can do them both at the same time the October 24th is that's the public hearing right correct I was not up correct yeah that is the public hearing so or watched whatever yes on page two of that one line 46 you might want to just that equal sign is oh yeah I'll take care of [Music] that it was funny watching the video and you guys are like oh my God there's all these people here you you're all like I just I just was so prepared I just figured oh there'll be the same three people here and you know it's all right could have been worse awward tension in the beginning like well you know I saw these people watching I saw people in the I saw people in the parking lot and I was thinking to myself oh I wonder if there's some kind of an event tonight that people are going to they were all they were all coming into come on in well these people jumped on the zoom meeting I'm sitting here like whoa is going on right now we were a little naive yeah at least I was I'm putting up defences oh man good times okay so ready should I make a motion on yeah I'm ready um I make a motion that we approve the September 18th 2024 minutes and the October 2024 minutes with the small edit on the October 2024 minut I'll second it and a roll call vote andest I Marcel I Katherine Jers I and Trisha Kendall I very efficient do we need to do anything else this we make a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn I'll second it Anki I Marcel I Katherine jerse kend I let's get out of here oh yeah it's moving ahead uh yeah let's move it ahead I have no I have no Haven seen I think they were trying to I think it's for

members of the board in attendance president Linda Chavez present vice president Andres quo present clerk MF present member cordin alera present member Andrea Flor Shelton oh she's running late members of administration superintendent hermana presid okay so could you all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all uh let the record reflect um my uh trustee Sheldon is in the room I'm sorry Shon okay uh so uh moving on to item 103 welcome and explanation to audience any person may address the board on any item on the meeting agenda persons who wish to speak on the item on the agenda will have an opportunity to do so when the agenda item is introduced and presented during this meeting there is a limit of so right now since we have so many speakers here today uh it's up to the board if we can allow 20 speakers for one minute or 10 speakers for two minutes so I think it's better that we allow uh one minute for 20 speakers um and if there is all on one side I will give an opportunity if somebody has a comment for the other s so we can hear from both sides um and they will also be giving uh given one minute as well so the board has the right to limit the total public comment on any agenda item to no 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 item 201 on this agenda as stated below and be before we move on to 102 Mr um trii Mr Carlos trii can you please come up and we we have um a few words he wants to say about um an alumni of alam rock thank you Madame President good afternoon members of the public members of the board I'm going to read um in Spanish um something that trust um president Linda Chavez asked me to read you want me to read in Spanish correct president please yes it's the excuse me after English and if you could do English too oh both okay thank you let us take a moment of silence to honor The Life and Legacy of Mr Bill Nicolosi a dedicated educator and Visionary who who brought the joy of music and the Performing Arts to countless students in Alam Rock Mr Nicolosi's impact extends far beyond the classroom as the founder of our district jazz band in 1973 he inspired generations of students and teachers including three of my students creating a tradition of excellence and artistic expression that remains a Cornerstone of our community his contributions will continue to resonate through the lives he touched and the vibrant Arts culture he helped build I will read this in Spanish now in graas Carlos um so we will be closing out um the meeting in honor of Mr Nicolosi who was with us for over 50 years so moving on to the discussion and or modification 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 uh Trust corera thank you president Chavis um I would like to move 701 and 901 before close session I know we have a lot of families teachers uh staff here and I know that there's young children so I'd like to honor their time all so I'm going to ask the public to please refrain from um clapping shouting yelling arguing because we have uh business to take care of and because we have to be respectful to everybody thank you so we have a first and a second uh do we have any uh go ahead I would ask that we hear first okay should be okay is that okay with your second we're going to hear 901 first did you hear what he just said yeah okay is that okay the the maker of the motion said 701 I don't know does the maker does a make or I'm I'm okay with that Amendment it should be quick okay and so is that okay okay so we have a motion uh all in favor so it's unanimous so we will take before and 701 before 701 okay before item two I moved close session after Okay so we're trying to figure out right now when we should move it uh if we want 70 excuse me 901 before 2011 or before what was the other one so motion was to move it before close session after 2011 that's what we just voted on so your motion was to what so my motion was to move uh 901 uhhuh and 701 right before close session right before 301 okay so that's the order that we're going to be hearing them we're going to hear it's going to be a little bit out of order for those who are following the agenda um it's going to be 01 before 701 and 701 before 301 in that order thank you okay so uh let's go ahead and take um two go to 2011 public members who wish to address the board on matters matters not on the agenda request to address the board provides members of the public an opportunity to speak about any matter under the jurisdiction of the district but not on this agenda if the subject 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 a within the jurisdiction of the brown act prevents the board from discussing any item not on this published agenda but the board May refer to staff or follow up any formal written requests that are brought before the board at this time there is a one minute time limit for each speaker the board has the right to limit the total public time on any agenda item to more no more than 20 minutes and are we keeping a timer uh okay and I'm as soon as the 20 minutes are over can you please let uh me know and the board no and this is not about school closures thank you good evening as an African-American employee and constituent I compelled to speak about race relations at this critical moment in our nation's history today is Ruby Bridges walk to Freedom day and I stand proudly for the next generation of rubies the student voice has to be magnified as we navigate this point in our District's trajectory please do not silence voices speaking on behalf of our students I have been a proponent of culturally responsive teaching for most of my career and have witness its positive impact on all students in 2019 the 1619 Club was established at Joseph George middle and it is open to students of any race interested in social justice work today there are over 20 students of all Races who stood together in unity to celebrate Ruby Bridges day it's my hope that arusd remains Resolute in its commitment to black students and employees going forward it's my hope that racial Justice will be at the Forefront of decisions made and that ethnic studies Community Schools and arts education will be Central in this District thank you for listening hello my name is Adrienne Vain and I'm a teacher at Joseph George middle school I know my school's on the list and that's not what this is about what this is about is I my AC unit hasn't been working since October 1st our uh PA system hasn't been working at our school all year long and I feel like oh we're just going to close the school so why do we care about our students this also happened at Lindale lindell's PA system isn't working and there was a school shooter threat earlier this week and they didn't have an opportunity to get to each classroom in a timely manner that's not okay just because we're closing schools doesn't mean we ignore the schools that we have right now to me that's showing you showing us that these kids don't matter I I challenge you to come to a middle school classroom six period thank you any other speakers hello my name is Emi I am a former student of both uh the Lindell school and of rocket ship so I believe I do have a place to say and experienced both schools uh in regards to well disregarding uh the closure of the school given the time that we are currently in the community that these schools are in are one of our most vulnerable communities especially coming this new year and I hope that the board takes that into accountability when considering any decisions they are going to be making moving forward um I hope and I trust that you will be taking into account not only the people of color that attend these schools but as well as all of our students with disabilities that are one of our most vulnerable communities that are that attend these schools and are integral to our community so thank you give me a second let me make sure that I announce this properly um this is for public comment items not involving School closure School closure is going to be heard under item 7 point this is involving items that are not for school closures any other items within our jurisdiction uh items involving School closure will be heard in item 7.02 shortly uh so any anybody uh who has public comment please come on up on an item not involving School closure anything within the jurisdiction of alrock feel like Bob Barker up in here so I wanted to say I a proud employee of alam Rock Union School District guys are all doing the Lord's work out here with trying to move us forward this very very challenging time I think that while a lot of these decisions are being made we're not thinking about the people really kind of behind uh working behind the scenes I just want to really Center everyone here I'm to do this really hard project I want to talk about I just want to really shout out lot all the teachers who are having to deal with extreme stress right now as well as a lot of the administrators who dealing with a lot of stress right now I want to say that I really want to shout out specifically uh the principal here Russo mckinty like what principal would let people stay here until 9:00 unpaid like this awesome so thank you Miss Coy and I know it's a hard time just want to make sure the board understands what she's done for the alen Brock Community what she's done for the uh rusa makad community and while we're looking at where people's jobs might going I hope did will see what she's done and realize that I I'm just going to finish this thought really quickly just say oh yeah thank you um good afternoon I just want to also uh Echo uh what I saw at George today with all the students really learning about what Justice in school also desegregation means and it was beautiful to see you know a group of 20 students really talking to their peers about uh what it means to be United as a community and seen them become leaders so I want to give a lot of props to the teachers and the staff who organized that um the second thing that I just want to like make sure that you're aware and you'll receive an email on this uh we're opening up uh our the second uh Family Resource Center at hubber ele uh Hub hubber middle school and we just one publicly open the invitation to you all to come and be part of that opening on November 22nd at 3 p.m.

to let in a um a uh uh a crew to do the weight room floor as the athletic director you think that my athletic Master would open that door it did not um um so they're there ready to tear up the floor it's a silly request I know I'm a little cheeky with the Jingle Bells coming up right uh uh everyone at uh Cypress High School knows what I'm walking down the hall before I come in the door um I respectfully request that the board re-evaluate their key distribution process when a 21-year-old sub custodian has the keys to the kingdom right and I have a little more investment in the school um the I was told that the uh custodians that come to campus they check them out and they check them back in every day I check my keys out too yearly right and I have a little more investment um ASB has master keys uh that would do the Mulan right that would get me into that uh room that weit room um the uh you know uh uh counselors every time I've counselor seen a counselor go somewhere as an administrator as a teacher they're going somewhere where kids are there's a key already opening it so I just respectfully ask uh please reevaluate your uh key distribution in this era of AI chat GPT writing you know condolence letters writing you know uh I won't confess to it but uh birthday messages to wives um the um you know I think we've thrown away our human logic this is a simple softball considering the heavy uh topics we're dealing with but please just re-evaluate the key distribution process thank thank you Sean [Applause] all right moving on to 9.1 School sponsored student organizations this is an action item and 9.16 was pulled prior to um the uh meeting move to approve the balance the second and Aaron you get to vote with us on this all in favor I all right thank you resolutions 92 resolution number 2024 sl25 db- 07 close General obligation bond election 2014 series 2019 fund 2127 this is an action item so moved second moved and second any questions or comments celebrations okay seeing none this is a roll call vote Mr hosi I Mr O'Neal I miss Smith I Miss Guerrero I and I vote I I think this is a little cheer come on all right resolution number 9.3 22425 d-10 day of the special educator I'm going to um move this item second weed and seconded uh questions or comments on this item just um uh this is uh we serve a significant amount of um special needs students and um uh special educ educator um they do uh wonderful work and um this they are special they are very special and um and just to recognize uh Joey King who was our uh Orange County uh recognized as Orange County teacher of the year just about a week ago yeah from hope so um action item roll call vote Mr hosi I Mr O'Neal hi Miss Smith hi Miss Guerrero hi and I vote i 94 agreement Alliance for schools for Cooperative Insurance programs action item so moved second moved in second questions or comments no all right all in favor I I okay Education Services 9.5 challenge of instructional materials this is an action item so moved second moved in second any questions or comments yes I wanted to find out um from the Ed division the process um who was on The Challenge committee how were those people selected um if you could explain that yeah absolutely so absolutely thank you trusty hosi so we have a board policy that uh talks about instructionally challenged materials and in that policy it asked the person in my chair right the assistant superintendent of edge services to lead a process and to form a committee to evaluate the challenge materials and so when I went to select the committee the policy actually suggests members who could sit on that committee so it's not intended to be a large group but a small group and so I honored the policy worked with the district site staff to to find Representatives who would serve on that committee so I had two students two high school students got permission from those students parents to be able to be on the committee and read the book also uh two teachers one being a district English teacher District uh department chair and then also we had a director serve on the committee we had a site principal serve on the committee we had a parent serve on the committee uh as well and so and then I oversaw this committee so as part of the process what the board policy requires is for the committee to one read the book so we purchased books for each of the committee members to read uh it also Al required that we provide any related materials and research connected to the book and in the related topics so we provided a bunch of research for um the the participants on this committee uh we also were intentional to make sure that the materials that we provided were balanced and neutral in nature right because we wanted to make sure it's a fair and neutral process so I think as one of the speakers mentioned it is one of the most challenged books in the country so we also printed out some articles and some research connected to the different decisions districts have made and why the districts made those decision decisions so they had again both perspectives of why some districts have chosen to retain the book and other districts may have chosen to ban the book um so after going through that process um and we went through that within the first meeting uh they then were given the charge to go read the book and review those materials they could also do their own research um at their own time uh when we came back one of the um not requirements but one of the options within the committee is you can also interview the Challenger so we did have someone obviously Who challenged the book which is why it came to our attention right uh so and and I think as Mr Gallagher said it is in a school library it is not part of curriculum it's not being used in English curriculum or health curriculum it's part of the school library for a student to choose and it's currently at two of our schools uh Magnolia High School and Anaheim high school so that's where the book was was at um we brought in uh two of The Challengers or a challenger who brought another person with them uh and we interviewed them for about 25 30 minutes and just asked perspective in terms of why they felt the book need to be challenged and went through that dialogue when they left our committee spent probably a little less than two hours probably an hour and 45 minutes deliberating after we've read the book in terms of uh the recommendation that we were going to make uh to to our board uh so through that conversation and and and we had everyone sign the kind of the confidentiality agreement in terms of what was being discussed because you know people have their own perspectives after they read uh as you saw the board the committee that we had unanimously um wanted to recommend that the book be retained and not banned from our school library um so that's a recommendation before you that's a process we went through that's how we selected the committee um I have sense collected all the books back from the committee um I know you've been given copy so you can read and then pending this decision will determine where the next steps does that answer your question and then I think that's those are the questions you asked how many sites were represented uh we had one two three I think four sites represented okay both East West Central I mean in terms of the folks yeah represent the entire District in scope good representative of everyone um in some of your research um what were some of the reasons that the districts retained the book great question so I think as you heard from the number of the speakers tonight um one we found that the books uh taught and provided empathy diverse perspectives um the research that Mr gallager spoke to uh was was clear in our research too that that it provided a more holistic well-rounded student um who appreciated not only um others and potentially their struggles but also their own journey and and determing who they are as a person um there was also connections to the happier happier lives uh we also went deeper in terms of I think you have in front of you the U our lcap in our own AOH values and drivers that's one of the things that we talked about as a committee is our core values uh as a district and um again as a committee the belief was keeping the book really reflected our core values and drivers as a district uh we really do believe in whole child we really do believe in um all student voices uh students being seen and heard in value for who they are um so that's something our committee felt deeply about um and um they also felt because it was in the library is a choice students don't have to select the book If they don't want to but again it wasn't for us to determine who gets and who doesn't so um I think the consensus from this group was as a democracy School District it wasn't our place to recommend Banning a book that families and students can choose uh the books that they read and that's that's the feeling and consent sentiment of the committee uh and it was again it was unanimous and we had a pretty pretty um uh diverse group serving on this committee yes I'd like to just speak as an English teacher that I mean there are two takeaways from this one is affirming who you are and seeing your own story reflected in the narrative and number two as was pointed out to build empathy and compassion for the other and I think that we are in a Sit you know in a world right now where many of our students many of the adults are feeling othered in the society and I think that there as uh Dr Fred said that this reflects our our core values and if you think about I know we've had discussions about ethnic studies as well but similarly ethnic studies affirms our own Journeys and our own stories at the same time it builds empathy for others who have different stories than us so I think this is a very critical juncture for the district and the message of affirmation and love and compassion thank you any other questions uh no questions but comments go ahead um I want to thank the committee for their thoughtful and thorough process um and thank you for leading that um I want to Echo some of the com uh public comments that remain uh it's very important to distinguish between a library book and a curriculum book uh gender queer is a library book book not a book that's part of our curriculum uh the book serves as a tool to Foster empathy and understanding of lgbtq experiences um and I want to Echo one of the students that spoke um who said it really well um I wrote it down she said our library should be a reflection of the diversity of our students um and I think that's a very uh profound statement um and our library should serve as a resource for a students and um I would agree with the committee uh removing the book would remove the resources for our students thank you anyone else I have a comment okay you want to go go ahead um over the years I've um no one uh I get I'm going to use an old term the gate community I've been aware of that and I thought I was fairly knowledgeable uh and understanding excuse me but when I had the opportunity to read the book I became educated and I thank you for just the opportunity to read it and I don't think that um I I don't think I know I would not want somebody out here in the audience or watching uh to tell me what I can and cannot read it should be up to me and if I'm a if I'm a minor my parents to give me guidance on what I should be reading so uh I I listened to what people had to say tonight and thank you very very much and uh very supportive thank you so as a board member I recognize that gender queer provides an important perspective that Fosters understanding of the experiences and challenges faced by transgender individuals the Memoir offers meaningful insights which I believe can be valuable for students seeking a deeper understanding in of these issues I also believe that as a district we need to ensure that we provide a safe space for our students whether it be through open discussions support staff such as counselors and social workers or simply being a place that is free from judgment however as a representative of the students and parents in our community I also need to consider whether the images in the book are inappropriate for public high school campus I don't believe our community would find the images contained in that book to be appropriate for for school library for students interested in Reading gender queer I would encourage them to explore alternative sources such as local libraries or online platforms where they can access the book in a context that allows for personal disc as we build our parent Learning Academy I'm hoping that we can include supporting parents in having open conversations with their students as a future topic I have a personal story to share with you and I think it will help people to understand more what we are dealing with with on this issue of gender queer my story starts when I was in college I had a a niece come in was born she was named after me and her name's Kathy and at the same time uh one of my other family members had a had a child a boy and um he's just a wonderful human being and when they were growing up in preschool area time I would babysit them and one of the things that I observed at a very young age because I grew up in a community in Northern California you would never ever know about anything of this nature in our society so um number of years go by and they came down to see me and the purpose was to tell me that they were gay and I said you've always been wonderful human beings you've treated people kindly and I love you dearly and just go on being the people that you've been and I wish them well and I've supported them over the years so my next story is we're going to jump decades back closer to where we are now we have some very dear friends that came out from Indiana GW the husband went through school with my my husband from high school to college and um he married and they came to he was transferred to Califor to Anaheim and they came to our home and they they had two young boys they had driven across country with they were probably three four years old and they're very close in age and um so um they're wonderful family and I know that their boys as they've grown up and I will tell you they're both extremely a athletic they had bicycles that their parents met with them in in uh Spain and they bicycled across the continent to the other side of Europe and the same thing happened they B got bicycles in Venezuela and they biked all the way down to uh U I can't think of the name now but it's the very bottom tip southern tip of South Africa and the older one met a gal and she's a physician and they married and moved to New York and he's a college professor and the other boy um met a gal in Colombia and he stayed there for a while and then they came to Anaheim and I invited them to dinner and I loved his wife H and um it was just a very positive thing now now I'm going to tell you the part of the story that everybody should understand that people are born certain ways my nephew never played with balls he played with dolls and my niece never played with dolls she played with balls and so the fact that I observed that at a very young age um I just kept it up here I didn't talk about it and uh so years go on and I get a phone call from the family now living here in Indiana I mean in Anaheim it's a hard story to tell and uh the mother of the boys called me and asked me if I would have lunch with her and uh we met and the purpose of the her request was to ask my advice her son wanted to become a girl and he was in his 40s and um I listened and she didn't know what to do she was crying and my response to her was you and your husband have always always been loving dear parents to these boys and you've been very close with them traveled extensively over the years and I said how would you feel if you rejected your son on his goal because the holidays will come birthdays will come and your family will not be complete and I said based on that I would advise you to continue to love him and support him it's not the end of the story so he divorced haa and he went through the process of being a girl and very recently his father was terminally ill and his mother had invited very close family friends friends my husband and I were included and their son that now was a girl interestingly enough and the psychiatrist might be able to explain this he chose the same name as his sister-in-law but he is a name without an a at the end his sister-in-law does so the name is the same but it's got an one of of them has an a after it Diana so um we were at the house and they we wanted she wanted us to go in and see her husband and uh we went back in the living room and Diane was there and I went over and hugged her and her hair was very long and she was dressed more in a male type of costume or outfit and um I told her I loved her and I was so happy she was doing well she lives up in Sacramento and she uh raises rare birds so over the years we've gone over to see her her birds that she brings down and that story ends with her father di his F her father their husband and father died uh two days later and I called my girlfriend and um I was very grateful that she had made the decision that she did to support Diane so I can think you can understand how I'm going to vote because this has been a life Journey for me I have learned over the years and growing and I'm thinking that my telling my story will help those out in the very extreme groups that would oppose this religious groups and I have AR Ray of friends in my life that expand the entire spectrum of politics from the very religious right to the very left and I listen I don't believe everything I hear or see but I take it in and I focus on what I can decide I feel and I feel very very supportive of these people and this book I think maybe will save a life and I wish everyone well I wish everyone love that we can understand we're all different we're not born this way we're we it's a genetic thing that we are born with and that we have to understand and grow from that and I want to thank you for your patience for listening to this long story I hope that um it will help you to understand my vote thank you I neglected to read um something that was handed to me before public comments um and I was um struck by by these words but um I found out that we really didn't need it you all um you know modeled kind behavior um you told your stories um and you were respectful of everyone and um and so um I'll I'll be brief um I think in all my years of coming to board meetings I think this is the first time that this is ever um come come to this District um I like to think that our district um has displayed um compassion and love and kindness and openness um and so while we don't want to um we don't want to demonize anyone who brought this forward um because is look what it did it brought about a conversation and it brought about all of us thinking um I probably would have never read this book had this challenge not been here um so far to say though I am an ally and I've been an ally for I think since the day I was born and um you know as a trustee I did not get in this um seat to to um ban books to um discriminate um I think I'm an other and so I understand what it feels like to go to a library and really try to find um a subject or person that looked like me um or who understood um or some somebody who had experiences like me um so um I want to thank people who actually uh came forward um I'm always always respectful of um diverse ideas and whether I agree or disagree I think that um all of us here um proved that that we are in a democracy and that's really important um people that do not um have the same beliefs as us um are we need to really um not challenge them but question and talk with them have an open dialogue and if anyone out there is watching I think this really uh demonstrated that and as a school district that has um the um has been recognized um as the first democracy District um I'm very proud to sit here in the seat and and sort of oversee this conversation um I thank every everyone for coming um especially the students here um we truly value your opinions and we TR we truly value who you are all right so we're voting on this it item 9.5 challenge of instructional materials all in favor of saying no or agreeing with the committee to not ban this book all in favor I I oppose nay all right 9.6 agreement cop copious in action item move I have second any questions or comments on this item okay all in favor I 9.7 affiliation agreement poke Wars action item slow move second okay first uh this is a new aim partner I love it we're adding on to our collection is this the first retail that we've had or uh no I don't think so I don't know besides restaurants okay yeah thank you hey all in favor I 98 membership accrediting commission for schools Western Association of schools and colleges was action item so moved second moved and seconded uh questions or comments all right all in favor I 9.9 Human Resources public hearing Board of Trustees appointment reappointment of personnel commission member this um does anyone wish to speak on this item okay hearing none um we already took formal action um on this to publicly announce Paul andreon as the candidate to serve as the Board of Trustees Personnel commission appointee for the upcoming term all right and uh congratulations he's in the audience congratulations the audience they would like for you to speak Paul and your last name is Andre correct okay for the record I know spell Che wants to make an Anderson what can I say no hey I appreciate the opportunity to serve I thank you for for reining me it has been a great experience being on the commission I've learned a lot very much appreciative of our staff and our director who do a great job every day and uh thank you for your support of uh of our of what we do and uh continues I'll be glad to be a part of it continue for three more years thank you Bravo thank you than you I just like to say uh you know Paul your top quality coming from the why and um not so much retired anymore what do they say you get busier when you retire but I really appreciated you coming on uh we really desperately needed you at the time to serve um we needed some reconfiguration of the commission and you've been a staunch supporter of our uh staff classified staff and our staff uh as a whole and uh impeccable character and uh we appreciate seeing you at events and we appreciate the time and effort um that it takes um for you because uh it's basically a voluntary uh position so we really appreciate um your time and effort anyone else all right speaking for everybody tonight okay moving on uh public hearing disclosure of collective bargaining agreement with asme anyone here to speak seeing none closing the public hearing I love doing that 911 adoption of the 2023-24 collective bargaining agreement with asne action item slow move second moved in second a questions or comments no hearing none we're so happy all in favor I I all right 912 revised board policy 62031 927 70 conflict of interest second reading so moved second okay um moved as an action item any questions or comments okay hearing none all in favor I all right consent calendar anyone have anything to pull 10.10 and 10.11 move for the uh I just wanted to uh move 103 104 just for a quick comment 10 three and 104 uh so motion for the balance I heard second second okay all in favor I all right 10.3 10.4 motion so move second and second I just wanted to say I love seeing these figures when they come in under under um under bid so under budget so congratulations on these um all in favor I all right 10.10 10.1 second moved and seconded all in favor I uh oppose exstension I all righty moving on to our reports of the board I'm sorry of the superintendent thank you madam chair I just want to put a shout out to all of the staff the teachers um at admin students parents and Community but most importantly to the taxpayers for saying yes to ahsd yes to our students yes to our future and yes to a better world measures uh K has passed uh 67% in counting and it's really an affirmation of all the great work that we do in our brand AU is better than ever thank you very much bra thank you thanks I want to echo on that being h a being better than ever yesterday we held our second uh leading and learning lab visit that Jeff had mentioned earlier but I just want to give a shout out to again our team for the great work that they did it was over 120 people that were in the room mostly from the state of California but a large contingency from Oregon uh so obviously it's spreading on a national level um it's just a great great day um also I want to give a big shout out to Dale Junior hind Magnolia no Rafael and Aaron were here I don't think they still are but they were the two schools selected to host this turn this time's uh site visits in reflective learning walks and I know we take turns but they did a great job as well um so excited about the great work being done there and then also I think um Rafael said this but I want to give a shout out to our school psychologists on national school psychologist week for all the great work that they do thank you no report no comment okay um just wanted to say again um I attended the teacher the year event with many of the board members here including uh superintendent Joey King uh Dr hind Tim Reed um just thank you so much for your service and for the example that you're showing to everyone um I attended the laama the city event as well as the storing in of the uh chief of police uh Joe Guerrero um he is a great man and I actually um had a meeting with him today and so getting uh to work with them and the new partnership we have with the city of Lama as well and finally attended the Western High School CIF football game they did amazingly um Unfortunately they did not move to the next round but I just wanted to thank the entire team a Western High School football team for all their hard work and congratulations to inam high school for making to the next round tomorrow night at 7 pm I to over thank you good plug uh I just wanted to share that Dr Tess melendres the coordinator of special use services and I have started um traveling to every site uh we're conducting administrator trainings um in small groups and so we have begun that process and I want to thank uh Gilbert High School Kennedy High School and uh Western High School for their warm receptions and the Fantastic conversations we had in those small groups so tomorrow we will be at South and continuing on thank you and we honor you this the special educator um yes in that resolution Nancy you kind of told my thunder is very sad for me to you know well um I do I do want to comment um on obviously give kudos to all of our um all of our band uh directors and we had band spectacular last night and we've seen um a lot of emails back and forth from just the great things that happened the great obviously they always all of our band directors across the district always put on an amazing show and our students that are a part of that um also uh just on the heels of uh Veterans Day just a lot of gratitude to all of our folks that have served in the military um we have a couple here um in the Navy Mr Mr O'Neal trusty O'Neal and Mr Greenwood I'm not sure if we have anyone else has served in the military but and we also have a lot of Staff across the district and even parents um you know of our students so just a lot of gratitude for their service past and current um to to all those folks that have been a part of the military and last going back to Anaheim yes congratulations to all of our teams that qualified Magnolia's um tennis team is in the finals which amazing to coach FAL and her team and and and um to Anaheim who's in the second round um undefeated 5 and0 this year in League um so looking forward to Friday night's game tomorrow at 7 700 P p.m.

committee chair Rich Mahia and Dr Daniel bosi will work collaboratively to determine the date of the next diversity and inclusion meeting thank you thank you commissioner Mahia any questions from the board commissioner BR thank you Mr President I I just want to know if we we gave them resp responses to that because you know in regards to the transportation and everything and was there an explanation given about the coaches lack lack of flexibility when it comes to inseason sports or whatever was was any of that discussed at the time or during the meeting yeah it was um one of the biggest thing is because the conflicts between students going after class going to clubs and then going to sports at the time they really didn't have the transportation ready um but that's something that they've been working on and something that has been in the set for the past few months thank you anyone else okay thank you commissioner Suarez policy please thank you president Paris the policy committee uh met on November 12th and the board members present was myself commissioner Mahia commissioner Santiago and president Paris for administration was uh Dr Robert hosy Mr J Garo Mr shahada and Miss Maggie Miller uh we discussed policy 61 63.1 for board approval for hsap PTO sponsorships Mr shahada discussed the updates to policy 61 63.1 emphasizing the importance of the newly outlined requirements for HSA home and School Association and PTO parent teacher organization sponsorships board requested changes at the board's request the policy now mandates that all HSA PTO groups receive prior approval from the Board of Education before retaining any sponsorships the changes specifically cover sponsorships on athletic wear signage apparel and any items displaying a company or individual's name ensuring that such sponsor excuse me such Partnerships align with the district's values and standards clarification on event sponsorship Mr Shada clarified that policy 61631 is is distinct from policy 7510 which governs event sponsorships while policy 7510 covers General event related sponsorships policy 61 63.1 targets ongoing sponsorships that influence the school environment the board had a lengthy discussion followed regarding the practicalities and Logistics of implementing these changes board members raised questions about how HSA and PTO groups would be informed of these new requirements the timeline for approval requests and how these changes might affect current sponsorship agreements the board emphasized the importance of clear communication and guidance for HSA and PTO groups to ensure compliance and minimize disruptions to planned activities review of additional policy and regulations Mr shahada also reviewed all policies recent ly Modified by The District's policy firm he noted that among the updated policies only one regulation 1041 board member number and term is non-mandated the majority of policy revisions were mandated by state regulations or recommended as best practices regulation 1041 is board member number and term this regulation specifies the number of board members required and the length of their respective terms it is govern by New Jersey state law under njsa 18a 126 18a 129 18a 1211 and 18a 1215 the policy firm recommended minor clarifications to ensure the regulation remains compliant with state law the committee consensus after reviewing all proposed changes the committee agreed to adopt both the mandated and recommended policy updates the revised policies were then favorably released to the entire board for adoption minutes were submitted by Mr shahada thank you thank you commissioner Suarez any questions from the board commissioner brunak thank you Mr President so all the signs that were there for years was that ever discussed and and basically that there were no issues back then but now it's an issue and then when when you look at the when you look at the language on this policy regarding uh policy number 61631 the overall appropriate there's a lot of gray language in this so the committee was aware of that of the gray language in this thank you any other questions commiss bassford um with the regards to the hsas um we have an HSA meeting coming up so if uh whatever information can be um I'm asking for that to be put on the agenda for the HSA committee to give them this new policy if it gets passed and give them that information and Then followed by an email and maybe documents to each HSA so they know that they've gotten that information I asked a couple of questions and I I apologize to Administration for the tardiness I had a couple things going on this week that really took my time away from uh my duties um I had a issue about the curriculum content uh because somebody brought a question to me does that remove the board's um ability you answer the question uh the ability to vote on curriculum you said no um the other thing I'd like to see in uh 61 63.1 is to add booster clubs on there I know you said it encompasses it all but I'd like to spell it out that's just my my uh my opinion I'm not speaking for anyone else and then I did question 04 0141 about board member number and term was this new language mandated and Tanya just just uh clarified that wasn't mandated out cuz I just wanted to know what the um what the reason was but you said it was in hearing with what the state put out so I just that was my questions I know everybody was sent but I don't think anybody uh if everybody had time to read their emails uh that was U my question sent to Mr um to the ba so thank you uh yes Mr if if if everybody's okay I can just add uh booster clubs to the policy because it's on for second reading tonight if everybody's in agreement I'll just add that on tomorrow morning fine I apologize entirely um any change to policy triggers the first reading okay anything other than the Minimus change triggers a new first reading so adding the booster club is going to trigger a new first reading so my recommendation would be to adopt this policy tonight and that next meeting we can put it up again with the change to booster club that's a good compromise thank you for that ification any other questions to the policy uh one comment we we did discuss in policy uh moving forward um the committee recommends that if we have a change in policy request or a new policy uh requested that there be a sponsor to it that the person proposing it that we know who's that that the person proposing it is indicated and that person proposing it could also have the opportunity to come to to the committee meeting and discuss the policy that they want to implement or change is implemented as well yes check what I I will not go to that meeting do we need a bylaw or policy to do that it's just a a practice the committee is has decided to adopt moving forward so Mr BR it's not going to be like legislation where your name is sponsored on it but it's in in the event that a policy comes up the entire board knows where it's coming from and it's not just the administration just trying to arbitrarily push a policy in thank you you know if there's questions also questions about the policy or the revision we know who to communicate with right well it's like today I I did get a phone call from the ba I he said no phone calls today when he his voice but the reason why he he called me was he said he wanted to share my concerns with everyone and I I thank you very much for doing that cuz in the past it that's was just usually blasted out I have no problem if anybody wants to know if I sponsor something I think it's a great idea because like we can we can talk to one another and what's your what's your thought process on this why are you bringing it up there's always a backstory to why something comes up um my backstory with this policy and I think it's a great idea is because it protects the district from a liability that could put us In Harm's Way and that's the one reason why I'm I'm going to support this thank you thank you anyone [Music] else all right uh next is residency security and Technology commissioner Santiago please thank you president Paris residency security and Technology committee took place on Tuesday November 12th and began at 5:02 PM in attendance from administration were Dr robery jumping right back into it Mr Jenaro Mr doctor Mr Nola Mr Mountain Board of Education members and attendance were myself commissioner Kenova commissioner siano and president Paris Mr doctor updated the committee on residency investigations since the last committee meeting 13 additional Clifton students have been identified as non- Clifton residents and have been removed from the district in addition through our pcti investigations we removed six students from our responsibility for payment with a savings of 65,8 Mr doctor also briefed the committee on the request to subscribe to the Frontline nursing Reg ation module to go along with our other modules we already use with Frontline the net savings for year one to the district would be approximately $133,000 and savings for subsequent years would be1 19,000 it would Aid The District in not overwhelming our nursing staff during non-contractual time provide more accurate uploading of information and provide a faster return of information from doctors missola discussed the district is currently in the planning stages of a large scale reunification plan with various venues in the area these plans are in the early stages and more information will be available in the future also an informal request was made by the city's office of emergency management to utilize the basement of one of our schools as OEM headquarters which would be used during a town emergency a formal proposal is expected shortly lastly Mr Mountain provided updates that projects involving updated clocks cameras PA systems and Stadium technology are nearly complete He also mentioned that information is still being gathered concerning improving cell service at various District buildings hopefully this one finally the committee was informed that a larger role roll out of the light speed classroom software is planned and training will begin shortly the meeting adjourned at 5:42 p.m.

