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at the community center now let's welcome new team members Ashlin welcomes new staff members across various departments including assessing Human Services and public works there's also some job openings and open positions include COA van driver water technicians and Recreation assistance check the town website for details Community liens wanted help create a decarbonization guide for ashin residents no experience is needed and this is a paid position The Citizen Academy success the second Citizens Academy session engaged 18 residents in learning about local government and ongoing projects welcome new businesses Bennett assessment and Behavior Center for Children offering evaluations and therapy for children at 25 West Union Street Ashlin Family Eye Care Now located at 300 Elliott Street providing comprehensive Eye Care for all ages this week's Community shout out goes to Caroline Cara Caroline Cara a high school student is a role model known for her dedication to community service she volunteers extensively with special needs students through programs like extended Year services L inclusion camp and youth sports as a student athlete she also assists with softball training captains her JV field hockey team and participates in leadership training notably she runs a free weekly bake shop fostering Community connections through her love of baking Caroline selflessness and commitment to inclusion leadership and service makes her an inspiration to all coming up some exciting Events first up the family book read and yoga with local author and certified children's yoga instructor Ava the salt this family friendly event includes a reading of Renee finds her calm and Renee finds her Inner Strength along with yoga and crafts it's happening Saturday January 18th at 10:00 a.m.

also coming up at the ash Public Library is their book sale when Saturday February 1st 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and where at the Ashland Public Library of course so join the friends of the Ashton public library for their book sale and discover your next favorite read find New To You books for yourself or loved ones while supporting the library's beloved programs don't miss this chance to fall in love with a great book that's all for now so be sure to check out these amazing events and get involved in our community stay tuned for more news and remember to participate in your community events a heartfelt thank you to town manager Michael Herbert and the entire town staff for their efforts and bringing us this informative newsletter and thank you all for joining us today on waa my name is hi silver good night and go clockers

at the community center now let's welcome new team members Ashlin welcomes new staff members across various departments including assessing Human Services and public works there's also some job openings and open positions include COA van driver water technicians and Recreation assistance check the town website for details Community liens wanted help create a decarbonization guide for Ashlin residents no experience is needed and this is a paid position The Citizen Academy success the second Citizens Academy session engaged 18 residents in learning about local government and ongoing projects welcome new businesses Bennett assessment and Behavior Center for Children offering evaluations and therapy for children at 25 West Union Street Ashlin Family Eye Care Now located at 300 Elliot Street providing comprehensive Eye Care for all ages this week's Community shout out goes to Caroline Cara Caroline Cara a high school student is a role model known for her dedication to community service she volunteers extensively with special needs students through programs like extended Year services the inclusion camp and youth sports as a student athlete she also assists with softball training captains her JV field hockey team and participates in leadership training notably she runs a free weekly bake shop fostering Community connections through her love of baking Caroline self- assistant commitment to inclusion leadership and service makes her an inspiration to all coming up some exciting Events first up the family book read and yoga with local author and certified children's yoga instructor Ava Dal salt this family friendly event includes a reading of Renee finds her calm and Renee finds her Inner Strength along with yoga and craft it's happening Saturday January 18th at 10: a.m.

also coming up at the ashon public library is their book sale when Saturday February 1st 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and where at the Ashland Public Library of course so join the friends of the Ashton public library for their book sale and discover your next favorite read find New To You books for yourself or loved ones while supporting the library's beloved programs don't miss this chance to fall in love with a great book that's all for now so be sure to check out these amazing events and get involved in our community stay tuned for more news and remember to participate in your community events a heartfelt thank you to town manager Michael Herbert and the entire town staff for their efforts and bringing us this informative newsletter and thank you all for joining us today on waa my name is hi silver good night and go clock

