Reader

this has been the district's model for over a decade the proposed changes for next school year um is to convert two of those classrooms into half day programs for threeyear olds maintain five full day classrooms for fouryear olds and introduce a substantially separate classroom for students with a higher level who require a higher level of support why would we do that why would we take away programming from children what's the rationale um there are a lot of reasons the first one and I think the most important one is the developmental appropriateness of our classrooms a three-year-old and a 5-year-old have very different needs um and by separating these age groups that'll allow the the teacher in that classroom to meet those needs more specifically a three-year-old entering School needs to focus on play and language development and Social Development and finding gross motor skills and then they need to go home and take a big nap our four and five-year-olds are truly starting that pre kindergarten experience the foundations of curriculum transitioning to special areas being being able to sustain a full day of school currently when any of our preschoolers come to us at 3: and stay till 5: they're getting the same experience twice sometimes three times depending on the birth dat of the of the student this change would allow a student to be able to grow with and into our school experience as we discussed last year the district is required to provide preschool to students with disabilities when they turn three this presents a particular challenge each year as we often don't know how how many spots we will need we run the risk of running out of room and having to add a preschool classroom in the middle of the school year which would be a logistical nightmare by changing the structure of our programming we could build in the room to grow with existing staff and resources and really never have that worry of we don't have enough slots we are also seeing an increasing number of families accessing outside services in addition to our preschool um because we only offer five full day option that puts families in a difficult position are they going to access preschool or are they going to access outside Services um we have students who are being dismissed multiple times per week for outside um therapies and appointments that they have because it becomes an either or situation and perhaps this more flexible approach would create um a both and situation for family so they don't have to make that choice um another change in this proposal is to not have school for preschool on early release days the intention behind this is so that teachers and staff can use that time to participate in child find activities such as visits to community preschools to conduct screening and observations oftentimes we receive referrals um for students from outside preschools or dayc carees and rather than jumping immediately to an evaluation uh which can be an exhaustive process and time consuming our staff could provide guidance in the students more familiar environment this time could also be used for evaluations and meetings despite its small size uh kushman holds well over 100 team meetings per school year and because our preschool teachers wear two hats as the classroom teacher and the special education teacher this results in a lot of time away from the classroom um and some coverage issues having monthly time to complete these tasks would alleviate some of that challenge this chart shows the prop proposed configuration as you can see by the numbers on the bottom um there is a net gain both for special ed slots and for peer spots utilizing the staff we already have in place if you're a more visual person like me this is um a visual representation of the classrooms so I would suggest start we start by filling three of the four available three-year-old slots so many numbers um we would do an a the 2 AMS and then 1 p.m.

can't find him on Florida anymore so I'm wondering if you guys did research with this new insurance or you owe a favor to a friend and you're just using Allan Associates which was sued in sorry 2012 for getting bribes from their Board of Education in Hamilton so I don't know why you guys went with that broker instead of putting out a bid getting more it looks very suspicious basically this board has been very successful in moving their friends forward the that was the positives the negatives are the schools still have no reliable internet you're working on it heat and air conditioning are inconsistent or non-existent you're working on it teachers who already are underpaid now face higher insurance cost leaving them with even less take-home pay so while we're bus while you're busy rewarding your friends you're failing or students no amount of money spent on Stadium whites cameras and other Optics will matter when the focus should be on providing a quality education for all the students let's get back to what really matters supporting the students and the teachers that's all five [Applause] minutes Jerry leedford 77 mors Avenue see I know how to speak into a microphone some of you know me some of you have never seen me before Dr TOMCO you and I have never seen each other before I'd like to say that in the last five years this is only the second board meeting that I've attended shame on me in the 38 prior years I attended almost every one never in jeans in fact this is the first time I have ever been seen in public in jees in Garfield what what there's always a first I would like to make a suggestion in the form of a question today the first time I've been here in many years there were enough agendas so I'm not going to the Hot Topics I just have to say that upfront I'm not going to the Hot Topics yes I'm a retiree I am concerned about my benefits but I'm not going there everyone in the first role received printed agendas a few people in the second row received printed agendas prior to five years ago when I used to attend almost every single board meeting including the one in February of 2005 where there was a blizzard outside and the board meeting was held downstairs from The High School auditorium I was one of two people in attendance in the audience but I felt it was important for me to be there um everyone had agendas today there was a short of shortage shortage of agendas and I realized that paper costs money that would create a further deficit if you had to print enough for all of the people here I would just like to make a suggestion that at 7 p.m.

and leave that see that orange p.m that's our one that we would open if we need to again the staff is already there the room is already there we would just have to add the students to it um by having this flexible afternoon it would again give opportunities for teachers to complete evaluations and paperwork because what we're doing really um for the teachers who are going to be teaching the three-year-old programs is doubling their case load um so we need to provide some some time for them in order to complete all that comes along with that um as far as IEPs and meetings the substantially separate classroom would be for students on individualized education plans with a higher level of need there would be no peers assigned to that classroom instead those students would integrate into the inclusion classrooms as appropriate or peers from the inclusion class would then join them for activities in their classroom this mirrors our substantially separate programming um that's currently in place uh K to 12 again working towards that vertical alignment our full day preschoolers would continue to participate in PE art music lunch recess and rest time and our halfday students would participate in classroom activities incorporating art music and movement but would not have Specialists this reduces the number of transitions for our three-year-olds which can be a challenge um so here are some of the logistics uh there's also a propos OS increase in tuition for our full day programming currently the cost stands at $450 per month which has not changed since we started full day um preschool about 10 years ago the hope is that the moderate increase will cover any additional costs which would really just come from Transportation it's easy to look at these changes and build a narrative around what the district is taking away but I am encouraging our community to look at this through the lens of how these changes will better S serve our youngest Learners how creating sustainable and flexible structures will allow us to meet the varying needs of our students and how increased individual individualization is not only more appropriate but it's our mandate through the IEP process and how increased opportunities to connect with Community organizations and preschools will better serve all of our students and families so before I do my big introduction does anyone have any questions about the proposed changes for preschool questions from Mr Nunes thank you thank you Mr chairman thank you Mrs denisio very nice uh couple of thoughts uh and again more so with you I got the foury olds their full day type of deal uh but the three-year-olds with the half days and such uh when we have you know when we have a half day of school because professional development and such are they going to be in are you going to rotate so that the after the afternoon students my proposal is no no preschooler has school that day and we use that time um as professional time for the staff to be uh holding meetings visiting Community preschools doing more of that Outreach work okay because that was the tricky part like who would come to school that day it would always be the am kids so that's why I thought again using the time we have to to complete some of the other things on our plate okay and then take a one step sorry take a one step further this is winter time we get snow doesn't snow anymore Mr I know well we do I don't care what anybody says we do uh but the superintendent calls a one hour or twoh hour delay it's like these St you know the morning ones are no sooner going to get there and they come we would just have to cancel that morning session and then if it were delay the afternoon session could come in okay yeah all right and do we have uh would we be transporting these year olds we transport students on IEPs um that require that as part of their disability so the majority of of students who who do come to us on IEPs are being transported so that's sort of where the increased cost might come in because we are adding sort of a trip and the size of Dartmouth is tricky so that's sort of the anticipated increase of cost okay I think that's all I had yeah it's all I had at the moment thank you Mr chairman you're welcome thank you ma'am one a very wellth thought out plan um I I like it um I personally think three-year-olds really can only handle school for half a day um so with our students who have IEPs um we have to we are mandated to have um threeyear old kindergarten for them or preschool um is there a certain number of days by taking away the half days do do we are we still able to make the required days yeah there's really no parameters around that um an i AP is to provide access to the curriculum so what's our curriculum what is our sort of structure right now it's a full day but changing it to a half day won't necessarily change our responsibility but it might change our response if that makes sense um also we might run into the not to go too far down a rabbit hole here but we might run into a student who needs more than that and that's something we'll have to be looking at because the nature of their disability um is such that they do need more services that than can be provided within that two and a half hour day so and I will just add that most the of the area communities have halfday programs for three year olds and even four year olds um so having half day program for threey olds is is appropriate and recognized by the state as a as a best practice yeah thank you anyone else good I'll just oh go ahead no I just took an audible breath when you said that because I was hearing the word individual and then I was hearing we're doing it this way and I thought where's the eye and individual here um and I appreciate it um it's here Kathleen it's right here and but there was a slide and I apologize um I'm a little bit late to the to the party although I'm aware of this but um so my questions might be some that others have already talked through um individually with there so I just preface it with that um there was a slide where it said full day so peer Community Lottery same could choose a full day program or am I missing is the half day for everyone in the the half day is for three year olds okay the full day would be for four year olds as far as the lottery goes okay including the peers including the peers yeah okay okay that make that that makes me feel a little better um and I have heard from some folks with some feelings around this I'm sure you have as well um and so I do appreciate your rationale um my only I I just have to say that I trust I trust the district but I just worry I I the beautiful program the inclusion program was uh something um that I think our community was was a value added to our community um and I always did hear from families where then when they would transition there wasn't that vertical alignment and it was often difficult to advocate for inclusion when the model that our district supports on the upper grades was more of a secluded model for that kada five specifically let's just say and so I do have slight apprehension and uh my hope would always be that we would work harder to be more inclusive rather than going back to that substantial separate model um which I understand there is there is a need for it um that has been my experience in thinking through the pros and cons of my own life is sort of what is my you know my vision and what is the reality and where do we have to go and it's often not where you right we often take we ve are off in that path but um I do have a little bit of pause with that although I do understand and recognize the need um and so I just I just have I just have concern with that I'm not going to like put my heels down I just feel that um this change is something that I'm processing in the moment so I apologize I just um C could you maybe talk through some of the discussions around you know landing on we need to do this because it's better maybe some of how you processed like well what does that mean for the the path we were going or I that I was hoping that we would go as a district so to be honest two things idea requires us to have a Continuum of services and right now we have eight classrooms that operate the same way so while provide students with individualized Services we are not really providing them a Continuum um in 20121 there was a preschool evaluation done and that was one of the recommendations that this that this substantially separate classroom um exist to be quite honest I'm not 100% sold on it either what what happened when I started putting this on paper and I started looking at the staff is that we have the staff to make this work and I I think it's worth making it work because there are students who can who can be identified who being in a class room with 15 kids is too much for them it's over stimulating they need a smaller environment um but again that whole I mean you want to call it reverse inclusion you want to whatever you want to call it they are going to be included in those other classrooms um that being said we are looking at our programming because one thing is not enough we are looking at our Sub sub separate program in K to2 and making changes there as well and really the point is that vertical alignment um inclusion is always the goal but it's not always the reality and how do we balance that so that's where I and I trust you and I trust the district and I just um no I love this trust trust that we are reflective in this and we make some data based decisions and that we don't lean into it um and I understand the parents going for a you know um outside Services I did that as well um and I appreciate you saying that some kiddos might need more thank you um uh I took a nice deep breath with that one and uh I mean I trust but I just hope that we are reflective and revisit this and we don't get stuck that this is the way flexible structures right so I want to build things that can be um thank you flexible thank you for my time that's it you got to be done now Chris right I've got about five questions okay I'm just I'm I'm I'm I'm just kidding thank you for your presentation I did have an opportunity to meet with Dr sa McGuire ahead of time um I think what you propose certainly uh makes sense uh the two questions I actually do have is right now uh the programming structure for the one preschool class at Potter will stay the same as a four-year-old program and that's what it is right now yeah there hasn't been a three-year-old at Potter in I don't know 5 years or something um because the need is so great and we only have one classroom to service that area what happens is the kids end up starting at kushman and then going there when they're four so that's not going to change that's well I am a big proponent for Equity across the town um and I know for those role model students that may not have transportation um that I know there's there's only so much room to go around um but whether or not we uh can look at a modular or some other kind of scenario for Potter it certainly uh you know would would make me happy to see Equity across the town and not just having a three-year-old program um over at kushman but that's not really for anyone specific to decide but I just want to throw my two cents out there and then last but not least would be the uh CU we do have to vote on the um the price increase um that that is that will need a vote this evening um the going from the full day uh going from 450 to 600 and then the half day of 450 I'm just curious is I'm sorry 250 250 I'm just curious is this a um regardless of the month it stays the same or is there a daily rate for those months that have like Christmas vacation or it's a set monthly rate it's a set monthly rate regardless of and how do we come to that decision well well it was in in uh 10 years ago we um we instituted the $450 a month based on um comparisons with other other districts at the time and we haven't even looked at it since then so um what we envisioned with our current structure we knew that uh implementing this would have some increased costs we're going to have midday transportation of students um home from school and then two school that we don't currently have um so we're going to definitely be incurring costs in that way um so in order to accommodate that we took a look at you know the tuition rate and adjusted it um the the increase ends up being um the the average increase of our counterparts who have similar programs um would be $733 a month for full day we're we're increasing but we're only going to $600 y um and $417 a month for half day okay um and we're at we're going to be at 250 y so we're still going to be a very reasonable program um you know to answer the question regarding you know should December be less than than May let's say um for ease of payment we have a we have a set monthly rate Sur really we look at it through the lens of it's an annual payment school year payment and we divide we divide it by div by 10 divide it by 10 okay nope it just actually it's also more for me as well just so when I get questions you know Mr Oliver wires every month the same I can can answer that so thank you um and we do need a vote um on the um proposed uh additional costs Mr chairman make a motion that we approve the reimaging of uh the kushman preschool for school school year 2025 and 2026 including the adjustments to the cost price costs second motion by Mr n second by Miss Beckwith on the motion any other discussion jaring none all in favor I opposed motion carries unanimously um so while I still have the microphone as they say the devil is in the details and I am more than thrilled um to introduce someone who's going to help me sus out all those details um as of Monday February 3rd we are welcoming a new uh Early Childhood director Stephanie ricardi um no you come over here please to the district I thought I was G to get away uh there's much work to be done and I'm so glad to have a partner in this important work what an exciting time to jump on board um I wanted to thank you all for having me tonight Dr sa Maguire for giving me this opportunity preschool is definitely a passion of mine I love the littles um and I take a great honor in being a part of their Early Education the littlest Learners they have the the the most rambunctious energy that we just love to harness and it's really a foundational preschool goes by in a blink of an eye but really we're setting the stage for all of these wonderful other things that we heard about you know at the elementary level and certainly at the high school level um so it's an amazing opportunity and I'm really glad to be here welcome welcome welcome to D happy to have apprciate it thank you very much good luck thank [Applause] you all right and that wraps up our presentations and under old business what I would like to do uh with the committee's uh okay with it I'd like to take out of order uh the April 2025 DHS World Language Department cultural Excursion to Spain and Portugal and bring that up to our first item under old business is that okay with everyone sounds good that's fine so Mr Shay is going to come up and introduce um happy to see this trip moving forward as you know um our trip last year was a great success our students got so much out of it um our students and staff and we want to continue to be able to offer these kind of experiences to our students because it does make a difference for them and I think Mr Shay has a presentation planned and has some answers to some questions about some things that are going to look a little bit different this year we're still working with EF Tours but we um we have somebody else that apparently is a familiar face here in Dartmouth and we're going to talk about what the trip will look like for this year so I want to introduce to Mar Ellen I'm going to skip some slides down so I can introduce you um to maryi Ellen um so Mary 's LED at least 25 International Champs with Stu uh trips with students beginning in 1999 um former New Beford High School teacher for 35 years a Dartmouth grad and um she works with the chaperon with EF Tours to make sure they're doing the background checks in through this so we're very lucky to have a very experienced person leading our trip um this year who done these trips with our students and um working with our students I I begged and I appreciate her stepping in in this moment so I I just want to take the time to introduce Mar Ellen she is leading the trip this year and we're very lucky for that so um anytime step on my toes when I go through this um so it is Portugal Spain it's Madrid Salamanca kbra um Fatima and Lisbon um this was pictures from last year um a lot of it is my group of students but um this you can see um over here is um the the residence of the royal family um you have down here where we get to see a Picasso about this far away from I was this close to a Picasso in that museum um this is before we leave that's our beach day where our students actively did the one Dartmouth for us um and this is an a plaza mayor in Madrid um so our students got a really nice opportunity to travel to some really great places oh and actually this here is in a park that is um it has like a devil statue in it and um but it's like one of the Royal Family's old parks and it just opened up to the public like in the 60s or something like that so it was really cool for our students to experience that like World culture and see these beautiful gardens um so the trip goes from us to Madrid then um Avala which is Stone City you get to see um literally middle-age Middle Ages walls like that were built to circle the whole city um they have a really nice like actually Co Memorial there too which was really nice um and then they're in Salam Mona for a night which is you're right in the heart of the city um you get to see um uh some universities there for our students where you go to um then we go over the um line into Portugal where we go to Kimbra where um you have a library that Harry Potter was based off of um they actually let bats free in the library at night to eat all the um things that attack books I don't know what that would be mes I guess um but it's gorgeous and then they go to Porto they come back down to Fatima which is like such a religious or non-religious it's you feel something there it's it's a really impressive City and then you end in Lisbon and you leave from Lisbon um did I miss anything on those trips no okay um so they you fly overnight and you go right into a walk toward Madrid into the pra Museum you're exhausted but they they they they do really well um again you do some sightseeing in in the village the next day you're in the Royal Palace you get to see the throne room you get to see the the former bedrooms the walls are Inc like I couldn't get over each wall like just was ornate um it was really great um into exploring the city again in uh Madrid then you go to Avala which is again the Stone City here um it's it's just like a breathtaking experience it's a cool dip in temperature when you get there too just that area um that you feel and then you're going to go across into Portugal um tons of old Cathedrals gorgeous like gorgeous gorgeous sightseeing um when you go to kber you go to the university again you see the students in capes literally Harry Potter it was pretty cool um and she wrote it there like she um when she was when she was in um when she was touring that's where she wrote it from um then you to Porto which you take a riverbat cruise on the river um and you just see the City built into it into the city it's gorgeous um and then you go like I said you go to Fatima which is a Solly experience um when you leave Fatima you go to um the the monastery which is this incredible church that is it's actually not even finished but it goes back to um Prince Henry the Navigator times and um I think he's buried there right or his family is and then you go into Lisbon and um you get to go to the top of the city and you get to look down in the whole city it's it's quite a hike up it was quite a hike up but you yeah it is your legs are sore by the time you get to the top but it's gorgeous and it's so worth the hike up there and then you leave to return to the to the US um again this is some of the the royal family residents um this is p two um oh this is a tower in Portugal in Lisbon where um the um conquistador fought off um Invaders and there's like an epic battle there which was really impressive to learn about um this is the Prince Prince Henry this is one of your trips not M of mine uh this is the Prince Henry um the Navigator and celebrating the the mon the Monument of discoveries thank you yeah where you get to celebrate all of like the Portuguese um impact on on C on culture and Society they have on the ground they have a map of the world and where the Portuguese pushed out to it's really really just beautiful they did a really good job and if you go across the street you have the best nazas in the world um Lisbon City Hall again everything is just gorgeous um and then the food oh my gosh the food if you don't travel for food I don't know why you travel right like that's my belly speaking but um again we had the original natas which were incredible and in experience um EF Tours is our travel partner um they they put together are a great program um again and I think Mar Ellen can speak to any questions on EF Tours in the support that they provide us but it's 24-hour support tour guide um we're part goad y they're present all throughout the world so um in many European countries they have oh I'm loud in many European countries um they have an office so they have an office in Lisbon they have an office in Madrid they'll have an office in Athens so they're very well present throughout the world EF is and on the trip too so yeah and so and so in case of e an emergency they're there in a Flash and that's why I use them is because of their presence and um you affordability as well they're out of all the travel companies that I've looked at they're also I'm not going to say they're not cheap but um lower cost and they're fair for what you get yeah MH um again our students get round trip hotel stay Regional meals every night for breakfast you get breakfast and dinner you get a tour director who's with you 247 um transportation on Amazing coach buses that are so comfortable um you have the cultural guide so not only is your tour guide there but you'll get a tour guide that comes on your bus and takes you or you um when you go to the um Palace you get special entrance at the palace with with the tour um that's throughout too and then um so many just like landmarks that you just see that you're just like oh my gosh that exists too um students their themselves they were travel they're required for their passport they contribute to the obviously the fees and the baggage fees that they would have to pay for extra try to encourage students to the only baggage fees they would have is if they overpacked yes they're not going which they will not they were scales for us all um tips for the local guides and bus drivers and then snacks at then um lunch meals but usually you're pretty full from breakfast and dinner so it's a quick meal um again I introduce you to Mary Ellen um and then this is this is why we partnered with wef tours um and again you have a local safety guide that's with you um throughout the whole the whole tour and then you also have the support at home throughout the tour um Mar will get like surveys throughout the whole tour just to ask how it's going to keep you in the loop of what's going on and what you need and then again top Soup To Nuts they're hooking you up they're taking care of you so I'll open up to questions on it um you're still waiting on final dates because they wait until the air fair oh you got it oh yeah oh I haven't seen oh perfect yeah we're leaving Good Friday okay coming back on Sunday the 27th excellent I already have the flights oh perfect yeah I was very mad I missed the ice cream bar on the way up so I'll start off here a couple of questions for you either one of you uh how many students do we have uh currently registered 19 Dartmouth High students 19 excellent and what what is our uh volunteer or our chaperon ratio your chaperon is Mr John Karen from Dartmouth High and I have um Educators uh Jerry forts who's a track and field coach here she's been a track and field coach here since the 1970s she's also another do dmouth chaperon um Amy and Rick Houston dmouth residents new beff educators um you know I'll I'll I have an English teacher at uh New Bedford High School who traveled with me four years as a student she my former student she went on four trips uh with me from at New Bedford High School and this is her third time chaperoning as an educator so her family has actually done 19 trips with me oh wow that's great I'm four kids I'm happy to hear it and what is the uh just so we're all on the same page will will the chaperon be briefed ahead of time so the chaperon have a lot of responsibilities um maybe more than what you guys did um my chaperones we do room checks at night we wake them up in the morning um um I stress that punctuality is very important and if you're late everyone's late so the chaperon will wake up the students y knock on the door student has to get up open the door all the lights go on everybody's up so that they can't go back to bed um so yep every shaone have six students okay so it's a 6:1 ratio actually there's going to be a few with five and um yeah any questions uh perfect no that's all I have I don't want to monopolize the time I have one word the importance of these trips my favorite word growth growth because you know you look at the itinerary and you think okay they're going to learn about the country they're visiting the culture the foods history they're going to learn about themselves they're going to learn how to use foreign currency to make a purchase with that currency to use an ATM in another country um to get along with two other people in their room and share bathroom which prepares them for college very true it's a lot of growth there not just the knowledge of you know visiting sure that's a great perspective it really is yeah yeah yeah any other questions Mr Nunes two two quick questions um what's the airline we are uh Air Canada Air Canada so the Boston Logan yeah Montreal Montreal Montreal Madrid y okay then Lisbon Montreal Boston Logan okay so it'll go through I've already uh arranged for Coach bruss Transportation round trip we're lucini bus lines from West Bridgewater y Bridgewater yep familiar with lucini we use them with the band and they're good and I I contacted five companies to get the best I always do that there you go that's fine and uh off the top of your head what's the Euro valued at I haven't looked lately that can change every day I know it changes every day I know it was a dollar 10 the yeah it it's we lose money yeah we do I was just curious um I I recommend AAA to get the Euro yeah a lot of banks don't even bother like Santander doesn't even um you know do it any longer you can't get Euro or any other currency from Santander it's crazy I know but I five to 10 days too triple even quicker than that yeah it's usually sometimes three yeah with triple A um I also they can use debit cards and that's another experience for them to use their debit cards I um I stress that they are Frugal And I stress that I'm going to I teach them some things bring bring snacks from home non- perishable snacks bring as many as you wish because if you ever been around a teenager they're hungry at 10:00 at night oh yeah I sh bandr dinner's over they're hungry so bring snacks from home go to Walmart stuck up um I also little senior citizen trick take from The Breakfast put it in your backpack for later that's a see trick I did that oh yeah I say bring some um sandwich bags from home and pack those sandwich bags with croissants you know some fruit from breakfast because we know teenagers don't always eat breakfast as they should so this gives them an opportunity to pull it out of their backpack later and know consume thank you anyone else sounds great have a great have a great time oh they will and I also by the way this is something I I would like and I would like you to be on it too is that um there's an app that is the most um widely used app in Europe throughout the world but in Europe This is their app which called WhatsApp yeah and I am going to have a separate WhatsApp group for the parents so that we can um throw in photos every day the chaperons and myself will be throwing in photos so that uh those parents get able to see you know their child oh good every day sounds good love it I like it make sure the cell phones have internation Yeah well yeah and so here's the other thing you know I I'm a talker I do have the gift to gab and I'm very repetitive um must be the 35 years of teaching um so is I try to keep them like I give them as much knowledge about how to communicate with people at home whether it's their parents whether it's their siblings whether it's their boyfriend girlfriend significant other whatever um there's if you like a lot of them are on Facebook but their parents might be on Facebook use Facebook Messenger uh face you know FaceTime if you have the iPhone use FaceTime all with Wi-Fi free WhatsApp free free phone calls with Wi-Fi so if all parents download WhatsApp they can communicate every day with their son or daughter and I stress that because if you have Verizon or AT&T it's very expensive I personally have T-Mobile so with T-Mobile you can you can text in over 300 countries free free texting but that's not so with Verizon and AT&T AT&T is 10 bucks a day 10 bucks a day so that's why use use the WhatsApp use uh you know FaceTime uh messenger y y good very good great great presentation thank you both very much question very appreciate it thank you everybody sounds great thank you safe travels that's awesome yeah wow all right we'll take it back to the top uh school committee policies section B school committee and governance operations and school committee policy section A ADF wellness policy second reading and vote uh Mr Mr okay so um we reviewed these policies at our last meeting um and uh we had uh some discussion and some comments um we did have a brief discussion about suggestion about possibly adding a Corey requirement for school committee members um and and we did check with the masc and our attorney and they advis those uh to not include that um and that the committee really couldn't establish um qualification requirements for it for members so um so we did not make a change to that policy and everything else is Remains the Same so we'd be happy to talk about it and um answer any questions you might have before you consider it further thank you very much Mr Kyle I do appreciate you reaching out to masc and uh legal counsel on that um I thought it was at least worthwhile to to have that discussion um comments questions on our second read and vote on this policy Mr nun thank you Mr chairman um again I wasn't here at the last one the last meeting but I did catch in bits and pieces different parts of uh the meeting was never able to catch the whole thing uh and I appreciate the comment about you know know all the different lettering the alphabet soup as it was was was talked about type of deal and I appreciate and I really don't have uh anything I mean personally I am cored because of my involvement with the band and Athletics and I mean I'm one-on-one with students so I have a Corey on file so but other than that I have no uh no issues with these policies yeah good job by everyone thank you Mr Nunes yeah and I honestly you know not single in you it was just a matter of I just thought it was good practice uh but I understand the the political Fallout from that and something we can enforce so I'm okay with it so chair we'll entertain a motion to approve uh the policies as stated so move second motion by Mr noon second by Mrs Amal on the motion any other discussion jaring none all in favor I opposed motion carries unanimously thank you everyone for your work thank you Mr C KY uh continuing on FY 26 through 35 Capital Improvement plan for the discussion and vote to approve thank you Mr Kylie thank you so um again at the last meeting we presented the FY 26 through 35 10-year Capital Improvement plan um I I guess the biggest we haven't changed anything based on that discussion um the biggest thing that I wanted to make you aware of is that at the next meeting I am so the February 10th meeting I'm planning to present a mass School building authority statement of interest for the high school roof yay to you um it'll then need consideration from the select board uh before we actually submit it so assuming that the school committee is uh going to be in support of getting new roof here um then we'll get it on the select board's agenda and then submit hopefully um in March to msba great fantastic questions about the CIP no so that'll be for the next meeting you said Mr that will be yes right and we thinking um I know it's a little early too little early to tell but we thinking potential uh project for FY 27 well you know we're going to be in a pool of candidates with msba so they'll determine it I it likely will take a year is to get it ready and get funding at town meeting and uh get it fully designed so it'll be a process over sometime but in an ideal situation yes okay it would be a 27 yeah perfect Mr chairman yes Mr Nunes through you to Mr Kylie uh is this something because we we need town meeting approval and such is this something we're looking to put in on the June town meeting or maybe the October fall meeting I think more likely just to have it available yeah I I think that um obviously a lot hinges on whether or not we're even uh accepted into the msba yeah uh I don't think we would learn of that in time so um it it's not going to be submitted till the end of March so they're not even going to start considering projects until April it maybe they'll consider something in time for the beginning of June but um really not sure yet they could give us a placeholder they they they certainly could I mean I say placeholder I mean the town could give us a placeholder at the June meeting and then just withdraw it right it would be strictly for design money I think that we would need a vote um which uh when we present to the select board we can we can make that recommendation I hope that there'll be a quick turnaround I mean obviously I don't want to I don't you're you have the option to approve or not approve the statement of Interest so um I think we've talked a lot about the need for this but um I I've already made uh the town you know aware that we're in this process and um yeah it's pretty easy to to look at the need if you just look up um so hopefully you know we can get on a select board agenda in a prompt fashion and get it in but yes uh we'll have that discussion with them about town meeting possibilities and the last the last thing I have is I know uh there was discussion you know a couple of schools in this this 10year plan which with the amount of discussion that we had with the 40-year capital Improvement plan this I mean should not be a surprise to anybody that we've got two schools out there I mean I know Mr Kylie made the comment or Dr Sabre Maguire made a comment about all of a sudden having two or three schools and one Fell Swoop and you know I happened to in the stand standard times the other day was uh half a dozen schools in the city of New Beford with you know design work or whatever they needed done you know going out for loan orders for half a dozen schools so we hopefully don't want to get into that that type of a situation so I mean I appreciate everything that's on here yeah and when you get a note from CIP if you'd let me know i' if I can make it I'd love to I will I will yeah I I'm expecting possibly in the next couple of weeks okay but I don't have a DAT or anything at this point let me know thank you and just speaking about um town meeting and all of this to just out of curiosity have they um signed a Town Administrator yet I know I don't believe so no that's the uh they were supposed to meet tonight in executive session with Town Council to go over the uh from what I remember listening to to go over the contract to send been quite some time all right thank you thank you for the update so uh at this point I guess we're looking chair we'll entertain a motion to approve the uh FY 26 through 35 Capital Improvement plan so second motion by Mr NES second by Mrs Amaral on the motion any other discussion sorry j hearing none all in favor I opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much thank you Mr Kylie for your work on the cipk you uh next up a Hot Topic here 2025 2026 I'm getting a little Punchy uh school year calendar uh further discussion in vote and I'll turn it over to Dr sa Maguire for her thoughts well I I think that you're correct this is a Hot Topic um in in town and I'm sure that you have had discussions um with folks who live here in Dartmouth who have thoughts about the school calendar it seems to be one that's a Hot Topic in other communities as well um but what we did do is we revised option one um if you remember uh with option one we were proposing a shorter holiday break and we would have had a full day full days of school the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas Eve um in op the option one revised proposal is exactly the same as option one with the uh proposed addition of that half day on the Tuesday before the 24th and then option two is that one with the longer holiday break and that provides again for a later last day of school uh that would bring us to the 15th without snow days uh all options are include that the Friday before uh Labor Day uh that we don't have school on the Friday before Labor Day Labor Day and that there's a half day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and so we had lots of discussion about that I know you wanted time to think about it um so I don't know if you watched any of the uh deliberation Mr Nunes um but it certainly was uh yes it was but that's okay good healthy deliberations if I may yeah go ahead I mean in in all seriousness I was in I mean I knew I wasn't going to be here but in conversations that I had with uh Dr Sabre Maguire uh I mentioned to her about you know going to Monday in Tuesday of Christmas week with the half day type of deal uh if there are no if if you don't do that two thing two things personally come to mind number one you're coming back on a Monday for half a day nobody's going to be here anyway type of type of deal it's you know you're opening up the schools and such and number two more importantly me personally uh that juneth holiday scares The Living Daylights out of me if we get any amount of snow type of deal and just extend out you know four or five six snow days type of deal bring us well into the uh you know the last full week of June and uh you know we need the Summers to get the schools reset for uh the fall and you know summer projects done and custodians to clean and and everybody else you know the the faculty and staff to to recharge their batteries so you know that much longer so that that was my thought on uh going the two extra days you know that that type of deal and I've had discussions not with parents not in this District but in you know some other districts and you know I happen to mention it to them and their comment to me and their Educators and their comment to me was take the two days you know take the do the Monday and half day Tuesday so that's that's where my vote is thank you for your input any other thoughts I can share mine or sure so after uh thinking about it taking it back and uh reading and having conversations with several several uh parents in town and folks in town uh I I'm leaning more towards having the two full weeks off um I'm thinking of it from an as an educated point of view I can understand that um you know it's a long two weeks could some people may say two weeks is a long period of time to keep students out of school and they're going to miss stuff but in the reality of it there's two things in my opinion the two things being one that it's one and a half day you so first thing is going to school on the 23rd the day before Chris Eve with parent I think we're going to have a lot of absences as it is and then my my other thought is where am I going with this if you ever been in a classroom uh the week before Christmas or the month of December kids are very very rambunctious and I don't know how much you know I'm sure the teachers will do as best as they can to educate those students uh during those two days uh but the reality is uh they're ready for the holidays so my my opinion would be to have the two weeks off that made any sense um I I I in agreement with you Mr Oliver um i' I've shared personally the break-in routine is a very difficult thing for for certain members of my family um but you know it's you know looking at the calendar I think we did this once before a few years ago and um it might have been five six years ago I think Dr Jenkins proposed we not have a day at one point and ended up being a longer vacation and I do think there was a little bit of oh my gosh when do school start again uh but the reality is I overwhelmingly I I've heard from both sides but um I've overwhelmingly heard from people who made a great case for and Mr n said it I'm going to steal his words but I'm going to say it for the for the option the different option that Mr Oliver is in support of is recharging battery um and some other really um compelling reasons to you know if we're going to do it it's a day and a half this option versus the other um the 15th isn't too late I unless we do get massive snow um but that uh you know with couldn't do this next year next year right we're we're in another week you know it it falls an extra day away so it's um I think given folks two weeks uh would be my I I won't um I'll support what the committee's pleasure is but um that would be my my choice option b option option two a longer holiday break with the full two weeks um I get a handful of emails um that were split right down the middle so um as I considered everything um I'm leaning towards uh John's Proposal with the um Monday full day Tuesday half day okay um I also have heard from both sides it's a weighty decision um that's why we get the big bucks just remember that and I am uh in favor of Mr noon's revised plan a um for not breaking up the routine um of students for working parents who have to find child care for those couple days and also um the real possibility that June's going to be really hot and we don't have air conditioning in these schools which are not modern um so I will whatever however we vote I will support it but just waiting for a [Laughter] motion can put the put the calendar to bed put it on the table but why not go down in glory yeah Mr the chairman seriously um make a motion that we uh for school year Academic Year 2526 uh we adopt the revised option one as provided by the superintendent which has uh December 22nd as a full day and December 23rd as a half day with the last day of school at the moment be being June 11th 2026 wow I know do we have a second I'll second it thank you so we have a motion on the floor by Mr nun a second by Miss Beckwith on the motion any other discussion J heing none all in favor I I opposed extensions motion passes three- two with no exstension save the pieces and thank you everyone for your for your thoughtful uh reflection on this uh next up boy update we have a budget update thank you s you're welcome budget update um before I turn it over to Mr Kylie I just want to say a couple things related to the budget before Mr Kylie talks about really where we are in terms of planning for the budget you heard tonight you know references to the district strategic plan you heard um Mr Shay talk about the uh opportunities that we have uh through school Improvement planning for internships for opportunities for more relationships with uh higher ed you heard our AP parter school students talk about their opportunities to come here to the high school and to be part of the TV and Production Studio um so the folks that are making those things happen are the Educators in the buildings that are working with the students and so when I think about the importance of supporting a budget and when people um ask us well you know what what doesn't instructional technology coach do well you saw what an instructional technology coach does here this evening when you had the instructional technology coach here supporting even though we had uh six students presenting there was a there were many far more students involved in what we were able to see on the screen and what we heard from our presenters this evening um we talk about opportunities for kids and we talk about that in ways that we have to make those direct connections back to staff so I think that we have to keep that out in front of our discussions when we talk about numbers of course which are important of course and we have a responsibility to the community um both the town community and and the Dartmouth School community in particular to make sure that we're finding as many ways as possible to give our students opportunities and you heard our students tonight as young as fifth grade starting to talk about having these experiences that may shape their very Futures and that's why I'm those positions like instructional technology coaches are important because they exist in all our buildings and that is how they're supporting kids in their development so with that I know Mr Kylie has a an update as to where we are in the process yeah thank you Dr s McGuire so we have a uh budget subcommittee meeting coming up on February 10th and that um meeting is really to set the stage for our budget presentation to the school committee did I say February 10th you did subcommittee meeting on February 3rd yes um next Monday um to get us ready for the budget presentation to the school committee on February 10th so we've got a lot of work still to do before February 3rd and then leading into our presentation for you folks on February 10th um we we got some news this week uh in that the the governor's budget proposal is out um the governor has proposed a $75 per pupil uh increase which could could be worse um it could be the the the lowest that they would go would be $30 um so $25 though per pupil is less than two and a qu% uh increase for us so it's $242,000 increase which unfortunately is not going to save us um from you know facing some challenges in this process um another thing that I am very concerned about um and and I don't know I think the legislature is probably going to adjust this but the governor uh failed to fully fund Universal free lunch and breakfast which you know we just had our wonderful presentation um that uh Mrs Sheridan did on on our food service operation and and we really have made great strides I think in in terms of um both what we offer kids and and and just the the level of participation that that we get um you know from kids in our program and and we certainly want to be able to continue to do that I'm I'm a little concerned that was not fully funded she didn't fully the governor didn't fully fund no community no and you know it it's now the law so I don't really know how that's going to work out so I I think I think that the legislature is going to act um and adjust that but we'll see um I mean there's other things that the state doesn't fully fund and is the law too so you know won the first time but I hope that that's not the case because that will have a significant impact on our kids did I hear there was some kind of supplemental budget being thrown around for circuit breaker yes to fully fund that and I you know I think that's that's important and um we have a substantial amount of of um claims in circuit breaker and if that is not fully funded that will have immediate detrimental impact but but I think it will be um the other thing was that the towns side the unrestricted uh Town Aid uh was right about the same as uh as ours it was about 2.2% so uh in the governor's budget so you know they're not not particularly helping us um at the state level as usual and that's um that's where we are and I look forward to meeting with uh the subcommittee on the third and really uh getting this out out in public and and move forward yeah no same here questions comments from my committee members no as always thank you Mr K up go ahead Mr n no I I'm just I'm just looking at the cherry sheet yeah type of deal and you know the U you know 242,000 in chapter 7 $69,000 in local Aid you know everything else you know yeah some other stuff went out but that's just reimbursements you know and it's I'm not quite sure how they're expect you know and you look at o and I'm a broken record and I apologize but and not I've given up with the Gateway cities that Tye that type of deal but you look at some of the other communities around here you know and they've got substantially percentage wise substantially more than us type type of deal with with what we have in it's you know we've got you know twice the number of students and such and I'm not quite sure what anybody thinks and again I realize this is out of the box from the governors and there's going to be some adjustments but there's not a lot some of these don't don't change that much if my you know intuition is is there so I'm not sure how they expect us to survive no certainly agreed um do you think you'll have um for the uh February third budget meeting Jim a number um from the town we're working on that we're working on that certainly be very helpful if they had yes had something to give us to work with for sure since we're trying to get our budget ready um every year a little bit sooner so thank you for that all right next up under new business school choice 2025 2026 discussion and vote I did ask Dr Samu just to provide some numbers for us as to where our school choice currently stands enrollment wise yes so um actually 122 well 122 I have it up on my board I don't but yes we have 122 students in spread across the high school spread across the high school and I I think Mr Kylie has some if I'm not mistaken in front of you you have some numbers related to school choice right right so funding yeah I do um so uh school choice students right now make up 133% of our high school population so just um for your reference um we um I provided you with some financial information I mean we had a pretty in-depth conversation well actually we had a bunch of them last year regarding um our use of school choice funds and um the benefit that you know it had on our process especially considering um there was not a lot of collaboration with um the town and working on our uh our budget issues last year so um we receive about $700,000 in annual revenue um $5,000 a student but if the students have any have an IEP um there's an increment depending in on the services that they receive so it's not a flat $5,000 um for those 122 students so we we're projecting right around $700,000 of Revenue this year um we right now have more than $1.3 million uh planned on uh in expenditures so we had you know a significant like I said significant amount of discussion last year about how we were going to bridge the budget Gap um and you have um before you uh uh plan to do that over the next several years unfortunately um the expense side of it continues to be more than the revenue side so um we'll slowly use our reserves uh to the point where three years from now um we will be in a deficit if we were to continue that so we have some work to do and and hopefully find some support uh in the town in order to resolve this but uh in the short term we're going to continue and you'll see in the in the FY 26 uh budget proposal that uh we'll be we'll be making that um we're going to continue to supplement our budget needs with with with school choice in the short term so questions around I think we got two pieces here right we have I certainly want would like to have a little bit of discussion around school choice budget but also um just the school choice program as it stands and what is the committee's pleasure on uh approving school choice for the fy2 FY 26 school year um uh I would say we should continue school choice um primarily because we need the money right now um I am beginning to wonder whether I would want us to have school choice if we were fully funded um you know we talk a lot about um School culture and belonging and a lot of it is about us being Dartmouth and it's our citizens of Dartmouth giving their tax money to our students and I can understand how a the taxpayers might feel like we shouldn't have people from outside and also in terms of our culture you know it's where we live it's our town um I don't want to be isolationists I believe I want I want our school to be the best public school um but I also understand that our students sometimes want to go to other schools and so therefore I'm fine with other schools having school choice and accepting our students um uh so I'm a bit on the fence about the long-term um idea of school choice but I definitely am in favor of school choice going forward this year Mr nudes oh did you very I'm good for right now okay go ahead uh couple of things uh Mr chairman uh and again catching bits and bits and pieces I know you happened to mention uh about checking with the middle school did anything come about from that yeah good question Mr noon so I actually in my um bi-weekly meeting with Dr sabber Maguire we did have that conversation and that is something you know it's a little bit late in the game right now to introduce uh that opportunity at the middle school um but for me you know I think we obviously have a we obviously have a number of students that leave 8th grade uh to attend uh New Bedford voke or attend other schools even other school choice schools so um my feeling is if we can bring in students uh from other communities starting in sixth grade that they would certainly be um a reason for them to stick around and attend Dartmouth High School um so but to answer your the quick question the quick answer to your question is um I I don't think we're you know we're just not there yet for the middle school no I I would agree Mr Oliver and we did talk about have we had conversation about putting sort of a little study team together to see what the interest would be in um in including and really it would be a sixth grade entry point point but we would have to have a a team to look at that see the impact on class size uh one of the things that Mr Oliver said that I I would agree with is if we open school choice up to our to sixth graders then you would those would be the students that you would have grades six through 12 so it you would have the same group of students that really realistically you probably are having enter dartus schools in ninth grade it would just be that you would have a chance to have them become part of the culture of the School System earlier um and that would mean that you would have obviously more students overall because it would be from grade six through 12 um so that would be a recommendation that we would make but we would want to take our time before we entered into bringing that forward to the committee and we would have to do really have a St a team study what the impact would actually be so we weren't quite there yet that's fine so this is something that this time next year we could be talking about to bring in for we could be for for the following for 26 27 yes type of deal okay thank you uh yeah I thank you for the uh the financial the financial picture uh my vote hasn't changed okay I'm not going to be a surprise to anybody there type of deal but also too I have to be I would have to be foolish and naive to say you know the money is good and thank God we've got it because if we didn't have this this year we would have really been you know worse than Whistling Dixie as as they say type type of deal but then again this is extra money that in my this school committee members opinion should be doing the extra things okay 100% agreed with you there this is this is what should be doing the extra things okay you know for teachers for students you know things of that nature this should not be this should not be balancing a budget okay that and such so you know between the town and the state and again I'm a broken record and I apologize but no I don't apologize because it's the truth uh this is this is this is the real ity of it type of deal so yeah thank God we've got the money because other than that we'd really be in trouble but and I appreciate you know you know Mr Mr Kylie can get uh dollar bills out of pennies thank God so uh you know we've got this to at the moment yeah fall back on but you know we don't have we've got a little bit of a safety net but we don't have a big safety net MH okay and all of a sudden this is going to dry up in a hurry MH and then you know kind of go back to the E now never mind but I won't go there okay I'm good thank you Mr nudes I I can certainly agree with you on that the as I look at this here the 11 FTE positions that are funded through school choice should be funded through our operating budget not through school choice and I I think we need to make ourselves very clear clear to the finance committee and to the select board that those positions really should be funded in our operating budget for sure absolutely anyone else before I give my two cents I'm obviously for a number of reasons I'm in favor of school choice education becoming more and more competitive uh as the time goes by we look at perfect example is uh o Rochester Regional they have a very successful school choice program they are pulling I think actually 6 through 12 school choice and a number of them are coming from uh for Haven School District and from other Wham and some of those other districts and the reality is that in order to stay competitive especially at the high school level if if we didn't have 128 students 122 right 122 students at dmouth high school if there was 122 less we would not be able to offer the the types of uh classes that we offer that's the reality of it so for me I think school choice it's about course offerings at least at the high school level and in keeping our C course offerings big we also have there is also a financial piece to it and I understand I certainly respect your your values Mr Nunes um around you know being part of the U darta taxpayer uh but we do have our students going to other districts for one reason or another um so there's also that piece of it and it's also the piece for me it's about empathy to teaching empathy to our students at Dartmouth High School that there are there are students families uh that don't live in the Dartmouth community that have an opportunity to come to Dartmouth High School through the school choice program and I think that teaches them a little bit of empathy about they're fortunate enough to live in this town and come here but we also have students coming from other areas towns and cities um into the Dartmouth High School uh school choice program so I am once again a yes no surprise uh for me do we know the number of students that go out uh from Dartmouth to um other districts for school choice good question we do there 53 right now okay thank you anything else I I just want to say I I um agree with u both of my colleagues to my left here that um I think that the good outweighs the bad and I think that we can be isolationist as a town and I think that was a good word um beess and I do think that students coming from other places enrich our population and present possibilities of learning for all and so um that's where I am on it so I'm in favor I I I I've I've been clear about this I think from the get-go I'm in favor of it and I don't think I could say it any better than my colleague um Mary back with uh you know it's about opportunities it's about enriching um the student body and the experiences and you know and um and just learning from others and I think it's uh it's just a good thing and also um not much anymore but some Financial uh um benefit to it as well and that long list of expenditures that should be in our operating budget but I'm I'm in support thank you Mrs amiral and I will just I'll just say um and I'll stop talking because I know we're going on three hours here is that if the school if Dr s mire uh Mr Kylie were to say we're maxed out at at Dartmouth High School and we didn't have the space well then that's one thing yeah well one for me that's 100% you know if we were maxed out and we're going to you know it's going to be a detriment then my vote's no right it's always no at that point but right now we have the room we have opportunities for you know for other students um outside of Dartmouth so it's a yes so chair will entertain a motion uh on school choice yeah Mr chairman make a motion that the D public schools adopt school choice for school year 2526 second so we have a motion by Mr Nunes a second by Miss Coughlin on the motion any other discussion chair hearing none all in favor I I opposed me abstentions motion passes 4 to one with zero abstentions and thank you all for that uh that conversation I think it was a good one thank you for allowing it next up 2024 annual report and vote you um I know that you received your a report I've heard from a couple of you about a couple of things that we'll certainly address before we um before we submit to the town but the annual report does require a school committee vote before we can officially submit it to the town perfect comments questions good job yeah it's a lot of work I have no doubt a lot of work by a lot of people across the district so I appreciate the work that's been put into it interesting to look at motion to approve the annual report second as adjusted motion by Mr noon second by Miss Beckwith on the motion any other discussion just a big thank you to everyone on the administrative Team all in favor I opposed motion carries unanimously uh next up super attendance report okay so I'll try to speed through it I'll try to talk as fast as U Mr Shay there you go I don't think it's possible but I'll try um but under teaching and learning I just continually want to reiterate the importance of the work taking place at all levels of the district uh we expect to have high quality resources in place in all of our major content areas um not every single content area at every single grade level but certainly I think that we're seeing big impact right now we will have as you know a new resource um for elementary for literacy in the fall you'll hear more about that soon Science World Language math we're we're again as part of our district strategic plan that is a real Focus for us and I just will make that connection back to how important the budget is in supporting this kind of work because that is those are expensive commitments and the resource is one part of the commitment and even as important is the professional development that needs to take place in order to support our Educators in the implementation of those resources um we continue to explore ways for educators uh to participate in opportunities for professional development both internally and externally we talked about the cohort that we are um able to provide through Bridge state for Ed educational leadership tomorrow we actually have a a meeting a virtual meeting for educators who may be interested in getting a master's or even a postmasters in reading so that they would have a a an actual uh degree in in reading and so that's something that folks again along the same lines as a cohort model where it would be a reduced cost for our Dartmouth Educators and it would be a hybrid model so that much of the work would be virtual uh but there would be some opportunities for some in-person kinds of uh experiences at brid or maybe even here in Dartmouth if we have a cohort that is uh is really made up of all Dartmouth Educators so we're really excited about that I'll mention to you that our school has earned the college board's AP Computer Science female diversity award and what that means is we've expanded young women women's access to AP Computer Science principles and that this is uh this is something that is is um something to be commended here in Dartmouth because our school is one of 847 schools to achieve this accomplishment and so we're excited about again when you think about some of the work that's happening here in computer science and through the work Mr parate and others are doing they're offering lots of opportunities for you saw the number of of young women that were here tonight talking about their experiences in uh TV and production and so that is exciting for us uh you heard uh Mr Kylie talk about the budget already I'll mention as far as uh HR is concerned and I know the Here I Am the broken record but we are seeking special Educators um both at Dartmouth High school and the middle school and those job ads are out and we're hoping that we get a qualified candidate pool again a great place to come and work and we want to just promote ourselves as much as possible so we can attract talent to the district we are in the process of interviewing for the Quinn and parter School principal ships I thank Mrs Pavo and the team that she's put together uh to lead this process uh this has consisted of a screening team made up of various stakeholders and really representative of the school district I thank the committee members who have been willing to step in and sit on one of those panels um I also Shar that our associate principal Rachel chavier has taken a job in a neighboring POS neighboring District I was certainly sad to see her go and at the same time you have probably noticed that we did put out a job ad and much like the processes processes that we're using to select principles our director of Early Childhood um that will also be extended to any really administrative position in the school district so we'll update you as that goes along on and again come to you and ask you to be part of that process it's such an important position um monitor substitute teachers you know I always have to talk about it um because even even today and in talking to Mr Shay about a position he needs to fill he said oh I you know I I thought I was at the point where I could say I have a full staff and I think what we've ackn what we all need to acknowledge is there really doesn't seem to be a time where we can actually ever say that and so we're constantly in the process process of hiring the right people for the right positions for the school district um as I said Jim already updated you on some of the other ongoing work um I am going to just take a moment to talk about uh you know there have been a couple of events I'm going to call them in the Dartmouth Public Schools over the past couple of weeks um and what I think is important for us to focus on is really the district focus on safety respect and responsibility in our schools and these recent events have shown us how vital it is that we all work together for to create safe and supportive environments where all our students and Staff feel safe and supported um we hold high expectations for our schools and these expectations are rooted in our shared values of respect inclusivity responsibility it's important that everyone students staff families and community members play a part in up holding these standards so that our schools remain places where everyone can Thrive um I want to acknowledge the successful relocation um of our Quinn school students and staff to the middle school that just happened it seems like you know it was months ago but really it was just a short time ago uh that process went incredibly smoothly and thanks to that was thanks to the hard work and planning of our staff at both the Quinn and the middle school and you could see really clearly how teamwork comes into play and that the relationship folks have built between throughout this school Community becomes so important in that wasn't a safety crisis but it could have been had not been for the response of the the effective response of all the adults uh that were involved and and there were lots of people involved I hear uh Mr Kylie talk about I think he said he had 44 phone calls 42 42 I was close um I had number as well we were both working different angles and then we had our staff on the ground uh doing the the real uh you know actual relocating of over 700 students so I thank everybody that was involved to make that transition I I would say as seamless as it could possibly go and I thank our parents and the community for responding so positively to us um I also think it's important that we highlight the positive experience positive experiences that we want for our student athletes and for our Spectators uh Athletics bring our community together and our sporting event should reflect the best of who we are I've always felt that way in Dartmouth I continue to feel that way there such a source of that's such a source of Pride um and so we remind people that whether you're competing you're cheering from the sidelines you're working behind the scenes so many folks are in involved we all have a role in making sure that these moments are fun they are competitive they're respectful and memorable in really uh special ways for our student athletes and for our community at large um when challenges come up we certainly take them seriously we act quickly we follow established safety protocols and we work closely with our partners uh D like the Dartmouth Police Department and it's all about ensuring the safety of all of our students our staff and our school community and I thank our staff and law enforcement for their dedication and professionalism in these efforts uh we're all here every one of us because we care about our students we want them to succeed and as a district we're committed to supporting our kids and our families with clear communication with resources and opportunities um and I think it's important to mention that the trust that we build in our community with our families and in our community in general we really lean into that trust and when there are challenges we lean into the trust that we've built in the community that they know that we're responding effectively and in the best interest of of their children and staff so we've had some I would say challenging uh events and at the same time I can't thank the staff this the team here enough for coming together including our commit our school committee um you know us being able to pick up the phone send you an email let you know what's going on knowing that we have your support out there and that you're doing what you can to communicate uh what's happening behind the scenes and so I just want to want to thank everyone honestly I've said this to the the district leadership team and to teachers when I can it's when challenging times come up that you see the strength of a team and that is what I am really fortunate to be able to say as superintendent that I felt like I had a team of very effective folks around us to uh sort of Shepherd us through those events and and I thank again I thank the community for that so I just wanted to say that and you know I'm excited about the rest of this Sports season the girls basketball team I was reading in the Monday minute this morning that I think they're ranked third in the state um that is something really that we need to continue to celebrate and we have other athletic uh teams doing really well too and we are very proud of our athletes and we're proud of our community and that's what we want to keep our focus on so thank you thank you Dr Sab oh can I just mention one more thing I'm sorry um we're going to put out our first ever Dartmouth staff newsletter um I don't think we've n we've come up with a name yet I want to call it the Dartmouth Compass but I think we're both we're still working through it and that's a staff a newsletter that will be put out quarterly by the district leadership team highlighting some of the work that is going on across the district and at our next school committee meeting just before we'll have a reception for our first ever um Green Apple award recipients and we'll talk about what that is so we somebody has a green oh Mr G actually has a green apple and we'll talk about that at the next committee meeting meeting but we're excited about that and that's a part of our family and Community engagement and safe and supportive School uh the work that we're doing to ensure that that is also uh of primary importance in our work so that's all thank you thank you and just piggy piggybacking off of that I have it here as a 5: PM uh ceremony before the next school committee meeting is that correct 5:15 we will have a reception we'll have some um Refreshments we've invited those folks that were recognized here with their families uh we'll award them an actual green apple uh not an edible one and then we also will ask them to come just to the beginning of the committee um meeting so that you will'll have certificates for you to be able to present to them fabulous fabulous yeah thank you very much for your report any questions oh just one quick comment if I can Mr uh chairman just through you to and really to everyone is you know we've done a the district has done a lot of work on a lot of these internal policies when situations arise and such and U they work there is no doubt in my mind that they work and I know a few years ago that you know there were other schools that wanted to you know can we borrow you policy you know modify it to what we need they need a type of deal but they just love the policies that we've you know the the administrators and central office have put into place so I'm glad to see that you know on they work no 100% agreed not only as a school Committee Member but as a resident of this town I'm proud of the the actions and in the work of uh this faculty and staff here in the Dartmouth Public Schools under your under your leadership Dr Sab Maguire um I really don't have much I'm I'm just going to kind of just share my own thoughts and my own recommendations uh under for sporting events um I think we have a fabulous athletic Community here uh students uh we have a high participation rate and you know I would just ask the community uh The Spectators out there to just um you know enjoy the enjoy the game for what it is high school sports I know everyone gets excited I remember those days um but just try to keep it into perspective of that these are high school students and the refs are or the umpires they're they're not always perfect but they do their best and they you know they they do their diligence to uh have Fair calls and um please leave it to the officials as well as to the high school the the staff the athletic directors the coaches um to take care of their teams um and just keep your comments uh to yourselves yeah so that's that's all I have um did you listen to Wei this on your way in I didn't no because they would more so because of the the football games this uh yesterday type of deal yes but there was conversations about officiating in high school and college and even down into like little league and that type of deal you know the issues so thank you lot I'll have to see if I can catch that pick up the podcast anything else for the greater good I could Yeah couple of quick things Mr chairman uh and I know it's it's old hat now but it was back in December I had the uh distinct privilege of being here for the uh John and Abigail Adams Awards uh back in December type of deal and uh you know breakfast and I helped uh Mr Shay and miss shavia hand out the uh certificates and that and it was funny going back to I know Mr Sheridan was here at the last meeting and talking about the meals and everything else and the parents were just Overjoyed I mean you know they were expecting breakfast and expecting you know muffins and that type and it was scrambled eggs bacon home fries sausage it was you know Juice Plus stain is it was delicious it really really was they they outdid themselves so I just but again more so congratulations to the students and the parents for those Awards it was nice you know nice to see thank you for representing the committee no problem call being retired and do these things sometimes uh our indoor programs are in the band are going uh our kot had a uh critique performance this past weekend which they they did well at uh we have three home shows coming up uh I don't have much in details type of deal I just know they're March 1st March 8th and then nesba finals for percussion on April 5th so I'll get more information and I will uh bring out for uh trophy presenters that I need you know with times and and everything else and uh last but certainly not least uh our athletic trainer Kathy thoron has one MIAA trainer of the Year type of deal and such so maybe we can have her at our meeting I I was just talking to the superintendent about yes we can certainly do that next time have to add I'll take for responsibility for that I'll drop that ball I we you know she was here earlier yeah she was here at the game yes absolutely you know but you know that that type of deal ABS well welld deserved award she is very well respected and uh you know loved by the students and and the interaction that she has with the students is is second to none and you know very calm demeanor so it's great just congratulations to her no we'll set something up okay thank you that's all I have thank you uh anything else all right next regularly scheduled meeting of the Dartmouth school committee is Monday February 10th y uh 600 PM uh with a 515 U you know reception this time chair will entertain a motion to adjourn so moved second motion by Mr noon second by Mrs ameral on the motion any other discussion J Herring n all in favor I I oppose meeting is adjourned have a good night everyone you too you [Music] too for