thank you everyone who attended today I appreciate you being here every

keep in mind it only happens there are only these lengthy lists once a year so item 4.4 policy GCF professional staff hiring this is the second reading of this are there any questions or discussion no do I have a motion to approve I make a motion to approve policy GCF professional staff uh hiring I'll second the motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred Rushton i v presi item 4.5 policy GCF professional staff certification and credentialing requirements this is the second reading any discussion or questions can I have a motion to approve Madame President I move that we approve policy gcfc professional staff certification and credentialing requirements all those in FA whoops I'll second motion thank you oops oops all those in favor I Melinda sabraski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon hi Barber sari item 4.6 policy gdf support staff hiring second reading any further discussion or questions can I have a motion to approve please Madame President I make a motion that we approve policy gdf support staff hiring I second it all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I Barb Zuki item four 4.7 policy gdfa support staff qualifications and qu and requirements second reading any discussion or questions seeing none I need a motion to approve I'll make a motion to approve policy gdfa support staff qualifications and requirements I second it all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred Rushton I by item 4.8 policy IGA curriculum development second reading any questions or discussion I need a motion to approve I'm making a motion we approve policy IGA curriculum development I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I Barbara ziki well there's only a couple more here we're getting four point .9 policy Iha basic instructional programming or program second reading any questions or discussion may I have a motion to approve I'll make a motion to approve policy Iha basic instructional program I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred Rushton I Barbara Zuki item 4.10 for uh policy IMG animals and school this is the second reading do I have any more discussion or questions may I have a motion to approve I'll make a motion to approve policy IMG animals in schools I second it all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I ziki item 4.11 policy J FB open enrollment second reading any further discussion or questions okay may I have a motion to approve I make a motion we approve policy jfb open enrollement I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I Barbara Zari item 4.12 policy jhd exclusions and exemptions from from School attendance second reading further discussion or questions may I have a motion please I'll make a motion to approve policy jhd exclusions and exemptions from School attendance all second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I barer ziki moving on to new business 5.1 24 oops 2024 clean School Bus rebate program the superintendent U Madam president and board members um uh Jen's been exploring uh the possibility of uh working with Canyon State School bus or SC Canyon State Bus Sales um to apply for a grant um we explored this last year with uh it may have been the same company or another one uh uh because the grants usually come like for big numbers and so sometimes there's just one uh one agency or company that applies for the grant on behalf of multiple districts and um uh so um uh you know we were considering the idea of one regular bus and one special bus uh to apply uh so they sent us paperwork and it's attached here um uh that just simply at this point acknowledges that you as the board are saying uh we're aware uh that this you know that the district is is going to apply with uh Canyon State and uh authorizing uh us to move forward with it uh so uh we need your action to uh approve or if you choose not to that's okay too that's your decision but if you choose to to have us move forward with applying for um uh two electric buses uh then we would want your uh would want your approval to proceed now there are more steps in this so there is another document where um if you authorize this then I as your authorized representative down here um would uh start meeting with MEC uh to explore what are the you know what would be the needs for us to have a charging station or more than one charging station or whatever and and uh because part of the Grant application involves that piece but we have to have those conversations with our electric provider and uh and and so that's kind of The Next Step but I can't go there unless you authorize us to to at least explore this whole thing so it's it's a series of steps and this is the first step do we only need one regular bus we need lots of buses however uh our concern is how many charging stations we would need to have and is there capacity for us to have those uh you know as we move forward with MEC and and and that conversation um I mean we can if you'd like us to explore more than just those two we can certainly do that can we if we say we want two regular buses and MEC comes back and says no we can't do that we can only do two charging stations can we drop one of the buses I'm I'm sure we can I'm sure that I mean because all of that has to fit together and we don't know how many charging stations we need per you know how many buses you can have per charging station it might be that we would only need one charging station for the two buses we just don't know and and so part of that is for MEC to tell us you know do we have access to do we have access to the power to our bus you know our bus transportation lot I mean there are a lot of factors in that whole thing that I don't even begin to have answers to until we until we have the conversations with them um I'd rather I'd rather go for two buses and and a special bus and then if MEC says no Then we just cut it back yeah but you know like why not ask for for more for more than what we cuz the bus that comes down my street um every morning and every night um is really Getting Faded yellow which oh yeah you know so um and it it runs well I mean it's not black smoke everywhere but I don't know it just indicates an indicator to me um so would you guys be when we make this motion do we need to put that in sure okay so when you make the motion put in two regular buses and one special bus if that's what if that's your feeling and it needs to be they need to be electric vehicles in order to yes that's what this grant is for is for electric so how much will that end up costing us if it's if it's if it's approved in the grant my understanding is we pay nothing the grant purchases it we we have to trade buses so we trade one of our old buses for one of the new on the only cost to us will be part of the Charing station they pay for part of it and we have to okay and really um one of the reasons we're even looking at this and considering it is um uh is that most of our routes are short enough that you know buses wouldn't have to recharge between you know between uh whatever that they could run their whole morning route and so for most of our buses it's two routes you know they run a a junior high route and an elementary route or a middle school route and an elementary route um uh so our only concern is you know how many miles how many how long a time can the buses run on one on one charge charge uh if we were you know we might be having a whole different conversation If This Were if it were high school and we were looking at replacing all of our buses because there's no electric bus that could get from here to Phoenix without having to stop someplace to charge so you know and we don't have that many field trips so we could make sure that our field trips are using some of our one of our other buses so um lots of factors to consider here when when this first came up I it brought to mind a a cute little picture I saw of of a Tesla towing a diesel generator we could put solar panels on the top of some of our older buses yes we could we might get that bus that's that we bought in 1998 to run a few more [Music] centuries okay I need a motion I make a motion that we uh go forward with the uh C csb rebate program uh for the electric buses and we apply for two uh full size school buses and one uh special bus I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda sabraski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I Barbara Zaraki how long will it take us to know whether we get the grant um all the paperwor January really quick okay so it means I have to get busy and get the meetings with MEC and to move forward okay oh policy 5 point or excuse me part 5.2 policies i j NB db- r and i j n db- Madame President and board members U these these proposed changes came about because uh uh we we Now function in the Google Atmos or the Google Galaxy or whatever um uh and um Google uh let us know that uh some changes occurred and that they now require that we document that parents are aware that our students who use Google in the school setting um uh that some of the some of their usage is monitored by Google so not So Much by individual student but collectively and um and so they want evidence that we have notified parents and that we have parental permission for their children to do that because you can see these two acts that essentially say that any child below the age of 13 is not supposed to under ordinary circumstances they're not supposed to have an email address they're not supposed to have a web page or you know a they're not supposed to have all of those access we already have um the exhibit that you see here only we've just changed part of it so that parents know um and we have other programs you know we use um uh clever and we use other programs that already monitor some of some of that usage um but we felt like we really needed to to beef up these two documents so that parents really are aware uh that data is collected now it's not data that's really going to be harmful to kids because it's not about advertising and that kind of thing but we do want our parent we want to be transparent with our parents so uh Cass if you would pull up e that's a good one to pull up the change in both of them is the same so U scrolling down to where the change is so all we've really done is is changed the wording here to say understand that use of any District um Eis meaning uh electronic device is not private and may be read and monitored by school school employed persons partners and thirdparty um we need to correct the spelling vendors um sometimes I think they are vendl Lords um and then we gave the then we gave examples these are this is not an exist an exhaustive list of our examples but they are examples that that most people would understand um and so that's that's really the only change other than the fact that now it will not be um one of the um copyrighted ones from asba so we've removed the C from the top and so even the regulation reads exactly the same uh and then uh if you approve these then uh we have documents from parents for this year already for students you know that they're acknowledging and and authorizing students to uh to do all of these things but we will reissue it uh in January for parents to know for second semester I don't want to wait until next year um um you know it's one of those things we know it needs to be changed and to delay the change only invites there to be a problem for which we have not covered our bases so as far as I'm concerned we need to cover the bases as soon as possible any other questions perhaps could this be cleaned up a little bit because the the signature and the date kind of just it's all yeah it when we pull it down uh you know download it from those things I think are listed as being uh Justified and when you pull it down it makes it wonky so Cass will fix it okay yeah that's that's the only thing I was going to say yeah Cass will fix that thank you sure and by the way and by the way just a a a piece of information for you to know occasionally there are parents who decline their uh authorization for their children to use the computers um James and I talked about this because I was concerned because all of our state testing for instance is on the computers and um when we do State Testing um those students still use those computers but it's it's very restricted the only place they can go is to the State Testing there are no other options for them relative to that um so we don't we don't request an authorization for that we just we just do it but the restrictions are extremely narrow and students are protected do I have a motion to approve these two policies I make motion that we approve policies i j n db- r and i j n db- I'll second that motion all those in favor I'm Alinda sabraski i charene di I Fred Rushton I bever zi item 5.3 regulation DJ j-r bidding and purchasing procedures Madam president if I might insert here um this whole long list another long list these are the exhibits and the regulations that were attached to those uh those policies that you just approved above um we did not present these for approval earlier because there's no point in in approving regulations and Exhibits to policies that you've not approved so we always hold these until after the second reading and you approve the other policies can Fred ask his question one more time he can ask and the answer will be the same I'm sorry sorry okay and repeat thank you 5.3 regulation DJ e-r biddings purchasing and procedures I need a motion to approve Madame President I make a motion that we approve P um procedure no these are regulations regulations regulations regulations okay whatever the heck this is yeah regulation dj- R bidding purchasing procedures I have a second oh I'll second it okay thank you all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred Rushton I Barbara zi 5.4 5.4 exhibit G CF or g c fc- e professional staff certification credentialing requirements any other questions okay motion to approve please I make a motion we approve exhibit GF or GCF C- e professional staff certification and credential requirements I'll second the motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I biki item 5.5 exhibit gdf a-e support staff qualifications and requirements any questions discussion do I have a motion to approve Madame President I make a motion that we approve regulation gdf a-e support staff qualifications and requirements I'll second the or exhibit rather Charlene seconds are there are do yeah V all in favor I'm Alinda zaski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I Barb Zari item 5.6 regulation img-r animals in school uh further discussion may I have a motion to approve I make I like a motion that we approve regulation img-r animals in school I second it all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon i b item 5.7 regulation JF b-r open enrollment any questions or discussion I have a motion to approve Madame President I make a motion we approve regulation jfb d r open enrollment second it all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Dias hi Fred Rush hi Barb ziki item 5.8 regulation J hd-r exclusion exemptions from School attendance any questions or discussion I have a motion please Madame President I make a motion we approve regulation jd-r exclusions and exemptions from School attendance I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz hi Fred Rushton I Barb zeri item 5.9 exhibit jd- EA exclusions and exemptions from School attendance any further discussion or questions may I have a motion to approve Madame President I make a motion that we approve exhibit jd- EA exclusions and exemptions from School attendance I second it all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I barbar zeri item 5.10 exhibit jd- EB exclusions and exemption from School attendance questions discussion may I have a motion to approve I'll make a motion to approve exhibit jd- EB exclusions and exemptions from School attendance I'll second that motion item 5.1 one regulation J else did I skip one oh we have to have a vote oh my gosh all those in favor I Melinda sabrowski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I biki You' think that i' get i' learned this by now I mean we've done enough of these 511 regulation jlc d-r medicines and administrating medicines to students any questions may I have a motion to approve I make a motion we approve regulations JL CD-R medicines and administrating medicines to students I'll second that all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred Rushton i b zi item 5.12 convene to execu a session regarding possible lease purchase agreement pursuant to ARS 31.03 3 A7 discussions or consultations with designated representatives of a public body in order to consider its position and to instruct its Representatives regarding negotiations for the purchase sale or lease of real property I need a motion to go into executive session I'll make a motion that we go into an executive session I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Das I Rush II we are now in executive session [Music] n [Music] oh a [Music] [Applause] [Music] I [Music] [Applause] for e [Music] n [Music] oh [Music] the [Music] m [Music] n [Music] oh [Music] n oh [Music] oh [Music] [Laughter] [Music] I need 7.1 reconvene into public session I need a motion to reconvene into public session I'll make a motion that we reconvene into the public session second all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon iiki item 7.2 Direction regarding possible lease purchase agreement to the superintendent Madame President I would like to make a motion that we direct our super intendent to um begin investigating the possibilities for lease purchase agreements associated with our den project to further enhance uh those facilities I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz hi Fred rushon hi barbiki closing items 8.1 future topics anything we need to talk about um I just have one question when do we open up when are we going to open up for people to put in their letter for uh the open seat interest there the in the information will be posted um Thanksgiving week okay and excuse me um uh letters of interest uh will can start coming in December 1st December 1st okay and then um uh you all will invite those folks to uh come to the January meeting um you know the people who uh exhibit interest yeah um have your you know have your questions and your whatever with them um to make your determination at that meeting so that you could have somebody in place uh in February yeah and we make that determination you make a recommendation to the county superintendent picks and at that time uh Mr Warren Mr Warren will be in office yes oh yeah that's right yeah yeah um was there something about the annual conference are we working on that yet asba annual conference if you're interested in going to the annual conference you need to work with Cassie on that Cassie's already got us in for it so um um I am not going this year uh choosing not to go um uh I plan to I actually probably should have put it in this week um uh this meeting but um my daughter's coming from St Louis for Christmas week and and that's just after that so I really don't want to be gone for the better part of two weeks and and uh whatever so I want I want to spend I want to take some vacation time yeah right Family First yes y most definitely Christmas that's exactly way it should be anything else that we need to talk about um was something sent to Desert Valley from the board was there was there a note or a letter or congratul no but Jen and I went and uh participated in their little celebration and uh with the entire faculty and whatever but if you'd like something sent from the board Cass can Cass can do should I think we should we should thank them definely School deserves something it was a it was a fun it was a fun little celebration on what a week ago week ago or so to be over there with them and okay and share in their a letter or something sent from they will appreciate that school board just they will appreciate that [Music] um anything else okay do any of the other schools need encouragement I think they all need encouragement they all need encouragement yeah but sometimes a little just one little a little note is wonderful okay and appreciation for you know we had we had schools who didn't go down and um uh and given given the work that they're doing that the hard changes that they're making that's that's significant uh because you can expect you usually you can expect when you make significant changes for there to be a dip before you start going back up so the fact that you know that uh three of the other schools maintained is you know is is um noteworthy um and of course we're working with Fox Creek on um on their situation so uh and they're very aware and you know should we send them a note too yeah okay a note of encouragement absolutely they would appr encouragement um okay you don't need a new car or anything no okay upcoming board events uh usual note from from Lance too many things Lance um excuse me we are missing something from here what are we missing oh we are missing voices of the river Christmas Gaya um with all due respect members are ziki uh the events that are there are primar night events just any uh uh event that you have to have another meeting that at the top do say that weekend events normally are not there um the purpose of the calendar was originally set up by the board so that if you had to have week night events everybody would know the scheduling conflicts were when there are weekend events listed there they usually are board or District specific activities if You' like me to change that in the future I would be more than happy to I'm just following the original gu from yeah I I think weekend events should be in include it when it's one of the schools or one of the nonprofits in town doing something like that and stuff have yeah we'd have a very long list true that's true yeah we'd have a very long list because fortunate fortunately in this community yeah we we have lots of nonprofits who are doing wonderful things so I have to I kind of have to agree with Lance on that that we would have a very long list one of the nice things about working on this calendar is that it gives me the opportunity when I the community events or meetings whatever to dispel when people say there's nothing to dollhead or there's nothing for kids to do yeah um because when you work on this when you're involved in community activities like all of you are you know the things that are going on but again the the purpose of the calendar originally was just if you have to have a secondary meeting or a special meeting you know what's going on because we the situations this been several years where board member would say I have tickets to that event I can't be there or there've got something else going on but again I'm certainly amable to making whatever changes the board would like and this year is on a weekend rather than this year I was goingon to say and this year because voices is on the weekend at the Friday night like we had before yeah but anyway voices of the river yeah it's going to happen What e seventh and eth andth and we've got tickets yes here we go um I know one of the other I I want to go back to 8.1 for just a moment I would like to see um when we get our new board member in January I would really like to see us bring in asba to do a board member training session please well we're kind of thinking along the same lines and I will tell you that uh when I was going through some things that I have uh if you'd like to bring somebody in from asba that's fine but one of the things Cassie and I are Cass and I already talked about is uh there's some there are some excellent asba just slideshow things and there are like four five of them none of them is very long and so we could do when we have the new board member we could do workshops so we could do like two of them one workshop two of them in the next workshop and you know we could do it that way if you want U but you could also bring somebody in asba if you want and and Cass actually attended a uh a late in the day uh webinar this week uh talking that gave her more information about you know onboarding new board members and and that kind of thing so she already had most of the information but typical of any uh any webinar kinds of things like that uh there were some updates that helped her you know update her list of things to do for new board members um and clarified some things so uh it it's it's is that your pleasure how you'd like to do that and we could do both I personally would rather have face to face yeah okay in person person and the classes or the instructions we've gotten from the ASA asba people have been excellent they are they're so let's ask for Julie ask for Julie yeah ask for Julie and we we'll have a good conference with her okay thank you thank you Lance because that reminded me I was supposed to bring that up um thank you very much for our list of things to do wait a minute go back to that please upcoming board events got a problem here yes uh oh because I exited out oh okay well the only thing I want you don't have to find a cast the only thing is our next board meeting is scheduled for 12:12 um and if none of you mentioned anything okay so see Charlene sayable okay the thing is we will have to have a revised budget so we have to have a meeting before the 15th um uh so you know so if you're looking at any alternative date and look at that calendar for whatever is going on uh um it has to be before the 15th and of course the 15th is on a Sunday so uh so we need a meeting before the 15th yeah so we need a meeting that week um please don't go on don't go to the week before I was going to say do you keep it on Thursday or it doesn't have to be and I'd prefer you not go to the week before if you can figure it out for that week because the thing is I have to Pro post the proposed budget 10 days in advance and keep in mind Thanksgiving week is in there uh the other thing is I'm waiting until tomorrow for some updated data that will affect how I how I revise that budget so would the 10th of December be too late or too early no no 10th is fine uh 10th works for me what day the 10th no why no why that's our celebration party for it's usually after two weeks after no it's the Tuesday after our performance because we start vacation we're on vacation starting the next week so well then let's do it on the 9th let's do on a Monday okay would that be okay with you Fred no I'll just skip Bible study that's fine yeah well you know most of it anyway you've been sending I don't think so I don't know the ninth or the 11th you guess wait a minute what's wait a minute what's going I I can do yeah any day of that week except the 12th okay so the ninth is okay okay y yep same time I'll give them my bu and that's that's going to be our our regular governing board meeting yes for December okay that's December's meeting and we'll have we'll have to have the budget hearing like the five minutes you know at 5:55 or whatever um you know that official budget hearing piece that we have to have uh for people to review if they want to ask questions about the revised budget or 5:30 then you start at 5:30 it's fine and we'll figure out something for the workshop that's not going to going to be long yeah maybe we could have the choir come in and sing you have what basically um Crowley cow Cowley yeah but since you only had three who came for the yeah let's not push [Laughter] it but we might have another group yeah good point Jen we might have another group I mean I don't know we can ask the other music teachers and yeah we might have some we might have kiss from one of the elementaries who could come and do sing Jingle Bells okay okay item 9.1 adjourn the regular meeting I need a motion to adjourn make a motion that we adjourn the stereo that we want to get out of here all second neither one all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rush I barbiki thank you all we are adjourned