flight but again thank you we really do appreciate the partnership [Applause] I'm gonna ask I will yeah but sometimes there's a Mis Doug do you mind before you leave actually can you specifically tell kind of the community exactly what Maran manufacturing um produces because sometimes there's a misconception um and once you go in and do a tour you're like it's more than just assembly line and trinkets beyond that so there's a couple things that we make that are pretty critical um the number one item we make is a small ring about this big round mhm that goes into a device that's used for uh rapid blood transfusion oh wow as an example if you're in an in a hospital and you need two pints of blood is probably coming out of a refrigerator it's got to be warmed up to your body temperature so these we make 12 for each device and it goes into a machine and the blood flows through that and gets warmed up to the proper temperature we make 350,000 of those a month the second item that we make this high volume that you everybody knows is a little washer that goes into the end of a cable connector for that cable that runs from the wall to your TV yeah and even though that's being cut and most people are Wireless I was telling Dr Solen today at the peak of the pandemic we were making 10 million of those per week oh my goodness 10 million a week and those that's just for North America and the most prideful thing of all of that is we won that business five or seven years ago by beating our Chinese competition by two10 of one penny wow two10 of one penny and turned it into a multi-million dollar account awesome we also make if you've ever had your heart monitored we make the little metal snap that when they put the pad on and they snap the lead wire on we make a small percentage of the World Market but we're we ship those parts to India a Australia or Austria and all over the United States and those are probably three the titanium that's in the the titanium right we make a titanium part that is used in the heat exchange for the Strike Fighter for the US Arsenal so um it's just a small plate but there's thousands of them that go into to the strike fighters to cool the Jet Engine and all the Hydraulics those are probably our four biggest items and we make other things we make parts that go in the soft top of the Jeep Wrangler as an example and the the mechanism for that we make parts that go in the steering column of the Grand Cherokee well we were talking about that item where you said that you know you're cranking out during the pandemic Millions uh a week one of the things that was F fasinating to me is I pictured in my head this massive machine doing that it's really pretty small but the the sheet that the parts are punched from runs through so insanely fast how like you were running we run that at about 700 hits per minute so we're making five at a time 700 times per minute so it's making multiple million of pieces per day and the tolerances that we hold are less than half the thickness of your hair so think about that that's and these are Chester graduates that are working on these tools that can hold that level of Tolerance on a part that small it's pretty impressive and and I will say just to stick on the the youth we are a unicorn when it comes to a company like ours to have a staff as young as it is when I went to work at Mary and our average age was 62 right now it's in the 30s we got down to 32 so that's a testament of what's coming out of the school system great thank you Dr her I just want to ask a quick question um actually it's not a question I want to to make a statement it's joyful to hear you speak about your company you are so enthusiastic about it I imagine that recruiting is really easy for your company and I would just put out put this out there please make sure that your three young chesher men who are recruiting are also recruiting some young women into your company yes we do that for me we've actually although she's left us for greener pastures we had we actually had a young lady who dropped out of chesher high school and went back and got her GED we picked up on it she was actually working at the wash here in town and just every time you went in there you saw this rock star waiting to come out and we hired her took her all the way through her apprenticeship which is four years 8,000 hours and turned her into just a wonderful employee but because she was a young lady larger companies were looking at her going we really need that and we ended up losing her but that is trust me I I I put a lot of effort into making sure we don't have a boys only sandbox because that is an issue are other women that work there oh yeah we have we have several that are we don't have a Chester grad I'm working on that yet but we do have um a young lady who's runs our business development she's 34 years old she handles all of our new cells all of our new accounts our big accounts um our two top people in our quality Department who by the way make very good money that's a another very important trade for us um young ladies that are doing a fantastic job for us so it is something we're well aware of and we work hard on that so thank you for mentioning that thank you for all you do for the community thank you thank you Doug any other board members have questions or comments thank you we don't want to hold you up to any longer but We Appreciate You adding to the the value of the community and opportunities for our kids and I'll say open door policy give me a call we'll be happy to have a young Chester grad give you a tour I didn't give the tour today did I no so a lot better coming from a young person thank very much I appreciate have a good evening thanks bye all right next item we're um audience members who would like to speak please go to the mic to address the board if you have anything but do not forget to say your name and street address no all right we're going to move on um committee reports first committee up on is curriculum Miss cenin will give the report thank you the uh curriculum committee met on Monday of this week under new business we discussed um the PE health program of study changes at cheser high school the move is from a traditional Health PE classes to integrated Wellness classes these classes will be based around building resilience in our students Healthy Lifestyles social connections will be key components in the course and the design will allow the department to be responsive to the needs of high school students and each of these Wellness courses will meet on a semester schedule for a half credit the other new business um we discussed the safe School climate surveys which are administered by annually to students staff and parents at each grade level band the questions um have remained consistent since 2018 um the information is reviewed by representatives of each building that's the data is looked at um based on the answers to the survey questions and plans to address any areas of need are addressed through uh School climate plans for each um school and a district plan to look at the district holistically based on the data um The District in accordance with State guidelines will communicate the com the administration of the survey to the parents and will include a pdf version of the student survey so the parents can preview it um and they will have an opt out availability to them if they choose not to have their student participate in the survey then we moved to informational items and I'm going to ask the assisted superintendent to just update us on some of her areas thank you miss Colin one of the items that I briefed the committee on was that kindergarten registration will begin on February 5th in the evening from 2: to 5: parents can register online or in person if they prefer to come into the school to ask any questions on April 28th we will be conducting screening assessments for families who are seeking early admission to kindergarten our district science coaches I was giving an update on how they are moving off of the robotics unit and into Agro science so that will be starting this second semester in addition Kelly gillo the principal at Chapman School along with Kristen Shanley who is our Ela department chair and Kristen Castellano who is the reading um teacher for the middle school gave an overview on a reading assessment called aadience reading for grades seven and eight since the sunset of the previous reading inventory which was our Universal screener the district has been looking for a replacement and we're going to be moving in the direction of using aadience which will also be a nice continuation of the reading assessments that we're doing K through six currently so DOD is going to try out this assessment it what's nice about it is that the measure includes reading passages that include a science passage a social studies passage and and a Pros passage so it's really more appropo for the middle school because students are doing a lot of reading in those three areas we had an update from Dr Gad on the master schedule at chesher high school the team is in the final stages of vetting that schedule where they're looking at having five sessions per day and those um blocks would be 68 minutes which is a reduction from the current schedule um and also is a little bit longer than the previous schedule preco which was 55 minutes students would meet for five sessions on an 8 day cycle so both students and teachers have provided feedback on that schedule and there are plans in place to make final adjustments in the rotation before the end of the month lastly we discussed the outof State field trips which are to Nature's Classroom for this year that's an annual trip that many of the elementary schools engage in this year DD I'm sorry dittle and chat um Chapman's going to Deep River while dittle and Norton are going to the Charlton campuses and those trips will be happening in May the trips are relatively the same price Highland in the last couple of years has um engaged in some local options that included team building and Hands-On science related activities and that concludes our report thank you any board members have questions Mr per J uh thank you uh I forget during Monday night's meeting we talked at the very end uh whether or not we wanted to print out the survey questions or bring to the board and we said no right can we can we send those questions out to the board members so they stay aware you know what absolutely when you get around to it I know it's not going on right away but sure awesome thank you I also have them here if there were any questions but we I will certainly send them out Z thank you Miss ginin oh Mr GLE do you have a question um yeah firstly um when looking through the minutes I I figured you guys were there for like three hours considering the subjects and I saw it it took 43 minutes is that right to go through all of this stuff uh so that was very very efficient meeting I I suppose so congratulations um so um on the the climate uh survey um does the I forget does the board approve those questions or is it just it's reviewed and then uh just applied the board has the opportunity to review those questions which we had done at the curriculum committee meeting and then it comes before this board in particular because there had been some some changes to the law about surveys that were asking students to complete so when that happens I believe the law was put in place since the last administration of the safe School climate survey so for example knowing that we were surveying students using the pupil attitudes towards self and school those questions came before the board and also an an email is sent to inform parents that this assessment will be taking place on the pass and we will be doing the same thing with the safe School climate survey okay so so just to review when you say the board you meant the committee and not the board it's like we're not voting on anything right we're not reviewing it the board as a whole we did not vote on it at curriculum it was it was new business but we did not bring it to a so is a draft like is this to be applied next year or it would we would conduct this survey in March March it's typical that we Pro we produce this survey every other March so the survey is every two years so did we approve these questions already or am I am I confused on something these questions have been the same questions we've used since 2018 oh no change okay no so little history so remember uh I if it was a year or two ago I believe we had discussed the then board about the survey should it be reviewed by the board Etc I think we left and I don't think a policy came out of it but I think what came out of it was a curriculum committee would definitely review them uh I think the board has a chance to review them that's why I asked a s of the questions if folks have a you know issue with them we can certainly discuss it but I don't recall anything that requires a vote on the board I could be wrong but didn't you hear that last part Tony it's only thing I I remember anything requires a vote on the board for survey questions I we did add the layer review for the survey and the reading list at the dod school but all I say is if any board members have questions reach out and and yeah we still have two months so we can bring it back yeah absolutely if there's questions I'm sure and Mar and I will definitely be happy the very least great thank you um next committee would be Finance Dr harrian hi so we had our first um budget Workshop uh on Tuesday evening where we discussed certified salaries and benefits and non-certified salaries and also medical benefits and um I'm going to let Mr Mariana take it from here and talk to us about medical benefits oh and our next one is next Tuesday um January 21st at DOD Middle School join us thank you Dr haragan good evening ladies and gentlemen um Dr haragan you don't want me to give a recap of Tuesday night to you okay good so the finance report uh the board members do have in their package the financial report as of December 31st I will just tell you briefly that the budget is looking Rock Solid at this point there are no um areas that I have um any large concerns over I will talk about medical benefits which is a minor concern at this point um I'll talk about that in a minute but the budget is in good shape U part of that uh that what we do every year is we put a cap on our non-payroll expenditures until we've gotten through various points in the budget so we're halfway through the year that expenditure cap has been at 50% we're going to raise that expenditure cap I feel very comfortable doing that we're going to 70% and we'll hold there till April till we get through the next phase so that really is a long and short on the finance report I'll go to medical and then if there are questions I'll answer on both also on the board's package is the medical benefits update through December claims for the month were 1.2 million so up a little bit from November and just above the expected monthly claims of 1.19 million um that left the balance at the end of the month in our Reserve at 1,461 662 so it's 1.23 months in claims Reserve a little lower than we would like to be but I will uh share with the board that even though it's not reflected in the report yet because I've not gotten the final report we um will be receiving about $417,000 in stoploss reimbursements and that does add to our reserve and also I was notified earlier uh late in December that we would be receiving payment of about $200,000 in prescription drug rebate so that the total of those two is 617,000 if we add that to the reserve that would take the reserve to a balance of just over $2 million that would get us to 1.7 months of Reserve I'm you know certainly not surprised that either one of those uh reimbursements coming through um and so that'll get us closer to the goal which we had this year and I know I talked about this at our presentation Tuesday night we had budgeted so that goal is that at the end of the year we would have the same Reserve balance that we started with we started with 2.3 million you know with these reimbursements will be back to the $2 million Mark we're moving into January claims which is the beginning of the new HSA plan year so you know if we see just a little bit of an easing in claims over the next 3 months because people start a new plan year and they have to meet their deductible before claims are charged directly to the board um you know we in my opinion look pretty good for the remainder of the Year ending with a Reserve balance at a close to that two million to $2.3 million that we sought to achieve um so that's it on on medical benefits and Fin Finance I'll be glad to entertain any questions members have questions can I just say I think we asked a lot of questions on Tuesday night and if you were to recap everything that we did Tuesday night then nobody would come to the exciting meeting that we have next Tuesday so thank you we'll leave it at that then this might be a little off topic but um the uh decision on the MU increase can you just clarify we were going to increase the price on which increase the meal price increase we discussed last time um mid year and then notifying the parents I don't know what was the consensus there was no vote taken so we don't have to make any announcement just yet but you know certainly if we if the board does approve an increase we'll bring it back to the board in May May typically Carol May okay um and then we would announce for the following school year so we parents will have plenty of notice okay thank you there is another question Miss Rosenberg yeah I don't on the meeting on Tuesday did you give a brief update on the performance contract moving forward I did not just a brief one so we did receive the um proposals from three firms in response to the RFP for new energy performance contract Honeywell Johnson Controls ameresco the company energia that is our owner rep is reviewing those proposals they'll provide a summary which I uh intend when we have our planning committee on January 21st we'll give an update then so much work lies ahead of us but all three firms have presented proposals that would enable us to engage in a contract that would allow us to increase or improve our infrastructure and reduce our energy costs which would pay for those improvements so looks like we've got viable Alternatives you know and with that being said the only caveat is we still need to get through the review process um so it's good news and just one last point you had mentioned raising your cap on I forget non payroll expenditures yeah non-payroll yeah um just generally speaking as you do that when you're talking about spending at Norton Darcy and Chapman you're having a conversation saying you're really do you really need the desk type of thing like just being mindful of the reality of that's all I wanted to hear thank you VIN yes sir thank you um next committee would be policy committee Mr Aki thank you we met on uh January 6th and discussed uh several policies that are all getting us uh in line with state law is that's correct Dr s so we talked about non-discrimination sexual harassment Title 9 um which you know hopefully doesn't change in two weeks and did it already did today published so um the there was a court case in Kentucky that struck down the current Title Nine so we're now to revert back to the 2020 version and so the next policy meeting so it's not the final version or whatever what was it was the final vers it was the final version um a little premature perhaps on nomenclature there but um yeah it's changed again so we're back to the original final version I guess and uh who knows it may change again but we'll have to revert back the this policy is going to have to change and we'll go back to the beginning with that there we go um we also have three policies that were uh bringing for four po four policies that we bring more bringing forward for a third reading uh again all stuff that was done by the lawyers for us uh Security check fingerprinting right responsibilities and du duties and social networking uh FASA completion which is a state mandate and alternative education program do we want to do those motions now yeah okay so we will call for a motion uh make a motion that the ches Board of Education give a third and final reading to the policies 12.5 212.5 Security check fingerprinting criminal justice uh policy 4118 .51 rights responsibilities and D duties social networking 6148 FASA completion program 6172 alternative education program and direct the superintendent to put set policies into immediate effect there a second for the motion Mr grippo second um discussion Mr White and then Mr kble yeah I was just hoping to get a quick um recap at least of the first two the security fingerprinting and the social networking so the security fingerprinting piece is um a reform that came out of a committee that I served on in Hartford probably like five or six years ago but this is all about really how are how is that data handled by school systems it was it's really much more regulation heavy than it is policy heavy basically who has access to the sensitive data who um what happen happens if it becomes compromised who who receives training so like we've all received training online that was required as a result of this law about uh who monitors that data that's all this fingerprinting one was the rights responsibility duties of social networking was an existing policy that we had um after the incident in the fall uh we had our attorney review that again um with limited updates uh to that that policy uh FAFSA completion is a law that's been on the books for some time requiring districts to have graduating students complete fafs fuff forms uh the state almost annually pushes back the implementation date on that because a lot of people push back on the implement the idea that we're required to complete fafs forms so um that's what this is the law just pushed back the state so we updated the policy uh law pushed back to date so we updated the policy to reflect that uh the alternative education program basically says that we need to offer alternative education opportunities for kids and that you can't like basically banish kids who need these support so uh it's something that obviously through humiston we are very engaged in but we also provide opportunities through our adult education program and uh relationship with Wallingford for other courses like um GED credit diploma programs and um English acquisition and then some elective courses through that so just to be on the second one the social networking yep that is exclusive to staff yes there's nothing okay and so anything to do with social networking and kids or phones is still in the hopper we're in the process of updating our phone policy oh sorry yeah there's more yeah we're going to talk about the yeah two different things just want to be clear thank you yep um yeah I just wanted to comment on the uh social networking policy um uh we did have a uh I say a decent discussion I don't want to say robust that might be too much of a yeah description um but uh my because my concerns or hopes would that was that the uh policy was going to be perhaps more restrictive or more punitive or give uh the superintendent perhaps more leeway than is in the policy but as was described by Dr Solen and through his discussions with our attorneys the language that is in this policy if you were to read it is intentionally vague I guess due to of course you know my personal concerns or all of concerns is naturally uh First Amendment rights of uh of individuals but and how that relates to uh your duties as an employee for chesher public schools and how that all intermingles and that's why the policy exists the way it does and why we moved it forward from the policy committee so I just wanted to make that comment so when you read it it's you know yeah it's definitely fair there are different sets of rules for different sets of circumstances you know our um employees and students for that matter uh have freedom of speech rights that um when they're not representing the chesher public schools are pretty vast and um when somebody is apparently or looks to be representing mentioning uh chesher Public Schools they they are much more restrictive um so there is a pretty broad swath of how to manage these things and I've as you can imagine done a lot of reading on free rights Free Speech rights of Staff this year and um you know understand where our attorneys have crafted this uh policy as a result uh I read through the policy I saw the changes I am encouraged um and I understand uh you know why it's certain the way it is in the chain but uh there is a section where you do have some discretion um which you know is good so I thank the policy committee for working all these policies but I'm glad that that one was U tweaked as best as I could thank you any other board members we did we did have some there was a lot of questioning about why we couldn't put certain things in there and why you know why there's a reason we ended up with what we ended up with Mr White thank you um yeah I just wanted to uh add Echo the concerns about Free Speech but also add the what I feel is really important which is superintendent you I think you maintain pretty good relationships with our unions and the reality from my perspective is not being a lawyer is that whenever something comes up with a me a union member the union will become involved and having a good relationship with the Union is really important for difficult situations yeah and I want to acknowledge them too because um I've had the opportunity to work with a variety of different L uh excuse me union leaders over the course of my career I was the union president for the administrators for a decade you know some are much more reasonable and grounded than others um and they this Union leadership that we have has a a very clear interest in supporting all the teachers and maintaining a positive reputation for all of our Professionals in this District um and they keep a great eye on that certainly they uh represent their membership vigorously uh but they're also um you know very reasonable in that process so it's it's definitely a two-way SE Street there thank you though too any other board members no so we do have the motion on the table that was second um call for a vote all those in favor of the motion that is on the table unanimous thank you and I believe that concludes policy Mr real quick we did uh we have been uh discussing a cell phone policy the the current policy still talks about uh pagers and uh we're in the process we did have a survey conducted are we going to get into that Dr Solen or yeah there is a link in your packet for the survey that we conducted uh we asked feel like starting off few we asked a 100 people questions about cell phones we asked um we asked the parents students and staff across the dist District at all three levels their perceptions of the impact of cell phone use but also the um existing practices that we have in place uh as Mr II mentioned the the policy that we have is super dat you know talking about beepers and pagers and whatnot um and so that just hasn't been updated to reflect the time the times in the survey that the link that's shared with you it's a pretty heavy packet um it outlines what the policies are at each building so they're developmentally appropriate we think you know at the Elementary grades um there really is no cell phone access cell phones should not be out and about um at all period anywhere uh at the middle school pretty much the same thing you know that cell phones are not out about and at the high school level there is limited use um during quote downtime like go study hall or um lunches and things like that but uh uh because we've been much more restrictive in the classrooms at the high school what I've seen just walking down the hall this year at cheser high school the kids are so much more engaging um when I walk down the hall they'll say hello you know you can say hi to them they used to be earbud you know zombies um you don't see that anymore uh it's it's really refreshing uh to see that uh I had a conversation today we talk to all of our principles about you know I know six weeks ago you said you know it was much improved how is it today and um Kelly gillo at the middle school was the first one to speak up and say amazing it's so much better um and they've done a great job of reinforcing expectations there at the high school the biggest concern expressed in the survey is that my neighbor doesn't enforce the policy well out um so we talked a lot about you know making sure that teachers are all on the same page about enforcing that policy in their classrooms um so that it makes it easier on your neighbor when they have to call you out for a phone that the student is saying yeah but next door I can use my phone um so I think it's it's more of an Enforcement issue of course developmentally high school students are going to be more inclined to you know Lobby about their freedoms and um and and they should should have more freedoms no doubt uh but uh basically the gist of the administrative team and what you'll see in the surveys is General support for the existing practices not Universal but pretty good support um given the topic from the three different stakeholders and just to clarify when we're talking about policy that is those are building policies or building guidelines right we not District policy yeah so we need to update that yeah our goal is to update that policy so we have something more robust right and just getting back to the whole idea of beepers I use the word beeper in my freshman class today they said what is that they had no idea all I know is from caddy [Laughter] sh all right I think that's it that concludes policy thank you Mr ay um another item we did have a a legislative meeting and we want to thank uh represent linahan um who came to um address the board but also um Dr Solen you know um we appreciate you just um basically outlining some of our concerns and areas that we need support in from the legislative body um session did commence last week so some of the items that were addressed or brought forward to rep linan to at least um also speak to her uh her colleagues would be the educational cost sharing discussion and hopefully and it I don't think this is a treasure problem um all other districts are also seeing the reduction in educational cost sharing so that clearly impacts our budget here um the other item would be to support us in trying to elevate the profession as a whole um because obviously it's very difficult to hire um talented professionals um or influence um younger uh Generations to come to the field um and then just I think you guys mentioned this at the budget review meeting the other day just the excessive list of mandates that we have to follow um and I really I personally like the fact that you brought up the strategy of possibly reviewing it every five years I mean we have curriculum cycles that we review so there's got to be a process in place that at least puts some consideration to determine relevance in offse impact of costs too so for those of you um oh and the other point too um asking the state to make a decision on you know we love the flexibility of the kindergarten age but really just follow the research and make a decision on you know September one that's it for um entry into kindergarten so hopefully um she could bring that back I know that there was going to be a follow-up with Dr Solen to at least um go to the capital or Lobby yeah so I appreciate the time that the legislators have given um actually this afternoon I met with representative zupkus uh we've had some email communication with um U Senator Samson uh R Vino has uh emailed back and forth representative linan is obviously was here last week um but I am working um with Robin and Cary uh and Miss Cullen and to actually get up to um hard next week to have some face-to-face conversations particularly around special education excess cost Grant we saw a significant dip in reimbursement rate on that which uh with the rise in costs as I said last week uh is is uh important that we address those things so uh the the items we discussed last week as long as everybody's fine there I'll be honest with you the one item that we didn't talk about that uh We've contemplated adding to list and I would love your feedback on is uh the state just uh last year revised the law uh outlining sick time for employees uh we provide sick days in excess through our collective bargaining agreements of the um what the the law directs people to provide unfortunately though the logistics of record keeping that are are required and some of the out you know some of the um directives like we can't ask uh an employee for a medical documentation until they've been out more than five days um things like that uh are very onor and concerning for us um but you know I and given the fact that I also know that there has been more talk in the legislature about that the implications of this law on Public School Systems I think Vin would like to see it included you know it's it's up to you guys if if we want to include that I didn't want to do it without you weighing in appreciate your thoughts yeah and I just want to add I know there's other boards that are um advocating for this and trying to address it so I I would personally be on board with um you know Dr s moving that forward but if there are any board members who would like to express Miss col and Dr Solen correct me if I'm wrong but I thought included in there too I thought I read something about um employees could actually take an hour of during the day or two hours during the day and you really can't ask them for any kind of documentation as to why in in a school system that's almost impossible for us to be able to allow that yeah we don't have a Dugout waiting to fill in for an hour uh or something like that so so uh thank you for bringing that up that is one of the things that's more honorous about this you know current law you know if you're um in a shop or something um and an individual leaves for an hour or two that's you know got different implications because you don't have to cover a room of 28y olds you know so that's uh one of the things that we are concerned about so if if you're comfortable with adding that to our legisl of priorities I'll certainly do so and send it out to all the legislators Mr D white I'm comfortable with it thanks yeah comfortable with it yeah um yeah I think we can probably move forward with that with Dr Ran but there's uh Mr per was there a a legislative I know K publish there's a legislative meeting also coming up you can kind of uh yeah well we could talk about it during uh after your update later oh okay yeah all right great I'll give some more detail gotcha awesome um next item is the approval of minutes for two meetings a meetings held for December 19th and January 9th so I do need to call for a motion to approve the minutes if Mr White can you read the motion please move that the treasure Board of Education approve the minutes for meetings held on December 19th 2024 and January 9th 2025 is there a second Dr herin um are there any additions or corrections to be noted no okay all those in favor of approving the motion to approve the minutes of both meetings please raise your it is unanimous Mr zeny thank you um Mr secretary are there any correspondence to be read there is no correspondence thank you thank you sir and then we move to um superintendent report so I'll hand it over to Dr Solen for any updates thank you so much um I guess in no no particular order here um the first item on the superintendent's update is that we've been working closely with the Park and Recreation and um uh the YMCA to design a phone free fun event uh for grades 5 through 8 that'll occur next Friday uh from 7 to 10 p.m I want to thank John gock um Doug Levens from the y v masana for helping plan that event along with our treasure High School peer Health Educators who will help supervise that event with me and those other two gentlemen from the Y and the park and wreck next Friday uh Kristen Shanley former teacher of the year who's our library media specialist be running our Creation Station um in the library uh with all sorts of activities for kids to do uh there'll be activities in the gym in the calf and the uh technology room we have instruction zone with Dr OD day uh so the the goal here is not to provide all structured activities for kids to do the goal is have you know multi-age engagement with each other to come up with something to do um which I I kind of hypothesize will be awkward for our kids who aren't used to just showing up and playing together um so I really appreciate the chesher high school peer healthed Educators they read chapter 3 of the anxious generation about like how do we get kids engaged in that stuff um both Doug Levens from the Y and and John gock from Park and wreck have read the book uh so we're really trying to provide a catalyst of an opportunity and I I it's a little bit of a social experiment I feel like um low stake social experiment where we'll see how kids engage with each other and if they can create activities to do with one another without saying all right I'm going to help you pick teams to play basketball together you know it's it's not going to be like that and so uh it's really fun uh to to Branch out and say hey here's your resources come together let's have a good time uh we've put a a 100 student cap on it um hopefully we get there and we'll see see how it goes so that's kind of exciting uh stuff that we're doing I wanted to talk to you about open Choice enrollment project ctions um we have worked diligently over the course of the last five or six years to substantially increase our open Choice enrollment and it's been great um Malachi is an open Choice student um the challenge that we're running into is seating at K through 8 at this point um are we're adding you know multiple Portables Highland we've added you know the the we're going to be redistricting uh come the end of this year uh as much as it pains me to say it it's my recommendation that we don't add seats k through eight frankly we're super close in seven and eight from needing two more teachers there uh it do uh so I'm anxious about that so um in calculating it you know we do have one freshman next year I'd like to add um five seats or six seats for freshman I I think that's your best opportunity for you to come in as a freshman we can add limited seats for sophomores and juniors we already have nine sophomores it's not like they need a peer group The One freshman I'd love to have more students on the bus with that student um we're losing six 12th graders so if we can add you know to keep that number at Treasure High School a little bit more robust I mean that's my plan uh to communicate I don't intend on adding any seniors um that are just new for the senior year at ches high school so um that's that's the plan with open Choice enrollment and then finally new schools update um Vin and I met with um Jody Rhoden and uh the full cast of characters who represent om and arcadis yesterday at Norton school if you haven't been to Norton yet uh it's it's pretty shocking to look at the back and where it is already I'll send you guys some pictures because it's like you can't believe already where we are and it's it's pretty exciting stuff um as Mr grippo will tell you uh nothing too sexy going on at the North End yet we're just moving a little bit of dirt around but there's some hammering going on today yeah hammering yeah so um that it's really exciting to see that just so people have a sense of our timeline now uh this spring will be uh consumed with laying you know foundations and concrete um all spring the uh structural steel should arrive at the end of the school year uh and you'll start to see you know the frames form over the course of the summer um so we're really excited about that uh we had a request which is is fantastic from uh Norton they're you're drilling the geothermal Wells so uh we're trying to get some of the folks who know about geothermal Wells to speak to the students about it get the kids out there if if you uh saw my Instagram post earlier this week There's a great picture of a group of like 15 kids all glued to the construction they're all standing outside watching what's going on with their teacher um and so we want to incorporate the kids as much as we can we've talked to Luther uh our transportation director about getting some buses to Chapman to run kids up when we're ready to do geothermal Wells at the North End so we want kids to experience this to like Doug's point from earlier you know making that awareness and um it's really exciting to see it happening so that's where we are with school construction I apologize uh my wife was out of town for work this week and I had to take my youngest to physical therapy um um and missed the naming ceremony or not ceremony excuse me the meeting that was held V I know you were there can can you provide an update on that uh yes I can thanks there there were um several names that we knew about already that were presented this evening uh Harvey C baram was one and that that did get um a lot of you know recommendations and people that spoke at the at the turn this evening also schaer Farm uh the site of the new North End was schaer farm that house that is being used as a construction site belong to the schaer family the Tuttle name came up Edge view was a dairy farm in town that was suggested Frank J papandrea longtime resident of chesher uh another suggestion that came in um by email was Darcy Chapman Elementary or DC Elementary uh and also there was a an email to name the school after M Richards uh who was retired from the treasure public school so those are the names that were um mentioned this evening the Town Council um and the committee that's formed by the council you know will take action uh in the future um and the goal is to do it you know relatively soon you know before the the tentative you know June 2025 deadline is when the the name is needed by The Architects so that they can work through the process of Designing everything you know including the signage for the schools I mean the the work is coming along it feels like Breakneck Pace now uh Vin and I met with uh rich that our director of facilities and Anna petronio from um pwn this morning about ceilings and stuff so you know it's it's a lot uh that we're trying to to juggle but at the same time you know there was a long period of time where we put a ton of work in never sure if it was going to amount anything so uh it's at least you know you know it's it's it's there closing in right Mr White and I don't know Dr her you had a comment yeah my understanding is that with Norton you've put together a a committee of playground professionals so we have students weighing in who could not be more excited about uh this Adventure Playground that we're trying to do um you know I have a lot of pressure in my job but that like meeting the expectations of playground for little kids is a different sort of pressure so um hopefully it meets their their expectation I I am confident it well they will they will give plenty of feedback oh yeah yeah it'll work out in the end thank you a quick question are you hearing anything about um problems with the noise level at Norton school with the building going on not yet um not yet ad Adam's complaining yeah about the hamers the folks that work from home on the North Ender really been out of shape and I can hear it so I know you can hear it too but uh no complaint though I will say that the volume was probably a little bit more intense last week when they were cutting down and clearing a lot of trees it happens all during the day at least um so I would assume if you're working from home it's a little bit more problematic but uh one thing I will credit om on there's been a lot of effort made to communicate with the neighbors um and so um yesterday the gentleman um who's kind of the pivot person over there is Brian at Norton um he's got relationships and other gentleman Colton over there they've connected with neighbors they know neighbors by name they uh are working really closely I mean it is important for us to be good neighbors uh hopefully you know it's kind of like doing your kid and over you know there's uh a lot of aggravation but at the end of the day you know you're left with a really uplifting and beautiful place and I think that will be the case at Norton for our neighbors too great thank you any other important members comments for the super um I have a question unrelated to the schools is that can I um uh it is now January is there any update on Staffing I'll just leave it at that sure um it well we have a few um Staffing updates first of all um we had a teacher resign before right at Christmas um before right at the the break at Chapman um we're excited that uh we have extended a offer to somebody today who will start on um January 24th um at the building and then be in classes on the 27th um at chesher high school um as the our student reps noted uh we and I know I've shared with the board in December we sent out uh information to everybody who holds a certification for a building administrator certification in Connecticut uh it was a video about that our kids made about why it'd be great to to work at chesher high school um I know Malachi was in a video Lydia may have been in there as well but uh received over 1300 views on YouTube most of those are Marlene but we know a lot of other people watched it too um and so we publicized the position in January and have over 45 applicants so far so uh I think we'll have a really uh good pool to select from um that's not what I was asking about but thank you um it was more about the uh the issue that we had the beginning of the year trying not to um draw the social media oh oh oh that Staffing update yes so um yeah the uh sro's uh first of all I want to thank Mike Khan publicly Mike is one of our SOS um unfortunately we communicate pretty regularly uh and that guy is always there to pick up the phone I don't care what kind what time of day or night it is he is incredibly responsive uh his partner Oscar Rivera our other um our other school resource officer as we know is the reality in our community took another job in another town um got a better deal and um so he left the uh shortage that our treasure Police Department faces is still reality um the memorandum of understanding taking people off special duties has been extended to March 1st however uh there is a carve out for uh sro's so they should be returning soon um that's optimistic it's good news for us I I'll email you with more information when I have thank you for that update appreciate it that's good news yeah absolutely is there actually to Dr haran's question you know I remember being a teacher and our school was being constructed is there any impact right now because the noise level is I used to have to yell so that the kids can hear me so are there any um concerns coming from the classroom we haven't heard that yet sorry about the pun but uh that hasn't been expressed yet I think I think the uh enthusiasm you know probably tempers that the other thing that's kind of nice is that the structural steel which will be loud um occurs over the summer when we don't have classes in session the vast majority of it so you know hopefully we kind of Dodge that issue to a degree but um certainly we'll pay attention to it thank you Dr Solen any other board members um next item would be any old business seeing none uh we'll move on to new business um again I just want to thank Dr Solen for um the legislative meeting and bringing that forward um and to that I just wanted to see if uh Mr per can kind of update us on the next um cave legislative breakfast or the intent behind that meeting yeah thank you uh Madam chair so uh there's a area legislative bre breakfast I think January 29th it's at Seymour High School I I'm not sure if every gets to C emails I forward it to you any everybody anyway thank you um I I haven't talked to the a directors yet um but it's typically board members um uh local Representatives uh superintendents you have Educators there and and it always tends to focus on some topics that are about to be discussed in Harford uh I don't know what those are um I'm not even sure if our Representatives such as uh represent Lans upus um or or the rest of them have been contacts I'll find out but once we have more information I'll send it out probably next week uh other C again because I am your Lea on the C just some stuff's going on so yeah with the session kicked off in Harford um I think we all got our legislative agenda from c a couple weeks ago um we're gearing up the executive committee uh and C leadership to be out there in Harford given testimony on a number of items I'll definitely be out there so um as you have your summaries prepared I'll be happy to give those to Patric and team so that and um I foret miss Mackie so that they can uh and I also have direct access some folks I'll be um meeting with them whether they like it or not in Harford so it's it's all good um uh for what it's worth cab was awarded um an award for leadership I think from the national Schoolboard Association uh this past week simply because I think we're we're we may be the only Board of Association I think in the country that has partnered with the state department of Ed I'm not sure folks realized C has a contract with SD to provide professional development for board members and that's been utilized very well so every conference every webinar every thing you see from cave is if you attend that it goes to your um credits as a c member but also uh meeting that legislation that we supposed to be you know trained so uh that was a good thing and um last item T night uh just for folks aware there was a opening on the State Board of Education uh C nominated uh four folks I am one of them so uh it's an appointment by Governor uh it's a long shot because you have to lobby at this point and I am not a politician like Lobby and I just like working so uh but if it works out we'll let you know if not we're trying so thank you and I do recall reading something that you did satisfy all the board credits too so congratulations on that [Laughter] so um and the other item I did get a notice from um speaking of the YMCA there's an upcoming plunge um so I'm just uh it is an awesome team building Tony and I did it once so I think we need to add on to this and Dr senen I believe your name is on there too good seat still available just say I I uh I've done it multiple time many times Kevin didn't you do it once too oh this year I forgot he is yeah thank you for volunteering to do that unfortunately in the audience directly behind Kevin hanling is Kevin buono my intern and when I said Kevin you know I could see the fear shoot through I'm like dude I am an intern I am not jumping in ice water trying toing some Kudos points here so um I think you're the captain of this okay so we'll post the okay just talk to the administrators today awesome thank you um that is it for and can I add something so Kevin Dr Sol's intern you can just do like I do and just say I'll write a check because as much as I like the cold weather and the winter I'm not jumping into ice cold water it's good for your muscles awesome so we have again some upcoming meetings um as mentioned before we do have a planning committee meeting on the 21st at 6m at D Middle School um and then we have the Monday February 3rd policy committee meeting at humston boardroom as well as the curriculum meeting on February 10th at humston um Thursday February 20th will be the Board of Education business meeting at Town council chambers um and I also want to um I'm sure you're aware that Monday January 20th uh we will be um there will be no school both schools and offices will be closed um in honor of Dr Martin Luther King Jr day and then Monday through Tuesday February 17th to 18th it is President's Day um February break so schools will be closed um just to remind everybody again the budget review um meeting schedule as mentioned the January 21st is the next one at 700 p.m.

members of the board and attendance president Linda Chavez pres vice president Andres quo he's on his way clerk MF pres member coordin ala present member Min present members of administration superintendent hmana pres uh this meeting is being recorded and we do have Quorum can you please all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance the United States of America and to the and let the record reflected uh vice president G came in at 532 so we're all present here um moving on to open S whoops to um members of the public who wish to address the board uh Mr Carlos trioli could you please thank you he's The Interpreter for uh Alan rock thank you Happy New Year remind me what item Madame President number one uh one pardon uh you could do please uh 1.2 and 1.3 and then 2.1 thank you okay un e number two transpar question and just a kind reminder we have Spanish interpretation available for the public thank you thank you so much for the good job um so on the 1.2 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 truste Corina erera can I request to move item 4.3 to after 3.6 please restate that number 4.