on the day of your board meeting that the board minutes go on the gboe website so that those of us who are visual Learners and would like to see the board minutes in print and cannot do so unless you look over somebody's back who you're sitting behind that those minutes go onto the website live so that people in attendance in the audience can read along and follow them just a suggestion I've never seen it ever before but I have never and I have been to I don't know how many hundred board meetings those who know me know why I was at the board meetings I am a taxpayer here I'm also a former employee as probably you are aware um I like to follow along and I think it's a cheap free way to present the minutes to the public so that they can follow along or put them up on the screen but I would love to just see them on the gboe website not after the meeting when they're legally allowed to go up I know you can't share prior but at 11:00 that's just my thought and one last thing Kathy we haven't seen each other in 5 years congratulations I'm so happy for you hi my name is Lorissa Assan I live at 27 Garden Court um uh I'll make this quick because it's after 11: first I just want to give another round of applause for all these students that stay stayed here this late to speak to themselves and the staff um in uh at any given point in the last uh over 10 years I've had at least one student in this District um you might be new here but I'm not I know a lot of faces in this room because they've all contributed to the success of my children uh not once have I seen the staff and the fam's disrespected and disregarded the way this board and superintendent has done especially with this insurance um I am a healthc care professional and I know what happens when you give people subpart insurance and why you can sit here and say it you can sit here and say it's the same and make a face whatever it's not the same and I think I know more about it than you do so you know it you were elected to represent the best interest of the people in this town so do the thing you were elected to do just quickly to the chair uh Edna is also in that state health benefits program it's not subpar just to be very clear again we're going to talk about the changes regardless you can say whatever you like it's private it's it's private coming now however regardless it is not subpar thank you it is not so part hello my name is Arin barisha of 163 Ben Winkle Avenue okay I am alumni of Garfield High School I am also someone who works in healthcare and I'm a business owner in Garfield for someone who works in healthcare I know all insurance plans are not created equal for example Blue Cross Blue Shield that they have right now adds a$0 co-pay to five-star facilities can you in good faith say Etna would do the same or has the same agreement with most facilities because I can assure you that they do not there's also the issue of Prior authorizations going through look insurances answer at different speeds I like working with Blue Cross Blue Shield when I work with patients because they get back to me quick within seconds they'll send me whether it's denied or approved what medication they have to try before they can get the one that the doctor prescribed the truth is not all health care plans are created equal but changing their health care plan literally puts them at a loss cuz now not only do they risk losing their pcps their Healthcare home the people that who handle all their medical documents and who have handled all their medical documents up until now they also risk losing the Specialists that are close to them by changing insurances not only are you messing up their Whole Health Care right now their whole medical record you are also putting them un under undue stress and that does not equal Good Health Care uh outcomes [Applause] Nancy Cuts up 484 of ambum Avenue uh I didn't use all my five minutes Dr TOMCO said he answered everybody's questions he did not answer mine get up more than okay I asked about serving our exceptional students have we tried the dual enrollment program with Bergen to get the chemistry teachers that was one yeah you didn't but that I want to know have we reached out to Bergen to get the chemistry teachers these kids are our honor students and what does it do with their applications to college this you know I have a family member who works at e-learning so I know quality e-learning can happen but in this case it's not it's very critical and are we trying to push kids to go to other high schools other than Garfield High School because we have had things on bulletin boards showing them how to apply even to private schools I'm not talking theems I'm talking to sending the kids there I also asked you if I'm going to get a notice from Etna telling me I'm moved and then I got to move again because you said you could go go back to it I'm already retired I'm in a program I'm hoping that's not what's going to happen am I going to stay status quo answer the questions [Applause] yeah I I no what I see if if the if the guidelines would have been read you would we didn't estimate this number of people ladies and gentlemen these are not guidelines that were enacted for this meeting they've been in effect for years so these are not something that's used to sabotage public comment again we encourage public comment but unfortunately we need to follow rules and guidelines so we have the for throughout the course to some type of for so sir I know that you spoke before Miss cutp had an unanswered question allowed her to finish her time period it's allowed one time that is all that is allowed you're allowed to come up once you're not allowed to come up again and speak again heul good evening my name is Stacy DeVito and my husband Jeff and I have proudly taught our students in Garfield have worked as teachers for Garfield board of education for the past 27 and 28 years we have put our time and effort into our students who are here tonight thank you for supporting us not only in the classroom but on fields and courts summer school enrichment programs esy after school events and programs and fundraising as so many of us in this room and District do we have taught countless students Mr Gaba I have had your son Alvin Mr Taylor I have had your son Daniel still here and we have formed many friendships with our colleagues throughout the district through these relationships we know that ours is not the only story and many in our district have similar stories and I'm sorry I'm getting emotional unfortunately everyone has their own cross to bear whether it be an illness ourselves a spouse child needed therapy addiction fertility treatments or life and death emergency situations I could go on but the one constant that we have always had is that Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield has always taken away the worry from astronomical bills unknown loopholes in the billing system which atna is Infamous for denial of services which they're also infamous for and they have provided us with nothing but Professional Care when going through a traumatic time in life please remember that our story is one of many within this room and district there how many staff members are here staff and faculty are part of the district 1500 that are being affected it's less than that okay well there's a lot uhhuh agree there are many families in this district and there are plenty of these stories sitting right behind me our youngest son jack was born with congenital heart disease and in his 15 years where he thankfully has lived a very normal life he has had four open heart surgeries with another one in the near future to replace his child-sized metal oil alloy mitro valve to an adult-sized valve he has had 13 other surgeries such as catherization stenting ballooning pacemaker input pacemaker battery change Pac maker removal twice after a terrible infection began to creep through his body and rebuilding of his pector

[Music] hello I'm Jack Patrick Lewis state representative here in Ashland also one of the state in Framingham and welcome to Beacon Hill briefings today this show is also being recorded for wca's podcasts so it's also available if you want a break from looking at our faces on video uh this audio podcast is available on Spotify YouTube and waca TV radio today I'm being joined by one of my colleagues in the legislature uh representative Brian Murray Brian thank you so much for joining us thank you Jack it's nice to be here again it's great to have you you reminded me that uh I had you on the show before the pandemic uh I guess it was I mean so much of our life revolves around covid preco that type of thing but yes I was here uh the studio looked a little bit differently so you've made some upgrades for my return the studio has changed but you and I haven't aged a day uh I won't go back to to verify that you and I came in actually the same day to the legislature uh we're just finishing up our fourth term our 8 years uh By the time this airs I'll be able to say congratulations on your re-election uh and we'll be starting our fifth term together January 1st looking back what are you most proud of over the last eight years serving the legislature other than the great opportunity to serve with me yeah um yeah it's interesting when you think about that and and try to be retrospective I mean I've certainly enjoyed the job uh coming into it um you know there were a lot of things I really didn't know what to expect to be honest with you my background was primarily on the municipal end of things I went into the State House very very infrequently um so so that was was kind of a whole exposure but I think and you know I think we've all been involved in in bills significant or insignificant but I I got to tell you the thing that really I get the most satisfaction out of and it's helping constituents and you know we've got we go through the same thing uh during covid primarily uh the unemployment claims with through the roof and during those times people uh their their their very livelihoods are at stake and everything seems so hopeless they can't get in touch with anyone to try to deal with state agencies is horrible and um it's it's very gratifying and has been I think to help these people and some of the email responses that you get the the the thanks that you get you know that that you know that you've truly made a difference whether it's dealing with you know do the RMV um Dua I mean you know just just pick one um that that to me really daytoday has been the most satisfying part of the work so if somebody lives in Milford Hopedale or menen yes I get the communities right yes you're their state route that's correct and if they have any issues with anything remotely connected to the state reach out to you uh and I always joke that there's no magic wand in our desk drawer but most of the time if folks are you know entitled to certain benefits if if they've lost their jobs or are struggling with something related to Mass health we can make sure they they get a phone call that somebody gets back to them uh it's unfortunate sometimes that legislators have to intervene to get people the the support they need uh but I know your office all of our offices are always willing willing to do that yeah and you know that guidance even you know supersedes that I mean recently one of my Town's Highway surveyors you know wanted uh wanted some direction on how to do a truck exclusion on a roadway so I mean I've had familiarity with that so I was able to send off the process and outline it for for him and and it just continues like that so so yes you do the personal benefit to the actual personal constituent but to the municipalities there there's a lot of guidance that's given as well and then there are those requests that we never would would have imagined on the campaign trail that we would have received uh where even when we check in with colleagues people maybe don't have an experience with such a request but you lean on each other you reach out to the appropriate agencies uh and you you get an answer uh and I think you like most of us are willing to acknowledge what you know and the areas where we could always learn more oh absolutely and you know that that's been probably you know a differentiating part of the job as well um because coming uh as an attorney and you know I've been in private practice for 37 years but also from the missile background things are are fairly straightforward most of the time now in this particular job you know you really have to know a little bit about a lot if if if that makes sense the the the breath of issues that we get presented with sometime even shock me it's like my goodness I I I don't know anything about this you know so so so that's kind of been been an eyeopener as well and then of course we get the things where we can do absolutely nothing about they want us to vote something in Congress and I have to get back to them and say I I don't go to Congress uh that's someone else um so so so you deal with that also yes and then there are the requests that don't we can't directly do something but uh if it's a local issue be put in touch with a city councelor a select board member uh if it's a passport issue or or um an immigration issue the the Congressional team or one of the US US senators uh can can take the lead on that and I I always joke that when I wake up and roll out of bed as I walk to the coffee machine I start checking emails like 5:30 in the morning and I I can never anticipate what the email is going to be because every day is a little different absolutely uh and every day there are emails that come through asking or advocating for things that the 6,000 emails that came before them didn't even get close to uh and it keeps us on our toes you served you mentioned in local government beforehand what were you what did you do uh locally before um I was first elected to the Milford school committee in 1989 okay I served there until 2001 and at that point I moved to the select board uh I had just gotten reelected in April of 2016 when the prior state representative announced that he was not going to be running again so the time frame you know we have to get our signatures in by April 30th so that gave me about three weeks to decide number one do I want to do this thing and number two how do I do this thing so um I jumped right into that and you know we got elected in 2016 um I resigned I stayed on as select uh as a select board member uh until the next annual election which was April so when we were sworn in January of 17 I was doing double duty just until April um and now you know I've closed my private practice and I have a uh part-time appointment as Town Council for the town of Milford so that's been a new and interesting experience for me as well I'm always curious uh colleagues who come in and they've been on the school committee or select board so they're used to being one of five or one of eight or somewhere around there and then all of a sudden they're one of 160 in the house one of 200 in the Massachusetts legislature and they're the newest uh person and watching folks no matter what their background is sort of come to terms with there are similarities and it is a very different animal at the same time it really is and I remember John Fernandes the the the the prior representative who was a good friend of mine and we served on the school committee together we talked about this he said this is a totally different job and you know I just echoed that uh a couple of months ago dealing with an issue with the RMV and what they're trying to do to commercial driver's license which caused me to file a bill um and and and I just said it again you know this job is so different from serving on the municipalities because like you say when you're on aard our select board is three members so you know if something needs to get done you can probably put it together pretty easily in in our job now there's a vast sea of stakeholders both elected and unelected and each one has particular ideas opinion input Etc and a lot of that has to be weaved through uh dealt with uh to really try to make progress particularly on a bill but even if you're trying to facilitate something as well I uh we sometimes hear complaints that and it's hard I'll only speak for myself and not not put words in your mouth but that somehow the legislature moves too slowly but it also doesn't compromise enough and that we need greater diversity of voices but we also need to move faster and it's to pass something in the house as as this is the case in every state a bill has to pass the house and the senate in ident language and has to be signed by the governor and then potentially you know overriding uh the governor's veto that takes time uh and even though there are a lot more Democrats than Republicans we have conservative Democrats we have Progressive Republic we have a a variety of colleagues who all do their best to represent their districts and Menan is very different than Ashland which is very different than Arlington uh but at the end of the day we need to get a majority in the house and the Senate to agree to something and then the governor to also agree to it and so to do things right to truly compromise sometimes the final product isn't something where I agree with 100% of what's in there and sometimes it just takes more time than those of us who who want great change oh I know and that's you know I mean you just basically outline the Democratic process yes and and and that's what we operate under and you know I deal with it and I'm sure you do too to constituents who feel very strongly about a particular issue are absolutely certain that this is the way to go it needs to be done no one in fact would disagree with them and then when I meet with those folks and I explain to them um we have a democratic process we have public hearings stakeholders from all areas in this particular uh uh point that you're talking about have opinions ideas and and and need to be part of the conversation so you think that this is a great Bill and it certainly may be but someone who doesn't would say X Y and Z and that needs to be wound into the process and sometimes it it takes people back a little bit like oh okay yeah well all right I can see that I said so then meanwhile that has to weave through the process that you've just outlined in terms of the public committee uh the public hearing rather at the committee level uh probably multiple committees um and and then you know a full house senate and Governor so so yeah that that's the process we operate under but you know as I outline it to folks it's like you feel a certain a certain way about something and that's fine there are other people who feel differently these are their reasons This Is What comes forth and I found when you give people information um when you give them um some some beef to to to the issue uh there they're definitely more understanding of it I uh I think the other thing that I'd like to reflect on with constituents uh is around the end of the legislative process like at the end of the day we have a bill before us and and if the bill came from conference committee there's nothing we can do to amend it it is literally an up or down vote and as legislators I just came off of a campaign myself some of the things that were used against me were pieces of bills that I never agreed with but at the end of the day if 95% of what I'm fighting for makes it into a bill uh and 5% is something I disagree with that's an a uh and that's a really good day as a legislator uh and so it's just it's so interesting trying to to balance the reality of how a bill actually becomes a law if we were more creative and had great voices we could record a Schoolhouse Rock video about how it actually works uh but at the end of the day we're going to vote on things and uh we're going to have a record that's peppered with things that we 100% support and they're going to be I I point to almost every single Bill we've passed sentences or paragraphs where you know if I had the magic wand and I was a constituent of one and the the the the sole voice maybe I would do it differently but to your point for every email we get in favor of something we often get an email and opposition uh at the end of the day we have to vote and every time we take a vote it makes one group of people very happy and another group of people very angry and most of the time a much larger group of people who are just maybe not aware uh because media doesn't cover most of what we do uh I was going to ask you your favorite part in your District but I think that's unfair because you love all of your communities the same you love all of the businesses in your communities the same uh but I will admit I almost only go to your District to go to the men and Drive-In uh and I remember learning like not only that Menon was near Milford uh but every time my family goes down and spends money at the drive-in it feels like we're going back in time to the 50s but it also feels good because I can I can drop some money uh in your District yeah no a great attraction the men and driving it's been around oh gosh I mean I grew up in Milford it's been around as long as I can remember I mean I remember going there when I was in high school with my friends and a and a date and back then um you don't you're too young but but you had the big gray metal speaker which was hanging on a post and you had to take it and put your window up because you rolled your window and and this this metal thing kind of hung on your window and and that's the sound that you got you know from from the drive-in so you know that business has persevered it's changed it's adapted over time and uh it's still an attraction and there aren't many drive-ins uh left certainly in the Commonwealth so it's really nice to have that in the district and to have it down the road from where you live and even for me I yeah 35 minutes to go to the drive-in we can do it and growing up in the 80s in Ohio my first drive-in experiences were the thing in the window oh okay so you I miss it because you know every time you go to drivein somebody's car you know you have to leave the radio going and somebody's car needs to be jumped and the great folks that men and Drive-In come out and they they uh they'll help you get underway uh but if I were you I'd probably never leave the drive-in and not accomplish as much as much as you have uh you've been legislature for eight years you currently serve as the uh Vice chair of the the house Vice chair on The Joint Committee of Transportation uh and then you also serve on ways and means uh healthare Finance there's a couple more but I'll just say for your constituents who are listening who maybe those those committees don't mean as much as as to some as they would to others you're a vice chair and you also serve on probably the most important committees that you could Ways and Means and Healthcare Finance uh can you tell us a little bit about what it means to serve on those committees uh but also to be the vice chair of Transportation yeah so um um I didn't realize that during our first term and and if you remember we had some reps that came in midterm or something and I got the call from leadership and they said you know we have to take you off one of these committees because you know you you're on more committees than anybody and at that point I was on global warming uh house ways and means general Ways and Means uh Revenue I didn't even know so I said fine you know whatever you want to do is fine um this this particular session um I I've enjoyed it a lot lot you know being a vice chair on Transportation um I've really found that it's the type of thing that has issues that I can relate to it it really deals with practical problems um practical problems that really need short-term and long-term attention um I've been fortunate to serve under an excellent chairman uh Bill Strauss out of matap poet who oh my gosh and and I know I'll get this wrong but I think he's been chair for over 25 years I I know been in the in the state house for a number of years so uh he's not running again um we're going to be losing a wealth of information and experience uh from chair Strauss but um I I I have benefited certainly from from his leadership uh developed contacts with the MBTA uh Mass Highway um the registry of motor vehicles um had a tremendous learning experience in terms of how those entities operate the issues that they have uh I'm still member of as you indicated The Joint Committee on healthc care financing which has handled all of the major legislation dealing with the healthc care industry uh which you know is facing some serious serious issues even beyond the Stewart Hospital uh private Equity Fiasco um there are a number of bills that are pending right now House and Senate versions dealing with the prescription drugs um um Healthcare uh Healthcare reform that uh hopefully we'll get resolution on before the term ends because it is important legislation I also serve on the economic development and emerging Technologies committee which I've had since uh since the start uh that's a great committee I really enjoy that as well again some of the issues that we deal with in terms of um the life sciences industry and and other uh new industries that that have issues and are looking for for assistance and Aid that legislation has been very very interesting to me so I mean I've enjoyed the committee work um I always make it a point to attend the public hearings um you know we all have different obligations and and it's and it's tough to make those but I find that you really learn a lot being at the public hearings and listening to the legislation that gets presented so every bill that's filed uh and for folks tuning in if a bill is filed by a certain day in a session it's guaranteed a hearing and a hearing means that anyone in the Commonwealth can come into the room or come in virtually to speak for typically it's three minutes but sometimes if it's like a 12-h hour hearing they'll limit it to two minutes and so residents have that ability to do that on any bill they want and every Bill no matter the topic has an opportunity for a public hearing which is something I don't think we talk about enough uh the legislative process can be a complicated one but it is very clear and I think there's a lot of transparency about you know bills are filed bills get a hearing folks know the role they can play and of course at any time folks can reach out to their State Rep or state senator to advocate for a bill uh but each bill is assigned to a committee based on its topic and then that committee makes the decision of if it moves forward uh looking back over the last how has it been eight years but somehow eight years uh both of us in the legislature what are some of the the bills that stand out that you're most proud of passing I I don't know that's that's tough to gauge I mean certainly we've had some major legislation on some of the bills that I've sponsored I mean most recently I mean in the um long-term care bill I was able to get the uh certified medical AIDS uh bill in as an amendment on that that came to me from the uh nursing home industry um essentially dealing with Workforce shortages particularly in the nursing area so the idea is to have these certified medication AIDs that can administer medication to to to the patients to the residents um and kind of um offset a little bit of the responsibility of of nurses um and and and kind of get maybe more bang for their buck in terms of the workforce so so so that was was nice to get in there um you know in terms of the veterans context uh under the medal of Liberty I I was able to get um the law passed so that the medal of Liberty is not only given to family members of veterans who were killed in action but also veterans who died in training exercises so often times you you read about Unfortunate Events where a marine uh stat side uh training um may have lost his life in a helicopter crash or or whatever it is uh at that point they had not been eligible for the medal but um I I didn't think that that was fair and a lot of folks didn't as well so that that was um very gratifying in the sense I got to work alongside with the National Guard the agitant general and his staff and um at that time Governor Baker was was in place uh he came up with the medal of fidelity so it it that was quite a process and and that was nice to get in as well each of those bills were important folks had worked on them you invested more time than I think folks realized to get them across the Finish Line I doubt any of them made it to the front page of the Milford paper and so I think that's one of the things too that takes him getting used to with his job that we can inv invest eight years of our time focusing on an issue that's helping countless folks but it's hard to put what you just said in a social media post uh like you can try and you do we all do but it doesn't have the same uh connection to folks in the same way that an old-fashioned newspaper headline would uh and because now we pass fewer small bills and now more larger bills that have bills contained within them uh which I think is efficient and you know people need to I think media needs to collectively take a deep breath and realize that one bill that's 500 pages can actually have way more in it than 20 bills that are only a page each uh but it's then hard to show hey look this is this whole page of this bill is something I've worked on uh because there are 500 pages of other things that other folks have worked on uh but I think your focus on your community uh veterans the the workforce shortage has not gone unnoticed uh in the legislature and we're not done yet uh we still have three more months at the point of filming here yes uh we're going to get some more things across the Finish Line uh and you have an election running un opposed so congratulations thank you January 1st you and I will be sworn in for our fifth term uh and immediately we then have to file bills uh for the new two-year term tell us a little bit about what you're working on and what you think you might want to focus on yeah so so I think uh and and you know as well certainly after the election but you know before like you indicated New Year's Day that holiday time period That's traditionally been the area the time period where I've kind of thought about things and kind kind of um re-evaluated what what I do have in on the table that you know may not have passed so that'll be the first thing that I'm looking at there are a couple of bills that you know I feel um strongly about but I've got to talk to The Advocates to see if they want to go forward on them um so so the first thing I think we kind of do at least I do and I'm sure you do as well kind of evaluate what we what we have out there outstanding and then going forward you know what what needs to be uh addressed that that that's approached towards so I mean I actually have a couple of Transportation bills that I've been working with the the chairman on and the staff um to try to maintain some continuity on the committee um in terms of going forward for for bills that got passed uh but got submitted but not passed but are definitely going to come back next session um so I'll be looking to handle a couple of those um I just talked to one of The Advocates that deal with the U elder law attorneys um they have a couple of bills that they're looking at in terms of durable power of attorneys and and and those types of things that the gravitation I guess and and I think this has just happened organically but I guess the gravitation that I have to these more technical bills that are very very important to a segment of people but they're very very difficult to to try to explain um broadly and it's not the the the climate bill you know what I mean but you know a particular bill I have is how Mass health prices a life estate for a family that has someone in long-term care it's a huge issue in that field um so so I guess I've kind of gravitated to that area and it's those kinds of bills that that I look at what one of the other bills that I was lucky to get passed through the housing Bond bill was uh a very very um important bill in terms of simplifying how to get real estate out of the registered land section of the registry again this is not glamorous stuff uh but it's highly Technical and I was able to to work with the real estate ba and also the house Judiciary Committee which you know CH day is excellent his staff is excellent and and and we got that passed um so very very important to the real estate community so so I I guess like I said Jack I mean I haven't really thought about it but it seems like those are the kind of ones that I gravitate toward it that it makes sense and you've had success uh so it makes sense to continue continue down that road uh our time has gone by very quickly uh and in closing looking back over the last eight years just curious is there anything you wish you would have known in the beginning any decision you made that you wish in hindsight you could have done differently uh regrets we've all had a few uh well I think back on I didn't even know how to get in the building you know when I first got elected I hadn't been in the state house so long but I mean I think you understand because you're in a decision-making uh uh position as as as I am and you know I think everything we do is evaluative you know um so everything that we make motion on you know similar situations arise later on and I think we look back and evaluate what we've done well let me see I did this that way I did that I talked to this one did let me let you know I should be doing this so you know I don't know that it's anything that's that Stark that black and white but it's all an evaluation process of what I have done or what we have done and as we go forward how we can perfect uh what we've done I good advice to be reminded of uh as one of your colleagues as well uh oh since I asked you the question I'll I'll I'll answer it as well just to be fair I think when you come in you don't necessarily you don't know most of your colleagues uh and we all have did other things beforehand but no system is quite like the state house and you quickly realize that nothing happens in a vacuum nothing happens alone it's not great speeches or tweets or social media post uh it's not praise from a loud group of people that gets anything accomplished it's relationships and collaboration and you a lot of compromise as well uh and I for one wish I would have learned that earlier uh because you come in you're excited you come off the campaign Trail and you then have to quickly realize that there were people who were doing doing this work before you and after you and I are put out to pasture there will still be people continuing to do this work uh and I like to think now we play a role for the time we have uh to advance it as far down the field as as we can uh but you know bringing some humility into the job I think goes a long way and acknowledging that some of the stuff we spend a lot of time working on is dismissed by a lot as minutia or behind the scenes but it it changes lives uh and until you need government to play a role a very specific role in your life maybe you don't think about what what it means to have a family member on Mass health who is going into long-term care uh Brian it is an honor to serve with you to have been sworn in with you eight years ago uh to be a Metro West rep with you uh I'll keep going down to your District I'll try to spend more money in some of the other parts not just not just Menan uh but thank you so much again for making the time to come to Ashland to come on the show uh to share with my constituents and the greater region uh the great work you're doing great thank you enjoyed it as always for those tuning in at home uh until next time