so we look forward to seeing you're obviously more than welcome to come and I'll follow up with an email so that's a great opportunity for us to continue to figure out what are the resources our students need and work together to get those resources for them thank you so the Wii is first five Alam school district and S Bayer all right at this at this point we're going to go ahead and move the uh we're gonna move on with item number 9.01 uh as the agenda was amended this approve the item is approve resolution number 2324 sl25 intention to solicit bids to refurbish repurpose and Lease s 600 stclair Drive San Jose California formerly known as Maxa I'll turn this over back to the board president just open up item 9.01 vice president you want me to introduce it so I can have or you want public comments first uh yeah at this point if there's any public comment related to item 9.01 please come on up this is involving the resolution uh 23-24 sl25 and ition is solicit bids to refurbish repurpose and least 600 Sinclair Drive San Jose California formerly know as Maxa there's no public comment that at this point I'll turn it over to the uh superintendent who will introduce the item uh thank you vice president uh kto uh I'm GNA call on uh interm Chief uh bonds uh Mark frees who will be introducing this item and give you a little bit more context uh so go ahead uh Mr this thank you superintendent Serta board members um here tonight this evening this resolution is to provide an opportunity for the uh site 600 Sinclair Drive formerly known as the moxa center um several months ago the trustees approved a committee task force uh to look into the possibility of repurposing and refurbishing the uh the moxas former moxa Center um and to see what kind of um opportunities are out there from nonprofits and other organizations to utilize this facility um this task force had a a meeting on October 28th and provided a couple of um directives from that um the committee had made the motion and uh to uh set one establish a Time deadline for the submittal of proposals to be received by the the district on November 25th and those proposals would then go be forwarded to the committee meeting scheduled on December 2nd the second item is that those proposals would come to the uh committee uh to be reviewed so we looked into um following the guidelines and in order to follow the educational code because the moxa center is a school property um our legal council uh indicated that a resolution was necessary in order for the board to provide the Authority for the committee to be able to review and um evaluate the proposals that would have been submitted um so that's what in essence this task force uh would be charged with and with that I can answer any questions that you may have I I I needed to um open up the 701 hearing so I don't even know what time it is right now can you tell okay so all right sorry right now I'm um under the weather got stomach blue so I'm trying to follow as good as I can thanks so go ahead uh Bina thank you for uh bringing um or explaining um and being one of the committee chairs with uh trustee or vice president Kinto um and I know that we had this conversation already uh with u Mr s that this week but I wanted to be public um and that I think think there was a miscommunication and uh you know vice president kto can help clear that up um in that we would never ask uh you know uh anybody to do anything illegal and um I I I read this board book and when I was reading this I was like wow this is very formal and I don't think we're at this point um and I think when we discussed as a committee uh we wanted to make sure that those that had expressed interest in a refurbishing ing this site which was once known as Maxa that we went back and we talked to them nothing formal but more uh informal um and just to get information not necessarily a request for proposal because at this time as a board we haven't even determined if we're going to keep that site open um I know we have a deadline coming up that we had agreed on and at that point we're going to determine as a board if we're going to demolish or not um so I don't think we're at a point where you know we um can do this formal RFP and if we were I think the timing is very rushed I don't think it's fair for our partners to get all this information that we're asking for and such little time um it almost feels like a setup like you know there's just there's so much um and so if we did go with the RFP I would like to give them more time if this is something that the board agrees on um I think the deadlines that we have are very tight so what do you okay uh vice president kto and then I'll ask my question so um I I do not agree with I don't agree with moving forward with this uh resolution uh due to the fact that for the first of all it uh it has US declared this property Surplus that was not the intention of the committee never at any time did we want to declare the property Surplus um more than anything the Cent that I got from the committee from the task force was that we wanted a joint Partnership if we were to declare this property Surplus all of a sudden it triggers everything that's in the head code and we'd have to offer it up to everybody in the nailor ACT which includes every state agency general service Administration that's something that I'm I haven't heard from the committee I haven't heard from the board a desire to move in that direction and so it's for that purpose that I think that I would suggest I'm gon to make a motion whenever you'll you'll accept it that we uh table this resolution we uh direct staff to come back with a request for information uh that is lot less formal and that is informed by those five questions that we that we uh proposed as a committee that have already been uh that are the work product of the committee uh and so it's it's it would be a lot less formal we would not have to go through and and put ourselves in the danger of being sued if somebody wasn't properly notified uh have a 60-day window where they have to accept or reject uh the the offers that they have right right of person refusal additionally I'm very concerned about the $110,000 cashier check uh uh item that's placed on here I think it would limit the interest of individuals who might think that they don't have an opportunity to engage um and additionally item 11 is something I'm not comfortable with to place with the task force the responsibility of opening up bids some a very formal process is something I'm not interested in seeing a task force being charged with uh things like uh going out there and determining if somebody's a responsible bid the task force is not equipped or trained to make those assessments and so for that reason I would suggest that staff do that then consult with our general our legal counsel Roo Ruiz uh to ensure that everything that everybody that everything's up to uh you know it's all in accordance to the law in accordance to what we we set forth and so that the motion if you'll accept it second I'll okay I'll accept the motion and the second but first I want to hear from the other two trustees who also want to comment thank you uh thank you president and thank you to the task force members as not being a task force member um I appreciate the motion um I wanted to ask if um we need to um because we currently have a a deadline for uh determining um the decision do we also need to incorporate into the motion um moving out the deadline uh I think we set for January so uh the maker of the motion you want to speak uh I think that we can take since it's not agend the deadline itself is not agendized we have this resolution I would suggest that in addition to everything we've said a direct staff to uh never mind that we Weir uh the administration to bring back the deadline and extend it up until March okay yeah and then this action would if it passes would supersede that deadline anyways because we're giving new direction to um um extend the process so yeah I I appreciate um the comments that you made around um just the formality of it as well as um the task force itself having UH responsibilities that I um I I don't think are uh for the task force to do so um I appreciate you um looking into us I do appreciate the administration attempting to meet the deadline um because we were in a in a rush and this would be an RFP um would be the proper way to do it it just seems like there's some um nuances that we need to clean up so thank you and I accept the um the date for this TR deman yes uh Madame President uh you know just uh to the admin Administration H it's my recollection that this board did ex you know pass a a resolution or give direction to the board in August extending at at the time extending the uh moratorium on the U moxa site for a period of six months and given that it was passed in August my recollection leads me to believe that uh the deadline was in February so so the question to the administration is that the deadline was in February uh why is it why is it being brought forward in November when it could have been brought at a you know at a uh you know at a later date you know at a time where uh the board would have would have had a opportunity to examine this more in depth okay and so you want to as uh as one of the co-chairs of the committee uh there was a desire to move forward uh we explained that to staff staff attempted to bring forward a to to look for a solution so thank you Mark uh but I think now you have more clear direction as to what the board's uh desire is and so uh is this is not uh to fall on Mark uh it was uh the desire of the committee to to comply with what we believe that the time was a January uh deadline uh and so I just wanted to make sure that Mark doesn't take the call for or the desire of the committee to meet this this January deadline it was it was a committee wanting to move forward on this and make sure that we met the deadline thank you Vice sorry and I just want to add that was the first meeting I attended uh regarding the moxa and so that was the same information that I had so I I worked with bark on this so but now we have clear Direction I appreciate your comments uh vice president kto thank you okay I'm going to add my comments now um everything everybody said was my um thoughts as well and what I did see and I discussed it with uh superintendent Seda that um on the bids the period of shall not exceed 99 years um I don't have any intent of DC to anybody for that amount of time ever especially because if we are going to get into something I feel that we have to make sure that everything is put in place and put in place to favor Alam Rock because in the past these contracts have not favored the district and so I would also like to see in there in the future that every five years it's going to be looked at and determined whether they can uh continue to be able to keep up uh not only with the maintenance and it should be their responsibility not uh the responsibility of alen rock to maintain those buildings while they're using them and also to put in that those timelines of five years we revisit it and if we do not see that they're going to be able to make the payments or do good on the the contract every single word of the contract then there should be a clause in there that says that it will be uh termina thank you so um I guess president go ahead is is that a motion or is that a directive uh I think we could probably draw it together with legal counsel better uh but um the motion that Mr I got the motion but but this almost sounds like a another motion or directive no um this this is just my opinion okay so that I what I would like to see I guess um I would like to see our legal council look at it thoroughly before anything gets put up in the agenda going forward uh Mr President Chavez what I'll do is based on our conversation what I'll do is I will work with District legal council and draft something that um and a resolution of course it's at the will of the board right when you can make changes to it and so I'll work with legal on that bring something back that you can consider as resolution with with some of the recommended uh changes and if the board agrees then uh okay we can always vote on this resolution and vote it down so um right now goe we already provide a pretty clear Direction okay so we'll just move on pardon we're dropping it to move it the P yeah so I'm gonna go ahead and restate my motion and attempt to remember every last word I said um the motion was to essentially scrap this resolution move forward with the request for information which is a lot less formal that give me a second it's been a long dat no we G do you do you have further notes I we previously gave you want me to repeat what I wrote based upon and using the five questions or the five criteria that were provided by the task force to move forward uh with the request for information and uh at the end I believe we ask that we extend till March the uh deadline and that that come back so that we can formally take action on it as a board uh and I think I threw in there that I was concerned about the $10,000 but that's obviously my concerns okay so I'm going to ask for an amendment to the motion because truste minf fam did say that it was six months and it should be in February can we move that up to February I think given I think March would be just one more month would you be a minable to uh trusty minan well I asked the question and provided a comment I wasn't making the motion to uh to that extent thank you Bill okay so we'll leave it as is just same thing okay all right so now moving on to okay all those in favor of the motion raise your hand okay motion guys okay so moving on motion passes uh by a five zero majority unanimously moving on to 701 this is the public hearing uh for the school closures and school consolidation recommendations from the superintendent uh superintendent s would you like to speak on that please uh yes we're going to have actually we're going to uh uh hold the actual presentation first and and also uh my recommendation so that you can hear the recommendation and the process that we took in getting input from the community and our educational Partners before the public comments and so with that what I would like to do is I would like to call um uh Manny Barbara who's the superintendent adviser and also the facilitator of the school consolidation committee to present on the process and then once he's done with uh going over the process with his presentation I will go ahead and move with my presentation and then we can go ahead and uh president Chavis we can then continue with the public hearing thank you very much good evening board President Chavez members of the Board of Trustees and superintendent Serta so I'm going to be speaking to the process that was used and uh those aren't the slides that I Daniel that's the wrong presentation I'm just talking about the process not the actual recommendation that's the other one so I'm only going to be discussing the process that we used and how we got to this this point here so thank you so you have those slides yeah than I lifted up that's all right hang on to this there we go thank you that's not it yeah that's not I have a hold on there we go okay so I'm going to be discussing uh sharing with you the process that we use to arrive uh to where we are today so first of all a little bit of History um You Might Recall when uh actually when I was here as an intro we discuss that right now the alrock school district is facing a $20 million deficit and we basically have right now enough funds to last us this year and then next year and then the district will go bankrupt and we will not have any funding we have been assigned um a fiscal adviser who's here this evening we also have been assigned the fiscal crisis and management assistant team by the county otherwise known as fmat who analyzed our budget and um confirmed um the current situation that we're in with the $20 million deficit that we have and we also had were required by the slar County Office of Education to present a um proposal on how we're going to address jce deficit because we did have a a conditional budget this was uh presented to the county and approved by the board in October and they are looking then in December to see uh whether we will follow through on um um on what we said we're going to do which is basically make sure we balance our budget and the board also approved the use of a process to come up with closing with as much as nine schools so that's how we got to this point here today now what we wanted to do was to create um an outcome can you can you get see get that little yeah I'm I'll go this way here we go um we wanted the outcome for the process was that for us to come up with a way that would maintain the positive climate of the district allowing for Community input a smoother uh staff execution plan once the thank you thank you um once the decision was made and then also maintaining positive community relations let me share the context of this process I have been through um School closure four times one myself as a superintendent and three times Consulting with districts um there is nothing more difficult than having to close schools there's nothing more difficult for a board there nothing more difficult for a superintendent for the staff the community for the kids it is a u budgetary yes but it's more importantly a psychological and a political process it is extremely extremely difficult and it should only be done when it's absolutely necessary no one wants to say well we want to close schools just to close schools the alternatives to this would be um as we looked at it were as follows cut programs um and honestly uh in Alam Rock there aren't enough programs to cut to arrive at $10 million You' have to cut everything you'd have to cut every single program anything not related to the classroom um you'd have to reduce employee compensation opportunities basically saying the employees will never get another raise because there's just not going to be the county was not going to approve any kind of a budget that um is not going to be balanced there's always the possibility of raising revenue like through a parcel tax but this District already has been very generously supported by the community with a very generous parcel tax and of course the the final alternative which is the most um drastic is that the should the board fail to take action in terms of um approving how we're going to consolidate schools that the county will take over the district and appoint a district and administrator with complete authority to balance the budget and usually it's someone like me a retired superintendent who comes in uh the board is no longer um has any Authority the contracts and contracts are void the only uh responsibility of that individual would be to balance the budget without any Community input they basically become it's like the sole Arbiter of what happens in the district that's the budgetary part but the most difficult part is the psychological part it's a very painful and emotional process it impacts everyone in the organization it impacts Administration it impacts parents teachers kids the community neighbors it touches everyone and is a very painful psychological emotional process it means that when you're closing schools it means that you're doing something that um important to everyone and people grieve because you're taking something away from them that is very very emotional which is why it makes it so so difficult everyone experiences a sense of loss everyone experiences um a sense that they're losing to and this loss is very real and people experience it differently not everyone experiences in the same way some take a longer time to get accustomed to it others may go a couple years before they eventually adjust to it but it is a very painful and a very real process it's also very political um decision a school district is an educational institution but it's also a political one it has an elected Board of Trustees but your human beings the board are people you're part of the community you're subject to political iCal pressures and it makes it really difficult I was presenting at a school and um someone had in the process of it someone made a comment and said well we can always go to the board I said yes you can the next question was how do we arrived at this point and I pointed to the person who said we can go to the board and I said because every time this board has attempted to do that they haven't been able to do it because of political pressure if alrock had closed three schools five years ago we would not be here today this is cumulative there is not enough Runway now there's only two years we don't have years to kind of make it up cut things slowly that's unfortunate but it's just the reality and that's why it becomes a budgetary psychological and also political context when we went into the process these were the assumptions first of all the board makes the final decision okay this is your this is going to be the board's call however you're not making it in a vacuum we established a stakeholder committee to make an informed recommendation to the superintendent who in turn would make the recommendation to the board the superintendent is the one who makes the recommendation to the board not the committee and the reason that we do that is we want to take the committee off the hook in that respect it's challenging enough to be a member of the community to be asked to look at potentially um looking at closing your own school and so in this way the responsibility falls on the superintendent to make the final recommendation and of course the most important assumption no one wants to close schools no one's going to volunteer and say oh let's do this this is the last alternative and if there were any other Alternatives you would definitely be looking at it unfortunately um you're at the point right now where you've got to close you've got to come up with $20 million in right now less than two years so this was the committee the composition um we had a parent rep um from each school and the board made it very clear when you approve this that the the the representative must reside within District boundaries I point this out because in the middle of the process there was one individual that was found to be not part of uh the community which they sered within the boundary and that person unfortunately uh was asked to leave so this was a clear directive from the board we had representations from Key Community groups who've been part of this district for a long time soos Mayfair Kango um gra and um what was the other one I forget the other one that was there but we had representation from the neighborhood our labor representatives were there our partners from the associ ations members of the management team the executive cabinet was there in a non-voting resource capacity the superintendant was there in a non-voting fallback capacity if the committee could not arrive at a recommendation we also had our marketing consultant non- voting and two facilitators myself and uh my partner Michael S and before I go through the process I want to acknowledge the commit themselves this was a significant time commitment as you're going to see we met nine times we added an extra meeting we went uh the meetings went from two two and a half hours um in length they were asked to look at the interest of the entire district and the committee themselves experienced their own psychological and emotional toll it was very hard especially when it got down to the final part it was very emotional it was intense at times but all of them in my opinion really tried to look at the best interest of the district it was a very challenging process I will say this as I mentioned this is the fourth time this is the most difficult um process that I've ever personally been involved in for a variety of reasons um one is the size of the committee was so long and what we're looking at nine schools out of 21 is almost unheard of well not almost it is unheard of of that's almost half of the half of the district so I do want to acknowledge the committee and everything uh the time and commitment that they that they put into the process the administration role is to execute the policies passed by the Board of Trustees um to provide the facilitation or the allow for that to happen for the process and ultimately um and also provide information you're going to see when I go through the various committees the information that they re received and that the superintendent will be making the final recommendation to the Board of Trustees this was the charge that the committee was given uh because of the dramat dramatic decline in student enrollment and the reason that we are in this position they just aren't enough students um you've received information on this um five years ago I believe the enrollment in this District was I think was about 12,000 we're about 7,400 now and projected to be at 5 ,400 in four to five years this is going on all over the county it's going all over the region there just aren't enough students enrolling in schools the challenge was to um meet the boards authorization to recommend closure of up to nine schools to provide the recommendation with as many as nine schools to consider and again this is important to emphasize not for this year for 2526 because um should you make the decision moving forward I will say this haven't been through this many times um the really hard work starts after that decision is made because there's so much transitional um uh activities that need to take place in terms of moving not only materials but where people and students are going to be moving it's a very challenging process on the other hand as part of the charge that the superintendent gave us this is an opportunity to imagine a new Alam rock this issue of the budget has been over um over your heads for a long time you've been struggling for this there have been attempts trying and we reach this moment here today at some point when we get through this there'll be an opportunity to move forward and imagine a new uh alumrock as I've mentioned many times and I know the superintendent's mentioned it as well alumrock is land rich but cash poor there isn't any money to do anything can't give raises to employees can't put in programs to compete with Charters all the resources go into keeping these very very small schools which are just simply not sustainable you cannot have schools of 300 um and middle schools of under 400 and sustain the amount of um resources that's needed to keep that to keep that going but this is a real opportunity to be able to look forward and reimagine the school district um in the future as I mentioned um I was the facilitator and Michael Seda was my co-partner and our marketing consultant was Heather mcgaan I don't I didn't know if she's here I believe she's here someplace in the building this these were the meetings so we um we met and the first meeting was why and um our assistant super intendant of business Teresa delelis presented on the budget why we're in the situation um and how we arrived at the point of needing to close schools in order to meet this budget um crisis that we currently have right now we then presented the committee with all the information that was available in fact this committee is more informed on the district only second only to you as a board they received information information on demographics you know enrollment how we got to this point in terms of numbers they received information on facilities received information on programs and information and Human Resources then we developed different criteria and then begin the prior prioritization process which is really really difficult we added an extra meeting to give us a little bit more time and then on October 30th the committee presented a recommendation now let me say something about this because this is really important we had arrived at an agreement on um seven of the school six schools in Chavez right so seven and on the final day um uh members of the committee and I had encouraged them to think about different options came in with an alternative set of options so we had to revisit the schools that these indiv uals were presenting after going through this process we arrived at agreement on seven we could not reach agreement on the final three there was a significant majority of the committee agreed with the recommendations of the subcommittee that had presented it but there was a sizable minority that felt like they were not part of that process and could not agree on those recommendations I noticed in the newspaper that it said there are 30 13 schools to be recommended that was actually false it was really seven plus the 3 three which made which made 13 and then we turned it over to the superintendent and said you have to make a decision we cannot agree in the final three and so the superintendent was now looking at 13 options not 13 schools to close I did see that in the report and that was really um um not accurately reported so it was really uh turned over to the superintendent to arrive at the final three recommendations and of course we're now here at the public hearing today on the 21st next week we'll have a board information again we'll be re reviewing this again and presenting the information to you and then on December 2nd it would be up to you to consider board action the challenges I mentioned that made this um the most difficult and I've facilitated many different meetings not just on school closure um this the most difficult number one the size of the committee we're looking at 31 people it's a lot of people to try to get to agree and to uh be able to arrive at such a quick timeline we didn't have a lot of time because we're looking at December requirement to have something to the county that said this is what we're going to be doing for the future in order to be able to get the first interim report that the assistant superintendent will be needing to bring to your attention for approval in December the number of schools is significant there's a lot of schools given the size of the district almost half of the schools in the district that is extremely challenging um to arrive at that number it's amazing that the committee could agree with the seven um honestly and um arriving at the final three is really not surprising because it was really difficult to get to that point and then finally the lack of a Runway we just don't have a lot of time there are only two this year and next year in terms of the um where we have to balance the budget and we also had to be able to get this done in a relatively short timeline and again uh my Commendation to the committee meeting every week uh over a nwe period giving up considerable amount of time to dedicate to this process after they received the information we went through a process where people the the committee members could asked questions with they we discussed it and after intensive question and discussion then we went through the prioritization agreement process and then we arrived at agreement as I mentioned we arrived at consensus on seven not on the final three these were the criteria that the committee was asked to consider that they identifi how close a school was to a charter by the way if you see a little asteris next to it those were the ones that the committee thought were especially important just so you know is it close to a charter is there a neighboring school that can accept the students is the capacity um of the school maintenance costs some schools are more expensive than others uh they're older haven't been maintained for a while enrollment the size of the school will Transportation be required in other words if you close school a is transport ation going to be required to get them to go to their receiving school special education facilities and I should mention it was made clear from the very beginning that special education programs are not eliminated any services to special education students are maintained so if they go to another school they are maintained but we did want to take a look at the criteria was step for looking at specific special education facilities for example uh special education for preschool they have special needs in terms of how uh the facilities are maintained so you can't just pick them up and put them anywhere else without making sure that the facility is are going to be there to receive them any special programs that might be there again um I want to emphasize like for example there was a lot of um appreciation for our Vietnamese program and our um dual immersion and our Spanish dual immersion and that those programs if those schools were impacted we're not going to eliminate the program may change the building but not the program itself and then any schools that might have been receiving um a community Grant so these are the criteria that we were looking at the information presented to the committee was made available to the community after each meeting on parents square that was the role of our marketing um assistant the superintendent has been holding towns Hall meetings at the school and also um districtwide uh on Zoom um not only by the way um I've been involved in meeting with schools and I know Hermon before while this process was going on and then after the recommendation was made um the superintendent has been holding Town Hall meetings and even after today those meetings will continue the prior the prioritization process the community reached consensus on seven schools and as I mentioned could not reach consensus on the final three we were looking at two different scenarios the one we had agreed upon and the one that the subcommittee had come in and said hey we've got some other ideas we discussed them we could not reach consensus um on on the um the final three and so the fallback was to take it to the superintendent who then will present those recommendations to you this evening after the committee the committee was made the recommendation was made to the superintendent and it was up to the superintendent to accept or modify the recommendation and then Community meetings were held to allow input and again the um the town hall meetings I've attended the zoom meetings I participated people can ask questions the superintendent presented his rationale and allowed for Community input to him as tonight you will have the opportunity to hear Community input presented directly to you the superintendent considered the recommendations of the school consolidation committee considering the rationale and framing of the recommendation as to why it's essential and then how it will benefit the district and students in the future so this was the responsibility of the superintendent and his team to take this into account again the post committee as I mentioned this evening is the uh hearing the public hearing and then the information uh and this is the process that has to be followed by the way there's some people mo why are we doing this three times um first is the public hearings you can hear from the public the formal information presentation that we you receive next week and then on December 2nd uh for your consideration to take action should the board decide to accept the recommendations I did want to mention this because this comes up in conversation um what happens after that as I mentioned this is when the hard work starts um addressing student concerns about their new school where they would be going and this takes time in order to plan this so there's going to be you know time between now and the start of the Year meeting with parent groups so parent from one school meeting with parents of the others getting together um to me to talk about what this new school is going to look like staff meeting with one another going from one school to another um any facilities modifications that need to be made to take the additional students that has to be taken into account instructional materials need to be moved from one site to another and then finally at the end a closure process where people have a chance to say goodbye to their school and moving forward to their new school and let me say this moving instructional materials that's easy in impacting the facilities that's easy the hard part is a psychological part that people have to go through moving from one site to another that's the most challenging part because when you have um people coming from one school to another the culture change changes and that is going to be a significant challenge um as well as dealing with the realization that um you know the reason that this saves money because there are people who are not are not going to have jobs next year this is a really serious emotional issue at this point I'll take any questions from the board before um turn it over to any questions from the board questions no okay thank you thank you Mr repair you let me go with my recommendation let me go with my recommendation first before public comments thank you so I just want to read something to to the trustees real quick that I put together regarding the closures so good evening trustees we can barely hear you good evening trustees can you hear me now yes okay thank you sorry about that uh when I accepted the role of uh superintendent here at alrock Union School District I understood that difficult decisions would lie ahead but very quickly recommending School Clos ures and consolidations is one of the most challenging responsibilities I could face and it's one I bring forward with a heavy heart after thoroughly assessing our financial challenges and the reality of our $20 million budget deficit I am here today to recommend that a path that while painful is essential for securing the district's fiscal stability and providing our students with the highest quality education your support enabled the formation of the superintendent School closure and consolidation committee a team representing diverse educational Partners from across the district this dedicated group May met eight times nine times actually and some members even convened informally between sessions working tirelessly to establish Fair criteria for evaluating which schools might be considered for closure or consolidation their guiding principle we must make decisions in the best interest of the district as a whole not just one school I heard that many times during the committee meeting um underscores the care and thoroughness with which they approach their work I deeply appreciate their commitment to our District's Mission and to all the effort they devoted to this challenging process over the last couple of months I have held and will continue to hold town Hall meetings in person or via Zoom at the schools under consideration and hosted District wide open Zoom sessions to gather feedback I've listened to a wide range of voices parents students family members teachers and staff many have shared heartfelt reasons for keeping their schools open expressing concerns about Transportation School Community bonds and relationships with beloved teachers and principles others understand the financial situation we are facing and recognize the need for difficult choices that will allow us to offer more robust programs including additional electives and accelerated courses to better support our students the recommendation I'm about to make will touch every student in the district each school has a unique culture and closing or consolidating school impact students and families deeply it means helping students transition to new environments where they will need new support understanding and patience as they adjust as well consolidation will also bring change as some programs May merge at different campuses While others maintain their identities under new leadership redesigning schools May shift shift May shift age and grade levels requiring some students to relocate while preserving programs that serve their communities the decision I'm about I am presenting will affect approximately students I am committed to ensuring that throughout this transition our students families and staff receive all the support they need to feel welcomed valued and encouraged in their new school communities moving forward with this recommendation will enable our district to become leaner bringing resources to better support our students teachers principes and staff together we will emerge stronger and better equipped to serve our our District's future and so with that well I'll ask Daniel can you put up the presentation I'll go over the recommendation that I will be making to the board so the recommendation that I'm making to the board is that I'm recommending seven school closures two consolidations and one school to redesign it the first school would be Sylvia Cassel elementary school and just a brief overview it would save us it's an immediate Savings of uh $ 932 uh, there's a deferred maintenance of $7.7 million these are the this is the maintenance that it would take for all the schools I'll just explain it here that it would require that we would need to invest to to fix and keep the school functioning it's got a neighboring elementary school and it's got low enrollment aptitude Academy is another school its immediate savings is $1.1 million to the district the Deferred maintenance is at $8.2 million and it also has limited capacity for growth and it's under 400 students Donald Meer Al School immediate savings $900,000 a deferred maintenance of $7.5 million low enrollment very low utilization which means it's under the 50% if not 40% operational capacity of students that are enrolled at that school 92 students have already transferred to other alumrock Union School District Schools Horus Horus Curtin Elementary School school has an immediate Savings of $856,000 deferred maintenance is a little bit above the 8.3 8.

at Glover get there early because parking's going to be a little bit of a a challenge we're going to have to park at Heman which is where I went to elementary school oh my turn Okay um on the 18th I went to a fund run at Lexington High junior high school and they raised so much money that they used that money uh for all their activities throughout the year I want to give kudos to Mr Bautista our Pio because he had 22 alumni uh graduates that uh they created this film directed starred in it tapeman and Dr nian and I was we were at the Starlite theater in Lakewood and I learned something about Dr nen she really thought thought that the butter on the popcorn was real butter and I had a remind her it was oil you know she's so I I thought you know delicious we went to the state of laama uh Dr nen Mr O'Neal and I uh St laama and then um I met a gentleman uh through Mr matsuda um that was uh he was um an officer with the National Guard and so I got to ride a Blackhawk helicopter over Dodger Stadium and the Hollywood sign and what a treat that was cuz they're going to be offering that to Educators all over Southern California to encourage people to join the military um Western High School had a a game n with their special ed students on the 24th and then Friday the 25th we had the ribbon cutting and then their homecoming game um Oxford had their first summit and Aaron and Elli did a great job and and oh Gilbert has a they actually have a um an alternative Ed basketball league that was playing at Oxford the same day that I went there for the summit so that was um so coach Lara uh I saw him as a coach and it was great watching him um parent leadership academy at St clar um I've been going to those and it's been a great joy to get to know some new uh families and some parents from all over the district um Cambridge had their Market Day on the 1st and then uh like they said we went to the Orange County teacher of the year the theme was resilient and strong um Oxford Academy had an instrumental music concert on the 2 and then before that one of their students had raised money for Olive Crest last year he did a project raised 4,000 for Olive Crest which is I believe one of our partners and I think this year he matched that but it this is Cameron oats um state of laal um I said that already um Kennedy High School had their opening for their Community Center or their reopening and um I joined trust yil and Guerrero over there um and then um Cambridge Virtual Academy had a an incredible Thanksgiving staff um opening and I went there with Mr O'Neal coffee with the principal at Lexington Junior High School what I liked about uh that was they talked about um the about ebikes and how that's changing like traffic and how we have to have more safety programs with ebikes um and skateboards because some of these things go really fast and kids are are riding other kids and they're not riding with helmets so I think um we're going to be doing and talking about that a little bit more at other school sites Oxford Academy's in the Heights um incredible incredible soloist I felt like I was on Broadway with these soloists but um they had their entire choir program there and then yesterday I went or the other day I went to the coffee with the principal and we continued to discuss the redesign with orange View and Western and we got more um parent input with that uh last let's see the 12th I went to the girls volleyball team state playoffs from Cypress High School which was at paully High School in Long Beach so congrats to our girls for making it that far and again I see Mr bski um our director of our vapa program in our district I want to give him Kudos and Scott Dominguez for the wonderful um performance that we had last night from our bands that proposition 28 money is really working because the quality of the students and at some of our schools we even have two um instrumental music directors now so we could say that that's really impacting our students and it's connecting the kids to um our schools and I love that and today I got the opportunity to go to the second parent leadership academy today in the laal room so thank you Carlo and erisi and Kenny for your leadership with that with by the way the room was packed it was no empty seats so I just really want to applaud all the parents for their involvement and connectedness no wonder your legs were tired last [Laughter] night thank you Mr hosi Mr O'Neal oh okay well I I too got to fly in helicopters a little while ago I was when I was stationed in Vietnam so that's just a couple years ago wow uh I attended that was just a side note um I attended the Hope School homecoming for a little bit um it was it was uh the kids are always wonderful there that a lot of excitement in the air and they're so appreciative of of what we do um I attended again the Lama state of the city um and also the the chief swearing in we have a new police chief been with the district for or excuse me with the city for 28 years starting as a the guy that goes out and does the citations on Park cars for you know when your sweeper comes by that's where he started and worked his way up to Chief so wow uh yeah he's done very well for himself uh I attended uh Walker and Kennedy coffee with the principal it was interesting to attend that for a while uh attended Kennedy football game uh and the Western Field ribbon cutting which was exciting to see a new field come on stream I'm sure they're very happy with that I haven't heard any word any any complaints about it so I'm sure it's working very well uh attended the uh the Mac uh pumpkin patch which had been advertised so I got there really early so people were just coming in they were still setting up but I still got the sort of the flare of of of the evening so that was uh nice to see and what the what the pumpkin patches or I should say just what the Mac is producing not just pumpkins but all all all the pro produce coming off the field um Western High School football game attended uh homecoming football game attended that and of course the teacher of the year and it was mentioned about the the winners there uh the people the three uh teachers that were recognized and it's always a wonderful event and it's so great to hear uh what the teachers do in the classroom and it's just it's mindboggling uh trying for me who's not a teacher in a classroom to understand all that goes on in the classroom so it's just a a wonderful evening um attended the the Kennedy Community engagement ribbon cutting opening up that Center and moving the the where they actually have a room now a a a nice decent Siz room that they can better um support the community uh and we have a a new person there he is very excited uh has a great personality and he's just eager to to help um uh attended the meeting at uh it was it was meeting at cyber security Center at um at Magnolia and it was uh with the huet foundation and I tended that for a while and then they went from there after some um I I guess you say presentations very well done by by Dr Fred and and our superintendent and some students then they went over to the mac and that's when I left because I had other things to do at that time uh I attended Roop board meeting last night and we recognized me catuli who was the representative from Los Alamitos uh unified and she was leaving she did not run for reelection she stepped down and after 22 years of being on the RO board I don't know how many years she had been on loel but it was close to 30 I believe so she uh we will be having a new person from loel coming on uh at our next meeting band spectacular last night was wonderful uh I I like the the setting being in in our Stadium versus in in Glover um and this the bands the the the the what they produced last night in the way of music and the movements on the field was very very well done so I have to command the the vapa department and I know it wasn't Mr bsky that did it but he was overseeing and and working with everybody there so uh please pass on my congratulations to all them please and U I wanted to uh congratulate Dr nean on the bond and everybody that supported the bond campaign uh it was very well done it was very well done very well coordinated uh the obviously the message got out but it wasn't just the message getting out at that time it had been over the years as the district built its reputation and I think that was a real uh Major Driving for us of why we received the percentage the almost 67% U you know uh voters so that was great thank you so much for everybody that's it thank you Mr an M Smith thank you well I'd like to give a little bit some thanks to Dr Jen Billings years ago when she was superintendent and I was new on the board she came up with the idea of uh student board uh members or I'm sorry ambassadors and um it has it was a wonderful idea and it happened and then uh Anna piery who used to sit here wanted the it extended to all schools so every school would have their own Ambassador and it just shows the power of one person two people speaking and what we've been able to achieve with this program and it's so special for them to be able to carry their stories to younger people as they age and go through life and I attended the insurance committee meeting the discipline meeting uh the ribbon cutting at Western and um a teacher of the year a school dinner that was held at uh Disneyland hotel was lovely praising the good works of good people that work in schools and um then um I think I covered it all oh at Veterans Day I said to um my fellow board member here when we stand and and say the Pledge to our flag I wonder how many other countries in the world do that and it's always interesting because ideas carry and some things really good happened throughout the planet and I wanted to share a story in 1996 um President Johnson was going to call up another uh I think 10,000 troops to go to Vietnam to serve and the military did not have enough doctors to take care of that many PE uh servicemen in Vietnam so President Johnson start a program where doctors in private practice in the United States would be given a number and that number that that was drawn number one was my husband and my husband went to Vietnam for 13 months and he served up in the Viet in the uh DMC and he was stationed with 2,000 Marines and his stories of being in Vietnam at that time were at War and he came home picked up his family practice with his partner and went on with life but then my question is how many other countries would serve their veterans like this country does and what we do is nothing more than just beautiful and gracious and wonderful and I think it's part of the Bodywork that makes this country great because we do it together and we share our love and our kindness for other people and I'd like to wish you all a lovely weekend and I want to thank you for attending tonight and for your patience thank you Miss Smith M thank you um I had the opportunity to join my colleagues also at the Western High School practice field ribbon cutting uh president Rand TR and I participated in the Anaheim Halloween parade it was their 100th parade um and it was actually very excited because anim High School actually Anaheim High School band and color guard got to open this Year's parade uh so very proud as anim High School grad um and we also have multiple of our schools represented um I know anim High School cheer Laura High School cheer um catella High School band Color Guard also joined us as well as anim high schools and jrtc um I also had the opportunity to attend a few of the the moros events at our schools I attended anim high schools and Laura high schools um I also joined my colleagues for the teacher of the year where we celebrated uh Mr ke uh Mr Reed and um Dr Hind and then I also joined my colleagues for the Kennedy High School family and Community engagement Center grand reopening um as well as uh join trustee O'Neal at the hu practor hu uh Foundation visit at Magnolia High School and I just want to commend all the students that spoke um I'm always impressed by our students um and their ability just just their public speaking ski skills and being able to share uh what they learned in the classroom is impeccable um I want to Echo um Adam High School's win at their first CIF game very excited for game to tomorrow at Glover stadium so please come out and support if you can um and then um I want to Echo the comments about measure k um thank Nancy uh thank um esta leadership thank all of our teachers our parents students uh staff the voters uh that voted if if you canvased if you phone banked if you um supported our schools uh we really appreciate your support and uh we look forward to what great things meas K will bring so thank you thank you Miss Guero all right um also um congratulations again to our uh Orange County Teachers of the Year Joey King Elizabeth Hind and Tim Reed uh Tim Reed was not able to attend the ceremony uh he chose instead to um uh be with his students at the football game uh for Kennedy so um we wished him well and we toasted in his honor um I attended the AXA uh ocba joint dinner meeting um Roop meeting last night uh band spectacular was always always spectacular Halloween parade as my colleague um spoke about um I also was asked to speak at uh BSU Summit um at Junior High School was a great honor to speak um and I also uh participated in a lot of meetings behind the scenes um and one of them was um um for csba um uh there was a UC Davis study and focal focus group um on their um online learning and so um they picked a smattering of our um Association delegates and uh we uh spoke about the the um the program most everybody of course says that in person is uh is a great way to learn but um I actually uh got my masters in governance online um during covid uh so it was a good opportunity for me to do that um I um uh also um just for transparency um you know we talked about at our last meeting about um you know financial obligations and one of those obligations is that if you're a president of the um the board then you meet with your Auditors and there was a pre- auditor meeting um held last week and uh the board actually um is the person who are we're really in charge of the auditor and we we hire the auditor so they ask very poignant questions and I'm able to ask poignant questions on behalf of the board um and they ask questions about our staff um and it's uh you know really to keep uh everyone um honest and and open uh transparency so just wanted to put that out there again um I'm elated with the uh results of our measure K and again I echo my colleague sentiments um that I feel that the the public really um is behind our school district because of all of you and um our teachers and um administrators and our kids so um I think that um it's just a a testament um of the hard work that everyone um does in our district all right and moving on to um closing closing uh but before that were there any agenda items that anyone would like to bring forward I did U actually question SL future agenda item um I know there's some uh with the new uh presidential election results I know there's some fear among our immigrant communities and as a daughter of immigrants and granddaughter of immigrants um I want to commend this board for the resolution they passed back in 2017 uh uh named providing all children equal access to education um ensuring that none of our undocumented in student information was shared or that any ice enforcement activities um happen in our school sites um and I just want to make sure that that resolution still stands or is that something that we have to reintroduce um I don't if that's a question for our district council or we could bring that back next month or is that still standing we can definitely review that I would need to check the language to see if it had any timelines associated with it um but we can absolutely look into that okay thank you and I would second that thank you I would like to um ask if we could develop a policy for the board this was on my ballot statement when I uh posted it for re to be reelected and um cell phones in the classroom I think should be a board policy that they cannot be and that parents need to if they need to contact their children they can call the principle and he could take care of the message but it is very disturbing and distressing to parents or to teachers to be able to teach with this kind of uh in Smith Behavior you can ask for that but you're you're kind of test testifying on that so um I think that um I think your concerns are valid does somebody want to second that conversation okay all righty board president uh Randall tro can I speak to that real quick yes so just to the board is where our dis student discipline task force is already working on drafting board policy for the cell phones so to truste Smith's point it probably will be in the spring when that policy comes forward right now the discipl task force has worked with our partners to uh develop a draft now that draft is being taken I we shared it yesterday with the teacher input group we're going to be bringing it to different parent groups to look at uh like the superintendent advisory committee perhaps the dlac committee and then we're also going to be bringing that forward to the principles and APS to look at before we solidify a final draft to bring to the board for the first read so sometime in the spring that will be agendized as a first read for you and we'll keep you updated on the progress but the student discipline task force is working on that policy as we speak I really want to thank you for sharing that gives me good feelings thank you okay and if there are no further agenda items I'd like to um end this meeting uh in honor of John dalum oh yes yes former principal of Lera and Western he was a decorated um Vietnam War veteran um he earned a bronze star he also in his spare time clowned Mount Everest and seven other great uh mountains of the world um he was also an awardwinning wrestling coach so I'll second that motion second all right all in favor I I thank you everybody good night

any questions thank you president Paris thank you commissioner Santiago before we go to superintendent's report I would just like to recognize officially Dr Robert to's return and how pleased we are that he's back with us we missed him greatly um and also recognize the efforts from assistant superintendent sharo who is Acting Superintendent and assistant superintendent kusevic and our ass assistant superintendent of Finance uh Mr shahada for doing such a great job in your absence but welcome back Danny thank you Mr Paris for those kind words and and um it's I have no words to describe um the feeling being back tonight but I want to express to you and I don't think I can do it well enough in words how grateful I am to this board of education for your support during my medical leave um there's not many um places where you know you have a you have a job and you need to take a medical leave and you don't have to worry everything's being taken care of because I had a great team here who I knew would take care of things um and it was a very challenging time for me for those of you who don't know I had a triple bypass heart surgery I had three 100% blockages in my heart one of them said Clifton Public Schools one of them was my children and the other one was stop eating you know stop eating bad you know um but when you have something um when you have a major medical issue or uh event in your life like I did it does bring some perspective right and the first one is to be grateful for the things that you have right and I'm eternally grateful to this board for my job um to this community and to my staff for their support uh during my medical leave um I always knew spe Clifton was a very special Community but you find out even more when when it's a time of need so thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart um your new heart my new my new um somebody sent me a pillow I got a pillow in the shape of heart that said uh rebuilt engine you know old old pipes rebuilt engine something like that um and uh a heartfelt thank you to um my amazing team um Acting Superintendent Mark Jenaro who's steadfast leadership and calm guidance uh you know led the district and one of the things that Mark gets an award for is um the person happiest that I'm back right I think he said that at a board meeting he is very very thankful that I'm back um but he's my right hand and I knew he would do it uh do a great job which he did of course to J who worked tirelessly keep the curriculum and all its moving Parts running smoothly during my absence um Mr shahada who stepped up in a big way supporting Mark and Janina uh doing a lot of things that are Beyond his usual scope and uh just showing true dedication to the mission of our district um and most importantly to the entire one Clifton uh staff and and administration at the building level I got a lot of well- wishes I got a lot of cards I got a lot of emails um and that meant the world to me um so thank you to our staff who had truly embodied the heart of this community uh could not be more grateful my health has improved I feel good I'm ready to rock you're going to be stuck with me for some time now um I'm not going anywhere so um that's a that's a wonderful thing so looking ahead I'm I'm re-energized um I'm energized by our shared I'm excited about a new strategic plan where are we going to be where do we want to be in 5 years from now I'll be here I'll be here with you where do we want this District to be in five years I look forward to doing that Journey with you um and I'm confident we can build on some of the great things we've already done God knows we got a lot of more work to do we've done some great things some areas where we need Improvement um but we'll get there we'll get there together um so anyway that's enough about me being back I'm back thank you I love you bottom of my heart uh on a even sadder note um I want to publicly extend my condolences to um Jen Lucas's family uh Jen Lucas principal of school 2 who was not only an outstanding administrator outstanding principal but even a a better person person and was a friend of mine and I was shocked and saddened to hear of her passing um and I want to extend my public condolences to her family and to the school to community on a positive note I would like to extend congratulations to our three board members who were reelected now you ask any superintendent in the state you want to keep the board members you have it doesn't matter and that's no offense Elias um love you love you as a student will always love you um but you always want to keep the people you have we've built relationships we've been doing good things and so congratulations Lucy uh Judy and yeah Lucy Judy is an OG you you guys are both OG's and Mr Paris I'm thankful to have you back because we got a lot of work to do and I was telling Tanya earlier when I was talking to her that this is my 11th year as a superintendent in two different districts might be my 12th year it's the first time I've had the same board two years in a row it's never happened there's always been at least one change so I think that means we're doing something right I I really do and I just want to publicly you know congratulate Elias on on a great showing in his first election and Elias I have no doubt that if this is something you want in the future that you will achieve it I have no doubt that you will Achieve Beyond maybe what any of us up here have achieved I have that much belief in you and uh and I wish you all the best so congratulations to our board members um next week we have our first Board of Education Awards meeting if uh public might remember last year we decided to uh take away the award presentations from our regular business meetings which means our meetings have probably been only been lasting about an hour right is that right we get out by like 8 tonight about right that how it works yeah um no my cardiologist is I can't be out after 8:30 so doctor's orders so next week is our first um award ceremony we'll be recognizing our employees of the month uh for October and November uh we didn't start in September we started in October and our students of the month uh October and November um we were going to do um some athletic achiev ments we decided after meeting and talking to Mr mle R ad we're going to wait for our February meeting to recognize the Athletics because the soccer team um is playing still going playing tomorrow in the state finals our CHS boys varsity soccer team State finals tomorrow night at Ridgewood 6:30 p.m.