uh 2,454 which is 88% have indicated that they will attend their assigned school 238 8.5 indicated that they will complete an intradistrict transfer 95 uh families 3.4% indicated that they will not be returning to alumrock Union School District either because they're attending another school moving out of the area um so that's where we're at with that we're going to continue to make a push to try to get more families to to respond to that because that's going to uh help us with the FTE and so we want to make sure we're as accurate as possible uh and Mr too will provide uh the board uh with more information on that um the governor's budget release uh on January 10th the California Department of Finance director Joe stefen Shaw formally presented the Govern the governor's January budget proposal expanding on govern uh Governor Gavin Gavin Nome sorry I'm losing my words today Gavin Newsome sneak peek presentation of his proposed budget on January 6th the estimate has a onetime 2.4% cost of living adjustment for TK through 12 and last year it was under the 1% so this is a little bit more promising so uh thank you for that and hopefully it'll go up uh I also uh want to give an update uh we will be um hosting some community update meetings um so that we can also get input from the families update them on where we're at with the transition plan with uh at each of the sites we're going to hold more districtwide uh via Zoom one of the things that we noticed when we scheduled those is that we had about 300 or so families that would actually join and so we want to uh you know inform as many uh you know community members as possible family members so uh so we're going to continue with that we're going to continue uh to inform the families throughout this process and I will continue to provide the board with updates on a regular basis as well so thank you very much uh trustees and I'll turn it back over to you President Chavez um any comments from the board I'll say a few words thank trust trusty M fam well happy you know I want to welcome everyone uh the 2025 I hope that uh you all we've all had a uh a restful vacation and happy New Year although in in when when the board uh at its next regular board meeting will be Lunar New Year so I'll be repeating repeating that so just a couple of things uh you know I realize that this year is only not going to be eventful and not in not in the ways that I had hoped for it to be event right so you know I I want to express that uh you know I did did my best and still doing my best to you know and in in in collaboration with my colleagues and the superintendent to to try to minimize the impact of of school consolidations right you know to to honor the kids we serve and to honor those who serve us as well um so with that you know couple events uh at the honor of attending the Searing in of supervisor Betty dang the first Vietnamese uh County Su supervisor elected in this County uh Senator Cortez's open house last week so that was a uh two two back-to-back events and the Asian Pacific Islander school board members Association potluck with the State Assembly m M errands um just two it two two events I'd like to highlight uh let's see here to to uh Satur this Saturday painter uh painter elementaries Vietnamese dual language emerging program will uh uh be performing at the uh Lunar New Year celebration at the Vietnamese American Service Center this morning so if you're able to come please come early it's the opening performance uh between 9:45 and 10:00 a.m.

at the Ashlin Public Library don't miss this chance to learn move and play with your kids to register visit the library's website or email krench Aslin mass.com next we need parent and caregiver voices Ashen parents and caregivers are invited to participate in a regional survey to help shape youth prevention initiatives and address substance use if you're a parent or caregiver of kids of any age your input is vital scan the QR code on the flyer or email K French at ashin mass.com for more details now some more events at the ashin public library for adults we have half pass crafts felt to Penguins on Wednesday January 15th at 5:30 p.m. and the ESL conversation group on Wednesday January 15th at 6:30 p.m. for the kids the library is hosting yoga Story Time with Ava on Saturday January 18th at 10: a.m. and a paper airplane Challenge on Saturday January 18th at 1 p.m.

at the ashin public library don't miss this chance to learn move and play with your kids to register visit the library's website or email krench Asin mass.com next we need parent and caregiver voices ashin parents and caregivers are invited to participate in a regional survey to help shape youth prevention initiatives and address substance use if you're a parent or caregiver of kids of any age your input is vital scan the QR code on the flyer or email krench Asin mass.com for more details now have some more events at the Ashlin Public Library for adults we have half past crafts felted Penguins on Wednesday January 15th at 5:30 p.m. and the ESL conversation group on Wednesday January 15th at 6:30 p.m. for the kids the library is hosting yoga Story Time with Ava on Saturday January 18th at 10 a.m. and a paper airplane Challenge on Saturday January 18th at 1 p.m.

what if you can uh if we can move item 4.3 after 3.6 okay but I was she's waiting for yes her I would ask if we can move it to right or maybe just keep it in the same spot no I think that's late I think we put it before uh 4.1 the would be perfect because I think those items are going to take longer and I and by then I think her partner would be here okay let's do this we will move it up before 4.1 provided that she's here if not we just continue as is on the schedule got it okay all in agreement okay uh so we'll do it that way we're going to move item 4.3 depending on if the presenter is here or not whether we take it before 4.1 or at its regular spot thank you I had requested that if we could adjin inory more so I asking that we can do so at the appropriate time yes I would have 121 okay uh after 12.1 you said uh at 12.1 or like before wej yes okay so moving on to 3.1 Teamsters do we have the represent 2.1 president oh excuse me public members who wish to address the board on matters not on the agenda request to address the board provides members of the public an opportunity to speak about any matters under the jurisdiction of the district but not on this agenda if the subject you wish to discuss is already on this agenda please provide your comment when that item is called during the meeting those who wish to speak on a within the jurisdiction of the brown act prevents the board from discussing any item on this published agenda but the board May refer to staff for followup and any formal written requests that are brought before the board at this time there is a limit of two minutes for each speaker uh depending on sometimes how many speakers we have we'll either do one minute or two minute but it looks like tonight we'll be doing 2 minutes the board has the right to limit total public comment on any agenda item to no more than 20 minutes written matters may be placed on future meeting agendas okay so do I have a motion to adopt the agenda move to adopt the agenda okay motion by trusty fam do I have a second a second from uh vice president kto to adopt the agenda all in favor raise your hands uh five z uh Mo the agenda is adopted so I guess we can do um public comment now first good evening board members superintendent assistant superintendent um as you all know my name is Maria Martinez and I am a tosa here in Alam Rock a teacher on special assignment who serves as an intervention specialist and recently I was informed that our positions would not um be able to continue for next year at this time and I'm hopeful that just as you did last year when we pleaded to have our positions to continue uh you will work together to find a way to fund the toses this evening you will be hearing a presentation from the um academic academic Services team showing the awesome great things that have been happening and that is due to the work that we've done in collaboration not just with the teachers um but also with the tosas that are supporting the site so please keep that in mind and um please consider helping to find the funding to keep our toas in our schools thank you good evening um members of the board superintendent then assistance I am Rosa Lara Fernandez I am also at tosa I work at San Antonio been in the district for 28 years and um uh just like Maria I was I'm advocating for the position of tosa we all know that um our CSI numbers and our El's results and at the last year couple years are very optimistic I mean they're going up we're in a in a increasing slope and uh one of the resources that helped that was the the toas and uh it would make sense to not get rid of the resources that are obviously uh working and helping our students increase their scores and move away from positions like CSI and other gray areas that we've been and now we're kind of getting up and Zing out and doing much better so let's keep up the good work and let's keep the the resources that are working thank you for listening good evening I'm an employee and constituent speaking tonight in honor of Anita Louise Jones a former black administrator at George middle one of my school sites tonight I implore you to renew your your commitment to black students Educators and families as we prepare to Embark upon Black History Month in July of 2020 this board passed resolution 41-1 1920 which decreed that black lives matter African-Americans exist in a society that fails to acknowledge the pain and oppression that we regularly experience it is a gross violation of Justice I urge you to consider the disruption that school consolidations closures and administrative change changes have upon a school community and transition good leadership matters and the culture and climate of a work environment is set by those who sit at the top the community is watching as principles are shifted around or released based upon the whims of management and a board under the leadership of castor Basu Lindell Elementary has consistently shown via Panorama data that a strong sense of belonging exists for its students and staff no matter who's in the administrator's desk the district office or in the boardroom all people must be committed to anti-racism and acknowledge the systemic racism and white privilege that permeates American School institutions what is done will have Ripple effects for years to come I'll end with a quote from Reverend Martin Luther King Jr who said if racism is ever to be eradicated white people must begin to walk in the pathways of their black brothers and feel some of the pain and hurt that thve without let up in their daily lives end quote I will forever keep beating the drum for racial Justice thank you for listening good evening board good evening superintendent my name is James Wright I'm a teacher of over 25 years in the district this my my wife Michelle same over 25 years of service just here to bring to your attention tonight um first of all just a mix of emotions little anger little hurt little disappointment uh my wife was out for a couple years with cancer um she was able to come back within the 39th month rehire um she was told a job would be held for her and she did get a job back she was lucky to go back to McCollum where she's been for over 20 years uh but then she just was told she'll be receiving a pink slip because what she was never informed of is when she was on the 39th month rehire that she would lose her seniority date and her rehire date is last January now so as I wear this pen as she wears that pin I want to know what's behind it I want to know know what it stands for cuz where my wife is from Ohana is over everything and here growing up in this area Familia is important and this has been my family for a long time and all I ask is to show up and to feel safe and taken care of and compensated and to know that like me coming here every day and giving my all that the same will be shown to me and my family so I ask that you examine the situation because I know she's not alone I know there's some other people in in the same situation and we didn't ask for cancer and I'm so happy she's back and we do ask that that that the district look at it differently because they don't have to put you on a new seniority date you can be reinstated with your old seniority date she's she's acknowledged in terms of her pay and her years of service but now her seniority has changed and that does does not seem fair not seem fair at all so I wanted to express that to you so you can please examine that and maybe in the future as well as right now we won't have to have these kinds of discussions because people will come back knowing that their family has their back that they have their sight they have their position that they're safe also I just want to express that in the last couple of days I've been informed of some colleagues uh some administrators who have received or will receive pink lips and I don't know why I know that they have valuable experience they're veterans they have relationships that go deep into the community people that I worked alongside with as teachers as well as as administrators and I can only hope that they're not being targeted because of their salary and I just need to say that I I hope that they are seen as people that have relationships and experience which you cannot replace and to start a new culture some of these schools you're going to need strong leaders to start new cultures thank you sorry I just like to really zero in on the issue here she had a life-threatening illness and she's penalized by her seniority her seniority is taken away she was able to come back and now she has gotten an involuntary to leave McCullum because of a life-threatening illness now we're going to put that in the contract we're going to put language in the contract to protect to protect to protect this okay understand lifethreatening illness and she her seniority has been taken away she lucky to be here and so please honor that an educator who has been here she's gotten teacher of the year please rethink this 39 Monon rehire and let her stay and give her back her seniority thank you any further public comment uh okay so moving on to uh trusty comments um you mean Teamsters Madam president1 teamers please 301 is I didn't see him here so then I'm going to move on to California school board's employees Association cssea Miss Sharon she's coming here good evening happy New Year everybody board president tvz superintendent Sero I want to thank um board president and Mr fam for your kind emails you sent me when I couldn't be here last month and yes my grandkids had a great Christmas presentation and program so thank you they all go to the same school so they all be performed in the same night that's why I just had to be done and I want to welcome Mr Newen at csca to the alrock school board and U congratulate Karina I I don't say your last name right so I'm sorry if I apologize for calling you by your first name uh on your reelection consistency is good and welcome to 2025 as we Forge ahead in what needs to be done for the next uh school year to thank Mr too for doing the presentation this evening I look forward to hearing it I have some questions but I'm going to save them because I'm sure they're going to be answered during presentation and for out the CCA so we can start up our negotiations again we're still doing our um 2425 contract we're real anxious to get that settled so we can move forward into the next step of the layoffs that are going to affect our many members so with that that I don't have any issues with the board book it looks good to me so I will um thank you and I will see you next time thank you but I'll be here for a while thank you uh Alam Rock uh Educators assocciation area Miss Sandra please good evening board president members of the board superintendent and Community happy New Year as I reflected over our winter break I was thinking a lot about our how our district is going through a season just like we as Educators were on winter break the time of end like winter is what Alam rock is going through as we embark on 2025 and approach the New Year spring is coming a season that represents new Youth and growth I truly stand behind all our Educators in this District believing we can grow together to make alumrock the South Bay destination for educational Excellence but let's go back to my winter analogy for a minute I'm hoping that we can put the old ways of alumrock business as usual behind us part of that has to be open transparency and ways of making decisions and sticking to them it is you as the board that is the face of our district along with the superintendent having a unified message is what will create stability and Trust among everyone in the district making sure that when items are placed on the agenda dra IC changes are not blindsiding the public and having the changes being made look like that if a few come to advocate for choices that the decision can be swayed by the voice of a few we have tough decisions ahead and even tougher roads ahead of us we want everyone to feel supported and valued currently not all those voices are feeling that way please find a way to make this transition inclusive make it a a point to go out speak to parents invite them to our campus encourage thinking outside the walls of this District Educators want families and students to continue with us on this new Journey the one thing that I have learned as a leader is ask now I know it's a small word one that many don't ever think twice about however that one three-letter word is so often overlooked ask parents to come ask students to come and not via a letter or an impersonal email but let's start hosting events showing our faces inviting parents and students to take a look at our campuses see the things that we are doing and create an environment where our parents and students feel welcome and wanted you currently have over 500 Educators that want their classes and students to stay we can do this together it does not have to be an US versus them mentality so please let's work together think together and create a new alumrock together thank you uh Alam Rock administrators Association era um I don't see her today so I guess we will take the 305 superintendent uh thank you president uh Chavis um first and foremost happy New Year everyone um I'm gonna start with the school board recognition month uh January is School Board recognition month I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the to the Board of Trustees for your hard work and dedication to the elmrock Union School District serving as a truste is no easy task as the decisions you make profoundly impact our faculty staff community and most importantly our beautiful students while some of you assume this role comes with significant financial rewards the reality is far from it your commitment goes beyond compensation it reflects your passion for serving our district and its future thank you for all you do I want to also update on the school placement forms uh we know that am wanted to know where they would be placed for the 25 26 school year and on December 20th prior to going to break we shared with each family their school placement via parent Square families also should by now have received a mailed out physical letter if they did not complete the digital version to adequately uh adequately plan Staffing allocations we are also asking families to complete a school placement form confirming their their placement or indicating their plan I want to share some uh quick data uh with you so out of the um from all the students that have been with the mailers that have been sent out or the um the placement form 283 families have completed the form as of today at 3:30 p.m.