[Music] hello I'm Jack Patrick Lewis state representative here in Ashland also one of the state reps in Framingham and welcome today to Beacon Hill briefings today this show is being recorded uh with waca TV and Ashland but also something new uh as a podcast uh that will be playing later on Spotify YouTube and waca TV so if you want to take a break from looking at my face or my wonderful guest today you can actually switch over away from the video and tune in on YouTube today my guest is uh one of my colleagues that I've served with for the last eight years in the legislature uh he predates me in the legislature by about a decade and a half uh Senator Jamie Eldridge thank you so much for joining me again jack thanks you thanks for having me on I know I've been on before thank you always for having me I appreciate it I'm grateful you made the trip from your District to be here uh last time we recorded we didn't have these podcast mics this is really nice it does feel really nice but admittedly I feel like Rush Limba or like Glenn Beck uh but I'm going to try to channel I don't know somebody other than a far right radio personality today say you're the opposite I I know I am true um I don't know who can I who can I Channel instead well we'll figure out somebody Howard Stern maybe no not Howard Stern we both need to keep our jobs uh Jamie has been in the legislature for 22 years yes uh serving in the house I believe for five years for six years six years okay you what are numbers among legislators uh six years and then has been serving in the Senate since then yes yes and we are both chairs of our Progressive caucuses we are which means we get to work together not just as Metro West legislators not just as friends who enjoy each other's company but also as Progressive leaders on Beacon Hill uh you represent more towns than I had the chance to remember this morning I know there's Marboro Harvard Berlin not Berlin not Berlin okay 12 communities Marboro Acton a boxboro Hudson Littleton mayard Stow Sudbury Wayland Harvard and Southboro yes that's right I was going to quiz you but I was afraid if you only could remember 11 then you know poor air I do it geographically east to west but yep so Senator eldrige you have served in the legislature now for 22 years eight of those as my colleague uh looking back though at those years other than you know the opportunity to to work with me as closely as we have what are some of the highlights that have stood out to you yes well I would would say that the Criminal Justice Reform package that we we voted for in 2018 that was something that was very meaningful not only because of the difference that it made that it was very comprehensive but also that it really was a very powerful Coalition and show the fact that people can organiz organize around a difficult issue and and make progress so I I know you and I have visited a fair amount of jails including MCA Framingham there's still a lot of work to be done but it was really a major reform so very proud of that I I would say the the student Opportunity Act uh you know we both represent uh at least one you know very very poor Community you Framingham me malro and really seeing the benefit that millions of more dollars has made uh to those communities and and a few others in my district uh and then I would say going way way back and part of my my memory goes back to a couple nights ago uh former uh representative Byron rushing was honored was the fight uh for marriage equality which began in my first first term uh and Byron rushing really LED that effort and got to just see his speech the other night at the ACLU dinner so that was very inspiring and that was an effort where we were against the odds and and were successful over about four years so I uh I don't know if I shared the story with you so when that ruling came down I was a student out in Utah at the University of Utah uh had just it was in the midst of my my first year of college uh had not come out yet fully to myself and certainly not to anyone else uh and I remember cuz I was I still am a political nerd watching CNN and then C-SPAN uh for the extended coverage uh learning that the Supreme Judicial Court had struck down the same-sex marriage ban in Massachusetts was huge and for the first time in my life I could imagine like living my authentic life truly uh and The Dominoes just started falling all of these uh barriers I thought were in front of me uh just started falling down and it was that moment where I said you I don't know where I'm going to go next but one day if I can make it to Massachusetts then maybe I can do even more of the things I've dreamed about but the the part that I want to share with you because you were around back then uh is I watched the cpan I watched the coverage from Utah and so I saw folks like yourself uh and David Linsky uh and uh Sarah Peak uh legislators that didn't have to make the right choice where society and thousands of years of tradition uh and and and forces against equality breathing down your necks you found a way uh to come together in the legislature to to collaborate to build alliances uh my husband works for the Unitarian Universalist Association which used to be just one door down from the state house that's where we would meet yes and so hearing them talk about this being the 20th anniversary and how proud they were to host that group of folks that didn't have a snow no Ball's chance in hell of being successful but were uh and so you know now that I'm married and have a couple kids and you know living the ideal dream uh on the best of days I say thank you uh and on the hardest days of being married and as a parent I I try to thank you uh but but in 22 deers you you've done a lot and I think your your highlights touch on how much this job requires that we uh are generalist in lots of things there are things that oh absolutely get your heart pumped that that get you out of bed in the morning but there are also things that just because of the nature of the job you have to work on uh things that maybe you aren't as passionate about as as other things uh I'm CU you don't get the headlines you don't get the headlines yes I think of the bill and appreciate in your in the chairmanship of the committee on the house side the bill to dedicate uh money uh raised from the rainy day fund to match federal funds that's going to make a tremendous difference for the whole state and it got very few headlines yes uh uh my my committee as a chairman had a bill this year and it was my first year as a chairman and uh we got the bill across the fish line the governor signed it but like a lot of what we do it is going to have a huge effect on the state and our families but print media being what it is right there weren't a lot of papers for it to be on the front page of and those papers that still exist uh covered it you know section e page 47 uh looking back though over the last 22 years are there things that have surprised you uh it's a weird job I I try to think of a more professional way to describe it but it's it's a job that requires that we H have an Eclectic uh interest and talent and a variety of different things and it means we work with people in various places in their lives uh anything that you're willing to share uh that that has surprised you over the last couple years well I think the mystery for me is that there are bills that you and I you know file and fight for every year and and then suddenly something happens or there's some sort of consensus and we make progress um I think of this year uh Universal School meals which I think was advocated for for about eight or nine years and suddenly it moves forward and makes a difference and then there are other bills where we work on them including dare I say the solar rooftop Bill and somehow it doesn't break through and and and the fact that you just have to keep advocating for every single Bill and they make a breakthrough and then we make a make a difference yep um and just the mystery of you know there's not even always a clear rational explanation for why that's the case and that's why we we do our jobs and keep advocating as somebody who inadvertently made international news when I tweeted about an effort to work with my kids Cub Scout Den on a state Dinosaur Project which overnight became like picked up by the Associated Press and CNN and if you Google my name in Russian script or or Chinese script like it's Jack in the D dinosaur uh not what I had intended to be the first line of my my future obituary uh but sometimes those things happened where yeah student State dinosaur Bill worked with 35,000 kids and teachers on a project yeah it was during the pandemic between the 70th and 75th hour of my work week you know I worked on this this project but other bills that I spend maybe 20 hours a week on right just right haven't got to Prime Time yet uh but but they'll they'll find their time uh yes yes exactly we're recording this in mid October the legislative calendar is not over no matter what such an important P point to make yep that we sometimes talk about end of July being the end of formal session which I will never talk about again because it has never been the true end of a session this year there were things that still needed to be finalized and um we're finalizing them so while the session is not over and we I think have two maybe three bills will be taking up in the next week or two huge bills that you've had your hands in uh and your fingerprints are all over in a good way uh looking back over the last 20 21 months what have we done so far that you're most proud of this session yeah and I think the important thing which I was talking to some constituents about the other day is that so many of the bills are part of bigger bills right so I talked about the universal School meals that was in the budget on the Criminal Justice Reform front the no cost calls that was all also in the budget um talking about you know our our session now is that I think we're days maybe hours away at least on the Senate side from passing the climate Bill uh so very proud of the climate Bill uh that we'll pass um and then the economic development bill which has literally dozens of bills in it I hope that some of them see the uh the the the end of the tunnel I I know that um on the Senate side on the Criminal Justice Reform front I've been very passionate about uh Senate President spilka's uh main priority the raised age bill for for juveniles so I hope that that can become become law but certainly the the gun the gun reform law which really you know keeps us at the Forefront of gun safety in in the country uh I don't think it's gotten as much attention I thought it would get more attention but uh that was something that I worked a bit on and uh really give a lot of credit to to rep uh rep day the the the chairman of Judiciary Committee that I co-chair so those were very very significant uh We've passed some major health care bills on long-term care maternal Health hopefully a couple more bills including around prescription drugs and uh and the issue that just directly affected my district the role of private equity in in in hospitals is what are my hospitals closed just a couple months ago the noova Valley Medical Center so so those are some of the things that I'm proud of or I think we are soon to be proud of uh the hopefully will pass into law I think uh what you said at the beginning there about yes it may appear that we've only passed X number of bills and and some print media love comparing that to previous years or comparing it to other states but like if if we pass 200 bills that are each 200 pages long as opposed to 500 pill bills that are all one page long like it for whatever reason our culture at legislature has moved in the direction of larger bills that address uh a topic one Topic in a very robust way and so contained within the safety law were many many bills that people filed including a bill I filed with David Linsky uh our bill is in the final bill I I'm not standing behind the governor when she's signing the the larger Bill I'm not getting the parchment delivered to me because it's not my bill it's not just my bill it's not just your bill the final product is something we have all worked on uh and it makes it hard because when you want to decorate your office with all the bills of yours the governor has signed and in my case uh maybe n of the 10 pieces of legislation I've prioritized successfully are contained within larger bills right right not as much to decorate the office with uh but luckily I think most of our constituents know that we don't do this work because we want to see our name on the top of something we don't need to see our name as nice as it is sometimes in the paper for good things uh but but there are still folks who haven't quite yeah realize that right exactly the critiques can be difficult because one wants to counter misinformation but uh you mentioned the Senate President who you've served with your entire time in the legislature yes yep I uh and I know she first got into politics running for school committee here in Ashland uh around the issue of Equitable education funding mure Ashland got his fair share of public uh public education funds and then has made that a key part of her mission on Beacon Hill and so you mentioned the student act which has helped all of our communities uh but also for her has been sort one of the many highlights of seeing her career over the years uh and working not only with Senators but working with house members as well to make sure that all the bills we craft that one in particular uh help all of our communities in ways that I think we won't know until our kids you know those of us with kids maybe if their kids have kids or their kids it mhm investing in people today we may we don't know when it'll bear fruit uh in a in a tangible way uh but you and I both you know our elders invested in our educations and we've turned out all right yes uh with any luck we can at least give that level of support to to this new generation and uh one day they'll they'll come for our jobs but one day we'll have to eventually reti soon not too soon no no yes retirement's too far away uh so you talked about uh criminal justice uh you talked about Progressive caucus uh you talked about uh an environmental Bill we've worked on together I know you're a co-chair of an environmental caucus as well right clean energy caucus yeah tell us more about that yeah that is you know I I will say that energy policy is very complicated I don't claim to be you know an expert on it but you know there is the need in my opinion to not only have the committee of telecommunications utilities and energy uh ay co-chaired by ref Jeff Roy and Senator Mike Barrett but I think there's a role of a caucus to to apply some pressure to do some advocacy um you know I'm I'm pleased that the bill that that we'll be voting on is is more comprehensive um and I think part of that is is a caucus weighing in to say you know we need a a strong strongest bill as possible I think also there's so much at the state Administration side uh doar dpu Mass clean energy center of implementing the bills we past you know we we passed these big bills especially around climate over the past five or six years but the implementation of it you know how do we make sure that more solar is built how do we reach our carbon emissions reductions goals of the of the road map uh law um how do we help our communities uh that want to do the right thing on climate action but they don't know how to access state grants they don't know how to to do their own actions to reduce their own carbon emissions so so I really see the caucus as sort of educational as well and we try try to bring in you know experts to talk about these things uh not to mention all the clean energy jobs many of which are are in in this area of of Metro West so so I see that the RO that is the role of the the caucus and uh you know similarly with the Criminal Justice Reform caucus as well are there so Progressive caucus Criminal Justice Reform caucus clean energy caucus are there any other caucuses that you're actively involved in that I there are some that that speak to the challenges of of some of the bigger issues that we both support is Medicare for all caucus still a real challenge of how do we move to making healthc care a right uh in the state versus health insurance as a right which is which is different uh and then interestingly uh because of a lot of the independent pharmacies in my district I am the relatively new chair of the pharmacy caucus yes you'll have to add me to that email list I'll happily join the pharmacy caucus uh which reminds me after these interviews I'm supposed to pick up prescriptions at uh at CBS So you you're in your District you're advocating for families and students and businesses in your District on Beacon Hill you're actively involved in these caucuses uh but the Senate President and your colleagues in the Senate have also appointed you to some serious leadership positions you're the chair of the uh joint committee on Judiciary yep yep uh and you're the Senate uh Vice chair of the joint committee on environment and natural resources that's right and then I think you're on four additional communities but right I'm proud of myself for remembering the other two uh tell me about those committees you're the chair of the one the vice chair of the other how many years have you been in those roles what what do you see your role as the committee chair being yeah yeah I am in my third term as the chair of the Judiciary which is uh relatively rare because it is a committee we have the most bills of any committee so we had 705 bills so over 10% of all the bills filed go through Judiciary and while certainly there's a lot of Criminal Justice Reform bills there was also you know Reproductive Rights government surveillance civil rights so the the the parentage ACT uh to to protect the rights of of all parents including those uh maybe that have kids through adoption or surrogacy uh that was a bill that went through our committee uh it's been filed I think this was the third term I think it was filed um but really didn't get a lot of momentum till this session so very proud that Governor Healey signed that into law um the bill around um government surveillance was was reported out is there's a lot of concern about facial surveillance uh the ability for police to use you know video cameras to to police people uh that's a bill that came out of committee it hasn't it hasn't passed into law yet uh and then uh fairly significant uh Bill around um coercive control of of okay there is different forms of abuse amongst Partners amongst part amongst couples including sort of psychological mental abuse and so that now is is a way for someone who's being victimized to get a to get a restraining order and that was a bill I worked very closely on with uh rep rep day uh to get that passed so that's that's Judiciary environment I would say was not as active though though one of my big bills is the plastic bag band bill that that that has passed the Senate uh we're getting ready for next session for the environmental Bond bill um that committee is chaired by Senator Rous on the Senate side uh so we're we're we're getting different ideas for the Environmental Bond Bill uh passed for that uh and then um I was a big fan uh big supporter of the legalization of cannabis so I do serve on the Cannabis committee lots of headlines around the Cannabis Control Commission and getting it fixed I don't know exactly the answer but I I am a little embarrassed at some of the problems with the commission so would love to work on that to see to get that fixed all right uh Judiciary is one of those committees that have on occasion the like 12-hour hearings right like the the room is full and people are sweating and emotions are high uh it you the 7 saying 700 bills I think just doesn't do it justice because so many of the bills that touch anyone's lives find a way it seems to go through Judiciary gun safety law in as well uh so we have as I mentioned a couple more months before the session ends yes we're not done yet uh lots more that will still be done we we by the time of this airs there may have been a vote or two already on uh some big Omnibus bills but you just alluded to preparing for next session uh what do you what does that look like uh and what are you hoping next session you might be able to to move further down the field yeah and a lot of it is looking at why certain bills haven't made progress so so last night I was at TS University with the uh tup pit program which is a program to uh provide a college degree to returning citizens people that were just recently released from prison um their focus and it's it's a difficult bill but it's ending life without parole so you know uh does it make sense uh no matter how horrific the crime is to say you will never have a chance even if you rehabil rehabilitate yourself to have even a chance to go before the Pearl Ward so a lot of conversations about bringing back the jobs not jails Coalition which was instrumental to passing the 2018 reform so you know the really difficult decisions that you and I have to make that are kind of behind the scenes is strategically what bills are possible to pass what are while while Noble bills while good bills are unlikely to pass and therefore should they be more narrowly focused um looking at bills including you know our solar rooftop bill you know should we make changes to that bill uh you know how do we make that a priority if we want to do that for next session and then also you know given that we passed some bills this session what then will be the topics for next year so if we're tackling healthc care this year does that mean that we won't be as focused on Healthcare uh we'll be more focused on the environment we'll be more focused on um you know aspects of um you know looking at uh you know small sport for small businesses supporting immigrants um who knows but looking at what you know what didn't work out and then and then trying to work with the coalitions that be successful next session but through it all we as a legislature know how to walk and chew gum and play on our phones and daydream and work uh all at the same time so I'm confident that we're going to continue doing that and uh I think for folks listening if there is an issue you're passionate about uh if I'm your State Rep you feel free to reach out to me uh if if Senator Eldridge is your state senator or whoever if Karen spil is your state senator uh reach out tell us about the issues that are important to you uh there is and this is the part that I I think some folks just don't realize there is an advocacy group for every imaginable issue multi advocacy groups multiple that don't always agree with each other which is why sometimes bills don't happen uh but that you whatever you're passionate about there are other people who are also passionate about it and if there are enough of you there's a good chance there's an organization there might even be paid staff there could be an attorney and a lobbyist whose job is to move forward on that issue and so my advice is yeah reach out to us let us know your interest but if you're passionate about women's Reproductive Rights like a handful of wonderful organizations absolutely yeah that know when things are starting to move and you don't have to follow the legislative calendar 100% of the time you can sign up for their email list follow them on social media and they'll tell you when we need to most hear from you uh exactly if we already agree with you it's easy it's like oh yes good I'm doing the right thing but and that's such an important point because I don't know about you but I get request from constituents saying can you please let me know when is it important point a way in I say well you really should join one of these groups because you and I don't really have you know the staff or the time to tell every single constituent what to do at a certain time but these groups uh do play that critical role and well it's you know we filed the bills and we work with colleagues to move them across the Finish Line nothing emerges or passes in isolation but we have Partnerships with the folks in the building outside the building most of the bills I'm most proud of and I'm most excited to file grow out of ideas the constituents shared with me they then took them to there's a 988 uh Suicide Hotline bill that the house passed and I'm cauly optimistic it'll get across the Finish Line this session uh but it literally was a constituent who worked for Metro or volunteered with Metro West Suicide Prevention read that another state had done this had a meeting they emailed me I said let's file it uh and then from then you know Ashland high school has implemented something similar and so now hopefully we'll get across the finish line and I can go back and point to all of these organizations and all these folks who have been helpful along the way uh that's just one that is really close to the finish line and hopefully by the time this airs uh we can delete that whole segment because it will have already happened yeah no I think what's really unique about being a state legislator is exactly that that point is that a constituent could have a great idea approach any legislature and often you know get filed and and pass fairly soon yeah and I think in government we are the last state legislators are the last sort of people as you move up to you know next would be somebody at congress with with a whole you much larger District you they go to a farmers market or or for you like getting ice cream or you post a lot of pictures of you supporting your District's restaurants but like folks can find us like they they if Saturday morning Ashlin Farmers Market there's a good chance I'm going to be there if they need to meet with us they shoot an email to our office they call there's an expectation that someone's going to get back with them when you move sort of up into sort of larger places in government most folks don't have the assumption that they're going to run into their Congress person every week at the farmers market or that there's a world where their Congress person's going to call them back on an issue or file a bill like it just gets so much harder and so for us I think sometimes it makes our jobs a little harder because MH you know after us you know we're the manager uh and somebody wants to speak to somebody you know yeah including local issues including local issues that's what's fascinating it's not just federal or or state it's often State local issues too and we're always very very eager and happy to connect them with our local city counselors or select board members uh and if they have a passport or an immigration issue we can connect them with uh our various uh Congress people uh that represent our districts uh Senator alge it is a great honor to have you again on the show I'm going to have to watch our previous interview to see how you've a we've both aged uh over the last couple years uh anything in closing uh you wanted to share that I didn't get to in my Marathon questioning of you yeah I mean I would say Obviously at this point uh please remember to vote in the elections very very critical and that um to sort of what we've been discussing over the past few minutes you know get involved get involved in your community serve on a committee uh you know get involved in a campaign uh Join one of these groups that we talked about that Advocates because if you're not uh part of the solution then you're part of the problem and if you're not at the table sometimes you're on the menu there's a lot of lot of those good phrases uh thank you so much everyone for tuning in again I am so grateful uh to having colleagues join me on the show uh the Partnerships we have uh locally and with other state leaders allow bills to pass uh and our our shared values to to move forward uh for those tuning in at home until next time [Music] y [Music]

a hockey night in Springfield tonight's matchup is between the 66 and one Islam Spartans and the 55 and four lllo Lions big game Big League game for the standings here Spartans coming off a dominant Victory 6-0 against Foxboro Kevin Baker with a hat trick Jack ruso with two and Tommy kley with one re with the shut out with 16 saves Spartan starting lineup Mason gaso and I believe it's I can't tell raso and Brewster out on defense sha MAA and Baker starting on the offense Lions win the draw dump it into the Spartan Zone Gro on it gr on the net the Brewster Brewster has it Gro is taken down a break Baker two on one Baker rushing Baker gets hooked up and gets the penalty draws it Owen Reed comes to the bench Kevin Baker holds it against the corner hit off the puck in the stoppage of play right out of the gate Spartan draw penalty [Music] SPS in the offensive zone M draa on the face off you delay a game here Puck goes around up the point kley hits it out of the play [Music] neutral onone face off should be in the zone but Reed arguing that to no use Puck one back to Brewster Brewster lets it trickle over a stick dumps it up the boards into the lion Zone around the Lion's net Rustico in Pursuit chipped out goes all the way down the ice go to Brewster Brewster's got time Brewster makes a move makes a man miss pass up to Rus has it gets hit off Pucket

simp [Music] to e [Music] good [Music] uhhuh [Music] for e e spee spe good evening thank you you all for coming for our January Family Academy um we're very appreciative for all those who are here in person and to those watching live stream uh we want to say thank you to our family resource tables who are here to um support our families special thank you to Family Services Catholic Charities and Source Hub all of which are here with resour to help you I just want you all to know that we also have um caregiver at the DAV available with notaries free of charge if anybody would like to take part in filling those out for your families our presenter tonight is ID Massachusetts immigrant and Refugee advocacy Coalition um thank you so much for coming um we're it's always an honor to have our Community Partners here to educate our families welcome thank you can everyone hear me okay yes okay uh my name is Jessica I work at mea and I'm an immigration lawyer I've been an immigration lawyer for about 18 years so I come to you with a lot of knowledge that I hope to share I first want to talk a little bit about our organization um has been around for a long time and we are an advocacy organization so we work to try and change the laws to try and change the policies to make the life of all immigrants and refugees and the lives of everyone in Massachusetts better we also provide free legal Health with citizenship so if you already have a green card and you want to take that fin final step to become a US citizen we can help you for free I've been asked to come here tonight to talk to you about your rights when it comes to having contact with immigration I want to say very clearly that these rights belong to all of us regardless of the immigration or citizenship status that we have and that's important so I'm going to say it again later but I first want to provide some information about what immigration is when we talk about immigration there are three different federal agencies you might probably already know about all of them the first one is ice this is the immigration police when you hear about immigration agents going to someone's home uh being the pain that's usually ice officers we also have a second type of immigration police called CBP they're the immigration police at the board but not just the southern boorder or the border with Canada they're in charge of a 100 miles all the way all around the United States so a lot of Massachusetts is within 100 miles of the ocean of our Coast so CBP has power there too and then we have US citizenship and Immigration Services USCIS they're not an immigration police they review applications you might send them an application for a work permit you might send them an application for TPS you might send them an application for green card for as silent for citizenship that is the agency that reviews all the applications all three agencies fall under a big agency called the Department of Homeland Security so a question that I often get is how does immigration find people it wants to support the number one way that people come into contact with immigration enforcement is either at the border or at the airport or if they have some contact with the criminal system because when someone is arrested even if you're never convicted just when you're arrested you're fingerprinted and those fingerprints are sent to immigration and that's how immigration becomes aware of someone there's other ways too they can specifically decide they want to pick someone up who they know has over state of needs out or something like that we may also see bigger enforcement actions like immigration going to a a workplace and asking all of the workers for papers but we have not seen that yet we have not seen that during the Trump Administration so far but it could happen I think most people know that you can be deported if you don't have any immigration status in the United States but even people with immigration status can be vulnerable to deportation usually if you have a criminal conviction um but there's lots of other complicated reasons under immigration law as well there's a lot of words here um but I wanted to tell you about a new policy that just came out on Friday the new policy says if you've been in the country for less than 2 years and you did not enter legally that immigration could try to quickly Deport you without going in front of an immigration judge normally if immigration wants to deport you they have to put you in Immigration Court you see a judge you can explain why you think you should not be deported and you have a process this new rule allows for a faster process but only for people that have been here less than 2 years and did not enter legally so if you have been here for more than two years it's a good idea to carry some documents with you that you could show an officer if you need to to show and that you've been here for at least 2 years if you have not been here for 2 years if you had any kind of immigration status or pending application it's good to carry evidence of that if you are an integration Court already it's good to carry evidence of that to kind of show them that you already have a process pending so I want to talk to you now about what your rights are if an immigration officer comes to your home which stops you when you're driving or stops you at in a public place or at work again I want to remind everyone that under our constitution in the United States everyone who is present in the United States has some basic right and everything that I'm going to talk about today are the rights of everyone here citizens noncitizens people with status people without status people that have been here a long time or people that have just arrived we all have the rights that I'm going to be talking about tonight I also want to acknowledge that sometimes people don't feel SA affirming those rights they say okay I know what my rights are but I'm afraid that if I stand up for my rights maybe they will become violent or things will become worse and it's true sometimes that does happen so I'm not here to tell you that you must behave in this way if you have contact with immigration enforcement but I am here tell you what your rights are because it's only after you know your rights that you can make an informed decision about when to exercise them when to assert your rights so if you only remember one thing from tonight I want you to remember this tool this is a know your rights card do we have any available yes we do okay these cards are available for you here tonight so some of you already took one I see it great if you didn't get it get one before you leave tonight these cards are really important because on one side in your language they remind you what your right are it's all good to be here and talk about what our rights are right but in the moment that someone knocks on your door or stops you on the street that can be very stressful and it can be hard to remember what the right thing to do or say it so this card reminds you of your rights and then on the other side in English it tells the officer and you can show the officer and it tells them I want to exercise my rights under the Constitution I want to remain silent I don't want to answer your questions to call the okay sometimes you don't have the right words to tell the officer that or maybe you don't have the right words in English or maybe it's just difficult to make yourself first so having the card is a really excellent tool you can carry one in your wallet even if you're a US citizen you can put one in your wallet I gave one to All My Children um you can keep one in your car and you you can keep on by the front door of your house so no matter where you are you can have easy access to this important information so let's talk about some of these scenarios I'm going to talk about what happens if immigration comes to your house if you're stuffed when driving or if you're stuff in public and even though we expect more immigration enforcement the Trump Administration I also want to say that the chances you will be stopped are really small right there's only so many immigration officers so what happens if immigration comes to your house and they knock what do you do usually when people knock on the door we open the door right we live in safe neighborhoods and many of us just open the door but it's important to remember that you should not open the door keep the door closed and instead ask is it immigration sometimes doesn't tell you it's immigration sometimes immigration will say that they're the police or they might lie and say something else right if they say they're the police you can ask them oh what Police Department what is your badge number but you still don't open the door the only time you have to open the door is if they have a piece of paper called a warrant that has been signed by a judge usually immigration does not have that they might have other pieces of paper but they usually don't have a warrant signed by a judge and I'll show you some examples in a little bit instead you can ask them do you have a warrant if they yes you still don't open the door you say show me right put it under the door hold it up to the peole or hold it up to the window of the house so that I can see it and then you give them the mil R card under the door right say here I'm asserting my rights to remain silent um and then you call someone you call your lawyer you call a community org ation that might be able to help you you call someone who's a US citizen who's not going to be address so how do you know if they have the piece of paper that means you have to open the door the only piece of paper that means you have to open the door is a warrant that has been signed by a judge so this is a piece of paper that a judge has signed giving them the power to enter your home or to arrest someone or to search your home and so it you know it's a formal document but you really just want to look for the word judge right where it's signed at the bottom hasn't been signed by a judge or by someone else and that's important because immigration often has a piece of paper and they call that piece of paper also a warrant um but not a warrant that has been signed by a judge so here on the left you see an example of a warrant signed by a judge and you know it's a warrant signed by a judge because it was given by the court it has the name of the court at the top and at the bottom under the signature it says judge the other piece of paper on the right is what immigration usually Happ and they also call it a warrant but it's not a document issued by the court at the top it says Department of Homeland Security so not a court and it's not signed by a judge it's signed by an immigration officer the document on the right the one that is by the Department of Homeland Security and signed by an immigration officer has no power it does not mean you have to open the door you can keep your door closed and say I don't want to speak with you I've seen many people are taking pictures of the slides I want you to know that these slides are available on our website and they're available in English Spanish Portuguese and patian Creo so you can go to our website and look at the slides in your own language um okay so that's what to immigration or the police come to your home keep the door closed ask them for a warrant only open the door if they have a warrant that has been signed by a judge the next scenario I want to talk about is what happens if you're sto went driving so before I talk about that I want to talk about driver's licenses in Massachusetts we now have driver's licenses available to everyone that lives in Massachusetts if you can prove your identity it doesn't matter what kind of immigration status you have or if you have no immigration status at all if you live in Massachusetts and you can prove who you are and you can pass the driver's license test you can get a driver's license but usually what you get first is something called a perm and when you have the permit you're not allowed to drive by yourself you've been driving for 20 years right in your own country with a permit you need to have another person in the car sitting next to you who's at least 21 years old and who has had a license for at least one year so you need another experienced driver what we have seen is that a lot of people get their permit and then they drive without an experienced driver and so if you're stoed because you were going over the speed limit or you didn't stop at a stop sign and you only have a permit and you don't have an experienced driver in your car that's considered driving without a license and that can get you in trouble and it can get you flagged for immigration too so if you recently got a massachusett permit please take that final step to make it a full license so that this doesn't happen to you so let's say you have your license and you are driving and you stopped maybe you're stopped by the police maybe you're stopped by immigration by CDP in Massachusetts when you're the driver you have to give them your name and your address of course if you have a license you can give them your license if they ask for the car Reg ation group of insurance and you have those things you can give that to them you do not have to answer any questions about where you're from about whether you have immigration status about how long you live here the only information you have to provide is your name and your address if there are passengers in the car let's say someone is sitting next to me the doesn't have to provide any information not even their name unless they're receiving a ticket right so if I'm stoed because I'm speaking I have to give my name and my address and if the person sitting next to me is not wearing a seat belt and the police wants to give them a ticket then they also have to provide their name so they can give them the ticket but if they're not getting a ticket they don't have to give information at all instead the passenger can simply say am I free to go and I free to go and when the officer says yes you can get out of the car and calmly walk away if you're on the highway you can't get out of your car right but on any other road if you stay my we to go and they say yes you can walk away um you also have to consent to a search of your car they can only search your car if you give them permission or if they have probable cause to believe you've been involved in a crime um and lastly and very importantly never give any law enforcement officer any fake documents in fact the best advice I can give you is to not car any fake documents or documents that belong to somebody else on your person at any time they will always figure out what they're fs and then the last scenario is what happens if you're stopped in public if you're just walking down the street or if you're in a public space um and the police or immigration stop I have been asked this question many times the question is what is the police or what is immigration allowed to ask you any guesses what can immigration or the police ask [Music] you people are shy okay the answer is they can ask you anything they can ask you your name they can ask you your favorite color they can you had for dinner last night that's not the important part the important part is what do you have an obligation to answer and the answer is you don't have to answer any questions at all so if I stop by a a law enforcement officer and they ask to see my papers I would simply say am I under arrest or am I free to go because if I'm not under arrest then I'm free to go and I will slowly walk away right now I will say that if you're an adult and most of you are if you're 18 or older and you have some type of immigration status the law says that you should carry proof of that status so if you have a work permit if you have a green card then you're supposed to carry of those but it doesn't necessarily mean you have to show it right away you can always ask if you feel safe you can always ask am I free to go am I being arrested or am I free to go and usually you're not being arrested because they don't have any evidence so they have to say that you're free to go if you're not free to go um or it when you're first interacting with them you should always know that you have the right to remain silent and to speak to a lawyer and so if you practice one sentence in English that sentence should be I have the right to remain silent I want to call a lawyer right if you're not able to say that you can at least say I want to be silent I want to be silent [Music] so what are some things that we can do now just to feel like you're prepared right one thing is to know your rights and we have talked about them and so now you know what many of your rights are another thing you can do now is to memorize phone numbers all of our phone numbers and all of our information is on our phone and many times people don't memorize important phone numbers like the phone number of their children of their partner of their lawyer but it's really important to spend some time just memorizing phone numbers because if you are detained by immigration they might only let you call one person and so you want to know who should I call in this moment and you want to know their phone number because you're not going to have access to your cell phone if you're being detained um and then think in advance about someone ideally a US citizen or someone that has really secure immigration status that can come um and maybe pay bond to allow you to come out of immigration detention if that is the situation that you're in so I want to share a little bit of information about immigration detention um most people even most people who are in the deportation process will never be detained right but sometimes people are detained and so I want you to know that if that happens you should not sign any documents because you might be signing for something called voluntary departure agreeing to leave the country you should continue to remain silent and not provide any information you don't want to rely on what the immigration officers are telling you your rights are because they might not be telling you the truth if someone you know has been detained by immigration there is a website where you can go and put in their name and their date of birth and their country of origin and it will tell you if they're being attained and where they're being attained but there's often a delay of a day several hours to a day after someone is detained before it will show up in the online system if someone is detained by immigration many people are able to request Bond bond is money that you pay to be able to get out of the tension and continue going to Immigration Court outside of detention at the end that you win your your case they give you the Bal money back or if you lose your case they give you the money back after you leave the United States okay the next topic I want to talk about is thinking about making plans for your family if a parent or a caregiver is detained by immigration or is deported but also if something else happens if they're really ill uh or become unavailable for other reasons you want to think about making plans for your family I want to begin by first saying that when a parent is detained or even after they're deported they continue to be the parents of that child even if they're separated so you still have all the rights of a parent and you still have all the rights to make decisions about your children's lives and to participate in any Court proceedings about your children if there are any so making decisions about what could happen to your children if you're not available is a really hard topic and to help you through that there's a a booklet that has been put together it's available in English Spanish Portuguese patient cre and I think Arabic and it provides you with lots of information much more than what I'm going to be talking about tonight before talking about some of the options for taking care of your children I want to share with you some basic tips of things that you can do now if you haven't done them already the first thing is if you have children and I think most of you do you're here um you should make sure that someone is authorized to pick them up from school if you're available to pick them up so check with the school to make sure that they have the right information on file about who is authorized to pick up your children you also want to check with the school what personal information about you and your children can be shared sometimes schools put together directories that include all the addresses of the families and if it's in a directory sometimes that information can be shared with other um entities including immigration so maybe someone from the school can can speak to that at the end but you just want to check if your children have been born here in the United States you might want to register their birth with your country of origin with the Consulate of your country of origin so that they know that you have children those children are probably citizens of both countries and you also want to make sure that children have passports a US passport if they were born here um and another passport if they're also dual citizen or if they were not born here and then lastly you want to think about is there someone that you would allow to travel with your children if the worst happens and you have to leave the United States and you want your children to be reunited with you giving them permission to travel with a trusted adult is important all of these things or some of these things you can do like getting a passport and doing a travel letter you can do after right but it's much more complicated so it's better to do it in advance just in case you will probably never need it but just in case so then the big topic the big topic of if found that available who is going to take care of my children and I have here four different options the first option is what we call informal informal means I call my sister and I tell her hey Stacy you know if something happens to me will you take care of my children and she says of course right that's just informal it's great but it doesn't mean that a judge or you know the child welfare system has to follow that so one step up from and probably most people's best option is something called the caregiver authorization activated and it was announced at the beginning that you have affidavits available tonight and you can get help filling these out if you want to so what the caregiver authorization affidavit does is it it allows you as a parent to choose another adult to be the one who can make decisions for your children about their educ a and about their healthare for a period of up to 2 years now you don't give them that power instead of you right you keep all of your rights with a parent but you're also giving someone else the ability to make those decisions if you're not available a caregiver authorization affidavit requires you to sign it and to have two witnesses two other adults sign it um and uh it has to be notorized so they can help you with that tonight there's another step up called a temporary agent authorization which is similar but it also gives a person the ability to make decisions around finances so money related things but it's only good for 60 days and then the very last option is Guardianship guardianship requires you to go into court and someone is appointed as the legal guardian of your children and exercises all the rights of a parent instead of the parent so you're giving your parental rights to someone else for a certain amount of time that option requires going to court um and is often not the best option for people so usually the caregiver authorization affidavit or the Asian authorization are the best options a couple final tips before I talk about where to get um legal services and good information so make sure that you have all of your important immigration documents somewhere together uh sometimes people are really good about organizing your documents and sometimes they're not and so if something happens and um you know you're let's say detained by immigration and someone calls a lawyer the lawyer will say okay what is their situation show me their document and if you don't know where to find those um in your house then that can be really stressful so organize any important documents not just immigration documents but also things like birth certificates passports important medical records and vaccination records it's always uh helpful to have them all organized some documents also have very important information on them like your a number which is your identity number in Immigration records and some documents might have information about uh the date of the next court hearing or an appointment that is coming up and it's really important to know about those I'm going to skip these slides okay I'm going to talk about where to get legal Heth and then I've lost TR of time but I hope I'm good on time 6:41 um and then hopefully we'll have some time for question so getting legal help is really important and it's really hard so some of you may have already connected with a lawyer or legal servic and have gotten but maybe some of you haven't been able to do so yet it's important to try and get a consultation with the lawyer now uh rather than waiting until something happens right it's better to be proactive whenever possible so first I want to give you information about who is authorized to give you legal advice so in the United States there two categories of people that can give you legal advice about immigration one is lawyers a lawyer or an attorney that had that went to law school and has a license to practice law and then the other is something called an accredited representative now an accredited representative is not just a person that decides to do immigration an accreditor representative is someone that is work with a nonprofit organization and the individual have gone through a special application process to show the government that they have the knowledge and the experience to give people legal advice when it comes to immigration even though they're not voyers how do you know if someone is an accreditor representative well a list online and you can simply look uh look at the list and see if their name is on it if their organization is on it this is really important because there are lots of people out there in the community some of them that are really trying to help people and then some of them that are just really trying to make some money off you um that are giving legal advice that are helping people with immigration applications but they're not authorized to do so even the people that are well meaning that want to try to help can cause a lot of hurt so I've seen many cases in my 18 years as an immigration lawyer where someone got in trouble because they got advice from someone who should not be giving them advice so I encourage you all before you allow someone to help you with your immigration to ask them are you a lawyer are you an accredited representative and if they say yes it's okay to say prove it to me right show me where your name is on the list show me your legal license right if they're offended by that that's a red slot right there's something wrong and if they can't prove to you that they're a lawyer or an accredited representative they should not be giving you legal so if you have gotten services from someone that should not have been helping people in Immigration cases there are ways to report it if you feel that you've beeni to of fraud if you feel that you have been misled by someone making you believe that they were authorized to give you legal advice when they were not and so on this side there's information about different offices that you can call um to make a complt and to make a report so where do you get real and free or low cost Legal Services I as I said in the beginning there's not enough free rers right but the free and lowcost lawyers that we have are working really really really hard to try and help as many people as possible the best listing of free and lost immigration Legal Services is on this website called the Massachusetts legal resource funder mlf.org you go to the website you say that you live in Massachusetts you answerer a few questions the information is not kept it's not shared with anyone you answer a few questions multiple choice you give them your zip code and then it will give you a list of organizations that provide immigration legal services and then you have to call you have to call each organization and request an appointment sometimes be on a weight list um to be able to talk to someone and see if you can meet with someone knowledgeable who can tell you what your options are if you have options I've included a couple of other resources here one is a listing for people that are in immigration and then um the the last one is for Legal Services outside Massachusetts we are all here in Massachusetts but many of you may have family members or friends that live in other state and so the last one here is the national directory and then finally and then I'll stop and Pi some questions if you scan this QR code will to our website where we have all of our know your right information all of the information that I shared tonight there's also one page handouts that remind you what your rights are copies of the your rights cards the family preparedness packets um about making plans for your children um more information about what your rights are when you're at work um and lots of other resources so I encourage you all to and check out all the resources that we have here so I believe that was yeah that's last five so I have more information that I could share but I would like to pause here and see if there are questions they'll be [Music] we [Music] so the question is um what if I you know am forced to leave the country and I want my children to be able to come to my country of origin but they don't have passports yet can the caregiver you know where you fill out the caregiver authorization after they can they get the passport and the answer is usually know the rules around at least for US passports I can't I don't know the rules for other countries but for US passports it has to be the parent or in the absence of the parent it would have to be a guardian appointed by the court so that's why it's a good idea to get that started um and get the passports um in advance it's always a good idea to have passports you never know when you might need to travel [Music] foreign speech [Music] so the question is if I had an immigration case but the immigration case has been closed okay it do you mean an Immigration Court case [Music] spe [Music] so [Music] I yeah yeah so the question is well what if I had a case but the case has been closed but I still have problems with immigration it's difficult to answer that question because it depends on the type of case and why it was closed and how long ago and if you have any other status so I just wanted to say that you know I'm not going to be able to answer questions that are specific to your situation I can only answer general questions um so I I can talk to you briefly afterwards if you [Music] want [Music] for so for those of you that don't speak Portuguese or we're not sitting right next to to her with the translation the question is well what happens if I'm the ported and my child is in school um if I fill out the caregiver authorization form can this does the person that I give these rights to do they need to have a green card um and could they make arrangements for my daughter to be supported with me or to be sent back to my country as well um so first of all I want to say the ideal situation is when you complete the caregiver authorization form that the person you choose is someone that has secure immigration status um because otherwise then what happens if that person is subject to immigration enforcement then you don't have a backup um so when you fill out the caregiver authorization form is better to choose someone that is a citizen or has a green card or has some other kind of good immigration status now the second question about whether well if I'm deported can my child be deported with me if your child is a US citizen they cannot be deported so it depends on how you are deported if you are forced to leave and you're given the date by which you have to leave then you can leave of you know however you want and you can book a plane ticket and you can book a plane ticket for your child too if you're in detention and they deport you and they put you in a plane you're not going to be able to bring your child with you and that's why writing a travel letter to give someone the ability to accompany your child back to your country um is a good idea again the person should be someone who can travel and then be able to return to the United States so a citizen are someone with [Music] okay so the question is about whether you only have to worry about deportation if you have criminal history the answer unfortunately is that the law allows for people to be deported when they don't have immigration status even when they don't have criminal history so if you don't have immigration status but you are a law abiding person you pay your taxes you work hard you don't have any criminal history it is still possible under the law to support you that said usually immigration goes after people that have criminal history because it's easier to find them that way because they're usually somewhere in the criminal process but not only and it is possible that if they come somewhere to detain someone that has a criminal record and you're also right there it is possible that you could also be detained or put in deportation proceedings um sometimes it is easier for people to win a case in Immigration Court if they been here for a long time and they don't have criminal history but not always immigration law is very complicated so the bottom line is that yes generally individuals that have criminal history are more at risk um but other people unfortunately are also vulnerable [Music] fore speee foree than you okay so the question is what if I don't have anyone that can take care of my children in my absence um and I am detained how can I make arrangements for those children to stay with me right so if your children are US citizens if they were born here they cannot be deported um I would say if you are an only parent or a single parent or an only caregiver of your children if you're being detained by immigration it's usually a good idea to tell them like hey I have two children and they're going to come home to No One sometimes that will mean that immigration decides not to detain you they might still put you in deportation process but not detain you other times they might still detain you but at least they will no social services so your children are not left alone um you have the right to make arrangements for your children even if you're in Immigration detention um but logistically it can it can be difficult to make those arrangements sometimes if the parent is attained and the children don't have anyone else to care for them they do end up in foster care but sometimes the the fact that they don't have anyone else to take care of them means that immigration will decide not to detain the [Music] parent [Music] for so the question is about how long does it take to get a green card after you apply um and the answer unfortunately it it depends because there's lots of different ways to get a green card you could get a green card after you were given Asylum you could get a green card for a family member you can get a green card through special visas for victims of domestic violence and so every process has a different amount of time to wait sometimes it's 69 months some times it's 8 years so it really depends that without knowing more about your process I can't I [Music] can't oh sorry the other question was am I at risk of being deported if I have an application pending um usually the answer is that you have process that is ongoing you have the right to remain in the United States until a decision is made on your process there are some exceptions but certainly if you have a pending application that gives you a better claim to be able to stay until a decision is [Music] made okay last question [Music] foree spee foreign speech speech um okay so two questions very different questions one question is if I have a child who's already an adult 18 or older and then I have younger children can I give my older child the ability to travel with the younger children and the answer generally is yes if they're an adult then you can give them that um that ability um that child that is an adult cannot get passports for their brothers and sisters you as a parents have to get the passports but generally I would imagine they would be able to travel together and then the second question is if I'm just here and I have you know I don't have status or I overstate my Visa and I'm detain am I eligible for Bond um the rules around bond are complicated which is a theme of IM migration M um but usually if you're in because you have overstate a Visa or you're just out of status most people and and you don't have criminal history most people are eligible for Bond Bond can be anywhere from $1,500 to 6 78 $10,000 or more and again Bond doesn't buy you status it just buys you the ability to continue your process outside of thetion so a 19-year-old um you know adult child can can you can do a caregiver authorization affidavit for the 19-year-old but if the 19-year-old is not a US citizen or doesn't have a migration status that's not the best option or you might also want to do for someone that has lawful status okay all right I think that was the last question so I don't know should I hand it out to someone speee in one way it's the same thing because both groups oh so sorry the question was about the question was about is there a difference between people that may have come into the country illegally or people that came on a tourist or student visa and then State um so in one way they're similar because both people subject to deportation for not having immigration status now in another way they're a little bit different um people that came in on a Visa immigration knows that you're here they might not know where you are but they probably know that you're here if you came in illegally and you've had no interaction with immigration you were not caught you never filed an application they might not know that you're here so they could still find you but then you know they're not actively looking for you um however people that came in through the Border without a Visa could be and have been here less than 2 years could be subject to that quick deportation process that I talked about at the beginning whereas people that entered legally with a Visa are always going to have the right to go to Immigration Court and see a judge okay so that was the last I know there's many more questions but told that's the last question thank you so much for your hospitality and coming over um for all our families I just want to remind everybody we do have a family resource page on a f the public schools website where a lot of this information is posted as we receive new information from any Community Partners or date we are posting it on there so it's up to date if you have a hard time finding it please reach out to the community facilitator at your school all of our schools have one um and we are continuously meeting with them training them um and uh sending them all this information so that they have it so please don't hesitate to do that we can also be reached at the parent Center at iner um and this uh whole presentation will be put up on our website and sent through our parent Square um information app so if you don't have that make sure that you download that because we send a lot of information that way um we are posted on YouTube so you can also put post captioning up to translate into your language and one more thing Jessica one more thing there's a lot of bad information that is flying around in social media a lot of rumors a lot of information that is wrong so an important thing that you can do is know where to go for good accurate information one place for that is mir's Instagram account when there's changes in immigration law and policy we put up a policy update in English Spanish Portuguese and Haitian crle so please follow you have a place where you know the information you're getting is true and real once again thank you all for coming and those watching at home um thank you very much have a good night [Applause]