million it has $600,000 in immediate needs it also has 53 students that already transfer to LV and 18 students transferred to McCollum the other three schools Lindo Elementary School immediate Savings of almost $1 million a deferred maintenance of $8 A5 million and its low enrollment at under way under the 300 it has limited access uh to Vehicles adding more students would exacerbate safety concerns and this came up a lot Renaissance Academy at shirt the immediate savings is $1.4 million it's actually the highest Savings in the district their deferred maintenance is almost $14 million that would be have that that we would have to invest to fix the uh the school property it's got low enrollment it would bolster a college enrollment protect the Renaissance model at Ram Renaissance at Matson Joseph George Middle School the immediate savings are at $1.3 million second to fiser deferred maintenance is at $9.3 million and it also this also provides an opportunity to bolster Shephard's enrollment to maximize facilities and Shephard uh has an operational capacity of over a thousand students so these are the seven schools that I'm recommending for closure at this moment there are the two schools that I'm recommending for consolidation are Lucha learning in an irban Community high achievement a school and merging that one with San Antonio elementary consolidating Lucha keeps the program they keep their school code their CDs code at San Antonio with using some of the facilities at Lucha and it gets us a savings of $700,000 and they're actually generating they're bringing in students from other districts their deferred maintenance is only $45 million the other school I'm recommending to consolidate and keep their CDs code is Ben Ben painter elementary school and they would consolidate at William Shepard Middle School the consolidation of painter keeps their program keeps their CDs code and their immediate savings is $900,000 the Deferred maintenance is6 million but this also allows for us to expand the very special program that they have there that's very successful the Vietnam Ames do a long language program and they are attracting a significant number of interdistrict which is outside of the district uh permits this would allow them to expand into Shephard and Shepard has the middle school facilities so that they can grow into a K8 program and continue to attract more of our students but also grow that Vietnamese dual language program and the last school that I'm recommending and this is as a redesign and Chavez Cesar Chavez Early Learning Center has actually been redesigned in the past I believe it was about four years ago and so it has a very low enrollment of 50 there are 58 students that are enrolled at traveis and the cost savings is about $8,000 per student the immediate savings even though it's very small it's a very small program we would move the TK and the K the Kinder students to San Antonio and it would save us the $500,000 the special education students would also be moved and they would be moved to Lucha where we could fix the facilities they have the classrooms and we can invest minimal bond funds to fix those facilities so that they're ready to support our special education students and so with that uh uh trustees uh I've attached other documentation uh I've also asked uh marivel to uh there are some documents that we made copies for you uh there's an executive summary that we put together for you that is very detailed and provides you with more detailed information regarding my recommendation and so with that uh President Chavez I'll turn this over to you for the uh public hearing thank you um so we're gonna now take public comment everybody has uh one minute um if and I see that there's over 20 in line so we're only going to do 20 speakers unless you're someone who is going to oppose uh closing so so uh one second go ahead I would ask that we don't limit um public comment um the time at at least an hour if you're already limiting um to a minute because the purpose is the public hearing part excuse me you do have a right to speak but not to speak out so please be respectful and we'll uh Talk Amongst ourselves thank you um I'm in agreement with uh excuse me wait to be C Oh I thought you looked at me no I didn't okay let me know when you're ready for yes I will when I call your name thank you you know uh uh Madam president I I too would like to advise that at the very least since it's the public hearing uh you know each each speaker you know to allow since we're already cutting it to or I should say limiting comments to one minute I think that you know in the interest of public transparency we this board does does owe a duty to the people of alen rock to allow the people to speak before I call on excuse me before I call on uh truste Corina loera so we'll do that we'll seeing that um the majority of the trustees want to go ahead so we'll allow one hour of public comment so go ahead thank you one minute the only thing I would say is that we got to remember that we were elected by the people that live here so we should take the time to listen yes thank you okay go ahead now go ahead and start okay as most of you know my name is Danielle D Ambrosio and I'm a proud proud teacher at lindel elementary school for 24 years I would first like to say that Lindale was not on the original list and second what about our community school grant money where is that going to go if we close and it seems like you're cutting out the entire middle of alen rock like George kurtin and Lindale and that's just not okay for our school our students in our community and I also have a list here of over 1,000 signatures from parents teachers and the community um signing that they would like to keep lindel open and why it is important to us and our community I'm Gonna Leave This with you Min because I feel like you will take good care of it and I also would like to say get Lindale off that list my name is Kristen Mohler and I'm a teacher at lindel school for 27 years before I start my talk I'd like to say thank you to trusty Herrera Lua who arranged the schedule so that the parents voices can be heard I have many students who are small children that's very kind of you enrollment has been declining for years you knew the covid money was temporary so now instead of a slow strategic precise approach to cutting Like a well-informed Surgeon we must now use a chainsaw it's extremely poor planning on the part of the district and I'm very sorry about that and mostly to you our families who's paying the price because it's just not right again my name is Christen Mohler and I've been a teacher at Lindell school for 27 years you can see my poster board here please take some time to consider the proximity to our school to other charter schools in our district the suggested school closures of both Lindale and kuron will leave a gaping wound in the special pocket of town one of the suggested schools that Linda will be split between please just let me go speaker please speak up thank you hi good evening my name is Maria Martinez and oh can you please sit down you're being disrespectful to the rest thank you no it's okay all right I know I know tensions are high yeah um hi good evening my name is Maria Martinez and I was the Alam Rock Educators Association representative to be on the school consolidation committee and the committee's work was very challenging and very dis difficult um it is a little unfortunate that um the messaging that has been sent out was that there was not a consensus from the committee me knowing that the word consensus means a majority of people with their recommendation so I understand that ultimately it is the superintendent's decision um just know that area has been very supportive in the in knowing that the school closures need to happen to maintain Financial solvency I hope uh we can continue to M maintain a positive relationship in working through this process and I also want to thank truste fam for um making a plan that would leave Lindale open and um saves more than the superintendent projected savings thank you uh good evening my name is rul pis and I've been at atan one since day one um but I'm here tonight uh just to one thank the committee for keeping keeping both Atlanta one and two off the closure list um but I want to encourage that we maintain adante one a k2a and if needed if we need to combine both adante one and two that we do so maybe at fiser we don't oppose the ladder but if you combine our schools you will have cap you will have Capt the growth of for each school and the ability to bring in more revenue from day one our school has been a school of success welcoming um and safe for our students but also it has built great Community um our Middle School serves is beneficial to our elementary students because they serve as mentors to our kids so please please keep our school at the lante kq8 thank you you hello my name is Lisa desb I'm a TK teacher at Ben painter school have you thought about my question is have you thought about making painter and Shepherd at prek 8 school we would be able to keep all the programs that currently exist as is and enroll students from middle and elementary schools we will lose students by your proposal they will leave our school if our school culture changes we have a really good thing going for us our families are happy we are attracting more families from out of the district each year this is a good choice for our district it makes sense to consolidate painter and Shepherd but not the way it's been proposed thank you good evening my name is Nina andz Riva and I stand before you to address the impact of potential school closures on our dedicated staff and teachers first I want to emphasize the importance of adhering to the recommendations provided by the committee these recommendations are the result of careful consideration and reflection on the needs of our schools and Community ignoring these insights would not only undermine the efforts of those who worked diligently to provide them but would also reflect a lack of respect for the educational Mission we all share there following their guidance is an opportunity to demonstrate that you are indeed serving the best interests of our community rather than your personal agendas I'd also be remiss by not including the impact that this school closures and consolidation would have on staff and teachers those that are the backbone of our educational community and those who are actually in the trenches because I have not seen you in any of our classrooms good evening my name is Lisa Tut Hill and I'm a proud parent at of a child at Renaissance at fiser and Linda vist Elementary School I was honored to serve on this committee deciding which schools in our community might close believing our voices would truly be heard and respected my family values accountability transparency inclusiveness and kindness values we hope to reflect in this process however as we went along it became clear that the district already had its own agenda despite our hard work and a strong consensus from 90% of us on which schools should close and why our recommendations were ignored then the district claim we couldn't reach a consensus which is simply not true we expected more from this Administration we expected genuine accountability transparency leadership but instead this process felt like we were a box to check off for Optics if you truly believe your decision is in the best interest of our children then you're not listening to our community you need to start by recognizing our input respect our voices and hold your yourselves to the same accountability you expect from us as parents explain to the community why you the district not the parent committee is closing Renaissance a Fisher when they have 105 inner and outer District TR thank you for your speak I know you got one minute like everybody else that's why we're gonna give the next speaker a chance thank you you want to give them your speech go ahead but in the meantime next speaker please thank you very much yes uh you can hand it sure yes thank you thank you okay next speaker please first off I would like to talk about the Committee Member that was removed from aptitude I'm here in behalf of aptitude we weren't given after he was removed we weren't given the opportunity for replacement to represent our school which is one of the most important things that should have happened we should have had the opportunity to have a replacement um and we weren't given that second and the recommendations from the committee and the superintendent did not include our children's safety the area in which these schools are going to be located academics none of that was spoken of in in the slides that I saw our school was on that list supposedly before this slide because of low enrollments and now it's because we don't have capacity so which one is it now it just seems like it's a biased decision but we have to take a look at the area we are going to be exposing our children to gangs drugs and not a school that's meeting um standards please keep the aptitude off the list thank you can the next speaker start as soon as I stop clapping thank you Christine VI me one second please can you please move on to the back thank you so the PE people can move up thank you very much okay go ahead my name is Christine vial I am an Alam Rock parent for the last 15 years and I want to thank our adalante 1 families for coming out to support this evening they are out here not because the school's being closed they're out here for three reasons one to support the other schools that are going through these horrible closures so we're here to be to receive to support um and to figure out the best way to move forward uh the second reason is because we do have a strong community that would come out even when there's not a closure uh because it's a k38 model and we've talked about that we've seen that reflected in some proposals and we appreciate that k through eight being maintained uh the third is I want the uh board to consider one important thing with the proposal that trusty fam just uh came up with if the two adantes are combined into one site it almost caps the enrollment at that site once you transition TK and Kinder classrooms which have higher capacity as we know than the older grades and that doesn't allow for growth so I'm hoping and imploring that as we think about moving forward as a district that we think about how to bring more Revenue in and capping it is not going to allow to bring hi my name is Kim Mesa I'm um product of alrock my children all went to alrock my granddaughter now goes to alumrock I'm a former board member who sat on the board when we closed schools and we were very thoughtful of that process and while we did close two schools when I during my tenure there was no backlash there was no meetings like this where parents were coming and crying because we included the community in the decision that did not happen we came to a consensus on schools using a very thoughtful process looking at all the neighborhoods in the district ensuring that each one had an elementary school looking at the socioeconomic factors for each School looking at the gang distribution around to make sure that all the schools were safe and we by consensus gave a recommendation to the superintendent and 10 minutes later he went to the staff and the principals and lied and said that we couldn't come to consensus that is very disingenuous and lastly I really need to mention that the district thank you very much for speaking thank you very much for speaking can we have the next speaker come up please thank you very much for your time thank you for everybody being respectful and thank you for uh all being here we do appreciate it and a lot of times sometimes some people get out of control but we're trying to be respectful to everybody so that every body could speak thank you very much can the next speaker come up please you had your time uh can we please have her um removed if she continues no please be dis please be letting the next speaker speak it's not about everything about you please be respectful to others thank you very much do you want to go ahead and speak next speaker or should we just we can always cut the co public comment if this is going to continue can we please continue with the next one exactly I am I am a her speed thank you very much I am a parent I'm an alumni I'm a healthcare worker I speak on behalf of aptitude I speak on behalf of our students aptitude Academy at gos is more than just a school it's a heartbeat of the Capitol Park neighborhood a cheris pillar into the alen Rock Union Elementary School District for over 40 years for Generations this K8 school has been a safe place a Beacon of Hope nurturing the dreams of children for diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds in which we still face with over 89% % of our students qualified for free A reduced price lunches aptitude has made an unwavering commitment to equity inclusion and support for every children who walks through its doors our school is not just a place of learning it's a Vibrant Community where every child is seen valued and uplifted from kindergarten through 8th grade we I span I talk on behalf of our parents who aren't here who are healthcare workers working thank you thank you hi my name is Gloria and I'm here to present aptitude at GS um thanks to the generosity of platforms like donors chose and a remarkable private donor who has contributed over 200,000 our classrooms are filled with essential resources technology art supplies books and more these contributions have been vital in creating enriching educational experiences for our students however if after to disclos this funding and support will come to an abrupt end leaving our children to a tremendous lost last year alongside our dedicated staff we fought tirelessly to keep our Beloved School open and now we find ourselves in that fight once again aptitude is just is one of the most socioeconomically challenged schools in the district serving families who often lack of resources of resources to transport their children to other schools our k38 model offers a crucial Lifeline allowing families to make a single drop off for their elementary and middle school children their thank you go ahead hi my name is iness and I'm representing attitude the benefits of our kinder to eighth grade model are just not not just practical they are profound re research shows that school like aptitude offer significant Advantage improve academic performance social and emotional stability leadership opportunities parental engagement and reduce behavioral issues aptitude is more than just a school We are family that sense of belonging support and love that fills our house cannot be replicated elsewhere we are proud to say go Gators as attachement to our strength and resilience we we hope that you just not here with your ears we hope that you'll listen us to with uh your hearts you Sandra Sanchez good evening my name is Sandra Sanchez members allow me a few more minutes seconds oh one second I just want to make a clarification because he's uh translating when this happens they are allowed two minutes go ahead thank you I'm a parent representing aptitude okay read is more aptitude is more than just a school we are a family the sense of belonging support and love that fills our Halls cannot be replicated El elsewhere we are proud to say go Gators as a testament to our strength and resist we humbly ask you to reconsider the recommendation to close our school aptitude Academy at gos is not just a place it's a Lifeline a community a family please help us keep our doors open so that we can continue to nurture the minds and hearts of our children for years to come we hope that you hear listen to us through your ears your mind and your hearts thank you thank you good evening all California students deserve a high quality culturally responsive Arts education 89% of public schools in the state fail to offer mandated Visual and Performing Arts classes students from lowincome backgrounds with Arts Ritz instruction have are five times less likely to drop out of school four times more likely to be recognized for academ mic achievement and 30% more likely to pursue a professional career Arts education addresses academic achievement attendance Soft School skills development and career Readiness the Arts matter I urge the board to consider this when making final decisions students at lindel elementary will be over a mile away from suggested sites and our SDC classes would be disadvantaged Lindell as a vapa site has art choir piano musical theater band and Mariachi classes please keep Lindale Elementary open thank you good evening my name is Jennifer Garcia I'm a proud graduate of this District I'm deeply confused and concerned by the proposal to close Renaissance at fiser over the years this district has faced one SCA scandal after another and our community's potential has often been overlooked we have incredible students dedicated teachers and supportive families but it feels that as though the district fails to represent us as we truly are resilient hardworking and full of promise I'm worried that closing Renaissance official will only deepen this mis misrepresentation how can we close the one school with the highest test scores the most intr District transfers without sending a message that is completely out of touch with the needs of our students the decision to close res at Fisher looks more as a a political move maneuver than one made of the best interest of our students the very group that this district is supposed to prioritize we can't afford to continue making decisions that furnish tarnish our District's reputation instead we need to Let's prioritize what is best thank you hello my name is Caitlyn Santo I am a product of the east side of the Alam Rock School District and I would like to welcome our superintendent to Al Rock I would also like to address the fact that so much time was spent addressing all of our psychological damage that everyone in this room and outside of this room in our community will be facing you don't need to tell us we know we feel it we've been feeling it um for me personally as a fifth year teacher at Renaissance um I have felt it since day one when I started teaching down the street on Bigwood Drive in my parents house um then after that my second year first year in person consolidating with Fisher and adjusting to a whole new change at our school um and then year after year it's one thing after another last year we were in a situation where we were adjusting to a new superintendent and now we are just finding ways to continue to heal and I hope that you consider saving Renaissance at Fischer and conserving our cohort model that really just makes us more than a school we are clearly a family thank you thank you my name is Sarah Kix and I've been in the district for about 17 years I've been at rra for 16 of those years and so my first ask is that you keep Renaissance at Fischer open my if that cannot happen my ask is that you consolidate the two Renaissance to preserve the model we have a different model we were developed differently we were developed by parents we were developed by teachers it is not the same model as any other school in this District District that is my number one ask the other thing I feel like I need to address is that I've emailed all of you to hold the district accountable these parents are pissed they're mad because the district's report is untrue it's misleading it is not what happened in the committee I am asking the board to meet with the committee members themselves to talk to them to listen to this community I've been in alrock for a long time we need honesty and we need transparency we cannot go backwards we did this 16 years ago where people were fighting at the board meetings we don't need to go back to that we need to go forward thank you hello my name is emila and as I've said I'm a former student of both rocket ship and Lindell so I can tell you that Lindell is far better than rocket ship the charter schools do not compare to Lindale or to other um schools that are part of the district so it's not fair to say that oh but they have those surrounding them so students can go there they are not they do not offer even half of the things that lindel offers so you are doing a disservice to those students on top of the fact that our students that have disabilities do not have or do not have as many accommodations that they would get at a district school at any of those other schools we've been having issues with funding how is that still ongoing where is that funding going why are we still having this reoccurring issue time after time this should not have been going on for this long and for Linda or for the person who has said that our non-english speaker parents do not value education what kind of words are those thank you very much those are thank you very much next speaker my name is Jackie saparo and I'm a teacher at Renaissance at Fisher the dishonesty and lack of transparency throughout this process has been incredibly frustrating especially with the district office that should be trying to rebuild credibility we all know that school closures are heartbreaking but when you misrepresent the work of the committee you change it from heartbreaking to infuriating the consolidation committee did not recommend Renaissance and Fisher for closure the district did and you pretended like it was the work of the committee it is is it because you and the board have plans for fer that you don't want to disclose I sincerely hope that eventually everything comes to light but I along with the general public here today will not trust a word of it I also hope at a minimum that you realize that closing Renaissance at Fischer a school that over 105 students from outside of our boundary choose to attend is a move in the wrong direction you will lose students you will lose quality teachers by closing us rather than consolidating us and worst of all you will destroy a community that has proven year after year to be an exemplary model of Education thank you very much next speaker hello my name is Juliana I'm here to support Renne cons Academy at Fisher a school is more than just a building it's a heart of our community a place where children learn grow and form life bonds closing Renaissance at Fisher would not only disrupt our students education but would also leave a void that can be easily fulfilled School means to me making friends and finding people that I am comfortable speaking to and understand me also the amazing teachers who have been there to support support me and help me with my education the teachers at Renaissance care about me as a person and a student a Renaissance student means being part of all the programs that they have to offer like mess steam Tech Squad bossy and girls who code has helped me grow educ educ educationally and personally I am here today in front of you giving a speech thanks to Renaissance who has showed me to speak up for myself and for what I want closing our school who is one of the highest red would not only impact my community but my education thank you hello my name is Asus I would like to start by saying that Renaissance Academy Was Not Elected by the committee but that it was rather elected by the superintendent yet Renaissance Academy does not mean any of the criteria for the school to be closed Renaissance Academy is one of the highest performing in terms of academics achievement demonstrating its Effectiveness and preparing students for Success if you go on to Google and type in best school in the Alam Rock School District for school to come up Renaissance at Fischer we will be at one at one time this campus also housed two two other schools so there is space for everyone it is conveniently located near a school providing students with easy access to additional resources and opportunity for Learning renissance Academy maintains a strong AC academic reputation contributing positive to students education development it has a supportive and engaging Community with strong relationships between students staff and families which helps Foster a positive and nurturing environment I would also like to state if the school was closed the closest school would be about 20 minutes walking distance which many of the students have to do one of my daughter is the one who just spoke thank you Madame President um I will be Sid translating the notes of the parent after she reads them in Spanish thank you thank you r repr L as a parent concerned with the possible The Proposal of the possible shutdown or closure of lineal Elementary it's an it's an important school for our community and with we're also concerned with the closures of other schools in our district and I understand as a district we have a lot of work to do to keep our school open we need to advocate for those school districts so they can receive Equitable funding but actually it's all about postal areas or postal codes we need to resolve the issue with the clo school closures it's important to advocate for the students who are neglected where it's important to defend the quality of Education of our children we are in one of the states that manages the most money and it's ridiculous that we we are living through this situation with education and east side of San Jose we need our voices to be heard please don't shut down the voices of our teachers of our children and our families that we represent at Lindale keep Lindale open please hi my name is Michelle Martinez and I'm a a parent of a student at Joseph George if you were to close Joseph George for my child to get to Shephard he would need to cross multiple intersections each day Alum Rock white and mcke in September I happened to come across a horrific accident Rec uh involving one of our local high school students imagine making our middle school students cross all these bu busy intersections multiple times a day I don't even feel safe Crossing many of these roads one of the bullet points I noticed on the presentation we were giving at George was that the ability the parents would have have the ability to transport these students who makes these assumptions is George being targeted because we're outside the city limits another major concern for me is the amount of violence that I hear about at Shepard I'm told our C students can transfer if they want but let me be clear here if I didn't have to have my student in this District I wouldn't I've tried to transfer out of this district and I'm denied because of where I live which isn't fair thank you as the superintendent said about B Pinter especially the Dual program is doing well the school has increasing enrollment good location and the Dual program has good academic performance which attract more parents to send their children to the program however the plan is to move some of the classes higher grades at B Pinter over to Shephard campus and many parents has a big concern in ter of safety the restroom was not size appropriate for the younger student and potentially roling and other problems due to the huge a gap so how the school district going to plan to manage that it is safer to keep all the grad together at Ben Pinter campus rather than mixing up with the um shepher students hello everybody my name is laa and I have lived in the San Jose for over 25 years my three children have grown up in the school of this District my son Miguel anel the youngest one of them is in Ren and Matson and now he's going through different worries and traumas see family and friends having to move to other state because of the huge and crazy increase in the rent now he has to go through more traumas and worries seeing that the school where his friends and him and been attendant are closing we live in one of the richest cities in the world and it's impossible to keep this schools open why do the most vulnerable communities always have to suffer the most from the bad decision of a assistant that is collapsing today I come here not only to support Matson and Lucha where my son and I have found a community and a family but also to support my community and not let this bad decision divide us but to support each other together and be a strong not to the closure of any school in the Alan Rock District thank you [Music] graas hello I'm Luna I'm in second grade I'm at alante 1 please keep my school TK through 8th grade open please EDI Gonzalez parent atalante 1 are atlante 1 and 2's K to K8 dual immersion schools in Alam marok are a Cornerstone of Equity Community resistance love dreams and opportunity for our students and families by maintaining the K8 models in our schools we provide a seamless stable envir environment where students develop bil lingualism by literacy and cross-cultural competence skills critical for success in a diverse world as a former teacher of adalante 1 and two our schools are to fully help develop and nourish our students full potential which entails seeing their early start in TK and to support their growth into their teenage years as eighth graders linguistically developmentally and emotionally we are we all know the importance of having one teacher one adult believe in your potential and having one caring and committed adult in our lives can help repair and heal trauma at adante 1 and two our students don't just have one caring adult they have multiple and not just over the course of one year but over the course over the course of 8 to nine please maintain our our schools K8 thank you thank you good evening I'm a parent and Al a a of a student at Ben painter and I'm also an educator at Independence High School um myself and many of my students uh are very disappointed that painter will be Consolidated I I've heard from my students that Shepherd's a bit rough so I'm very concerned as a parent to send my child there uh um and I think that as a school it's been amazing principal men luo has done a an amazing job in bringing the community together and over the course of our time there it has only grown um and I think that making the change will only cause it to lose its Steam and put the nail in its coffin so I hope you consider leaving it be thank you thank you Maria Chavez good evening my name is Maria Chavez I'm from Madson Renaissance at mson my son is very concerned because he's hearing that his school and other schools are going to be closed uh many other kids went through that process already from the kids that came from Chavez when it was [Music] closed please consider leaving Renaissance and M and open my daughter she's currently attending college he but it's gonna have a great impact if you close Renaissance at mson I'm my children's voice I'm the voice for my children because two of my children went through that school and I have another child who's all currently attending that school you shouldn't allow the closure of so many schools because children are already traumatized think a little bit about think about them a little bit more because they're the ones that are going to suffer I don't think you're such bad people are you my son told me please consider saving all the schools Victor Basquez someone's Mayfair we've talked about like various reasons why the school closures we always talk about being unaffordable s Jose being not affordable but also we forget that education is not treated like a like students deserve it or a right but more like a business this state in this country can fund education and not put us in a situation where we're fighting each other and we believe everybody here wants academic success for their families we also believe that places like mayfer are often stereotyped and we're punished for having less and then we're being put like we we shouldn't have what we have and they should take away more of our educational resources I ask for a couple things we should stop fighting each other and advocate at the state level because we deserve more than the crumbs that they're giv us and I want to ask the district to think about how to make sure that we support parents during transition train School leaders to make sure that new students are welcom into their schools so there's less tension provide academic support for special education students ESL and Foster Care during transition and I would ask you all to Let's advocate for change at the state level thank you good evening my name is Gonzalez I am a former student and a parent of two um students at L BR School District but also an organizer that has been in this District fighting for resources organizing Community for the past 12 years I have been here celebrating um Community license Open Spaces Family Resource Centers but I also been here fighting for transparency and and um accountability when Del Tera and other crisis happened now we're here and this is not new this decision had been taken in 202 when there was another compane created but they couldn't make the decision we cannot close one Squad at a time we're in$ 20 million deficit that's the reality we cannot be contined dividing each other versus one school versus the other I know we're angry I know I'm sad I know it hurts me to see how they talk about my community about a community that is poor and it has been under s for centuries but let's create the next steps let's work together let's organize together and let's bring those programs and and let it fight tonight taken away from us thank you thank you hello my name is Veronica mad and I'm a parent from San Antonio it feels like year after year we find ourselves at this same board meeting facing the sem disheartening lack of leadership a leadership that has forgotten its duty to Advocate fiercely for our students and has left our families and communities in distress I am beyond beyond disappointed you were entrusted with the education and future of our students and once again you have failed them the time for inaction and excuses is over has been over now you will make the hard decision and blame students blame families for moving blame other expected except yourselves for this failure take full accountability and uplift and strengthen this community now your leadership your position and your seat on this board are not here to serve your interests but to serve our students and their family set up and honor that responsibility Advocate lead in the networks not only represent yourself but represent our students and fight for them good evening trustees and superintendent Serna my name is chamille Swan and I'm a parent at adente 1 and I've worked in partnership with you all for over 20 years in this District as a nonprofit leader I understand the challenges that are before you are daunting and that just difficult decisions have to be made and I'm not um I know that you have to make these kinds of cuts but what I ask you for is leadership to step into your leadership to figure out ways to hold this entire Community whole what is not okay is for schools to be pitting against each other what is also not okay is these narratives of one neighborhood being better than another neighborhood all of us are suffering if you look in Oakland and you look in San Francisco these are pervasive challenges across our entire region so I ask you for your leadership and to find ways to show up at this time sign up to end basic basic Aid like get our school districts what we need to get for this school district make sure that maybe you should start considering District consolidation these one-off districts across our region is not serving anyone I know these are hard things but it's also hard for the parents and children to take brunt after Brent decision thank you hello everyone my name is dula Madrid and I grate for Renaissance Academy at Fisher I arrived in this country in 2022 and I was enrolled in the Fisher School in 2023 thanks to the high education levels of the school I can speak now English and I don't understand how a school with such high educational values decides to close it we should decide our school is for Education value there are good teachers in this schools and I I just want my sister and my cousins to graduate from this school thank you very much thank you good evening trustees my name is maestas and I am a teacher at adant academy and I'm here to represent the teachers from adalante and I'd like for the adante teachers and families to please stand because we are here in solidarity with all the other schools that are may be experiencing their closures we are also here with you trustees each decision made regarding closures and employment must recognize the hard work and dedication that we as teachers pour into our classrooms every day it is crucial that we approach the selection of which teachers will remain employed with fairness and transparency fairness and transparency especially for those teachers just beginning their careers the process should be guided by clear criteria that reflect not only tenure but but also the unique contributions each teacher brings to our schools their skills and commitment should be acknowledged and respected during these difficult times thank you good evening my name is Olivia Ortiz and I'm my pent uh renesa Matson renesa Matson it's um we might be a very small school but we're Mighty and we have incredible strong parent Community um we do a lot with what little we have um today I'm really sad to see how families are put against each other um I invite all of us actually all of us family board members staff of the district we need to do more we need to do better than this we can't we need all this energy we need to bring it to the this to the state we can't there's no way we can be fighting each other to keep a school open it shouldn't bit this way our kids Des serve better all of our kids not one school Des serve to be closer here at the district not one school so I hope that moving forward we do something about this so we don't see we in two or three years we we stay here in the same situation closing more schools we need to be out there fighting for more funds fighting for a fair education for our kids that's what we need to do and hopefully we all get together and start doing that thank you just say it you got this okay you got this I can't speak yes come on you got my name is spot [Music] we have to keep lindle open U my name is Ebony I'm an alumni from um Renaissance Academy and my brother goes to Lindale um I had a couple of questions um he struggles with special needs and I just wanted to know um if you're combining schools how are you planning on um keeping kids that have special needs how are you planning on giving them attention that they need um and I wanted to know how you are going to help kids focus in large classrooms um bringing a change into their lives like this is just going to confuse and scare them they'll have to say goodbye to their friends and families sorry their friends and teachers the education in America is bad enough um cramming a bunch of kids in a classroom a small classroom will only hurt our youths these are children they are the future I hope that the budgets include nutritious meals integrated meals um these extra um they need extra curriculars each children should get each equal attention I also want to say that we cannot respond but you can but you can refer it to the administration your questions thank you next p next speaker hi I have two jobs at Fischer I'm an after school teacher and I am also a parent educator at the school so I'm there 9 to6 every day if you close down Fisher and expect the students to go to aala you're asking the students to walk down aala Avenue don't know if you've ever driven down there but the city puts up signs to drive slow and be careful because drivers have accidents down that road all the time especially with Capital Expressway with their with the new train that they're building you're asking students to cross Capital Expressway every day multiple times a day those lives that get taken are going to be on your hands that's the decision that you're making I want you to know that I want you to take that home with you secondly you are behind that blue table as a service to the community I really don't think you get get to use adjectives to say how you are we get to choose we get to see the choices you make and tell you how you're treating us so I think you should be a little nicer with the time thank you good evening my name is Elis and I'm from Renaissance at Fisher I've been a parent there since 2011 I have four children all of which have attended that school the youngest of my children is in sixth grade all these years I witnessed the Magnificent education that all of my children received at that site that school has made a great difference in my community all of the my oldest children my sons all their friends have gra graduated from college or about to graduate from college University my third daughter she's already in the process of application process for several universities and my youngest son has the dream of doing the same thing Rance F I believe that Renaissance at Fisher has what they need to have success and and they proved it demonstrating that they're one of the best schools in the district I'm here I'm kindly requesting that you leave the school open and also leave the administrators in that site they had started Renaissance at Fisher thank you so one minute please so right now it's um 7:50 the people that are we're going to go over with the speakers so I'm going to allow the last speaker to speak even though we are going to go over the one hour okay so you'll be the last speaker thank you thank you good evening my name is Joselyn Ms I know most of you up there except Mr Serta I didn't have the pleasure of meeting you but I taught in Alam Rock School District for 35 years I just retired a year and a half ago and uh the last 13 years that I was in the district I was our area president so I it I watch these meetings but I had to come out because obviously this is heartbreaking for everyone and I've had the opportunity over 13 years to visit all the schools and know that every one of them has their special quality I did teach Lindale was my home school for 30 years and I did have the opportunity in the early 2000s to be on the writing committee for our distinguished school which we got the award back then and I'm already out of time I can't begin to tell you thank you yeah thank you very much hello my name is Dominic navarez and I'm representing altitude Academy at GS first I want to say why are you guys closing the school last year half the class got over 90% and even though I look like a little kid to you I fight for my school and what's right and altitude Academy at Goss is just not a school it's a it's an education place for all the students that are of need of education and I feel like that if you guys are going to close the schools that I'm just going to be left with Ryan Elementary now I'm going to pass it to my dad and go Gators my name is jarz and I repe altitude um I didn't plan on speaking um but looking at the people that came and and and the emotions that are in the room I hope you guys understand what you guys are doing I understand that you guys got to close schools we get it right but at some point it feels like even between you guys are divided and you guys have a hidden agenda there's something else that's going on because some of the numbers that came don't don't make sense there's other schools that are with less percentages and they're remaining open and there are neighborhoods that are terrible for our kids and for our families so you you know you guys talk about transparency but everyone's confused there's no trust in you guys there's no trust and it part of that reason is because your past administrations have led to negative results thank you hello my name is Louise I representant 2 I wanted to say something really important that caught my eye in the last few years there's a question that has been uh in the air and I want to ask you guys maybe you guys can consider talking about it how come you guys are closing schools but what about the charter schools that are in your District how come they're not closing how come they're not going through what we're going through right now how come they claim they're better than us every time you speak with them they're like we're better than than regular schools then why are we keep having them what's the benefit of having those schools there this is not about who is better this is about education for all and I believe that you guys have the key so what are you guys are not doing nothing about it nobody's asking questions why they just went couple of months ago to renew their contract and guess what you guys sign it no questions ask but when we come to you guys and ask for questions you guys shut us down thank you guys good evening I'm Natalie Bal a parent of three and I was on the consolidation committee and I have to say it was you know the out of any committee it's the worst one to have to be on it was really sad um you know obviously we have to do what we have to do um we came to consensus and there were some things I I I don't feel deceived but you know in in hearing these things I feel like we need to be conscious that we need to move forward I think we need to really emphasize all the programs that we do have in alen rock we need to sell ourselves we need to Market ourselves we need to welcome all the kids coming in and even our kids that might be going to other schools we need to be not putting negative things like you're going to a school in a bad area or like oh these kids are coming from this school I think we really need to be conscious about what we're saying and we need to move forward and do a different alen Rock and leave what we've had in the past in the past and just move for the future thank you thank you good evening my name is Nikki Roa Fox and I am a parent of two children at Linda Vista Elementary School I am also the president of the PTA there and while I appreciate all 10 of you sitting up there my message is for the parents and the families I'm here to tell you today that our school suffered a lot when you if you get involved in your PTA you have an opportunity to have a voice and I encourage all of you to use that voice get involved in your school our former PTA president is here this evening too I'm not here in a school that's being shut down but what I'm here to do is to invite you to call pick up the phone call a school that is really passionate about being open and getting parents in the community we were having for many years six or seven people attending the meetings we're now at 30 and 40 these are not the only voices that matter they're voices that matter but they're not the only voices that matter so get involved in your schools and be a partner to one another thank you so that was the last speaker and if anybody else wants to do any comment you can please email your additional comments to us and we will review your comments thank you so moving on to comment1 we have to we have to ask questions at the administration on the proposal too Madam president okay so um I'm reminded that we didn't take uh truste comments on 701 so uh Mr trustee minam would you like to start first uh yeah oh boy okay uh let's see here so uh question number one to the administration uh you know I I I'm I have concerns about special education facilities uh I want to say I myself uh was a special education student you know I was a adaptive physical education student so I you know uh I share a you know in sense kindred spirit with the uh special education students at the district because they have uh additional needs uh that we have a responsibility to serve so uh it's to my knowledge the Lindale Elementary School campus has five classrooms with bathrooms given that they Service uh our autism program uh question to the administration is moving them to S does s does the San Antonio site have comparable facilities uh for our AR for our autism students any other trusty comment let me he's asking a question so uh Mr freus we're talking about the restrooms at Lucha can you please come up and uh I'm gonna ask Mr uh freus the chief interim Chief uh bonds um off sort to discuss the facilities at Lucha which is by San Antonio oh you're you're talking about you say Lindo can you repeat the question trusty fam you know if if you know so I'll par if moving the the Lindale a program to the San Antonio site does the San Antonio site have the comparable uh classrooms with bathrooms for the autism program good evening uh trusty fam the answer is it would need minimal um improvements for that accommodation um in terms of of comparisons to some of the other schools because Lucha already has um um kinder TKS uh and space available um with restroom facilities attached to them the improvements would be on a on a minimal scale and achievable within the time frame of next school year can you can you also U Mr freus can you also talk about just give specifics as to the improvements that those rooms would need some of those uh when I say minimal it's it's a doorway passed through from an existing restroom into the classroom the adjoining classroom to the restroom so that's what I mean by minimal we wouldn't have to um build out a new restroom or or facility um the Kinder uh and um uh Primary School um playgrounds are already in place um so it has a lot of infrastructure already that would accommodate the uh special needs kids uh supplement okay supplemental question then uh to Mr freedus uh minimal preparation how how long are we talking about well the sooner we have a decision the sooner we can Implement that program but something for in that scope that we've been looking at and and considering is probably in the neighborhood of several months from the time frame We Begin uh say at the end of December that leaves me with some trepidation here because again autistic kids are you know again the most you know their needs are the most sensitive uh and as well as you know to borrow a term uh very vulnerable so it you know that gives me cause for some trepidation there um May I add trusty fam the classrooms would be ready for next school year 25 26 school year and so they would be ready for the transition the classrooms would be ready for the students okay thank you a second question to the administration uh in regards to uh to the Pender consolidation and I I want to reference that you and I did speak about this in our one and one uh you know I think uh Fair of valid concern is uh though there's a logical way for grades three to five to be uh accommodated in a part of shepherd with you know uh that would need sufficient separation uh you know what kind of separation would we be talking about in order to maintain some separation for grades 3 to five and the Middle School population go ahead Mark yeah so that campus is already sharing some of the like the multi-purpose room so that separation is already in place um it's a it's a matter of the administrative uh savings that that that consolidation brings to to rather than closing a school we're able to consolidate but that that existing separation is there okay um following up on that uh what a you know you know I want to you know will the district ensure that there's sufficient space still on on the painter site for grades TK through 2 who would need you know separate you know bathrooms separate from the shepherd side as well as access to the playground and the separate administrative and health Suite because again ele elementary kids have separate Health you know separate health and safety needs from middle school kids correct go ahead Mark yes that's uh that's a very good point trusty fam and those those facilities are in place already we are serving our TKS our Kinders in that so it's it's a matter of in terms of consolidation it's really on the administrative oversight that we're we're in uh benefiting from that consolidation um so the campuses would still be utilized as as necessary to serve those specific age groups any third question to the administration uh regarding aptitude uh there is a Wellness Center at aptitude so if aptitude were to close you know uh where would we you know uh is there something comparable that could be offered to those students at uh at the receiving site I'll ask us this superintendent uh Senator to speak to that that question I'm sorry good good evening we do have uh grants for wellness centers at our k8s and middle schools so the receiving school would have the um Wellness Center to serve the students that are being served at aptitude at this time okay okay uh but the question is when we lose the the grant specific for aptitude we would lose um next year's grant funding um but we wouldn't we would not lose well we we've already used the grant for this year can you give the amount um I don't have that is Ona we can get the amount for you as well oh Anya yeah uh and then for now the last question to uh to the administration regarding Renaissance at fiser uh you know the closure of Renaissance at fiser would would red you know the district would lose One Verizon lab uh one science classroom uh one athletic field and as well as one you know uh expanded cafeteria and stage area uh and it seems like there's no clear you know at you know in this iteration uh of your of the administration's proposal uh it almost seems like all you know the closer of Fisher would leave a huge huge gap in terms of facility uh amenities available to uh Alam Rock students uh you know uh what is the ad you know has the administration how has the administration thought about uh replacing those amenities which uh you know realistically I don't see the district re replacing those facilities uh in the medium term yes and and F Fisher if you look at the Deferred maintenance yes it's it's one of the most expensive uh schools to uh you know to actually invest some of our bond dollars so it would be very expensive for our districts as far as the Verizon lab yes we would lose that um um and so but those students one of the recommendations is that we're recommending that those students uh you were hoping we encouraging that they would attend the Matson campus as far as the facilities Mark can you at what since we have Dr just to give you the amount for the previous question can you I'm sorry can I just ask for a repeat of the previous question I'm a little under the weather so I'm just I'm I'm just asking you know in term the closure of Fisher would lose a Verizon learning lab that's a different question you let me just the the amount what's the dollar amount we would lose for the wellness center okay the wellness center the wellness center so in terms of dollar amount I just want to clarify that the funding for the wellness center at optitude is actually through a skoy Consortium Grant so we don't receive any of those monies they receive the money right so I just want to be very clear about that um and the monies were written through uh Community Schools Grant so if we're looking at it from that angle it's probably between 200 $50 to $300,000 that is part of the Consortium but again we weren't we're not receiving any funding from them what we are receiving is the services through the clinician as well as the liaison for aptitude because that was done through a different Grant through scoy okay thank thank you thank you and then back to the Fisher I'll I'll ask uh assistant superintendent Garcia to speak to that as well and then Mark you can add in term of the Verizon Labs um we could um look at what we can bring over to um either Renaissance at Matson or used to enhance the um labs in the um steam Academy at Okala as well um to see what we can um bring for the students so that they can continue to utilize um these um resources in terms of the uh deferred maintenance uh it's a sizable amount that that is significant and it was one of the considerations in evaluating all the different middle schools um so uh there's a an immediate Savings in terms of the necessary dollars that we need to spend right now as well as those dollars over a two to 20 year period so okay so uh you know I'll use my time at this moment for other trustees to have questions and comments but Madam president you know I reserved a right to uh was it uh make further comments after other trustees have have gone and I know I've had my oneon-one with h superintendent um Haman uh so I'll save some of those questions but I'll add some additional questions that came up during during um the time I was listening to the community and I'll start off with um a aptitude uh being that it's a K through 8 model what schools um or are the schools that are closer to them are they also K through the option that they have the middle school students would be um moved to Renaissance at Madson and the the elementary students would um be moved to Ryan um with the option of also going to dorsa like so are any of those K through way no okay thank you for that answer um and then in regards to um trusty yes um we are going to be accepting intradistrict transfers so if um any of the aptitude students are interested in a ko8 they would be able to um receive an intradistrict to hubard which is a k k tk3 program thank you um in regards to lindel um the vapa programs that they have there would they be transferred to another school um what would happen to the baa programs so the good thing about bappa is that now that we have the prop 28 money we have an opportunity to expand vappa across the Allen Rock School District and so this is going to give us the opportunity to move um some of that programming to other elementary schools in our district and also expand on what we're already providing um in the vapa cluster so that more students in alumrock have the opportunity to have vapa programming it's it's actually the the prop 28 there's a formula the 70% right that the sites get per Ada and the 30 they're actually going to get more money at each of the school sites to to support the Arts what percent 70 for low socioeconomically disadvantaged students okay and then um I know that at lindel um it's one of our schools that um offer uh specific resources for our students in the special education programs um and so I know there is a specific question around the restroom but just all the other resources and services in special ed have we thought about where that would go and our students in special ed um would they move together I mean I know it disrupts I mean I know this is going to be a huge disruption for all of us and everybody involved in this community but I know that um our students who have special ed needs um how much that's even more exacerbated when this happens okay uh special ed um services are Guided by the students IEP and they're not um dependent on a specific site so um wherever the student attends school They will receive their services under their IEP um the other thing that our special ed department has already started looking at is um u a way of redesigning how we offer special ed programs in our district um at this time because our schools are so small um we don't have as many opportunity mainstreaming opportunities for our students in um some of our schools and so what this is going to give our district an opportunity to do is expand those opportunities for mainstreaming at all of our elementary and middle schools in our district so that we can provide um those opportunities for students in special ed to socialize and be part of the regular program during some part of their day the other thing is um the maximizing of resources that we now have to spread across 20 22 schools will now be able to um be used at the 13 schools that remain open and um the travel time will be cut for some of our staff that have to travel from one school to the other um and they'll be able to serve more students at the um the the number of schools that are left open um the other thing that I did want to mention is um because of the size of our schools at this time um we do do have our students mov some of our students moving um three times in their um TK through 8 experience because we don't have um consistency in our special ed classroom so you may have one school that has um a first to third grade class and then for fourth and fifth they have to move to another school so what our special ed department is um looking at doing is putting classes at every school so that students have consistency from TK through fifth grade and then they move on to a middle school for their sixth through eighth grade program so this really gives us an opportunity to to redesign and to maximize the resources that our students are receiving I was just going to ask that that was my next question any transportation that is written into a student's IEP will continue um at their new school okay so any student that's receiving Transportation right now will continue absolutely okay um and then in regards to lindel still uh also has has it been um identified as one of our community schools and if so can that funding be moved uh so it is one of our schools that's receiving uh with the $12.3 million that we got they are a Community School uh funded School uh they would lose it uh but there is another cohort that Dr artiagas uh will be applying for for next year and so that's something we would take advantage of we are working with the county on that and so we would definitely look into securing additional funding for Community Schools okay let's see um do we know and and I I was trying to look for the number of the Renaissance U Academy at fiser how many in District inter district and intradistrict students at Fisher if we have that number and if you can look for that I'll yes I do that's 28 students 28 inter or intra inter okay can you say the uh difference of the two for inter is uh students coming from outside of the school district and asking to come to our school district intra is within our school district thank you so 28 int okay thank you um and [Music] then um painter Elementary how would the um mixing happen would it just be for example the SE 678 coming and I don't okay it just turn off um 678 coming to Shepherd or all the K through 8 what is the idea around that so those details are to be worked out but our thought is that since we have the um painter campus that we are going to reorganize it in a way that works for the students of course tk& K would need the restroom facilities and the tkk um classrooms um but we will look at moving the students um closer to the Shephard campus so that we can um use the cafeteria as well and also since we will have shared Administration it would provide that opportunity for administration to go between the the two um sites okay I I'll pause further for now thank you board president trusty fam do you wan to your comments thank you um just a couple um thank you to my colleagues for asking really great questions um Can the Raph cohort model um continue at Ram yes it can is that the plan that is something that we've been talking about yes continuing at Renaissance at mson okay um what is the plan for um connecting to our chronically absentee students and those lacking um housing access I don't think their voices are heard in this kind of venue and I just want to make sure we are understanding how we're connecting with them I think once the decision is made um we will definitely um need to look at who those students are um we do have a c two counselors one um that supports our mckin vento students one that supports our foster youth students we'll definitely get them and rs Department involved in providing um support to them and making sure that we're um doing doing case management with them to see what their needs are as well as our SLS um supervisors and our community lons so um once we have um the information we need to see which students will be impacted we will um begin to reach out to them it'll come back On's your teacher voice I I just wanted like we already have these uh links that we're going to need to figure out and the transportation issues and I think if we're already not um I think we just need to double down with that that population did you want to say I think that's what he oh got testing Tes yeah got it uh yes uh you know part of the plan is we're exploring well one we need to uh one of the the critical areas that we need to focus on is is focus on um supporting our you know our our foster homeless uh youth um but also reaching out there one of the things that I've done in my career that I I I think I've been very consistent is in conducting home visits and not only just having theal Department do that but also engaging parents the entire department at the district office the sites the principles in you know recovering our students because that's that's something something that's very important we need to know what supports they need why they're not showing up but the other thing that we're looking at is also um implementing and and uh assistant superintendent Teresa the cells is is also working with the uh with the transportation department we're fixing buses one there was one that that was broken I know we fixed that one one of our large buses but we're also looking at what's our inventory what's our capacity now that we're not spread out that thin what kind of transfer ation system or type of shuttle system can or or uh program can we set up so that it is transporting some of our students who need the transportation and early drop off I know has come up in some of the Town H Hall meetings that that I've had right we have the enrichment programs the uh after school programs the Extended Learning opportunity programs on the Grant and how do we support that and that would be through a Transportation uh possibly a shuttle stop type of program thank you um and I the last thing is not a um question it's more a comment sort of the the the two things that I'm not sure this well this board your board will have a lot of um opportunity to continue to highlight and work on the structural funding issues um you know know this this again this like decades long structural inequity where it's like we can't generate Revenue other than a Ada right and when Palo Alto and copertino don't want to share right don't want to be um Equitable right we are the victims of this structural inequity that um the cortezes the kaas the governors the Secretary of Education like I know we talk about it but lcff didn't do for us 10 years ago I'm sorry like I'm I I was here 10 years ago and I felt like we were like going to get there there was going to be some answer um and here we are here we are so um I I am think as I leave that we need to be talking about this um obviously solutions to these painful problems but one of them is reform just reform at at the core um because this this board can canot make money right we cannot make money and so um we have to rely on the state and I know you all have friends and so I think that's going to be one of their our bigger challenges so that we're not at this again and we you will hold at whatever number um we are left with with our schools and hopefully it's I won't say a number but um we have to hold so we're not at it again I I I just want to add to that the the funding part I would like uh to ask uh assistant superintendent uh to cells to talk a little bit more about the chronic absenteeism the way the Ada formula works because I think there's a some confusion around you know if students are enrolled at school then that's what you get when it comes to your funding and and that's not the formulas can you just explain that uh can you Mike please thank you because we're funded BAS on our Ada and so it's it's I just want to add Clarity on that because it it it's it's a big difference it it is very important to have our students come to school every day just for the education sake but in terms of funding if we have students that are not there on a Friday because the parents have taken them out on a long weekend we lose funding we are funded on the average daily attendance of our students that's what Ada stands for not the enrollment so when you are looking at the enrollment numbers we are not funded on that um so we are funded at two points in time P1 is the first Wednesday in October we will get those official numbers out it does take time to uh to figure that out um and we usually get that in January um and then P2 comes out in April and that's the number that we are are funded on so for right now we are funded on last year's P2 numbers and because we are in declining enrollment we are currently funded on the previous three years of ADA numbers which is helpful because we are declining an enrollment which means we get to use the average of the third year the second year and last year's numbers um so it is very important to make sure that our students come to school okay not just for the education but for the funding piece as well if we drop below 95% we are dinged for every single percentage that goes below the 95% so please make sure that your students come to school every day and and what percentage like approximate dollar amount can you give just an approximate dollar amount I know I'm putting you on the spot but if not we can get that information for you um I don't actually have those numbers we can get it for you but we're going to be adding it to the board report that way you have that information and so we'll work on that yes yes so instead of just giving you the enrollment numbers we will be giving you the average daily attendance numbers on a monthly basis oh my thank you Madame President so I guess with all I would like to close out this uh public hearing you know oh you want him to go and then you I don't want to close it off yeah let him make his comment and then you make yours okay okay no problem that's so you know on that note you know first of all you know this is a uh highly emotional time I have my own emotions uh you know I want to thank superintendent Serta and the administration for their efforts it's not an easy effort um uh you know though there may be disagreements I don't you know the issue I don't think the you know we disagree on the goals but we disagree on the means okay I want you know I I want to extend you know thank you to Mr Barbara for agreeing to to work with our district as facilitator uh with the school consolidation committee I want to thank uh those who served on the committee as well it's also uh you know not a pleasant task you know uh you know I'll be honest it almost feels like uh you know making decision to pull uh hold plug on Grandma here at the hospital right it kind of feels like that and I'm not you know I'm not going to uh sugarcoat the situation here so uh for the record you know pages one and two are missing from from my counter proposal so the thing is for uh for the next board meeting you know uh please include pages one and one and two there because you know we'll still have you know the next week's meeting will be focused on this but I think that it was important to at least Sunshine uh a counter proposal uh one that that takes into portions of the administration's recommendation portions of the committee's recommendations uh with an eye towards you know basically saving the best pieces of furniture in this district for our kids ensuring that there's enough schools in each geographical section in the North in the central in the South to protect programs uh like Vietnamese and Spanish dual language immersion and our media kids special education so uh using the framework and I I com commend the superintendent his administration for the framework of this right so you know there are some differences and I think you know uh this plan achieves some additional savings on top of on top of your proposal but using uh you know using the moving pieces of uh merger and redesign of schools it's Tech on paper you know one net less closure so I will you know put out my recommendation I will explain my reasoning to the people of alam Rock and I offer it to for the consideration of my colleagues on this board so uh school's recommendation for consolidation not closure I concur with uh Lucha Academy to be Consolidated with are colocated with San Antonio elementary with conditions using using the $712,000 figure so uh dollar amounts are based on uh figures provided by the administration in the board book so there should be no you know there is no surprise here so my reasoning Lucha is adjacent to San Antonio and consolidation retains the program into the same general location uh Lucha retains a CDE number and I want to make a explicit you know an explicit guarantee of uh administrative and staff separation and uh and autonomy from San Antonio due to their separate School cultures and instructional model uh I will concur in part with painter Elementary to be collocated in part with shepher middle with conditions you know the savings at $91,000 uh we must retain the pain painter site on the painter site the administrative and health office suite the bathrooms the playground access for uh all Vietnamese dual language Elementary grades and sufficient classrooms to accommodate all those in the Vietnamese dual language programs at g at grades tk2 through 2nd so must retain the separate painter CDE number and administrative staff separation and autonomy from Shephard middle due to again different needs at the elementary level and for Vietnamese language programs uh must it provide adequate separation for grades 3 to five using space and shepher uh the painter retains uh the existing separate Marquee for Vietnamese dual language Elementary business and to offer uh to those enrolled in the Standard English program uh the opportunity to either enroll at McCullum or Russo mckinty or uh offer uh those in great TK through first the option to enroll in Vietnamese immersion and remain at painter you know this is the horrible part here the schools recommended for closure right I I get it no one no one likes this part here but you know please bear with me but I think that this is you know this is the least worst option here uh Cassel Elementary then $932,452 you know the distance is 7/10 of a mile the reason my reasoning his aptitude has received additional Portables which can accommodate and increase population and retains the wellness center for student ye aptitude is also adjacent to Capitol Park and would allow students access to it uh Kon Elementary the savings at $856,000 the students would be merged to attend Lindale Elementary which is one mile and preserves Lindale as a second vapa school and preserves to specialize facilities for special education programs uh Meer Elementary the savings at 92,3 the student merged to attend Ryan Elementary at 1.8 miles uh Dorset Elementary the savings of 99,2 65 students merged to attend a restructured tk5 hubard media arts academy at 1.1 miles The Hub has expanded facilities and capacity for more students Hubbert has additional amenities such as the Verizon Innovative lab and soccer pitch and this pains me greatly and you know uh as a former Pala student George used to be the the the uh RI you know rival to Pala in there so you know this pains me you know there are no good choices here uh George middle the savings at 1,347 756 to offer the students either to choice to attend Shepherd or Renaissance at Matson uh vafa students may choose to vafa Visual and Performing Arts may choose to move to Renaissance at Matson to make use at the Allen Rock jazz band R right number six you know Renaissance at Fisher the savings is 1,420 441 the students merg with Renaissance at Madson to create one United Renaissance Academy movement is 2.1 miles students opting not to continue with the Renaissance model may choose to attend Okala so the schools recommended for redesign uh one the aptitute academy at GS re redesigned the tk5 the savings is approximately $200,000 and this is based on you know the general estimate presented by Mr CH you know then assistant superintendent uh Kira Chang and made you know where elementary schools tend to run at $900,000 and middle schools tend to run at 1.38 million I so uh altitude ecademy would view $200,000 in savings uh so it would receive the grades TK through 5 from Cassel but the grade 6 to8 merged with Okala middle which is 1.4 miles preserves the existing Wellness Center and larger facilities at aptitude and retains School access to the adjacent Capital Park uh hover media arts academy redesigned to a tk5 the SA savings is approximately $400,000 it would receive the tk5 from dorsa it has capacity to receive the entirety of dorsa with the existing larger facility and can preserve uh the piano lab from dorsa intact you know uh there's grade 6 to8 will merge with okal Okala midle which is at 1.7 miles um Chavez Early Learning Center would be redesigned a zero to preschool uh the TK and K would merge at San Antonio the savings is $5,610 sight for the district so here's the kicker the schools recommended for consolidation and relocation the adante 1 and two Spanish dual language cies consolidate as a single anal Academy and relocates to the former Renaissance at fiser school site the savings is uh 1.2 1,233 two and this is based off of you know running you know using solely the adalante 1 budget and you know the consolidation of adalante 2 both adalante 1 and two have a common history having started at the adalante one site it retains the TK through 8 model it preserves the Verizon lab the athletic field the locker rooms the science lab classroom the soccer pitch the modernized music room and the larger cafeteria and Stage facilities it does provide improved facilities for the Middle grades which still some room for growth through recruitment as a program of choice it maintains School access to the adjacent readed hillville Ranch Library adalante 1 and Adel moves adalante 1 1.5 miles and out of Lund 2 1.2 miles to a site that is at the midpoint of both existing sites and given the uh specialized facilities uh when not in use by anol lante the athletic field the Verizon lab the science lab classroom the cafeteria and Stage facility and music room should be made available for use by other arusd schools on a reservation basis and have needed TK and K classes could be temporary located at the former Meer Elementary for a one-year transitional period uh you know given the concerns expressed through constituent email about special education I do want to include in this counter proposal a explicit guarantee of special education in all arusd schools unless student placement requires a move to another District school or out of District placement all AR USD schools are to provide access to special education classes for enrolled students in addition arusd reaffirms its commitment to provide for appropriate opportunities for mainstreaming at all arusd School sites for existing laws in the students IEP so the net savings based on the calculations provided by the administration per school this proposal produces an upfront Savings of approximately 10,29 $ 4,687 uh this is an additional upfront Savings of approximately $ 68,7 2016 from the administration's proposal while protecting special programs amenities that are unlikely to be timely replaced in the medium term and ensuring quality facilities for special education and I wanted to make one note regarding uh the you know compare you know I understand the Renaissance at Fisher facility does have uh significant long-term uh deferred maintenance costs but going back to the figures uh the combined long-term maintenance cost for the current alante one and two sites add up to $12.8 million and there's an additional combined immediate repair needs of approximately $350,000 so um the C the long the Deferred maintenance and the short-term repair costs are comparable uh but you know my belief is preserving the Renaissance at fiser site as an active AR USD site preserves the special facilities again that are not likely to be uh replaced in a timely manner in the medium term by this District uh I so I propose that uh the list of active schools at the tk5 level lendon McCullum rouso maganty San Antonio Lucha Lindale aptitude Hub Ryan and painter three middle schools Shephard Renaissance at you know Renaissance at Matson to take you know and to inherit uh you know using the alen rock jazz band room to take in the vapa middle school program from George and Okala a tk8 Spanish dual immersion uh a single adalante Academy at the old fiser site or at the current Renaissance at fiser site and one Early Learning Center operated by kadango with arusd site supervision so I presented you know for consideration by my colleagues and also for consider you know at the end of the day wider consideration by the people of alam Rock who you know at the end of they will provide the final judgment for all of us on this board so uh may I uh and I know uh vice president uh kto you haven't had an opportunity to speak to this but uh since we got this this proposal early this morning I apologize first and foremost for the copies they were not double-sided and so I'll make sure that that's uh corrected and will upload it uh for the informational meeting uh we did run some of the numbers preliminary numbers um for the uh the impact this would have your proposal would have on students and it would actually increase it by 600 students to 3,400 and so and some of the cost uh we actually costed some of it out not all of it but I think this is maybe for another meeting for the information meeting I can come back um at the next informational meeting but it looks like it would cost uh approximately six or S million more dollars to go with that plan but we can cost it out for you and bring it back to the board uh and and then you can go ahead then you know decide on what the next steps would be after that but we'll cost it out for you uh for the next it's uh 3 do you have the numbers Ascend it's 3,457 students 3,457 students 28 15 15 all right um so um thank you all for being here um this is a very difficult process has been already stated um and I had no illusions that we were going to figure out some magical way of making everybody happy while we're half the schools are being considered to be shut down uh we went through this process throughout the course of my time here on the board in a different way when adalante was out growing and was at the Rogers campus we had tension and eventually they overtook the campus and um we had to make a tough decision instead of allowing people to be phased out we we closed it and there was a lot of anger a lot of and as expected parents had a right to be upset that their neighborhood school was no longer going to be there and they felt that they didn't have access to that school same thing with aricle uh when a school that was in Decline enrollment and we took action to preserve reserve the site by bringing in uh a school that would bring in um increased enrollment we we went ahead and Consolidated Matson and and Fisher sites and the same thing we got uh me folks coming out very upset and so I did not expect anything different at this time um over the course of my time on the board uh we faced some significant challenges declining enrollment uh we I I came on to this board saying I will not close one school I'm G to fight this we're going to we're going to push back and we're going to make sure that we figure out how to turn this ship around um the reality has set in and the fact is that we we are the the target of charter schools in Santa clar County uh with the oversaturation of charter schools that have impacted us and in addition a significant amount of students had took off after covid and did not come back because they realistically found a better a cheaper place to live in the valley many students took off other places and so all those things have impacted us if we could snap our fingers and figure out how to resolve them and fix them we would but we can't 1972 the Supreme Court and His Infinite Wisdom put in place in law the ability to discriminate from one student from one part of the county to another by making it legal for the State of Texas San Antonio B Rodriguez to say it's okay for you to have uh worse off school sites than your neighbors over here because you guys don't have the same amount of money and so I understand the anger the frustration we need to understand the underlying reasons uh that have been caused by folks who are way above our pay grade we are responding to what has been given to us I will not apologize for the fact that Alam Rock has with the resources that we have had attempted and has given a quality and dignified education to our students many of our neighbors have chosen to go away from music programs instead they contract out with a nonprofit who comes around and and has the kids play a kazoo for for 15 minutes a week or whatever it is whoever signs up for it Alan Rock hasn't our Sports programs are still in place and I will not go back and turn if I could back and turn back the clock and and cheat our students out of those opportunities I will not because I think our students deserve it we're facing this situation now and uh we're gonna I'm Gonna Stand by the decision that the board's going to make uh it's a tough decision but it has to be made and I think that at the end of the day we'll be able to come back continue to provide the music programs the Arts programs the sports that many of our neighbors even our own Traditional School District some of whom are reaching out to our parents asking them to take their kids out of alrock and take them to their take them there it's getting pretty rough it's getting pretty rough when Traditional School districts are going out there and competing against each other and so for that I will not apologize I I think it's a right direction to provide our kids a quality and dignified education to the best of our abilities and we have um I'm going to continue to advocate for that when we are leaner we will have the resources to be able to do it and have it not be a sacrifice um to to each and every one of you that came out and spoke thank you this is exactly what we expected this is what we needed this is what we wanted your input uh regardless of what your position is on the issue um it it's exactly what we as a board need and this is the venue where we need where we need to take your input uh and Factor it in once we make a decision so for that I'm very appreciative it would be incredibly sad if we had showed up to this meeting nobody was here it would be a sign of uh a disengaged board or people who don't care their about their Community you clearly do care and for that I thank you each and every one of you who've been here to advocate for your schools to advocate for your childrenas thank you all [Music] Ro thank you madam president you know uh know I have a question to the administration because uh you know Mr uh Mr s's response you mentioned that um you know my counter proposal you know would cost $6 million more dollars but I guess the issue is um uh you know what we're not going into too much detail you know given that this is a public hearing the public does have a right to know the issue is uh from where do you derive $6 million because it certainly isn't printed in the board book so Mark can you uh I'm gonna ask uh our interim Chief uh bonds officer to speak to that to and then uh I'll ask assistant superintendent Dells to also uh speak to that a question good evening trustees um as superintendent Serta mentioned um we've already began analyzing some of that information and suggestions and recommendations that you put together we contracted with one of our service providers a professional architect to give us an evaluation a very preliminary evaluation but of combining both adalante 1 and Adelante 2 to the Renaissance Fisher campus and he identified several factors that are driving that cost of approximately $6.5 million um most is related to um the required re remodern ising our classrooms uh to be for TK K uh level students we'd have to modify our restrooms we'd have to change the Cabinetry to be at a lower height um in addition it triggers Ada improvements um so that was his analysis and that came in um at 6.