and secondly I'd like to highlight uh uh Lindale on January 29th which is exactly on Lunar New Year we'll be having a performance of The Nutcracker so if POS you know I encourage everyone if you know if if you can't fit it in your schedule to see The Nutcracker at Lindale so on that note uh you know thank you Madame President for the time and I yield to you know the balance for any of my colleagues to have uh remarks to this evening um any other trustee comments okay I'll say mine um I'm um I'm sadden to hear what happened to the teacher and I'm not negotiating or or anything but um kind of embarrassing um I too went through cancer uh stage four so I know what battle you had and this last year we uh my husband just went through throat neck and head cancer so I know what it's like and um I I uh I commend you for everything you've gone through and you're still here and you're working with the kids thank you um I'll see you and Advocate with whatever way I possibly can um and somebody mentioned the the money with for the tossas I was on the governor's budget release uh for his budget proposal on Monday to hear everything that's coming down the line and they are going to have money for uh literacy grants so the minimum I heard that uh you can get on the grant is 450,000 so I didn't hear that there was any maximum so guess what we're going to try and go for the maximum because I have one motto which is get the money so for the kids in their reading uh thank you very much all of you for your patience through all of this and uh I know some decisions sometimes seem uh that you don't have all the uh what you would like but it's uh believe this we're all working towards the best interest of the students and the learning um and that's all I can say thank you very much uh trusty thank you board president um I just want to thank all those that have been reaching out via email um with information that uh maybe we might not get um it's helpful for us as trustees because we can't be at all the schools all the time um and so the emails we get the information we get you know it's it's helpful so when we have our one-on ones um with uh superintendent we can ask questions we can clarify information um so thank you keep them coming we might not or I might not be able to respond to all I do my best um because there's many uh but I I you know I will do my best and know that you know I'll at least take the time to to read them um and then also I want to congratulate our County board supervisor Betty dong uh for um being sworn in and uh starting her term um it was great to be there with my fellow trustees to represent our community here in alumrock and ensure that we're working in Partnership um to make sure that we move all of our community forward um and then also I wanted to highlight you know um in my community as daughter of um immigrants who became citizens and my teens you know I remember being young um and having fears uh different propositions them different uh leadership and so for me it is personal it is personal when my community does not feel safe in their own homes in their own communities so I know we had a scare in our community uh this past uh U week and um I was very proud of our leaders who came together um one to ensure that um ice was not in our community so it was not ice um but also it brought up that scenario brought up areas of growth for our community um and uh I've been very proud to see the different trainings different opportunities in different languages um so that we can be aware um in our uh Community all of us feel um safe and have the information and phone numbers that we can reach out to if needed um and I look forward to as uh a trustee um bringing back a resolution to ensure that as um uh our district that we do our part um for all of our students um and families to uh continue to feel safe and then um also I wanted to highlight you know we have Martin Luther King coming up uh many opportunities for our community to engage um and ensure that we support our African-American brothers and sisters um I know there will be a lunch in at San State and many other events so uh please look out for those and if you can't find one let me know and we'll connect you um and then also as a truste um we were able gather yesterday with the Santa clar County uh Board of Association so the different trustees across Santa clar County um we get to come together once a month um once virtually and once you know breakfast breakfast and lunch yesterday was virtual and I was able to attend that um and discuss our policies you know how we um the different districts um update their policies uh do that we have a lot of work to do so I know um superintendent and I have talked about uh updating our policies and we will be doing that in the near future so I look forward to um you know getting those things done everything's important um but definitely policy you know as as trustees that's one of our main jobs so I look forward to um updating those as soon as possible so um with that thank you uh board president for the time uh yes trusty vice president kto go ahead um yeah over the last month I had the opportunity to go to a couple events and so as uh uh board member fam uh also attended uh supervisor Dong's uh um public soring in and so it was a uh excellent uh event uh very Community oriented uh massive number of people I think Al e San Jose and part of downtown emptied out into the Mexican heritage Plaza and so a lot of uh things that were there available to our community so very excited what the future holds for our uh District out here District 2 uh and East say downtown the parts of South suers that he represents in addition I stopped by Senator Cortez's open house and it was a great opportunity to catch up with fellow uh um counterparts from various districts that were there uh to um to to celebrate the new or to to open the the new office that the senator has a little bit more to the uh eastern part of our County and so I'm excited about the fact that we don't have to drive that far to the west to go and uh speak to our our state Senator if we have to connect for some another um additionally I have the opportunity to stop by and participate on the or organizing committee for the squ and mile Festival it's going to be taking place on Sunday May 4th um it is a a a a great project that's uh being organized by uh council member Ortiz's office as well as uh the United L riter Council and a in a wide variety of different uh nonprofits and so it's a math of effort undertaking that's taking place I'm looking forward to having Alan Rock I know that we were there uh last year but uh hopefully we can have a greater presence uh it's looking like it's going to be a bigger event uh with an even greater draw than last year and so it's a great opportunity for us to really attract some of those students that U might be looking at other our competitors and make sure that we can try to bring them back um through greater engagement um and so I'll be connecting with superintendent and seeing how we can uh see how we can be more engaged in both U I'm already there um I was invited to participate in the committee but um in the event itself and have more exposure for Alam rock that day um and so uh I am extremely concerned over what's taking place I know that it's a federal issue but nevertheless we deal with ramifications of those federal laws and it's our students that um are kept home because of the uncertainty because of the fact that their families might not be there and for some people it might not mean mean a damn thing to you but the fact of the matter is that there are those of us who do have uh uh folks who are of mixed status and uh we do have that uh we know my aunt was removed from her house and uh her husband got back home and said what's going on didn't know where she was at wasn't aware not in this I'm talking about our our in her years past so there are those of us who uh uh have uh felt the the the ravages of having your family torn part um all for simply being agricultural workers uh a job that they clearly can't find anybody else to do and they're still ripping people out from the fields and uh it's really sickening um when we've seen the experiment that they had in Alabama uh where the the food was rotting out there because folks just weren't willing to risk having their families broken apart uh in the past we passed a resolution that uh committed to uh looking out for for the uh safety of our children regardless of their status and so um I I know it's in place it was adopted by this board and I'm looking forward to ensuring that we remind folks that it is in effect and that as the position of this board uh to look out for the the safety of our students regardless of what their uh status might be thank you okay uh I think our presenters are here so moving on to 4.3 we jumped it uh um ahead of the other 4.1 so um uh you want to go ahead good afternoon uh President Chavez uh vice president kto trustee superintendent uh parents and Educators my name is Claudia Rossi I am a registered nurse I work for bayara Community Health and I am here with my colleague uh from American Heart Association yeah um the reason we're here I first of all thank you to vice president Kinto um I have a deep commitment not only as an RN but also as the daughter of um of a father who who left us too soon because of uncontrolled hypertension and uh as a nurse I can tell you we are seeing in the emergency rooms uh people as young as in their their 30s um who have strokes and even heart attacks so the hypertension uh pandemic is something that uh we want to raise awareness and the American Heart Association has a mission to be a Relentless force uh for a world of longer healthier lives and a big part of that is for all of you to know your numbers what is your blood pressure and what is normal and what is isn't and so we're going to is it here okay this one or here very good and do you want to start yes so thank you so much for having us you I really really appreciate um to do this presentation um so like cloria said uh from ha American Heart Association our 2030 us goal is together we will equitably increase healthy life expectancy from 66 to at least 68 years by 2030 so what does that mean why are we saying that you know we we do this so like how she said how cloria said heart disease is the number one cause of death in the US we all know that and 20200 Americans die of heart disease each day that means one death every 39 seconds so the disease accounts for approximately onethird of all deaths in California that R ranks number five cause of death so if you can see I pulled some um statistics here in Santa Clara County within the report area there are a total of 10,500 three deaths due to heart disease so of all that high blood pressure where ha walks in to see that impact on blood pressure to decrease their numbers is in Santa Clara County adults age 18 plus with hypertension is 24.8% so you know claria now explains what is high blood pressure and what we are doing into in the community yeah thank you one of the things we do in the community is just this it's raising awareness to say that these are the numbers and that we don't want you to be one of the statistics um let's go ahead and follow the next one because here is what I want to start with well what is high blood pressure okay and it is the force of blood pushing against your blood vessels okay so when you look at blood pressure you look at two numbers right let's say 120 over8 the top number is the pressure in your arteries when your heart beats the bottom number is the pressure in your arteries between beads and why does it matter why does it matter if I have high blood pressure and I always use this example how many of you have ever rented a power washer you want to okay so you aim a liquid a fluid on a wall and to clean your walls and in that case that force is good but that force is not good when your blood pressure is high and those artery walls are getting hit it's causing microscopic damage to your artery walls let's say for example like me I grew up in a very carnivorous family okay kitas on the weekends kada kada kada So eventually you build up plaque in your arteries and if you have high blood pressure and that blood is hitting hitting hitting those artery walls harshly a potential little particle of that plaque can dislodge travel to your heart heart attack travel to your brain stroke and the reason that we're here and I want to just share right now as we speak I have an uncle who um didn't control his blood pressure he had a stroke and he can't swallow now and this isn't to scare you this is just to say this matters and the fact that when we go to high schools uh or when we go to community colleges increasingly we're seeing young people who are using Red Bull Rockstar monster they're having these drinks that are loaded with Caff caffeine so we're seeing younger and younger people with uh high blood pressure now what is normal now we want to share with you that the goal is for your blood pressure to be at 120 over 80 but if you notice in the green zone the green zone is the good Zone it says less than 120 over 80 now if you go to the doctor and you see that your blood pressure is above 120 120 to 129 you may have felt that oh I'm really doing good but actually that is considered elevated okay proceeding along to the next level once you get into your 130s that is hypertension level one stage one and then in your 140s or higher hypertension level too if you God forbid have a blood pressure of 180 or above that is considered a medical emergency thank you now here's yes sir [Music] mhm yes go ahead and for the benefit of the public would you be able to speak to that yes so U so we are focusing on Black and Hispanic people that's the question sir you have right correct just for the benefit of the publicit public so why we put this picture is in Santa Clara County we see there are hard and stroke numbers that are high in this community at the same time you know there is a health disparity in this community that we see so that's the reason you know we put this picture because the initiatives that we want to implement in the community is we are focusing on these two ethnicity so that's the reason we put there are three we in in like African-Americans and Hispanic population picture yeah did I answer your question sir the the point I'm trying to get is that to inform the public that there are Health disparities and that there is a higher uh pres H attack and stroke certain Community yeah that's why for example there's a unique and special uh health programs that have been developed by the county to deal with population for this reason I should yeah so the reason we are here the reason we are here and we are doing this presentation is we want to train all all the school districts that involves parents and children on nutrition insecurity and blood pressure screening and reference if there is nutrition insecurity we have three screening tool questions that we train the staff or we train the teachers and we tell them hey do this nutrition screening tool and if you identify any children who are food insecure refer them to us so we can refer them to snap or we give them Farmers Market vouches that's one initiative we are implementing the second initiative is blood pressure screening and referal irrespective of who it is we do the screenings we train the staff we give the blood pressure machines and we make sure everyone is knowing their numbers it's like know their numbers so we screen so the staff can screen share educational resources if they are uninsured you know make sure they are referring to the uh be your community health you know so that's the reason you know we are doing this presentation to bring the awareness you know how much we need this in the community moving along to another test that I would urge all of you to make sure you uh access how many of you know or have heard of a hemoglobin A1c sure very good and so we want to make sure um that you and if you could take a picture with your cell phone on this slide it's actually a a very important one know your cholesterol levels and also consult with a nutritionist okay so if you take a picture of that I think it's a very good thing to have on your phone and whenever you have any kind of blood test make sure that you keep a file on yourself right some of us take better care of the levels of our car fluids than on our own body so I encourage you to ask um what is my A1C and it's not there in this slide but ask for your hemoglobin A1c to establish whether your blood sugar is at a normal range pre-diabetic or diabetic next one please okay so um the other thing that I want to encourage all of you to do if you can um have a blood pressure machine at home and know your numbers um take your blood pressure once a day or in my case I I served as a trustee I used to take my blood pressure after after more Mee okay forget it good next slide and like I shared before this one this is a very important one usually when we talk about hypertension we hear oh you're at higher risk to have a heart attack or stroke and we're worried about hypertension because it's called the silent killer you can walk around with very dangerously high levels of blood pressure and not feel a symptom and so it's called the silent killer but here's the other part that I'd like uh for you to take a note of if you have controlled hypertension you can also be affected in Your Vision your kidneys could become damaged uh there could be uh erectile dysfunction with uncontrolled hypertension kidney failure is a big one because we also have the comorbidity in our communities africanamerican and Latino communities of diabetes so it's it's it's the additional reason to become aware of your numbers next please here you go how do I improve my blood pressure okay um and these are all areas that we could cover I'm going to ask yeah we are switching because you know I'm in the dietics field um I came from a nutrition background clinical nutrition so that's the reason we are switching into the clinical part and the diet part yeah more than this you know you can see it's easy to maintain excuse me is there any way that the board can get the slides as well sorry is there any way that the presentation could be sent to the board yeah sure thank you it's in the PDF format okay yeah thank you that'd be great so um it's easy what can I do to improve blood pressure is weight reduction it's just like five pounds and you can see there is Five Points reduction in blood pressure you know so ha recommends 150 minutes per week it's it's easy like you know 30 minutes every day so when some patients you know they tell me from tomorrow morning I'm hitting the gym so they like don't spend $250 on that why don't you do one minute plank at home and show me send me pictures it's really hard 10 seconds plun is the toughest you know try one minute and then showing you can sign up to the jail so that's how we encourage our patients our clients our um participants and dash eating plan anyone know about Dash eating plan is it's dietary approaches to stop hypertension so it's like more fruits and vegetables and people like you know when we tell everyone hey you need to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day and they'll come to us and they'll ask what do you mean five servings no way I can't do this so we tell them one serving is four strawberries please and a medium siiz Apple it's not that easy it feel like Divine like you know for breakfast you can eat like small orange the Clementine cuties right in the afternoon like a medium Apple so that will come as two servings three strawberries so it's easy but the thing is education that that's the key we are lacking in the community that's where we are so and restrict sodium intake so yesterday my daughter she bought um instant noodles and and she was like Mom you should try this so I was like being a mom and a dietician you know as soon as she gave me I flipped and I was looking at the back and it has 8 50 milligrams of sodium I was like done for the day you don't need this so that's what you know restrict sodium intake we don't want to say restrict but reduce read the labels physical activity like I said 150 minutes per week and moderate alcohol I don't want to talk about it but moderation is the key it's two um drinks per men and one drink per woman for days yeah I want to make sure this because yeah it's for it's for my husband so I make sure every portion size is on the refrigerator especially alcohol yeah tell them how many [Laughter] ounces question maybe like three if I see a you know in a whiskey bottle like in a whiskey glass a shot yeah it's a shot yeah so yes like how we said good news heart heart disease and stroke can be prevented 80% we can do this we can educate other people too right so here there are life's essential eight I just want to take five more minutes like how we discussed no smoking or Ving adequate sleep like 7 to 9 hours how many of you sleep how many of you get eight hours sleep in a day I love that SM I wish parents yes I'm seven seven yeah right I think think you know we from now on you know we should we should just like do that math how many hours of sleep am I getting that's very important that's very important for all our metabolic syndromes and and also one more question how many diets do you think out there in the market like Tick Tock diet like how many just give me a rough number like how many diets you think people are following 10,000 yes that's a good number yeah we were doing a presentation in Salesforce and they are like maybe 800 I'm like no more than that yeah yeah more than that there is there are so many diets but out of all the diets there are only three diets that are top one two and three in from past four years it's Mediterranean diet it's like modified it's we are not saying Mediterranean you know someone can't walk to an Indian and say just eat olives we don't should eat olives every day my mom will be like what I'm not used to it my DNA is not used to that olives so we just modified Mediterranean diet and there is DASH diet dietary approaches to stop hypertension and there is one more diet I remember only these two diets because ha you know day in day out we educate people on these two diets so and of course another four key Health factors is maintain your blood pressure more than me saying maintain I want everyone to know your numbers first right so we just want to know our numbers and of course cholesterol healthy weight for for me being in in this field I don't want to say BMI uh because it varies from culture to culture so if it is an Indian culture I'll say wayte to hip ratio is the one I always consider um so that's how BMI yes we follow but on the clinical dietic side we mostly follow the blood markers and way to heat pressure and blood sugar make sure you know you have less than 6.2 the A1C is 3 month average glucose that's it any questions thank you so much for giving us time thank Youk you so much thank you thank you okay uh moving on to 4.1 certificated and classified layoff process uh thank you madam president uh assistant superintendent of Human Resources Cesar too will be uh presenting on the process uh so I'll go ahead and turn it over to Mr too it's all yours okay I'm just G to give MJ little moment to transition from one presentation to the other but in the meantime good evening board president good evening vice president good evening superintendent Sera and members of the board uh today I'm just going to uh run through the process of classified and certificated layoffs certainly help Enlighten you and answer any questions as we head in this direction as part of our school consolidation plan and certainly to follow the fiscal advice of our CBO and certainly follow the advice of our County adviser to make sure that we uh really take advantage of the savings if we're going to close these schools certainly the the Staffing also is a big part of the plan so I just want to give you some key points and answer any questions might have as we go down this this path okay so in this case we have uh four different distinct employee groups we have two classified uh groups uh the the teamsters and CSEA and certainly we have our certificated group that is area that represents all certificated staff including teachers and other um employees that require credential from the California Commission on teacher credentialing finally we have the alamro administrators Association that is just our Management Group okay so certainly um I highlight that because we're going to be doing we anticipate recommending layoffs that affect all those groups and the process is the same we have to follow the same process for all those groups so just highlighting that for you but let me start off with the process for classified layoffs okay so the Ed codes are are listed there certainly that that is a place to start but there's also the collective bargaining agreement and also District policies and regulations to follow so there's you always follow the Ed code but certainly you look at the collective bargaining agreement to see what has been done in the past and what's been agreed to in the past certainly any in any other District policies and regulations that we have that that mandate that um one of the changes in the classified layoffs is that now the initial notice to each employee that is being laid off has to be given by March 15th that wasn't always the case um as you remember the last time this actually probably before the last time because I think we did some classified layoffs last year but it used to be 60 days notice but that Ed code has changed and now the classified process mirrors the certificated process so now the classified employees in most cases have to be noticed at or before March 15th honor before March 15th um we still have the old 60-day rule but that is only applicable if we're laying off some categorically funded positions so use rarely but if we are have if we do have some classified employees that are being paid out of a categorical fund that is ending we can still do the 60-day layoff but for the most part we will follow the March 15th notice because if they're just regularly funded out of the general fund okay one thing that's important is that uh you you are allowed now to uh deliver those notices by certified mail but the best practice is personal delivery there's a lot of risk when you put something in the mail that it's going to get lost there's no proof of delivery I'm not going to disparage the Postal Service my mom worked for the Post Office for 30 years so God bless the post office I will never say anything bad about them but I have not I've had some bad luck in the past with sending things certified mail um strongly Rec Rec commend we stick to personal delivery and then you know it's been delivered you know it's been uh given to the proper person um uh the initial notice goes out on March 15 U the second layoff notice is required if a hearing is requested so that's another uh thing that has to be kept in mind is that classified employees May request a hearing and that'll trigger uh us to contact the office of administrative hearings and get an administrative lodes to preside over those hearings that happens the final layoff notice will be given by May 14th okay any question a lot of stuff any questions on that I do and I just have it on my phone let me quck okay um I actually asked Mr Sera this uh about two minutes ago maybe this is the wrong time to ask this but on the layoff of the teacher that was uh here that spoke earlier today um what is the bargaining agreement there is there a way to because I've been through that and I just went through that with my husband and so I don't think that that's fair that when you get sick that you're you're you're done at the bottom again so without without speaking about anyone in specifics right but my respecting privacy not not I'm just generally speaking not talking about anyone in particular yeah forget what I said so certainly the the the Ed code the the current Ed codes uh in this case or any case when somebody certificated person goes on the and I haven't talked about certificated yet but I will since you asked the question if they go on the 39 month re hire list and they come you know and they come back within that time period uh they do come back they keep their status so they if they were permanent when they left they keep their permanent status but they get the new seniority that is the when they come back uh that is the latest information you have we have and and certainly if we find anything and I will um if if you would request I will get a legal opinion to kind of make sure that we there's been no changes or if there's any other ways to look at it from another angle yeah because to me it it kind of seems unfair because you never know how long you're going to be out and sometimes it's it's minor and you think it's minor but it blows up into a whole thing so it's not because you know something that they did wrong so I just want to revisit that and see what can be uh done going forward and who knows who lose cases okay okay um trusty Min pan you know since you know originally I was actually going to wait until the certificated portion of the presentation to ask that but you know for for the interest of the public as well as our uh uh three unions uh would you be able to provide a quick synopsis of what the 39 month re hire list is sure sure whenever um there's layoffs and an employee is released uh using the layoff process uh they are kept on what's called a 39 monthly hire list and during that period of time anytime a position becomes open that they qualify for it has to be offered to them first now they don't have to take it but then within that time period you keep contacting them and as openings come up you keep contacting them to say this is open you're within the 39 month re hire list certainly they have preferential U treatment towards is getting those any position that comes open yes when you're that sick you don't even answer phones emails or nothing so how can they be expected to answer all those those calls or emails you know what I mean when you're sick you're sick yeah so is do they make or can there be exceptions uh going forward that's all I can't answer that right now but I'll take a mental not you certainly be able to talk about that uh trusty Gina um I'm just wondering I was going to ask questions later but let's just say it's classified or um and right now we're talking about classified or any other um when there are particular issues um that arise with a particular case is that where possibly then the hearings can be held and then we might be able to take Case by case so the the hearings are really just to challenge the process right um so they're not there to look at specific cases is this one is different it's really to the administrative law judge their role in my past experience is just to make sure where the where the notice is handled in a timely manner where the resolutions passed at the right time they're not there to discuss one-offs it's really more about was the process followed so who calls a hearing I guess so the employees have a right to request a hearing and that triggers us to contact the office of administrative hearings and then they provide an administrative law judge we'll probably have it right here in this board boardroom if we get to that point and they will hear each case yeah but again it's all about procedure though it's all about what's the process and procedure followed yeah would any come to the board eventually or no it's I don't I don't believe so it goes to the administrative log J make that decision okay thank you okay okay so just to kind of let you know the steps that we have to follow because it is a lot of steps that we have to do in in a quick time is we prepare and update the seniority uh lists uh then we choose the classifications and corresponding FTE for layoffs so again uh we're just talking about positions right when we do the layoff resolution if you guys have been here when we've done them before we just say these positions and how many FTE FTE means full-time equivalent right so 8 Hour employee if we're classified is 1.0 4our employees 0.5 so basically an example would be um laying off eight office assistant 05 FTE right so you got eight positions 0.5 F each that's that's that's what it would look like um the the board resolutions would be well first we notify the unions of for potential effects of bargaining in settlement in Le of in Le of hearings uh then the the we adopt the board resolutions um we determine uh which employees will receive the initial layoff notice we make sure that those layoff notices get delivered by March 15th except when the 60-day rule applies uh we collect any hearing requests and send out notice of statement and reduction of force the rip notices and then if applicable we contact the office of administrative hearings to schedule the hearings if that applies okay any questions on the preparation for classified layoffs okay okay uh so again when we're going through this process U really the the employees cannot contest the decision to lay off only the process so the process is extremely important the timelines have to be met paperwork has to be exact um and things have to be adopted in a timely manner and the forms have to be given that is what can be challenged that is what can make make or break uh layoffs is not f following the process um we classified there's seniority within the class but but not overall seniority determines the order of a layoff what does that mean it means that in the classified world uh people keep seniority and old and a lot of times they move up right somebody starts off as a campus per they get seniority that's seniority dat they become an office assistant they get a new seniority date and they earn seniority on their first day in their second job but they still have seniority in their first job right so in a lot of cases people that may may get laid off in one position they may have uh rights to their first position that they held if they have more seniority than someone else is there so they can choose to bump back to an old position so often there's a there's a domino effect you know people people get laid off from one position but they have rights in another one then they bump somebody else that's less senior than them and then they get affected and it kind of goes on and on yes so it's never accumulated like if you did four different positions five you know five six seven eight you don't add them all up and then that's you have the same hire date but yeah that's why Sharon's like yeah there's a lot to keep track of Sharon knows so does lazette in my office that they're constantly talking and going back and forth about well they they said this they're in this position 20 years ago they still have the seniority and and I think you guys just worked that out and I'm looking at Sharon because I know you and lazette were working very hard yesterday to to make sure that everything was right and I think it got sent out to the it seems like they should get bonus points for still sticking around yeah I mean anything can be bargained right so I don't know okay so yeah so that's the reason for that um I think I so so again we we choose the classifications and the FTE of each classification to be reduced um and again um it's hard it's it discretion of the district it's not subject to hearing on the merits but we can't we can't do layoffs more or below the level of mandated service so we have to make sure we can take care of the students and and provide the services so we can't cut it so far back that we can't service the students so that's one thing to think about um and again you're deciding the number of FTE because we're laying off positions and not the people okay um classified managers supervisors and confidential employees are included in this process meaning that the timelines are the same for management as regular classified employees any questions okay so again um we need to adopt a board resolution prior to March 15 way be before then because we we need to have time to to properly hand out the notices so that's why it becomes very important um we resolution identifying sufficiently specific classification and corresponding FTE adopting a tiebreaking resolution uh so we have to have a process for breaking ties for same seniority dates and also look at what is in the CBA and what's been done in the past that's super important it's how that's been done um typically and this is general information it's sometimes you do tiebreakers by special skills or experience or if you anticipate ties and if you anticipate ties you need to apply their criteria before notices are sent and review with the Union so again Sharon's experience in this the zette has been in my office for years we rely on that experience to make sure that that we break the any ties the right way so we notice the the right people okay questions okay I guess I do yes and there's no loopholes that can be added now at this time to like in certain circumstances I mean what what I'm asking I guess is because it seems to me a little bit unfair if you put in 20 years and you've only got maybe two or three in this spot and that you kind of lose basically everything you did before uh because somebody else has eight years over here on you versus your three yeah but you keep that you don't lose your Shor in your previous position so if you were here 20 years you you keep the seniority in your previous position so it and it's all based on seniority so you don't lose everything uh you just have it in different the different jobs you've held so it's still there and we have to keep track of it and it drives us nuts we have to remember where you were 25 years ago and people people called us out yesterday actually when we were working with another group and they said 25 years ago I was in this and it wasn't on this date and we had to even though they were in a whole different position uh you know we had to go back and research that to to make sure that that was right even though it's probably not going to apply to anything but they just want it to be how they want it to be right they want it to be accurate like hey yeah okay so again um classified layoffs are based on Senor and you can hold CH in various positions you don't lose it you just have it based on how many years you you were in each position okay okay again uh we determine who receives the notice there's bumping according to the CBA past practice and there could be a domino effect you know you figure out how many hours we Swit positions those are all things that have to be talked about and worked on with the applicable unions and again uh what do we do with supervisors what's the process for that do they bump into their old positions again I have not been a part of that but certainly it's going to happen at some point this year we're going to have to talk about it with with classified supervisors having to go back and whole positions or what the process for that is okay so again March 15 personal service um I don't want to use the mail I love the post office but I don't want to use the mail I want to make sure that those are handed via personal service if they request a hearing we send the final notice by May 14th again I already talked about the office of administrative hearings um again um we contact the office of administrative hearings they're going to ask us for copies of all the documents list of respondents proofs of service and they will give us hearing dates that usually happen in April and then we send the notice of hearing to each employee if we get to that point all right certificated very similar but I want to just be very clear um when you know every year you know unfortunately we sometimes have to non- reelect probationary teachers right it's just a fact every year we have to do a few um want to make it very clear that it is in Ed code that we can't non- reelect certificated employees in lie of a layoff it's a separate process right now if we count up all of our probationary employees and temporary employees certificated we have about a 100 right so somebody from the outside may say hey just lay off all those people or release all the T and lay off all the probes you don't have to worry about anything that's against head code we cannot do that it is a separate process so the timeline that I'm going to propose is to do the non- reelection of probationary and temporary employees at the end of this month it's one process and then at the beginning the first board meeting in February we will do we will propose to bring the layoff resolution solons because it again it is not one process it's not in Le of there are two completely separate processes okay okay so the layoffs it's a process meant to protect permanent employees it's the Ed codes are listed there uh March 15th is the same as what we talked about there's also a second set of lab notices if a hearing is requested the hearing rights to challenge the layoff a final notice will got on May 14th exactly like the CL classifi the the the processes M each other here are the steps we uh prepare and update the seniority list um we determine if this is a an average daily attendance or particular kind of service layoff okay that's a had a I thought about this today so Ada is based on you're just doing layoffs based on attendance okay particular kind of service allows you to to select the positions that best suit your needs for layoff so you can say I need to lay off five English teachers based on your master schedules I need to lay off five PE teachers I need to lay off 20 multiple subject teachers so it allows you to look at your master schedules and pick the particular kinds of services uh instead of just saying this is the X amount bulk number that we need to lay off because it's based on attendance what's highly recommended is is always to tailor it is to do particular kinds of service that that does that doesn't always follow the exact um senority dates because you're looking at credentials right and and in our case I know that one of the things on the resolution uh we're going to have to add on is for multiple subject one of one of the criteria we have to say is that we need to skip multiple subject bclad because we have two we have three schools that require bclad we have the the two adanas and we have painter the Dual language program so if we don't do that then some of the newer teachers that have that certification that's very hard to find they they may get laid off right by following the process so that allows us to tailor it to say wait a minute it's a particular kind of service and we need to tailor for what we need otherwise we do open ourselves up to laying off some folks that we desperately need to run our program so I've always done it as a particular kind of service and not Ada layoff average daily attendance okay again we notified the union for potential effects of bargaining we've already done that we've actually we're bringing to you tonight the umou that talks about the effects of the layoffs are just school closures but we've also talked about how we're going to do the layoffs as well and we're going to make sure we we uh iron anything else out if that happens but again we notify the Union uh we adopt the board resolutions uh we determine the employees to receive the notice we get them in their hands no later than March 15th we collect the hearing request and we sent out the riff notices and then we contact the office of administrative hearings to schedule uh the hearings actually yeah why does it matter um why why does it matter if you're permanent probationary temp uh no permanent employee can be laid off when any probationary employee or other employee with less seniority is retained to render service for which the permanent employee is certificated in competent to render so again that's that's why that's there um there are exceptions skipping or tiebreaking under board adopted resolutions so again why would we skip somebody we would or what would why would we use tiebreakers because of what I said earlier uh multiple subject but you have a bclad in Vietnamese you have a bclad in Spanish special ad maybe one right so based on what we need we would come up with resolution that either Skips a group based on what they have a special skill a special credential that we need or a tiebreaking uh thing that then that would be in the resolution okay quick question so trying to get creative here you said that um the board can skip um or tiebreaking so can the board put in that if somebody was Ill all that time and something you know unforeseen like that can we put that exemption now I I don't know I I that is certainly something because to me that only seems fair I don't know I don't know that answer we can check with leg we can get that answer for you thank you sorry for the interruption oh no no these are great questions okay yeah this is why I'm here and and supposedly if there's more than one if there's several do the same for them as going forward maybe after we talk to Legal okay yes uh TR yes uh I guess for purposes of uh for the public and as well as for the uh employee associations represented tonight uh you know it how you know could there could you give a quick nutshell about how um seniority is uh accumulated SL tabulated yeah based on higher date okay yeah but I guess the thing is you know in a certain case you know as I've said without getting into anyone in particular it sounds like uh somebody could leave the district beond the 39 Monon rehire list return but it sounds like uh they could lose see you know seniority yeah and that's just by applying the the current Ed code as we know it okay yeah but certainly we will look into it and see if there's been any changes oh yeah thank you okay so again um temporary employees don't have layoff rights just an example they they're on oneyear contracts you know they end at the end of the year automatically when they're hired they're told that okay so if there's this is just something that I got from from our County group temporary employees must be released before laying off any probationary or permanent employees correction employee classification is crucial so that's why we're going to be uh doing the layoffs or not layoffs the releases of temporary and probation employees at the next board meeting before we do any layoffs that's the reason for my recommendation to do that at the next board meeting that way we we follow Ed code um and and we have in the question comes up what what how do you determine what a temp is there there's there's very limit there's limits to how many temps we can have uh temporary employees can be replacing a teacher that is out on leave like they take a a leave of absence for a year or they could be replacing a teacher that's permanent and they are they decided to take a categorically funded position so they go I'm going to go do this but that money is going to run out so they're basically holding their job for them so I'm gon to go be a coach right and but the money's going to run out so then we hire temp to replace them in the classroom because they took another job when that funding runs out then they have rights back to their you know they were just holding that fashion position for that one but that has to match one to one if we have total of 20 people either on leave or they took positions of categorically funding we can only have 21 we can't have more than that has to be an equal member I have a question so when they take a leave they don't lose their number or they lose their number or do they live or does anything happen to their number F their position no when they no because they took a leave of absence that was board approved okay yes yeah that is different so have if somebody in the future on medical if they if they say uh I'm taking a leave of absence is it better to do that versus hey I'm sick you know who knows when I'll be back yeah I mean I think each case is different because when you take a leave of absence you you're terminated from the district and you don't have benef IAL benefits anymore oh that doesn't work so again um we there's just a case law that references why we can't non- reelect all of our TS and probes to avoid a layoff there was a case law was challenged back in 94 that's just more information but I've said that already um particular kind of service I talked about it's basically we say what kind of teacher what subject it's our discreption uh based on what we need and again we can't do more layoffs that that are that is below the mandated level of service so we can't just have a skeleton crew because we need it we can't we have to have we have to service the kids so we can't do more than than we can now one one suggestion by our County advisor is to over notice because we're not sure what's going to happen and then resend those layoffs and I've been a part of that before um certainly that make sure that because if you don't do enough to realize the savings you can't go back and add any on right you have one shot at it so you you over notice a little bit just to make sure you have enough and then as you get the numbers you know kids sign up parents tell us that they're staying we confirm those numbers then we can resend a certain amount of lasts and then bring those people back as quickly as possible within this year just just to make sure that we're staffed for next year so yes I have another question so when you do do the over number when you're sending out those notices are you like saying hey by the way you're on the our over's number versus the regular number there's no difference everybody gets the same everyone gets the same notice but certainly we would use seniority to to call those folks back um but again that's just being very conservative and very safe because there's been cases where some districts have not noticed enough and then they haven't realized the savings and and certainly we want to be very careful about that and certainly I I don't want to let more people go than I need to because I have to chase them again and it's you know it's a lot of work but certainly I want to make sure that we're meeting our fiscal responsibilities and we're going to really realize all the savings we need to from these layoffs and and and it it'll be based on projected enrollment and so you want to get it as close to that as possible um so so that's what it little bit but even though we're going on the overestimating it's still to me it seems like we're g to be doing the projected but at the same time since we have to give out more than we need it's like kind of not fair to a lot of people corre that get that uh uh vice president kto how long is it usually by the time you get to folks and reive yeah you know I've done them a month later I've done them two months later um so certainly we I I would like you know I would like everyone to tell us they're staying and I would like new kids to enroll and say I'm starting so then we can really plan the hard part right now is is is knowing who's going to go where how many so we can plan on that because certainly we have some timelines with area that we have to give their teachers their tenative assignment for next year and and what's open for next year and that all has to do with you know out of these schools that are being Consolidated where are the students going so that we can prepare for them and it's a it's a it's a much larger scale than I'm used to I've done it with two schools closing I haven't done it with this amount so it'll it'll be it'll be a new experience okay okay so we have the layout the board resolution that I want to bring in the first week of February and I want to do particular kinds of services just to have that flexibility and also the the process for breaking ties for same seniority dates you look at additional credential authorization special skills experience or Advanced degrees um if we anticipate a lot of ties then we want to apply that criteria before we send out the notices okay then we determine who gets the notices again more reminders release the temp temporary employees first can't do that in in the wrong order what's the skipping criteria and again March 15th same as the classified um request for hearing is the same they have to return that their request within seven days and then we send a final layoff notice if they request a hearing by May 14th same as classified same as classified um it's kind of typically what it goes by once that if we if we go to hearing there's an opening statement we we submit the board resolution into evidence they call witnesses usually me so and then we then then we testify that we follow the process so again it's they're really just interested in did we follow the process okay they're they're challenging the process not the layoffs themselves the process process all right again more more issues about seniority dates tiebreakers um usually the office of administrative hearings gives their decision by May 7th and then we schedule a board meeting and then we give out the the layup notices if we do want to resend them we have to do a prior to June 30th but I hope to do that sooner than that if we're going to do that uh timeline um by the end of this month certificated non-re elects and temporary releases and non-re elects that's January 30th February 13th we want to have certificated and classified layoff resolutions for management and non-management positions so four different resolutions classified classified management certificated and certificated management um March 15th final notices must be hand delivered and then May 14th second laugh notices by May 14th if hearings are requested it's a lot of information any question um a couple slides ago under sorry majority of hearing is employee contesting process um under his seniority date you have a bullet that says retroactive seniority um can you talk about that or yeah you know it's it's I've never had to deal with that specifically but but certainly um that was something that they said to consider but I don't know what that is okay be honest with you I put that in there because again during our County meeting they said hey you may this may come up but I don't know what that is hasn't happened for us yeah hasn't happened for me and I've done this like four times but certainly it'll be a learning experience if it comes up but good question excuse me Mr s would you know what that is I do not that that's the first I've heard of it uh would Miss Sandra Rivera know what that is um the retroactive retroactive seniority okay we asked the lawyer we answer okay thank you yeah any other questions yes on the dates the timeline on the January 30th is that the date that the staff will get notified on that no that's the date that we're going to bring resolutions to adopt the positions and the number of FTE so that's just you're giving authority to the superintendent or designate to hand out the notices but after we apply all the criteria so that's a resolution for the board yes got it thank you and that gives us plenty of time to figure out the bumping the seniority the skipping so then we can hand out the notices in a timely manner are another question board president that's okay uh so I mean I guess I'm thinking if I'm a Staff that's going to receive you know a slip on the 15th I want to know sooner than later because announcements are going on I might want to apply somewhere else are staff being notified before that or are we waiting till March 15 I mean I guess not all 100% but if we know there's some that for sure I mean are they getting notified at all we want to do it well before March 15 to make sure it arrives in a timely manner I think there's always a risk right because if you're going to resend some or or if some other folks don't come back you know and historically um we've always had a staff that leaves pretty late sometimes July they let us know that they're going to leave and then then then we have to hire more people so there's a risk but then the bigger risk is having more staff than we can afford right so I I recognize that because I'll give you an example this year in June we hired 21 teachers for this year right and we were done and we said wow we hired 21 staff members wow that's great we're done we we're finished and then when Sandra came to ask me how many new teachers were there there was like 43 44 I mean just between July and August there was like 23 resignations and so that we didn't know about in June and so then we had to hire a bunch of people right so it was crazy and most of them were pretty late they they try to get us usually by by June 30th because that's kind of the the timeline so I think around June 20th we thought we were done and then within 10 days we just got a lot of late resignations and then we got some retirements even in July that we didn't know about they like to surprise us sometimes with that so was this June 30th of 2020 four yeah yes did they okay before this year started so we had a lot of hiring to do where we thought we were done so yes that that that does leave us it is kind of leaves us vulnerable but we have to do the layoffs just to make sure that we're not over staed yes okay uh and I mean because obviously we're dealing with people's lives but um also the timeline of uh putting the announcements the um seniority list I guess that's somewhat helpful and like am I where am I at on that list and the possibilities yeah so the seniority list has already been published for so I think CA got theirs today area got theirs like December and I think the teamsters finalized theirs yesterday so today yeah yeah so they have them so basically everybody's already been notified no just their seniority date oh their seniority okay we we don't do any layoff notices until the board says we do layoff notices you have to approve it there's [Laughter] no okay any further questions from any trustees seeing none thank you very much Mr Madam President we do we take public can I wait wait a minute don't go too far you might have be called again um do we have any public comment seeing none okay thank you Mr too moving on to 402 uh the California dashboard District overview good evening board president and uh trustees um I would like to ask um director Dr Kyla jenez and uh director Dr Tara Bickford to present the dashboard results to you this evening thank you thank you Sandra uh good evening President Chavez trustees superintendent Serta and esteemed members of our community um tonight we are pleased to present our California dashboard results in I ready inter results in addition to kind of highlight some of the um strategies we have started and why we are seeing some of these outcomes I'm not used to it it's good thank you the California dashboard is very similar to what we think of a school report card for our schools and our district it shows how well schools are doing and helping students succeed it uses the colorful gauges which you can see up there that are red orange yellow green and blue depending on where we fall um it shows the performance in different areas like test scores suspension attendance graduation rate for the high school CCI for the high school so it's under academic achievement engagement academic performance conditions and climate under academic engagement at the elementary Ka it is arconic absenteeism academic performance it's our English language arts and math and now new this year's science on the cast and English learner progress indicator under condition and climate that is we will specifically look at our suspension rates for our students so when we look at the dashboard we're looking at all these components um on the next slide this dashboard is very different than what uh Dr Bickford presented in the fall it is not a met and exceeds uh type met or exceed standard percentage it gives more of a complete picture of our students and their performance in school Success it Focus us I'm sorry it focuses on growth and Equity the dashboard looks more at just one more than just one moment at time it shows both the current performance and the improvement over time this helps us see if a student is making progress even if they are not meeting standards yet so when we looked at met and exceeds we are looking at how many students have met exceed when we look at the dashboard and growth over time we're looking at how all our students are doing across alumrock um it also highlights our specific student groups and if they are making progress it includes multiple measures instead of just focusing on test scores the dashboard includes other important areas like attendance suspension rates graduation rates and also college readiness this shows a broader view of how we are supporting our students it also allows us to go as a call of action to do something for our students and see how they're doing in contrast to percentage that only tell us how students have completed or finished are at the Finish Line without showing progress challenges or other factors affecting Student Success the dashboard helps us go beyond the numbers to focus on improving outcomes for every single student this slide gives an overview of where our alumrock is on the dashboard it is it highlights areas of success like our low suspension rates and our English learning progress which is I I'm looking at oh green sorry um and also some of our challenges like chronic absenteeism that we have seen red over the past couple years our goal of looking is to celebrate our achievement and then begin working on the areas that we need for improvement taking a look at the past two years this slide provides an overview of how Alan Rock did on the academic indicators between 23 and 24 as a reminder academic indicators are our English language arts mathematics and our English learner progress in 2023 performance in ela mathematics and our English learner progress was rated at an orange indicating I'm sorry indicating that we were below expectations and we were not making and growth by 2024 the district demonstrated notable Improvement across all academic indicators English language arts and Mathematics moov from Orange to yellow and English learner progress showed significant gains improving from Orange to Green highlighting the district's success in supporting our English language Learners in further slides I'm going to explain how we get those numbers and where they're coming from I'm just I just want to give you kind of an overview of what the district looks like at a glance um on the next I'm sorry and this year is our first year of the science science is a baseline which is why we do not have a color on it currently we are about 20 we are 20.8 points below standard it's our Baseline and we'll get a color next year on how we do in science looking at the Statewide this is actually we did really well on science in comparison to the state so um on the next slide I keep forgetting I have to exp the flicker the next slide we're going to look at the two other indicators the first one is academic engagement in 2023 and which is our chronic absenteeism and chronic absente is in 2024 this consider for us these are the area that we're really struggling in across the district is getting our students to school um as a reminder chronic absenteeism means every student that has Miss more than 10% of the school year so with a I'm sorry what 18 days 18 days of the school year year so when you look at a 30% chronic absenteeism that means 30% of our Allen Rock students have missed more than 10% of the school year um we've made strides in this but this continues to be an area of focus on the positive we also looking at school climate for suspension rate we saw an increase from medium and kind of maintained and 2023 and we saw less number of our students suspend it one time at least one time in that number um from going from yellow to Green what's interesting about the suspension rate it's not the number of suspension days it's a number of students who have been suspended so if they've been suspended one day versus 10 days the numbers are the same so that that shows that we had less students um suspended last year all right okay now um sorry I lost my place okay all right so how do we determine the colors we have a distance from standard and and when we get farther in I'm going to explain what distance from standard is distance from standard is for us it is the we take an average I apologize I'm nervous this person time in front of you guys I apologize ter was like got this Welcome to our club yeah right okay so how do we get our colors okay they look at two things they look at our average distance from standards which is how our students performed which is from the top to the bottom and we look if they're very high which is 45 points that means the average of our student scores are 45 points above standard currently right now we are 60.4 points below standard which will put us in in the low area on that graph so when you go from top to bottom we are 60.4 points below standard then when we go across sorry we look at the growth which means we increased 3.8 points so the rows across shows how we did on growth it goes from decline significantly which means if we lost 15 or more points all the way to increase significantly with this 15.0 points our goal is to maintain increase or increase significantly if we stay on maintained that means on average every single students made a Year's growth that year if we increased or significantly increased that means we're closing that achievement Gap so last year with 3.88 points in ela across all students we increased our achievement which then put us in yellow because as we said we're at 64 60 points below standard which puts us in the low and now we go all the way across where it says 3.0 to 14 we increase which puts it in the low category but that is increased from the orange that we had last year because orange would have said that either maintain or decline so we saw an increase of our student performance across the board for ELA so when we take a look here's where we were at in 2023 this is all our schools in a in Alum Rock and when you look at this we have six schools this is our 5x5 grid