state senator Paul hon is here and state representative de here um we're thrilled to have them we also have uh the executive director of Cade is here to make a presentation Patrice McCarthy so it's a it's a great night um we're going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance then we're going to have public comment for anybody that has public comment and then we'll get into the me of the meeting if public comment if you have things or questions that's the time to ask them of our uh of our reps that are here tonight because it's not a given take meeting so at public comment that gives you your opportunity to ask your questions I'm sure they'll address it in their comments so um just as reminder okay so if you stand and join me in the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance and before we do that I do call the meeting to order of this of this Tuesday January 20th 2025 you can tell I'm so excited to have you folks here right so the meeting is now called for so join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all I'll Now open up for public comment we'll start with anybody in the audience that has anything on their mind or questions for our reps we'll we'll lead off with that so just state your name and your address it's all we ask sure hi Margaret Lynch acc2 bar Drive um I started I started printing out a bunch of stuff to get to you but like don't really want to carry a bunch of people with you so I have actually an email that's TW in it so I will send email I'll also it and send ity be submitted to public comment um so there are numerous experts uh that recommend reducing RF radiation to well below the FCC limits to protect our children uh the 2023 Santa Clara Medical Association best practices for technology in schools recommends reducing Wi-Fi exposure and restricting cell towers to schools the New Hampshire State Commission on 5G health and environmental fire sorry uh the New Hampshire State Commission on 5G health and environment uh final report recommends the children's RF exposure be reduced to as low as possible and that the state enacted 1640 ft so 1,640 ft cell tower setback for homes and schools the International Association of firefighters uh resolution officially opposes cell towers on their stations in California have firefighter unions repeatedly and successfully lobed State lawmakers to remove Fire Stations from the list of locations that legislation would FasTrack 5G small cell antenna on the EPA School sighting guidelines lists exposure to electromagnetic fields and the fall distance as potential Hazard cell towers uh the EPA guidelines recommend schools identify and evaluate cell towers within 200 ft of respective School patients EPA stated that us FCC RF radiation limit radi radiation limits which really have not changed since 1996 do not address possible risk for long-term non-thermal exposures the Los Angeles California school district office of health and safety developed a cautionary level for radiation radi radio frequency radiation 10 th 10,000 times lower than FCC regulations um even as far back as 2000 The echol Institute report which is commissioned by T-Mobile recommended an exposure limit 1,000 times lower than the fcc's current limit in fact in 2021 the US court of appeals for the DC circuit ruled the Federal Communications Commission failed to provide reasoned explanation for determination that its Wireless radiation guidelines which again were set in 1996 adequately protect against all harmful effects of exposure the FCC failed to address issues such as the impacts of long-term Wireless Wireless exposure impacts to Children testimony of people injured by Wireless radiation impacts to Wildlife and the environment impacts to devel to the developing brain and reproduction numerous research Publications recommend 1500 foot stacks for cell towers uh the Pierce 2024 review of cell tower placement and liability uh issues um publish a report saying that the they should be not located um left Le than 500 met from the population another study saids the effect on the effect of continuous low intensity exposure to electromagnetic fields from Radio base stations to cancer um published in the international Journal Journal of Environmental Research and public health includes that the safest solution would be to switch off your radio base stations in the areas within a 500 met radius for residencies workplaces Hospital areas kindergartens and buildings uh the study mortality by neoplasia and cellular telephone base station in Horizon municipality in Brazil in 2011 published the science of the total environment fun if you can just start to bring it through I'm trying to this is so much information found higher deaths from tumors within 500 meters um so if we keep going on and on and on there's different scientific evidence that say Really these thinking to be 500 M which is really equivalent to, 1500 ft um we would have planning and doning departments across the country like copac New York they say 1500 ft from homes in schools Oklahoma 1500 ft from homes and structures W City California residential zones 1500 ft setbacks schools in bar hover per M so therefore I wanted to bring to your attention there's a proposed Bill uh bill number 99 an act prohibiting the installation or replacement of telecommunication towers near schools however when we read this B it sounds awesome like I should be happy about this but no um it says that the general statutes be amended to prohibit the installation of replacement of any Telecom tele telomic Tower um if such Tower is located or will be located 150 or fewer yards from any school so that's really a small distance and that that distance was not like there's no signs behind that so my I'm acting almost done so although I commend senator kle of the Seventh District for putting this bill it's important to pass legislation that is actually going to be based on scientific evidence for the protection of children and everyone who works at schools I ask that you first help amend this proposed Bill to 500 meters for 1500 ft and then help support this bill by moving it forward to a public hearing on the Joint Committee of energy and Technology thank you I were very interested thank you thank you for your comments it's important it is important and interesting I mean this data you gave us was good thank you thanks for your time okay anybody else would like to speak Aubrey sure just briefly um Aubrey Bley 39 B Drive um I'm sure you've been following along but the board of Selectmen um appears to be headed in a direction of doing away with hybrid the hybrid meeting format and I know a decision by them doesn't directly impact your board whatever I think it is townwide decision um we're in the middle of a budget season and while we're encouraging people to stay engaged and attend meetings and ask questions I think it would be really detrimental to disable the hybrid meeting format um I've never experienced a problem attending any of this board's meetings hybrid and other never with the board of Finance either so last night um so if you do have some expertise or guidance you can provide the board of Selectmen on um avoiding these technical issues so that we can maintain the hybrid format I think that would be really helpful um and I was really pleased with the board of Finance last night because they did um vote to I guess pen a letter to the board of selectman urging them to maintain a hybrid meeting format um so if your board would consider doing something similar um even if it's from the perspective that during the budget season be the time to do away with this take that advis there's no as you can see we have a board member online tonight so the hybrid is very convenient and very helpful so well it does it impacts all the boards because a lot of board members are cross board hybrid and I think um that's something they thanks for your comments and what we'll do is at some point we'll pull the board see if a Letter's recommended so okay thank you thank you um just while you you're here um I'm sure you're going to be asked questions about special ed and how we can control costs I know there's a number of bills pending I didn't wor them all down that do a to try to curtail some of the cost offset that because um the bo of does struggle with trying to budget for that item and as taxpayers we um something we very by and um you know hard to play around so I would like to know personally what efforts you are leing to either support the bills that are pending to control costs um that the town Camp budget for and and um it's not whether you support those thank you thank you aubert Mr ly no okay anybody else in the audience show no okay we'll open it up online anybody online would like to make a comment or ask a question sure I have one raised hand already from uh Lisa see so I'm going to allow Lisa to talk hi Lisa hi can you just give me a thumbs up that you can hear me we can hear you just I I know who you are but you can state your name and your address just for the record please Thank you Lisa Cogan's danard Drive um I really want to thank um representative cavos SRA for being here tonight and Senator honig um I know that they've already put in a long day as has everyone else who's volunteering tonight on the board of education and I app appreciate the work that you're doing tonight um uh representative Kos has been very um has been a great advocate for Canton has helped us um accomplish a lot of things and I'm hoping that Senator H does the same thing um like uh Miss Blatchley commented about the bills that are be before the um what is it the legislature I I don't know all the details of all of them so I'm hoping tonight they can elaborate R like she said on which ones they are are supporting um specifically special education is something that the taxpayers of Canton have to deal with the burden of the state not funding the percentage that they um they're reducing the funding every single year and because the single family taxpayers of Canton the single family homeowners their assessments went up last year we are burdening a lot more of that Financial need within the town and anything that you state representatives and Senators can do to help us alleviate that burden on the single family homeowners I I was aware that there are several hundred million dollars of arpa fund interest in an account that's looking to be assigned somewhere to be used and I know that is not the only municipality that is dealing with the burden of escalating special education expenses so if you can help not only Canton but other communities in the state you know it's going to be very impactful when we have to put all of our money towards special education because the state isn't helping us then we can't do things like um maintain our the one recreational resource we have in town which is Mills Pond Park we can't have our Tennis Club do tennis training on a tennis court that's out of service we can't have residents just enjoy any Recreation because we have to put our money into one place and we can't disperse it throughout the town like we need to so please anything you can do to help us we would appreciate it thank you for your time thank you Lisa K anybody else put your hand up there are no no other raised hands at this anybody else would like to uh ask a question online or make a comment okay thank you we'll close out public comment at this time thank you very much everybody um next on the agenda is the Chairman's Corner his chairman has nothing on his corner to speak about tonight so trying to get right for the meet of the uh the agenda here so with that I'm going to call up um uh Patrice McCarthy our executive director cave would' like to make some comments I guess thank you TR good evening and it's a pleasure to be here and uh it's very tempting to jump into the advocacy hat that I most often wear but I am here actually to present the Canton Board of Education with an award and is the board leadership award that recognizes high standards dedication and teamwork and the Cy board first earned this award in 2016 and then again in 24 because you have demonstrated leadership that maintains open and transparent communication with the superintendent and stakeholders parents teachers staff and your community this communication Fosters trust and collaboration and builds strong relationships and promotes a unified approach to education you have several partnership opportunities each month your monthly Board of Education meeting with public comment both in person and virtual as well as monthly leadership meetings with the Board of Education chairman the superintendent chief administrative officer first selectman and board of Finance all of that builds townwide communication and collaboration which we me need now more than ever for public education so on behalf of the C fora of directors I delighted to present you with this award thank you [Applause] come on yeah let's do a whole board well we [Music] don't right [Music] I just just by way of just a quick comment um I'm I'm proud of this because this board works very very hard and um we collaborate uh we look for solutions to problems um our subcommittees work very hard I know a lot of the work gets done at the subcommittee level and people donate their time very generous with their time so this this award really you can see the last time we we received this was 2016 so in 2024 this is recognition of what all you've done including our administrative team John online of course Anna and Dr Gman and it's been uh great working with Dr Gman I think that's part of the reason why we' we've accelerated the way we have so thanks again Patrice for coming tonight okay um moving right along uh we now have our legislative updates so I thought what we could do you know uh elen if you want to go or call maybe just tell us where we are a little bit and then um I think we submitted some questions right um and you can maybe uh answer those questions in your comments and then uh if board members have anything else that we'd like to uh to say and then please go home and have your day well hello everyone my name is Paul HED I'm the new senator for the E district and uh I've been in my position for approximately two weeks so really just kind of learning about how the general assembly works and try to find my footing um I live out in Harwinton um and uh I'm serving on seven committees which uh is a lot um so I'm on I'm I'm the chair of the veterans committee I'm the vice chair of Banking Committee I'm the vice chair of the G committee which is government Administration and elections uh I sit on finance um Insurance Planning and [Music] Development steamed co-chair and um Public Safety so I I I do not sit on the education committee um I do have a little bit of a small background in education I was certified to teach middle and high school math for the alternative to certification program I did that for a year out in Cornwall quickly discovered that being a classroom teacher was not my CET um but um I'm I'm here mainly to listen to you all and find out what issues are you know really important to you know I hear special ed very important I was talking to Senator slap um earlier today who uh serves a district right right next door this and he was talking about some legislation he was trying to push to use some of the money from the um from the interest on the arpa funds that was recently discovered to uh fill the Gap I think it was like an $80 million gap um between uh what was allocated for excess cost Grant and you know what actually you know became the need in there but I'm mainly here to listen to you all and uh and find out how I can be helpful and very much looking forward to working with representative Congress to dra the benefit of folks here in can um so just as an update I've obviously been here before but um serving as the co-chair of Planning and Development C on public uh health and I've moved to the Appropriations Committee this year and I am now the uh subcommittee chair uh for the subcommittee on appr procreations on conservation and development we oversee uh deep do CH uh decd I think there's a couple more that I'm forgetting but I've been a subcommittee chair for about a day and a half so working through that um I I want to level set a little bit the conversation um I I'll start with that $8 million shortfall so um for people watching at home for people in the room it was about $181 million I believe it was allocated and then when the request came in for that excess cost we were short $80 million so that's where we start in terms of why there's less than because we thought it was going to be one number and it turned out to be another number and so now we have to make up that amount um I'm sure everybody has been watching the news today over the last eight days um today is a little more concerning because I think that there is a lack of understanding of how the federal government touches everyone's life um primarily in a positive way across uh many many many departments and we heard today that um there has been an executive order that's gone out that's going to touch a lot of things and one of those things is special education um idea specifically Head Start um other programs within education so I think we need to be very U mindful of what's happening at the federal level because the Connecticut state budget 14.6 billion of the Connecticut state budget which is more than 50% comes from the federal government so I just kind of want to level set where we are in terms of how we are approaching our budget process we know it's difficult for you as you have to set your budget before we finish our budget we're dealing with the same thing with Fed so we're in that same sort of position that we have to have a budget by June um and we will do our very best to meet that um and we may end up having to go back in special session at some point depending on what happens at the federal level um I fully support and excited about the possibility of that $8 million that was supposedly in the couch Cs and I have so many more comments I can make about that um but w um in terms of what we should be doing with with that AR of money um I also I think it's important people probably are not aware we have a brand new committee this year that is specifically about special ed only special ed um I did forward right before the meeting um some information to both of you that was from our special ed I believe it was a working group I don't think it was a task force and so that report just came in on January 15th so I know there's a lot of recommendations within that report for special ed as well so I think we need to look at those um I have spoken at length with the chair of education on the house side with brand new chair of Education Jennifer leaper um she has an extensive background served on a board event for many years in her community so she understands what it is to put these budgets together and especially how hard it is when it comes to special education she's the education chair Mariam Khan who is now the chair on the housing side on the house side for this new special education committee she herself is was a special education teacher so she you know understands it from a legislative perspective as well as a special perspective um they are looking to incentivize by a legislation programs like the Thrive program and I know that was one of your questions My Hope Is that that is what they really look to because as we talked about when I was here the last time the cost of special education are so out of control they have not been tamped down in any way and so when we continue to Outsource so much of it it makes it so much harder for you to be able to control your budget I remember that very first year when I was elected um at the time Julie OC and she said to me we had two kids move in $500,000 in cost it has blown up the entire budget so we are very aware of that I also need to point out though um because this conversation came up in Avon as well and I would highly recommend for the board of EDS edification to have the school state finance project I think I connected you with them previously and they are very good at walking through the ECS funding formula the educational cost savings formula I think a lot of people don't understand it even as a legislator is is challenging to understand um the amount of money that Canton gets is about four almost four and a half times that Avon gets many years ago you were represented by Jesse Stratton it was before the formula Avon is being help harmless that's why they get $800,000 a year approximately right now um because they were so heavily overfunded for many many many many years um I don't know that it's necessarily is true for kanton but it certainly was for Avon so that's why you'll see Simsbury gets about $8 million Avon gets about $800,000 um whereas your number is over $4 million so um I think it's important to understand that aspect of it that we do not have control over that formula that was a decision by a judge um and so we do our best to Advocate obviously for as much money for our district obviously Falls is a little larger than than my immediate uh representative district and we will continue to do so and we fully expect that the education committee is going to do their best to fill that shortfall and help us save money moving forward but I think it's I I think it's important to have these conversations this way so that we are all kind of in the same sandbox what we're having the conversations very good I I appreciate those comments and we we know that you don't uh you don't have the key to the to the strong um so what I'd like to do is open up questions from from board members uh on anything that's on your mind so hey did you say that the federal government um gives the state of Connecticut for education for not just for Education our total state budget of our total state budget $14.6 billion comes from the federal government okay um there is a lot of money in there for education I can't I don't have the exact number off the top of my head but I'm happy to get that for you well I think you know one of my questions was about unfunded mandates which are the even special ad and the other thing you were talking just about I just wanted to say that the the costs aren't out of control the needs of the students are what people are trying to attend to so if there's more need then there's more cost not just some I was referring to some of the out placements some of the out placement costs can be incredibly excessive I think yes but I do hear both from here and from Avon and Statewide obviously more special especially post pandemic um there is an answer to the Mandate question so I let take that um yeah so I I asked the policy person uh in the Senate Democratic caucus about this and they told me uh Public Act 2445 established an education mandate review advisory Council which is supposed to report to a joint committee um about any um mandates that are being you know as of uh uh school districts you know in education you know on the cost of imp implementation of those uh mandates and to you know understand the impact that those proposals have on folks so you know this was just past last year he wasn't and uh you know hopefully this will you know help with the issue of you know on the Mandate coming your way without a lot of thought behind yeah so if you recall last budget cycle I'll do the same thing this budget cycle I would provide you a slide of what we feel are all the unfunded mandates and the dollar cost so that will be part of my buet presentation on February thank you anything else no do you have a a rough idea as to like how big the unfunded mandates are and you know I I I was asked a question last night I I'm not one to throw a number out when I don't have it okay um last year's number I probably go online really quick and look at my slot sh but in two weeks it would be great for us in two weeks it'll be writing my budget presentation in my budget book of what we view as an initiative team as fund mandates and there there's a lot of them yeah just for us to be able to share with theair that would be because we get a lot of information but sometimes it's better for us February 11 will be Kim um the interest from the ARA funds do you see that being distributed like is there like any percentage or the break it down based on like certain criteria for each town or what do you think is going to happen with that you know that this is going to be a tough budget year um my understanding what I've heard so far we haven't gotten into detailed budget discussions yet but my understanding is that there's about $500 million additional spending um that's available know with the various caps we have with the fiscal guard rails and like basically all of that is taken up by increases in fixed costs um and on top of that there is something like $3 billion worth of asks between people asking for additional special ed funding Early Child Care funding people with disabilities highed nonprofits um so it's it's going to be a tough budget year with a lot of different constituencies looking for money and there doesn't seem to be a ton of money available and I'll answer your question more directly in a second but also it's important I think as as we go through this um I just lost my I'll go to the ARA question first hopefully I don't come back um in terms of the ARA money it's it will have to be allocated but where it ends up being allocated is the question is it going to go to special ed is it going to go to H is it going to some go to nonprofits it was a pretty healthy chunk um and my thought did come back thankfully um the OPM secretary Jeff Becca has already sent out to all of the Departments the Department of Housing deep everybody and has said not only are there's no there's no uh promotions there's no uh hiring no there's a hiring freeze basically and we would like you to find 1% Cuts in all of your departments um that's where they're starting the conversation we'll hear more about the governor's proposal for the budget on February 5th next week um obviously then we take that budget and we make our our suggestions ideas Etc um we are really looking at inefficiencies so where we can find other dollars where you know this program is not that successful and it only serves five people whereas this program is wildly successful and maybe they're getting less and they serve 200 people we're looking at all of those you know trying to figure out where where these efficiencies and lack of efficiency might be so that we can handle that the Aram money I mean right now I would say it's above our pay grade we can Advocate like Senator slap is putting in that bill which I actually texted him all the way over after you told me about said happy to co-sponsor um so you know that that's how we can part of how we can Advocate and certainly I don't think there's anybody in the building that isn't hearing from their Community about special ed um some communities probably more than others I would I would think the Farmington Valley communities are probably more than others I think we have more kids that you know families that move here because they know we have good special life programs right so um West Harford is another District in in the same boat so I think that we will advocate for how that money is spent but a lot of that final decision making more at the leadership level thank you the only other question I had would be you sort of answered one of them but like do they ever look at regulations I mean it's hard to with with special obviously this children need services and it is costly for services but like like seeing if it's being you know if costs just run up because they're able to do that without regulations that was a question I wanted to know and then also is there any incentive for towns are they looking at anything to be able to provide more um support create their own programming to keep children in District I'm not sure if the incentivizing districts like C that are doing say the Thrive program if that's going to land in the education committee this year or if it's Landing in the special education committee that's been created but I know they are absolutely looking at incentivizing the towns that are doing this whether you already have been doing it or whether you want to create a program because there's a lot of towns that still have not brought in house so that's really I think cly important and then to the point about the regulations I am not 100% sure but I think the new special committee that is part of what they so that's a new committee this year down the road to it's kind of weird when we create these committees sometimes you get an extra person and then you have to create a whole Committee just to accommodate the fact you're an extra person not say um but the it was supposed to be what's called a special committee so a one-term committee and it may still be but um there's a very good chance that special ed is not exactly a small topic so it could end up that they keep special ed as this unique committee Planning and Development used to be Planning Development they've been to separate committees for decades so I have a question for you all um I had spoken to the superintendent at reach 10 schools a year and a half ago about like special funding and stuff and he told me that for their um outplacement um location they use a Consortium for the Farmington Valley Diagnostic Center which I guess is a Consortium of a whole bunch of school districts in the area um and they felt that uh that Consortium was able to help them control costs and you know I had specifically asked him about like what incentives you know work for you as far as like doing more special ed inhouse and he said well I I don't think that's necessary there because we already have the incentive we saved a lot of money by bringing the kids in house and we we also feel that kids get a much better education in house as well so there's plenty of incentive there but he thought it might be um useful if they were incentives to create more of these Regional type outplacement uh centers which could potentially control the cost of out placements you guys use the form that is um sponsored by well CRA is the consortion leader and actually sits on that board um I I agree totally with what said um I I actually believe it's combination of everything that you just said and that this town would be very welcoming to be in a Consortium this is a town that will also create programs side and we're working on another one right now I think what has to be uh thought about with the incentives is space space availability for districts because we could create programs and as how said uh it definitely would be a cost savings if you're bringing people back and I agree with what he's saying that I much prefer students and children that live in Canton to be able to wear a Canton shirt and a c sweatshirt be a part of a building then going in a bus for 40 minutes and an hour for some of our children and going into a place which they don't identify that as their school Community but space is an issue and I I think you can incentivize all you want but if it's $1,000 per student or $5,000 per student that doesn't get you a building and the town of Simsbury has been preval it's been in the newspaper that they're trying to if they haven't already purchased a building to create a program and I would Envision that the relationship that we have Sims that the first take care of s bued and then there would be a vision to open it up so totally agree with that but I think the facility part is a big piece because this is a school district that doesn't have a lot of room and we're being pretty creative right now with a program that we're looking to start from the fall that's going to save us some Mone that the board will here during my budget presentation but totally agree with by you're saying Kim anything else no but thank you for being here can can I just pick back her question was a really good one about regulations and um right now I've said this before and I don't know if it's the right answer or the wrong answer but question but I'll say it if we send a child to an outplaced District in or an outplaced school and some children need that and we need to provide them the best educational opportunity that we can provide them in 2324 let's say it's $100,000 2425 it's a guess of what we would budget for and if you look at how this board is looking at budget and how our Board of finances looked at the budget with the cons Consumer Price Index it it's way above the Consumer Price Index so we can budget for three or four but that school puts us in at a 6 or 7% increase and people ask us well you budgeted wrong no I didn't budget wrong I budgeted approximately a 3 or four% in increase not a seven or eight so the question would be I don't think you're going to have the answer to this is as Kim said could there be some sort of regulation of how much a school is able to go up maximum there you go yeah and I I don't think you have the answer it's not it's not even whether or not we have the answer I mean I think I just think in terms of what you're saying it's a really good idea I mean to put a cap basically because trying to get continue to get blood from a stone there there is an upward liming I mean we seeing people Ed further and further and further and there is limit I mean I know it took you two times to get your referendum through took us three times in Avon people are really have had enough um and I think that we as legislators this is the conversation that we have to be having how can we cap what we can cap in order to get people where they where it is a more comfortable 3% and not six or seven um and I mean just look at the shortfall it was an $80 million we budgeted and people say oh you budget we didn't but our Board of Finance gets it we presented it last night there was frustration when it honestly as you're well aware it was supposed to be 88% and that's where we were last year and it came down to 70 72 and so we budgeted 72 and now we're 62 that's the first small town $370,000 that's 1% of of the budget and as you mentioned if we have new students that come in which we did that that is another point and a half um of it's up PO budgeting it's just unexpected cost and we're not going to we're not going to put a budget forward that anticipates two or three students we're going to give actual numbers so it's a very awesome task that this board has has and the community has and the board of Finance has right now great question along with the special education is also Transportation spe you know specifically for that's another thing I'm concerned about and it seems that we have very high cost for transportation for for special education in comparison to some other towns but we have to dive deeper and that's where there was a correct Consortium that our prev District was part of and it saved us hundreds of thousand hundreds of thousands of dollars but it wasn't working so crack dropped progam yeah there was right in the midst of the bus driver shortage had just started and there were there were some unforeseen conditions but what a great idea um you work it be fostered it was a capital region for it was great question Joe most of what I was going to say said already but I'll just just briefly uh we all want to do what's best what's right for all our students including our specialized students uh when we have to out place a younger it seem to more often than not plus the transportation when we can keep youngsters here and service M well are better than sending them out and as Jordan said make them feel part of the school and Community because they are that's to their benefit to their parents benefit to our benefit it's also to the state's benefit the program we started Thrive program which was the question I said um if we had out had to out place two three four five six those I don't know what the number would have been um there' have been an overflow that would have cost State dollars and I guess at the end lowered our 60 you know everybody's percentage down to some other number so the benefits are to everybody and when there's room there isn't always room in the district but when there's room if the cost to to start up in-house program wasn't inexpensive uh Board of Finance was they were happy but they were supportive of funding it because they saw savings down the road uh and if that had been incentivized uh you know this took might look harder for those kinds of things uh if if we knew that some of the savings that States getting by not having our out placing more kids would be sent back to us and I think that's why they're looking at both districts that have already started it and districts that want to start because they don't want to penalize you for having started before right the new folks so to speak I guess I'll add it's my 10th year on the board of education and it's the 10th year that I know of where there been a special education study group or what have you some of similar name State Legislature I don't know what's been accomplished by the study groups you know I I will say I think that's part of why they finally said we need a committee because enough of us made have made enough noise especially over the last four years every year I go go to the education chairs I go to the speaker and they say I'm sure you're hearing this from everyone else but just in case this is what the number one thing that I hear about when it comes to the board specially over and over and over it doesn't you know can't NE on same thing either way um so I think that that's why it was interesting because the outgoing chair said well we haven't even you know gotten the results of the working group yet and in my head I was thinking and what are we going to do with this exactly so um I think it's it's good that we have more eyes on it that are specific to special ed and not broader education right now um I'm going to go online to Jordan uh staying on this side of the room and you happen to be on that side of the room Jordan do you have any questions like thank you um yeah so most of my question can you hear me okay most of my questions were asked in one way or another um one thing that I heard both um Paul and elany say is that it it really feels like at this point their biggest PLL they have is advocacy um so and that there's really and and I could be misunderstanding but that there's really nothing at your level that you'd be able to help with with the special education other than advocacy so at what level can we see or should we be advocating towards to see those changes in the special education costs that are coming down on the taxpayers first of all I can't get over how much you sound like funny I know her mom really well um it just mind blow um so I would say all of the bills and some of the bills that people said they didn't share numbers but they said we saw this bill we saw this bill I would follow as closely as possible we need to hear from you so it's you know obviously we're going in and we're saying you know Jen Ley first mon was my classmate I talked to her all the time I talked to her often about like okay what are we doing with this Mariam Khan was also my classmate she's the chair of the special ed committee I'm constantly going to these women and saying all right where are we on this where are we on that and that may not sound very effective but it actually is because a they know that we're paying attention and and B they know that we're hearing it from our constituency which is all of you plus all of the taxpayers but it is really important that they are hearing from all parts of the state and I've had this conversation with the chairman before you know we are a little underrepresented sometimes in this area uh whether it be at the State Board of Ed or other places and so it's really important that our Board of Ed members whether it's one letter or you want to test individually you can submit written testimony you can U be on Zoom or you can uh obviously come in person we'd love to have that as well but I think hearing directly from you and Prov you know we can provide testimony as well but I'll be honest with you they listen to us Less in that written testimony then they're going to listen to the superintendent of Canton the board of members of Canton so it's really important that you're you're testifying on all of that as you wereing so in regards to specific bills yeah so if you see a bill like oh my gosh Dereck slaps bill is great it's $8 million to go directly towards special education I want to testify to make sure we get that 80 million going towards the special ed funding you know that you can provide and by the way you can use your three minutes if you're doing it live or on Zoom but you also can just literally write three sentences that say you know we're experiencing incredible costs you know and and just last year our budget went up by X because of this this and this related to special education it doesn't have to be too to involved and send it to whoever has off so it's either the educ you send to the education committee or the special education committee so each bill as we're going through the process so um uh Maggie was holding up that one bill it's going to ENT so each bill would we file a bill that Bill gets assigned to a committee of cognizance so it could be that the bill is being heard in front of Education or it could be that it's getting heard in front of special education committee um and then we don't really get to pick the cence it's the um ATT the attorne the legislature that do that and and then there are committee bills so in other words as a chair I can say I want to bring up the topic of um why regulating special education costs and it wouldn't be that Paul or I filed the bill it was that the committee chose to raise that concept and then that that so you just go to cga.ct.gov is our website cga.ct.gov and then you would go to the education committee you'll see the list of bills that are in the committee and there still coming a significant amount of bills are still arriving because I as a chair have not screened everything that's been filed I think they said 7,000 bills were filed this year um approximately um it's a long session but still um so there is one that would be beneficial and appropriate for us would you be able to give us a heads up so that we could I do see other board of EDS doing that we talked about or if you know sign off on it l c lady left but um sometimes C there's a bill that they want you to testify on um to the extent that we can follow it I I will say it's a little challenging you heard how many commit he's on sadly neither of us being on education but we to best that we can we will try to do that so Jordan anything else no that was really it my only other piece to that is I feel as though the special education isn't just little pockets across the state it really is the entire State as a whole so um I guess if I would feel as though everyone like every board of education is feeling this right now um I mean I don't know are there boards of Education that you're aware of that aren't feeling a big St from special education and maybe what are they doing to offset that burden or I I don't know of any specific but I will say there are districts that are Alliance districts that their funding is a lot different because of the ECS formula so they may have access to funding that's different and I I have made the case with various chairs and Leadership that in the same way that Alliance districts need more funding because of some of the types of Learners they have and also you know where be they an urban environment situation we should also be treated specially when we have certain districts that get a reputation for doing Special La very well their parents we used to have a superintendent Avon that actually told people to move out of Avon because Sims barer was T did special education back yeah so I'm just trying to give you a flavor for what the difference is in we no longer have that person they've moved on uh but that's what I mean by some districts are a little more focused on the cost of special education than others okay I I'll say from my perspective with the 11 towns that I represent every single school district is having the same TR special thank you um you a question I'm going to keep moving along the just Qui um at the very least maybe they um in this session can cut back on unfunded mandate so as they're thinking about implementing an unfunded mandate keeping in mind all of these um these items that are going on with special ed and other things in education and that's part of why we passed that advocacy group so that people are actually looking at it so then they can say like you know I I I will get it go down the literacy but that was one of those that I was like really we're going to do this for everybody when some towns we're working and and literacy is fine and you know it just um and then trying to get the waivers and just that whole process I me it's they are owners so thank you heard I know you probably heard every question that you had but is there anything else there yeah I mean please basically uh Jordan I had the same question that Jordan had um about as far as what we can do as board members and the community if they um is there anything else you can think of other than giving imperson testimony or writing I mean I you probably haven't you had a public hearing yet uh had my first public hearing today okay I I just personally as a legislator you know obviously you can always call us but to me when I'm hearing the bills I will say it is helpful also to email us if it is a committee and again we don't s on education or special it is helpful to say I submitted this testimony or uh please keep an eye on this ask us to co-sponsor um we don't co-sponsor everything some bills I will admit I wait to see what's in there because sometimes things get snuck in there that I'm not terribly happy about um and I don't mean snuck but it's like when you were a chair and you're chasing down your 50 bills on your committee sometimes the process over here they're doing their thing and and the bill is evolving and then it's like wow I I didn't quite see going in that direction and so um but I we are happy to get emails from the public telling us I testified before the education committee I'd like you to co-sponsor this bill because I think it's important that we XYZ um and again they don't have to be really super long but you know I read I read answer every email again um much to my husband's sh so thank you that's very helpful and also I just wanted to ask you if you could tell us the name of the chair of the special do you know yes Mariam KH on the house side m a r y a m and KH is spelled k I'm try remember do not side I do not know the education chair is Jennifer leaper l p r on the house side and it's Douglas mcui MCC r o r y on S side okay and this is all of the committee information is all that on the website so you can see all the committee membership you can see the chairs the committee membership the rankings are whoever's in the minority party at the time they are considered the rankings on the committee so that so you have your your Senate chair your house chair your Senate Vice chair your Senate house house Vice chair and then your rankings for the Senate and the house sorry to hear that neither of you are on the education commit maybe next year I don't have any additional questions that w't answered Su gotar wil oh she's new what is she she's the chair on the Senate side for special the last name is spell g a d k a r hyphen Wix w i l CX their first name is [Music] so I'm I'm going to switch gears on you a little bit and I'm going to mention that U the Canton is uh going to embark on a few projects uh building projects and as a town there are some things that we need to do for example taking care of our Mills Pond earlier being out I'll just mention that but um we may be going through a construction project the CH school and the reimbursements have you know gotten smaller and smaller I don't know if you see where that might be going in the future um I don't have an exact on that but obviously get me the information so that I can I we can be as useful as possible because ciations be part of that or uh it's it's bonding um so that that typically call the finance side um but yeah but having yeah I just I just left there for four years but having said that um it's better when it comes to bonding if we are sort of both asking for bonding together as a delegation um it's a stronger ask and so U even with the Mills Pond Park it you know um I have not had a chance yet to meet Mark Penny but I hope that usually I by now I kind of hear from him and or Kevin on requests for things I went right down the list last year and got them everything they needed so um The Hope is that we see those lists so my age just reached out the 11 Chief Executives in towns I represent asking like and what are your bonding projects that you're interested in oh sorry I'll mention that we have a leadership meeting on THS uh Friday yeah um and there's Senate money and there's house money when it comes to bonding so even though we would probably request together we can also sort of request separately what's difficult for a town like Canton is that U maintenance projects uh because everything comes out of operating maintenance sometimes suffers and when maintenance suffers then it becomes a capital project and when you K the can down the road even further becomes bonding project Canton is in the in the throws of a lot of that with Mills Pond uh our schools things that we need in our schools and so on and so forth so um if if the state is a little bit more generous on the reimbursement side there are things that we can we can do especially in kanton our schools are older than in Avon or and and maybe in some of the other districts so uh that that's a concern and then the second question I have and it's just a rhetorical maybe more advocacy the energy side of things I know we hear about it in the news all the time but our energy costs as a district have gone up substantially and that too is is adding to the pain and I know you're working on that and U I'm hoping that some good news comes out of that in the future so so are we I know Dr Gman has a couple questions just piggy back on energy for example our utilities I can share this number right now our utilities that I'm looking at the budget for for 25 26 is at least going to go up $83,000 so our budget pretty fixed that's what this board is going to see February 11th that if we need to make Cuts it's going to be cuts into existing program that's for sure 83,000 is like a an increase it's over 20% so I'm not looking for any answers for this um I I just want to give three or four things if you just keep your eye out for any bills that you see moving forward that you may have vote on you may have questions about school safety I I'd appreciate you just reaching out um because sometimes the school safety uh bills just get a yes they move on there's a few of that may be out there they may have questions on feel free or there arec correct uh number two if you can uh just keep an eye out um for any changes that may be happening in the family uh lead paid sick lead um then this one I totally support the law but relative to school districts and part we already have contracts um with our our our unions this one I'm sure you've heard it it is is a little bit difficult to I thought it did not apply because it it it does so I would ask you to I spoke to Julie Kushner labor she told me that that is not going to get changed this session but they want to leave the law in place for a little while before they fix it but I I expressed exactly that concern that another superintendent sure you would hear from I problem um the next piece and the last thing that I mention is the implementor bill and that's after a long long session and it comes to last night for those of you that don't know what the Implement bill is and you may be able to describe it better than uh me and Lenny that's hundreds of bills are in one bill and this is what I've been told that you may not be given a lot of time to go through um all those bills that I would not say there hundreds of bills in one but it's a lot of implementation of what we're actually doing in the budget that's that is what the budget implementer is is we put these things in the budget this is what it actually looks like in actuality however um and I will say this is not a partisan thing we all get it at the exact same time it is hundreds of pages long um and I will say I literally take out my highlighter for the time that I have from when it gets sent sometimes it could be sent at midnight so like I don't see it till the next morning per se um but I literally take out my highlighter and we're doing a lot of you know the the function to just okay where's Avon where's Kim you know to look for those things um but it is it's not my favorite part of the process there there's things that have gone into the Implement to bill thato conru when it all comes out that we just scratch our head and say how did that get voted in so I would just ask you and and part of the challenge with that document is that sometimes it's the baby with the back bar if there's 100 like for instance one year there was $100,000 for Avon Senior Center and 100,000 for Canton Senior Center and I I now going to vote against it because I saw something that I didn't like over here and then Avon doesn't you know get their 100,000 you don't get your I mean it's it's very um that part of the process is very frustrating so well I want to thank you both for coming tonight and uh I know that it was a long day today because you are in session but uh we very much appreciate the advocacy that you do for us U like us I know you work long hours and hard for the people you represent so we appreciate you I don't think there's any longer hours of Bo bed so we appreciate you frankly I appreciate you asked us to come because not not every Bo event does that so I think it's really important that we keep this open line of communication I hope you see I mean I think everybody has phone number and if text me for calls so but we want to be obviously Partners in all of us to the extent that we can thank you enjoy your dinner time thank you thanks for okay all right well thank you thank you Board of B for all those questions and U we're going to move forward now with the budget Workshop Dr BR super thank you very much here's going to throw up slide if you remember at our last Board of Education meeting I presented um another budget she was the open Choice budget so which I presented to the board of Finance last night if you go to um this is in your packet if you go to page two I just want to remind the the Board of Education and the the community and the people that are in the audience that we do it a little bit different here that I present a forecasted budget so I December 10th I presented a forecast budget it's not my final budget my final budget will be presented on February 11th but what I really wanted to do was give the Board of Education an opportunity to see where the administrative team with a request and some of the costs that we have where we were on December 10th so you can see with salaries uh with contracted salaries right loan 2.92 benefits I'm going to say right now it's $476,000 um doll I anticipate that that number is going to change um when I present my budget on February 11th but at the time it was 1.36 Insurance Transportation electricity so right there and then those are what we would refer to as fixed costs just to move from this year to next year 4.56 we're just opening up our doors with the same staff that we have this year the same buildings just to roll over 4.56 and then you can see we have a decrease in special education and I explain that why we had that decrease and then Athletics educational technology support facilities maintenance tech services 1.06 and then some new personnel .47 for a total of 5.97 so on December 10th that's where I was at 5.97 some of the questions we received just a few questions on open choice because I think this board has a really good understanding of our open Choice program and our open Choice budget but we did receive a few we are projecting an overall decline in open Choice enrollment over the next several years as I believe in the the case as much as state the next year's open Choice budget there's a projected increase in Choice enrollment of 12% 10 students including three and K How firm are we on these projections for next year have we already filled these seats when is a deadline for Choice students to apply the open Choice memo presented on 11425 illustrates the proposed open Choice seats the district is proposing the open Choice Lottery begins 12524 closes 2725 placement determination is made later in the spring and is based on the Declaration of open seats for each participating school and District the secondary window opens in late March for additional availability we have not yet yielded any new students participating in open Choice placing may continue through September 2025 now the the the big um question that kind of they all piggy back and I'm going to answer the big question if something comes out of the proposed open Choice budget where will that funding go if something comes out of the open Choice budget it must be either absorbed in the general budget in part or completion to be cut or unfunded so for example if we don't achieve the amount of students that we're looking for I'm going to have to look at our open Choice budget and say we can't do that everybody understand that so if we have in our open Choice budget the Huddle subscription for $ 12,900 I may have to say we're not going to do that not saying I'm just giving that as an example question number three I assume that the proposed HR position is a 12- month job in that case is it reasonable to assume that we would hire somebody for that position of $775,000 good question this is not a human resource director this is just a specialist similar to our benefits coordinator and our payroll person that would not be at an administrative level it will be a similar classification to the current benefits of payroll specialist positions that we have here at the Town the position would provide oversight to all aspects of human resource practices in the process but this is not an individual that would evaluate anyone this is a individual that would manage our day-to-day operations of hiring and uh those practices and then I just provided those were the only questions that I was provided and the last slide is just the the the budget Workshop tonight we've had a few already I'll be presenting the administrative Budget on February 11th budget Workshop the 25th budget Workshop the 27th budget Workshop the 4th and then on the 27th through the 4th you have the choice to adopt the budget if you adopt the budget then the budget becomes yours no longer the administrative budget I would encourage everyone to make themsel available on March 19th that is when Mr Daniels will present the board of education budget to the board of finance and depending upon if there's any reductions from the board of Finance there'll be a board budget workshop on the 25th to uh make some of those uh if there are reductions the annual budget hearing is on the 28th with a budget referendum on the 8 so the next big day is February 11th and what I will share as a a precursor um I I'm concerned with um how our health insurance will um turn out we're still working on that um you won't see 5.97 um you could see lower you could see higher we're still working through uh the numbers but as a a precursor um if you remember in the forecast budget I provided you a few new positions with the human resource specialist being an open Choice uh the the safety monitors at the schools a new Middle School basketball program um I'm concerned that you're going to see uh a much different Budget on February 11th and you saw December um 10th um because there's some things that I'm working on um to make sure that I put in front of you a a budget that is fiscally responsible for the town and we'll move our district along and need to be cognizant of uh what's happening in u the town of Ken from a financial standpoint and but also very aware of my responsibility to make sure that my team moves the the K Public Schools forward and continue on the same success that we have right now but I I think the budget that I'm going to present to you on February 11th um in the budget Workshop you may have some tough decisions um they you're going to have to look at forward based upon um some new insurance information I'm being provided that we really got to look at over the next couple weeks so February 11th um that will be the day that I'll present it the present the budget the whole initiative team will be there uh the meeting will definitely be hybrid um so people can watch online because it's really important that people understand the the board of education budget and and the the first slot that I provided for you that that on page two that the fix cost is 4.56 I I can't make that up it's just that's what our salaries are right now it's not any new Personnel I broke that out so it's just to move our district forward is 4.56 and you know people can say we had too many too much St and that's something that you you're going to have have to look at but I'll break it down there'll be charts for you that will show that approximately 81% of our budget is is personel so this is not a budget that you're going to see on February 11th that has increases in supplies and equipment that that's not what this um budget's going to be we we use the Consumer Price Index in a lot of categories we're actually out of the Consumer Price Index so um I I throw it out at that and we'll answer any questions at the time but that's where we are right now in February 11th will will be um when the administration will be here to uh propose the administration budget Mr chair okay uh any quick questions I think I think the prude thing to do is wait till February 11th unless there's something that we've heard tonight that uh is not clear and you need Clarity um go ahead and ask that question one question that really didn't to the program Choice my how much Federal funding we get you know what thing um our education cost share is scheduled to be reduced by $20,000 that's State no uh he's saying Federal oh Federal you mean IA title from everything we don't have an indication on that yet we rely do until September this year we our idea grants were were reduced so was everybody else's um by $5,000 so we in the budget book Joe there'll be a line item what we project for ibaa next year it'll be broken down so in the budget book that you'll receive if you're a member you'll receive a book you won't receive a notebook and in there um what we'll be provided is there'll be two or three pages just on grants and what grants that we receive re and what federal grants we receive how much and how much of state grants that that we receive also will be an open Choice breakdown but what we also heard um from the board of Finance last year is that we'll put in there our fiveyear history of what we spent for the past five years in uh General so we'll have that all break broken down for so just just to close this out the job of the superintendent is to provide us with a budget that he believes moves the district forward and meets the goals that we've established as a board of education Board of education's job is in to take that and to marry that with what we believe or what we feel the town can uh can uh accept uh at the same time we have to stay true to our goals uh as much as we can and the board of finance will then tell us you know where where we need to come in and then based on those goals what the priorities are the Board of Education uh we'll have to make the necessary adjustments from that point on so I think the superintendent is correct I think we're going to have a uh we're going to have to roll up our sleevs this year we did last year we'll do it again this year uh always putting uh our children first and academic um academic achievement is our number one goal so all right so moving right along uh let's take out the Strategic plan that we have we'll go through that uh fairly uh quickly I ready to make any changes all right so the uh the format that we've been using we've been going over each one of the goals we've made some uh some changes in modifications up to this point um minor I think uh but all U good additions and changes so uh board goal number four is learning environment and belonging Foster a safe and positive learning environment in which students and adults engage in order to develop compassionate resilient citizens of local and Global uh local and the global world so the priorities number uh a foster a culture and climate of respect inclusion and empathy through schoolwide initiatives and programs any changes Jordan you just chip in when you can because I'm not looking at you all the time so just yell okay any changes to a all right being comma after inclusion typically no no in the past yes the currently no okay I going to have to change we change that and we'll we'll definitely have when this is all said and done we're definitely going to send this out to somebody to really look at I just put it through grammar all right B ensure a safe and respectful environment through comprehensive anti-bullying and harassment policies changes I wanted to elaborate a little bit on that I don't know if it's not to make it too long but um my suggestion is to add um at the end of that that are clear and consistently enforced promoting the well-being of all students clear consistently want to say clear that are clear and consistently enforced pra promoting the well-being of all students perod yeah I had something similar more more trying to promote you know some positive initiatives like but what she said is fine something that was more positive rather than like you know good can I repe sure uh to add to the end of Essentials that are clear and consistently enforced promoting the wellbeing of all students which maybe hits Ken's point of promoting and wellbeing okay I think that's a great addition thank you C expand and access to mental and Behavioral Health Services and sports within schools access to Services supports school does that imply there isn't so here's money for this so so it's brought your question to the administrative team and we spoke about it for a good half an hour 45 minutes about if you remember Mr shler mentioned are we currently doing these things should we put it currently they understood your point of view but they they feel uncomfortable with how it's written so that's this one is a perfect example do we have this now yes but we want to expand it that there's even more and then we actually were talking about that we took it through the exercise Joe like what are specific things that the high school May do to meet that priority that is measurable so we actually went through the exercise so a lot of these we do but how do we make him better so that that's a perfect example so his Mr sh's point at the last meeting it brought up a great conversation with administrative team and they would bring it up again tonight face said changes to see okay hearing n d promote the mental and physical well-being of students and staff through access to Wellness programs and initiatives I have an addition to the end of that sentence too that said um that support the holistic health of the entire School Community Support at first I thought about adding the word social but social weing but really I get this is more GE towards like individually the mental F you want to just repeat that again please um that support the holistic health of the entire School Community great of the entire school what do you mean by holistic theud yeah um like when you speak of mental emotional physical like every everything Compass do you want to spell that out know I'm I'm good with that I would just want to um go back and look up the definition of holistic health because I I think there's actually something that is like holistic health a specific like medical type of thing but I understand what you are saying the whole child um and and is the whole child wh o l e or is it holistic like holistic medicine so I think we need to be I know you but wouldn't that be like I know you're talking about you mean like that's more like that so that's H she's spelling it w o l e okay the whole whole H that's that's what you mean right okay I just want to look at that understand what you mean I just want to can you read that again uh yeah like the just the last question that supports the holistic health of the entire school and you're suggesting changing into supporting the whole health of the entire school well joh John actually just um looked up the definition for me of holistic health is a wellness approach that considers all aspects of the person so can we put John yeah so just just looking at that to holistic health is a wellness approach that considers all aspects of a person including their physical mental emotional social and spiritual health it's based on the idea that parts of a person's health are multi-dimensional and connected that's what we want so John so can we keep it as holistic health like Felicia said with the H yeah that sense right John holistic within I think so correct in place of whole child w e yes right great you got that so it's holistic with an engine perfect I just wanted to like I get what you meant I just want to make sure that and I'm glad John was able to write that's a good addition yeah Excell good all right e Empower students to take an active role in shaping their school environment I was going to to that Y in order to encourage student on in order to encourage student because I look at all these where's the belonging order to encourage student you about e yes know it says ow students I was add the word support Empower and support yeah we can Empower them but we also may have staff that needs to support them whether it's student council or great so power and support students to take an active role in shaping their school environment in order to encourage encourage autonomy student autonomy student autonomy get that perfect these are great additions thank you f support student learning well-being strong partnership with families I didn't I in my not I wrote something like the words communication and collaboration through communication well I didn't know if we should add something support student learning wellbeing through strong Partnerships I have some I have in communication commun maybe Partnerships in um strong partnership effective or communication or through collaboration or I don't know something about communication is more the word read it yeah um I have after families um ensuring open lines of communication and providing resources that enable all families to engage in their child's educational experience is that much better say that all right say it loud so it's on it'll help you that way right after part so strong Partnerships with families comma ensuring open lines of communication and providing resources that enable all families to engage in their child's educational experience all right that was good okay um G enrich the learning environment by involving Community organizations in school activities and programs enrich the learning environment by involving Community organizations school activities and programs should we say partnering instead of involving by partnering Community organization partnering with partnering Community organizations all right get partnering with and H is regularly assessed and address potential safe path within school buildings and grounds is that do that do that yes does that we have the word identify in there also regularly assess identify and identify an address assess and identify and address and address potential safety regular assess identifying interest in regular assess regular ass assess identify and address comma regular assess comma identify and address potential safety hazards with school buildings and grounds all right any other uh comments or questions on uh um board goal number four okay citizenship and digital citizenship does that factor in here cuz it hasn't facted in any place yet John what are your thoughts on that citizenship and digital citizenship jobs yeah I I think I I think that citizenship um is something that we could look at to to make sure that we we put in place and Joe to your point I think I think our students see that there's no separation between digital um and or or in-person citizenship it's all it it's the whole thing for them and it's it's a part of our job to be able to pull that all together to be able to deliver to that there are explicit things that we need to do to be able to teach to that to be able to support them but a citizenship element I think is an important thing to be able to consider in there yeah you know what we'll go back that will be um nailed down the final version we'll go back we need to add one for citizenship and John I I do think we need to be more specific and add digital citizenship in there too I think we got to call that one now I understand your point about citizenship encompasses it but I don't want to ignore the the digital part of it also yeah the multi-dimensional world that our kids live in I think is a good way for us to be able to to Really hand some information within it I agree yeah I want but I want to call out digital I want to call that out call it out separately or you want to call it out into within within Bo goal number four one of the priorities I'll have John something relative you have his ey you're saying we'll put it somewhere positive learning environment kids understanding how to make no I agre I agree I agree so John will I'll write one that when we hand out the final draft U we'll make sure something's in there so John you got that K you can add that in I mean uh H you can add that in the chair sherff Daniels I just want to say that on February 11th may not be uh the right time to do another aboard goal because we're spending a lot of time the budget I think we'll come back and maybe March and do this we have two more so I think we're really hitting this in March April we would a hit board goal number five and six and then come back in May and give you kind of a final um copy of what things looks like it also gives the chair the opportunity to go to the schools in May to talk about it with possible action board vote on this in in June at the last meeting in June and that means you spent the entire year from basically June to June of writing a strategic plan and doing it openly in in public session but can we plan from February 11th to finish the board for you you'll bring the citizenship in that can no we'll bring that you want to kick it to when we do the final copy we'll just highlight that we did the citizenship and you take the changes back to the administrator in case they pick up something that we didn't intend okay y all right we're going to move to the consent agenda and um any changes or amendments to the consent agenda Jordan yes um I wanted to make a motion that we add in the discussion about the um $300,000 um that was done at the Town boat and just a little bit of that discussion if we could add some of that to the minutes so in public comment uh my suggestion would be where it says Lisa Cogan's a derer drive if you go down to the second line towards the end we would insert inquired about the $300,000 from the town so Jordan's making a proposal uh to amend the uh consent consent or the minutes excuse me to uh amend the minutes to add inquired about the 300,000 from the town that's a motion do I have a second thank you came on a second any discussion on that okay hearing none all those in favor I oppos so we've amended the minutes to reflect that J okay thank you and then is there anywhere in the minutes that just gives a discussion of where that came from for why why we had to do that no there's no we did not answer that anywhere we did and that she answered it in her financial report did you hear that it was actually answered within the financial report well yeah it was in the financial report is it in minute would be well it's in the minutes via your financial report correct or was that two meetings ago we added that I asked an to speak about that when she gave her financial report at the last meeting she spoke about the [Music] 300,000 can we just add what Anna said we certainly can add that okay or I'd like to make a motion that we add that so it so what you're suggesting then is is inde in the business manager report we would just put in that uh the business manager we we put something in there about the 300,000 we'll insert something there yes yep I just want it on so we're not going to approve the minutes tonight we'll approve them in the February meeting we'll look at that insertion and we'll approve it that time all right okay thank you so much CL is going to redo those minutes those two things I'm we bring it back bring it back all right uh we'll move on to uh Mr shy discussion of possible approval this is the second reading of policy 4011 FMLA which is uh law I believe right so I didn't receive any questions from anybody since the last meeting uh no one had any at the last meeting as well so I ask that this is simply updating our current right okay um am I voting on that now yes okay do I have do I have a motion she than all right um I'll make the motion that the Board of Education approve uh policy 4011 FMLA do I have a second second Mr shy any discussion on that as long no Jordan good all those in favor I oppos okay that passes discussion of possible approval of policy 5013 homeless children and youth this is the second reading Mr shy again no questions or issues at the last meeting and I received none John you haven't either I should as on the last one I assume John you haven't heard anything from anyone any concerns no again just updating our current policy as required so I would suggest we approve that I make a motion that the Board of Education approve policy 513 homeless children and youth you have a second second Mr sh any discussion all those in favor I oppos okay none Perfect all right uh adoption of the board of education's uh Capital Improvement plan this is this is uh uh I'll give you an update on that I am the chair of the capital Improvement planning committee that includes Russell Bush and myself the board of board of Selectmen it's uh selectman vasi and selectman uh leget uh also in attendance is Dr grman CAO Penny uh Public Works director Tom Richardson at the meetings we've decided that anything below 25,000 is going to be called small capital and really comes out of operating it's a it'll be designated small C operating a small Capital but it stays in the operating budget anything above 25,000 is going to be capital and within the capital some of those things will be carved out for bonding we just don't know where that is so tonight I'm asking you to prove the superintendent and uh the superintendent's recommendation on both small cap and yeah so what's ining packing right now is you you've seen all this before this was in my forecast budget there could be a couple changes but we just broke it down as the cheer said in a small cap and large cap is the second page and then the possible bonding uh projects all these things have been discussed Capital Improvement planning committee you are not voting for this to be um in the budget this is just something that the superintendent and the Board of Ed need to remember Capital Improvement except small cap is now going to be an operational possibly just because I have this list does not mean that we may be doing it we may have to pit it out a year but the large capital and the bonding the large cap goes into the selectman budget we're working together to prioritize the list between the Board of Education in the the Selectmen and these are the lists of the projects that that we're looking at so it does not mean that these are going to be funded it's just where we are right now within our Capital Improvement plan and the possible bonding bonded projects so before you ask the I'll take a first a second then I'll go to questions really the proper procedure so if I can have a for uh so the motion is to accept the superintendent or or the board of educations for the year 2526 Capital Improvement plan so can I have a motion I'll ask somebody else to make that motion so Peggy makes the motion the second comes from up Lea now please ask your questions to superintendent um so I noticed on like bonded projects that there's no prices I see the Nots just because we don't have an idea what those would be at the even though some of them are hard as high priority correct so like the CH Brook project as we know it probably would not be in the first proin project if the town goes out to bottomless B because the select still have to put that committee together that we recommended the community gymnas we it just was talked about that we need it there's no um prices the cafeteria update there's no prices but the the root rep placement in the Slate Ro we had prices last year but we need to it could it could have went up so if it goes into a bonded project let's say Bond goes out I would anticipate that the the roof at CIS would be included in the the bond project and we get updated crisis any other questions yeah Mr sh um did you give any thought to putting all the bathrooms across the district into the uh capital M the high the the bonded one the the issue um it's a really good question um I I guess we could go back and ask them that because that wasn't anything that we we brought up and we would have to ask them if that's something that maybe will put out in a bond if if it's what they're looking at is possibly bonding every two years to three years if it's not in the first Bond referendum we still need to go after boms it's ongoing cost oh you're 100% correct if we just put it in we can get it out one sweep it it I think it's worth question have St I think you can still vote on this tonight and this is a move of all well we we can amend this you can add it tonight if you wanted to so I I wouldn't want to take it off without knowing what the committee would say one I don't know what committee relative to I think I say but but this more than anything is to alert the public of the needs uh the the larger needs of the district more than anything else um what's happened in the past as I said before is uh Capital gets cannibalized because the need for Opera and there's only so much in in the pot so um there there's only so much that they're going to bond for this first round and what I if you remember from the last time some of the priorities were the Slate grof Cher Brook was in there the air packs for the fire department and the pickleball course and tennis or so but I think it's worthwhile for to bring up on next week when we meet on the Monday second question just minor one that I thought we were required to put the $74,000 in for the track and field replacement every year so shouldn't be a high prior so well well there's enough money in there right now to cover the field there's enough money in the account to cover a field what has to be discussed is how much does it cost to replace the track and Tommy Richardson is getting a price on the track this spray we know that we still have lights in that track um so he's got to get a price so could it turn into a high priority once he gets that price that let's say it's a enormous number then we may have to put that in as a high priority so the board of Finance instructions were what track and field within you must put in 75 grand but it's it's been a few years that it hasn't been in not they pass on we pass on control I guess maybe I should have check it did we really not put money into that account last last year because it was said that there's enough money in there to cover theit but what we do know now is there's no money for the track may be a whole lot more money so we don't have on the tracks lifespan we do we just did it that was we actually that's why they cut it last year we had one of the questions that was asked a bunch of Workshop was how much life do you might remember the reason why the field had more life was because we're not playing football on frequently so anyway so we have a first in a second uh we'll take the vote all those in favor of the capital Improvement uh plan is presented I everybody could okay that passes thank you very much for that um at this point we're going to move into executive session uh I take a motion for executive session thank you Peggy second on Joe any questions all those in favor I um Jordan we'll put you on uh I'll put you on bring my phone and we'll put you on u u and John we'll put you both on no John need go okay John so we're going into exception session uh we're inviting the superintendent say that session okay we're going into the room the first room on the right all right oh