once again our boys soccer team won the pic County Championship I'm not sure how many times that is it's 26 27 times or something it's it's out outstanding under the leadership of Coach lri so good luck to our our good luck to coach and our boys tomorrow night so we'll recognize our and and any other individual accomplishments like coach lck's 300 wins and um any other individual accomplishments of our students athletically will do in Fe February we'll also have a pbsis presentation and award ceremony uh next week so we we'll see how it goes and and hopefully um I think it'll be nice where we just focus on recognizing staff and students that night it should be should be really very nice want to reiterate again about the strategic planning we'll send invites out we'll put it out on social media anyone who lives in Clifton regardless of whether they're employees parents students we want to hear your voice we want you to come when we send you those invitations um we want to hear what you envision our district to look like in 5 years where do we need to focus what are the things we need to do um of course our teachers yeah of course our teachers and staff certainly last time when we did this we had a significant amount of faculty and staff um but again as I mentioned the the world ended for for a while and we kind of didn't get there so um anyway we we'll we'll pick those dates I'm thinking we do one in January one in February one in March that probably sounds about right um but we'll we'll pick those dates and we'll get that going so thank you again uh everyone thank you for your support your dedication and your ongoing work on behalf of our students um great to be back I'm excited about what is yet to come let's go I I wish everyone a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving that's coming that's that's pretty awesome I got to watch you know with the arteries and everything you know uh and last but not least Mr Paris a request um to pull agenda item 11 on Personnel pending further discussion with the Clifton Education Association okay um I think I would there will will need to be a motion for that okay need a motion to uh pull item 11 under Personnel motion to pull item 11 second second motion by commissioner bassford seconded by commissioner brunak roll call Miss bassford yes yes takes me a minute to to wind up Mr brunak yes Mr kova yes Mr Mahia yes Mr Santiago yes missano yes Miss Suarez yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries thank you Dr Rober toy okay is there any unfinished business they discussed all right hearing none uh commissioner bassford could you please read our expression of condolence sure um expression of condolence uh here as on October 11th the community noted the sorrow of the passing of Miss Sandra roach whereas Miss roach had served the Clifton Board of Education and the children of Clifton faithfully and conscientiously as a kindergarten age for 3 years Sandra was heavily involved in the Clifton school system during and after her children graduated if she wasn't making the school's yearbooks she was working as a kindergarten age at school number 15 she shined the light wherever she went and this was never and this can never be replaced she will be missed dearly by all the people who came to her for guidance and she raised as if they were her own now therefore be it resolved that this resolution be forwarded to her bereaved family to serve as an expression of the great Regard in which Miss Roach was held by the Board of Education the Administration Employees the pupils of the clipon public school system and be it further resolved that the contents of this resolution be noted in its entirety in the official minutes of the clipon board of education for future generations to peruse thank you commissioner bassford this portion of the meeting is open to Residents and non-residents of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to Android directly related to the operation of the Clifton Public School District residents and non-residents are requested to sign the register provided for this purpose and to State their names addresses and subject matter 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 a response will be forthcoming if in one appropriate the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when 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 supported by the laws 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 there is no one in Virtual okay so motion to motion to close virtual okay motion by commissioner bassard secutive by commissioner Mahia would anybody like to approach the podium thank you good evening Dr it's great to see you thanks Elias thank you um good evening everyone I want to express my deepest GR gratitude to the incredible people of Clifton although I came out as a runner up in this past election I'm truly humbled and thankful for the tremendous support I've received throughout this campaign your trust in me in my ideas and in the vision I shared for our city school system and the world and I'll always be grateful for every conversation and vote this journey has been especially challenging giving that it was held during a presidential election year a time when political engagement is at an all-time high and the focus often shifts to larger National issues that kind of commitment though that all of you showed is not something I take lightly I understand the weight of every vote cast and I truly appreciate the faith you placed in me especially when so many of the races were commanding of attention the fact that we got as far as we did as a testament to the passion and dedication of this community I want to take this time to congratulate those that did win the this election and the other local election and though I didn't win this election this campaign has been an invaluable learning experience every step of the way I've gained new insights met incredible people and heard stories that have only deepened my resolve to serve this city the lessons I've learned through this process will stay with me and I'll continue to work with to make our schools our neighborhoods and our future as a city brighter and let me be clear just because this election is over doesn't mean I'm going anywhere public service is in my heart and I and my commitment to Clifton remains unwavering I will continue to be an active part of this community advocating to our students supporting education and standing up for the values that matter to all of us Clifton is a place I love a place I'm proud to call home and a place I will always look to improve I'm not giving up I will keep answering the call of public service and together we'll continue striving to make Clifton an even better place for everyone thank you again from the bottom of my heart for your trust your support and your belief in me I look forward to continuing to serve this wonderful City in any way that I can and I and I'm excited for what the future holds this is only the beginning thank you all so much thank you elas good evening my name is Lor Lam and I'm the president of the cea welcome back Dr Rober toi we're all very happy and congratulations to the incumbents well deserved today I address you not only as an educator and president but as someone deep ly invested in the future of our nation's children we find ourselves at a Crossroads facing a moment of profound importance for public education the president elect's plans have sparked legitimate concerns here in the staff in Clifton as well as in the state and let many Educators like us question the future of our Public Schools this plan has laid out raises alarm Bells across the educational landscape this comprehensive agenda seek sweeping changes to education aiming to privatize and decentralize our public school system in ways that could undermine Equitable access to Quality education at the heart of our concerns is a fundamental question will this agenda help or hinder our students chances to thrive in an increasingly complex world first let's talk about funding one major proposal is redirect significant Federal funding from public schools to expand school choice including private school vouchers and we know what goes on with charter schools here in Clifton and how much money they get of ours while Advocates of school choice argue that this provides options for families what they often fail to recognize is the devastating impact such moves could have on public school districts especially those serving our most vulnerable populations as Educators here we know firsthand the resources matter underfunded schools cannot offer the same breadth of opportunities Advanced courses and extracurricular programs or modern learning environments every student deserves a fair fair shot at a well-rounded education not those who can afford private institutions additionally this proposal reduces the federal role in education over oversight while we understand the appeal of local control federal guidelines have historically played a crucial role in ensuring that students across the country receive Equitable treatment particularly in protecting the rights of students with disabilities English language Learners and those in marginalized communities eroding these protections could deepen existing inequities something we cannot accept in good conscience furthermore there's a strong emphasis on minimizing the influence of teachers unions and limiting our collective bargaining rights as Educators our unions have fought tiously to secure Better Learning conditions for our students Fair working conditions for teachers and all Educators attempts to undermine our unions are in effect attempts to weaken our voices we know that the power of collaboration and our voices are vital in shaping policies that affect our classrooms and our students our biggest concern is what's at stake for our students we believe in an educational system that prepares them to be critical thinkers innovators and compassionate citizens we want a system that values diversity and inclusion and upholds the promise of equal opportunity we fear that this vision is at risk under the proposed changes finally we must consider consider the impact of policies on the most vulnerable students those from lowincome families students with disabilities his proposals have not prioritized the Investments needed to support these students his budgetary approaches frequently called for cuts to programs like Title One funding and special education which are lifelines for schools serving disadvantaged populations if we want to foster a society that offers every every child an equal opportunity to succeed we must advocate for policies that uplift all students not just a few our concerns are not rooted in politics but our dedication to education as a public good it should be accessible Equitable and well resourced we are advocating for a future where every child regardless of zip code or background can walk into a school and receive an education that prepares them to thrive we must defend this Vision standing together to ensure that our values are not compromised and our students Futures are safeguarded so this is an idea that I hope can manifest because Dr Rober toi I've been getting calls and texts that there's staff members here in the district that are very concerned from what they've been reading so just to let you know that's how I frame this all right thank you so much okay would anyone else like to speak this evening okay seeing no one um motion to close public session motion second motion by commissioner Mia seconded by commissioner brunak Mr Kenova could you read our national Native American Heritage Month Proclamation sure whereas during National Native American heritage month we celebrate a rich tapestry of indigenous peoples and honor their sacrifices and whereas Native Americans have enriched Our Heritage and continue to add all aspects of our society through their generosity of culture and the continued practice of teaching economic and Environmental and Cultural sustainability and whereas our state and C country is blessed by the character the strength exemplified by the Native Americans who have answered the call of service in armed forces in greater numbers per capita than any other group in the United States we honor our Native American veterans and those who serve in active duty for their bravery and sacrifice and whereas during the month of November we honor our native peoples and recognize their continued contri contributions in strengthening the diversity of our society now therefore we the Clifton Board of Education do hereby Proclaim Proclaim November 2004 as Native American heritage month and encourages the district to observe the month with appropriate events and activities thank you commissioner Kenova commissioner Santiago could you please read our condemning hate in all form resolution sure thank you president Paris whereas the city of Clifton is home to a diverse and Vibrant Community composed of individuals from various cultural ethnic religious and so and social backgrounds and whereas the Clifton Board of Commissioners Central Administration and all staff affirm that all individuals have the right to live work and learn in an environment free from hate so discrimination and intolerance and whereas recent incidents have reminded us that hate and Prejudice still persist in our society manifesting in Acts of harassment violence and discrimination that affect our community members well-being and sense of security and whereas hate not only harms individuals but also weakens the social fabric of our community undermining the shared values of respect inclusivity and Unity that Clifton strives to uphold and whereas the Clifton Board of Commissioners Central Administration and all staff stand firmly against all forms of hate discrimination bigotry and violence and we are committed to fostering a safe inclusive and supportive environment for all now therefore be it resolved that the Clifton Board of Commissioners Central Administration and all staff collectively and unequivocally condemn all acts of hate and discrimination in our community and Beyond be it further resolved that we affirm our commitment to upholding policies practices and initiatives that promote diversity Equity inclusion and respect for all individuals regardless of race ethnicity religion gender sexual orientation disability or socioeconomic status be it further resolved that we encourage all community members to stand together against hate fostering a community where every individual feels valued supported and safe be it finally resolved that the Clifton Board of Commissioners Central Administration and all staff will continue to take active steps to support victims of hate and discrimination work in collaboration with Community organizations to promote education and awareness and ensure that Clifton remains a place of respect unity and compassion thank you commissioner Santiago looking for a motion to approve under education yes oh I'm very sorry I miss I missed an item we need need to vote on separately um where did I miss that one the minutes are number six no they're not on it's not on here I'm looking right at them it's number 10 adoption of minutes okay should we get back to that no just just vote vote on it I'm on it okay uh motion to adopt the minutes from our last meeting motion second motion by commissioner bassford seconded by commissioner brunak roll call Mr shahada please M bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr Kenova yes Mr mm yes M Santiago yes M siano yes M Suarez yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries yeah looking for a motion on under education to approve items 1 through 11 motion motion by Comm uh vice president Danny seconded by commissioner Suarez or perhaps even motion close um any any discussion commissioner Brak thank you Mr President that I I got a real issue with this policy 2200 and I want to thank Mr sh Miss kevich for trying to clarify this when you take a look at all the strikethroughs and everything that's being removed from here it stinks to high heaven they say we still have a say over over the over the curriculum right that that the board will still be able to vote for this annually when you actually look at and read this actual policy it's very concerning to me we have a body down in Trenton that is not elected this is an appointed body down in Tron that they put a strangle hold on our district to try to tell us how to run our district when it's our tax dollars that we have paid to the to this state and now they're telling us based on on what this looks like to me that we we're not capable of doing this so they try to take the power away from us and I just want to let my colleagues know I got a real problem with this policy and I'm I'm very concerned about this this stinks to high heaven when you take a look at this and um I I I will not allow these bureaucrats down and Tren and thank goodness Mr shahada did not vote on this particular to make this policy change cuz I know he knows better what's best for this District if we didn't think we had the right people in place and the right hires in this place and all the high caliber and high quality people that we have hired in this District then maybe they could say something but that is not a concern of this board as far as I'm aware of based on the contract that we have that with Dr Robert toy based on all the employees that we have here we have an excellent School District so I I just want to let everybody know I want to let my colleagues know my concern about this policy it and it stinks to high heaven when you take a look at it and I'm a hard no on this and also regarding this policy 61631 I speak with you know that the following Friday after the last meeting I spoke with some of the booster club presidents they said they had to pick up the ashes from dust when the lockdowns were over to try to bring these to try to bring these booster clubs back up to speed they they had nothing no resources or anything so they actually engaged in sponsorships and many of these businesses that have sponsored our teams and these booster clubs not only are they C CHS not only are they are they CH CHS graduates but some of them even have kids that go to our school district that attend Clifton public schools and when you take a look at this policy which I mentioned at the last meeting too it is ripe for abuse oh is this the organ is this organic from from uh the Maldives or something like that that we were required to use with this so so now what now we need to take do we need to take pictures of these do we you know what's H how deep do we have to go with this policy and how many how much more time and resources do we need to spend on a sign when Mr Malley it's very simplistic that again that these signs were there not one year not two years over three years these signs without issue until this year so I hope this is the last we talk about it but it probably won't be since since if it passes tonight there's going to be another amendment next week to include the booster clubs but I want to let my colleagues know that this policy will hurt our kids it doesn't help them these booster clubs need to fund raise a lot of different things even coordination and pra not only with our facilities but sometimes they have to go to outside of our facilities because they don't have the resources for that and we don't have the resources in the budget so this is my main concern too I just want to let my colleagues know thank you thank you commissioner brunck anyone yes commissioner B okay first of all I sit on the booster club meeting uh booster club committee nowhere in any shape and form is this policy made to hurt anyone it's to protect the district from liability okay there was one out of all those uh booster club um posters or whatever you want to call them that were hung up were there anyone that was uh apprehensible or offensive in any way or when against al mission statement one okay okay so it but it's also made to um protect the district from liability there were instances where people actually used our facility and they slapped up signs without permission from this board of education without getting those companies approved they could be an offensive company something in inappropriate that goes against the mission statement of this District we need to protect this District all this policy does and nobody on in the in the booster club committee or in policy I think want to hurt anyone I think it's just a protection to the light to the to the district if we don't put something in place and anybody could do whatever they want we we we are we live in a country where the Constitution was founded and written by people that were were everyday people and they wrote that Constitution with a with the backing of it can always be changed if you don't like it that's the beauty of living in this country using your voice to change something this is being put in place and I have confidence by being on the policy committee for so many years I stepped down because somebody smarter than me took it over I'm sure that with the wisdom of the people on this board if the policy doesn't work we will change it and amend it or dis dissolve it so I'm I'm insulted in a way because I'm trying to protect the district I have a fiduciary obligation to the people and the community to protect and to protect this organization and that's what this policy does so I'm in favor of it thank you and Mr Bry if I if I could just say we have no intention on denying anything it's kind of like use of facilities I kind of just put it on the agenda you guys say yes and we call it a day as long as it's nothing of of a vulgar nature I don't I don't see this board denying it in any capacity and uh Dr Rober toy reserves the right to um approve something and then we can retroactively approve it on the board agenda as long as it kind of Falls within the the decency standards that we have CHR BR is the last thing I'm going to say about this at the last meeting our attorney said not she did not know one other District that had a policy like this so I just want to let everybody know that thank you Mr Paris anyone else yes Mr Suarez oh oh sorry we're in sync today um I just want a question for commissioner Bak um and thank you for your concern about policy 2200 and as I'm reviewing it I because I hear your passion what exactly is it that um goes against your values or our Clifton values that you find um that isn't acceptable cuz it's my understanding that the curriculum is then absorbed still through the district um and through other areas um and it's just more a a more succinct policy um so if I can please hear your perspective so maybe I'm missing something if you can please explain BR thank you strike through strike through in paragraph number three on on policy 2200 approved annual by the board in accordance with the law paragraph number five the board directs the curriculum shall be consistent with the educational goals and OB objectives of this District struck through thank you Mr BR if I can say those changes are just made to be in sync with the the the law of the land of the state of New Jersey Mr BR thank you but when you look at it Mr Shota that was my point when I first started when I mentioned it when when you actually read it and take a look at it thank you okay remember we we are still on first reading too right so we are not adopting this this evening doesn't matter if you guys don't adiz the loss okay Dr Danny yes okay so I just want to say that um the sponsorship 616 3.1 that we are bringing that up with the HSA so Mr brunak if you know we will be bringing that up and discussing it and obviously they have a vested interest in that so they think something with the wording I mean we can always throw that back to policy but just as Mr shahada said just to you know get this moving right now and appr prove something but again they have the vested interest so I don't know if that helps in any way to maybe if there's concerns that some some of them had spoken to you about the concerns we'll have a whole entire group there and we'll be presenting this to them and if they have concerns we're definitely going to you know take it to policy for them to look at that yeah Mr shahada points out this is a mandatory policy though okay law I have a question about that because I don't see the m in it and that's why I I questioned it today my question do you um president Paris to the superintendent what is the role of a board member we set the curriculum correct we vote on it primary role is policy right but what else board absolutely approves the curriculum 100% now just for the record I I see what Mr brunak is pointing out here it it appears to me that that was removed from that sentence but if you look at the next paragraph which is only one sentence says the superintendent is responsible for implementing the curriculum approved by the board so there is still an acknowledgement that the curriculum has to be approved by the board but I don't think it matters if we strike out approved annually by the board I think we could leave it in there and I don't think it changes the fact that that if that would alleviate Mr brak's concern I think that's just an easy um uh fix that we could just you're going to prove it anyway we're going to you have to approve it you know so if if if that would you know I think Mr brak's point is well taken I think it is addressed later on which is why I don't think it's a problem to just leave that one strike I think they're striking that out for efficiency purposes that so it's not redundant not to be well maybe I'm naive too but you know I I think that's the only reason why it's being struck out but again the administration will implement the policies that the board passes so it's your call we can review this again in policy with consultation with legal concerning Dr Roberto's uh proposal here as well see if that yes so may I make a motion to remove and send it back to policy for review it automatically will go back now anyway after first reading that's normally what happens after first reading president Paris and everybody should send their concerns I was late this week and I really apologize on that one um but send your concerns and then they'll discuss it because that's one of the things I used to ask all the time policy please give us the because they look at it they really they it's a long meeting they take they take their time and they really discuss it it's it's a great meeting to be in anyone else uh president Paris really quick just on the sponsorship policy because I'm on policy committee as well and um I was one of the questions or one of the concerns I just wanted to bring up at the time was we want to make sure that it's clear that we aren't directing the HSA in terms of who they work with and that kind of thing um this was particularly in relation to promotional right um items right and so making sure that we don't have anything that's hanging up somewhere that's an inappropriate sponsor that's a vaping shop that's something like that right that's a liquor store and we don't know about it right so um that's really the intention behind the whole policy all right um we done with discussion right okay uh so again look I think there was a motion made if I got it yes we had already so roll call Mr sha can you please State them what we're voting on again we are we are voting on under education items 1 through 11 St my job Miss bassford yes Mr brunak yes to everything except ea6 policy 2200 I'm a no and EA 7 I'm a no got it Mr Kenova yes Mr Mahia yes to everything except ea7 um 6163 got it Mr [Music] siano uh yes to everything I'm a no on ea6 uh 2200 until I see those changes made to Dr Rober toy suggested Miss Suarez yes VI president Danny yes president Paris you miss commissioner Santiago oh I'm sorry Miss Santiago yes and president Paris yes motions carry okay next we're looking for a motion under C uh Personnel items number one through uh 32 with the exception of 11 which we have pulled motion second okay motion by commissioner bford second by commissioner Mia roll call Mr oh discussion sorry okay roll call Mr Shad um excuse me Mr Paris um I might have given the r we might have pulled the wrong one I asked for 11 to be pulled yes you did um I was taking that off my printed copy which stiens stiens that's correct oh that's correct okay thank you sorry apologize okay real call Mr shot Miss bford uh yes and stay on my um 29 my name only Mr brunak yes Mr Kenova yes Mr Mahia yes Mr Santiago yes substain on 29 my name only Mr siano yes abstaining on Tomahawk promotions due to my business relationship we're in Pete we're in person oh I'm ahead of myself so yes Miss Suarez yes abstain on P20 and p21 vice president Danny yes abstain on p29 my name only President Paris yes abstain in my name only p29 and abstain on P30 motion car motion carries okay next up is uh Finance facilities a motion to approve items number one through 11 I'll make that motion Mr Paris motion by commissioner siano second second second by commissioner Suarez discussion hearing none I have a question about use of facilities here we go fck up oh she say get out of here you ready what that's why people put me here because I ask questions I have a question for you to the ba through you president Paris with the ba um of all the facility usages that we've had since January 1 2024 how the the paid usage ones how many have not paid and do you know who they are I do not know offhand it is a handful and I will not publicly disclose who is delinquent on their payments uh you and I can have a conversation at some point in the future about that cuz um my concern is if they're not paying are we still leasing out usage to them or do we not let them have it again uh the administration serves at the pleasure of the board and if there is a use of facilities on there and somebody is delinquent a group is delinquent you guys have every right to vote it down we will not arbitrarily deny the use of facilities that's the board's perview cuz I'm on this board 13 years and I've never been told who was delinquent and who wasn't that's what my concern is a question came to me from a constituent I reached out to you and asked you the question so I think that going forward if we do have an issue with um somebody renting or trying to use our facility and they are a paid entity and they do not pay the bill why are we giving them that that listen our our buildings are great people run great programs in our buildings and they do wonderful things you have all kind of vendors all kind of and the dance competition's wonderful but if there's somebody that's going to be you know not I hate to use the word deadbeat why are we letting them come back it's not fair to the people that we charge and they pay and that's it's what's fair is fair so that's all I I'd like to if you would give me the information I would appreciate serve at the pleasure of the board if you guys want to deny it that is totally within your purpose so uh when we have a use all these are all non non- pays but if there was another one that comes up and it the person did or the people did not pay I would like to that information prior to me casting a vote for a new usage uh and then also um do we have a collect C process or do we what do you do like send three notices out and then that's I send Vinnie out I'm sorry I send Vinnie Vin Vinnie up on them yeah Vinnie chewy and Mark they go hunt people down breaking kneecaps I don't think I don't think Chewy is goingon to be very effective in getting money back they just going to fall in love with them no be and it's a serious conversation because some of the rentals we get are substantial and it and then my other issue is that you're renting you're you're you're giving the usage to this people and they're taking it and you're maybe somebody else wanted to do it and have it the same time and they would have paid Jude I can give you uh a simple answer that'll make everybody very happy and give the the the administration some discretion just create a policy if somebody doesn't pay we just we just uh I got to go right to my right board okay no worries hold the permit commissioner bassford we'll take it up in our next Finance uh committee discussion make sure it's on the agenda I agree commissioner Santiago well you kind of meant you you're both saying it it's like do we amend the facility use the facility policy to add verbiage that says if right if you are delinquent then or whatever I would do a standalone policy let's not let's not conflate the two fine all right I follow on I just curious oh thank you so much president so curiosity is killing the cat here because you just made a really good point so let's say I rent out a facility um this is my first time having this conversation and I've rented it out five times five times I have not paid you you're still going to put me on the agenda for that sixth time well I would have rent it to you in the first place without the money up front just for the record that's that's a smart move you look sket you know me quite well um no and like I said we we serve at the pleasure of the board if you guys approve it we do not have the authority to uh deny a use of facilities unless it is something that goes against the guidelines of the policy so we can outright deny it as long as they meet all the criteria we send it to the board and you guys vote it up vote it down and I will get you guys a a delinquent payment list by by the morning thank you I think we've we have the answer we and I think it's very reasonable to not rent it to somebody who hasn't paid and so we add that or create a policy I'm I'm not sure that we can just add a line to a I don't know that we need a whole new policy no just that's something we can discuss in in policy committee that 7510 opened up a can of worms for a long time let's not let's not rehash that one just let it this one I think is very reasonable I think everybody's in agreement on this right you don't pay we we we let you do it one time you don't pay we're not going to let you R rent our facility again no no business would do that why would we do that right excuse me president Paris for those out out there that don't know some of our facilities have been really upgraded and school 3 is just a gorgeous Auditorium I can't wait to see the rest of them this is a money these are money this is funding that we get that we can use for something else so if we're not getting the money then we're not using it to something else and it hurts our children in the long range that's what my motive is here I'd rather rent it to people that are going to pay so we can we can make the money for that something else that you guys come up with President Paris yes commission Sano so yeah like we're saying I just think that we can address that with policy um I ne I don't necessarily need a list of delinquent anybody um didn't know that that's a great idea that you brought up great Point um just going forward we do what we need to do we have a lot of nonprofits right and we're thinking or talking about somebody's delinquent six times it could be the first time and they're getting they didn't get a check from whoever I mean think about the the great organizations that we do you have no idea you you may have an you may have a you may think you know who be on this delinquent list and then you see the list and it might be somebody wow it's a great organization right um but but the point is yeah I don't I don't need to see the list nor know I just going forward we can fix that because again sometimes the nonprofit falls on whatever situation and um not everybody is you know egregiously intentionally not paying right sometimes we all fall on some situation including nonprofits all right roll call Mr Shad good bord yes yes Mr brunak yes Mr kova yes Mr Mahia yes Mr Santiago yes Mr siano yes with my previous exstension of Tom Hawk can you please read the check number I did before I have it as 10 n935 does that help the item number thank you Miss Suarez yes stand on f11 check 219 318 and check 219 320 vice president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries okay that brings us up to our board member comments and commissioner Kenova you start us off this sure uh so first I just want to congratulate my colleagues on their successful re-election I'm looking forward to working with you for um the next couple of years and uh through Elias so as a recent graduate it your dedication professionalism and ability to articulate your position on issues make me proud and I know one day that he's going to do great things in life um Miss Dr Robert toy welcome back um it was it was definitely different without you here but uh all great I mean the administration really stepped up um but that's because of the team you put in place and um now you're back now we got to get to work again sir thank you uh so we had a couple Trunk or Treats that that took place since our last meeting that were very Su successful um the community came out again and and it's just great to see I I love events where kids are involved and the community is involved um and any events we could have like that I continue to push forward um and with that in new business I'll mention another one um the parade so I did attend the parade that that was uh done and phenomenal job by the band uh they always they always come out and really put on a great show they really do great job so I'd love to see that yesterday I went to the event um with Mr brunak here with uh staff for students in in the CCMS uh Auditorium I mean the uh gymnasium and they put on a good show they the kids almost won but they did they did uh not they were not Victorious so I said we should do another one where we have Board of Ed and uh executive Administration here against their staff I'd be out for another couple months um and the only other thing that I I know we were talking about during our next meeting but because it's so small here and we're doing a lot of awards I don't know maybe we should think about moving that to another location like the high school or something I believe that's where we the awards meeting is at the high oh it is y yes sir good good that's all I had thank you thank you commissioner kova commissioner Mia thank you president Paris um first I like to say welcome back um Dr Rober tozi um second I like to say um congratulations to all of our fall sport sports that competed this past fall looking forward to the next meeting where we will honor all of our staff and to Second what commissioner kovo said I was thinking maybe we could probably have that at the auditorium as well it's going to be a big crowd so I hope to honor each and every one of them there um next up finally congratulations to Judy Allan and Lucy on your re-election I look forward to working with you guys throughout the next couple of years and please go support the boy soccer team which starts at at I believe 6:30 p.m.