with all our schools and when you take a look at it we have one school that has medium achievement and increased three points with a majority of our schools sitting at that very low if you take a look at the screen I'm going to show you what it looks like when we move to 2024 you get to see the movement across the board so what we saw here with all but one school is we saw an increase maintain an increased with most of our schools here at alumrock um with significant increases for adante 2 painter and Curtin and as a district as a whole we saw the increase and when you look at even Hubbert San Antonio and sell even though they're at the very low they increased in the academic achievement overall so their students even though they start at below at a very low rate their students gained more than a year of progress at those schools so there's a lot to celebrate within our Ela um English language arts group to it yeah I was just gonna say we apologize that the print outs show the same exact data but it's because of the graphic that happened here we didn't catch it it was already uploaded in the book so my apologies this is the one this is this is the one that is the one okay yeah so it's it's and we want you to be able to see the movement because you really do visually get to see how all these schools moved over and it's it's exciting when you see the growth okay do the movement one more time yes I can so here we are in 2023 there you go now watch the movement in 2024 so what you want is you want them to move over from maintain increased increased significantly you want it to move over to the right with the goal that eventually we're going to move up from medium to high to very high so what even though are we at the in August when in August and September when we're saying hey we don't have a lot of our kids meeting or exceeding what this is showing us is that we are making progress with our with the majority of our students across the district so it's it's good it's a good news so now let's take a look at math the same thing but I'm G to ask you guys we are 83 points below standard so when you look at this graph on the left hand side you have medium is where you're meeting standard it's zero minus1 points to um to um minus 25 they kind of say that's about approximately where your meeting standards at um high is 0 to 34 and very high is 35 points or more above standard and then you get to low which is minus 25 to 95 points and very low which is 95 or fewer this is different than English language arts and the reason is the math it's it's the psychom psychometricians in the math and the the scaled scores within the math is why the numbers look a little different for ELA in MA however it is so for minus 83 points that would put us in that low bracket so it is the fourth row on from the bottom or the second yeah one two three and the low row so for us we have to be either orange or yellow on the dashboard just in our performance as remember distance from standard is the performance now let's take a look at the growth very similar this is a growth from the previous year we increased three point three and 310 points which means we made more than a Year's growth overall in math so our be our um we're 83 points below standards which puts us in the low and then we go all the way over to increase three points to 14.9 which puts us in the yellow which shows that we also in math made an increase in our academic achievement uh just in I I will go over the distance from Stand slide how I got it I just ask just to confirm you're saying that being below standard just that that very first yellow box is where students are meeting expectation yeah we're we're be okay so the way I I was going to do this in a couple slides but I'll just I'll describe it now so it's very similar distance from standard is like if you're running a race you have a Finish Line yep that standard is the finish line so what we end up doing with the race is you got kids who go faster than that finish line so they're above stand standard then you have kids who just right at that finish line which is um standard then you have kids that are like way behind the the the stragglers which is going to be me at Boston in April um they're straggling so what we end up doing is we take all these different plus 10 points minus 15 plus two and we average it out and that gives us the number of 83 points below standard so we take all the kids and we take how they are based upon the standard the metric that they the state has put out which is scaled scores and the average it together to find out how close an average of our students is to that finish line so yes medium to Med high is considerate standard and the reason why it's 010 to minus 25 instead of a zero is because there is that standard of error within it so we really want to be at the medium or higher and we also want to be at maintain to increase significantly to close that achievement Gap that make sure I I guess I'm just astounded that being negative the medium section is entirely negative is what I'm pointing out it's no no and that's you're correct we are we are below grade level when we know that we saw that with our percentage that met or exceed it the big thing about the dashboard is are we making growth I think let me sh some also additional light on this the state when they developed this out they also took into account where that Baseline was from across the state so the fact that you have a larger stretch under standard means as a state we had that larger stretch our state scale yes yes a state scale sure so this is where the state scale has stretched out so the big reason for the dashboard is when we had CH No Child Left Behind it was very punitive on that and exceed it we only focused in I'm aging myself here we only focused in on the kids that are at that borderline to jump in to met and exceed standard the reason behind the dashboard really is that we focus on every single student in our district and we want to see the average growth and the way the statistics works is three points are higher is considered an increase and then when you get 15 points or more it's considered increase significantly so really our our goal here today is really to show the growth that is being made and how we're moving it the needle forward and closing those gaps and we'll go into more depth as you can see in the slide of the different student groups too and how they're doing now I don't have to explain the distance okay so let's take a look you guys really enjoyed um the 2023 Ela here is take a look at the screen here's our um 2023 math arusd was in Orange and remember the previous slide showed us that we actually increased so that would put us into yellow this year um so let's take a look at how the different schools did so we saw some increase actually over half our schools increased um again painter and kurtin had the highest growth um C the year before if I kurtin the year before was in the red and they went up to the yellow so they they saw a lot of got somean people here so um so you're seeing the growth within that now the next one is our English learner progress um this one's a little different and it the 5 by it assesses how well our eel students did on the lpac um and if they're making proficiency on the elpac it is not the cast the math and the ELA was the cast scores the English learn progress was the um elpac the state has six different levels of Prof of um to say where the students are they give six years for a student to become proficient in English on the dashboard correct on the dashboard um we know that's we know that research says it takes about six years so on the dashboard what we want is every single one of our students each year to go up one level so if they're a level one we want them to be at a level two and then if they're a level three we want them to be a level four and this is the percentage of our students that are making th this progress in 2023 as you can see as a district we had about 30 to 44% of our students that were making progress and we decline 2 to 10% of our students from the previous year so um adante 2 Meer Lucha and San Antonio were are doing a great job they're they're at where we need them to be and they increased and increased significantly for me this is the most exciting part because you can really see the work that has been done as you know we went up in ela in math so we would hope that we would see this also with our lpac so take a look at this one why is it not going there we go do it again I missed it do it again there you go look at that we as a district increased 2 to % of our students met went up at least one level Okala was in the very low the year before and declined significantly is currently at very high 65% of its students made at least went up level on the lpac and gain more than 10% of their population that goes the same with dorsa George and sheeper so we saw those four schools go from red to blue this past year so it's it shows a significant amount of work that's being done with our English language Learners this year um T do you remember how many we reclassify I should have had that number on my hand um I shared with you guys the last time about this exciting data but I want to say it was like 215 somewhere in that ballpark I mean we've already surpassed that this year so we're on record to keep this train going so number wise eight of our schools increased significantly in this El in in the English language progress indicator four increased and four maintained so that is 16 of our schools that made that type of progress this year so it's very exciting news when it comes to our English language Learners and the work that's being done now this one's a little different this one confuses a lot of people because chronic absenteeism yeah you want it to decline and decline significantly you don't want it to increase so um unlike the academic indicators this the school engagement indicators we want them to decrease for example a USD has 20% of our students in 2023 that Miss more than 10% of school that year this was a decline of 3% from the previous school year so we are still that was a large number of our students as a reminder that is 20% of our students Miss 10% of the school year of 18 or more days which in turn impacts what's going on in our academic side so um I got a quick question on that was there a certain like time frame like week that they missed the most other than probably coming back from vacation when they don't come back on time that was it it's a mixture of it depends and that's where it really depends on the student and their circumstances sometimes it could be um they're sick because also it's not it's excused and unexcused so if they got covid and was out for 10 days that counts towards chronic absenteeism numbers oh yeah so there's there's a lot of misunderstanding with that and it also includes our TK and kindergarten students too and that tends to be the grade levels that miss a lot or our TK and kindergarten students that's across the nation that's an that's the norm so there's a lot of multiple reasons I know our um student services has been really focusing in on this piece and working with with the school sites so we do look at data Trends also that look at the week days that are highest impacted and principles are actually encouraged to do really engaging activities during those weeks that are High attendance for abs yeah they see the biggest H change for attendance is the relationship with the teacher the students and the school is number one because it just the teacher saying please come in I'm glad you're here is number one but we have some Trends if a students miss school in kindergarten first second and third chronically absent it's a different story because then they've gone into the habit of not going to school and we're also dealing with the repercussions of covid yeah we're still doing with that and getting kids back into school so there's a variety of reasons why SK kids students miss school so but it's something that we are working on as a team um across the district so um go ahead so is there a certain time like what what who and what happens who goes out if anyone if a students absent and we haven't heard from or we don't know what's going on it's a mixture of people it could be the Principal it could be the teacher it could be our community leison it could be our school learning um counselors It's a mixture of different people that that do that um I know from my department I I'm responsible for foster Youth and I'm also responsible for mckin vento and we do reach out to make sure we do case management around students to make sure that they're getting to school so it's a mixture of departments working together um but the first step is the School site making phone calls and reaching out and I did ask some of these questions in my one one with uh with superintendent so there's no set like dates or I mean sounds like you work with mckin vento um I guess just all across say they're not a mck mckin vento they're not in any program I'm gonna have a difficult I were actually gonna have to um ask student services to answer that question they they know that answer better than I do yeah actually just want wanted to say that we do have a presentation planned for you for our next board meeting on the 30th um specifically on chronic absenteeism so we will have even more information for you on that day just specific to Chronic absenteeism because that that is a longer presentation with more information think yes so you'll get more details on that because it came up in multiple one-on ones so perfect thank you and if I might say one more thing um that I know that one of the School sites has done a really good job um at uh hubard with the absenteeism so are is that also going to be shared throughout the different sites uh the incentives that are used to to curtail the absenteeism Yeah we actually um through our um our principal meetings with our uh site leaders we uh our in our mtss meetings we are um sharing best practices and um talking about what has worked at specific sites so that others can replicate that at their own sites there's been a lot of work done on this and well it doesn't this is actually 2023 so probably show 2024 in a little bit um we do see some improvement although you know some sites still continue to to um lag behind but yes we are sharing best practices truste men oh okay oh you know uh I know even though we were going to have you know return to this topic the next board meeting but knowing that you know public doesn't always keep track of board me you know doesn't always attend every board meeting uh just in a nutshell outside of illness and say housing instability F you know family instability uh you know what has the what have the schools reported to or what have you seen as you know you know the the leading causes of absenteeism and I'm going to say it's a mixture stuff and I think it would be a better thing for the next meeting when we talk about it because I'm sure I know that Dr alazon and um Jesus are she really working on this she's on her way she can speak a little to it today I can give you numbers and research but U good evening uh Board of Trustees good to see you all again happy New Year so there are a number of reasons why and we cannot I mean we we could bring you a quantitative number of you know H how the uh you know reasons for you know students or why the the reasons that students um miss school um but there are also special circumstances that we also need to take a look at and take into consideration because we do have some chronic uh students that have illnesses that prevent them from coming and these are valid illnesses right now is that a huge amount of students no but it does contribute to the uh the rate of these Quantic uh percentages that uh are that are that are considered for it right the other example here is our mcken vento population as well and we have about approximately over 250 identified mckin vento students uh in our district and at any given time they could be in our district you know one week and they could be at a totally different neighborhood that is I don't know maybe 20 miles away from us uh due to their circumstances right and we may not know their their situation has changed perhaps days weeks later because of their circumstances so there's a lot to consider when we talk when we look at Chronic absenteeism and we can give you more of a disaggregated uh report and data uh in about a couple of weeks okay but these are just some examples that we do need to take into consider consideration and there are very special in extenuating circumstances as well okay thank you okay and like the math and Ela I'm going to show you the change between 23 and 24 so we did see some movement um it as we said it's a continuing area of challenge we had four schools that did decline in the number of chronic absenteeism and that would be Raph dorsa Hubbert and aptitude they declined between a half a percent and 3% of their students chronically absent Lucha had the largest decline of more than 3% so we did have five schools that did show Improvement in their chronic absenteeism and the work that they are doing okay like chronic absenteeism we also take a look at our suspension rates and we want them to be um very low low and medium and we want them to decline uh as a district we our suspension rates look really really good in 2023 uh we were in the yellow which meant we were at the medium level for suspension and we maintain consistently the number of students that were suspended so take a look at 2024 we had a little B bit bit of movement with some School sites as a district we declined uh we declined and Shephard also declined we had dorsa adalante wrath and Cassel significantly declined um and also George optitude in San Antonio so we did see um some significant de uh decline in suspensions across the district with over half our schools this is good okay this is an interest oh can't can't see all of it um this is an interest this slide what it is is um taking a look at comparison growth we have the zero there um you cannot I'm wondering if I can I we can't see it on our paper either there we go oh what doesn't do it I need the that spot that box to go there we go thank you got it perfect okay hey you have to do it with the right fingers okay so this graph is oh did go thank you there it is 2024 Ela this is a comparison growth across um our districts our neighboring districts and also I included a couple extra districts that had similar demographics I chose them based upon the size of the district the number of English language Learners of percentage and their number of um social economically disadvantaged so that way we can kind of compare what districts had growth and which ones had decline California on average the average student increased 410 of a point as we talked about in our previous slide we had the increase of 3.8 points um Alber kxo Anaheim elementary um are similar schools and you can see that Albert was the only one that kind of stayed it increased but as I remember you have to increase more than three points to be an increase so they maintain so schools with our similar demographics maintained at the level now let's take a look at our surrounding districts granted if you look at some of these their performance is higher than ours because they above standard or they've you know closer to near standard but this is the growth that they saw across the district so we want to look at Trends we want to look to see what other districts are doing did they decrease or increase and what we're seeing is the state maintained most of our neighboring districts decreased on their academic achievement and we increased so math was the same thing um the state went up at 1.5 points which means it maintained and we went up 3.36 points our Anaheim elementary and colico maintained and then most of our neighboring districts either maintained or declined with the exception of San Jose Unified so this is good news because it means we're we're we're moving forward we're doing what we need to when the districts that are around us are seeing some declines so let's go a little dig a Little Deeper this is a comparison of our student groups for example the orange brown bar is the zero down black line is our distance from that's our standard so it's zero I put it at zero so what this is showing us is where our student groups are falling on that metrics uh distance from standard and as remember we have the lagging or the students that are bypassing that finish line and that zero is our finish line for instance all our students on the top one are 20 22 and 2023 three they were minus 64 points below standard the blue one shows us where we're at this year at 60 so as you can see we're getting closer to that standard as you go down through all those groups we saw that our English language Learners were doing much better we saw that with our um our English language progress indicator they actually went up over 10 points so they had a significant increase remember anything that increases by three points is an increase of more than a year so it's closing that Gap our our Asian students is the only student Asian and Filipino students are our only students that are above standard right now um and our white students are the white students and our homeless students are the two groups that decreased this year all our other student groups either maintained or increased this school year just gives you a quick visual what it looks like so now we have math and again like the all students you can see that we had that three-point gain this one was a little different because this one we have our African-American students that had a significant decline this year along with our white students and the students that identify as two or more races so those are student groups that we are looking into and working around which when we go into the assist the uh differentiate assistance we'll talk a little bit more about our Asian students are the only students right now that are above standard but what you can see is we're seeing growth amongst almost all our student groups and that achievement Gap is slowly closing out between the groups and our long-term Els that is significant too um because that was that was 14 points would have been a significant increase okay this one looks a little different um this time we want everybody because it's chronic absenteeism we want everybody to go to the left um this is where you can really see the student groups that where that we have the conic absenteeism um all students it went up significantly by three points but take a look at our foster youth students and that was almost doubled a number-wise our foster youth we have almost um we had 12 last year we have 51 students currently this year year so we have a lot more Foster you students this year um we also saw our students with disability increased and are socioeconomically disadvantaged um so we are looking at these student groups that did significantly increase um but look our African American students which we saw had a decrease in math had actually an increase of the uh had a decrease of the number of students chronically absent so it gives you kind of a look yes board president no go ahead uh in regards to the um categories who names those are those already like set that's a state name okay that's a state name I know I I completely yeah I agree yeah it's a state I would they're directly from CDE and that's how they're report it fig yeah that from federal federal yeah I yeah I used to do assessment in a former life and I had that question a lot it is it is state and federal so that's how it's reported out good question though okay now we're going to um under federal guidelines and state guidelines there we have different assistance levels for differentiated assistance it means that certain student groups have either been in the orange or the red under a certain area so in 2023 we had one two we had eight student groups eight student groups that were um that we were getting support from the county that we were doing um PDS um plan do study U Network Improvement science to make some improvements for it the red shows you why the red and the green tell you why they were in why we as a district we were in differentiated assistance if they had a red x that means they were in there for chronic absenteeism and suspension that means they were read in those areas so our African-American students our English language Learners and our homeless students were read on the dashboard for chronic absenteeism and suspension our Hispanic Latino our social economically disadvantaged and our students with disability were under achievement which means they got read either in math English language arts or English learner progress and chronic absentee ISM the common denominator in 2023 with all those groups was chronic absenteeism the good news is with how well we did on the dashboard this year we down to three student groups that were under differentiated assistance our foster youth students for chronic absenteeism and suspension our homeless students and our students with disability also for chronic absenteeism but also for academic achievement in either Ela math or English language progress so we begin with work we've already started beginning work on what we're going to do and um Dr Bickford will talk about it with the things that we have in place now it gets broken down even more for assistance we also have to take a look at our school sites comprehensive support and Improvement we had nine schools in 2023 what that means is the all student groups were read in 50% or more in on the dashboard either Ela math English I'm sorry the English language progress suspension and chronic absenteeism the majority of them have to be red or orange so which meant that majority of our school nine of our school sites were in support and Improvement additional target support and Improvement is under student groups so if you have a student group let's say your homeless students if they're having problems academically also it's 50% or more on all those indicators so for instance if I'll use I'll use the homeless student students again so if we have the five indicators Ela math English language progress suspension and chronic absenteeism if they're read in three of those categories they're under additional targeted support and Improvement so we had two School site that had at least one student group that was under what we call atsi additional target support and Improvement so what ends up tends up happening with a lot of school sites is if you have a small group of students remember attendance and chronic absenteeism is um K8 but Ela math is third through um e8th grade so you may have 10 students at your school that are homeless K five and and they're chronically absent and that's 50% because they're only attached to the chronically absent in suspension so that would put them into the utsi there was an update to the regulation on this this year for the academic side of things because we have a site that has only up to kinder and what the state basically said is that if there is a site that does not have enough kids to qualify in or does not have the right um indicator to qualify in we will grade them on basically districtwide third grade average so a site like Chavez their academic indicator is getting pulled from the average of third graders on the dashboard that makes but the the good news is is that with the Improvement that we saw we only have one School site um out of one School site districtwide right now that is under comprehensive support Improvement so we went from 9 to eight additional target support we went from two to one and target support and Improvement is a new one this year and it's generally if you got a red in one of those areas or a yellow so that's just additional and there's no additional funding with that trying to think about it the way I've had it described to me is you're on Deck you're on deck that if you don't make improvements in the next two years cycle you will be CSI or atsi so it's just giving kind of a word of warning or caution to those schools that we need to make Improvement otherwise we're going to be put on this two-year cycle of being identified as CSI or HSI so we're on Deck with five of our schools so now I am going to pass it over to Dr Bickford for the I ready yeah and before I jump into I ready I was over here texting my e coordinator for those numbers because I wanted to give you guys them um and we were talking about the amazing growth our English Learners were making and last year we reclassified more than we had reclassified in a long time at 200 64 students this year to date at mid year we're at 280 with 80 more on Deck waiting on those um forms to be filled out and we still need to give the summative so we can still even increase that more beyond that 80 so our long-term Els are making massive growths right now our community of teachers are doing phenomenal in making sure they're getting the supports so I just wanted to give that a shout out um so as we look at what we're doing to make changes we did make a big shift this year into a new assessment platform um we we as a district teachers also we're looking at what we can do to be more strategic so I ready was a huge part of this coming in giving um a beginning ofe diagnostic midyear Diagnostic and then we'll have one at the end of the year um these assessments not only tell us kind of where kids are performing but they give in-depth details on targeted skills each individual student needs for the purpose of tonight I'm going to be sharing some growth data and some overall comparison for projections for where we're going so on the screen you see a visual from I ready on how they get these two different measures one is what they consider a typical growth that would be on national average what a typical student Across the Nation would grow at and that's your lower orange band then you have your stretch growth this is often set up for those students who are struggling to meet standard and we need to grow them a little more than a year to get up to standard in a year or two years or even three years some of the kids have a three-year growth model set up to get them proficient in three years if they're far below so that stretch growth as referred to would be that blue number and again it's going to be really pushing strategically to get more than a Year's growth out of students by tracking these two measures we can identify where students are in their Learning Journey set realistic aspirational goals with the students so you'll see teachers meeting with students setting these goals and talking through how they can get there provide the necessary supports to help them Reach grade level proficiency so so both of these measures combined allow us to Monitor and tailor our efforts to meet all student needs across our district all right this next screen I know it has four visuals here but I do want to give you kind of a snapshot for each of our measures so we take I ready for ELA reading and math so this one demonstrates math and when you look at the annual typical growth by this point we're at the midyear point of the school year we would want a kid to be at 50% of their typical growth we're currently exceeding that at 54% of a median growth and I do want to point out that this is a median score and the reason that I already gives a median score here is for your outliers you want to take out those kids that maybe exceeding times 4 right and look at the actual median and this says that our the middle student in our whole district is at 54% so that means more than half of our students are meeting that 50% Mark or above so then we move to our stretch growth goal and over to the right you're going to see the typical growth compared to the stretch growth and the distribution of it across the district district and so while achieving typical growth is important our ultimate focus in our district is to get to that stretch growth goal um as you can see we definitely have some in the lower band but we do have a good number of students meeting um the stretch growth goal so when you calculate like over over half the students right uh 10 21 28 we're close to 50% of 45% of our students making progress if that makes sense um but again we can break this down by individual students at a class level so that a teacher can go okay this kid is making their typical growth or they're making their stretch growth that I really want them to make or this kid's really not or they fell that would be the worst case scenario right so they're in classrooms analyzing this we're also on the backside analyzing um demographic data within it on how our student groups are also performing then you look on the bottom left um and that's going to be our breakdown of current placement so again we're making some growth and as you'll look 28 uh not 28 you want to look over at the Green sorry I was reading the wrong way um so 10% are at Mid or above from 6% earlier in the school year right we had 133% at early or on grade level from 9% and then 30% of our students are in that bubble that's what we kind of refer to it as that means they're on the cusp of hitting that proficiency rate that just with a little extra bump they're going to get Prof proficient groups like our intervention Specialists are working intensely with these students to get them to that proficiency level that with just a little extra stretch they're going to get to so in summary really 23% of our students are already performing at our above grade level at midyear Mark with an additional 30% geared up ready to go almost there we're going to push to get them there and then the other students we have a lot more work to do and those are the kids that probably are going to see a multi-year stretch growth goal um oh did I skip one okay sorry I was off um I also does this amazing thing of projecting our proficiency for spring they've done a lot of studies analyzing their own data and found correlation to how a student does on our assessment is direct correlation to how they'll perform with the same growth model in spring so the exciting news here is if you look to the left in Spring of last year our state test scores showed that 27.8% of our students were meeting our exceeding standard in August remember this is a new school year for them a new grade level standard 19% of them were already meeting or ceding those grade level standards by December we're already at 25% of our students meeting or exceeding standard on that grade level and if they meet their typical growth of a all the students are keeping on that growth model that we're on right now we hit 31% um proficient on the Spring State Testing however if we can get all of our students hitting their stretch growth goal then we could could get to a 39% um proficiency rate across our district so it's really um a hopeful model to look at and see the growth that's happening on a positive trajectory we then look at our math and again you have your um typical growth over to your left and here we see that the median student that middle student is at 56% meeting their typical growth so they've already hit that 56 Mark that means that more than half of our students right are going to get over that percentage where we want them to get um and then you compare the typical growth this one's really exciting because we see that over a hundred of our students right are meeting their typical growth goal or more um at 30% % I'm sorry I said that wrong 30% of our students are meeting 100% of their goal or more what does that mean more how do you get over 100% of your goal well we're talking grade level standards so you can grow beyond that grade level so that's where they start to dip into the stretch growth so you'll see that while our stretch growth isn't at that 30% they're on track to eventually get to that stretch growth if they keep going above that 100 um% Mark we have several schools where teachers classes are doing 200 and 300% growth that we're seeing which is phenomenal and my jaw dropped when I saw some of the work that was going on so kudos to those classes then over to your left you'll see our breakdown of the current placement um where in Fall we were at 2% we are currently sitting at six % for met or above and then in Fall we were at 6% that were early on grade level and now we're at 11% and in Fall we had 34% on that bubble just one grade level under we're now at 39% so really we have 177% of students who are already meteor or exceeding grade level standards in math and another additional 39% who are um geared up ready to get there with just a little extra stretch and now the math projected proficiency so last spring our cast scores the state test put us at 20.39% meeting or exceeding standard in August again just reminding this is a new grade level so they have new standards in front of them there were only eight% of our students meeting or exceeding by mid year we're up four to 14% so that was a 6% increase already at midy year and then if we continue the growth Trend that we're on with that typical growth model it would put us at 22% projected proficiency however if we get to that stretch growth goal that we really want to push for it puts us at the 29% proficient rate this year so as we work with the I data we do have continued response to our data that we set in motion this last year through various means as our da work our CSI work within the schools and just all overall our multi-tiered system and response to needs of our students the use of I ready as a diagnostic and instructional tool has been pivotal in identifying individual student needs and creating personalized learning Pathways this has supported both typical and stretch growth across the district our intervention Specialists are providing targeted support to students who need it most helping to close the gaps and ensure more students are on track to meet grade level standards through our Partnerships with organizations like Gear Up for providing additional resources tutoring and opportunities to prepare prepare students for long-term success and we continue to build and refine our districtwide multi-tiered system of support ensuring that every student receives an the academic social emotional and behavioral support they may need to thrive these initiatives combined with the data we've shared of ela and math proficiency and growth are making a tangible difference little step at a time but those little steps make a difference um they are not only helping students achieve academically but are fostering approved uh improved efforts across the district one more slide so looking ahead we do have some things on our Forefront that we'll be diving into over the next few weeks or a few months I should say um we will be engaging in a new needs assessment we do these every year to make sure we're on track for what we need and make any adjustment to programming we will review our products and tools that are out there supporting our students and then we also are in the midst of bringing in a reading difficulty screener and that's going to be looking at a screener that will flag for possible things like dyslexia and other reading um challenges that a student may have that's outside of the IEP Norm um this would be a general Ed piece that we need to dive into so we're going to be um piloting and looking at well have an adoption committee I should say looking at the different uh screener tools and adopting a new one to start fall of 2026 or 2025 I'm sorry schol year 2526 all right and that's all thank you guys and if you have any more questions I'd be happy to answer them thank you so much for such detailed presentation um it's great to see the Improvement even if it's slight but it's great to see we're heading in the right direction um I'm glad that we're coming back with the chronic absenteeism so I have a lot of questions around that um I'm wondering around um suspensions if we might include it maybe meeting as well yeah great okay because I have some questions about that and and then um I'll make sure to include them in the one-on-one to maybe include the information in the presentation EXC thank you thank you uh trust I mean Vice pres Kim uh I wanted um well very very glad to see the progress with regard to English language Learners uh English as an English language learner myself didn't speak English till second grade even though I was born here uh and um and so I'm very appreciative of the work that we're doing with the uh Ells uh with regard to the five TSI sites um how is the school consolidation going to impact that um do the children from the site move to or do the data from the children from yeah site move to another one and then it's how is that that's a great question um already been posed to the state um we do have initiatives that we need to follow through on the planning side for spring but then that CDE code closes and ultimately That official status goes away that doesn't mean those kids' data points go away though so we want to make sure that we're looking at a comprehensive data set once we get those students in place and look at how those numbers line up with the new school enrollment and what we can do at those individual schools so the efforts are still going to be there from our data teams like looking at um responses across the district on what the needs are but the actual um assigned TSI status won't be there anymore for any closed schools all right excellent that's exactly what I was looking for I just I didn't want uh us to say all right we you know swept that under the rug and let's uh move forward um the those the data points are still going to be monitored and then the kids are going to get the intervention that they need yeah we definitely will be still looking at student group data and laying that out there is a big difference because we don't have as many CSI schools next year um and actually the one CSI school that was identified is closing so um we won't have the money coming in like we did for the other CSI schools in the past but we still need to do the efforts that are there to make improvements all right thank you any other trusty com comments thank you very much for the presentation and now you're a veteran you next time you're not gonna even [Laughter] get okay moving on to um oh comment on public comments thank you for the reminder good evening um I just want to touch upon um the presentation in terms of our uh growth in our English language Learners um this year I'm a tosa it's my 16th year as a teacher in Alam rock also uh grew up in I lived just right by kin I went through alen Rock so um like was mentioned earlier um I grew up as a e myself and so I'm I'm excited to see all the grow um so last year as a tosa we um started working with our El groups in February and then some of our students tested in February and then in March so just in that short amount of time we were able to see so much growth from the extra support that the toses were doing but I know all the teachers were doing all their efforts throughout the year Force but this year we implemented with our EL support um in August right from the beginning so I know that the growth we saw last year we're going to see even more growth this year um so I'm asking I know we don't have a lot of funds and we're closing a lot of our schools but if we can find a way to find funding to continue to have the tosas um to have that support for our El students um will be really appreciative so really thinking about that um when you're looking at the funding um because we really want to keep uh supporting our students and seeing that great growth and um all the data and everything in Alan rock thank you good evening I just also wanted to touch on that presentation um one of the things in an article that I read over break stated that our kids everything is drilled so much on 251st Century technology our kids are growing up in the 21st century so I have four and five-year-olds when I was teaching in my classroom that could navigate and do things on the computer that I can't do ask Danielle I'm the only person she's ever known to lose a Google doc um so I need the 21st technology not the kids and I think that presentation just honed in on the fact that those tosas dedicated at each individual site working oneon-one paper to pencil showing the kids what to Circle showing the kids the proper steps in the writing you know English is it goes to the math because most of our tests now have these horrendous word problems that even I get confused and have to try to sit there and look at over and over again to try to find out you know how many candy bars somebody was supposed to eat or not eat and so the toes has hone in on those skills and I want to continue to see Alam Rock grow and I want all of those schools in the relative green and blue columns as opposed to where we were a few years ago so please take those that proof in just one year's time to see that that is something that is extremely valuable and needed here in our district thank you thank you any more public comment okay seeing none um just move on to 501 approve a contract with the okay I have a motion uh from Vice pres kto um and a second from B loera uh is there any public comment on 501 seeing no public comment is there any trustee comment seeing none we'll move for the vote all in favor of uh approving 501 please raise your hand it's 5- Z unanimous unanimous [Laughter] that's a tongue twister okay uh motion approved so moving on to 601 School sponsor field trip list uh we have a motion from vice president kto second from uh trusty Min famam and I will let trusty Min famam Speak oh no what what public go first I'll see okay any public comment on item 601 seeing none uh your turn well it's a brief comment 6.1 come on [Laughter] okay okay um and vice pres go ahead that we do every month but I do want to thank teachers uh staff everybody that puts these fi trips together California Science Aviation Muse requires extra effort I know that uh sometimes the fundraising itself well is significant amount of work and nevertheless I think it's U the things that the kids you know they obviously remember when they learned in school but the those really are impactful um I still remember us Canon trip the the wh watching trip field trips and even the one to the recycling center fascinating to see how it works happens in the background fascinating we got out of school got to see something different how all operated bunch of garbage um so thank you for the work that's being done to make these things happen thank you so um moving on to 602 and I just want to make sure that it's oh wait uh let's vote all in favor raise your hand okay 5 Z vote thank you um six uh point two I just wanted to uh make sure that um here is the that the new uh trustee um Minn uh is put on there oh okay all right and so do I have a motion to appr okay so I have a motion from uh trusty Cora second from vice president kto do we have any public comment on item 6.2 okay seeing none do we have any trusty comment on 6.2 seeing none sorry okay go ahead just in the the resolution um the very first line says whereas African that's the document we're on right yes 6.2 um I'm not sure if that's the the in that first line it says whereas African-American descent I'm not sure if that's supposed to say descendants we can correct that and edit that um and also because we are going to edit your name at the bottom okay uh okay yeah it's been corrected then okay so is there any other truste comments uh seeing none will go for the vote all in favor of pass passing item the item please raise your hand the uh vote is 5- z motion passes unanimously thank you um resolution on 6.3 item uh the resolution kindness challenge week do I have a motion motion to approve second okay uh there's a motion trust from trustee Min famam and second by Corina era loera do I have any public comment on item 6.3 seeing none is there any uh trustee comment on 6.3 seeing none let's go for the vote all in favor of passing 6.3 please raise your hands uh it's a 5- z vote motion passes unanimously thank you on 6.4 do I have a motion motion to approve uh do I have a second okay so I have a first uh I have a motion from um trustee Min famam and a second from uh vice president kto uh do I have any public comment on item 6.4 seeing none do I have any trustee comment on item 6.4 quarterly Williams uniform complaints seeing none on no trustee comments we will now go for the vote on 6.4 all in favor please raise your hands it's 5.0 motion passes unanimously 7.1 approve approval of District memorandum of understanding with alumrock Educators area I have a motion from trustee minam do I have a second I have a second from Corina loera uh do I have any public comment on item 7.1 Miss Sandra I just want to say from the association you know thank you for working with us and getting this done um quickly and as fast as possible so that we can give our members the most heads up time that we can and to get that process laid out because fear comes with the unknown and so to be able to get this going and get kind of ahead of everything that's going to be coming in the next few months it it was um thankful that the teachers are thankful for that so thank you thank you Miss Sandra any more public comments seeing none any trusty comment seeing none let's go for the vote on item 7.1 all in favor please raise your hands it passes 5 Z unanimously okay there's a lot of flipping of the pages here item 702 resignations do I have a motion it's information uh no motion because information only sorry folks do we have public comment on item 7.2 uh seeing none any truste comment on 7.2 seeing none uh moving on to I 8.1 approval of fundraising activities motion to approve okay second we have a motion from trustee Min famam and a second [Music] from the entire concession yeah oh okay so motion to approve the entire uh what was it consent calendar 8.1 to 88.6 are you a seconding okay and we got a second from uh okay thank you um I have a com sorry go ahead I just want to highlight um uh I think uh you know for me the little things like um dates sometimes I know uh fundraising activities kind of you know it's a range between one within a month or so um and I've noticed that in the past uh we were approving things that weren't turned in ahead of time or that the fundraising started before at least on paper and maybe it was you know you all waited but I believe this is the first time that you know things were ahead so I just want to point out the good things you know and thank you it might not seem big but you know um for me all those little things um are important so thank you to the staff and administration to make uh in making sure that the paperwork is in um and that it's turned in so that things are uh we're passing things ahead of time thank you okay just one quick comment you know you know to you know as an encouragement for our schools engaging in fundraising you know if they have candy bars to sell and I see Valentine's grams you know please feel free to sell from to board members before the board meeting just just that you know you have eager customers here so just a quick quick encouragement thank you speak for yourself we're gonna gain 10 pounds okay um so are you up there because you want to do public comment that I already took oh for which one 8.5 I you you guys already okay so uh all in favor of voting for 8.1 please raise your hand are we doing oneon-one hold on we're doing the whole excuse me the entire consent calendar thank you very much oh we're gonna oh they have they have but they said they're they're up there for 8.2 not oh that's right see what happens when you do a new thing now I know what Halen Keller felt like when they moved the furniture the numbers didn't change go ahead okay so go ahead and speak on 8.2 8 8.5 hi good evening um Maria Martinez here uh writing or I wrote you all emails um and uh in case you didn't get a chance to read it I'm extremely disappointed in knowing that Teresa Smith is no longer going to be an administrator in alamro Teresa has dedicated Decades of her life to this district and has served professionally in many capacities she's been on various committees uh such as the school consolidation committee and the district's bargaining team she has had an understanding of our collective bargaining agreement and she has shown her strong abilities to lead a site during transitions and to treat Educators as professionals she has provided mentorship for current administrators and has been a consumate professional during the chaos of school closures and other events that Alan Rock tends to envelop its employees in I ask that you reconsider the termination of someone who has the most qualifications to serve this community we need her in Alam Rock and um I would request that you um reconsider because she needs to be here thank you hi so my name is um pelsey Rothrock uh good evening alen lock leaders uh I am a fourth and fifth grade ELA teacher at Kon school and this is my 18th year here in alen rock with my 28th year being a teacher in public school I want to thank to thank those of you who responded to my email from this past weekend regarding the changing of the principal Slate from this December board meeting to the January board meeting specifically the change of Teresa Smith having a principal ship at Lindale to not being named a principal at all in our district alrock is in a time of transition and change and the school closures and consolidations have left many community members in a state of uncertainty and unease while these closures and changes can be daunting and challenging a good site leader can help us navigate these tough times and continue to help alrock meet its full potential in order to be our best selves we need strong leadership with clear communication skills and a Clear Vision over my course of time working with Miss Smith she has clearly communicated to all of the stakeholders her expectations the district's goals and vision and has been able to get everybody on board through active collaboration Miss Smith is a strong believer in empowering others and our school Curtin has greatly benefited from that with any school in alumrock Miss Smith creates a positive and supportive environment where everyone can flourish and be successful this is what our students parents and teachers and support staff need in an administrator this is what Alan Rock needs in an administrator placing her back in the classroom is not the best use of her well-rounded leadership skills in my opinion Miss Smith deserves better she is one of the true educational leaders and deserves to take a principal ship in alamro as we take the next steps to creating a successful School District together good evening sorry um I am Arlene ill a resident of alumrock since 1988 a veteran teacher here for 38 years Miss Smith is the 12th principal I have worked with at Curtin and I would rank her in the top to most effective I first worked with Miss Smith at kuron 25 years ago when she began her educational career it would be a great disservice to our community if Miss Smith were not an administrator in our district at curon she has built positive relationships with all stakeholders Miss Smith is highly visible and accessible she greets all students every morning she is out during recesses and lunch and she is at every schoolwide event Miss Smith is has created a loving caring and motivated culture she is dedicated to doing her best to help us Thrive and be a great place to work learn and play she is committed to our emotional physical and educational well-being my question is why wouldn't you want her as a principal in our district I speak from experience and deep concern Miss Smith is everything we need in an educ ational leader especially during these difficult times of change upheaval and uncertainty she has um proven to be a problem solver who has the best interest of our children to know Miss Smith is to trust her commitment and dedication to alamro and its Community as one of our as one of your constituents I voted for you because I thought you would do what is in the best interest of our district please make the right right decision and assign Miss Smith as a principal in Alam Rock the futures of our students are in your hands thank you very much for everything you do good evening my name is cathalina Nichols I'm a kindergarten teacher at Curtin Elementary I've been teaching in alen rock for 24 years I'm also an alumni of alen Rock School this is something you're familiar with it's the mtss this is the support system implemented adopted by the elmrock Union School District you it suggests an environment with positive conditions for learning for students positive conditions for thriving for families positive working conditions for staff right here on the side it has healing centered in the face of the changes that come ahead why are you now dismissing the very system that you have required to for us to put in place at each school as you have heard from the data the I ready data and such mtss works not just for the students academically but for teachers as well in placing PR principles at each School these mtss focal points ought to be considered we need principles who work well with our staff to create positive conditions for the students learning and thriving conditions for our communities and we need principles who are trusted by their staff students and families we need to be mindful of the healing and care that is imminent during this this time of change and transition our students families and teachers deserve to have a school that is safe supportive and stable Teresa Smith is a strong trusted leader her expertise as a principal is what Alam Rock Union School District needs can I trust you to rightfully Place her as a princip in our schools at alen rock thank you hello it's good to see you again my name is Loretta Tanner I recently retired from this District um I didn't have a chance to write for you I retired to take care of my parents so I was late because I had mom duty um I agree with what's been said by my former colleagues um I would like to ask you to look at things from a different perspective I spent 20 years teaching prior to that I spent 23 years in Silicon Valley at a couple of startups among other equipment manufacturers in Santa Clara I've never managed a a team as large as a school district but I did have a team of a what worldwide team of over 40 people and when hiring or moving employees to new positions beyond the academic requirements and almost more important to me was if the candidate was the right fit I was surprised when I entered the world of education and realized that good fit was not considered in the decisions of placement if someone is really good at a particular skill or a team contributor it made more sense to me as their manager to draw on those skills and to help them achieve what they're good at and Excel it was more important for them to uh something that I'm sorry I have stopped reading since I retired [Laughter] um it was better for me to make sure that they were the right fit than just for this having the academic requirement to to fill a position I believe and experienced that an employee who is happy in their position they work harder and they make the overall team even more successful I challenge you to consider the best fit that would offer the best success for students families staff especially those who are forced to change schools a familiar face of someone who has proven record enjoys the challenges of elementary schools and provides a fair well-managed team of Educators is something not to miss thank you for listening um any more comments from the public seeing none any trusty comments seeing none uh we will take a vote on the whole entire calendar All In favor of uh the whole entire Cal consent Calendar please raise your hand so the vote is 5 passes unanimously uh so we will be going to close session on item 9.1 um the announcement and public comments regarding items to be discussed in close session you didn't vote oh I'm sorry the the vote was for uh and and zero and then one exstension okay uh so we will now recess to close session it's uh 8:38 and we'll be back approximately in an hour this e e e yes sir it never got to put into a pot I know okay so we're back from uh clst session and we have Quorum so it's we are going to pass it on to vice president kto because he has something he wants to uh close uh this meeting with uh thank you madam president uh I want to take this opportunity to adjourn in memory of Reverend uh Jeff Jeff raore uh who passed away on December uh 26 definitely too left us too early and I am holding up my computer because uh the yes can I add something while you it up um I just add I got to work with him uh at Independence High School for several years um and there uh you know built a great friendship ship um and I know when I was appointed he came and spoke here um at this Podium on my behalf um so yes definitely missing him and his passion uh for justice in our community just we didn't get to 10.1 we just you know report out from close session oh yeah mer oh thank you men for Okay so going on to the agenda we we need to report of the action taken in close session uh Mr SDA no action there was no action taken in close session thank you okay um is it up on yeah okay go for it all right uh Reverend Jeth Mo 66 of Douglasville Douglasville Georgia passed away peacefully on Thursday December 26th born on November 14th 1958 at pouth Naval Hospital in pouth Virginia who was a third of five children Jethro Moore and Tammy may Moore raised in sou County Reverend Moore relocated douville in 20121 R Moore graduated from Silver Creek High School in s Jose and earned a football scholarship to Freemont Community College before transferring to S State University where he obtained a Bachelor's of Science degree in 2004 graduated from William jessup's theological University formerly San Jose Christian College in 2003 he married Audrey Hill and the union was blessed with two sons jro moorei and Josiah from a young age Reverend Moore exhibited remarkable initiative and drive at just 10 years old dur tips assisting Shoppers in Mountain View California Naval commissary during his uh school years he played the trombone formed in high school band mighty mighty while in high school he began working part-time at UPS where he rose from assembly line to management before return in 2001 while in his retirement uh he worked at as a community school specialist for Isa Union High School District retiring again in 2021 his pastoral care uh R Moore served as interim pastor of Emanuel Baptist Church in in San Jose following Reverend Willie T gain's retirement he later founded REO both Christian Center also in sou Jose as a lifesty member of NAACP he served as president of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chapter from 2008 to 2024 with their brief Hiatus in 2012 he was inducted into the Thomas P Ryan East Side Union High School District Hall of Fame who's a PR member of alpha alpha fraternity Inc having been inducted into Epsilon Mo chapter in the spring of 1981 at s State University mmore was deeply committed to Justice diversity Equity inclusion rever Mo's activism included community service spanned numerous roles included American leadership Forum African-American student Advocate EAD Union High School District complete census steering committee uh sen clerk uh County uh nacp California Hawaii executive committee religious chair peace officer standard training uh commissioner Santa Clara Juvenile Justice sh welfare model and the list is incredibly extensive so I'm going to skip some of them finish off with the last role that he had with San Jose police department Community adviser Bo he's an original member an aid fors fan uh supported of the Raiders uh F more enjoyed Co coaching youth fo football playing basketball and baseball he had a pasture for music was a movie Enthusiast who relished midnight premieres shared his love for barbecuing especially in his renowned spared ribs with family and friends uh his love of God and his willingness to let God lead his life brought him to Africa numerous times and ministered to African people he was preceded in death by his father jest Moore his sister Deborah Elaine Jones and his brother DNE Thomas mo Reverend Moore survived by his devoted wife for 21 years Audrey Moore loving mother Tommy May Moore and his sons JC and Josiah his siblings Linda Moore homman and Rodney Moore and his on Joyce Stevens and a host of nieces and nephews and cousins and so um I just I got to work with him on on several uh uh Community projects uh he was a bridge builder um he was out there connecting with Theo leadership Alliance For example uh and figuring out how we can work together um leading Us in in uh in some of the religious aspects invocations and things of that sort and so very appreciative of his ability to bring people together um the last time I talked was just like a few weeks prior to his death where he was sharing his concerns related to um instant run out voting a lot of people don't even think about it and just take it for granted and he said you know there's some interesting Trends and when certain folks support it he's like it raises concerns for me and um and the fact that um it's impacting minorities I have I have serious concerns he was supposed to do a presentation at Evergreen um on the subject matter and unfortunately he passed away before we can get to that so um I I would ask that we um provide a letter to his family uh letting them know that we adjourn in his memory here at Al Rock School District on this dat um thank you it's going to be sent to the home I'll I'll track down the proper address yeah and and if you can't get it since he's from Emanual Church um they'll have it um I didn't realize that that's who it was and uh my sons and my husband were also on Bible study with them and um he was an excellent speaker so thank you for all you did um Reverend Moore and we will close this meeting out in his honor um I just want to give maybe a 1 minute of silence and then I'll close it out thank you thank you everybody and I'm going to close it at 9:26