the meeting is open and the live stream has started thank you e it is 5:30 good evening Asuza Community students parents and staff welcome to the Board of Education meeting we're going to move on to item 1.1 I would like to call the meeting to order on Tuesday January 28th 2025 at 5:30 p.m.

moving on to item 1.2 row call we have board vice president Benavides here board clerk Rodriguez Peña present board member Greer will be here today at Round 6:30 board member Ramos and I board member Arianas am present moving on to item 1.3 the Pledge of Allegiance if we could have everyone please stand up ready begin flag United States of America stands one nation under God indivisible Li and justice for moving on to item 2.1 approval of the agenda can I get a motion make a motion to approve second okay we have a first by board member Rodriguez paa we have a second by board member Benavides any discussion seeing that there's none let's go ahead colleagues please place your boot we can go ahead okay we have a 41 being absent at this time and it passes moving on to item 3.0 public comment on agenda and non agenda items Lea do we have anybody on Zoom we have no hands raised on Zoom oh do we have any blue cards we have none then that leads us to item 4.0 participation of board governance workshop at this moment I will go ahead and turn over to Mr Ortega our superintendent thank you uh board president arianis uh welcome everyone um want to uh give a little context uh to today's uh board governance um as we have been together as a team and as have as we have been in this cycle of continuous Improvement always striving to be better uh one of the things uh that has been brought up uh at the board level um is how we support new board members in their role as a board member right uh some of us this might be our first time in public service some of us it might be our first time uh holding an elected office and so with that cycle of continuous Improvement in mind um a couple of things have developed over the course of years uh so first and foremost um we now uh myself when when I know who a new board member is going to be whether that's because they were running una opposed or because they were duly elected whatever that may be uh I'm not waiting until they take the oath of office to begin to meet with them um and to start taking questions to start kind of explaining a little bit of our district uh the second thing is that the onboarding process has evolved as well that is now a half day on boarding process um Mr Ramos loved it uh he enjoyed the four hours locked up in my office uh but all jokes aside yeah but all jokes aside uh he was able to spend an hour with with with myself in Business Services an hour with myself and Ed services an hour myself with HR and then an hour uh with me and so it's a half day onboarding process that we now have in place and we're always looking to see how that gets better the third point and that's why we're here today is that um there had been conversation at the board level that when we have a new board member um that our first board governance meeting that we do kind of like a board member 101 that we that we refresh for us who have been on the board on Robert's Rules and brown act uh and that Angelina uh who is our csba partner uh help us with like the the the the biggest strategies or or the best advice on how to be a good board member because then or the steps to take because obviously we're a governance team and so that all adds to Our Success uh as a team and so that's why we are here today and those are the topics that we're going to be discussing today but I wanted to take about 10 minutes of today's board meeting uh to train the board of education on our new sanics uh product and then to issue you your card uh we do have a signin sheet uh that we will sign that we were here uh so it won't take more than 10 minutes uh so with that I'm going to turn it over to uh Leica who is going to show us a um a video um around cix Leica starting the video now hello and welcome to cix at cix we innovate Safety Solutions to empower and protect people every day the badge was selected by your employer because they are invested in your safety and your peace of mind whether a minor emergency or a threat to the entire workplace with your crisis alert badge you have the ability to request help anywhere at any time you can be in places such as a stairwell the cafeteria or the parking lot your crisis alert badge allows you to notify responders telling them who and where you are enabling them to quickly provide assistance remember as you arrive to work each day you wear this badge so that you can confidently call for help in any situation knowing help will come immediately here are some of the different pieces of Hardware that that you may have seen around your facility each Gateway is placed on the outside of the building it's hardwired into your systems network if your network ever goes down crisis alert will automatically switch to Cellular so the solution will continue functioning alert strobes are in common areas and Gathering spots they will be in classrooms hallways cafeterias Etc when a campus wide event is triggered they will begin flashing and emitting a light chirp locating Beacon are located outside they are in areas such as parking lots playgrounds and stadiums and are strapped onto poles when the button on a badge is pressed to activate an alert locating beacons and alert strobes provide the location information to responders the last piece of equipment is the badge which every employee will receive the badge can trigger two types of alerts a staff alert and a campus-wide alert the crisis alert badge can be used to activate two types of alerts a staff alert is for everyday incidents such as medical emergencies or student altercations a campus wide alert is for extreme emergencies that threaten an entire campus examples could be a visible weapon or active shooter to activate a staff alert firmly press the button on the badge three times in a quick succession I need help you will hear a click after each push push after the third push the button will vibrate the responders at your location will receive your notification that you need help in where you were located to activate a campus wide alert repeatedly push the button on the crisis alert badge until the alert is activated push firmly and quickly through the vibrations you will know a campus white alert has been activated as strobes will begin to flash staff computers will receive a desktop takeover and if integrated a pre-recorded intercom message will play here are some facts about the badge if you lose your badge please notify your badge manager immediately it can be deactivated with a click of a button you don't want someone getting a hold of your lost badge and activating an alert the batteries in the badges last on average 1 to 2 years badge managers will be monitoring the health of badges only when you press the button on a b badge to activate an alert is your location shared do not write on your badge badges can be reissued to another employee badges are water resistant but not waterproof according to the American Heart Association Bluetooth and other Wireless Technologies pose little to no risk to the performance of icds and pacemakers the crisis alert badge uses a transmitter comparable in power to a Bluetooth headset or Wireless speaker here are some best practices regarding your crisis alert badge wear your badge on your body above the waist either on a lanyard or clipped to your shirt putting your staff ID in front of your crisis alert badge with the button in the middle allows quick access of the button in an emergency and protects the button against any inadvertent impresses do not leave it unattended or accessible to students do not hang the badge with other items such as keys on the lanyard with your badge do not leave it in a very hot or cold car treat it like you would your cell phone the badge will work inside buildings and outside on playgrounds and in parking lots at every property in your organization remember to wear the badge at all times while you are at work the beauty of the crisis alert solution is that with your badge you have the ability to request help anywhere at any time now let's do a quick recap of the badges individual staff alerts are for when help is needed if there is a medical emergency fight suspicious activity Etc you are to quickly click the badge three times and site responders will be notified through their mobile and desktop applications campus-wide lockdown alerts are activated when the safety of everyone on site is at risk you are to click the badge continuously and the site responders along with your District or organization's responders will be notified through their mobile and desktop applications thank you Leica so that's the training uh today we're going to be issuing issuing you a lanyard a plastic um holder uh and the badge that you can uh carry in that uh you can if you don't like the lanyard you can have you can get your own lanyard whatever lanyard you want uh that's fine uh but we all wear it uh all the time when we're on campus this doesn't discriminate location so if you are at an event at a school site when you press it it'll know that you are there uh so this this will not work only at the district office this works throughout the entire organization again unless it is a lock down situation a weapon an active shooter where I'm going to keep pressing this until I see that the alarms have gone off everything else is just three buttons I need help there's a student who just got hit um there's uh someone just threw up and it might be slippery um you are not feeling good and need some some attention all of those things are one two three I need help this will vibrate and help will be uh on its way for all alerts the one two three alerts the people at that site so so if you're at Dalton like we were yesterday um if I were to press this three times the Dalton principal and team there gets the alert if it's the oh my gosh there's an active shooter we need to lock down this campus not only does a School site get an alert the district gets an alert azuza PD gets an alert Blackwater gets an alert and everybody um responds to to the site uh they will know who pressed it and they will know their their location so unless there's any questions we can um start passing out the badges yeah I was going to ask so um you answered my question regarding so whatever School site you are and is this a unified school district sites only I mean correct if I'm coming from okay if I'm I'm coming from one school to another school and I see something going on at that campus or someone at the gate and I'm in my car it's not it's I have to be on the campus correct you have it's a Bluetooth so just think about Bluetooth you know how you you put your your phone to your speaker and there's a certain amount of space and after that it just connects you have to be close enough to the to the to the Bluetooth uh gateways for it to be picked up and and then do we and also employees need to turn it in at the in June or at the end of the school year or the you just keep it correct take it home keep it when when um just like anything else when if people separate from the district just like we collect our keys and the computer and the laptop we would collect these as well okay that's my I had a question yes so I'm assuming that this is available also to employees that work after hours for example janitoral custodians that are on the campuses at and then there's a response team there on the campus or how how would that work yeah the alerts would go to the because we do have administrators uh that work uh in the evening shifts and so they they get alerted but do you have an administrator at each location each school so then the response time would be a little bit longer right might be a little bit longer correct okay so even for a fight just a fight just a simple fight one two three okay yes ma'am yeah and uh they have been used already and uh we've had a pretty successful uses of it so far correct yes ma'am yes I know does does in a Kina Valley have this system Kina Valley does have this system yes can you just share a little bit about you know have they shared anything with you like they were they have been very yeah they have been very gracious when we were going to implement uh we were able to to uh visit them uh get some best practices some tips on implementation um they shared uh some some of some of the hiccups that they encountered and you hey do it this way uh because they they they've learned the the the product uh but they've had a good implementation as well and so we're very thankful uh to the Cina Valley Unified School District superintendent and team that have been extremely available to us for questions and even allowed us to allowed us to visit too do you know other than Cina Valley what other schools in the Tang bro Valley use it I mean not if you don't it's okay I don't out to to my head I do not I just want to say thank you to um you and the staff for really bringing this told us at the beginning but honestly I don't remember but I think they mentioned um other districts but it wasn't close by Kina was the closest one to us yeah thank you okay okay um with that being said um so I'm sorry so if we're in the parking lot we're going to our car even then yes ma'am that's good yes right because we walk out sometimes here dark even at dark and sometimes you know yes ma'am um for our current board members uh you see familiar faces in the audience today uh Mr Carlos Ramos like to introduce you to Mr Carlos vigas um Mr Vias is with our uh legal firm our legal Partners at F3 and so he will be um doing a presentation today overview of Robert's Rules and the brown act and I am going to drive here make sure that this gets done correct correctly yep all right sir turn it over to you thank you very much superintendent Oro for the introduction and for those board members I haven't worked with directly and for the entire board thank you for having me here tonight and for those board members who I haven't worked with directly I come from a family of Educators and I've been doing education law for about 20 years um Mom Dad everybody's teachers or principles in the family nieces nephews everybody Aunts Uncles and so I went to law school thinking I'm going to do something totally different and then became an education lawyer so I joined my whole family so it's a pleasure to be with everybody and I really enjoy working with school districts in this capacity picking up on what superintendent Ortega described as kind of the introduction to governance this is truly a a 101 of Roberts W of order and the brown act and if you're familiar with Roberts W of order you ever go to the library and check out the book it's typically about this big it's dense there's a lot of intricacies to it same with the brown act there was a lot of graduate you know course that you could probably take on it any of those questions I'll probably defer for tonight because I know you have a full agenda and you include some additional governance training so with that in mind I'm going to go ahead and get started and superintendent Orga every once in a while there's a slide that we have to advance a few times to get everything out we can go ahead and do that and then I'll tackle everything at once um I'll move relatively quickly if there's any questions just flag me down and and I can kind of address it in order so very brief overview of the Robert schw of order and I want to talk a little bit about the purpose of Robert scholes and how that kind of interacts with the brown act and so we're going to impack that a little bit today some of the more common roles I've seen some of them already in use by um board president aranth and how you open a meeting how you kind of move and get things going so all that is is probably review and you've seen it in some of your board meetings already and then we're going to jump into a very brief Brown act overview couple Hot Topics from the brown act and then we'll reserve the rest of the night for the rest of the governance training okay so we can move to the next slide here as we get to Robert's Rules and and I think of it as you know the the Arcane description is Right parliamentary procedure the way I look at it is you have the brown act that governs transparency and the conduct of the people's business and Robert's Rules is really kind of the the ship that gets you there the effective kind of uh process process that you can apply to your meetings such that your meetings are as efficient as possible and you get all the business that you can get done in the course of one meeting we'll head to the next slide so just some of the basic rights at stake the right of the majority to make decisions the right of the minority to be heard the rights of individual board members to participate and the right of the board to develop its own rules and regulation the next so there's two different tracks here and the way that I think of the brown Act is the brown Act is the legal requirements that you have transparency and the conduct of the people's business so anything that you're doing as a legislative body there are certain rules and Provisions for public participation notice an agenda and how you actually conduct the meeting and you make your decisions and you have the the sunshine on those decisions themselves Robert's Rules is about the order and the efficiency of those meeting protocols just kind of gets you from poting to point B um one piece that I just want to mention here as we kind of get grounded this board has not formally adopted Roberts Rules of Order so as we talk a little bit about Roberts rules as far as I know in kind of recent memory as we talk about Roberts rules I really want the board to come away from this understanding that it's not a strict requirement I think you all follow Robert's Rules I've seen it in action here and I've worked with the board a little bit on Robert roles in the past so you do it as a means to have an efficient meeting but if there there's ever an issue with Robert's rules that is not the piece of kind of um requirements I'm thinking about I'm really going to be looking to the brown act and to see if there's any potential um issues that we need to address so Brown Act is law Robert's Rules is procedural guidance okay so I've kind of talked about this a little bit but if there's a conflict here it's the brown act that's going to control and I think one of the biggest misconceptions about Roberts rules and the brown Act fact is if we make some kind of error in following Robert's Rules does that invalidate the board's action and I think the short answer the easiest way to address it is minor errors and following Roberts rules do not equal Brown act violations so those two are not one and the same so just keep that in mind as we move forward with some of the meetings now we have some of the most common pieces of of the Robert roles here in the slides and believe me um it would probably take a N9 10hour governance meeting to go through all the different intricate Roberts rules motions so I'm going to hit some of the most common so the chair is typically going to open up the floor for motions the chair will recognize any motion made if it's relevant to the conduct of the business and the agenda at hand um if it's not the chair May determine that that motion is out of order and any motion typically will be seconded to discuss and so what you might see is a motion the second and then there is a opening of that motion or that issue for discussion and the moving board member can also withdraw that motion and we've seen that in practice sometimes so you make you make a motion maybe there's some discussion and the board member may say you know what I'm going to pull that back for now because maybe staff is going to study it maybe it's not the right time for this motion and that's how some of the Motions are introduced please now every once in a while there will be a motion and as the discussion unfolds there's an idea that comes up and you can see kind of in in in practice there might be consensus there might be agreement on that original motion if it's tweaked a little bit so you can move to an amend an original motion and once you you know you'll State the amendment you need a second for that move to amend a motion to amend and the chair will call for discussion ultimately the way I like to think about it is when you have a majority of board members you're going to you're going to be getting the ball rolling so the motion to amend also requires a majority of the board members to vote once that once that majority votes then that new amended motion is locked in the original motion goes away all right point of order now this is something and I'm kind of thinking of um any of the courtroom TV shows that that I watch it it's probably one of the most maybe misused used pieces of Robert's Rules But ultimately you're trying to correct a breach in the rules but it really should be reserved for major infractions given that the the board does not strictly follow Robert's Rules it it doesn't always make sense to have point of order point of order um rather the board president's attention can kind of be brought and then the board president can recognize somebody to speak um so point of order I typically reserve for you know something something major is happening here that we need to kind of put a a stop to the Train on its tracks it should be made at the time of the infection and the second is not required it's not debatable but the board president would effectively rule on that point of order has Robert's Wes been violated do we need to take a pause on what we're doing here and and kind of reassess all right procedural motions there is no slide big enough for all the different procedural motions trust me there's no PowerPoint big enough for all the procedural motions but a few of the the most common issues that think about are you going to be postponing consideration of the main motion are you going to be referring a matter to a committee or a person um could there be limiting discussion or creating special rules for a particular motion do we need to divide the motion into smaller topics so there may be an issue before the board to approve a certain type of budget or certain type of expenditure of funds but that motion also includes other pieces of District action it might make sense to divide that motion into two different votes one on the vote I'm sorry one on the funding and one on the other pieces to the issue or um is there a motion to overrule the chair's ruling say on a point of order for example do we need to pull an item out of consent or do we need to call for a recess again this is just a snapshot of some of the procedural motions but I think the ones you might see more commonly Quorum and this is Robert Jules but I think this is a good one that kind of plugs in with some of the brown act 50% of the total board members con stitutes quum for purposes of Robert's Rules that's different um for for brown act for brown act we're going to need a majority of the five member board so in order to establish a quum for the brown you always need three board members I'm going to come back to that issue a little bit later in the bronic but I wanted to point out the the difference there um if there's a lack of Quorum the chair is going to recess until the Quorum is present and during the meeting and an extension still counts for purposes of Quorum so say for example example there's a board member here and the board member chooses to abstain the board member does not vote the board member is still here the board member's present still counts towards Quorum but the board member has not voted yet or nay so therefore that that vote needs to pass with the remaining board members if it's going to pass all right rapid fire we're jumping into the brown act any questions on Roberts woles before I proceed have a question I'm sorry yeah I was wondering on when you abstained can you give us a couple of examples I know um with city council sometimes there's a conflict of interest so they they abstain but like in the school board what what would that entail well I won't go too deeply into conflict of in interest issues and and kind of potential recusal but but I think maybe the best way to go about it is there may be an issue in front of the board where an individual board member believes that they do not have enough information about the particular topic and or they may they may have a not necessar neily a conflict of interest um but they may have an issue that they feel it'd be better if they did not take a particular vote on that so I've seen board members say I'm going to abstain from this particular vote it it might just simply be when the information was presented to the board that person was absent at that prior meeting therefore they're not comfortable voting on the issue before the board and so they say you know what I'm going to sit this one out I'm gonna obstain board member Rodriguez May um so when they obstain when when you abstained do you need to give a reason why you abstained let me double check your board bylaws um there may be yeah because I I thought we didn't need needed to and and I thought there was some language that that's exactly why I went there I thought there was some language in there that talked about Civility and governance I'll probably defer to csba to kind of unpack that in in the rest of the governance training but we'll check the board bylaws and get back to with a specific answer I think thought the bylaw referred to in the spirit of Civility we'd like to we like to share some kind of Reason um so I'll I just think sometimes it's you know for the um Community or whomever you know when you obstain they also why why did they obstain I mean it's it's if you have an answer you have an answer right instead of saying oh well she doesn't want he or she doesn't want to say or it just perception is what I'm I'm looking at and also at another I was watching another board meeting and the aest thing I've never seen here in 13 years I've been here they did a substitute motion you know that is I'm aware of it but I won't get into the intricacy of it yeah it's very complicated and I'm curious why I'm cous why they did that and made it more complicated but I hear you yeah yeah okay I'm good thank you all right thank you any more questions okay move on all right jumping back into the brown act ultimately the main goal here like a lot of you know good California laws that become complex to to enforce it's really the spirit to have open and public discussions and deliberations to have meaningful public access to to the business of the people all right so the meeting has to be held in public and so you have to be thinking about providing that access so the public has a right to observe the meeting now one thing is your P your time is really precious and so you need to provide Public Access but it doesn't mean that this is a town hall meeting and so there are certain rules and requirements for the board to engage with the public um I'll let the governance training kind of un pack that a little bit as we go on but just keep in mind that it's not really intended the brown act's not intended for there to be a lot of back and forth with the public you have a scripted agenda that you need to adhere to so keep that in mind it's really your time with I think one meeting per month is is really precious and so you want to be able to get as much businesses done as possible all right so what is a meeting it's anytime you have a majority of the members of the board who are at the same time in place to either hear discuss deliberate or take action on any matter that is District business I know we use the phrase subject matter jurisdiction but that's really a fancy way to say anytime you're hearing discussing deliberating or taking action on District business that is a meeting that should be agendized under the brown act so here's what's not a meeting individual contacts public conferences I know that we're coming not too far from csba so csba in and of itself wouldn't be a meeting depending on what was going on there um other local agency meetings there's some nuances to that that I won't get into today but Community meetings and social Gatherings and so I'll share you know as a a former School site council member there was I used to work with a board in our local community and I noticed that even when they had three board members that would come to community events it could be a chili cook off it could be anything those board members would tend to circulate around the room and they made a point to not grouped together at any given time and I think board member um Rodriguez P this goes to your point about the perception of what's going on at any given moment um you're now elected officials you are you're representing the people so if you group together outside of a board meeting folks may think that um you're talking about District business when really we're just exchanging recipes or whatever is going on so just keep that in mind the the perception about you as a board member and all of those things are okay under the brown act as long as you're not discuss discussing District business we can go to the next slide please so serial meetings and these are things that you cannot do without violating the brown act a few things to keep in mind a daisy chain to me that is I I prefer the game of telephone right so if board member Benavides talks to board president Arianas who talks to board me board member Rodriguez paa who talks to board member Ramos The Story Goes from one board member to another that could potentially Be A Serial meeting that violates the brown act okay now there's a different version of that would be if one board member went and talked to each board member and found out maybe potentially how they felt about an issue or they were talking about District business you have to be really careful with that because you have a perception issue but you may also have separate from that a potential Brown act violation if you are talking about District business outside of a regular meeting okay go um there the exception um individual meetings with school officials we we understand that the district's administrators need to get information to you and I know that they're very Vigilant to make sure that that information flows one way we're on the next one already okay good we can go back one more thank you sir okay just a few uh posting requirements regular meetings typically will take 72 hours special meetings 24 hours emergency meetings don't have a hours requirement but there's specific reasons you would convene a special meeting and you still need to get notice out to the media I won't go too deep into some of those other pieces you probably are now familiar with what is the public session of the meeting and what is the close session and you know you need to be thinking about whether or not it's individual board members or members of the public who are kind of pushing for items to be on the agenda in my experience and I think consistent with the board bylaws the board president and superintendent work on the agenda and formulate that and kind of bring it to the board okay close session it may only be for purposes authorized by the brown act or the Education Code so just keep that in mind anything that's disclosed in Clos session must be confidential um you're also going to put something on the agenda indicating the subject or the type of close session that you're conducting it's not necessarily going to reveal anything about the discussion itself but it does signal to the public there are things that are happening here in the close session that may be important and me as a member of the public I need to tune in and hear whether or not a decision was made in close session so the board can also consider those items in a statement or it can actually be on the agenda um I know you all have an ironed out process for doing that you have one question here member I have a question back and your last slide you mentioned the the special meeting the regular meeting and then the third one you called that is that the emergency meeting correct that you do not have to um there's no time and but do you need to tell the community why you're having this emergency meeting and I thought I thought that question may come up so I was actually looking at the brown act before we came here tonight the the requirement is that you have members of the media who are already on your list to receive copies of the agenda so the media needs to be notified there's not a specific notice requirement but say for example there was a wildfire in the area you may need to convene a board meeting immediately and then you have to go through certain steps to make sure that at least some folks know about that meeting Public Access and things like that um I can get into it a little deeper with the superintendent offline but I think that giv just a quick example we I I have had one here being in board when Co happened there you go they said you know Friday March 13th you need to meet at the board of board members people already here too they guess you know and it was regarding the closing of school and the emergency but I I would just you know want to know so it has to be like a disaster needs to be something similar to that exactly in my experience the emergency meetings are not used for anything short of a major disaster I think is a perfect example I think the wildfires are as well okay thank you thank you we have one more question on open to the public as well yes yeah all meetings are open to the public now in in the the way that the meeting may happen chances are if folks have you know an hour's notice maybe nobody will come but all district business you know theoretically is open to the public other than the exceptions in the brown okay we talked a little bit about closed session thank you we're on the the right size or the right slide here so you must report out any final action taken in Open Session I won't go into the nuances but that word final is important sometimes you take action and it's not necessarily final and doesn't need to be reported but um that's for The Graduate course we won't go into it tonight ultimately close session is really about confidentiality and the ability of the board to have some flexibility and discuss sensitive confidential matters without those matters being put out to the public yet um in a virtual world with public questions coming at you you really always need to be able to kind of keep that part of your brain that holds the Clos session discussion and so I I kind of drilled down on that for a second here because it can get easy to kind of forget oh that was something that I learned in Clos session and that part should not be disclosed so you have to be very Vigilant to make sure that anything you learn in close session does not come out to the public now one one note I want to make about that if there's information that's already out there just because that information is diso or discussed in closed session does not make it private or confidential it's only those things which the public does not know about that are disclosed in in Clos session that could potentially violate the brown act if you're putting them out there all right public participation now board meetings are held in public so we have to ensure that there's meaningful Public Access and then public has the right to comment on agenda and non-agenda items there's some nuances between regular and special meetings I won't go into right now but we cannot prohibit public criticism of the policies procedures and really just the district business and board and so I for your experienced board members I know that they're quite familiar that they are elected officials and so the public often comes to tell everybody um that they you know are less and pleased with whatever is going on with the district or the board we understand that um and ultimately it's it's against the law to prohibit that type of criticism we have one question board member and also so I didn't see here that they are able to record us and take our pictures in a public meeting that's correct yes and and really in in public places long as it's not disrupting the meeting itself yeah because I mean I had a a question with that um when I was first on board and there was a person you know video recording and I was new you know and I'm like why are they recording me they because she's allowed to do that that's right and yeah and first I'm like you know why is she recording me what now I get it right so I just want to tell the then your board members they come over here and record you or take your picture just smile that's it that's right um and and I do think to give an example if if a member of the public was doing that recording and they were placed you know at the in their seat or they were doing it from the back of the room you know and you asked me for my thoughts I would say they're not disrupting the meeting and they're entitled to do that if that same person came over here in front of the Das and is doing this and we can't conduct the meeting then I would say that is disrupting the meeting and there's procedures for that as well we have one more question please oh okay all right now we've talked about the the importance of confidentiality and and I think with very effective high functioning boards everyone understands confidentiality and the importance of that and ultimately though one thing for the new board members to keep in mind that confidentiality lasts for life and there any unauthorized disclosure could result in civil and potentially criminal liability so every once in a while there's a situation in in a district thankfully never here but there's situations where something happened in Clos session something was discussed that has now been leaked to the media or that now has been leaked to an advocate in the community and there becomes a question as to how that person found out that information um if that happens there could potentially be an investigation and it could come with a civil and criminal you know Penal penalties so just keep that in mind um as we move forward I have a question on that please um uh you mentioned that it's confidential for life but it's unless that information becomes I think that's right I you're going to have there's going to be certain situations where you vote on something and we don't necessarily know how that something is going to come out here's the distinction I would I would make you vote on something and there's a public facing piece of what you voted on meaning at some point it becomes public everybody knows about it the reasons why the the board took the action it took that part may still remain confidential remain confidential so there may be some background pieces that never come out um to to the rest of the public and the reason that we say that they're confidential for life is we anticipate it some time you may you may be on the board for life but we may anticipate sometime you may you may move on to other things we understand um I'm sure the board would would love to have you but but we understand when you move on that confidentiality still attaches to you so down the road 10 years you may have learn things when you were a board member in isua and I would urge you to maintain whatever you learned in close session confidential okay all right so the brown act in and there have been several updates along the way there's been cases that have interpreted the brown act but we just need to be thinking about the brown act in 2025 so we're thinking about the brown act in terms of our emails websites texting and social media one thing that is not part of the brown act but I think it it'd be remiss to not mention here is also the public records act so you are elected officials anything that you're doing as an elected official could potentially be a public record so just keep that in mind there's also a records provision as part of the brown act I won't go into right now but just keep that in mind as you're doing things in both your private capacity and your public capacity it's always kind of lurking there the brown act and how it's going to apply to you as a board member all right AB 992 so there's been a few different Provisions to the law that affect social media and so if you are providing one-way information to the public about something that's happening with the with the district um something that you did not learn in close session you have the right to share that information you're not prohibited by ground by sharing what the board is doing say for example the board adopts a budget the budget has um you know great great language in there for music programs you are permitted to share that information with the public where things can get a little dicey with social media is board member a may post something about maybe a decision that hasn't yet been made um by the board yet you may have another board member that likes or Hearts it and sends an emoji the public could perceive that potentially to be you a agreeing to a an issue or how you may vote outside of a regular meeting so just keep in mind when when you're going to put some emojis on something it could be problematic and and here's the the real easy rule the role that I would give to the board I would tend to not acknowledge each other's postings that seems to just be the simplest way for no one to say oh you board member were acknowledging their statement therefore we know you two are going to vote a certain way and then somebody else is seeing that and now you're influencing the board outside of regular meeting so one thing to keep in mind I think um let's we can go to the next slide social media now there was a case that came out um that our firm was played a large part in and in that case the Supreme Court I'll just summarize really quickly the Supreme Court recognized that you in your individual capacity you have the right to have an opinion and have social media postings and if you need to Block members of the public from that um from your personal opinion you have the right to do that as long as you're not acting as a representative of the board and speaking on behalf of the board when you act as a member of the board and you speak on behalf of the board then it's more of a public forum and you do not have the right to block people from your social media so just keep that in mind there's ways that I can work with um the administration if you have any specific questions about your social media one of the easiest ways is to have a disclaimer on it so you have something very clear this is my public page this is my private page and my private page you're going to say something in here that none of this constitutes the opinion of the board this is me acting um in my personal capacity won't dive too deeply in it but I wanted to at least put that out there for the board okay that is Robert fs and the brown act record time do we have any more questions from my colleagues no okay thank you thank you Carlos for for coming out tonight and uh doing a speed Roberts Rules of Order Speedway thank you we appreciate you it was sweet but it was very clear I appreciate that I hope so good to be with all thank you it was thank you uh Mr Reas I appreciate you being here tonight um so now um again for uh those who have been those of us who have been here we know Angelina Pride uh board member Ramos this is Angelina Pride Angelina uh is with csba California school boards Association um she has been with us for a while now um working work working uh working with us as a governance team um and we appreciate what she has done uh she is a former board member her herself um and so she brings that experience and that expertise uh to the work U that she does here uh so with that being said Miss PRI turned it over to you oh thank you and um good evening it's so good to see all of you again hope everyone had a nice holiday break because I haven't seen you since then and that everything is going well uh trusty Ramos welcome and it's so nice to have you as part of the governance team here so with that we will go ahead and get started so tonight you had the uh Brown act and Robert's Rule of Order and it was informative it was a reminder of some things for us even for me he said one one thing I was like oh I forgot about that so I wrote myself a note um so we're going to continue that tonight also and superintendent Ortega said at the beginning of the meeting you have a new trustee so anytime someone on your board changes it's a new board so we want to revisit some things revisit some policies and procedures or um talk about your Norms your protocols and things like that just as a refresher so that while the new trusty is learning about these things you all are getting a reminder about them as well and I told you when I grew up in church our pastor used to always say govern yourselves accordingly and so tonight we're just going to have a refresher on how to govern ourselves accordingly as a a trustee for the Zusi Unified School District so what I gave you are documents that you all should be very very familiar with um and we're just going to talk a little bit about those and um please you know this I always tell you this is your time not mine so questions comments scenarios please bring them up and let's have a conversation about them okay so let's start with talking about our vision and our mission your vision and your mission statement remember your guiding principles those are the two things that state where you want to be where you see the district what you want to have your District look like how you want to have people look at your district and perceive your District these are your your statements and your commitments to your role as a trustee when it comes to the district and so vision and mission statements don't change every year um they don't change unless you feel like there's a need for them to change do you know about how long you've had your vision and mission statement this was the work that we uh did the great work yours was the best best I'm sorry I forgot you know all these districts sometimes but that will always stand out yeah so that was just what about a little over a year ago yeah and um trusty Ramos if you haven't heard that story you'll have to hear that story of how they developed this vision and Mission it was fantastic best I've ever seen so um so yours is pretty new um it still holds a lot of value for your District and um I hope that you will keep this at the Forefront as we talked today about just like I said reminding ourselves about how we need to govern as a board so with that said let's move on to the goals so you all have six goals that you um had come up with and they're all very strong goals um so I just want to take a few minutes um without getting into a deep deep com conversation because that's a whole other Workshop but just let's look at your goals and talk um just very briefly just tell me how you think you're doing as far as progress on those things so the first one we look at for the goals is student learning um you have made a lot of positive changes um in your District you guys continue to be a district that's always moving forward how do you feel about your student learning goal and if you guys feel like Hey we're on the right track we're doing good you can just say that as well I think um I think for me one of the things I noticed with the zuza Unified School District is that we're always the school district is always being the students really because it's their hard work and the teachers um that they're always being highlighted in one way or another from the state so I think that speaks volumes of the district and the stuff absolutely it does definitely and thank you for bringing that up anyone else have a comment about the student student goals student learning okay Human Resources um it was funny as I walked up I ran into someone I know who's the director here and so it was nice to catch up with one of your directors and and they're very happy andc excited here to be here was telling me how much they enjoy working for your District so when you look at human resources and you look at the the teachers and the staff and the support that you give them in order to help them achieve their their goals and their role but also to help achieve the goals of student learning because the hiring process impacts that so how are you feeling about that go ahead pan so when I'm going onto the campuses you know I do know this staff all the way from the classified to the certificated they're always we're all here for one reason is for the students right and um I see in their role that they're doing a great job even in the secretaries in the office like I said from the staff they're all doing a great job and working with our students I really appreciate their their dedication thank you and that's important and I've had the opportunity to see you thank some of your staff and students for their hard work and tell them how much you appreciate them and that's something that we do have to be mindful of as trustees is that they do hear from us that they're appreciated and that you know they're the ones who were doing the day-to-day work to help us fulfill that vision and that mission so anyone else okay and budget and finance this is a tough one U because this is one that we struggle with covid money is gone and um we're going to have to tighten belts maybe at someplace and that's I you know I work in education and so budget and finance is always at the Forefront of our mind because we want to make sure that we still can give our students um the best that they need in order to meet their future goals so how are you feeling about your budget and finance at this point we have theard so I just want to say that you know Tasha is doing a fantastic job and also I want to thank the Board of Education and the cabinet you know we made the right decision on the school closures I know it's very hard for us for some of us they were here on the board but now that I see the fruits of it the second year and I'm seen that we're doing we did the right thing you know and you talk about budget we know we did need funding and there had to be a way how we were going to get it we're not going to get it from the state so we made the decision the school closures but the programs are bigger and I I hear the kids you know telling me that they they appreciate that at first you know it was negativity but now I'm hearing a lot of positive so I feel good being on the board uh when we made that decision and again like I said it was very hard but we we did what we had to do and Natasha was right behind us on along in the cabinet and you know I really want to thank you for saying that and I wish that I could have recorded that and played that for some other districts who are going through that process right now because it is hard to look forward and realize that you're doing this for a reason but it's hard to communicate that because there's so much passion involved in closing a school but when you look ahead and and you have the foresight to look ahead and know this is something that we need to do so that we can sustain the programs that we have for our students that we can sustain the staff you know and give them the professional development and support that they need so there was like you said a benefit to it and even though you don't see it overnight you now see it now I'm seeing it it's been our second year you know but but um me the board I know it was hard for us you know to have people in front of us and you know um absolutely right but you know we we knew why we did it we knew why and the Russ why we spoke about it at the time and and I I do see it now and I do have people Thanking us and just think if you hadn't made that decision back then and now it would be worse so yeah so thank you for bringing that up I mean they're like even you close you know you merged uh two high schools into one and then the three middle schools into one you know that that was very hard and I know the cabinet they they worked very hard how you know the Dynamics they did we just did the decision making but um you know that two people are like oh wow you guys you know really did that wow that you know how do you do that how what what you do but our mindset with the students and finance and that's our job we physically solve it so that was our decision and the public needs to know that that's never a decision that's taken lightly no the closure of a school is never a decision that's taken lightly and they don't always realize they think sometimes that it's easy for the superintendent and the board and the staff to make those decisions and it's not you lose sleep over that yeah you worry you have some of you have kids or family members in the district and it's going to impact them as well so you don't take those decisions you we didn't like the school or you didn't go there or you don't and it has even nothing to do with that but you know that's what we were getting at the time absolutely have board member Benes yeah I just wanted to say with respect to the budget and finance um since I've been on board here with the school board one thing I noticed is that especially last year during the last FIS schal year there were there was a lot of cuts at the state level but um you know I think that the the staff has always had the foresight and I know um our business Services Cabinet member Latasha you know I appreciated that she you know they it was a team effort from what I understand but it was going through line item by line item she found they found money and um we knew the budget there certain money like the covid money wasn't coming back so it's it's just having that foresight preparation right that's I thought that that's really great of the team effort that the staff does because they they plan for the future and and I appreciate that because they keep us aware of where the district is going what's coming up in the future so it's something to that to know that we feel good and confident in ourselves thank you that was a great way to put it thank you yeah I just wanted to Echo what my colleague said um being on the board and board member Rodriguez P said about closing schools and I think at that time that's what we were really thinking and we couldn't have we could not have a better team of uh Latasha the other assistant superintendant and arur Ortega to guide us through this um we did make the decision and we had the best interest at hand first year just to Echo yeah was just the curb and we're seeing the results now and there's always going to be bumps and you know you said something about other school districts um closing schools I think the hardest thing is you know separating the emotion from what is right to do the logic on what is going to benefit our district and so I think that you know being able to come together as a team that when we did and having Latasha when she um when board member Bita said you know she found some money and and so I think we're very fortunate to have her and we are very very happy with her and with her work and so she's the leader in that department and with the guidance of our superintendent so I just want to Echo um that and if you're watching Latasha we're talking about and if she's not I hope superintendent Ortega will share that with her the video and thank you for that and with that Tristy Ramos I would say to you one of the hardest things that you'll have to encounter as a trustee is just what um president Ariana said is separating the emotion from the task that needs to be done because you will hear it from all sides you will get the phone calls and the emails and stopped in the grocery store and questioned welcome to being a trustee yeah but it is is something takes a while to build up that that thicker skin to be able to endure it you know because you know we have a heart as trustees just like everyone else um and so it's you know you explain to them the best that you can without you know we talked about confidentiality and all that kind of stuff but you explain to them the best that you can and sometimes that still doesn't help but you have to just you know keep reassuring them that the was board always has the best interest of the students and staff and my what about Community engagement okay so Community engagement you know since I I do go to the schools and and um go to a lot of coffee with the principles and and events and we have a lot of a lot more parents are involved and also even have having to have the board members virtual and in person you know they view it from home you know we give them the opportunity to still be here or say what they they would like to say so they're comfortable with that and uh at the middle school I do know that um principal Pomo he has a meeting at 9:00 am but he also has a five o'clock one for the community that work you know and and I I think that they actually go out of the way to uh involve more parents and to have more parents input so they're keeping the parents schedule in M yes yes board member Ramos yeah so being new um i' I've been on the other side of it for for many years I've been a Community member for 30 years and and I will say that especially in the last would say 10 years and I also have a family members that are district um you you definitely feel and um know that the district is engage with the community in in different you know with the city with different groups in the community um and so you do hear you know The Good the Bad and the Ugly which is okay right and then you have some people that um some are not informed but they're still you know communicating but I I definitely see that this the district has been very engaged with the community and that's important our our STS are not just they not just belong to the district they belong to the community right you know it kind of thing right and so um I'm I'm very that engagement um of the district and frankly that's one of the reasons why I decided to uh to run for office I mean run for for board um because I did see that that connection with the with the community so we have board member Greer and then board member Benitas welcome board member thank you excuse me I had an unexpected family emergency that that uh caused me to be late but was tuning in and listening in uh on online the whole time um yeah I I think I'm reminded of and I I just want to tip my hat uh in in the in the same Spirit of of just provide sending out those thank yous uh and and expressing that appreciation where where it's due I want to tip my hat uh once again to Leica um as we consider what engagement looks like it it it wasn't that long ago maybe it was actually it's all maybe a blur maybe it actually was if we quantify it she she could tell us later but I I remember when Lea came and shared Visions for a communication plan some time ago and and we at that point there was such a need for it I think that there was um just just such a lack of Engagement between the district unnecessarily and and I think it just took some courage for us to reimagine new and creative ways of engaging the the community engaging our uh even um journalists local journalists and papers where where I mean there really was once a time where we kind of saw them I don't know how they were perceived or how we perceived them but but really even being able to to to be allies with with one another and sharing information to to and to be transparent to the public and I just I go back and think about um when Leica made that presentation and talked about some of those things and and seen the ways that that has come to fruition and then some um I think that that has just done wonders for us um and for the the trust that we have within our community and so I just want to extend a a special and and specific and targeted thank you to Alica for your vision and your your work um in this area board mides awesome thank you I think with for me with the um Community engagement what I what something that sticks out to me is the Partnerships that the school district builds with the surrounding Community organizations and how it brings families together especially when they're in in crisis mode or there's a need to fulfill I think that that strong partnership as it continues to grow it just kind of reemphasizes that we're here to serve right the community that we want to help our students succeed that if they're in need we want to be at service to them and I see that partnership um and I appreciate the partnership with the district and the city as well it's nice to see that engagement so and I do [Music] see at at many of the board meetings as well I see the Partnerships that the um individual either directors or teachers they build with the other community organizations and I appreciate that and I want to add to the comments and Community engagement and that is to Echo what Adrien career board member G says um we've been more um on the news and being able to share what is happening in our sua Unified School District um on a good note meaning the programs are students that are going to you know top colleges or students that are you know graduating early um the the enhancements um and relationships that you know we've had um with with the parents and is just one of the things I think that now I can honestly say you know when we get the taex everybody gets the tax for the parent round table before it was you know and I do have to before you know it was um we didn't get the text now everybody gets it everybody has a chance to participate to view and that is inclusive and I think and Leica if you're hearing thank you so much along with the cabinet and our superintendent working closely with Leica um we have now been able to be inclusive with our community with parents students families residents everything that it says to as organizations we have our internships that our students have been able to participate in the you know in the different um and I can't think of of the names right now of just the different where where they're going to become engineers or you know and I can't think of the name of that can you do you remember courses the r or no it's there you go Workforce Development and um I I think that that just um you know a lot of the students look forward to that and um you know being able to be exposed to that um in the Partnerships that we've uh you know we and I say we but it's really our cabinet and Leica so I want to Echo Echo that thank you and you can say we it's okay to say we because the board supports that work you know they encourage it so it's okay Saye board member I I just wanted to um add the collaboration between the city um superintendent arga meets with the city manager once a month and we also have um a 2 by two which there's two board members and two uh City officials and and the city manager and the superintendent and we meet discuss it could be safety issues it could be you know just about um what we're doing here at a unified and what they're doing in this the city and how we can work together like we're talking about crossing guards right and the city is the one that brings the crossing guards or they think it people think it's a school district but anyways we can discuss with them things like that what our parents are concerned about and I think that's that's the great partnership that we do have with the city um of isza yes um thank you for sharing that because that's a an important partnership as well yeah so thank you anything else on community engagement okay what about facilities board member Benevides board member Pena after one of you know for me coming on board it was like there's changes CH changes started happening schools were being painted maintenance was um a priority uh I know that this District continues to work on um certain goals that they've imp implement it to beautify our schools and making sure that they're well maintained so um and I I appreciate that um you know a lot of times we don't get to say it but that the I notice superintendent Ortega schedules meetings with the cabinet members to um tour the school sites and just kind of do check off lists so I just want to say that I really appreciate that because you know one of the things that's really important especially when you're out as a Comm Community member is that you're driving by a School site and you want to make sure you know it's not an isore and right now our schools are looking great there you know many of them have they've done Rehab on them painting some of the gym um floors are being um revamped so I just want to say that I appreciate the staff taking that as a priority because I think that it brings a sense of value to the students you know you walk in and you feel like you know this they they they treasure me as a student you know they want to make sure that I feel good when I walk into school I'm sitting at a new desk the gym floor is being worked on and that we care about them that's important to me absolutely when of the the workshops at aec I can't recall which one I was in but they were talking about facilities and one of the things that they said was that there is a direct correlation between Student Success and achievement and the facilities that they have because if they walk into a classroom that looks nice and you know Wells maintained and taken care of they tend to have more pride and they want to be there versus walking into a classroom that's you know in subpar conditions needs lots of repairs so it's it reflects on their wanting to be present in that space and it helps them to focus so yeah Rodriguez P yes so I I was going to add that actually um back in 2014 when we had the school bond um that was one of our purposes and Mr uh superintendent ARA was assistant super at the time but he was also involved where you what we wanted to see with this second funding because it was only the second time we had a school on was curb up hill and and many of our schools the facade the front facade is totally different my friend one time we were driving by and oh my God that's you know at that time Center that Center is school why didn't even recognize it anymore you know cuz it had more flowers and it had the gates and had you know was painted in front but we wanted to be able to to and that was the part of the curve uphill and but it as it continues though as as it continues I went to um I was a judge this weekend actually at sang High School where I went to school I think they have the same desk I showed mrga I'm not kidding you those old fashion gu where where you just go in and you know I think took a picture and I sent it to him and I'm like oh my God and like different colors a blue one a beig one you know all our kids whole school got new desk you know modernized desk same color where they all match and I'm like I thought I was behind time over there you're giving away our age I had time ago but I think I said one of those V then because it's still there but I I'm just so proud to be part of Unified School District seeing the changes we continue like we you know we talked about the desk and we talked about the front facade and the trees trimmed and things even our schools that are um um Surplus property schools you know our groundsman still continue to clean those they're it's it's on their schedule so they don't look trashy right and the grass is not green like it was of course but they're cleaned at least they're cleaned and they go and they do their that's one of the wrongs that they continue to do so I think that's that's really good I mean you know even people come in here and they're like God that's your boardroom geez you know I was sitting here when you were talking about the facilities and I remember when I first came to work with your District this was your board table yes you had tables like this with a skirt or a table cover and right there and right here yes I remember that so it's it's it's moving look at the beautiful the hall beautiful pictures just moving right along I am really proud that that I am a board member here this is seif f board member career MH when I think about this category it's it's interesting to me because there are three at least three necessary things to come together in order for us to to be strengthened this area the first one is a willingness for us to not bury our heads in the sand a willingness for us to take a look at our facilities to understand what our uh what our where our weaknesses are and then when we think we understand what what is weak and what is deficient to take another deeper look um to truly understand what's what's going wrong um and and not not hide but kind of acknowledge this is the reality of where our facilities are even if they're not where where we are wanting them to be then there needs to be some sort of has to be a plan there has to be infrastructure there has to be some understanding of if this is where we are how do we get to where where we want to be how do we not get back here once we get there there's there's so many layers of just having strategy and plan that needs to be in place and then there need to be resources yes it's one thing that to recognize what's wrong to then have a plan but then there have to be then the resources and that are there in order to achieve and hit those different markers and it really just is uh incredible to me the the ways in which independently those things have come about in in various ways uh but also the ways in which uh they all work together I I I think about the the team of folks which one I I I look to the board and just the the courage of the of of the board um to make it was already alluded to earlier some of the difficult decisions that were were needing to be made but that is going to yield some fruit it was painful it was painful but that will yield some fruit I think of uh Latasha and just just what she brings and how how she goes about it it's not uncommon when we're doing consolidations to have a a stampede of folks who are saying that this isn't you know wasn't right or why wasn't this there and and the number of times i' I I heard Latasha just say yeah and and and we own that that's an area we need to address that that's not where we want it to be and we need to get there and and and we will get there um I'm just I'm just so proud of there there's still plenty of work to do there's there's endless endless work to do um but I you know no matter how cynical you are you have to be able to take a look at where we where we were where we are and where we're going and and as cynical as as anyone may be you have to be willing to acknowledge that uh and tip your hat to some of the work that that has has been done um and so I'm I'm very proud of of of this this district and where we're going plenty more to do but but I'm I'm I'm so grateful for what we've been able to do um so far well remember that the school district is like your house every time I'm sure you walk into a certain part of your house you're like I really need to paint that and I really need to do this and it it'll get done you know you you got to have the resources there too but it's same thing you know you take care of it you maintain it until you can do the the full work that needs to be done and obviously you've had the opportunity to do a lot of that full complete work so I look forward to seeing what else you're going to do president yes I I would like to Echo but at the same time I want to I want to include our other departments as well Atasha does great um with the superintendent and walking to you know through all the schools when there is a complaint making sure that they you know they they do own it they take responsibility and then they take note and I think that that approach right there those three things that they do is very proactive meaning that that our employees are heard and then there's a strategy on how to move forward and I also want to include our it um Department because from our internet crashing um even like five years ago I I think it you know it was crashing every week our our our phones and so forth you know for Manny if you're listening I I know you're there um you know being able to strategize on how we can you know be more uh Tech competitive um I is very appreciated and not just for you know um just just here for the district but it enhances our education for our students because they have access to a higher level of technology and we've had a few donations um from different places uh with the what is it um chromes is that is that what we had um the different chromes that we've been able to to gift our students um throughout years and so those are the extracurricular things that you know I've seen in the last several years that have brought more value and um one more thing Latasha I remember her saying one time I think it was uh we still had sloon and I drove by there and I said Latasha it looks great and she says we just put a slab of paint on there and you know that right there made a humongous difference and the curb appeal and so with that being said you know it it makes a big difference to be able to take that extra step to be able to do what we need to do and there's still like I agree there's still more work to do we have empty facilities but with that Tak time right and so we look forward to the continued growth with our facilities and our other departments as well thank you absolutely so thank you and then the last one is safety and wellness and I got to see firsthand some of that tonight that was I was taking notes of the name of that program that's that's a a big yeah it's amazing I just think that now nowadays on school campuses that's critical to have something like that so I'm glad I was able to see it so regarding safety and wellness yeah we have board member Rodriguez Kan yes I I wanted to add regarding the um the wellness you know we have so many um things that have gone on the last maybe a couple of years which I can include blackwat is our security campus Securities we have also blackwat is an an addition uh we have soci shers we have the well-being Center at the middle school and the high school and um well cic like I said you just saw this today and we have this uh thing called I'm not sure if I'm saying it block um block lock or something um that you call it oh lock the way lock block and because um I know they work well because I locked myself out of the kitchen when I was working the other day I had to call them and then they and um but the C with the principles you know the majority at this moment has to do with Stress Management to help the parents work with their child you know or or how do you deal with within a teen you know teen and and we also also reach out to our parents so we can how can we help them help their child and and that's in the safety what what I want wanted to talk about the wellness you know our cafeteria I don't know if you heard about our cafeteria you know I had to work there well I was in a program and I worked seven weeks did 87 hours and I'm telling you the elementary school the kids have a solid bar have carrots and celery sticks you know they have I was checking and my purpose was I wanted to see what we were serving our students and how they were being served right because we do have scratch cooking so our chicken is organic and our um hamburger or hamburger me beef I guess I should say it you know grass grown we have our great chef that's that's hopefully gets in the ward and he he makes the best chicken wings ever at GL at glone Middle School I've seen the kids one year um because I was out some activity and the kids are running into the cafeteria and I'm like what are they serving pizza today they're like you know cuz you know we all run for pizza right no you know Caesar's making his hot wings today and there they were all going I had to go get some too but um you know we serve our children very well the children actually very well and the ladies in the cafeteria the I was a lunch lady they work very hard you know they they really really do I was only there working a couple of hours a day and I was like looking at my watch like where am I going home right but it it was it was an experience and yes I did see what they served our children I would look at our the containers and it would say like low sodium the beans I didn't know that they said y want to go get the whatever and I would get them I start looking at and then you know a vegetarian stuff was vegetarian the milk like I said it's not just milk it's lowfat milk it's chocolate but it's lowfat you know low sugar and all these things that I did see what I wanted to see being there having that experience so I I the wellness it's it's and again I feel they talked about you know what you eat is also healthy through the day absolutely emotionally you eat your sugar by 10 o'clock you're down because you ate all this sugar and now you're just right they're giving them stuff that that brings them up and they feed our students breakless and then they have a second um I think it's called second nutrition or something that yes they come in there and they have like you know hot sandwiches for them and then they have um then have lunch then have dinner throwing thing together and sometimes some of these students this is all they eat all day this is their meal this is what they look forward to but it's also very healthy you know and um I want to thank our nutrition services for working on that we do have two chefs on on stuff have two and a nutritionist when I was I never heard of that when I was in school I just I guess I just ate whatever we eat but it also you have to think about that you know as you get older this is when you become 40 50 and year like you H your pressure and you know where' you get this and all these other things that happen so we're trying to prevent this so that's we having the students you know eat healthier and they're learning to eat healthy because one girl didn't want to eat I forgot what it was on her plate in in the the um the cafeteria lady say you know try it you might like it you you know and she took it and she came back oh that was so good but see that's that's what it takes right to work with the kids and to show them and to teach them the right way of eating so I learned myself being there um working side by side you know with the ladies and and it was it was it was an experience but it was a good experience and it is what I wanted to see how and I was happy it it was good I think I'm going to come over here for lunch tomorrow know me go for lunch you come lunch time yeah exactly and a salad be healthy the yogurt per face yeah who had that I never had that you know so you know and I'm seeing the ladies making them and they're making their sandwiches they're making fresh yeah and they have to so you think you just SLA the sandwich together no you have to have so many grams so much protein it it you you have to know what you're doing absolutely you're not just going to slap your sandwich together and I I I was very impressed that is impressive yeahuh it really is being there so have to always Campa for nutrition services I would campaign for them 100% just saying thank you for sharing that board member career and then board member of benab seor on the safety side of things Ju Just as we looked at earlier today it's very clear just the menu of different safety components the layers of safety initiatives that the district has has put in place uh that are just absolutely incredible and and the ways in which they work together and and and complement and supplement uh one another is is just incredible so there's that that's absolutely um obviously evident the the word that I've always appreciated that was has been included in number six and and it's included within our surveys that we send out to the to the our uh various stake holders is the word feel I think that there's a lot that we do to for the purpose of safety for our for our students for our staff but then there's there's also the second side of that which is how do how do you feel and and there is at times a disconnect um where we we hear it's not uncom for us to hear our our our staff our students families to to say that they don't feel safe um I think that the things that we do these things that we Implement are are important and significant steps that we can take so that our our families and stakeholders can feel safe but but I I I guess I continue to wonder how can we how how do we do more around the the feelings of of safety um there's a lot that we're doing to ensure safety um but even if we're doing a lot to ensure safety um that doesn't always translate to to um someone saying that they feel safe and so that's that there's work for us to continue to work for us to do there um on the wellness side oh I'm I'm so grateful and Blown Away by by what we have here you know I I have a daughter who is in eighth grade at Gladstone middle school and she comes home with with stories of of of ways that that she had benefits uh from from just being a student at Gladstone and to and the resources that are available to her to support her as she's you know engaging the the the challenges that come with being 13 and Beyond um that right right um but but to know that we have the the layers of of support um that that we have and we make these decisions I don't make these decisions necessarily you know from the perspective of what will then be for for my daughter but just kind of across board but then to be able to see it and experience it when when my daughter comes home and shares those those stories of how she is supported um it's again just another one of those ways that I'm just just very proud of the the the work that uh we continue to do just kind of want to Echo some of the um things that my board that the other board members my colleagues here poting it out and um I know for me with respect to safe especially this last year I mean safety is you know high on my priority list as it is the the other board members but we the district has implemented numerous Technologies um to ensure that people feel safe but then again like board member G says how do we translate that to the students right I agree we do need more work there um we we as board members and staff we know what those those technologies that have been implemented are forthcoming and put in place but um are we communicating that to the students that's a concern I think for me um and how do we communicate it so they know that um that we we are we not not just the things that we've implemented but that their voice matters and that we will continue to look at those things that we can Implement in the future with respect to our nutrition program I know the nutrition program has been highlighted several times in the last two years and that just speaks volumes of you know the the different um creativity that the staff the chefs have and they really take um they take that to heart I think to really look at the foods that the students like teaching them about um healthy eating that's important um so I want just to Echo that and say say that about our district thank you yes and safety and wellness I I think with everything going on and has been going on in our community um our students and staff want to feel safe and as we take measures and we have a Blackwater and you know we have um now a very strong Rel relationship with us Su a police department um you know it's a continuous uh it's continuous work and development that has started with this cabinet and the board in the last several years and the new board now and I I want to thank Assa police department and Kina Police Department for their participation in our schools and not just coming when we have an emergency but actually coming and being part of our community and so I want to extend my thank you to them and for um Leica as well again it's the relationships right it you know our superintendent our relationships our communication connections that that they have U reached out and have maintained and so as the board as we move forward um I hope to to I hope what we're um what I'm hearing is that we we feel that we we would like to continue the efforts of our students and staff to feel safe our parents to feel safe in our schools and community so with that being said Thank you thank you finish my sentence here okay okay well I want to thank you for um for all that you said on about your goals and um how you've approach them and AR and continue to approach them but one thing I did write myself a note is that I wanted to really commend the board for um giving kudos to the staff for the hard work that they put in and the super intendent as well as a board you set the direction you vote on the resources um you know that's what you do and then that's where your stop as far as you know the getting things started you follow up on projects as they're happening you get additional information about it but your main job is to set the direction provide the resources the work comes from others like some of you said you know and I'm so pleased to hear all of you recognize that and give kudos and shout outs to those individuals who do this work because as we all know any of us that have a job that sometimes work can be thankless and you feel like okay you know somebody could at least say thank you for all this that I've done so to have you all from the day say thank you to them I'm sure that that means a lot and it lets them know it lets the community know that hey they're doing a great job and we appreciate it and your students are benefiting from their hard work work so I just really want to recognize all of you for taking the time to acknowledge them so next we have our core values so with this one rather than go individual um if it's okay with the board I think that because some of them we have talked a little bit about through the um goals that we just talked about so rather and go down what I would ask is like there's a few on here that we didn't address are there ones here that you would like to say something about as far as these being your core values and where you're at and what you want to see what you're doing do you feel like you're on track with them seems like the board is green yes yeah yes board member Rodriguez P thank you yeah I think everything everything we just said falls into into place of our core values right you know student Focus collaboration you know open Communications things I think what we all just spoke about I think fits um into our core values great nothing else that okay so let's talk about a little bit about board meeting Norms so um you had a presentation today about Robert's Rules of Order and the brown act and um some very good information there was like I said there was one statement that he made that I was like oh wow I did not know that after all these years so um that's always good to to learn something new but when you look at your board meeting Norms now I speak from experience that this board has come a long way a long way and I think the last time I was here we kind of talked about that with the board self- evaluation of how far this board has come and how your meetings have changed and um how the work of the district gets done of the work of the board gets done and it flows so much better so I want to give all of you Kudos again on making those changes and putting in the work to streamline your processes and have your board meetings run so much more effectively and smoothly but even with that said the board meeting Norms you know take a look at them is there anything on here that um you feel like any of you have started to regress on or that you feel like you're still holding firm on them yeah have board member Rodriguez PA yeah I just want my opinion uh I I think we are doing a great job I'm speaking for myself how I feel that we're doing a great job and we do respect each other and we do um you know we do trust each other you know we do allow each other to have our voices heard when it's our turn or whenever you know we respect each other in that way and of course I've been here the longest but I have seen a change and and it it's it's it's for the best I think it's good I I don't have any you know we dis we don't agree on everything of course but we respect each other's um rationale why why or why not but but it's okay right because we go in this way and we it that's part of our trust and our respect with each other thank you and trusty Ramos the newest member of the board I would say to you is just to review the norms and familiarize yourself with them if you ever have any questions you can go to your board president your superintendent or you can even reach out to me happy to discuss any of them with you and the whole purpose of having these board meeting Norms is just so that the board can work as a cohesive group to get the business of the district done and um it's not always easy easy even the board when I was on the board you know we had challenges on my board as well but when we can all agree to commit to the Norms it does make things so much easier and you really feel like you're getting the work done instead of diving into a bunch of minutia and nonsense for lack of a better word so um this board like I said has truly put in the work and it shows so did you have any questions about any of the board meeting Norms great thank you so one of the last things we wanted to do was talk about the governance and leadership team protocols and so I gave you all um copies of the protocols as well and I'm just going to touch on them and again if you have anything that you want to add or you want to give feedback on where you are um please um this is where I want to hear from you uh communication um I think we talked a little bit about that uh but how do you guys feel you're performing as far as with your protocols and adhering to the protocols on here as far as cell phone use and um no surprises and superintendent feel free to jump in if you feel like there's an area that that needs to be addressed as well um are we are we holding to these things and doing a good job on these protocols don't all look at superintendent Ortega we have board member Ramos yeah I have um some feedback on that um you know be new again I mean I've only been at this for a month and a half and um I will say that I've been very impressed with the communication that we get as board members particularly from superintendent Ortega anything that's going on um throughout the day with the district uh with our our schools um the weekly uh board memos are very thorough um that come not only from him but from the other cabinet members so um again being a new board member I'm very impressed with the communication that is um that is given to us as board members and I'm assuming that everybody gets you know the same communication I don't think I'm special but um but yeah so just wanted to make that comment and um that that's really good to know that there's open communication and um we're always going to be informed of what's going on on on a daily basis literally in in many cases great thank you for sharing that and that's that's good to hear coming from you and you've only been to what two meetings this is what your third yeah so thank you for sharing that anyone else on communication okay what about maintaining confidential it this is one after that brown neck training that everybody should be good on right okay and the thing that I learned was when he said today that confidentiality um is forever I mean I know that there's like certain things that you don't talk about even after you leave the board but you think about all the little things that you talk about in close session it's like oh yeah I can't even tell anybody about those things so that was informative for me so just remember what you heard earlier and make sure you adhere to the the brown act uh your role in public so um dealing with people when they uh come and speak to you or say that they want to have a conversation or they email you and you have protocols about how to handle that and how to make sure that the superintendent is informed are we all adhering to that I think I think this that after our last meeting I think yeah no no when we addressed it there was there was a point not with this training training yeah the last training yes yes the last training that we had with an Angela and uh trusty Ramos I know he said that you already have people now that you're on the board I have questions and how are you how are you dealing with that are you feeling comfortable um you know prior to uh even my onboarding we we started having those discussions so he's been very very good at coaching me on that and um so I'm so far feel comfortable with it but you know I just started so but if anything comes up of course I know to reach out to Superga anything that I I need that I feel is is needs to be communicated I will do it immediately so I don't get you know engag in any conversation or you know because that's what tends to happen right if you don't put a stop to it or or or uh defer it to uh superintendent or T or someone else that can that can answer the question but it hasn't been there hasn't been anything major that people have approached me you know just so what are you going to do you know well you know right now I can't tell you anything because I'm I'm just yeah that that's been mainly you know the airports I've had or people that have um you know come up to and say we're glad you're on the board you know you're GNA help us improve the district I well hold on I don't want to commit to anything yet but so it's been more more General but yeah and the one thing that I always tell new trustees is when you're approached by community members um our parents is to listen always you know feel free to listen to what they have to say cuz sometimes people just I think we'll all agree just want to be heard yeah so listen to them ask questions if if there's something you don't understand just so that you can get information to provide to the superintendent to pass on to the superintendent and never make any promises and just always tell them um you know thank you I'll make sure that this information is passed on or you know someone will be in contact with you if it's something that's serious and they want somebody to reach out to them and just then let the superintendent know right away and and don't worry it'll happen oh yeah they're only going to give you a honeymoon period for a short time um so any so other than that we're all good with our our board member role in public great this is wonderful to hear um what about the um the being prepared for board meetings how's the time going on your board meetings now I'm sorry did we move down to handling concerns or oh I'm sorry I skipped one handling concerns yes thank you are you good on the handling concerns and that one kind of ties into the board member role in public again when you hear things from people you know I it's okay to ask a question for clarification because you do want to be able to provide the superintendent with you know enough information excuse me so that he knows how to approach it or who to delegate the situation to um but when you hear the concerns and um or you get those emails let's let's talk real quickly about emails how are you all handling that when you get those emails from from community members parents about I I never respond to the emails I actually if Mr tga's name is not on it I will send it to him and I usually see you know what he tells him or we're looking into it or thank you for but I honestly don't ever really respond at all yeah cuz remember whatever you put him writing is forever it is yeah it's forever and if you if it's something that's serious where you feel like you know I I want them to know that I I heard this and I heard you know I'm going to do so just say thank you for your email I will share this information with the superintendent and and that's it you want to be as brief and um non-committal as possible other than sharing it with the superintendent and and one thing I would caution you on a trap that I fell into as a a board member within probably my first three months because so many people knew me um you think that you've been involved with the community before being on this thing so you think oh that's so and so I've known them we were boosters together oh I'll just reply uhuh even with them you have to then go into that I'm a board member now Ro role and um be careful even of of your Communications with them because if you say one thing then they go out and they tell everybody else and before you know it you're hearing all these things and the story has changed and it can get you into trouble I learned that probably my second month on the board so even those that we've known for years in our community you still be mindful of how much you say when you have conversations with them and also when if someone does approach me and they'll ask me you know so what happened you know um school closures what have you you know with the close session M I said I cannot discuss it but in time they will begin to respect you okay I'm sorry you know I get it or I'll say you know I can tell you what was discussed in public or you can we're on YouTube click on it you can see theie what all of us said right and what the out right what the outcome tell you know click it there and you could see the meeting that's that's another our communication that I appreciate I could say that that's a fantastic response instead of going all the way back to the whole story right so um but other than that I can't discuss it yeah like they're like okay they it stops right there yeah and one of the hardest um challenges is when things happen that are um have legal consequences for the district involved um you know you never want your District to be on the news for anything bad but it happens and then people really start you know well what happened you know well you could just tell me we've been friends for 30 years you know and they want to know and a response like yours is perfect you know just watch the board meeting see if we talked about it and you know you didn't it was in close session but you just H them back to the meeting but those those times is hard because people feel like then you're hiding some and they try to accuse you of hiding things and you feel also feel free to tell them say there's this thing called the brown act and as a elected official I am Bound by the brown act well what's that I will send you a link and you can read all about it U but you yeah exactly send them back to the presentation but um feel free to use things like that as well because it's true it is true it's factual um so you have to just like with their job you know they have HR and their evaluations aren't public they're you know confidential same thing with things that are confidential with employees related to employees of the district so okay and board meetings we're showing up prepared and ready to go good all right and I already heard that the packets are good for Preparation Tristy Ramos um you've been getting through your packets before uh board meeting okay yeah yeah yeah great and then your board meetings like I I gave you guys Kudos on that one already because you all have done a fabulous job with streamlining your board meetings but um how are they going TimeWise you're still doing good okay trusty Greer you laugh no I I my laughter was due to I think how obvious it is to anyone who has been part of our board meetings uh in the past that that our times are are much better great and we're respecting each other's ability to ask questions s and um I remember one of the other things that we talked about at one of our previous trainings was the first and the second so that whoever is president at the time can hear who made the who made the motion and then you know there's a brief pause before the person who seconds it so she can make sure she hears who seconds it and gets that right and we're doing well on that what one thing that we've um adopted I think um during this last uh term with uh when our board uh member Rodriguez P was president was um can I get a motion and then the person says it and then the second motion is not right away like until the board President says can I get a second motion and I really appreciate that because then hope really appreciates it because then she can say Okay first motion was by board member Greer okay second motion the president's calling the second motion let me okay who did I hear cuz before she would say okay I have no idea who said what and so I think that that allows more of um there's more structure and so I I appreciate that so now as an incoming president for this term I I feel that um there is more structure and and being able to have more structure means that our board meetings run more smoothly and our sec secretary our amazing secretary you know one of the things that we haven't done is to thank her um and I want to take this opportunity to thank her because she's the one that makes sure that you know if we have something to eat or a snack or if we have to order something or signatures and so forth and and so I just want to take the time to thank her for her endless jobs that she does so thank you hope yes and and I do appreciate you as well and and one of the things remember that um supporting the board is not just the job of the superintendent but it is the job of the executive assistant as well the back that's that's and it is a lot of work because um you know the superintendent says yes I need to get this information out to them and the executive assistant is the one who helps to put all that together to make sure that you get that and then things too that seem so minor such as making sure you all have something to eat they're the ones that like you said do that as well so yeah absolutely yeah I wanted to just um kind of echo what um president uh board president said because it's true you know I I wanted to acknowledge um hope because putting together the agenda packet especially when and then ensuring that we get them on time but especially especially when there's so much material right and and um that's that's a big job and and you know making sure that they're feeding us and I I just and not just her but the the nutrition staff as well but um that's that's not an easy job because that's a lot of photocopying sometimes um ensuring that the documents are there so I just I think we need to remember that that she does a lot of the work up front and just bringing those board packets to our homes that's a big you know that's really appreciated right awesome then you have your frequently asked questions at the bottom of your um at at the bottom of your protocols where you talk about you know can a board member attend bargaining unit member uh member meetings um some of the questions that you have here are district specific because they are um they've very every district is different when it comes to things like this are all of you still okay with the responses that you have here about um bargaining unit member meetings um School functions letting the site administrator know that you're there and I know we went through these when we had one of our workshops and talked about um um putting items on the agenda uh conflict among governance team members I think you guys have come a long long way with that and you have good communication now where if a problem does arise hopefully you'll remember where you were you don't want to be there again and you will follow the protocols to address those issues so that you can maintain positive communication on the board so any board member Rodriguez P what I do appreciate is that you know we may see these every week on our weekly board packet superintendent Orga and hope because I know she probably she doesn't type me he just tells her what to do but it's always there you know he always has these questions to remind us great to remind us he all the time you know and um I do appreciate that because of course you could you get and put it away right but this way you you you're sure to read a question here at every weekly word package and I I do appreciate that great alrighty well I have um one little exercise that I would like to do with all of you because I've worked with you for so long that I thought that it would be great to look back a year from now maybe six months from now we can decide to see how we're still feeling about some things so I'm going to give you this form I ask that you just take a quick five minutes fill it out and you're going to give one copy to me you're going to keep a copy because I'm going to scan this and save it in my isusa file and and then maybe the next time I come we'll look at it and see where we're at and all I want to know is like we have to fill both of them out well have remember on yeah and and um I don't need anything longer drawn out is that's why I didn't give you a lot of space to write just something very brief and because as we went through the vision the mission the goals the Norms the protocols um all those things I want you to think you know something that you will increase your knowledge on as far as the goals go um something you'll you'll do more to learn how you can promote one of the core values so that when you're out there in the community um something that let me put my glasses back on you will improve your adherence to as far as board meeting norms and if you feel like you're doing good and there's nothing there feel free to say you know I'm I'm on this I got this now doing great yeah and I and I totally respect that and then anything that you do better with um following board protocol yeah anything you do better following board protocols than just put something there as well trusty Ros I know that some of this like is all new to you so you can say everything everything everything but just take like about five minutes and just write something down and like I said just very short and simple um nothing extravagant we have a a question board member rodrig yeah thought we were going to receive that um the email that we can compare remember the questions you asked that's the board self evaluation that's not the next time we no next time we do one of those then we'll look back on last year the last one and the one before that I think we should look at the one before that as well yes that's what that no worries I feel like I should hum the Jeopardy song while you go guys are doing this e you're done with my copy I'll collect it and like I said I'm going to scan it and put it in my file since we were I was talking about him in the Jeopardy song I have to tell you guys my great news I got three of the Final Jeopardy questions correct last last week very proud of myself e any reports or anything you need to give them while they're writing you done oh go for it go ahead yes so as I'm as I'm looking at this uh my personal trustee goals for 2024 I'm I'm staring at this in and and realizing that I have some adjusted personal goals as a trustee for 2024 um and wanting to informally share it to youall and then we'll more formally share it at our next board meeting that February will will be my last month on the board um as I will be relocating uh still within the city of isusa but outside of the district area that I'm currently sitting within and so as a result of that um I will I think earlier I heard someone say uh Angeline I think you might have said every time there's a change it's a it's a new iteration of the board there there is a new iteration of the board that is uh coming more suddenly than than uh we we'd anticipated so just wanted to share that out and we'll give more information but just wanted you all to know that I am very very sad to hear that um for whatever reason I hope you're moving up and I'm happy for you in that aspect but why wow I'm this was such a good Bo you put in so much work yeah I know but but you put in so much work in um just really really helping to bring this board to where it is now you were a very strong voice and you offered a lot of support um to the different trustees to try to get you know get you to this point and now you're leaving how dare you but I I know that they're probably definitely um not feeling real excited and happy about that but I am definitely going to miss working with you um is just you've just been such a a strong pillar on this support to help you know like I said bring it to where it is now and that's something that hopefully they will always remember and that if things get tough they'll look back to some of the things that you said and um the examples that you set to help keep them on the right path I I wish you well but I'm really bummed I am really really bummed but congratulations on the next move thank you yeah well that's not what I wanted to hear to end this Workshop I know maybe if we all pitch in kidnap them know so that's what I have tonight and like I said then the next time that I meet up with all of you I will bring these papers back and we will um just look at them to see if we've been doing if you've been doing what you said you were going to do on here and your commitments and your goal to stay you know work productive as a trustee and I look forward to seeing all of you again very soon um I hope that you'll at least come visit come say hello keep in touch okay is you'll still have kids in the district okay that's a plus so that's all I have for this evening unless you have any other questions for me colleagues you guys have any more questions comments at this time I just wantan oh go for it I just want to H take the time right now to thank my colleagues for such a productive coming together um at this time to remind ourselves why you know what's our why and our purpose and our passion and why we sit in these seats and being able to collaborate um and being uh in putting this together as you know now we just come back and review it and for our new board member Ron was Welcome to our board we are really excited to have you here and for our board member Greer um I I I I I don't know if to cry or to laugh but um it really sends my heart because you have been a great example to many of us I know you're not going anywhere so I really hope to see you out here advocating still for our community because I know that it's right here with you thank you yes yes okay so and Angela thank you so much for always bringing such a sweet Spirit to to our board meeting thank you um and facilitating in such a way where we all feel heard and we all feel validated and as I said I'm just very proud of this sport very very proud of this sport I mean this is to look at the past and look at now it's amazing I know yeah yeah we we'll talk to him about that in the parking lot U superintendent Ortega did you have any Clos in things that you needed to no just likewise thank you Miss Pride for being here uh for working with us and facilitating um I know that there was a lot of Kudos uh from the board to staff and uh I could not agree with you uh more um but I just want to just end by thanking the board um as we have discovered today and heard about today uh in terms of um the the the decisions the vision the cohesiveness the decor the respect um the uh tight confidentiality the partnership the laughs the conversations um it's just um It's a Small World the education world and uh you hear a lot of things and so um I just want you to hear that on behalf of the the students and the parents and the staff and the community um we we are all very grateful uh for the way um the the way the azuza way and obviously it starts with your your imprint and so I just want to be thankful for that you're most welcome it's trust me is is now is my pleasure I look forward to this one [Laughter] okay you have to press it okay not so president arianis yes um as we move forward to the next item on our agenda for tonight I would like to close um this meeting being the last week of January as uh board me um is it um sorry board board member appreciation month and with what was just said right now I just want to let you guys know that I appreciate um each one of you guys and your input um and I'm grateful to be part of this team with you moving on to item 15.1 adjournment can I please get a motion make a motion to approve can I please get a second second discussion no okay colleagues please place your vote and this meeting passes 0 and this meeting is adjourned at 7:47 PM have a great night

[Music] hi it's just after 6:00 on Election Day we're at the Ashlin high school gymnasium we're with the Ashlin town clerk Cindy Livingstone Cindy busy day it has been very busy today yes it has your day started at what time this morning well I got up at 3:30 I was in my office at 5: um at the school about 5:30 and here we are and you'll be here at least until 10:00 tonight you know yes if you're lucky yeah I'm I'm hoping 10 but 11 the lines have been steady all day all day pole workers have been amazing have been amazing kudos to the pole workers we can't do an election without the pole workers nope uh so talk to me about the day so you opened up the doors at 7:00 this morning uh we had a line down here and then down the hallway and then out the back door at 7:00 a.m.