492,000 or 66 and A5 million doar as is a round figure to implement the second item is we would have to utilize many of the class rooms that you mentioned the stem the Verizon Center we need those 30 classrooms in order to collapse those two school to accommodate three TKS three Kinder rooms um so we would have to utilize some of those existing infrastructure to accommodate the extra students and third the other item is he gave us a timeline uh if we were to begin in mid in mid December uh the process would take us uh the school would not be ready for accommodation until July of 2026 the first five months would be the design phase the next four months would go to the division of State architect and that uh takes approximately four months uh from there we would go into bid approval process for hiring a contractor that take about two months to bring them on board have the board approve that contract and then starting construction in January of 2026 and completing that um that construction in July of 2026 so those are some of the preliminary uh things we looked at in terms of collapsing those uh adantes into Renaissance Fisher and this was done by Finny Architects uh trust vice president kto next um apologies for not including this in my previous comments but I'd like to point out that uh we do have a trustee elect uh Minn here in the back and so um just wanted to make sure that I identify him for you all you can go after him no I'm just kidding just kidding so uh I I just um I want to acknowledge um truste uh fam's um attempt and what I would feel way more comfortable with because this happened back in June um I'd be much more comfortable with um you know give instead of your own analysis that there's either you D you say what is the because we had a lot of people say save X school but then what's the Y school that needs to be the the alternative right so if you're asking for ex school um to be saved and why School took to be the alternative to be cut and then direct the administration to come back with analysis based on the existing analysis because that I just want to be really transparent that I want to take your proposal seriously but I'd rather have the administration do the analysis and so I just really want to understand the process for um so that we're all discussing the same numbers because when we're talking about different numbers it puts us in a real bind and then these folks think we can't trust anybody so I just want I think process is clearly something that we need to be really clear on tonight but I'm I'm just want to say um you have a it's a great attempt but then when the numbers don't pencil out then it's really hard to make a decision off that so I would rather have it be their numbers and your school idea um and then we can have a fair we can have the same conversation I hav't so um I'll let you go and then I I'll speak go ahead go ahead uh I was just going to say um in addition to that um you know I'm looking at these numbers and you know I can't help but to think what was presented to us to us was 20 million million and these numbers whether we're looking at uh men's proposal superintendence it's approximately 10 right so we get to work together you know and so I appreciate also thank you um trusty Flor Shelton for bringing that up because I do appreciate you know men looking at you know what other possibilities and I think um our audience said it best we need to come together you know we could disagree but this is a time to really come together because at the core of all this as we've said over and over is our children the children that our teachers get to teach every day day in day out and I know you love love them otherwise you wouldn't show up and of course as parents as a parent here in this District you know I mean I don't even have to say you know those those of us that are parents so let's just think about that as we move forward because you know even though we go through this tough we're going to go through this you know December 2nd we're going to need to make some tough decisions whether it's a mix of mens and you know what the superintendent presented or whatever it is it will be and it's going to be tough and somebody will be unhappy and we get to look at another 10 million in the near future and hopefully we get to do that together and having experience this today um you know it's not going to be pretty but it could at least be a idea and and a way that we all move forward and I love the idea of coming together of going to the state of calling our friends pesi oshara all of the others and coming together you know especially those of us that might not have seen eye to eye this is really an opportunity to come together so I look forward you know uh you know I look forward to meeting our new trustee coming up you know as uh one of the trustees that was also elected to work together um and really you know test our our love for Alam Rock and our children and families here thank you okay so now um I think I'm going to just speak i' I think I've allowed everybody multiple times to speak so so I'm going to do this last one um I want to thank you all for being here it's not easy having to run the meeting as TimeWise as proficient as it should be but it's needs to be done and you can always if you have additional comments you can always send those to the board we do look at all of them we do listen and we do uh take that into account um the problem is again the money the money it's always been the M money because of the fact that when they 10 years ago they used to fund the children at 10,000 88 per student and they were funding the jails at 150 per prisoner so they have that in Reverse we have to go to the state we have to make sure that they know you can't do this to families anymore you can't do this to the children anymore because the families are paying the price the children's their education is paying the price through all this where here we didn't ask for this as far as them underfunding us year after year but it has to be done I've gone to so many schoolside visits along with men and the children are asking can I you know can you get us water can you get us drinking water do you know how sad that is when I went to school after school after school and they didn't have any and the children are just like when are you going to get assist and I look at the fields there's not enough money to take care of everything so to me I feel like we're doing a disservice the most to the children because we're not we don't have the money but we also know that we have to consolidate schools to make the learning better for them so that's what I signed up for to make the student learning the best that it could be and you know what we have so many great programs here and I want them to continue but they can't continue with the amount of money that we're getting today so um thank you than you all for being here thank you all for listening to everybody's comments please be patient um I keep asking everybody to be patient because it's not over and it's also an opportunity for alen rock to finally um consolidate these schools and bring the children what they really need and I know nobody likes to hear that um we're going to close qu and sell them we're not selling properties and I want to get that straight and so what we got when we did close Pala and we did um allow them to put the uh their schools on our Pro on our properties we get $634,000 a year and over a 10-year period that adds up so we could be doing the same thing with other sites it doesn't have to be to Charters it can be for other things but remember we do have to cut now but we also have to look into who's going to give us the most money and we have to really look at those leases and be open to uh the next 50 years not like it said in the book 99 years I don't I don't think that we should do an Outlook that far out but I do believe that we need to all stick together because we're all alen rock we're all you guys are here these teachers these parents because you care about the students you could go anywhere but you're here in Alan mark because you want to be here with these students and they're very special to you very special to me and to the board and to all of us and we have a great Administration that has been working really hard trying to make things happen um and I thank you for that and also we have bigmat there's Mr Donald ziming there in the corner and his and the other one forgive me I forgot your name right now but I'm working under the weather right now so uh I want to thank you all and and if you have any comments like I said just send them to the board thank you uh President Chavez uh could I ask to table one of the items what item is that and it would be the uh Tera realy advisers it's 8.02 and I can move it for next week okay and we're also going to table 8.01 okay okay so both of those items 801 Miss marel and 802 will be tabled for the next meeting and so right now it is 904 and I'm going going to close the public meeting at this time and recess we will go to close session after a 10-minute break and you're gonna say something I oh yeah I was on to ask for a 10minute break okay so we will resume uh into close session at 9:15 okay how about that oh yeah Madam we do have to take make an announcement and take public comments on close session items okay um really quick um since we're going to go into close session uh so does anybody have a does any of the public have any comments on the items in closed session ask superintendent to uh excuse me superintendent we have a question for you what did you say sorry please please announce the items to be discussed in close session please announce the items to be discussed in Clos session and then we will take public comment if there's any if there none we will go to close session go ahead please the items for a closed session uh will be the uh the following um conference with legal council anticipated litigation uh there are significant exposure to litigation pursuing to paragraph two or three subdivision D of section 54956.9 four potential cases there's also 3.04 conference with vagle Council anticipated litigation significant exposure to litigation pursuing to government code section 54956.9 subdivision D2 one potential matter student number 420 36918 there's 3.05 conference with legal council existing litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9 subdivision D1 one matter OHA case number 202 49816 and then conference uh 3.06 conference with legal council existing litigation paragraph 1 subdivision D of section 54956.9 J do 1 Ed Al versus alrock Union School District Ed Al Santa Clara County Superior Court case number 23 CV 42087 Jane a y do do by and through her guardian Ed Lam John doublea Al do versus alumrock Union School District Ed Al Santa clar County Superior Court case number 24c CV 42976 and then Jane Dov alumrock Union School District at L Santa clar County Superior uh court case number 24c V4 35022 Jane ahk do Ed Al versus alrock Union School District Ed Al Santa clar County Superior Court case number 24 CV 441 079 Jane do ew versus alrock Union School District at AL C car County uh case 22cv 47905 Jane Row one Jane Row 2 Jane Row 3 versus alrock Union School ele school district and Santa CL um Santa clar Superior Court Consolidated case number 22cv 49107 Jane do says alrock Union School District think together and New Hope for Youth Santa claro County court case number 24c V 449 309 and there is no 3.07 um there's no 3.08 conference with the that no with labor negotiators employee organization CCA we don't have that one 3.09 U we don't have that one either as well okay and that's it all thank you go ahead confused are you not doing negoti uh discussing labor negotiations in close session not in close session okay so it was put on the agenda by accident yes okay all right so no comment from the public public okay so we will go to we will now be going uh to take a break first it's it's 9:08 uh let's say we'll resume and close session at 9:20 okay e e e can you hear me lelle Danielle can you hear me marel can you hear me can you try to talk I can hear you you can't hear me can you hear me can you try to talk I'm I'm talking can you hear me let me see you keep talking okay all righty Danielle one two three 4 Danielle can you hear me can you hear me Danielle Danielle oh I can't hear you not yet or at least not through the sound system yeah I wonder what's going on how about now M you hear me no man you hear me Danielle can you hear me no I'm trying to see if I can hear you through the [Music] speakers testing testing one two can you hear me I hear you through my computer but not the the speaker system [Music] maybe something wrong with the speakers can you hear me Danielle I think it doesn't work okay no Mar can you keep talking Mar so it doesn't work huh it doesn't work huh just keep talking Mar okay one two three four one two three four two three four one two three four one two three Mar one two 3 testing one two three test one two [Music] ask [Music] testing one two three four one two three four one two three 4 One Two Three 4 Mar you want try Maro can you talk two three four one three four can you talk Maran close session can you hear me can you hear me one two three four one two three four one two three four one two three 4 one two three four good you hear me Danielle no not yet I think it's not working huh can you talk again marel can you hear me one two three can you can you keep talking marel hey one two three hey Danielle one two three one two three 4 One Two Three 4 One Two 3 four testing one two three 4 one two three four one two three four we're gonna talk through the through the microphones might but can you hear us yeah I can hear you guys well no I was talking through my laptop but I need uh I'm going to talk in through the podium mic oh okay but you can hear me right can you hear me can you keep talking Mar one two three 4 one two three four one two three four one two three 4 one two three four can you one two three 4 testing one two three 4 one two three four one two three 4 testing testing one two can you hear me one two one two for e there we go okay so now it's can you hear me marel can you hear me I can hear you testing one two marel can you hear me I can hear you can you hear me can you hear me yes marabo we can hear you now finally cool I'm gonna mute your mic sounds good oh I can actually just turn all the mics down marel okay sounds good but it's still muted oh well oh you're unmuted it that's cool e e e we're back um Mr uh superintendent s can you please report out what happened in close section I will do thank you uh president Chavis uh for U agenda item close close session agenda item 3.04 conference with Le uh with legal council anticipated litigation significant exposure to litigation to government code section 54956.9 subdivision D2 one potential matter student number 420 36918 the Board of Trustees um approved uh in a unanimous decision 5 to Z and also for conference with legal councel existing litigation uh this is for case uh 24c 449 309 the Board of Trustees voted 5 uh oh that was it sorry about that and then the other the other one I'm sorry about that that was a different one and then I'll turn this over to uh assistant superintendent uh too for the next agenda item yes okay it was just delayed um thank you thank you superintendent s uh item 3.10 on on a motion from trustee Flores Shelton seconded by trustee era Lera uh the board unanimously approved the separation agreement of a certificated employee uh there are no more items to report from Clos session thank you so we'll be moving on to the uh 501 presentation from fmat physical health risk analysis report uh there's a PowerPoint provided to the district is that is that up yet e Andy you need the the report yes oh than I didn't remember thats you just volunteered yourself to turn and our woman anytime you say something it's like the yellow sign can't see that far okay they put a sign it's too bad then I'm in trouble oh somebody just came out okay hi uh good evening how are you guys doing probably a bad question to ask hopefully you're having a good evening tonight um uh my name is Marcus forwick I'm with fcmat uh fmat stands for fiscal crisis and management assistance team uh I'm here to to do a review of the recent fiscal health risk analysis and I'll kind of get into that a little bit here tonight so who is fmat uh I refer I'm Not Gon to say fiscal crisis management we always refer to as fmat we've heard fcm or fcmc or something like that as my mom continuously tells me um but who are we we are a uh a public agency uh created in 1992 when the first school district went bankrupt in the state of California and so really what our agency does is we assist school districts public California school districts community colleges as well as public charter schools on um operational issues fiscal issues insolvency issues uh fraud investigations and then a lot of it is a professional development as well of best practices and so on and so forth um our administrative agent is current County Superintendent of Schools uh which is in Baker field I don't live in Bakersfield all of our fcmat staff live throughout the state of California uh so I actually live over in the Central Valley um and so my commute home will be easy tonight not like normal commutes so um so what what we we here for we were here to conduct our fiscal health risk analysis or what you'll hear me refer to it as as an FH um and then from there we will go over the level of insolvency that the district uh is at based off off of that analysis um this report will mainly highlight uh uh our result of our current fiscal health risk analysis and then compare what was done back in 2020 as a kind of like a a a point in time for comparison purposes to see how well or how if things are improving and so on and so forth so we were here at the district visit the district onsite myself and a colleague on uh in August uh late August 27 to 28th uh we interviewed primarily it's your business department staff but that also includes your facilities your bonds um uh other cabinet members as well as uh principles and and so on your management staff if you will um during those interviews we we are asking specific questions related to process and procedures uh part of our document list that we also hand the district is about a little over th I think I counted at 1,45 documents at provided to us so it's it's it's a it's a heavy task to get all this information to us thank you to Teresa and her staff I think the week that we were there was also uh C's last week um the physical health risk analysis is it focuses on processes and procedures so what's are things being done well and correctly within the business department within the organization uh and so on and so that's what we typically uh look at we report on what's not not working well or what you're not doing so with that said it's like a deficit model report um it's kind of bad news I mean without putting it bluntly like that uh we're looking for problems or looking for issues that are concerns that that we see that should be reported out so specific to the FH um we take a look at 20 different areas within a school district and those 20 areas are specific areas that we have found over the course of our 30 years uh uh excuse me yeah 30 years in in working with school district are common areas where we've seen school districts experience a level of a higher level of insolvency or risk so position control special Leed auditing um leadership and stability and so on and so these when we go into districts that they're they're having fiscal problems these are 20 CR these are these 20 sections are just the common ones that we have seen each question uh there's about 100 32 questions they're all yes no uh yes is a good thing we typically don't report on things that you're doing well uh a no is is not great uh meaning that there wasn't evidence provided to us or demonstrated through either the interview process the County Office of Education or interviews with staff that indicate that things weren't uh occurring or happening then ultimately what's come what what happens with that is a score is developed uh with your level of risk now just because you have a high moderate or low risk doesn't necessarily mean you truly have a high moderate or low risk you could have a higher risk but a but a higher level of insolvency or a low level of insolvency conversely you could have a low risk and a high level of insolvency does that make sense I'm I'm looking at you so let me repeat that again we're focusing on systems and process you could have good systems and process in place so your overall risk could be low but there could be other factors that could lead to a high a higher risk of insolvency that better to explain that that way okay so so for example there's a question on collective bargaining right that's easy we're we're we're a people business right 85 to 95% of the the district's budget is uh uh towards personnel if your position control is not intact your overall risk could be low but if you're not monitoring your people correctly that that could quickly lead you to insolvency we were at a district where uh they had no idea the true number of certificated and classified employees nobody knew what that number was and and so for us you know maybe they have great systems in process police but if they're not monitoring their position control correctly that that's a problem that wasn't the case here uh and and so on so we were triggered tried so so then on top of that when a a triggered fiscal health or a triggered FH rate occurs it's when the county superintendent there's some criteria where the County Office of Education will issue a a a trigger or a higher level of risk which then automatically would potentially bring us in that could be a disapproved budget a negative interim report certification three consecutive qualified interim report certifications a downgrade of an interim certification by the county superintendent and or a lack ofo concern designation by the county superintendent we were brought in for SEC 2324 second interim because the county downgraded your interim certification uh um for that and so therefore they reached out to us because sometime had passed since our last FH they asked us to come back in here to do another fiscal health risk analysis everybody following me so far okay if you guys have if you have questions please please raise your hand or or interrupt me um we've all anytime a district is triggered where we come in it's designated as an automatic higher risk so there's reasons why you know I just explained the reasons why the county office would would bring us in or a trigger as to what that could be doesn't matter what your score is it's an automatic highrisk okay and you'll you'll understand as I get a little bit further um the district score from this this current report was 24.7% right so in reality if you look at it it's it's a low risk in terms of your process processes and systems in place within the business department and and the uh uh the district as a whole it's fairly low but due to that trigger right we have to call it a higher risk right because of the trigger um the services that we provided as we came in are free of cost right that's part of our state allocation that FM receives from the Department of Finance so this is no charge to you uh when there's a trigger this is our effort to work with leas to ensure that hey do you know that there are some potential issues here are those issues that that may occur for you as the board to make some decisions you know uh and so on so some of the areas that I wanted to talk about are uh these these six areas were more or less the highest the highest scores in your risk of the eight of the 20 sections two of them are highlight deficit spending in your unrestricted general fund as well as your special ed uh section 20 um tonight's tonight I will focus on mainly on your the reason for the deficit spending your special ed and then there's going to be a comparison as to what your 2020 results are to your 2024 results so you can kind of see in this case there was actually an improvement in the score right your your actual risk percentage was low it's still high risk but again there's better systems and processes in place to designate that lower score uh in speaking with the county office they also did want me to to mention at least there's some contingent liabilities out there um in terms of a recent law that was passed AB I believe it was ab218 uh uh where open up the door for claims against the district for inappropriate conduct with with staff this is not just to uh this is consistent with a lot of districts that we're dealing with throughout the state so this is not something that just with alumrock but it is a concern um in terms of the systems process in place I mean you did get a no on that because you know the the district did disclose to us that they have uh some concerns but in terms of the dollar amount no one really knows what that dollar amount really is as to what that impact would be I think the county office just wanted me to mention that to you so at least you're you're aware of that so two of the bigger issues um we talked about how overall you've got right you have the district has great functions and processes in place outside the trigger again your risk is overall it's it's fairly low but I wanted to focus on I think really which was consistent with tonight is is your enrollment um and this is really due to your deficit spending so typically when we take a look at our fiscal health risk analysis it's based off of what the trigger interim reporting period so in your case it would be second 23 24 second interim and then we take a look at that reporting period and we go back to years years right and then it's kind of like a snapshot in time in this case and speaking to um our CEO I kind of wanted to tell a little bit more of a whole of a larger story here in terms of your enrollment because enrollment directly impacts as as you guys all well know your your funding uh and so on and so from 23 24 I went back two decades uh your enrollment at that point was was a little under 14,000 if I actually go back into the late 90s it's closer to 16,000 so it really gives you an idea of how how your enrollment has declined over the last couple years how does that um and oh and when I'm talking about enrollment I'm actually removing the charter schools from these calculations and so on so so it's it's strictly allum Rock's Charter Schools or excuse me allm rocks students why this plays into it is due to your facilities and I'm hoping this is in the report um and I'm hoping that you'll be able to see this okay so I pulled some in for from a facilities master plan that was part of our document request and um I was able to pull total capacity at the school sites in terms of the students that that you could house at each of the school sites uh roughly 177,000 last year's data uh for enrollment was 7,362 students which your that means your enrollment capacity or your your site usage on average was about 43% um at the time of our field work and based off of 20 on second interum your projected students for this coming year we're 6,800 uh and speaking with with Teresa that it's actually quite higher which is actually a good thing uh so so take a win when you can um but that still doesn't negate the fact that the facilities the facilities are the cost to maintain facilities is putting a significant strain on your budget um so out of the report you'll see that we we recommended you know for you to develop budget balancing techniques whatever that may be and and and go on from there any questions on this information so far okay next uh a a major function or a concern that we we pointed out was your cost of special ed so here's here's some charts here in terms of your um the cost that your unrestricted general fund and how much they contribute to your special ed program now we we all understand and I hope you understand that specialed is grossly underfunded we we understand that we we get that I think the concern is the the how rapid your contribution to special ed is growing and is putting a strain on your unrestricted general fund so as of 2324 of your total unrestricted general fund dollars 23% of that is automatically going to special ed that's that's a that's a lot of money so and and costs are just increasing more so that's something that you need to that that as we're looking at these numbers it's high it's really really high in terms of that we didn't get into the processes as to why or anything of that in fact we had some recommendations for for Teresa and that time it was the inim superintendent as to to dive deeper into that yes so just from like Statewide benchmarking is this like a Bay Area phenomenon is this uh you know in terms of the cost yes right um and my second question is if the Department of Education is eliminated at the federal level does that impact this that is a great question which I do not have the answer for that on your second question in terms of you asked a the to go back to your first question in terms of your state what's the state level so we did some historical information here so now on the total cost is your total cost per special ed right on that column uh where it says total cost then we have the contribution from your unrestricted general fund to special ed so then you could see percentage of contribution of total cost so for and I'm going to go to uh 2223 because that is the most recent data so your percent of contribution of total cost was about 81.