uh 2,454 which is 88% have indicated that they will attend their assigned school 238 8.5 indicated that they will complete an intradistrict transfer 95 uh families 3.4% indicated that they will not be returning to alumrock Union School District either because they're attending another school moving out of the area um so that's where we're at with that we're going to continue to make a push to try to get more families to to respond to that because that's going to uh help us with the FTE and so we want to make sure we're as accurate as possible uh and Mr too will provide uh the board uh with more information on that um the governor's budget release uh on January 10th the California Department of Finance director Joe stefen Shaw formally presented the Govern the governor's January budget proposal expanding on govern uh Governor Gavin Gavin Nome sorry I'm losing my words today Gavin Newsome sneak peek presentation of his proposed budget on January 6th the estimate has a onetime 2.4% cost of living adjustment for TK through 12 and last year it was under the 1% so this is a little bit more promising so uh thank you for that and hopefully it'll go up uh I also uh want to give an update uh we will be um hosting some community update meetings um so that we can also get input from the families update them on where we're at with the transition plan with uh at each of the sites we're going to hold more districtwide uh via Zoom one of the things that we noticed when we scheduled those is that we had about 300 or so families that would actually join and so we want to uh you know inform as many uh you know community members as possible family members so uh so we're going to continue with that we're going to continue uh to inform the families throughout this process and I will continue to provide the board with updates on a regular basis as well so thank you very much uh trustees and I'll turn it back over to you President Chavez um any comments from the board I'll say a few words thank trust trusty M fam well happy you know I want to welcome everyone uh the 2025 I hope that uh you all we've all had a uh a restful vacation and happy New Year although in in when when the board uh at its next regular board meeting will be Lunar New Year so I'll be repeating repeating that so just a couple of things uh you know I realize that this year is only not going to be eventful and not in not in the ways that I had hoped for it to be event right so you know I I want to express that uh you know I did did my best and still doing my best to you know and in in in collaboration with my colleagues and the superintendent to to try to minimize the impact of of school consolidations right you know to to honor the kids we serve and to honor those who serve us as well um so with that you know couple events uh at the honor of attending the Searing in of supervisor Betty dang the first Vietnamese uh County Su supervisor elected in this County uh Senator Cortez's open house last week so that was a uh two two back-to-back events and the Asian Pacific Islander school board members Association potluck with the State Assembly m M errands um just two it two two events I'd like to highlight uh let's see here to to uh Satur this Saturday painter uh painter elementaries Vietnamese dual language emerging program will uh uh be performing at the uh Lunar New Year celebration at the Vietnamese American Service Center this morning so if you're able to come please come early it's the opening performance uh between 9:45 and 10:00 a.m.