League Ashlin has never had a championship in the league not a tie not anything and and you know as far as it goes I suppose who could say they're already Champions well they are Champion but I'll tell you I'll tell you I can't think of anything that they want more than to say we are the only Champions and that's what the stakes are here this evening looking goes around him gets it off to aruo jump shot hits it count the hoop and the foul underneath the oh a block block by himz oh how do you do hello Maddie spinning weaving off to Wilson for three John Wilson finder loses the ball mat's coming down spins up and in Matty whan Aro Bolson on Maddy picked up by binder drives off to arujo shot is in how many times have they made that play this season Johnny's driving watch out up Aro yes yes what a bishop 5749 clockers eight-point lead a minute 7even to go to an outright Champion aruo dishes off to Raul Jimenez lays it up and in he hits this they'd have to hit three three-pointers got the second long pass up now to whan he's up lays it up and in maty whan on the feet and he High steps it back up it goes it's all over woohoo 65- 54 the fans savor it my friends savor it hello again everyone and welcome to tonight's game the second Tournament game for the Ashland clockers tonight against the Skippers of Cohasset Paul Burke along with Roy Reese to bring you all the excitement from zavarian Brothers High School here in Westwood Wilson for three yes how about that you got to have John hitting from outside goes to the line Oh by him it Putman didn't see what hit him good rebound bonoy got someone up ahead it's McConnell lays it up and it oh nice play great pass by Dave Benoy all right this is Robbie McConnell underneath now spinning and underneath the Hatcher on a beautiful pass by wasn't it himz off to Wilson in the corner for three yes another three for John Wilson Robbie's got the three and he takes it he's got a three oh good tipped up in himz W what a play by himz Robbie driving and he lays it up he the oh excuse what a bucket by Robbie mccon round Wilson for three left corner yes John Wilson while the clockers have played their hearts out tonight playing with a lot of emotion and intensity playing a super basketball game 11 seconds to go down to [Music] [Applause] nine Raul turns throws up the jumper no good rebound booy up no good let out of the the ball game is [Applause] over the ball game is over [Music]

e welcome everybody to the special meeting of the barasa Union School District Board of Trustees we have four of five school board members uh present is there a motion to adopt the agenda move to adopt second it moved in second all in favor I uh agenda is approved uh up first on our agenda for review and discussion is item 3A School boundary and Rec reconfiguration presentation superintendent thank you this evening we will have two presentations for the board um the first presentation will be from our district demographer Tom Williams he will share with you uh what he's been able to put together based on the board's decision um in December regarding our selected sites for closure for 2526 he'll review the proposed boundary um realignments and you have an opportunity also to ask questions regarding that we also will have a second presentation that will uh review the impacts of those new boundaries and program relocations that need to happen as a result then um just kind of going over the agenda we'll have room for public comment and then after public comment um the board has time to do uh questions discussion Etc okay so with that we'll begin with our demographers analysis Tom welcome thank you um I worked with Kevin on what your capacities were and possible capacities were for next year and then looked at the schools you Clos for the ways that we could break those numbers up as um limited as possible while still staying in the capacity of the schools that they would be sent to um and on that basis if you'll go to the next SL Poli Camp um we came up with these proposals first one is that the portion of Lane view that is west of the Center of Moral Avenue is being added to the Northwood area and the students in that area will have Northwood as their home school the portion of Lan view is east of the Center of Moral Avenue is being added to the Majestic Way area and the students in that area will have Majestic Way as their homeschool the special ed students however at Lan view will be reassigned to Summerdale um that's um those numbers work nor uh each school will be bigger than the other schools in The District in the first year but they still work based on the capacities that Kevin has given me then for item two the portions of Cherrywood they're north of the Cent this is a long sentence by the way they're north of the center of Hosta Road or west of the center of Capitol Avenue and north of the center of Sierra road are being added to the brook tree attendance area and students in that area will have Brook tree as their home school the portion of cherry witha is east of the center of Capitol Avenue between the centers of hos and Sierra roads is being added to the Ruskin area and students in that area will have Ruskin as their homeschool and then the portion of cherry witha the south of the center of Sierra road um is being added to the Summerdale area and students in that area will have Summerdale as a home school the Mandarin and Aman students will be assigned to Ruskin the special ed students now at Cherrywood will be reassigned to Vincy Park all the numbers work with this breakup we couldn't put more students in Ruskin without having had a Ruskin problem and then for the portion of toyan that is east of the center of White Road is being added to the noble area and students in the area will have Noble as their homeschool the portion of Toyon that is west of the center of White Road is being added to the Summerdale area the students in that area will have Summerdale as their home school that's those are all pretty clean breaks based on geography next slide please here's the map what it would look like um the schools that are not involved have the same attendance areas as before such as viny Park um but otherwise you'll see the Northwood area now has everything west of moral Avenue including Catal Park Brook tree picks up the north and west parts of what had been in Cherrywood um Ruskin picks up the East Central part that had been in Cherrywood and Summerdale picks up the South part that had would what is now in Cherrywood plus the West part is now in toon the noble picks up the East part of toon um in terms of the new boundaries not en counting boundaries that didn't change I think these are pretty clean boundaries pretty clear on major streets next slide please Kim okay again I look at where the kids live not necessarily the schools they happen to attend uh when I do all my analyses and when you're talking about a new attendance Series in particular you definitely want to look at where your kids live not just the schools they happen to attend this year because of overflows and TK capacity issues and things like that and with the new boundaries for next year not for this year for next year with the new boundaries we're talking about 561 projected Northwood resident kids plus 10 kids coming in from outside that attendance area for a projected School in Roman of 573 this does not include special ed kids that could have been out of that school we're putting those special ed kids now at Vincy Park anyways um Majestic Way would have 545 kids for next year I want to point out that from this year to next next year based on the number of kids in fifth grade in the Majestic Way area compared to what I'm projecting in kindergarten that population is going to go down by 74 kids so even though it's got a big number now that number is gonna be much less next year even with this boundary adjustment with 23 incoming kids from outside as attendance area I'm projecting 568 kids attending that school next year for Brook tree um I'm projecting five does every see where I'm looking the middle column in this report in terms of the enrollments I'm projecting for next year not counting the Mandarin immersion programs the relocated special ed programs we're talking 433 for brooktree 392 for rusin but of course manderin emersion will make that a much bigger number Summerdale at 462 Noble at 490 uh that includes 59 incoming kids from outside it's attendance area because of parent participation and then Vincy park with 487 so of these you'll notice that Ruskin has a smallest number before adding Mandarin immersion but basically they're all in the uh mid 400s or up so there's a good relatively good distribution between the attendance areas and then as I go forward in the projections looking out to the right again I'm dealing with just resident numbers now where the kids live I'm projecting Majestic Way To Go Down by 149 kids um five years out or excuse me four years from next year simply because there's so many more kids now in grades three four five than C and K1 and what I'm projecting in the future kindergartens you'll see that northw goes down by 48 Brook tree goes down by 97 again because the current distribution through the grades more kids in grades four three four and five and not very many in first kindergarten in first with low kindergartens projected you may remember when I did my presentation two months ago um the birth data suggests that the number of kindergarteners five years from now will be 20% less than they are today so that's where a lot of these lower numbers are coming from for 2029 then Summerdale all the schools have losses but the big two are Brook tree a majestic way you're ending up with virtually all the numbers the Northwood being in the 300s or 400s and with that all stop and of course I should say resin with mandarin immersion does that have any questions any issues any concerns with these boundaries do you want to go back to the slide it shows the map thank you do you want to wait for the rest of the presentations before you have your questions okay [Music] all right good evening so again I'm here to kind of discuss the impacts of the School boundary changes that Tom just uh discussed and presented with you and how that impacts each of our school sites because again while Tom talks about the resident student numbers um we're taking a look at at more than just uh the students who live in that area because not all of the resident students end up attending that Home School site presentation thank you so um upon receiving Tom's data um we know that adjustments had to be made from the scenarios that we had presented at both the special board meeting um that we had in December and then the final um when the final decision was made um you know there were uh changes uh to those scenarios based on the three schools that were selected to be closed so the focus uh that we had continued to be on um relocating students to their nearest school so in some cases um that may have changed because of the different uh configuration of schools that that were decided to be closed we also took into account additional site space needed for special programs such as RSP speech occupational therapy music art um and any other um special programs for each of those School sites that are being impacted um I also want to remind everybody that uh each school has a varying capacity so not only the number of students that each school can have if we maxed out each of the classrooms based on the grade span um but also just in the number of classrooms that each school has so uh some of our schools have as little as 22 classrooms and some have as many as 32 classrooms and so um with that we still tried to balance the schools as much as we could similar to how Tom was describing balancing um the number of Resident students in each of those uh School site areas uh we also looked at uh portable classrooms and where we could add those if needed based on the infrastructure that's readily available so we have to analyze is there enough power is there water is there sewage Etc um to handle more portable classrooms at our school sites if they're needed so then we uh finally um then accounted for classrooms that were needed for various programs to be relocated uh specifically the Mandarin emersion programs and our special education programs that Dr mccu is going to discuss good evening Happy New Year to everyone going to first just review some of the program relocations and some of the um underlying thoughts behind them so we've had a lot of discussion about our Manor immersion program and we're currently at Lo uh currently at Cherrywood and that's 12 classrooms and that's kindergarten through fifth grade and so we have two uh grade levels per uh section and so all 12 classrooms are going to be moving over to uh Cherrywood um another big portion of our conversations over the last few weeks has been our relocation relocating of our special ed programs and so what we are really trying to do moving forward is create a pathway so that our students potentially could be at the same school from preschool all the way through fifth grade in the special ed um classroom setting So currently we have all six of our SDC preschool classes at Toyon and we felt the best way oh the best way to uh thank you to split them up would be specifically by uh their program so for example we have um two of our autism um special needs classes in preschool that we're going to house at um our two schools that are going to have our autism programs and so that would make um those students potentially go through uh preschool all the way through fifth grade uh similar to that we housed some of the other uh stdc preschools in conjunction with they're aligning um special programs as far as um mild and mod program s so you'll see those located um to two to viny one at sommerdale one at Noble one at Majestic at one at Brook tree and then um looking again at available space like Kevin talked about and trying to make sure that we have enough room for everyone um had some good conversations with some of the people here on my right recently and um unfortunately um they had some other ideas on where their program could be located but space available is at suil suil Summerdale and so uh the three STC classes that are currently at Lan view will be housed um at sommerdale and then similarly we looked at the continuing um programs and where space is available and so unfortunately um many of our schools are at capacity and so the one school that you noticed didn't get a lot of um special Pro or uh additional students was Vincy Park and so when we started looking specifically at the remaining um programs we uh went ahead and moved the majority of the remaining programs to Vincy park because of the relocation uh capacity and then also continuing that um preschool through fifth grade model within our mild mod classrooms that are located currently at Cherrywood and Ruskin and then the autism program that's currently located at Toyon and the another potential positive here is collaboration between our special day folks and um having that same um pathway and collaborating between the grade levels and so that's something also that we can also potentially look at as a positive and integrating these classes as much as possible too because they'll have definitely um inclusion opportunities throughout the majority of these schools so that's program relocations at this point questions hand it back off to Kevin TR I just had a quick question so for our SEC autism program that was originally at land View and now it's going to be moved to Summerdale is there Transportation available for these students so all of these programs unless it's their specific home school will receive um transportation in their eps all right so moving on um specifically for each site um what we have listed is the projected number of students and then the special programs that Dr McCurry just mentioned that are at each of these School sites and so again um you know pointing out when Dr Mercury U mentioned that we're at capacity for our schools that's when we include um uh some of the classrooms that we need for music um the classrooms that we need for in this particular instance the SDC preschool um those classrooms house you know usually five to 10 students um maybe 12 at the most depending on the program and so where you would have a classroom capacity normally at 24 to 30 depending on the grade level um these classrooms then are not NE necessarily to the max capacity for what they're built for so that's one thing to keep in mind the other thing to keep in mind too is that while we're at the classroom utilization capacity all of our classrooms are not filled to the max um as allowed and so um what we've done is we have utilized our projection for the number of students um figured out how many staff would be needed for all of those students and then verified that there's enough space at each site while also maintaining those spaces that I mentioned for music or art um Etc and in some cases some of the schools and the way that they're designed allow for music to possibly be done in the multi-purpose room which a lot of our schools currently do um but others it may be disruptive to nearby classrooms to have music in the multi and so we wanted to maintain separate classrooms for music to be held in those spaces so um that's why you might see where we may be under the number of students compared to the classroom capacities that you saw previously at other um meetings that's the reason why um these numbers also um are for our TK through five um General Ed and SDC students it does not include the number of students within the SDC preschool programs so at brooktree we have the the the SDC programs that Dr mccu mentioned and a projected student population of 446 students at Majestic Way we have projected students at 568 with uh three SDC classes there as well um we are also looking at um adding two portables to maintain some of that music and art space the other thing to to point out about Majestic Way also is that there's currently two portables that were on that particular site that used to house County Office programs um they've been vacant the county hasn't used them in a number of years and I believe at the December board meeting we bought those two portables off of the county for a dollar so those are um now available for us to use so previous presentations did not list those as being available for us to use because we did not own those buildings we do own them now so now they are available for our use so Majestic Way um classroom count has changed slightly from previous presentation so I wanted to point that out Noble has projected number of students at 495 um they have the parent participation program at that school site and they also have the three SDC classes there as well Northwood projects at 565 students um and as Dr McCurry mentioned no special programs at that particular site and that site is at their Max um class utilization capacity um when accounting for music however there is still room for additional students within each grade span at rusin um this is going to be now the largest School uh because the Mandarin immersion program so total students um 691 um Mandarin immersion program is 12 classrooms um and then we're adding three Portables to allow the school to maintain the gym that they have for the students which is located in one of the Portables and um they also have the science lab and then we also have maintained um two portables there so that they could be used for music um since their uh multi-purpose room is one of the ones that's surrounded by a number of classrooms so we wanted to maintain that at that school site so that's why we're adding the Portables at that site and then we're also adding um some restrooms over on that side of the school since the nearest rest rooms are pretty far so adding the Portables over there we're also adding um a bank of restrooms and so even though it is a portable building that will hold those restrooms they are permanent restrooms they're tied into the sewer so they're not they're very similar it'll be very similar to um the restrooms at Brook tree so there's restrooms in a um portable type um or modular building at Brook tree and it's going to be similar to that then we have Summerdale Summerdale is growing to 475 students with the four SDC classes being relocated there and then lastly Vincy Park Vincy Park is projected to be at 522 students um adding the SDC programs that Dr mccu mentioned we're also adding to uh SDC programs from the County Office of Education there so that's also going to be located at that School site Vincy Park is the one school that had the most capacity outside of Ruskin they have the most number of classrooms uh 32 classrooms all right any questions about any of the school sites and the configurations before I move on I just had a quick question relating to the movement of our um preschools so um for each of the sites that they're going to are they going to have proper bathroom accommodation CU they're the little ones yeah so that's a good question that and that was taken into consideration in in the relocation so each of the schools um that they're being Lo relocated to um have either pods where we would have the appropriate Siz bathrooms for them um or in Vincy Park's case um there are two portable classrooms near the front of the school that Sunshine school was using we're going to refurbish those and those will have um rest rooms inside of the classrooms because they currently have those in there and we're going to um remodel them to be appropriate for our preschool age kids thank you any other questions about any of the school sites um any reason Northwood doesn't have any uh special programs is it capacity or yeah it came down to capacity Northwood um in the current configuration based on the boundary changes would be utilizing um all of their classrooms they would have one classroom for music and then uh one of the music classes would need to um be held in the multi-purpose room right and the other question is right here with the with Ruskin uh you said there's a there's a portable that houses the gym yes what kind of gym is it is it it's has gym equipment an exercise equipment in there um my understanding it was paid for by a grant um oh around 2015 or so somewhere around there and it's housed in the very last portable right before the three blue new ones on the on the right top right corner of that map yeah interesting all right thanks okay okay so moving on um next is going to be the safe routes to school um so we understand that all of our schools are uh growing in size so we're going to be starting discussions with the city of San Jose and talking to them about how we can um you know make the routes to school safer what um crosswalks we can add um what type of parking enforcement support we can receive from uh from the city of San Jose one thing that we are aware of is that we're aware of two crosswalk um projects in the works right now adding crosswalk um lights the blinking lights that you see um there's one that's being planned at Sierra Mona which is over by Ruskin and then you have one at Copley and mesina which is over near Majestic way towards the back so that'll be helpful for any of our students that walk that will need to cross those streets to get to school so we do know those are in the works we're also going to take a look at anywhere else that we can ask for support from the city um with any crosswalks crossing guards things of that nature we'll also talk to them about safy Patrol training and can we bring that back safety patrol is at one of our school sites right now we used to have it at more of those um you know uh Dan Norris is looking into where all of our Crossing yards are currently located with the city and maybe where we can reallocate those crossing guards based on need and then um Dan and I are also going to start to re-evaluate drop off and pickup areas and what the procedures are uh based on the new programs being located at some of the sites that haven't historically had special ed programs that will now have those um and then what's the most efficient way to direct traffic at some of the school sites based on the increase in student enrollment and just to add to that with just safe routes to school there are various um offices within the city of San Jose that we're coordinating with so we've already had one preliminary meeting we have a second meeting coming up next week and uh this will be ongoing so it's you know they're um very aware of our circumstances and have shared with us different informational pieces that they will need moving forward to be able to support the adjustments um council member Cohen very supportive of these efforts um he'll be the lead voice in terms of supporting any infrastructure type projects and changes with crosswalks um crosswalk enhancements that might be needed in talking with the um safe routes to school director for the city they shared um you you know the city has a process for um doing analysis uh in terms of traffic and so um they shared they won't begin that analysis until the fall begins they need to be able to have a two-month time frame to be able to study the EB and flow of of traffic and then they can proceed with putting in um whatever enhancements might be needed um but they shared whatever we can project at this time we'll definitely share that information with them now and uh and then in terms of crossing guards that's the San Jose police department is responsible uh for that support and so um we're working in unison with the city with the um individual that's responsible there uh one thing um that they did share you know with any um crossing guards uh that are currently at sites that will no longer be utilized we can shift that crossing guard to another area where we would benefit from and then um you know also again letting them know if we feel that we need additional crossing guards in certain areas they'll examine that and determine that um and also uh we'll collaborate with them in um they said one thing that's been a challenge for the city has been um crossing guard uh hiring and so anyone you know in our community that's open to being part of that process you know um will definitely help promote you know those employee employment opportunities but that's where then I asked San Jose PD well you know we've had safety patrol in our schools before um while you're navigating crossing guard placement you know can we have sjpd provide training than to to our community members that are willing to volunteer and be part of safety patrol Etc so we can have that guidance and do that in Partnership so that's another aidea and then of course our own internal evaluations of drop off and pick up one thing I I will mention is for with the uh with San Jose U the city of San Jose Department of trans Transportation um where the talk about the traffic impact study I think you should push back a little bit more on that because I I've worked with them on the on the uh uh traffic impact on um uh along Cherrywood actually uh and also along where I live it's frustrating to uh to get them to uh listen to your concerns because they're they um analysis follows a different methodology than what we see as residents and parents dropping off and picking up because we see the we we see the challenges the small the small challenges that you know of of people not following the the rules and and what not uh and we see that firsthand but they don't always necessarily um are a able to take that into consideration so I would say just push back on them uh more aggressively as them to be more aggressive about it because this is a serious issue for uh not just our school district I think multiple school districts are uh facing similar issues but uh when you have next discussion please um if you can reiterate two or three more times to so they they know that we are serious about it and again that's also why we've done early Outreach you know because typically um there's not a lot of conversation that you know occurs so you know we reached out letting them know we wanted in-person meetings for these discussions with these individuals because we we said we're already starting to formulate what that's going to look like we want to give that to you now we don't want to wait until the summer and you know and be you know and have to go through the different um procedures that they have to follow in a short time frame we want to be able to do that now so they're open to having those conversations we're having like I said we have a a meeting scheduled already next week I believe so um with all of the key folks and in all of these areas but we'll we'll follow suit on that oh I also just wanted to add to um if the city or if you all um if staff sees any flags for infrastructure Improvement for the crosswalks or anything like that um The City Is At a budget shortfall right now but if you were to flag if you can flag it for us as board members we can bring it to our state representatives because I think the state budget does have some flexibility for infrastructure improvements and so we can um go and Advocate funding that way too yeah thank you for that because that was certainly a a conversation we had last week about potential for you know um uh pedestrian Bridges and things of that nature and and that's what was shared with me that we would need State Legislative support in terms of accessing uh more funds than what the city has so the other thing and and maybe this might come up in the in the discussions is uh when you say reevaluate drop off and pickup procedures you know we also want to look at the uh the timing uh drop off and pick up times U especially in the Raskin camont uh Circle because um seron start time is 8:00 rosin is 805 if I remember correctly cor right and um uh maybe it works okay right now but with more number of students coming uh coming in that's going to be a challenge so you know if you're looking at adjusting the time uh I realized sount is zero period too correct they have 720 zero period as well so I'm sure many of the kids uh are going there but even then there there are there will be more students coming in 300 plus additional students uh above what we have at RAS now um and that's that's a f minute window within that same Circle um that people are trying to come in and get getting out of that area so uh maybe that's one of the things to see if we can change the bell schedule a little bit to um get the traffic moving more smoothly um I know it's easier said than done I understand the challenges behind it um but that's something that that's a definitely a concern because that 5 minute windows not not enough between Sant and and Rask and considering the number of students that we expecting there right any other questions before we move on okay so next steps so the recommended board action is um not tonight tonight's just the discussion the recommended board action is scheduled for Wednesday February 12th at 7 pm here in the boardroom and then each one of us will kind of go over the next steps as well for each of our departments um I'll start uh with my um area on the top right hand side so with business services our next steps are um the moving Logistics of course um each School site whether they're closing um or they're a receiving school you can see all of our schools are receiving either um students from Clos schools or programs so um we're needing to work out those Logistics um for moving our staff and even moving staff within the school sites because um the way School sites are configured right now they're used to having a lot of space and empty classrooms that they're using for a variety of um different things and so um there will need to be a lot of movement and changes um on all of our campuses so we're working on that um one of the things that we're we're doing is we're going to be putting out a bid to hire movers to do most of the moving um since it'll be done in bulk and all at one time so we're trying to make it more efficient for everybody um looking ALS next at facilities needs so I mentioned the Portables and the restroom that we're bringing in um uh trusty hog mentioned um you know are we putting in the right type of uh restroom facilities for our preschool students those are all things that we're going to continue to evaluate once we have solidified where every program is going and what those um additional needs are you know refurbishing the the two portables at viny Park um things of that nature so we're going to be looking at all of those things to see if if we covered everything as there addition needs um we're also adding um more storage at um most of our schools so that it could be more organized so in some of the pods we're going to be adding in um storage shelving so that um things can be organized better to make better utilization of the space so we're looking at all of those um options as well and then as we mentioned the safe routes to school so those are all the things that'll be happening in Business Services um then I also do want to mention that with the moving Logistics comes all of the technology and everything so we have a lot of the smartboards and displays in in all the classrooms iPads things of that nature we're working on the movement of all of that plus our office staff as well and um the moving logistics for all of that all right good evening board for human resources we our next steps are to find a placement for all classified and certificated staff that's been impacted by the closures and or consolidation so HR is Curr currently identifying vacancies so that we can place the impacted staff one of the ways we're doing it is that we partner with our labor Partners on anou for the early separation notice program and this is U available to all um certificated and classified staff that qualify so the district is providing a $2,000 one-time uh payment if they share with um the the district by February the 14th that they are going to separate from the district at the end of the school year which is either resignation or retirement um we plan to uh notify the classified staff of their assignments for next year by the end of this school year on the last day of school and certificated staff we plan to do that by March the 24th one of the things that is available to uh the uh certificated staff for that are in the schools and the schools I Clos is that if they want to follow their students they can do that by submitted a transfer form to the HR department by March the 10th and they will have first priorities to go where their students are going if not then they will have first first priority for any of the open spaces some additional dates for certificated staff by February the 28th we're going to post a preliminary um Staffing list and this is just to let people know what schools they're going to be at next year there's also includes for those schools for those staff that don't have a school so we're also going to let them know a TBD by that time and then like I said before by March the 24th everybody's going to know their preliminary assignment including those uh teachers that are at the schools that are closing um to help the the teachers have some more time to pack their belongings that are going to be transferred to the other schools or the other classrooms the district is going to open up um the classrooms um later this year than we typically do they'll have an opportunity to work in their classrooms up until June the 18th and also at the beginning of the 25 2 26 schol years we're going to open up the schools um earlier and they'll have an opportunity to come in on August the 4th to uh help pack up and remove some of their belongings so those are some of the next steps for human resources any questions than thank you all right um at services so a big Focus for the next couple of weeks potentially month is uh parent notification so once we have the attendance boundaries settled um the schools or the parents who are at the schools specifically that are being closed will be receiving communication from our office on what their new school will be and um we'll also uh direct them to intra District transfers if they're not happy with uh the school that they're being um moved to so the process would be able to start pretty soon after that we also have to look at space available at the schools in order to make sure that um there is space for other students that um would have to place them at a different School uh another big focus of our department that we have haven't been able to launch yet is our online enrollment and so our online enrollment process will start as soon as we get everything up and running we're hoping um at least either the week that we have off um in February during the February break or the week we come back and so once again those are the online enrollment system for the parents to um the incoming TK and kindergarten students to um register for school and any other families that are wanting to come um from another District moved Etc so those are our two big Focus areas um kind of in the student services realm and then of course we're going to be working um specifically on the instructional materials and what's going to happen to all the instructional materials and how do we move those from school to school we'll be working with Nancy Jones our district librarian our lmts we've already had some conversation with Dan and Tony on what that might look like so we're having a lot of conversations about instructional materials that need to be moved in addition to um some of the other items that teachers will be packing and then communicating and um working with our special ed programs there's a lot of um programs that are going to be moved as you can see communicating um with staff and trying to find uh best locations at their new schools for those programs that are going to be moved and a lot of support is going to be uh needed not only for the adults but also for the students and so that also focuses on the mental wealth and heal mental health and well-being of all of our folks um in the berasa school district so there is counseling support services already available and we've been making sure that our principles are putting that out in their weekly or bi-week or B monthly newsletters not only to our staff but all also to parents who uh might be dealing with some um students that are still trying to figure out what's going to happen for next school year so we're going to have that support all the way through the beginning of next school year we also have a handful of parent workshops that we're going to be um holding we have a good relationship with the County Office of Ed and one of our um uh parents former parents Jamie coup has offered up a handful of parent workshops that we're going to be offering in the spring for parents on transitioning and making sure that um students are feeling good about um their health and safety and um can also discuss questions or issues and also how to help support parents have these discussions with their um own children and then we're also working very collaboratively with our um schools that will be receiving students a lot of really good ideas from uh we heard from our BAC meeting a couple of weeks ago um ideas that are already coming in with new t-shirts and new logos and other activities that um will be potentially held in the spring as well open houses of course would also be an opportunity for parents to come over and see the school uh field trips so that they can start um seeing the the grounds and be able to start making friends and understand which of their friends might be going to their new schools so there's a lot of work to do um overall in the ed services department and we're here to help support in any way we can Dr MCU a question regarding the U enrollment online enrollment uh Dimension so it's not launched yet it's being launched corre right so we can't launch it until we know where our attendance is I gotta right is is it um it's optional correct I mean if you can still fill out a paper so we're almost all completely online and so concerned about the um there are some parents that may not have access to yeah no we always have paper um enrollment packets but we always try to help support our parents by doing it online so if they go into the front office and ask for support the clerk or the school secretary can help them as well at at the site at the school site they can come here and we can also help direct them and get them up and running if they need it right so you know there's also a possibility too that we haven't discussed uh at length but also another possibility throughout all of this is to have a parent you know like Zoom anybody that's coming into the school district to understand what does it what's it's going to look like what's the enrollment process and uh we looked at Alam Rock they also did something similar to uh just understand where the boundaries are after the the uh attendance boundaries are um confirmed to have another open uh session via Zoom with all parents so they can understand the impact on their students so they don't and they and they also can hear they're going to be receiving something in the mail or parents square that they would like to fill out and what the process is for the intra and um potentially inter District transfer process so those are also a couple of things that we're looking into for me the communication is key making sure that we overc communicate in the next couple of months so that everybody really understands what the process is not only with um parents but with staff and with students as well I just want to quickly say uh thank you cabinet for all your work on this this is a really difficult process and so I'm really happy that we're moving forward and I I want to emphasize that fact as well communication is key and so I hope the dates that are being listed or I would recommend that the dates being listed be published on our website as well you know uh parents please check your emails and also please stay in communicate with our bargain units as well want to make sure that everyone is being taken care of in this process and so thank you I just had a couple questions um or um issues that I'm looking forward to hearing is um how the Middle School boundaries are going to potentially be impact and I'm not sure that could be presented during the next uh school board meeting um to realign with the elementary schools because I know some elementary schools now they're more or less impacted by for example Majestic Way um so I'm not sure if uh you have enough information to discuss that now another thing I want to hear about is um which schools uh have been impacted with the title one uh based on this proposal are some schools losing their Title One status or are other schools gaining it and the other thing that we probably need to discuss I know the district has I'm sure you're discussing it um with your cabinet but uh what are we going to do with these uh now closed sites um so perhaps a presentation in the near future for that if you want to be looking at changing Middle School boundaries to be in sync with these new Elementary boundaries partly or wholly you would it would be more recommended to do it next year because that'll be the first year the kids fing out of the new attendance areas be going from elementaries into middle schools does that make sense it doesn't I agree with you we need to have a staggered um procedure I don't I don't believe we should immediately do it but there needs to be discussion though um and it probably needs to be staggered so that way it doesn't impact the kids now okay any other questions I have one question fored Services uh any detrimental impacts uh to either existing programs that the schools that remain or uh any loss of uh you know just uh amenities in terms of facilities so we're going to be working we've already started working with our principles specifically on um what's the future hold right so with budgets and everything really havn't been decided yet uh there are a lot of conversations about looking forward to transitioning from one school to the next what does that look like at each specific School site I think we're still in the planning phase but that's definitely something that we're talking about at our principal meetings what are some of the potentially closed uh schools and how they can replicate some of those same services at the schools that will be um moving into and then as you can also see the uh addition of um students they're going to be also receiving additional funds uh specifically for the number of students at their school sites and so the principles also work collaboratively with Mr Franklin and Mr korano on submitting their budgets and then working with my department um specifically on how we can continue the services or boost those Services if we have additional funds and potential more Title One funds so but it's not looking like the schools that are going to remain open are going to lose any kind of service that they now provide the students no not at this point I think it's going to just be the opposite right right so they're actually going to gain okay n gain all right thank you and you asked about facilities as well and so that was taken into account um Mr Franklin can share more but as they went through each School s is they referenced this evening to ensure that there was still a space for any existing activities as well as what we know all of our schools offer that there's a a space for RSP that there's a space for speech that there's space for um the art instruction that's happening now that for you know the ongoing music program that we have um all of those uh you know if a school had a special space like the science lab like the gym those are maintained Within These schematics okay thank you right any other questions from the board so we can move on all right so up next uh we have public comment on agenda items so this is the Public's chance to um to comment so I have a few cards here let me read the speaker conduct before all right thank you thank you okay so speaker conduct for all who wish to address the board during public comment periods speak speakers are requested to state your name and affiliation for the record each speaker will be given 3 minutes to address the board 5 minutes per organization and a maximum of 20 minutes per topic um however in in exceptional circumstances when necessary to ensure full opportunity for public input the board president May with board consent adjust the amount of time allowed for public input and or for and or the time allotted for each speaker any such adjustment shall be done equitably so as to allow a diversity of viewpoints the president may also ask members of the public with the same Viewpoint to select a few individuals to address the board on behalf of that Viewpoint speakers are reminded to communicate with respect fairness and courteousness to each other and to all present we ask that you not use the name of any District employee in your comments the board welcomes orderly Communications from the public U so uh saying that does the board want to extend the uh a lot of time period of 20 minutes to allow for everybody and do we want to reduce do you know approximately how many speakers we have I think we have more than 10 um cards 14 14 so that's what is that uh 42 minutes should be okay I think these are ex exceptional circumstances so okay so if everybody takes so just just remember if you're a speaker yeah you don't have to take your entire three minutes if you can say what you're going to say and less uh you know sometimes a shorter message is more effective so just remember that but everybody has three minutes if you wish to take up your time Joe Herman you want to go first on behalf of cab and you have five minutes as a seap president that on yeah good evening my name is Joe Herman I'm the president of the California Teachers Association of berasa been in District about 209 years teach elementary school and so tonight um I know that uh our assistant superintendent of HR had said that we you know we had created anou and we are working you know to help our members transition to help the communities move as quickly and there is flexibility in thatou that as issues come up we can address that and try to sit back down to bargain and help our members transition and we know our working conditions are students learning conditions but tonight I'm here to support the lane view SDC special ed teachers uh our SDC special ed Educators work with our most neurodiverse students our most vulnerable and challenging students and so tonight they're here to present an alternative that wasn't up this evening so we now how creative and thoughtful and that the board can be in solving problems so I ask you to do that this evening and so you're going to hear stories tonight from the SDC special ed uh group that wants to keep their Community together they want to bring that Community to Northwood um so listen to them it'll be educational and hopefully it'll help guide you in your decision thank you Mr Herman all right our next speaker for the night is Melissa Mays oh I'm sorry sorry I was devastated that lane view was selected for school closure and I'm deeply disappointed in the board's decision you prioritize the loudest voices over making an equitable choice for tile one schools and special education programs as board members your primary responsibility is to base decisions on student needs and outcomes not the demands of the adults that being said I'd like to share my experience as a parent of a child in lameuse special education program my son is non-bal autistic he attend ended Lane view from preschool through fifth grade and each year our gratitude for the program grew our son was valued and cared for um the Educators met him where he was and provided the support he needed he was part of the school Community not just a student in a special program his classrooms were inside the school building right next to general education classrooms his peers knew him included him and accepted him throughout his years at Lan view his classes joined general education students on field trips I witnessed firsthand the kindness and empathy for mainstream students because inclusion benefits them too family nights accommodated the students with sensory needs ensuring they could participate the school created a true culture of belonging I served on the consolidation committee and one of the scoring criteria was whether the program could exist on another campus if lamb view special education program is to be relocated the new site must provide the same conditions classrooms with four walls inter at within the main building not isolated and Portables the entire program preschool through 5th must remain together so that families are forced to move from school to school and finally this program must continue feeding into moral Middle School where the teachers have worked collaboratively to ensure a smooth transition for the students I urge you to uphold your responsibility to put student needs first this program success depends on the thoughtful planning and continuity please do what is right for the students um and to sort of better explain what I'm saying Summerdale is a pod so for my child a pod would not work for him he would alope and run out of the classroom there would be loud noise from the neighboring classrooms that's why four walls but near his counterparts in the class the grades that he's in would suit him best thank you for your time thank you for your comments next we have Jackie Hoffman I'll wait till everyone's looking at me I teach my kindergarteners to make sure you have eyes on the speaker and it just shows respect so I expect that to good evening I'd like to start by introducing myself my name is Jackie Hoffman I've taught Kinder or K1 at Lane view for 26 years previous to that I did my student teaching in Ruskin and um now I can't read because my eyes are wet maybe glasses will help and and um did a couple long-term subbing at Summerdale as well but I've been a part of baresa for 45 years you see I attended Noble and pedmont and I'm also barious the Legacy my mom has taught over 30 years in this district and including my brother and myself and my mom we've been part of this district for over 75 years just in my family I'm very proud of baresa I was very proud of Bara I'm very disappointed right now I could spend a lot of time and energy on discussing why and how the process of closing Lane view is unfair but I and I urge you to reconsider even though I don't think you will but we I we are here to talk about how we can make these transitions smoother rather than more difficult because right now we're feeling punished every time we turn around Lane is getting it you may not be aware but we've been told we cannot take our donation monies that we have because that's just going to go back to the district our classroom donation monies we've been told we can't take the equipment the technology we have because school money is District money so that's going to be reabsorbed and then distributed distributed equitably which I'm going to define equity in a minute to other places even though that was site money for specific classroom use um Summer Schools going to be at Lan view so we have to be out by June 18th we have no option to continue to pack if we want to or do be able to go through the process we have to be up out tidy out because they chose Lane view of the all the schools that are staying open Lane view is going to close and get special head summer school why why that's punishing us we didn't do anything wrong to make our school closed I'm waiting for eyes sorry thank you we didn't do anything we've worked hard our community is part of my family that is our Lan View Family and it's not fair that this transition that's already difficult and would be difficult for everyone to become more difficult because choices that are being made are what's easy not what's best for students and for our we're part of the community as well um beas's statement mission statement is that baras Union School District provides all students the skills to become lifelong Learners and successful 21st century Global Citizens the definition of equity is that the fair distribution of resources and opportunities based on individual needs equality and the reason why I'm defining this is this was brought up on December 18th equality is the equal treatment of everyone regardless of their needs the decisions that were made on December 18th were not Equitable it was based on equality thank you for your comments [Music] who all right up next uh Natalie Enriquez um my name is Natalie Enriquez I currently have two children attending Lane view in second and third grade and today I'm speaking on behalf of the lane view SDC program whom my son Joe Enriquez attends uh a couple days ago I received notification of a proposal that all Lane view SDC students will be transferred to Summerdale while all mainstream students will be divided between Northwood and Majestic so today I asked the Board of Trustees I tell you all not only have you decided to rip our students from their school but now you are proposing on alienating the SDC students who will have the most difficulty transitioning into a new school a school where they will not see any more familiar faces of Staff teachers and friends and what you not what you may not know is that the STD stdc students not only develop friendships within their class but in with but with mainstream students as well so the likelihood of sending these students to a new school with no familiar faces will cause major regression academically socially and most important emotionally this proposal will not only be damaging to the special group of students but it also feels discriminatory by separating only them this group of students from their peers I ask the board to take all this into consideration both before making your final decision thank you for your comments up next Rada Bala uh good evening board RAB Bala preschool special education teacher currently at Toyon um I was hoping I was last I think everyone here has said everything beautifully eloquently um I appreciate the questions that the board um asked I do have a question um I understand that this is a difficult decision but when I'm looking at the schools and I'm looking at how we've uh distributed all the different students based on whatever it is I have noticed that some schools don't have any special at students um it seems almost um on purpose from this side of the room and um it's just a really difficult decision I know we're all trying to do the best we can but it's going to be ripping the Band-Aid and it's going to be a difficult decision um and at this point that's all I have to say so thank you thank you for your comments up next Amy Martinez good evening uh my name is Amy Martinez and I'm a preschool SDC teacher at toon I was moved to Toyon last year against my wishes after spending 17 years at Lan view now that both schools will be closing I'm here to ask you to consider placing me back with my Lane view team before last year Lane view was the only School in the district that gave special education students the opportunity to attend the same school from preschool through fifth grade beyond the benefits of routine comfort and predictability for students this also provided them with mainstreaming opportunities throughout elementary school as it is the lane view culture that all students are included and valuable members of the lane View Family any Lane view parent will tell you that this contributed positive positively to their child's Elementary School experience and made them feel a sense of belonging as well as fostered their emotional development and social skills the lane view SDC team works so cohesively and are able to seamlessly transition students when they move on to the next grade after feeling like an outsider and that I didn't have a connection to my placement the last two years it further reinforced for me that the preschool through fifth grade Continuum strengthens the collaboration and supports that benefit my students with autism at such a critical stage of their development this is my 19th year with the district and I know what I need to flourish as an educator and what works best for my students I'm asking for you to please consider placing me with the lane view SDC team at their new School site as I would love to continue my work within the program that I work so hard to help build thank you thank you next speaker Tom McDonald's so we're going to be talking before three minutes because this is what we got got a lot to say so you can just cross our names off as we get to all righty uh Tom McDonald Lan view fifth grade um Jackie already went over the mission statement I'm going to go on with that uh the board's decision to Target schools with Title One status schools with predominant Hispanic student populations and schools with moderate sever special education prr programs contradicts District's mission statement it's a school board's responsibility to create policy and District administration responsibility to implement said policy by targeting targeting these schools this current board is setting precedent for vision for this policy Lane view promotes inclusivity so why doesn't disc current board Lane view was not given the opportunity to speak during the school closure decision so we're speaking now the board allowed public commenters openly attacked the quality and integrity of schools up for closure and that was unacceptable lame VI students are consistent consistently held in high regard by principles and by staff from maril middle school that have moved the lane view because our students are inclusive of all their peers this decision was political in nature and to say otherwise would be insulting board members clearly had other interests at play both privately and professionally this resulted in an unfair and uninformed decision-making process the board was informed by Dr sentes that students receive entitle one Services would likely lose those Services after boundaries were withdrawn the board refused to listen to that fact and insisted they would be able to procure funds for those Services when in reality it wasn't a funding issue they're not going to qualify and will not be able to receive those Services due to this decision Lan view was the only School in Santa Clara County that met state requirements for inclusion of students with special needs in the mainstream classrooms yet that was not considered JY was one reason why Lane view was brought up for school closure house closing the only School within reasonable distance to our student population going to help withy concerns is the district going to be providing transportation for students that they've wronged uh Northwood is a school being proposed as a site to absorb Lan few students Northwood has a School dress code requirement who's going to be paying for the close for these incoming Title One students it's not fair to put that on the families um participation some board members in this vote may have been a violation of the California political reform Act of 1974 uh this process had flaws uh reps were not elected by our school Community the rep from Lane view is not a parent or a current student of Lane View Lane view did not attend cisal meetings and Lane view was not notified to have a replacement sent it was recommended by the consolidation committee to remove Lane view from the list at the October 3D meeting at the next meeting on October 17th Not only was Lane view back in the list but was moved from number five number three due to parental pressure from other Schools parent influence should not be a part of this committee's process it should be an impartial decision based on findings and data presented the board claimed closing three elementary schools was the option that save the most money when the district administration's presentation clearly proved that was not true thank you did you submit a card just so I can find it yeah Angela Jacobson sorry yeah yeah and just to reiterate this was a collaboration with all of lame view staff and teachers so we're just kind of reading what we've all come up with and what we feel you should he to hopefully keep us in mind when you're going through your decisions please okay um so um expectations of moving forward um as Joe already mentioned and you'll hear more um our sped Department the most important thing for Lane view is for our sped Department to transfer together to a single site our team excels with inclusion of students in mainstream classrooms and this is something that must continue our sped team will be able to model inclusion at their new site and help classroom teachers include this population in their own classrooms we also want some teachers from Lan view to transfer with our sped team because we understand how to successfully include students with special needs into our classrooms and we can also help our future colleagues with these practices um if the mandin immersion program teaches teachers get to transfer together lamb VI bed team should also be given that opportunity and it is Equitable thing to do for our students and as we said we feel the best would be Northwood our sped team will need um classrooms that are self-contained within four walls which Northwood has school sites with pod classrooms will not work for this student population they feel it's not going to benefit our our kids um concerns regarding otherism teachers being reassigned are concerned with how they will be accepted at their new sites Lan view in particular feels like we have an unfair stigma about our school and we do not want to be considered labeled them um the need for Portables and the use of less than ideal places for classrooms has the reassigned teachers feeling that they are going to be relegated to those rooms upon relocated should this happen