um they're doing phenomenally I hope to see them win again tomorrow let's hope for another ring let's go out and do it thank you sir thank you commissioner Mahia commissioner Santiago thank you president Paris um Dr Roberto welcome back thank you Mr good to see you um congrats to commissioner bassford commissioner Paris and commissioner Danny Dr Dany looking forward to doing um continuing to do good things for our students and for our school community together um happy national uh Native American heritage month to all those um celebrating and of um indigenous people and Native American descent um happy movember Men's Health um take it seriously gentlemen go out there get your screening um early detection um leads to better successful outcomes um boy soccer team and Coach Stan lri amazing um like everybody's been saying let's go uh support them Ridgewood High School 6:30 um looking forward to next week for uh all of our Awards um especially for our employees um staff looking forward to that and finally Happy Thanksgiving thank you thank you commissioner Santiago commissioner siano thank you president Paris first I would like to extend my heartfelt condolences to the friends and family of office berari we are deeply grateful for his dedication and service may his memory be a blessing during this tragic time I want to thank Mark for the student representative report the recap was detailed and very appreciated uh thank you Kelly for the breakdown of the strategic planning Danny definitely welcome back it's good to have the haircut back in the seat it belongs in I will say this Mark did an amazing job and his superintendent report always had like a theme to it so if you could take a couple notes from him that would be great he aot mhm was were there lightsabers involved it was amazing it was amazing I'm going to have to buy him one for his office he did such a good job um this week I had the honor of walking with some of my fellow board members in the Veterans Day Parade I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did a big thank you to everyone who helped organize the parade and to all the Veterans for their invaluable service I also had the pleasure for the first time of attending the empty bows event for St peters's Haven it was a wonderful Gathering I look forward to participating in that again in the future additionally I as all of my colleagues attended the New Jersey school boards convention where I engaged in several enlightening classes I'm eager to apply what I've learned to continuously improve my contributions to the board the dwali celebration was another highlight it's always such an amazing and beautiful event and I'm grateful for the opportunity to join in the festivities I want to congratulate all those who were elected to the recent election I'm excited to continue working with my fellow board members to serve the best interests of our student staff and Community Elias congratulations you did an amazing job be proud and lastly I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving enjoy your time with family and friends and just be safe and thank you so much thank you commissioner shano commissioner Suarez thank you president Paris and I too welcome back Danny thank you so much for being here I love being under your leadership um we welcome you and uh for from the public comments thank you Lori Lama I stand with you and your comments I to uh fight for public education um and I deeply appreciate what you had to say so thank you um congratulations to president Paris vice president Lucy uh Danny and commissioner bassford I'm really excited to continue working with you and to deepen our relationship um and to the community have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving I extend my gratitude to everyone here to teachers and administration our facilities and maintenance crew our students and families and the community of Clifton at large it's a pleasure to be a part of this team and this community everyone uh have a great night and I look forward to seeing you next week thank you thank you commissioner Suarez commissioner bastard yes uh welcome back Dr roberi it's uh pleasure to be see with you here um congratulations to uh president Paris vice president Dany um good uh good luck and congratulations to liia she put up a a good battle and to Cameron as well you did a great job uh it was a like I said at the uh council meeting your parents should be proud of both of you um thank you to all the speakers thank you uh Mr Lama for your words uh there throughout the state same sentiment people are very concerned okay so I want to I want to uh I appreciate the chance to take a moment to share a few Reflections that have truly resonated with me during the election cycle it's true I hadn't planned on running again this year but after numerous conversations with people including some of you here tonight encouraging me to return I had to take time to really consider it given recent changes challenges to fairness and difficult feedback about myself I knew it would be a tough decision I've been called many things unfit uneducated frail outdated even out of touch I had to accept that not everyone would understand the actions I took last last year to move this board forward and yes it could cost me the support of some people that I've always valued despite the difficulties I've been I believe there is a reason I'm here I believe each of us is placed in certain positions for a purpose and I feel A Renewed sense of sorry I feel A Renewed sense of commitment to represent those who may not always have voice at this table one of the statements that has stayed with me recently from a colleague who said everyone deserves a chance at leadership that sentiment took me by surprise because when that very opportunity arose last January it was an extended to everyone equally I've tried reaching out to some colleagues only to be met with silence which is a send which sends a lasting message no position no title should allow anyone to disregard or dismiss anyone or others I've been called difficult and perhaps that's true sometimes being difficult is the only way to be heard especially in a setting where voices like mine aren't always given the same weight this boardroom can feel like a male-dominated space at times while there's been progress over the years some challenges remain with us women especially around ensuring all members including the women here are respected as equals small actions can have significant can can I please thank you meaning for example not be chosen to read something could make you feel isolated and it sends a message when others receive that role time and time again I understand that experience alone does not qualify someone for leadership but dedication hard work and commitment to the role should matter many have told me because of certain promises amongst a few I may never have the opportunity to lead here it's disheartening especially when inclusivity should be at the heart of our board's Mission a narrative has been circulating that I agreed with certain leadership choices I want to set the record straight I talked about this for a long time this last couple of weeks I was not part of any such discussion and conversation though decisions were made without my input ironically some of the very people who Champion inclusion made the choice without transparency I can say with confidence that I have never compromised my principles for a seat at this table I am here to serve all of you not for a title or for accolades for the next three years I will continue to speak up for what's right did it tonight as un popular po it is I bring it up it may not always be easy and I may not I may need to be persistent to have my voice heard but I believe that that's what you deserve in a representative for this city in this town and thank you again for allowing me the chance to be here and serve each one of you with Integrity again I want to accept my heart my I want to extend my heart felt thanks to everyone who supported me and voted for me your encouragement and trust is truly humbling and I am incredibly grateful thank you Happy Thanksgiving good night thank you commissioner bassford commissioner brunak thank you Mr President I want to congratulate everyone who won the election this year especially my colleagues on this board I look forward to working with all of you for a very long time and I'm pleased to let the community know that competition is aive alive and well not only in the political world but in Clifton Public Schools I want to give my heartfelt thanks to Mr jenero for being interim superintendent thank you to miss cevich and Mr shahada for holding down the ship during Dr Robert to's recovery and uh special shout out to Mr shahada who some of us were very fortunate to see in a p panel discussion at the Department of Education he was running circles around his colleagues over there and thank what can you say but thank God that we have someone like him and change on that board that we so desperately needed due to some of the issues that we've had recently so thank God thank you Mr shahada you were outstanding over there finally welcome back Dr Robert toy I look forward to working with you you again and getting back to business Happy Thanksgiving everybody thank you for your time and God bless America have a good night everybody thank you commissioner brunak uh vice president Dr Danny so um first of all I'd like to say congratulations to Dr arosi um it's so nice to have you back see it is it is um The Best Is Yet To Come when you were saying the speech that's all I was thinking of for you Best Is Yet To Come and um I want to thank all the speakers and Mr Lama I want to say um soise whenever you speak I know you're a true champion for education so thank you I'm sure with you there at the helm um we're we're going to persevere okay um and then I would just like to take uh the time to thank all of those who helped me and supported me during my campaign um at times it was challenging um I ran my campaign by myself without the help of anyone um you know in terms of being on a ticket or anything like that I always just was told just run the campaign it's something I take pride in through all my years that that's what I did I worked very hard and just am dedicated because this is a position that I love I love you know being a champion for Education um I'm truly grateful to the Clifton voters who voted for me each and every one of the votes I'm humbled and I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity to continue serving on this wonderful board I thank you for your trust and your support which allows me to keep working alongside a great group of individuals great group of colleagues um who are truly committed and and um very talented each in their own way with different talents um I want to continue to advocate for our students our teachers and our entire Community I look forward to working to build on the progress that we have made as a board here together I'm very looking forward to this strategic planning process which we didn't get to complete 5 years ago because of covid and um you know I have some ideas so I'm very excited since I was part of the process in my district and I'd like to say congratulations to miss bassford Mr Paris and to all those who ran a strong dedicated campaign thank you and have a nice Thanksgiving thank you Dr Danny um I would just like to thank everyone who came out participated and voted this year um it was great it was great to see so many people at the polls like to congratulate my colleagues commissioner bassford and commissioner Danny we had uh I I just wanted to thank the organizers for uh Miss Jen Lucas's memorial service that was on uh October 30th it was a a beautiful service for a beautiful person and really appreciate the efforts that went into putting together a wonderful Memorial to her today I participated in the veterans assembly at woodro Wilson Middle School it's a traditional event there it was wonderful there were about a dozen veterans that were honored the students did a fantastic job um the music was a beautiful ceremony and a great tribute to our veterans congratulations to our boy soccer and hopefully good luck in the next round with Ridgewood um we're looking forward to some positive results um just want to remind again what Mark brought up earlier our our student representative about the fall play that's going on this week this weekend Friday Saturday and Sunday matina uh the play is called radium girls uh looks like a very interesting topic I'm interested to see how they conduct it it's a it's a very interesting story um and then lastly just a heads up the Wednesday before Thanksgiving on November 27th uh they are there is the annual Under The Lights performance by the Mustang marching band uh it starts at 700 p.m.

34% the Statewide average at that time was 56.5% so that kind of you know as we're looking at that that should open up your eyes as you are at that time um 30 plus percent greater than the Statewide average now this is a bigger issue too and we understand you know enrollments clining but our our student uh uh special education population is increasing we understand that but when you compare it Statewide that's a significant problem right in terms of what you're contributing to uh special ed so that was the other thing that we identified on that as the years progress again 24 I know we're in 24 25 but at the time of field work those were projections your projections for this year at 32 million and then the following year at 32 million we don't believe that that would be accurate because that's not consistent with the significant increases you've seen historically over the last couple years so to I mean to give you an idea to look at 2324 the total cost of special ed was $33 million of that $33 million the unrestricted general fund contributed 29 million 29.5 million of that and so um there are things for you that to consider as in terms of how to control some of those costs and so on I mean I starting from the board policy level and so on and so forth that that should assist that so question yes so you said that we should consider these things so does THM put out to the trustees the things that we should be implementing so that that way we could start you know working around little in of cost there are we do have a special ad efficiency tool on our website that's actually free for them to utilize um but I think it's a deeper dive into um how costs are maintained how costs are controlled the four I think the four or five questions that we have in that special ed section I mean that's where we would encourage you at least to start there um to our understanding I know that there's a contract going later on tonight about a special ed uh review and and that was based off of our recommendation when we left and and we would encourage that because that you know that you still have to serve students that by mean are we saying that you shouldn't stop serving them or anything like that but are there cost-saving methods that we can do um to help that because you know that's a significant contribution from your unrestricted general fund is pulling from other programs too right um you know because then eventually you're going have to figure out what programs to cut if that if that that cost is just increasing so it's bringing it to your attention so you're aware of it any questions on that okay um the next is just a comparison of the 2020 I think this is this is somewhat of the good news in terms of how the Department's running and how the organization's running as a whole uh again we're only comparing the number of no responses remember no is bad yes is good um there's been some from 2020 to now current there's been some slight changes to our FH but for the most part it's it's fairly it's pretty much it's it's the same document uh remember on the FH the SK the the questions are awaited so not all questions are actually scored the same in terms of a percentage you know we we believe that there are certain aspects that uh could cause the question to weigh a little bit more and so on so in comparing that um there were 14 sections that were either no change or there were an increase in the node responses and and here I just listed them out from the 2020 comparison to now in fact in the actual report the appendix contains the 2020 uh uh or a comparison of the 2020 report to now so again if I go and I'm just going to move forward to more of the last slide in 2020 your risk was 37.2% in 2024 I mean you dropped to then down 24.7% again both times you were triggered right so it still is considered a high risk but from a systems process and procedure standpoint there was significant Improvement internally within your department um um that caused that lower score and so you know I I I want to at least bring some good news in terms of that as hey there were some improvements hopefully that continues and and some of those noes that you see uh on here uh you know are are uh are change to yeses and so on and so forth the FH document is actually on FM's website so at any time you can pull it down and say hey we want to tackle this section this year or or whatever um or just have it as a general basis in terms of how they're doing how the district is doing fiscally so that concludes my report but I want to make sure if there's any questions that that you have um to my understanding the report was provided to you uh again know that we are a public agency and and so as soon as typically the board has an opportunity to review the report and so on then it is posted to our website as well uh and so on so are there any questions of I think so one um and and I think uh trusty um Chavez uh mentioned that in regards to uh suggestions um but I also heard you mention one of the items that we're going to be seeing today that you recommend that we adopt um so thank you for taking the time you know I think also thank you for highlighting the good you know since 2020 it's good news right it's never a good news to have fcmat looking over us but it's good news you know um in regards to our our team doing a good job um and making sure that we're dotting our eyes and crossing our teeth so um again I never want to see pick mat in our in you know in our um unless you invite us in but when we have it you know it's good to have this report you know um to prevent from going further or going down so that's and my only question was going to be about that trigger was it are we low risk are we high risk but you you made sure yeah it could be that could be confusing sometimes but you know because the only reason we were high risk is because we were triggered yes correct it doesn't mean that there's not significant issues to deal with right right uh again the fhr is a process document so to ensure that our our appropriate you know our process and procedures followed correctly and you know in accordance with best practice and and in some cases relevant law okay well thank you very much have a good evening thank you oh one second no no no I I was going to you know terara is back there she could close the door back okay so moving on to 601 Teamsters seeing no Teamsters moving on to 602 see no 602 moving on to 603 area I'm gonna wing it this is going to be fun members of the board superintendent the five of the rest of us that are here woohoo um I come before you tonight and I know we've had a lot of um heavy discussions about what's going to be moving forward um and area itself has been having discussions internally as well trying to prepare the Educators for what this school closure and school consolidation is going to look like the area board has also gotten together and discussed many things and one thing that I would like to kind of outline tonight is what area looking for from your leadership and your guidance position from here here you know these decisions we understand are not going to be made lightly we understand that things need to happen um as Danielle and I sat here tonight we're suffering from PTSD from when our two schools were closed 12 years ago so we know that there is life after school closure um we can adjust and we you know can create new awesome collaborations and new school School cultures and communities but they didn't happen overnight and that's one of the things that I think this district and you as a board I want to see the leadership on in telling people that it's okay to grieve to give us that time to fully understand and appreciate what where we came from but anticipating and expecting everything to snap back just because it's September is not going to be realistic we need guidance from you we need direction from you we need Grace from you to say that as we move forward we understand that you know we may need to take a step back and we're going to need to focus on self-care we're going to need to focus on building new cultures next school year while the academics and the rigor and everything should be held to the most exceptional standards that we are used to and have given our communities in the past also need to be counterbalanced with that time to heal that time to come together and that kind time to create that new school culture so that we can move forward and we can Excel I've pointed my members many times in the last few months to this little blue book here if you don't have a copy areat today.org under area resources it's our CBA it's the collective bargaining agreement control F and you type in a word and it'll just pop up on the document for you it's great um but one of the articles that the area executive board has gone over in great details in these last few uh months and one that I would ask that you guys start looking at is article 14 which is pages 37 through 49 in our CBA and that's the transfer assignment and reassignment article a lot of things are moving and shifting and a lot of words are being used and cross referenced in different ways we do have some language about what happens when there's a school closure and we do have some language about what happens when there's School consolidation but this school closure and this school consolidation were for one or two schools we weren't looking at 13 schools so when you're looking at school consolidations and saying that you're going to take this school here and just consolidate it to this school here the the membership is thinking that they're just going to be able to move well the problem is is that we know that we're over on FTE because we're so spread out so then how fair is it and who is going going to be the person that's chosen that when you consolidate those two schools that there isn't going to be a spot for all of those teachers to move together you guys are going to really need to think about the kind of language that's going to be needed to make it fair and accessible for every member not just because these are the two schools that are being told that they get to merge but what about it needs to be fair for the school that's closing as well as for the teachers and the members who are being Consolidated I understand that you also have Teamsters in CSA who have a completely different CBA and that's going to be a lot of heavy lifting on your guys's part as area we've asked that we try to make this process as smooth and seamless as possible but also kind of sooner rather than later I know that we've started to we set some dates to do some tentative bargaining around this specific topic and area is looking to be sure that as we're doing that we're taking into account a whole bunch of other things so when you're going into directing your bargaining team please look at and consider things like schools start hiring in February the faster we can start getting some of this process done will help alleviate some of that stress and anxiety for your Educators as we're looking to move forward to have you know how when we're going to ask the communities to pick their new schools when the teachers are going to be allowed to see what open positions are available when we're going to be able to pick our schools you know I've done it with 20 teachers I think but we're looking at like 100 150 maybe 200 teachers that are going to have to pick their senior pick their placement on seniority and what that's going to look like so if you have any questions I know that you have your District team and then you have me as well um please reach out because again I I reinforce this with my members all the time when they um come and ask me questions this isn't just areas bargaining agreement this is the bargaining agreement between the association and the district and we've both agreed to the terms and stuff that are in here so I ask that as we move forward with this that we give clear direction to your board and so that we can do a clear and concise message when it goes out to our staff the name of that blue book again collective bargaining agreement okay you said we could just look it up in area control.org um my website is areat today.org yeah no areat today.org and it's under area resources you want to search something it's control if you want to search like if you want to look for transfer yeah once you get onto the document you do contrl F and then a little box pop yeah that's where the the control it pops up and then you can type in like transfer and then it'll show you all the places in the document that the word transfer isn't there thank you I'll be writing all my questions out I got a lot of them for you any other tr these have any comments okay so the next one whoops a r AA I didn't see uh moving on huh she need you guys sck it so moving on to superintendent comment yeah I I will be skipping Madam president my comments for today thank you moving on to trustees comments skipping also because it's the late night or short and sweet short and sweet maybe um I'll uh I'll rush through it um it was great to be out at the pan University with trusty uh Chavez and the uh superintendent and the parents and families thank you for coming out um um also great to have been out there at the Harvest Festival at Adelante one the Spanish dual immersion program um also at the Multicultural day out at painter Vietnamese D immersion um great programs great presentations it was great to see the students uh presenting on the different cultures um also was great to be out for the other los muos at Shephard um got to go to various classrooms and present with students and uh share some of the culture and then see some of the beautiful altars they had made um especially one that um I I was grateful to see is a a teacher had all the students who had been through um Shephard their name and their uh their picture um of those that I have passed so I'm just special to see that honoring the students um of Shephard and then finally I want to thank the voters of alumrock um for their confidence in me for another four years um you know grateful they're listening tuning in to what's happening and making sure that um you know we elect people um that will represent represent them so thank you again and I look forward to serving this community another four years okay so just quickly you know oh Bo G to have to get used to this right uh so um you know wanted to go through School visits uh you know in October gos Lindale sayar sh's Early Learning Center uh Linda Vista Georgia Kon and then um last Friday Meer Renaissance at Fisher at Cassel uh you know the first six were in October so I uh celebrated Halloween and donated candy and you know to those six six schools in the October month in honor of Halloween you know it's always good to ensure that our kids have a little bit have a little treat uh you know uh they you know they deserve the best and you know I'm always happy to donate um had a great time at parent University though I was not available to be with superintendent Serta and board president chamz and trusty Herrera loera you know I was able to swing by in the afternoon and do the raffle which was always great fun the little kids all always enjoy you know getting their scooter or the the big prize was the bicycle some won the balls uh I think another one want a s you know one of those Simon Says type of thing but you know uh uh it's always good to see our parents take a active interest in their kids education uh education is a you know success is a partnership between schools and families and uh we you know we would not be able to do that without them uh trust board President Chavez and I went to the uh the Santa clar County School boards association dinner in October so uh always good to get to see our colleagues in other districts um congratulations to board vice president Quintero for getting into the East Side Hall of Fame which you know superintendent Serta and board President Chavez and I uh have the honor of attending as well and I myself won a silent auction prize actually everyone's talking yes to lunch with Senator [Laughter] cores well well we'll see we'll see but uh other than that I look forward with the meeting uh with superintendent Serta Mr Robert Escobar at the Jose Valdez uh math program you know let's you know see what we can do to improve uh math education in our in the district and I look forward to the last you know the last leg of the tour of alam rock on uh one week from tomorrow and you know rounding out with Hub atalante 2 and dorsa so those are my comments for tonight thank you so much can't follow that very well but I do want um two things one um I did see that the mckin vento Christmas event event is coming up on December and I'm looking at you Sandra is it the 18th 17th it is the 18th yeah it was announced yesterday thank you at the Youth Empowerment Alliance Tech Team yes that was yesterday morning um so I will be getting the word out to my city colleagues um to to make sure um folks are aware of that and I know we've attended um the last couple years it's very um it's a great event so um and then lastly I just want to congratulate uh truste Corina era Lera um for coming in first and continuing to represent us for the next four years in our dear Alam rock thank you thank you I'm moving on to I say that again it's wait I know that's what I said moving on thank you appreciate it um okay so moving on to shees it's really late I can't even see this now okay 701 public hearing school closures and school consolidation recommon yeah there was a resolution that we have to approve yeah so that's so she told me to say 701 okay so can 801 we also uh pulled that one we pulled 802 and so moving on to 90 1 excuse me 10.01 approve School field trips and Mr me can you okay okay so there's uh first and a second no public comment so I'll liveit to say the uh traditional Bon voage first we have to vote all in favor 5 Zer okay one more time thank you very much moving on to 102 approval uh have a motion and a uh from VP kto second from Corina loera uh no public comment is necessary because there's no public so I'm moving on for the vote all in favor raise your hands so 5 Z motion passes 10:2 unanimously now 1101 you can read that later for your uh thrills or or enjoyment and so now we're going to move on to 11:02 public comment on on what 11:01 seeing no public move on to 11:02 approve new management position Bond program manager motion to approve somebody give me one approval okay all right so any public comment no public comment any trusty comment no trusty comment all in favor 5 zero motion passes thank you who made the second oh1 hang on I think there's something from arabel yeah who made the second because all I heard is tressy Flores Shelton and that's it Corina okay okay okay moving on to 1201 the bay alarm company contract do I have a motion approval okay uh vice president kto moved approval for the uh $170,000 contract with Bay alarm company do I have a second second I have a second froma trustee and so any public comment no public comment any trustee comment no truste comment move for approval 5 Z thank you very much 122 move to approve Faith and Action Community Education Services for $960,000 okay so Corina Loa move for approval second by VP kto for action item uh 1202 any public comment no public comment any trusty comment no trusty comment so all in favor 5 Z motion passes unanimously thank you approve the Glenn price group contract for on 1203 motion go ahead contract the amount of $18,000 second okay second by any question sorry um assistant superintendant Garcia is this paid for out of um sorry we're in Glenn price contract what's the source of the funding for this assistant superintendent Garcia I'm I'm in this space and I can respond to that if that's okay dras is on [Laughter] she's hey we've been here too late let's go she's not feeling well so she went home but she's on um on the screen so she she'll answer okay we're listening the funding stream is the community it's ccpp it's the community uh schools funding uh that's coming in and this is for them like it says in there um help with the data monitoring everything else and they also are helping with the grant right grant right piece yeah so it's coming out say it I heard the acronym school it's it's uh oh my goodness California California Community Schools oh okay okay the Community Schools okay like a new thing okay thank you okay all in favor vote 5 Zer motion passes on 1203 uh 1301 approve of the Rising Star Academy contract 2024 2025 school year uh in hold on this it's this is for an increase the original contract was approved for 224 $ 4,573 new increase request of $1 15,740 33 to pay for the 2024 2025 school year total contract amount for 2024 2025 school year is in the amount of 375,000 749 33 thank you do I have a second okay second by uh truste famam um public comment seeing none trustey comment seeing none all in favor raise your hand okay passes unanimously moving on to 1302 approval of curriculum Associates uh contract for 2024 2025 school year is an increase of $17,600 to pay for professional learning license concessions total contract amount for the 2024 2025 school years in the amount of $ 67,5 6548 I have a second uh it was a tie okay thank you okay so um we have first in a second uh do we have any public comment no public comment do I have any trusty comment no trusty comment all in favor raise your hand 5 Z motion passes on 1302 unanimously moving on to the consent calendar 13 1303 sorry move approval of the Pine Hill NPS contract 2024 2025 school year uh this contract to add one additional student to attend fine Hill due to severity of their disability uh the contract on the amount of $ 69,90 increase uh request is $55,100 to pay for the 2024 2025 school year total contract would be$ 125,50 second do I have a second second okay second uh any public comment seeing none any trustee comment um seeing none let's vote all in favor of 1303 so the motion passes unanimously take over I gota go move to approve the entire consent calendar 1401 through 1410 I have a motion to approve the consent calendar I'll second with a comment second with a comment yep real quick under 14 uh 09 under approve theou I just want to call out two things I want to thank um the um food unit there's a better word for that Child Nutrition thank you for working with loes and Fishes on um uh providing uh food waste so it doesn't get wasted and then also very excited to see that the winter vappa will be at San Jose State University so whoops saw that that's great news bye right further comments for members of the board Fe none any comments for members of the public see none I'll go ahead and call for a vote all in favor please indicate by raising your hand motion passes for uh in favor uh with one board member um presently not here um future uh agenda request those wishing to place items on the board please reach out to the board president um and follow those procedures um item 16.0 one uh yes um board member yeah since we are journey in honor of in the memory of pH niosi I'd like just to make a few comments for the uh let's see here founder of the Jazz Mr you know it it it uh you know uh what is it uh I you know for those who may not have heard I regret to for you know this the Allen Rock School District community and the passing of Mr Bill Nicolosi a longtime music teacher in this District founder of the Alam Rock jazz band uh you know long you know uh a story career 40 years of service to this District uh uh a legend in East Side music you know uh before he became a teacher here he was actually the director of the San Jose State un University band so uh you know um we we lost a a very good person I and I will say in my own experience with Mr Nicolosi someone who had a lot of love for the kids and someone who knew when to push into their potential and I tell you and someone who uh was a tireless Advocate and one of the last things that I did in my board presidency last year was is to you know put put a decent Band-Aid on the issue of uh transportation for the Alam Rock jazz band for the kids rehearsal so that they were able to maintain a consistent schedule and that they you know uh could recruit enough kids to ensure that there was a uh full full alumrock jazz band so you know it is with that that we uh you know adjourn in honor of his memory thank you Mr President um any further comments Mr German being none that I'll go ahead and add my comments as we adjourn uh really appreciated Mr Nicolosi's uh engagement with the district a long time he's a retiree and he still kept on coming back uh looking at all those little details those issues that would arise and will uniquely affect the jazz band and uh really engaging to try to rather than just simply complain like he came with like a whole slew of of options and solutions as to how we could approach this and figure out how to resolve it so I'm always I was always appreciative of his uh desire to figure out how we can get around uh these issues so we can continue to serve the students and how the Jazz Band continue to thrive uh so um for that for ton of other reasons is ability to reach out to you and to demand that you show up at the next concert um and then you do so you know willingly not just because he's asking you to be there but because he put on a great show in large part because of the work that he did uh to set that program up so he definitely will be missed um looking forward to um seeing how we can properly as a district honor his memory some in in one way or another be fitting of somebody who gave so much of himself to the district all right I'll go ahead and adjourn at uh 10:50 p.m.