to facilitate snow removal the town census residents must return their 2025 census forms to avoid being marked inactive on the voter list forms are available through the town clerk's office if not received the open space and Recreation plan the osrp residents are encouraged to complete a survey to help shape the updated osrp essential for State funding and Equitable Recreation planning in the town manager coffee hours monthly meetings with Town manager Michael Herbert are held at the ashin community center upcoming dates February 19th March 19th and April 16th ashin schools registration for 2025 to 2026 Ashen public school is pleased to announce the upcoming registration dates for preschool and kindergarten for the 2025 to 2026 school year whether you're enrolling your child in preschool or preparing for their kindergarten Journey the school system is here to assist you for a preschool registration this is for children born between September 1st 2020 and August 31st 2022 January 6th to 17th registration opens for current alumni and families at 7:00 a.m.

a mounting tide of children students parents grandparents placards and Banners held Aloft were walking down the wide Avenue named in honor of the Constitution of the country no attempt was made or thought given to strict lines of marching the mood of the day was serious but relaxed 200,000 strong they marched in the largest demonstration for civil rights in the history of the United States Catholics Protestants and Jews the humble and the famous westerners Northerners and Southerners a cross-section of the 50 states were represented as they progressed along the Avenue Loosely grouped together by States or organizations or bus [Music] loads some arrive by roller skates some by train and plane some drove private automobiles 30 50 m all now walk to the Memorial site preserved in honor of Abraham Lincoln they walk to express to the nation in a peaceful fashion their rights to freely assemble and be heard as spelled out in the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States the first amendment requires that the government not only refrain from interference with peaceful assemblies it must restrain the restrainers as well the Boston Tea Party let off a long chain of effective social protests in America the suffragette demonstration spread to many cities before their cause was Victorious and the struggles of American labor were traditionally advertised through the right to peacefully assemble and be heard a renowned American jurist recently said a function of free speech under our system is to invite dispute it may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it presses for acceptance of an idea [Music] to [Music] care [Music] we going to Mar we're going to walk together we're going to stand together we're going to sing together we're going to stay together we're going to moan together we're going to grown together and after a while we say freedom freedom freedom [Applause] [Music] in [Music] paradise and the pilgrims call it a tree of life oh oh your Tri [Music] Lord your Tri over [Music] I give you Mr Bert [Applause] Lancaster all Americans traveling no matter where in the world today are in the position of Ambassador and are very often made bitterly aware of our country's reputation it is not easy to be an American abroad nor is it easy to make coherence to those who are not Americans the nature and the meaning of our struggle and we are therefore forever indebted to those Americans represented by the March on Washington movement for giving us so stunning an example of what America aspires to become and for helping us to redefine in the middle of this dangerous Century what is meant by the American Revolution we recognize that it is not only in America that the battle for freedom and dignity of peoples is being weighed the struggle toward freedom on the part of the previously subjugated is occurring in capitals and Villages all over the world it is on our awareness of what this struggle means and in the degree of our dedication to it that our futures and the future of the world [Applause] depend 150 members of the Congress of the United States arrived at the rally to add their support and the support of the people of the states they represent to the spirit of the march in Washington [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] let us Cel you and Meo is [Music] democracy spread the message forign need the time is now the place is here the acknowledged champion of civil rights in America Mr Roy Wilkins executive secretary National [Music] [Applause] [Music] Association I want some of you to help me win a bit I want everybody out here in the open to keep quiet and I want to hear a yell and a thunder from all those people who are out there under the trees let's hear [Applause] you yeah there's one of them in the tree let us bow our heads in prayer God of history and of all all mankind God of Abraham and Moses Amos and Isaiah Jesus and Paul God of our weary [Music] years God of our silus here pour out thy many ition upon the United States of America pour it out upon President Kennedy as the freedom Marchers remained at the monument grounds to close their demonstration in prayer their leaders moved on to the White House to meet with President Kennedy the president's active concern with the progress for the Negro in housing education and employment is well known the members of the overall policy Committee of the march in Washington reported the conference was friendly and Cooperative chairman A Philip Randolph reports first this is not going we believe that it's going to have its effect on the image of our country all over the world because it will indicate that not only are Negroes struggling to achieve a transition from second class to First Class citizenship but that our white brothers and sisters are Marching arm in-arm with the Negro citizens of the country for the purpose of achieving this objective and consequently this is and has been a great American Experience the Reverend Dr Eugene Carson Blake United Presbyterian Church of the United States of America was another of the March leaders Jud right the thing we wanted to do was to get in behind the leadership of the Negro Community clearly the religious leader of this occasion was Martin Luther King and we are proud to have served behind and strengthened ing the witness that he's been carrying the other thing is that we did produce a non-segregated march by Mr Walter Ruther of the United Auto Workers of America was also a member of the committee that met with President Kennedy and I believe that the real significance of what we have started here today is that we have laid the groundwork for the building of a functioning broad Coalition of Americans from all walks of life from all points of view from all Races and Creeds and color who can carry on not only the common struggle to achieve an effective and meaningful civil rights legislation but who can do this practical work the day-to-day job of fighting discrimination and education in housing in employment in public accommodation and I think this is the true significance of what we have started today pleasure now to present the moral leader of our nation one who has conducted a massive moral campaign in the southern area of the nation against the Citadel of racism Dr Martin Luther King Jr thank you Mr Randal I would simply like to say that I think this has been one of the great days of America and I think this March will go down as one of the greatest if not the greatest uh demonst ations for freedom and human dignity ever held in the United [Music] States the slumbering conscience of America stood aroused tall and awakened as Twilight fell over the march in Washington of August 28th it admitted a lingering sense of shame it admitted pain had been overlooked in so doing America reminded herself of her Destiny her aspirations the dream which brought forth her birth and America turned her eyes full upon the issues of freedom and Justice issues for all she turned her attention to the Civil Rights bill before the Congress which is currently under examination of the elected representatives of all the towns and cities of the land she turned her thoughts to the job ahead the sound and spirit of the massive reminder of the meaning of freedom traveled around the world on the day of August 28th rightfully initiating from the grounds where Abraham Lincoln sits silently and Gravely watching over this land from the memorial erected to his memory the US is reminded it is not enough to Hope together to pray together she is reminded she must speak and act for the common good [Music] all [Music]