the district should be condoning otherism and segregation we want this process to be Equitable grade levels should be left in close proximity meaning that teachers who teach the same grade should be near each other this may mean that teachers at the site may need to move classrooms to accommodate keeping grade levels together students and staff from all schools creating a new school Community should be Blended so as to promote strong sense of belonging amongst everyone in the new school Community three schools will cease to exist next year and the other schools will undergo metamorphosis and making sure they're aware of that as well when this happens we expect Equity not equality to be on the Forefront of decision-making all School sites are going to feel the impact of these school closures and it is our hope that principles at all School sites are preparing their staff for these changes it is our hope these changes on the horizon starting these conversations now and making plans for these changes will help combat concerns of otherism we expect all staff to promote new school cultures during the trans transition we demand to be treated regarded as people not as numbers that you guys are looking at um involuntary reassignment concerns some of you already mentioned this teachers should have a say please give us a say we didn't have a say that our school was closed um give us a say on teachers should be able to choose from a list of all available openings at the end of February based on the grade level and based on seniority we feel that would be fair thank you we had some more uh regarding lane view team we do have one more card from a staff member Rosewood okay [Laughter] teamwork teamwork yeah um concerns about the moving process we have been told that the donation money cannot be transferred to the new sites even though past practices have allowed this to happen as early as last school year with technology purchases with school sites funds removed with invol AR transferred teachers will smart boards be traveling with teachers will teachers be allowed to take assigned curriculum to their new sites teacher have organized their curriculums and want to travel with them collecting and redistributing curriculum and Technology would be timec consuming and a waste of funds can we request District assigned Furniture to move with us your yours oh okay thank you okay um I'm Rosewood I'm the 45 SEC teacher at Lane view okay um autism classroom placement is not about moving a few classrooms into an open space at a school it is about ensuring that each child's unique needs are met in a way that supports their growth and development for many children the new placement will have expected and unexpected changes and it is the District's responsibility to lessen the impact of this decision our students need spaces where they are able to feel safe a notable percentage of neurodiverse students have heightened sensory stimulus stressors to noise and movement the Open Floor Planet Summerdale limits our ability to mitigate and effectively control the stimuli we also caution The District in moving sped into dep Portables the practice others in already marginalized community for inclusion it is also a visible representation of segregation the second sentence in the mission statement the district the district aims to create a safe and inclusive learning environment Diversified education can be part particularly difficult to implement in an effective Manner and our community practices are based on belief resilience and purpose the partnership between staff have taken decades to cultivate the Lan view general education teacher joins special education teachers to work together in multiple teams to support inclusion inclusion is a belief and an idea that all education practices provide all students their right to a least restrictive environment and meaningful education Blan view has a K8 autism specific program that collaborates to support strategies for all Learners we propose Northwood as our new new SDC home with our relocated Lane View Community this site provides appropriate building structure pre-embedded inclusion practices with our Lan view colleagues and Northwood is the feeder school to Morel Middle School which is the designated 6 through 8 grade program for SDC autism I ask you to reconsider the plan to separate SDC from Lan View and place us with our community thank you for your comments thank you up next Joe and [Applause] riquez good evening guys my name is Joe Enriquez um I'm a proud father two little ones Beautiful Minds beautiful heart children that go to Lane view um during my time with at Lane view I've had positive and I've had some negatives um but it really breaks my heart that it's continuing the negative during this time my son goes to he's autistic he's in autistic class and during his uh time in school and he's only a third grader he's been grabbed by a teacher he's been slapped by a teacher he's been choked by a teacher and now you guys are going to compound it by send him to a whole another school when me and my wife who you got to me she's beautiful she came up here earlier and spoke Natalie um you guys are going to send away where there's a small part of me that still has faith in them because of teachers a small community they're friends you're going to separate in Iceland when I read up on things I see things with is autistic with my little boy they have no voice and it's kind of being shown right in front of us as parents to sit at home talk and feel that their little community that they have the numbers this shows this this shows that but really what it shows us as the parents is you just don't see them and you demonstrate it you know there's certain things that are not learned by the classroom the district but that's taught at home with us where we share with our little boy that you got to see the good people even though you're delt a bad hand Papa to my daughter you know I understand things hard decisions have to be made I understand it it doesn't mean I have to respect it but at that point even though that hard decision needs to be made I hope you guys make it with an open heart and understanding from our end that there is a small little area small like your parents would say there's a small little area in your heart that's called love care and hopefully you hold it for them because um I'm sure you guys are all I don't know who's parent there's a couple young ones up there but if they are I love my son I love my daughter and I love I love his little friends that he's made because it's been a challenge for him to make friends because he's gone from Majestic to Lan View and now to a whole another school so in three four years three different schools in a whole I'm just seeing the challenge that we're going to have so so I thank you guys for your time and I hope you guys like I said do it with the center of your heart to look at my little boy who's right there and my daughter that that that decision you guys make affects them and us so thank you thank [Applause] you up next uh Gina pagan hi I'm super nervous and I'm a speech pathologist so I speak super fast um I want to start by saying that when I came to beresa this is my second year I was ready to give up on being a speech language pathologist and it's a sad truth that's happening all over California there's a mass Exodus of Specialists to work with our most neediest most important children in my opinion um and so I love this District I love the district that I work for coming into preschool has been a lifechanging situation for me and um I I just want to start by saying that I'm so grateful for my community and for the parents and the children that I serve um our relationship with preschool which where all house at Toyon and I I'm not sure that many people are aware of this but there is a preschool assessment center and a preschool assessment team I personally perform 55 to 70 assessments per year of our babies our little ones coming into this community we set the tone for our relationship with our special ed families of how they are going to be received by this District um So currently I I work with four out of the six sdc's um at Toyon and I understand the need for school closures and unfortunately it's a necessary evil to make maintain and continue serving the children of our our demographic in our area and I understand the need and the desire to have Continuum Services it is so hard think about it you come into to preschool then you get moved to this SDC then you're moved to another and it's traumatic um so I'm just asking for some more consideration and more awareness and understanding um in the maps oh I have to talk faster in the maps that were originally published never once was there enough rooms for speech therapists or not even mentioned so we actually have to abide by Hippa and furpa regulations to protect our students and it's never been by this board I've been watching for months it's not been taken into effect more than 60% of your speech therapists are here tonight in support um we have to have rooms to work with our children and by law they have to be protected have a key and be away from distracting noise so that we can actually conduct standardized ass assessments for our children um at the Vincy Park oh numbers you if you move five sdcs to Vincy Park and the preschool assessment team that is a minimum of 160 IEPs if one IEP is happens per child and I'm concerned that the impact on our administrator is going to be too great for the need for meetings basically there would be more and that does not include RSP or gened there would be more IEPs then school days in the year with the current plan in place there will be seven special ed classrooms on this new site that all have to be moved and served by your slps thank you very much for your comments next we have uh nimish gorki Gori sorry if I mispronounced your name sorry um hello pronounce it correctly so I know yeah this is nsh gri I'm a parent of first grader at Lan view um so first of all I just wanted to say I I was deeply disappointed with the decision to close lane view I'm here to uh show support uh for the community um I understand difficult decisions have to be made but if if it was truly there was misrepresentation uh from the school on any of the Committees um I I I hope I wish that there's some Rec reconsideration there um the the few points I want to raise looking forward um I want to make sure I know the lane View Community is being split between multiple schools uh there's inconsistency in after school care uh between the schools and Northwood does not have after school care uh from what I understand um uh The Majestic has rock program I don't think Northwood has anything um so I I do want to make sure that that's considered at least a consistent program is is put in place across all these schools the second thing I wanted to bring up is the Middle School assignment and I think that was brought up so I I definitely want that to be uh part of the agenda in a future conversation uh because uh I don't want our kids to go through another sort of split with their friends again um and then the last thing and I know I've I've mentioned this a couple times and this has been brought up about the future of the school sites that are closing and I understand that there has there is going to be a separate committee to to decide the future of those sites so I'm only speculating here if a private school were to open in that same place that is going to impact um enrollments again I know I mean I was looking at the numbers from Majestic we already uh expecting 100 student drop by the by three years I live 3 minutes 30 seconds walking distance from Lane view if a private school were to open there it's definitely going to be a consideration for me and I'm sure there are other parents who would do that right now the closest private school um is either shatford or Mary Hill for me which is at least a 5 minute drive so I again I don't think we're solving this problem for the future this is going to come back in two to three years when there are more options for parents around in our neighborhoods like opening an Amazon or timu inside inside Target right so that's that's that's essentially what's happening or might happen so I do urge you guys to please consider that um thank you thank you very much for your comments up up next alexand Alexandra alao hello board members um my name is Alexander Baloo and my daughter Ila Lopez attends the lane view SDC program um I just want to say that the team at Lane view has been amazing um like many parents have said tonight um Leela's had a really hard time transitioning and Lane View's been the only School in community that's actually really accepted her um the staff the teachers everyone has really welcomed our family and it's really made a huge difference in Lea and the way she's thrived um when we heard that lane view was selected to be closed we were devastated um transition has always been a difficult thing for ilila and the first thing that came to our mind is what's going to happen to Lea and what's going to happen to her classmates as many parents had brought up over here that you know transition is so hard for our students um anything that changes can go ahead and and make things even more difficult um um now as we hear and we wait for what actually is going to happen with our students you know concerns come to our mind you know what will happen you know to meet our students needs what's the safety going to be like is inclusion going to be even considered um and this is things that are going on and on in our head um I can go on with all of my concerns I don't have enough time to go ahead and actually discuss all my concerns but one thing I do ask you guys is when you consider the next steps I ask that you guys go ahead and actually ask these SDC teachers what their opinions are and actually take their opinions into consideration they know exactly what our students need they know how to advocate for our students ask the speech teachers ask everybody exactly what they need because they know what our students need to thrive they know what's going to be needed to go ahead and make them successful and please consider that when you're making these decisions thank you thank you very much next anina Seth hi board members sorry good evening board members I wanted to bring up a topic that I think someone else has brought up that uh one of the parents who's not wasn't able to be here uh wanted to bring up we know that three of the schools are closing and I think one of the concerns that a lot of the parents have is we know the three sites are closing but what is going to happen with before school care and then the after school programs because we I mean essentially those kids are going to new school so we need to make sure that we have those programs if we have programs such as rock that's run by the city that's affordable we need to make sure that we have enough seats in place if we have 500 seats that are for you know lowi income affordable we need to make sure that those programs are still available for those families after the schools close and I think that's a huge concern you mean we're we're talking about having I don't know what the total number is but the three schools you know 1,00 kids 1,500 kids I mean those parents are going to need a place to put their kids we have Working Families we have par both parents working so I think that needs to be a consideration and I don't know if that's really been thought about and it can't be an afterthought right I mean these families are going to start thinking about this today it is so hard to find after school care and child care this these days and that affordability piece I mean that's that's the national crisis that we're you know we all read about the second thing I wanted to bring up and it it was really telling I had I I met a friend that I hadn't seen in many many years her children were going to Charter School in this area and she's decided that she wanted to move to public school so she actually visited Vincy Park and Noble last August and was told that there was no room for her two children her kids are now in private school those are two kids that could have been part of our district she went there hoping to find placements for her two elementary school children so I think the question that has been asked previously and that continues to be a concern is what is is do we really have open enrollment because I mean this is one case I know I've heard of other families where people have wanted to move to different schools I mean and this can't be the only scenario where people are coming in and asking to join the district and finding out that there's no spot and people are not deciding they're going to go to another school they're deciding to go to private that is still option for folks her kids are going to perial school at this point they're happy with that but that those are just you know that's an example of what's you know taking place so I think that needs to be a key consideration is we keep talking about declining numbers but they're declining because we're not opening the door to people who actually want to participate in BC they want their kids in public school but they're not you know the district is saying we don't have room how is that possible if we have declining enrollment I mean I think someone needs to look into that that's all I had for today thank you thank you up next har I'm sorry I can't read your last name hi how you say your last name okay yeah uh I'm parent of I'm parent of children currently attending Cherrywood and we are really deeply saddened by the decision of closing the school however we have gone and we have after reviewing the newly established boundaries we now see that English speaking students are being divided into three different schools and it is very disrup uh very disruptive and it will create unnecessary difficulties for the parents and students as well so in my case I would like to bring up my my concerns here my kid um actually we live in between the C road and berasa road and in our case my kid is a fourth grade student and my kid has three closest friends and three of them are being split in split into three different screws one will go to Brook Tre and one will go to serum I mean one will go to Summerdale and one will go to Raskin so at least I know I understand that we have to consolidate and we we we have to do that there is no other way but at least we have to make uh a little disrupt you instead of going to three schools at least try to minimize the impact U make it to two schools instead of three schools and that is one one of my concern and we try to reach out to the school district as well for the inter regarding the internal transfers and they mentioned that internal transfers are kind of available but in case if there are so many students who are applying for the internal transfers they are mentioning that it is a lottery system and my kid and she is asking me am I am I alone going to the new school and what about my friends and is anyone coming along with me but coming to the place in in the if you see the map init who are living in between the s road and berasa road I see I see there are not notot many number of kids only just like five streets are there and I don't know uh assigning such a small uh a small portion of small group of students to uh other school and they will become alone right we should have to understand them and we should have to show some empathy towards them and for one year and I it would be difficult for them to adjust uh even considering the demographic wise as well it is unsafe for the elementary students to cross the busy street such as the berasa road and we have seen couple of accidents in in last three months itself two accidents happened and especially in our community we felt that we are get getting feeling disconnected from the larger community and my kid I mean my child is especially distressed about losing their best friends I think we should have to uh show some empathy uh towards the kids to to uh by this school closure decision I hope uh board members understand this and try to revisit the boundaries and L make this uh consolid I mean make make this splitting at least little disruptive instead of splitting into three at at least try to split into two and minimize the impact at least few of the kids will try to stay together for please understand yeah thank next we have adja Kumar good evening board members I adya my two kid goes to l view currently in Kinder and third grade my main agenda part I try to bring up here is after school care uh my both kid go right right now to rock in lenew but and they will probably go to uh Northwood which doesn't have Brock it have YMCA what I heard and that have long waiting queue from last even right now for the next school year it's going to be very difficult for us to uh manage this because we are working parents it's impossible to take them to somewhere different place rather than in being in the school it com concern their safety it's not easy to have little kid commute from one place to other place every day and try to meet their daily needs they also have such a good staff in rock they had they are going through from last four years and they are very good and I'm not sure how IMC going to be I had some experience with IMC earlier which was not very great so that the other region you should consider to bring rock or something more affordable more better plan after school in whatever uh school you're trying to consolidate and bring more kids as they more enroll more people going to move to the different school it's going to be very difficult to manage to parents like us who have to rely pretty much on after school care to make ourself work on what we are doing right now so yeah so just that point I want to bring here that's all from my side thank you thank you very much for your comment next David and I'm sorry I can't read your last name yeah it's David Alice um I'm parent of a child at Lan view um I just want to say for the district to choose Lane view a school that has the infrastructure the staff and the program for kids with special needs is pretty shameful for them to choose that school I just want to say that two is you you know I support them on the location that they recommend on having the best facilities for my son um and you know another thing I want to bring up is you know as a parent sitting and watching this meeting all I hear is like numbers you know we got to balance the schools and put them you know level out the schools not really as needs and you know on the presentation I heard about building structures for music classes building structures for this and just this gooal that school school which is great you know have programs but when it came to to the proposed um Sun Sunnydale or whatever um there was no nothing no I didn't hear any accommodations for restrooms any accommodations for a plan of these you know especially these students go there I didn't hear any plans of anything that school being done you know my son he can't go to the public rest himself he needs help with the staff you know he has low issues and and I know I just he's a foresight nothing was brought up on any kind of support at Sunnydale or I even don't even know the name of school it's kind of draw the blank sommerdale yeah I didn't hear any I don't know he needs a house something thing in day one I don't need plans in two three years we going to retrofit the school for special needs he needs to have stuff in day one there and for me not even hearing anything or any plans of being extra support there that's pretty rid ridiculous so um you know like I said these are most vulnerable students they need the most help and I don't know he just can't be a number and just place and just I don't know he he need definitely support thank you thank you for your comments our last speaker uh is Betty Chen good evening um I'm here today because um a couple of things um I would like to ask some questions regarding the demographers report and in general to just also um to ask the board members to please advocate for the communities and the families affected by closure um first of all you know when I was part of the consolidation committee um we were told that most likely all the boundaries would change and um to hear that uh later on when the decisions were made to close the three schools that only the affected schools and their boundaries would change um looking at the data and in the presentation um it seems to me that the the student population isn't evenly distributed um if you look at some schools 400 and then you compare to a school like Ruskin will have nearly 700 kids 691 um that's not evenly distributed in my mind um so I hope that the board will question and um think of solutions or come up with a better plan or even consider um changing the boundaries of all the schools um to have an even distribution um I I say that not only just for you know distribution wise but also I recall the demographer had mentioned the declining enrollment in two three years how that would affect um enrollment again and um possibly another closure and I also think that um to think about having to um for the administrators to manage a school um with nearly 700 students and the kind of support as as you know being a teacher or staff at that school um what kind of support they have um I understand that um no new management is necessary and I applaud that however you know we can use the resources more wisely how do you divide up all the students so that the principles and administrators have um equal responsibility and that the the the the community members um are treated fairly and also the teachers who work there are treat it fairly because having you know one admin support a school of almost 700 kids that's almost as big as the elementary schools I mean I'm sorry the middle schools um the other thing I wanted to mention was um as as a Cherrywood um parent had said that uh the students were affected at Cherrywood are going to three different schools in the EO um my daughter's in the fourth grade class just as the other parent and um they're only I want to say 40 kids in the class 40 fourth graders and you want to distribute them into three different schools they won't graduate with their their friends and they are the the the kids that I mentioned before that started distance learning learning in kindergarten so they barely had time to make friends and now they won't graduate with them and then my last comment is a general observation that um it seems like I do feel for the special education families because it seems like whenever there's a problem or there's something that needs to be moved special education seems to be the one to be moved first taking consideration Ruskin they're moving the it seems like according to the proposal the um the secc class is going to be moved even though they been at rkin thank you thank you for your comments thank you everybody for your comments much appreciated and we definitely will take them into consideration um so next we have our study session um superintendent well this is opportunity for the board to have continued discussion on this topic any additional questions you may have any additional Direction you'd like to provide staff this item will be coming back to you on the February 12th board meeting comments questions from the board sure want to start all right okay so um I'll get it started so first thing just as a point of uh observation is some of the comments uh I heard uh from our uh special uh staff was talking about otherism segregation lack of empathy the I don't know whether we had we had quite a open U discussion in front of the entire community and I think um many of us spoke specifically about the challenges with with moving our autistic kids um and I don't know where where they I understand the uh frustration and the uh uh you know um feeling of helpness that goes with closing a uh closing a side and and it weighs heavily on all of us and and we know that and we we did speak extensively about um the challenges of moving uh you know specifically I remember speaking making specific comments too and I heard some of my colleagues also speak about um the challenges that autistic kid kids face when the environment is changed um and you know how we can uh ensure that uh that that continues and I and um just just a bit disappointed with some of the some of the um labels that were used tonight uh I was not uh super impressed but but I understand the frustration that the um that the staff feels and and I'm I completely empathize with that uh but uh above that some of the uh things that were mentioned uh do see seem valid uh especially these smartboards I thought they moved uh they stayed the classroom and moved the uh with the program I know that uh our uh you know uh specialist programs do use those uh Technologies very effectively I've seen it myself in the classroom so uh so I was wondering what what that was about and why why it's not uh being moved um and you know what is with the the other other thing that um I did it did occur to me when we were talking about budgets is the uh is the um classroom funds you know if if the teacher is moving uh with the students to the Target location why shouldn't that those funds go with them uh that should that should stay with them according to me um and you know I think um there's a PTA uh piece to it that needs to also be considered I think uh that that's something probably we should also talk about how that uh how those donation Monies um can be earmarked for some of the uh some of their um what is it called events and things like that that they can carry to the uh uh carry to the newer new location uh so what is the deal with the technology Smartboard and the uh classroom budget what what is what's happening there yeah so with the smartboards the the smartboards that are provided for the SDC programs will move with the stdc teachers um the other the other smartboards um um we're looking at they will most likely follow the teachers depending on where they go but again because it's it's open and we don't know who who's going where and they have a choice to go to different grade level they'll still most likely follow those teachers but we need to figure out where they're going first and then we will move those devices um accordingly especially if the teachers use the tool then the tool will move with them so why why the perception that that we are not moving the moving the technology I mean is there is there a miscommunication or understanding we haven't had a a we've had just beginning discussions with principles about the movement of technology and we haven't even disseminated a plan yet on how those devices are going to be moving so um anything would just be just preliminary um Kyle and I have had those discussions on how we're going to move the technology technology for sure would need to be moved by our technology department um but again a lot of it just depends on where the teachers end up um and at what at what school that they're going to and some of our schools already have devices there so right um you know if if I have a Smartboard assigned to me but I'm moving to a a school and they already have the the technology there then we wouldn't necessarily need to move those so we can definitely clarify that with our principles um and the same with the site donation money the way donation funds typically work is that they're specific to a certain um funds that they've been raised for uh if they're not they're just for general purposes the intent is that those funds are to be spent in the current year that they're received they're for the current year students there are instances where those funds carry over not all of our school sites track donation funds to specific detail to specific teachers just depends and we've explained and started to have those conversation with principles that yes encourage your staff to spend the money in the current year because it's for those students that are currently being served if there is dollars that are then left over we will work with how those schools have tracked those funds and and depending on how that is we can move those funds with those teachers so um it just depends um site by site seems very trivial to me I mean I don't think we're talking about you know multi-million or even hundred hundred thousands of dollars just a couple of thousand dollars that that's in this in the teachers Kitty I don't know why uh why that should be you know why that should not be allowed yeah it just depends on how the School site tracks the money so if L you split between two sites School site Council decide on what how those things are alligated or PTA decides or no it it varies it varies depending on where those donations are coming from right and certain sites do a very good job of tracking by teacher and they know each teacher and what allocation they have some sites do not track that way and they track whole school but oftentimes that depends on how their choosing to utilize their funds they may be having a um if they don't Track by teacher it may be because they've got another area of interest that they do schoolwide that the funds are supporting like science lab is a great example for that and that's where their resources go towards so it's really dependent upon school to school um but certainly you know we can always improve our communication on these and it's great to hear the feedback and we'll go ahead and do that um with our our site administrators as we work through even with um Mr Herman who's here and you know we're working through the different challenges we can improve upon that but it it varies depending on that that donation sequence ptas have their own bylaws they their own nonprofit entities so they would have to follow their own procedures as far as um PTA funds and where those funds um subsequently move if there are funds at at the end of the year and how those get distributed right or spent yeah it'll be good to get some clarity uh for for for the sake of the teachers I we are not benefiting from any any of that money but for the sake of teachers to find out how they can carry that money with them and you know what are the options if they cannot carry that money with them you know if the receiving school can um allocate some of the budget additional budget for for them to uh have that you know extra uh buffer uh for for that that'll be that'll be great I think I think we should be flexible with that I don't see any reason why I think also too in terms of communication what may be occurring is individuals having different conversations and so we can improve in sending one message so there's common understanding even with those that are giving commentary on what's going to happen I think that's what I'm hearing is a uring okay I I also have questions about boundary but trusty how did you have anything on that topic yeah no I just wanted to say thank you to all the public commentar tonight all of your concerns are valid and we hear you and we're definitely going to take that into consideration we want this to be an equitable process and you know we want to make sure that everybody is heard in this process especially our special education students and students with disabilities so I just I was taking notes and I wanted to just go through um so notes that I took I don't know if you want to I can go through them because I okay so um we heard that our SDC wishes to go to Northwood can that possibility be explored or can we take that into consideration like what were the concerns about moving them to viny park instead of Northwood can we can we talk through the process of how Vincy Park was selected instead oh suell sorry mixing up this it's 7 PM it's near my bedtime yeah and I think there's you know you have a variety of um special education programs uh with uh just proposed relocations based on physical capacity M Mr Franklin can also share more about potential exploration of other adjustments and what that would require us to do yeah so at Northwood the way that we've currently um distributed students based on the proposed boundary change um you know we would looking at Northwood um not having any additional classrooms so to move a program like that is there ability to add Portables at Northwood for students there is it's quite difficult but there's room to add three Portables whether or not that could be accomplished by um August for the start of school um I don't know Tony would have to uh chime in on on whether that's uh possible or not um you know the process would have to get started pretty much tomorrow morning to to look into something like that yeah just to further clarify I think in terms of the process that Mr Franklin explained at the top of the presentation what the staff did first was you know we waited for the numbers to come through from Mr Williams so we knew for the you know the resident students what was that number because we didn't know what that number was going to be and how many classrooms that would occupy to then be able to see okay you know what do we have available in terms of classroom space afterwards um so this is the preliminary review of that um and so like Mr Franklin shared you know there's portable options and I just want to be clear it doesn't mean that special ed goes in the Portables I just want to be clear on that because as one of the staff members mentioned and we've already shared this um perspective with our site principles as we look at into integrating additional students in classrooms best practice is grade levels are kept together right that's how we have all of our schools adjusted and that would be the plan for next year to be able to integrate students and staff together into their new school communities and so um so we're mindful of that and looking at where do we have with the bringing in you know portable modular buildings in terms of the speed and ability to be able to do that there's there's one two things one is physical space do we have that and where can it be best located but then second is the infrastructure so if those modulars can be connected to existing buildings with Power and Water that'll be a faster feasibility for us than if we have to build that infrastructure in so that's what changes you know those those variables so with uh with the projection the the the student what is it called the enrollment projections continuing to decline and then and'll expand the uh the question to the boundary question that I had uh including those that for um for Cherrywood especially Cherry Cherrywood is being impacted uh unfairly according to uh the community understand where they're coming from they're splitting into three different schools uh which is not the easiest thing to do so um expanding on uh on um uh moving SDC potentially to northward on the challenges behind that since we're seeing a declining enrollment uh over the next 3 four years can we not grandfather the existing students um accommodate them into uh uh into that and then once the enrollment stabilizes we it becomes some you know non issue right so I can share with you based on the numbers that we have with the the new proposed boundaries every classroom space is occupied based on what we've presented um again looking at including other alternative um spaces that sites need um we've taken into account you know the fist spaces that schools have um we've looked at uh as I mentioned you know where will music take place we've looked at those other things plus now each each class um each number of students is increasing so it's going to require four to five kindergarten classrooms you know uh depending on the school and where they need to be to have appropriate restroom capacity etc for that so unless the board again wants to go back and look at each site and add Portables to each site I'm not sure how much time staff would need to be able to determine that um and I don't see the ability to be able to still you would still have a limited number of seats that you would be able to provide in doing so because remember that each school has a different starting point in the number of existing classrooms that they have true and so that was part of the issue too and looking at where we could fit to keep to be able to keep special education programs and create that pathway together being able to look at where can we have four to five classrooms to be able to create that structure um and to move it we'd have to go back working with Tom and readjust the resident addresses to create more physical space and another thing that I didn't mention during the presentation that I want to make sure that I bring up now is that um with all of these configurations and with changes to um TK eligibility for next year um including students that are born between June 1st and September 1st um that's expanding our TK program so we're going from 12 TK classes to 14 TK classrooms next year so every Elementary School will have two TK classes which right now many of them only have one there's a hand there's a a couple of them that have two um and then the other thing that changed is that TK is going from a 22 to1 um teacher to student ratio to a 20 to1 hard cap um meaning that we cannot go over 20 to1 um teacher to to to student and it's actually a two adults in the per every 10 students so all of those classes have an aid but um that's another thing that we're having to take into consideration is having more TK classrooms at each School site too which played into the utilization and this would so yeah appreciate that um so for for specifically for Cherrywood then with the eer I mean if you look at the I was looking at the U this map that was given to us um uh with the student concentration uh in that in that area there are not in that impacted area between s and beras there are not that many students according to this map if this this is uh this is accurate so which is why I was asking can we not uh with just few number of students can not grandfather and the existing students and then new enrollments uh even for current year current year new enrollments can go to u to Summerdale potentially and then uh keep keep these students together uh until next year when the when things settle on just it's just matter of a year in some cases uh some of the students might be uh oh no I completely understand what you're saying it's again having the physical capacity to do that because at Ruskin um ruskin's configuration is already including us adding the max number of Portables that we could add with existing infrastructure so that's the the three that you see on the map and um how about Brook Tree on the other side how how about keeping them together at Brook tree that we can revisit potentially I'm not sure of the existing space there I think another question I would have with Tom was would be knowing what is that number of what is that actual number of students in that neighborhood in that specific neighborhood this if this chart is to be believe it's about I think about 12 12 to 14 maybe students that I can see in these if these dots are accurate um in that in that area yeah because one thing that we one thing that we do know is um even though at with this initial round of looking at number of classrooms Etc even though a school may have um every classroom occupied whether it's with the classroom of students or for extracurricular type activities there is room within those grade spans for additional additional children we'd have to go back and check right now the numbers are projections and they're based on 100% returning with us in the fall right so there's always variability in that um but then also looking at um within those existing grade spans that the children would be going into what number of seats are still available um that's why through the Open Enrollment process for transfer request we're saying we can't give a 100% guarant we will do our best to support families where they have a hardship of where they want to go because we do know there's room across grades within each school um but it isn't we don't have room to add another additional classroom of students with the with the current proposal yeah and I'll mention for brooktree um specifically asking about Brook tree the current configuration um doesn't add a lot of um additional students Brook tree but we're currently using most almost all of the classrooms so Brook tree is one of the smaller um schools as far as number of classrooms they have 22 classrooms um next year they would need 17 teachers and then we already have current special ed program that programming that's already there occupying four classrooms plus there's an occupational therapy room so um we're adding one SDC preschool classroom which maxes out the School site so to look at adding additional students um if we're needing to add another classroom or two classrooms then we would have to look at then displacing one of the um the the special ed um classrooms to be able to achieve that um I just also wanted to speak more about the configuration at Summerdale um moving our autism program over there from Lane view um since we're not able to accommodate the Northwood request from my understanding are we able to allocate funds from our um Bond money to add in infrastructure to make it a self-enclosed classroom instead of the Pod situation because I know some schools have um you know like curtains but you know is there something more that we can provide and can that be something that the teachers are collaborating with Tony on on how we can make it a self enclosed classroom instead of a pod so that's something that we've looked at which um you you know it sounds like it would be something very simple but the way that those classrooms are configured um not only is adding the doors difficult but we have 88 issues that we would have to address if we were to enclose those classrooms and um from my understanding um from from Tony is that we would need to make changes to the bmms on the on the outside of um all of those classrooms to become ADA Compliant which is very expensive and it's not something that could be done uh by next summer it's um something that would cost um it's not even that it would cost a million dollars it would cost a number of millions of dollars to be able to come into compliance for 88 purposes to then add those doors it's something that has been on my mind when talking to Tony and visiting those School sites um the cost is just extremely high but we were trying to figure out ways that we could um do it in a less costly way to still meet those requirements and potentially add doors it's just something that's not um currently in the bond program that we would then have to add um in the future those those are valid concerns right I mean because um yeah and this goes back again to our uh discussion about specific needs for for you know children special needs children uh how how uh challenging it is to to uh uh you know take take care of them during their during the school days you know those are valid concerns about not being able to uh you know keep them within that uh within that area of of instruction and um how do we mitigate that I mean it's it's a it's a valid concern according to me I andan if it's a if it's a open floor plan um I I think I was at I'm trying to trying to remember whether it was it was indeed samale or maybe Brook tree brck tree actually has the SEC class in the pods and specifically they've created those um little doors yes I I've seen the kitty doors for the students and it's very difficult for the students to open them when I was at BR like a little baby gate I guess you could call them actually when I was at Brook tree there was a student that that love that ran away well there's also a back door too so there's a back door and there's that door within the yeah pods so th those are actually valid concerns that that that you know we need to find find a way to mitigate those um those concerns what what what can we do to uh what what else can we do to to address that well I think uh the other thing going back to the original uh question that trusty H had was what would the exploration of doing Portable Buildings at Northwood to expand the phys iCal space there so we we would need to be able to go back figure out what that would look like um and bring you back another schematic with um the related cost to doing so let's see how that how that looks so does that mean we we have another study session specific well you're not taking action today I know so this is giving us time to be able to bring that information back in February it'll be an action item for February but the board always has the ability to make a to move to not take action and to move it to another subsequent meeting but just keep in mind that we also want to get information and Clarity back to our parents to be able to let them know where their um new school locations will be and so you know I would recommend that if the Board needs more time we meet within that same week so that way we can continue and expedite the conversation and and the um you know the thought process behind everything so that we can communicate to our families and give them some clarity on where their children will go in the fall many of The Next Step um uh items that were shared with cabinet are dependent on these boundary decisions I also want to bring up a point too if that is something that we do look into I would recom recommend also looking at moving some of those Vincy Park special ed programs then to Lane view so to balance the number of I'm to Summerdale excuse me sorry to Summerdale okay hey you know so just to balance the load as well because I also feel that that's also something that we should reconsider as well yeah I support those recommendations I would love to see um schematics um to try and accommodate for Northwood and then if that's not feasible um I want to also see potential schematics like what it would look like to accommodate at Summerdale you know I just want to make sure that we explore all our options to make sure that our students are um receiving the care that they need is there any other point sorry oh I had a different point but if you wanted to talk about anything on this topic still no um I had a different thing else go ahead oh I just wanted to also address um dress code was also brought up uh at Northwood and the differing dress codes at um Northwood and Lan view I just wanted to recommend that the students who are not able to accommodate for the dress code reach out to um our district or to Tom to see if we can provide any accommodations yeah we don't we can also go back to what dress code what the policies on dress code of the school student that's a great idea let's do that too let's think about that that that Mak more sense to me thank you I I would support that recommendation to take a look at the dress codes to ensure that they're um similar or same and and any I'm going to keep going down my list if you don't mind okay um also um teacher also brought up um seniority when having decision as to what schools they're going to go to if they're impacted I would like that conversation to happen if that's possible yeah what we have in our mou and also in our CBA is that we have uh different criteria that we use to U Move people including credentials experience and also seniority so there's different ways of doing it again for the schools that are closed if the teachers want to follow their students they have first priority to move with the students even if there's somebody more senior from another school that wants to move to a certain school for example so seniority is not always the only criteria that we use yeah and I would also uh support I also do support that that teachers who are impacted should get first priority as well to follow their students um I also we talked about the tech and I also wanted to bring up speech pathologists classrooms um was that included in the schematics or can we take a look at that or see evaluate how they are impacted for the school sites yeah so we looked at speech psychologists RSP we looked at all of those um OT AP we did take a look at all of those we discussed with the principles um at each of the school sites where those um staff currently are located um and so then we also discussed in cabinet and made sure that all of those have spots so they're not on these Maps but we looked at school maps for every single School site to make sure that there was a a location for all of those folks and I don't think in any of the scenarios that we displaced where any of the speech um you know RSP is maybe getting moved um here or there um at some of the school sites but uh we made sure there was a a space for everybody so okay so just reassurance that our speech pathologists they will have spaces at each of our school sites to ensure that okay perfect and also um evaluation of after school programs um if we're able to make sure that that is um similar if not the same over the different School sites because Child Care is very expensive and it is really important for us to maintain our after school care and hope and we should add that information to when we release our boundaries you know let them know of their options at the incoming School sites of the after school programs yeah and just to share um you know I know in the past we haven't always had after school care at all of our schools but when we received the expanded learning opportunities program funds that brought after school programming to each site um we do have different Prov providers that we've been consolidating over the years to Preferred providers that work best with our families and we'll continue to do that for next year they're all aware of our consolidation process and know of the increased Staffing that they will need at existing schools to support our children um that affordability factor is closely tied to those expanded learning opportunity program funds those students are priority in accessing those resources to be able to have their family support after school care and so that will that will continue and that will be maximized at each school so sorry to interrupt oh no I just wanted to say thank you that was all my questions okay so if Dr McCurry wants to add more ed services division oversees all of the after school programming placement so the question about rock that came up um specifically we'll be shutting down some of the school sites with some of the after school program so we'll just reopen them at the new school sites and we're already in collaboration with all of the after school providers to make sure that that's happening and um YMCA will be continuing and probably adding more Staffing specifically at some of the schools that are being affected so those are already conversations we're having so two of our sites I think Cherrywood and toon both of the both of them are closing uh I'm not sure about toon but they both have the San Juan Batista uh after school before after school care what's happening with those tool so San Juan Batista remember uh is um so they're they offer a variety of services they offer um Early Learning Services as well as school age programming they actually lease on our properties and so uh I've already spoken with their executive director she's well aware of the changes that we have uh she actually has helped on some adjustments that they were making waiting for the decisions that were going to be made because their funding has changed in how they can support programs in um in response to districts getting expanded learning opportunity funds so they are in the process of transitioning their after school programs into Early Learning programs more specifically infant to toddler um that is kind of their targeted age group now that um public schools are uh going into uh all four-year-olds going into TK so that has impacted their enrollment and so they've also have been downsizing their programs and are closing some of their uh locations as a result of that um but their director well aware of what's available and so we're working together with them on their um expansion uh right now I know for example at Noble they've had an after school program there that they preliminarily put on Hiatus and uh in my recent conversation with them uh they're looking at turning that into an Early Learning Center Hub similar to what they have over at Northwood so they're reimagining their programs and how they want to use their space and we do have a very um uh the YMCA program at Toyon is very successful and so we're already talking with YMCA about potentially moving their sites to Noble perhaps or to sommerdale because sommerdale has the Asus program which is another a different um after school provider so we just want to make sure that we're covering all the bases at all seven of our elementary schools for next year to provide at least two options for after school care and so with that just like Dr FES said the the pricing is on a sliding scale and for some it would be free for after school and not only after school but we're also o talking um uh when we have holidays so this upcoming February break there's going to be a three-day um raft uh summer program or intercession and also during the summer we're going to have um support at those sites as well um and it's almost free for the students that qualify good to know right um yeah I think I think uh I that's all I have but I still want to want to mention bring it up that you know for some of the uh especially for the impacted schools the schools that are that are closing um uh you know in let us let us in good faith uh you know try to try to offer them some flexibility you know I they're from from their perspective they're giving up a lot they're sacrificing a lot um uh for the sake of the of the school district so uh we should be in our approach um be as flexible as possible uh in accommodating their uh their requests um especially with um uh you know with our SDC program specifically and also with our um uh student movements uh you know if we can uh give them reasonable accommodations uh into a um Choice school you know uh like I mentioned grandfathering some of the uh uh uh you know small subset of students uh into um into two schools instead of three uh with the uh future students going to a to the new attendance area uh I I think we should provide that kind of that amount of flexibility because we we still need their uh support for for our future programming needs uh and they have in good faith supported us uh during uh covid um you know with all our decisions that we made during during the pandemic um and you know I think we should just be able to reciprocate that uh that by by being flexible so I know I'm putting a lot on your uh on your shoulders Dr FES to but but I think we need to also um you know consider those those um emotional aspects uh I I totally understand parody and you know keeping making sure all the schools uh have good numbers and I get that you know uh as a board member I get that but uh you know as a parent I want to keep uh my community together right I don't want I don't want to be um isolated um so please maybe you know as a as Earnest request to to to try to rethink maybe you know see how how better we can approach it and what are those classroom um locations that that have that that additional one or two student spaces very we can accommodate those transfers especially for the um for for the impacted um schools that that'll be that'll be great and I would appreciate that um that if you can continue thinking about that any other questions from anybody so I have a I have a question so um you know so questions about technology and you know like School funds stuff like that so these are things I mean that we have to take action first on determining the borders and then some of those things are going to get worked out right um as we go along is there a way for uh you know staff to uh provide kind of their input or um you know if they have questions or concerns how can they uh provide those to the district so we can then consider them as we're going through this process once the board makes our decision on you know the the new boundaries yeah I think that's great I think there's two two Avenues one is of course directly with their principles so that way we get that feedback the second is also through um their represent their representation because uh Reco is meeting regularly you know with Mr Herman and that's a great place for us to find out where there's common miscommunication that we can streamline across the district so I would say those are the two main Avenues but our folks know we're always available to you we can come to staff meetings we can come we've been doing that as well to hear what what the issues are any further discussion from the board on this topic I just wanted to remind one one more thing about the um the Raskin seron Circle if you haven't made a note of the um of the start times that I mentioned at the the beginning just just want to make sure that the schedules uh just double check the schedule so we can um you know mitigate those traffic impact um at that time so thank you okay anything else all right and just a reminder we're not taking action at this time this is just a study session um so we can go over uh the proposed boundary changes we will take take action what's what's the date of the potential action would be recommended on the 12th unless we need more conversation uh but like I said we would want to expedite with an additional meeting shortly thereafter so we don't uh have everyone on on hold without a Clarity in a decision so we'll have further discussion there and if people have you know they want to come back and have other questions or comments that you know we can address to staff that point please do so all right so once action is taken how soon with a rans be opened at the words Kyle could you come up can you okay I think I heard the answer so about a week or so we have to go into Infinite Campus which is our student information system and actually change each address saying it was scheduled for this school and then we have to say it's now scheduled for this school and it's it's addressed by address by address we're trying to do it a little bit faster with a consultant but we don't know for sure that we'll be able to do any faster than we we've done it in the past okay okay thank you everybody uh for all your input and and again so this is something that you know until the board takes action uh we can change the boundaries right uh we can decide something entirely different so that's kind of and I understand your feeling right in your case uh it kind of Blindsided you a little bit but until you because we had it was a continuation of meetings yes it was a continuation we had you know a lot of discussion regarding that so you know and I do apologize for that but until the board takes action anything is is game basically um okay so next uh on our agenda is close session uh so we have one item for close session student discipline or other confidential student matters Education Code section 48918 49 48900 uh 49 48 912b and 49060 and 20 USC section 1232g uh so the the board will now adjourn a close session and we'll come back and uh report out any action we take in close session e e e all right so we'll reconvene the Open Session portion of our meeting Dr Fuentes thank you um the board met in closed session to consider the expulsion recommendation of a student number 7163 38711 uh per our discussion um we are seeking a motion to expel students 716 38711 and that the expulsion be suspended under the condition stipulated I'll move to accept that recommendation second so moved in second comments and questions from the board all right see none all in favor I I all opposed motion passes okay all right so adjournment is there a motion to adjourn move to adjourn mooved in second all in favor I I meeting is adjourned at 9:50 thank you very much