and this year is kind of special because uh the alumni have been invited back to perform with the band so it should be quite a a spectacle that's all I have for this evening any new business we need to discuss commissioner Kenova yes I have one item um so uh Dr Roberto I'm not sure if you remember but prior to you leaving we we talked about this a little bit so um in K to 5 once the students complete that grade we have a ceremony for them a moving up ceremony and once the students graduate in in the 12th grade we give them a diploma and they have a diploma ceremony but in the middle schools we don't do anything for the eighth grades so I want to just speak about that how how we could possibly so it's um I do remember a conversation Mr K but it's something that it it it does come up every year because um it's I want to say it's AA it hasn't been a tradition in Clifton to have 8th grade um graduations or promotion ceremonies um there are a myriad of reasons why people who've been here a long time um say that it it stemmed from um when there was a time when the ninth graders were in the middle school I'm not sure if that's accurate um that it's not a real graduation they're just but we but we do it in fifth grade we do a promotion ceremony you know um there are other activities that the eighth graders uh get to partake in they're kind of like end of year activities but there is no kind of endof year graduation having said that I'm I'm a beli and just cuz it's always been done that way or always not been done that way that we can't do it so I'm happy to have a discussion and include uh the administration at the middle schools our staff at the middle schools parents um I think if he has parents parents would want something I would ask my uh Central administrative team if they remember some of the historical reasons for why we didn't have one if they if they would mention that please ser vice principal for several years a lot of the belief was that theem gradation was [Music] and while I completely concur that just because we haven't done it doesn't mean we can't consider doing something there is quite a lot that does go on and there there's also a lot to ending a school year um anytime we add a ceremony like that that's going to require practice pulling students from classes taking them out of activities that they're already doing we they already receive things like a breakfast a class day um their their time to to have their their barbecue um or luncheon so um their farewell dance there are quite a number of activities that already take place um some of which do cut into instructional time and this would be something else that would cut into such time as well as the logistics that Mr Jenaro just shared yeah so I know that I know that they have the the farewell dance but that takes that's outside of school and I know that the fifth grade does um a celebration ceremony that's inside of school that last day um so I guess that's where that's taking some instruction time um but going back to to my statements before about um like the community coming out and us having Trunk or Treats there's not many events where we have parents and kids there and when you want to build a cohesive environment and we talk about one Cliff then we want people to to to speak to each other um I know CCMS does an event where it's a an international day and everybody bring some kind of item and that's a really cool experience I don't know if you've ever been to that but it's really I know Alan you've been there I've seen you there um so things like that is really what I'm looking for and and since we do it in the other schools and and I realize that you know people can make their own decisions when they go to high school I think there should be a point where sort of everyone gets back together again and you know you have that that I don't know that community may I suggest that we bring this to um education committee or a committee for further discussion and at that at those committee meetings I could bring Fe feedback from our staff Administration um board members could get feedback and then we'll bring that back for the full board if this is something that we end up wanting to do something we want to start planning you know right away and can I just say what Mr jenero said the the setting up of the the graduating year whatever the 2024 this year will be we need a solid week week and a half depending on the weather to to get that um orchestrated properly it's it's a massive overhaul and you know last year was like 120 degrees out on the field so like our guys couldn't just work straight so we had to break it up over the span of a week and then I think it rained the day before or whatever it was so we need time so I want you guys to just include that in whatever committee or prep that you guys have you you'll be there don't worry was refering to the Chop diversity this was topic came up the last diversity committe meeting microphone years old years old they were saying your mic wasn't on but your light was on I think it's a it's a volume thing in the back okay okay so the three committees I could see is education facilities and maybe the HSA because if if it comes back to that point the moving up ceremonies all through the elementary have the HSA component involved in it CU they help with certain things that the school district doesn't Supply president Paris yes this would go to committee and hashed out there but I can see it potentially as a moving up ceremony just like the elementaries right to the point of it's not they're not graduating right same that's the I assume that's why the elementaries have a moving up ceremony right same thing I could see it as something like that held in CCMS held in woodro Wilson very similar to the elementary moving up ceremonies but yeah the graduation would be a bigger thing a lot more Logistics to it but I could potentially be open to a moving up ceremony okay back to these three committees and we'll we'll work through it any anything else okay we do have some things on the agenda for executive session this evening we have some uh legal discussions uh some Personnel discussions so can I get a motion to adjourn to Executive session motion commissioner Mia second and by commissioner santiaga five minute recess for bathroom break conion you wait for everybody to say it action will be taken goad done that a handful of times what I do e e e hello oh suspect is going to the bag to fix the mic suspect is currently fixing the mic it's not um turn it off bye e e e I I know what the motion is I'm going to ask 11 11 recent 12 right 11 we do switch the person yes I know um welcome back everyone um returning from executive session uh motion to return motion second motion commissioner bassford second by commissioner Mahia uh roll call Mr sh Miss passord present Mr Bak here Mr kova here Mr Mia here Mr Santiago here Mr siano here Mr Suarez here vice president Danny pres president Paris here we have a Corum thank you we need to go back and revisit something we did earlier because we got the numbers mixed up if you remember the item that we pulled we pulled uh 12 no no we pulled 11 um what we really need to do is pull oh a motion to resend motion to resend 12 12 and add 11 an add 11 right sure okay motion to rece it was the who the who the motion table 12 motion to approve a letter okay motion to table 12 approve 11 what they said second table it because it's then it gets back on the agenda you want to take it off the agenda okay but do you want approve it do not want to approve I want to approve it you want a motion to resend a motion to table 12 and then a motion to approve 11 motion to resend motion to table 12 and then REM put back 11 Mo move 11 second okay uh motion by commissioner bassford second by commissioner I for in here Mia here uh roll call Mr oh any discussion no roll call Mr you good Miss bassford yes Mr BR yes Mr kova yes Mr M yes Mr Santiago yes Mr siano yes M Suarez yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries thank you um and lastly motion to approve uh section g under executive sessions item number two through S motion by commissioner Suarez seconded by commissioner mAh yeah uh roll call Mr sh Miss bford yes Mr brunak yes Mr Kenova yes Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago yes Mr siano yes M Suarez yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries I hear motion to adjourn motion second okay Santiago great to see everybody back for

that's that

good everybody good I'm gonna call it order okay I'm going to call the November 18th 2024 pre- ratification meeting to order uh we will start with the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America and to Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay um I now open this public meeting I would like to call on Dr Taylor to provide information about the tentative agreement thank you Mrs counts uh this morning's meeting has been appropriately advertised and the summary of the tentative agreement has been posted online since last week um Senate enrolled act 390 requires a school employer the school corporation to hold a public meeting on the collective bargaining agreement when it's an attentative status and agreed by agreed to by the uh the association which they did ratify on Wednesday and so now we're holding a public hearing on that tentative agreement it'll be discussed at this meeting and then we will allow public testimony um Please be aware that this morning we're not asking for any action from the board there will be a recommendation to to approve the collective ban agreement at the at the normal meeting on November 21st 2024 and I'm going to share just some details about the current agreement um we entered this year with a two-year agreement um so we had agreed to increase compensation by um an amount equivalent to 1% for all teachers including some teacher retention catchup um and now what we found ourselves in is a situation where we did grow some students had a little additional Revenue um and the the uh School Corporation agreed to reopen bargaining with the with the Teachers Association sorry all right so for 2024 25 we're going to make two different changes into the collective bargaining agreement we will provide a one-time retention stien in the amount of 1% to be paid to all teachers currently employed we will pay the stien out based off the current 2425 base salary and we'll pay it out by the end of December 2024 we actually anticipate paying out the next couple weeks um but wanted to give ourselves that that additional time if necessary um this will be paid out of cash um it's something that we've uh agreed to do and I think it's a great step forward to uh move the the corporation forward into next year um and then the additional Revenue that we had in the budget we actually allocated towards health insurance um we're not increasing any employee or teacher share of premiums this year the corporation will in increase their contribution by an average of about 4.87% um we had to make one IRS change this is a single person who's embedded in a family plan they're deductible by IRS regulation had to increase um and then our total premium Revenue will increase by 4.5% um in in the healthcare fund this will allow us to continue to to try to reach our our our Reserve level that we've put out as a Target we're not moving away from it that's the good news if we make this increase we'll start itching inching even closer um and we're not making any changes to the HSA and you you can see those are listed here um for for information um again the board will take action we'll ask them to take action on on this on Thursday night um this has been a good year of bargaining and conversation with the association we appreciate that um we look forward to the board considering this on Thursday that is all I have Miss Council thank you uh this is the appropriate time for members of the public to comment on the tentative agreement or information presented this morning either members of the public present that would like to comment topper great I now I now close this public comment are there any board members that have any questions or comments no no okay pretty straight for Dr Taylor thank you yeah that's okay it's Monday morning all right any other questions comments for this morning all right M president I move that weour thank you second great all right I now close the meeting

a pledge of allegiance followed by a prayer pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all our father in Heaven we're uh grateful for this opportunity we have to be here together grateful for the safety and protection we were given throughout this day and so far this week that we were able to gather here we're grateful for the uh opportunity we have to serve in this community on school board and administration and for the opportunities that Awards us we ask you to please bless those uh here in our country that are suffering for from the hurricane effects please bless them with recovery and and bless us that we may be able to help them in whatever ways that we can we ask you to please bless our administrators our teachers our students here in this school corporation that they may always be looked over and protected with good health and please bless them with opportunities to to be able to learn and to teach we ask this meeting that we'll discuss the things which and decide on things that are pleasing unto thee and we ask this in the name of thy son Jesus Christ amen all right future board meetings November 12th so this is the only one here in October November 12th December 10th and January 14th all 6:00 here at the buiness ation building uh there are a few revisions to the agenda under some donations and HR um public recognition we got several donations here that we're going to go through we have a recommendation to approve a $300 donation from Life Sunday school class from Bachelor cake Church of Christ for Metro North Elementary for individual student supplies shoes and meals we'll get an approval for all these after I the recommendation to approve a $350 donation from orbana fire department for Northfield girls basketball a recommendation to approve a $300 donation from Ur Urbana fire department for Northfield football and a recommendation to approve a $350 donation from Urbana fire department for Northfield girls tennis recommendation to approve a $750 don donation from Keystone cooperative for Northfield football and a recommendation to approve a $1,000 donation from March mclenon Agency for Southwood Elementary art room I get a recommendation second second got a recommendation to approve all these donations all those in favor say I I any opposed all right thank you and we sure appreciate all those donations and those that helping of these activities extracurricular activities especially uh School recognition Okay before we do our teacher and staff of the year I'd like to just share the one uh student and staff recognition that we received and that um and I am going to do one thing here I'm going to refresh it to make sure that's it okay so this is from Mr Martin at Sharp Creek Elementary uh Governor Eric hul and Indi Secretary of Education Dr Kenny Jenner recently recognized Educators from schools were at least 95 % of the students demonstrated reading Proficiency in 2024 at the state house we are pleased to say that among those honored schools was Sharp Creek Elementary congratulations to the students and staff members at both Shark Creek and Metro North for getting our students off to such a great start in the area of reading so again this is for I read that was taken in the spring of 2024 um and so 95% and actually the exact figure was 95.2 for Shar Creek um Elementary so I want to congratulate all of the staff and students for that so that was a great um great honor to have and now we're going to recognize uh from we Junior Senior High School in our bridge program our staff and teacher Spotlight and we will start with Mr Tim GFF so Mr Tim GFF if you can come right here he did write some things he doesn't like to be recognized um but I had to use my teacher voice today to have him come up here and even the set on the front row so back so yeah there we go so first well first farmers Banking Trust we do uh partner with them and they actually uh provide some things for us so uh we have a staff Spotlight $50 um voucher uh for um an online store so anyway congratulations to that so and you don't have to stay for the whole me to get that like other people have said that's great I I also would like to say so once we have the teacher and staff of the year uh we actually allow them to go ahead and write some different things and I actually give them some prompts but I just want to read a couple of things that he wrote he might want to say everything but I'm just going to read a couple things and he I'll give him a chance to talk if he wants to later so everything I do is for the glory of the Lord I cannot take credit for that which I'm blessed to do thought that was a great statement also I want to recognize this I'm getting recognized at this time but I believe it is a group effort not one of us can accomplish the great things that we do without the help and support of those around us I am so thankful to be a part of this team that cares so much for all of our students and helping them accomplish getting over their hurdles in life and so um again let's give him a round of applause would you like to say anything absolutely not okay he did say something you know stay up here stay up here stay up here we're going to have to have a picture here too um uh Mr mcdot would you like to share anything about Mr G absolutely I all right so uh I'm not surprised to hear Tim um very humble about what he does but I want to make it very clear to all the board members and all the people here uh Tim is absolutely the first to jump in if there's a need uh even if it's unseen by others he will see it and he he just jumps in and takes care of it there was even a simple thing today where he observed where a place that he was needed he just jumped in and took care of it and so that is just who Tim is uh I am sure there are many other things he does like that I completely unaware but Tim is a fantastic employee for MSD great for our staff and he's great for our kids so we we're really fortunate to have Tim and piggy back on that last year um he has a very mean volleyball serve helped us of points last year he didn't have it this year I know we didn't have it so the white corporate cup he was on the team for that scored a lot of our points and so um that was a lot of fun but unfortunately probably because of his Wicked Ser they did not have volleyball this year so anyway so congratulations and well what I'm going to do is when we get done with everybody here I'll have all four of you stand up here I will take a picture can I sit down first time he's ever listened to me all okay so teacher of the year um at White senior Senior High School which is the bridge program for josanna corn so josanna if you can come up here and again congratulations let's get Round of Applause so I'm going read some things that you wrote too all right I let Mrs Bo share something too so the excitement and this is a a response that she wrote and just a part of it so I'm just going to go in the middle of it because I underlined some things I thought were really good the excitement of being part of the new way of learning and helping students meet their goal of earning their diploma was very intriguing to me and I wanted to be a part of it so I started by taking a few special education students on my case load after they released from their residential program so we're talking about the bridge program she also says we decided early on that we needed to name a name to represent our mission and amongst our group of fulltime staff we quickly decided that the word Bridge described this perfectly um as you know we've kind of changed the the names as we we won't talk about the other names right now why we laughing about that anyway there's a reason why I tell you now so we are there to bridge G gaps give Second Chances provide options and create opportunities through a flexible learning environment that allows students to continue to work towards earning their diploma and so the mission and purpose is to maximize the potential of all student of our students by establishing a learning environment that supports uh resiliency flexibility self opacy and a passion for lifelong learning very good and some other things I want to read here um working with this population of students I have the opportunity to help drug addicts Teen Moms 18-year-olds raising their siblings teenagers suffering from debilitating illnesses teens facing legal ramifications and stories can go on and on in closing this school year we will have over 150 students earning their diploma and moving on to the next steps of their life so again congratulations to josanna Korn and Mrs Boon would you like to share anything about Josan I sure would it be an honor to so um actually I asked a lot of our staff for input because I don't like it just being me because we are a team and the nice thing is everybody who responded there was a common theme with her characteristics so I'm just going to read real briefly so I don't mess anybody's opinions up but it all just kind of meshed together because everything what what everybody sees in josanna is who she is and it shines through in every aspect so Josan is the true definition of being a servant leader she is always willing to step in in help even when her own plate is overflowing she is selfless kind caring and goes above and beyond for students and for the bridge program her passion as an educator is evident in her Devotion to our students and to the program as we're all aware we are constantly being given new tools and tasks each year and she continues to not only adapt but to D but to thrive as she serves as our academic adviser along with a lot of other things that she does um she Works tirelessly to get the job done and our team can always count on her for encouragement for a helping hand she is an Exemplar Exemplar educator coworker friend and more importantly a person we're just really honored to have her as part of our team thank you sh all right let's get one more round of applause four of you picture time I'm not count just be ready all right well thank you very much you welcome to leave or you welc a restaurant's calling me I'm not sure which one but thank you thank you you that's all I yeah all right uh public comments on agenda items only all right move on to agenda items we need to get an approval of our last regular meeting on September 2 four I a motion the second for that so motion the second to approve those meeting minutes all those in favor say I I any opposed all right uh Financial reports uh let's do claims and payroll number six any questions on any of those I don't know why no questions nothing's out ordinary a motion second to approve those second got a motion the second to approve claims in payroll number six all those in favor say I I any opposed uh Financial summary just end of the month for September balances um so we close the month of September um those where those balances are ending a lot I mean a lot in line with what we're showing on our cash flows which is good so nothing again really out of the ordinary in relation to any of those funds all right there's no questions on that move on to our 2025 budget adoption um you don't want to go through that again do you no I don't have it on my slid but I can find it if you want so obviously we had our budget hearing at the last board meeting and so now it's just time to approve the 2025 budget uh and so I would ask for a recommendation to approve that um as well as approval of the 2025 bus replacement plan and 2025 capital projects plan those were things that we discussed either back in July or August they've been on our website we've submitted those to the dgf um we just need to have final approval of those plans uh and then the uh form four uh which is really the approval of the 2025 budget uh for the most part uh and then the last bit of approval as far as what I need to submit is a resolution for appropriate appropriation modification so once I submit the budget which I plan on doing um this week then um the dgf has a timeline to get that completed by December 31st so it could happen anytime between now and then uh and usually we only have 10 days to respond to that and so any changes or modifications that need to occur all this resolution is doing is allowing me approval to make those changes because in that sort of window we may not have had have a board meeting in that time frame Etc so that's not to increase anything in the budget it's only allowed to make any reductions or modifications that may be needed to complete the budget process so I I don't know if you want to approve these separately or all together but I just need approval of those documents go through these separately so can I get a motion a second to approve the 2025 budget someone got a motion to Second all those in favor say I I any opposed recommendation to approve the 2025 bus replacement second a motion second to approve the the bus replacement plan um all those in favor say I we oppose and the recommendation to approve the 2025 capital projects plan second a motion second all those in favor of the capital projects plan say I I oppos and the recommendation to approve the resolution for appropriations of the tax rate one four so have a motion in second to approve the resolation to appropriation of the tax rate form four all those in favor say I opposed and the last one uh was the recommendation to approve the resolution for appropriation modification so Mo sorry motion second on that resolution all those in favor say I I any opposed all right all those are good go of Chris HR I think there are a few revisions to find on here um under resignation Hannah Regal educational ction competition WAP uh effective employment um Silva classroom instructor for Southwood High School effective 9:30 Rebecca effley substitute teacher for all schools effective immediately and valer d a substitute teacher for the north schools effective immediately Southwood winter coaches um Casey stopper head wrestling Ryan swe wrestling assistant Ken Norman head girls basketball Rob Cole girls basketball assistant Sydney hen JB girls basketball Jason K JV girls basketball assistant Sean Klein eighth grade girls D py seventh grade girls basketball Meredith Norman sixth grade girls basketball Brian Basset boys basketball assistant Michael B Barrett n ninth grade boys basketball Evan Denton seventh grade boys basketball Campbell 8ighth grade boys basketball and Christian Perry head boys basketball uh Reena Mark starler girls wrestling and Jim Hogan JB boys basketball that was all Southwood now norfield winner coaches Rex Rymer head boys basketball Matt Brown boys basketball Troy bear boys basketball those her assistant Kyle oswal boys basketball Anthony sorg Junior High boys basketball Hillary ell Roth at girls basketball Brandon Baker Girls Basketball assistant Daniel to girls basketball assistant Ariel Miller um girls basketball Faith leming girls basketball I believe those are allun high I remember she didn't have that this time Katie gray boys and girls swimming Ed shinfield head wrestling Craig G wrestling Casey G wrestling Jim Olinger wrestling Scott Pennington wrestling Eric Kirtland wrestling Jared Brooks wrestling SP Miller wrestling and Haley Zan head cheer Britney deer Junior High cheer grm eater volunteer cheer is iy Penington sixth grade girls basketball and Jenny Wilson sixth grade girls basketball and that's all I get a motion second HR so second got a motion a second to approve all the human resources all those in favor say I I any opposed I'm glad you didn't oppose the uh the pool that we put in and swimming so thank you for that that thr in on the it was pretty quick quick build quick all right in your pay for that yes yes you get the last um reports Heartland career center Matt anything not okay superintendent yeah I just have a couple of things here first of all um we actually MSD of WW County I gotta get rid of this so I can do something else real fast um we actually made the Barton coov VMA website so picture or Facebook post so um LinkedIn okay yeah I'm sorry so the only reason I put this up here we had frost this morning um that's frost on the on the roof here at the office insation yeah so you know we talk about locker rooms and we talk about the weight room and things like that and so I just wanted to put some nice pictures up here we talk about about every time just to say that you know the the work continues but um obviously that's red so that's Southwood and blue Northfield and then just a couple pictures of a couple locker rooms um obviously a lot different than what we had before so it was really good and appreciate um the posting of that uh so I just want to share that so and then also just want to mention that um tennis courts of course uh continue um and a lot of progress on that as far as uh you know some of the fencing and different things like that and then two other things first of all um our a count of course was October 1st and so that has all been certified and so for traditional schools um from Fall of last year to fall of this year our traditional schools are up seven students um in a combination of those five which is great especially the situation that we're in and in our County um as far as just population and different things that are going on and then we are down overall because as you heard from Joanna corn when we talked about the teacher of the year there um we graduated about 150 Tanya might have been more than that right um because it goes all the way to October 1st so that was written back in May or or actually in June so I'm sure we had more do we have to have a final number on that I think we're around7 okay around 170 so having 170 gradu away from the bridge program obviously reduces the number of students that we have in the program um and so from last year we're down about 41 um total plus we do not have Compass rows anymore and so Compass rows U there were six students last year in the fall and of course there's no Compass row anymore at Josiah whites and so we don't have those six students so the combination of the increase of the traditional school with a little bit of a decrease um with the bridge and with uh compass row actually went down um total of 41 um residentially just at whes give you an idea though too there's still right in there um actually three more students from last year as far as that goes and then I also just wanted to mention that um last Friday was the last day for the um nine weeks so we're already into the second nine weeks on Thursday uh parent teacher conferences and professional development day and then of course next week is fall break for all schools except EX for white Junior Senior High School but they actually have a little mini fall break uh they will go to school Monday and Tuesday and then they'll be off the rest of the week after that and then we'll get it hard again on October 21st so that's all I have for tonight all right and obviously Tim's not here so we'll skip the curcum under new business recommendation to approve the updated 2023 2025 uh teacher contract so yes the um we had our hearing last um meeting in September uh the teachers did ratify and it was unanimous um and so our recommendation is that you approve the second year of the 2325 um uh school year um contract and basically what's going to happen is that um the starting salary will uh jump from 45,000 to 47,000 and then all teachers in the collective bargaining unit will get ,000 increase and there were no other changes because that was the opener for the second year of the of the contract nothing on language Bas no because it was only it was yeah next year everything is open again and really in a contract when you talk about language it's basically the way the law is written now it's just salary and benefits basically I there can be some little language but it's yeah any other questions on the teacher contract no need to approve Scott second have a motion and second to approve the teachers contract for this year all those in favor say I hi any opposed all right recommendation to approve uh F uh vid phase number three and the vendors one thing I want to give you I know some I'm going to go ahead and give you there was one when we downloaded it to PDF you just want to see that I know that's a lot of paper prob there was one page that was the PDF kind of kind of kind I don't know I just filtered some other things on there so it made it confusing so everything else is so that was on page four that was kind of messed up on the pdf version and it wasn't from W for some reason our conversion we download it so I like the looks of it this off we can recycle all this paper if we want to I do recycle this pretty well locks us maximum pricing you don't change the scope like a pool Commons area we could have made those retention a bigger like A's p but just want to make sure you saw so that's really concludes our last phase of bidding um for the project um you know this has been a a long time coming for the most part uh things that we've been discussing uh and working on I know Barton C lag for over close to a year if not more uh at this point in time to get to this point uh where we can really then start putting shovels in the ground and and constructing when do you expect that to start early as uh Monday right now we're you know we got to put some stone columns in the ground to reinforce the ground soils uh we got the stone column drawings here recently we're trying to coord coordinate that with some existing uh sewer Ms and Stor Ms we have to replace so we need to some of those conflict right now we're working with part to overcome those conflictions and hopefully as early as you like to start and we do appreciate everything that W and Bart Co been uh working with us to get to this to this evening although we've already started things with different phases but this is the largest phase and the most timely phase any questions on any of that I think it's all basically what we talked about the last meeting what we were actually alates I'll make a motion to approve recommendation good pH three vendors motion get a second got a motion to second to approve uh viid phase number three vendors all those in are favor say I oppos right I like to thank you guys for all the picture with you guys a lot time I think they got tired of hearing from this that's think so it's probably not the last time GL we've got through this part and we can actually get something going it's so it's going to be a good project for the school district all right we'll go we have a recommendation to approve an override extended out of state trip for southw high school to Tokyo Japan spring break 2026 or fall break that's right6 yeah6 okay uh I get a motion to approve that motion second to approve that out of state out of country south all those in favor say I opposed and the last one here is a recommendation to approve an overnight extended out of state field trip for North Northfield 8th grade to Washington DC March 16th through 19th 2025 get a motion second second motion second to approve that overnight extended out of state field trip for North 8th grade all those in favor say I I any opposed all right passes uh one item of Unfinished Business uh Heartland career center operating agreement we've been talking about this and tbling it and talking about it and tbling it um I wrote few things down U it's kind of been a difficult decision for me to Which way I'd like to go on this I think we should leave it as it is the way the Heartland agreement has written there are several benefits to changing such as not duplicating meetings possibly more efficient in dealing with financial issues and Etc but the reasons I don't think it should change are also numerous to start with having a board member on it makes the board more connected I value that connection these meetings are open are could be open to the public meetings with the superintendent's meeting during the day they'd be open to the public but it would just be hard for the public to get there that being said no one shows up anyway uh I asked several staff members their opinion most didn't think it would matter but much wouldn't matter much but there were a few that didn't like the idea they thought having the way it is now would be best I gathered that they like the outside opinions rather than just administrators that could and that could be a valid point I'm hoping with the change the threat of change we will get better attendance and participation of other boards I hope the superintendent will collectively work together and try to figure out ways to get the other needed repairs funded in short order I would like that to be done no more than four to five years to make it shouldn't take four to five years to make those decisions so that's my opinion uh right or wrong but you asked me there it is and it took me a long time to come to that because I see the advantages of the other I thought this true on my part I wanting to vote to just remain the same because of the fact the superintendent can be appointed as the school representative because that's best for that school corporation and so I felt well it can be done if I don't know who is for in attendance and I don't need to know but the superintendent aits say okay hey I'll represent our school at those meetings and then you go it goes on I guess without changing the actual correct and the attendance issue has been more in the last two years a couple people have changed on there and I just don't think their heart was into being there for their schools that just my opinion and I'm not going to say who but it was just kind of disappointing and that's why Miss sturge presented her thing because we had a couple meetings we had the delay because we didn't have forums so so basically we don't have to do anything or it might be well or we just want to vote each one of those down because we had two proposed to us I think there's a lot of things that could happen but one thing is you could yeah I mean you can leave it go but then people might not know really what that means okay um and I guess I'm going to look at Josh a little bit one thing you could do is just vote can you vot I think the simplest thing to do would be to do one motion to to you know reject any proposed amendments operating I will make that motion to reject any proposed changes to the Opera agreement these two these two right second that all right we got a motion and second to reject those revised revised amendments I guess a resolution to the heart pray Center for their operating agreement all those in favor of that motion say I any oppos all right let them know that we're leave it the same it it can still pass though yes there's two other board there's two others to go so still pass but but they one of them was already suggested something else correct so that more than likely they would not go on that but that's just one board member because any one any board member can do Amendment doesn't have to be a group effort it can be one person all right I don't think we have anything else board policy any public comments items for board members T you mentioned about well we discussed numbers being down is there any kind of I bring this up too frequently any kind of recruiting help or anything that we need there because there's more competition in that field anywhere the arena more and more correct there is a little bit more I still think that we probably have a niche that we serve a lot of other school corporations for so we have school corporations that continue to refer students to us once they have exped them so it's just a matter of rebuilding I think at the moment yeah well I'm not saying that it's going poly I'm just always pushing for one thing that they have done Mrs maybe she was going to share that I interrupted okay Mrs Bo and M Lan BS got together and they actually um developed a marketing plan to just share the information to many many schools um assistant principles they have some other ideas what they want to do just to share what our program is um because it is a different kind of Niche than what a lot of people have as far as that goes I mean we we are concentrate on those students that are credit recovery and not just um students that are going to be on some kind of a online school it's more for credit recovery and you heard what Mrs cor was talking about with a lot of students that we um you know we work with and so it is a different kind of Niche and you know connection with white Junior Senior High School it's doing to graduate kids give them a second chance they're doing too good of a job that's why I wish we didn't have stop at the state line don't have to but Forin fighting is fantastic I mean we all enjoy the graduation it's something to be proud of for our school dist definitely ne ne program all right if there's nothing else we'll go ahead and adjourn