hello clockers welcome to another segment of waa news blog my name is hi silver and today I'll be giving you a brief summary of the Ashlen toown manager newsletter starting off the Metro West YMCA hoit family project update the new YMCA on Memorial Drive in Ashlin is progressing with $10 million already secured through public and private contributions including state and federal funding the leadership cabinet comprising residents from Ashland and nearby towns is spearheading the fundraising campaign aiming to raise an addition $10 million notable contributors include co-chairs vissy tilock and Tom Karen along with Ashlin residents Yolanda Greaves Amy turn Cliffe and Steve Greenberg the facility will honor the hoit family known for their advocacy for inclusivity and inspiration through their motto yes you can the wise architectural plans developed by CBT will soon be presented for site approval located near the family Outdoor Center in hoofington the new YMCA aims to be a central resource for the Metro West Region some additional Ashlin updates include dog licensing 2025 dog licenses are available with a registration deadline of April 15th 2025 fees vary based on spay and neuter status and Senior 70 plus can license their dogs for free tax bills third quarter tax payments are due by February 3rd 2025 contact the treasur office for assistance an overnight parking ban going into effect effective through March 31st overnight street parking is prohibited from 2: to 6:00 a.m.

by email then January 22nd to February 5th registration will open for families at 7: a.m. by email for those who are new kindergarten registration for children turning five years old on or before August 31st 2025 January 30th is parent information night from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Henry Warren Elementary School February 1st registration begins time from 9:00 a.m. to noon location Henry Warren Elementary School note that current Ashlin preschool students who are age eligible for kindergarten will be automatically enrolled and do not need to attend the registration event for questions contact Donna at D Ashlin dok1 12.ma.us for assistance the bab BCC opens in Ashland the benett assessment and behavior care for children LLC the bab BCC has opened its new location in Ashland offering assessments and evidence-based treatments for children ages 1 through 15 Services include evaluations for autism ADHD learning disabilities anxiety OCD depression and behavioral challenges owner Jullian Bennett relocated the center from NAIC and celebrated the opening with Community leaders including Senate President Karen spilka state representative Jack Lewis select board members Yolanda Greaves and Joe manani and ABA president Adam saxs contact the bbcc located at 25 West Union Street sweet 204 Ashlin mass email J bennettbennett ABC forchildren docomo is b n NE TT and the phone number is 781 75 and this this week's Community shout out is to our volunteers Ashen Department of prevention and Human Services extends a huge thank you to its volunteers who play a vital role in promoting Community wellness and Equity volunteers assist in various ways such as stocking shelves fulfilling food pantry orders and organizing inventory they support over 40 food pantry appointments each week helping to ensure timely service for residents volunteers also contribute to the holiday program organizing and distributing personalized gifts for children their dedication is invaluable and the department encourages others to get involved through volunteer opportunities some upcoming meetings in Ashland the Conservation Commission will be held on Monday January 27th at 700 p.m.

[Music] all [Music] a giant step toward dignity and full participation in American life and Affairs was taken by the American Negro in the capital of the United States on the day of August 28th 1963 we are not afraid we are not afraid the step was taken solemnly and in Union with many of their white [Music] countrymen I [Music] we we [Music] all we [Music] all we over [Music] my heart you and we shall [Music] over the footstep of of the march in Washington was firm with a quiet purpose and a mannerly Rhythm it aroused even in the centers a larger awareness of the right of the Negroes As Americans to share equally not only the Sun and air so clear and free on the day of their March but their right as Americans to share opportunity and privilege as well America has known this intellectually for a long time for 100 Years by history's calendar on August 28th America learned this emotionally with Clarity more penetrating than intellect every kind and class every generation of America participated if not in the city of Washington across the land by television America mutely attended the feeling of the March and heard the all-encompassing Cry For Freedom from indignity America heard back into the of her history to Lincoln Jefferson Tom Payne Patrick Henrik everybody attended the march in Washington of August [Music] 28th in this city that has a massive traffic problem even in normal times traffic had been rerouted and Acres of space had been reserved for the buses that brought the thousands of visiting demonstrators [Applause] we'd like to sing a [Music] song I Had a Hammer a hammer in the morning a hammer in the even all over this land Rock Danger a hammer a warning a hammer love between brothers and [Music] sisters momentum for the March began Slowly by 11:30 a.m.

to facilitate snow removal the town census residents must return their 2025 census forms to avoid being marked inactive on the voter list forms are available through the town clerk's office if not received the open space and Recreation plan the osrp residents are encouraged to complete a survey to help shape the updated osrp essential for State funding and Equitable Recreation planning in the town manager coffee hours monthly meetings with Town manager Michael Herbert are held at the ashin community center upcoming dates February 19th March 19th and April 16th ashin schools registration for 2025 to 2026 Ashen public school is pleased to announce the upcoming registration dates for preschool and kindergarten for the 2025 to 2026 school year whether you're enrolling your child in preschool or preparing for their kindergarten Journey the school system is here to assist you for a preschool registration this is for children born between September 1st 2020 and August 31st 2022 January 6th to 17th registration opens for current alumni and families at 7:00 a.m.

the Board of Health meeting will be Tuesday February 4th at 700 p.m. and the select board meeting will be Wednesday February 5th at 700 p.m. all meetings are available remotely on waca TV now some local events coming up the Ashen Public Library book sale will be held on Saturday February 1st from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Ashlen Public Library all proceeds benefit library programs a simple gesture food pantry pickup will be on January 25th March 1st and April 12 volunteers pick up food donations for the Ashland food pantry sign up at a simple gesture solar webinar with energized Ashland Thursday January 23rd from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. learn how solar energy can power your home and reduce your Environmental impact register at the link for solar webinar now some happenings at the ashin public library for adult events we have the ESL conversation Group which will be held on Wednesday January 22nd at 6:30 p.m.

by email then January 22nd to February 5th registration will open for families at 7: a.m. by email for those who are new kindergarten registration for children turning five years old on or before August 31st 2025 January 30th is parent information night from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Henry Warren Elementary School February 1st registration begins time from 9:00 a.m. to noon location Henry Warren Elementary School note that current Ashlin preschool students who are age eligible for kindergarten will be automatically enrolled and do not need to attend the registration event for questions contact Donna at D Ashlin dok1 12.ma.us for assistance the bab BCC opens in Ashland the benett assessment and behavior care for children LLC the bab BCC has opened its new location in Ashland offering assessments and evidence-based treatments for children ages 1 through 15 Services include evaluations for autism ADHD learning disabilities anxiety OCD depression and behavioral challenges owner Jullian Bennett relocated the center from NAIC and celebrated the opening with Community leaders including Senate President Karen spilka state representative Jack Lewis select board members Yolanda Greaves and Joe manani and ABA president Adam saxs contact the bbcc located at 25 West Union Street sweet 204 Ashlin mass email J bennettbennett ABC forchildren docomo is b n NE TT and the phone number is 781 75 and this this week's Community shout out is to our volunteers Ashen Department of prevention and Human Services extends a huge thank you to its volunteers who play a vital role in promoting Community wellness and Equity volunteers assist in various ways such as stocking shelves fulfilling food pantry orders and organizing inventory they support over 40 food pantry appointments each week helping to ensure timely service for residents volunteers also contribute to the holiday program organizing and distributing personalized gifts for children their dedication is invaluable and the department encourages others to get involved through volunteer opportunities some upcoming meetings in Ashland the Conservation Commission will be held on Monday January 27th at 700 p.m.

the romance author Loretta Chase in conversation with Caroline lyen will be held on Saturday January 25th at 1 p.m. now for children's events we have the anime club which is on Tuesday January 21st at 6:30 p.m. we have quas which is Spanish story time for families which will be held on Wednesday January 22nd at 6:30 p.m. and lastly but not least be a reading machine which is stem for Littles which will be on Thursday January 23rd at 10:30 a.m. that is all for today thank you to our town manager Michael Herbert and our town staff for providing this newsletter and thank you all for tuning in to waca my name is hi silver good night and go clock first

the Board of Health meeting will be Tuesday February 4th at 700 p.m. and the select board meeting will be Wednesday February 5th at 700 p.m. all meetings are available remotely on waca TV now some local events coming up the Ashen Public Library book sale will be held on Saturday February 1st from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Ashlen Public Library all proceeds benefit library programs a simple gesture food pantry pickup will be on January 25th March 1st and April 12 volunteers pick up food donations for the Ashland food pantry sign up at a simple gesture solar webinar with energized Ashland Thursday January 23rd from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. learn how solar energy can power your home and reduce your Environmental impact register at the link for solar webinar now some happenings at the ashin public library for adult events we have the ESL conversation Group which will be held on Wednesday January 22nd at 6:30 p.m.

at Camp over verie high school students from elementary and junior high schools will gather to see who is the best speller this annual event is always very competitive and I wish all the participants the best of luck we look forward to seeing who will represent GPS in the regional spelling be comp competition Junior High orch uh honor Orchestra so this past Saturday I had the pleasure along with some other board members of attending the annual District junior high honor Orchestra performance students tried out and were selected for this honor and they truly represented all the great things about our GPS music programs they get together at 600 p.m. the Friday evening before the actual um concert and that is the very first time that they get to see each other and actually play together and they practice for a couple hours they come back the next day and continue practicing and get ready for that 2PM performance and when you hear them and they get together um it is it's truly unbelievable how well they gel and how well they play and they sounded phenomenal so um if you don't get the chance to to go see those it's every year right around the same time please check it out and again thank you to the governing board members that were able to attend uh tomorrow night everybody in here's got a job because I know most of you but if you don't and those online we have a job fair tomorrow night at Gilbert High School from 4:00 to 6: p.m.