this morning um we got through that pretty good um by 7:30 we already had close to 300 voters in a half hour it was crazy but we did it and these guys I can't give them enough Kudos yeah they great um but it has been steady all day we've had a lunch rush an afterwork Rush we're waiting for the last minute rush that's you know between 7: and 8 uh but we've already had close to 10,000 vote out of our 12,960 voters so you already had 75% so you're you're predicting more than 80% so let's talk about that so now you have mailin voting we have early voting yes so are those votes counted already the mailin votings and the early vo I have um 5,556 ballots already through machines that I'll run the numbers for at 8:00 tonight and then everything else will go through today and that that was the mail in votes mail in and in person V so as somebody is watching this right now it's just after 6:00 they have until 8:00 tonight to put something in the drop box tonight that's correct the drop box will be closed at exactly 8:00 um it it's not going to be 8:01 we have to close it at 8 um poll's closed at 8:00 you have to be here and in line by 8:00 if you're in line if you're in line you're going to vote you're going to vote no matter what yes correct and that's important so mail and voting kind of exploded this year early voting's been kind of growing over the years what are your thoughts I mean how's it work to the town of Bach this year um I have mixed views on it so it it definitely it helps my traffic on Election Day because we've already had like I said over 5,000 um already deposited into the machines but it's a lot of work getting to that point I have not had a day off since October 11 whatever that's not right so um but I mean we do it this is what we do and to see all the people here coming it's it's I love it it's it's why I do it um I wish every election could be this busy but I mean I think the media hasn't pivoted fast enough now with early voting and mail and voting because now you see profiles on candidates or you know you see debates they're happing after people have already voted and it's like okay like there there needs to be an adjustment to the next election cycle I mean our first ballots mailed out October 2nd that's the day that we got them from the state and we mailed them out that day and like you said how many debates and things happened after that but yeah yeah so I mean that needs we don't have election day anymore no it's basically an election month yeah uh and overall with all that I mean so you think we're going to hit over 80% today what is the record of all time in Ashland you know I'm not prepared for that question prar I believe it's about 85% 2020 I think we did 84% and that was one of the highest I mean you're never going to get to 100 but wouldn't be great if you know like one time we could get the 90 and stuff so tell us about the PO workers let's let's give them their do we are so staff today um I I put extras on everywhere um they everybody's been very nice very I get so many compliments from people that have come in and voted letting me know how great these people are and um most of mine at least half are volunteers they just come here and they do it because they love it they love democracy and it's a long day for it's a very long day they most of them get here at 6:00 a.m.

and they could be here until 10 or 11:00 tonight um but I I couldn't do it without them they've been in my office helping me sort ballots and count and it's they're awesome so just so the town knows um there's you you're the town clerk you have Chris who is your assistant town clerk Deputy Town Clerk and then you have one other person working in I have Jean who's part-time over there and then um for just the election season I hired CJ Brown who I couldn't have done it without him I mean he just he was my vote by mail guy he was getting those ballots out as fast as applications are coming in um you've had po Watchers today now no no issues throughout the day or anything no none no so we're very lucky to have you in the town of asland to be our town clerk I mean you you run a great election any closing thoughts before we get you back to work no just if you're going to vote hurry up we want to go home and please get out and voted you don't vote you can't complain you can't complain true yes don't forget town meeting November 19th November 19th meeting today keep up the great work thank you very much I appreciate you guys thank you have a great night you too happy so we're out in front of the Ashlin polls uh Congressman Jim mcgurn great to see you happy to be with you thank you for taking a couple minutes to talk to us talk to us about why election day is so important I because this is what our you know epitomizes our democracy uh and this is what when people have a chance to you know to actually through their vote tell us the direction they want uh come wealth to move in and our state to move in and our and our country to move in and uh so uh you know I talked to Senate President spil about this you know you listen to the media and you think the world is divided and the country is divided but I mean today we've been outside the polls and it's been good-spirited you know uh different sides have been getting along what do you see what do you feel no look at I think people are basically good um I think there are there there are individuals who try to influence our politics you know who do so in a way that is really not uh uh living up to the goodness of the American people and you know I I think this is the most one of the most consequential elections if not the most consequential election of my lifetime uh and I will be honest with you I'm really enthusiastic about kamla Harris and Tim Walls Tim's a good friend of mine I served in congress with him and I'm frighten to death of Donald Trump uh I I've never witnessed in my lifetime a more vulgar and offensive campaign if if you or I said a tenth of what he says would be canceled um and look I want a president you know who's going to bring some joy to our politics and I Want a President Who will appeal to the better angels of our nature and um and I want I want all of us to do that I want I I want I want politics to be uh respected and I want it to be a source uh for doing good and so that's that's what's at stake in this election so what are going to be your priorities you wake up tomorrow morning U you know and you get back to work what are the priorities of you and well look I mean the priorities are about how do you help strengthen our middle class I mean we're going to have to deal with some tax reform in the next Congress I care deeply about the environment and and combating climate change I change um obviously I care deeply about the investing in our infrastructure we passed the biggest uh investment in infrastructure since the creation of the interstate highway system when uh when Democrats control the house and President Biden was President um and there are more more that I have we have to do in that area I also believe that we ought to protect rights a women's right to choose uh we got to protect re women's reproductive Freedom the rights of the LBGTQ plus Community uh the rights of everybody um you know the the beauty of this country is our diversity and we got to celebrate that and I worry that sometimes our politics has become about you know dividing People based on who they are and what they believe so we can do better and uh we I I I hope we can turn the page uh in this election there's a lot that we to do and part of the responsibility of those of us in office is not just to complain about things or point fingers but to come up with Solutions and Achieve results that's what representative Lewis is about and Senator spilker and that's what I'm about too right uh only because it happened you you you were a congressman When Donald Trump who you just stated you you you don't care for what if he wins the presidency how does that change your job in Congress you it makes it more difficult I mean because he and and I don't share the same values right um and you know I don't think Millionaires and billionaires and big corporations need any more tax breaks he does I actually care deeply about the environment and climate change I think it's real um here we are in uh an election day and it's it's like it's like 70 degrees yeah um and we're in Massachusetts uh so we differ on that um I also believe we ought to be lowering prescription drug prices and not giving more benefits to the pharmaceutical industry and believe in protecting people's rights I mean women's right to choose protecting women's reproductive freedoms protecting the rights of the lgbtq plus Community um and I believe we need to fix our immigration system and not just point fingers I mean you know the one thing we all know is we we can do better we can and we ought to find Common Ground we almost did uh but Trump killed that deal uh but I hope we come back and and and our politics will be such that we can find Common Ground it'll be more difficult if he's president he's already said that he's going to have an enemies list he wants to be a dictator on day one um K Harris will have a to-do list um and I wanted to do list I want to know what we need to do to make Ashland better to make Massachusetts better to make our country better to make the world better uh and so that's where I hope we can focus and that's why I hope he doesn't win and she does we're outside the Ashlin polls with Senate President Karen spila Senator uh Happy election day thank you happy Election Day to you too you're on the ballot again uh I am so what this will be what you're if successful today uh it'll be what term number um I'd have to since I've been a senator since 2005 2005 so so 19 years 19 almost 20 years right right great yeah and quite you're the Senate President so a lot has changed since you know when you I remember first meeting you on the ashon school committee now you're the my words the most powerful person in the in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts talk to me why election day is important well I think election day is so important because as we all know uh we are a democracy and every person's vote is their voice and their voice means a lot particularly in the United States of America because we are a democracy it sounds sort of circular but it's true and their vot their vote is their voice which tells uh people how they want the country to go how they want the state to go how they want the city and town the direction um and and they have to realize that how important it is for people to hear their voice uh and that is you know so important to me to know where people stand and it's not just Election Day election day is important but it's important for people to let uh folks know what's important to them what their issues are what are their concerns what are their what things are are going well but what things are not going so well it's really important that it helps set for me the agenda for the Senate you know what are the important issues facing my district whether it be housing Transportation uh getting debt-free college or being able to afford and go to some sort of college uh child care that is one of the most expensive in Massachusetts it's because of listening to so many people that I've focused on reform it and lowering the cost of child care making it more accessible for young families which allows them to send their children but it also frees up their parents to go back to work if they want to go back to work which we know so many people were out of work particularly after covid so we need to take advantage of people if they want to go back to work so all of those issues you know I hear on a day-to-day basis by by listening to the people of my district you know I think you brought up a good point and it be it's okay if you don't disagree I mean you and I have known each other for probably 25 years fair to say that we probably don't agree on everything but you and I can talk to each other we can work stuff out we can kind of go like this but at the end of the day we can still Shake our hands and you'll take my phone call and I'll certainly take your phone call you know you hear about so much discourse in the United States do you do you see it or is it a lot of it media driven and if you do see it how do we fix it I think it's both I think it does exist I do think it exists more on a national level than a state level um and that is really sad to me uh and you're right people should be able to disagree I you know whether you're Democrat Republican I mean even amongst the Democrats in in my caucus in the Senate we surely don't always agree and sometimes it's pretty vehement disagreement and so same thing with Republicans there are times that you know I I sit down with the Republicans in in in the Senate and talk about what their issues are and what they're you know they feel they want to get done and we work together and you're right when we disagree we disagree but move on because there's so many so many more areas and issues that we agree upon so and we're all here for the same thing to make uh and improve the quality of life for the residents of Massachusetts and and make Massachusetts an even stronger more affordable more competitive more Equitable State talk real quick cuz I think it's wonderful the Community College stuff that you pushed through and got done talk about how that's going to benefit everybody in Massachusetts okay um well for decades enrollment in Community College was declining enrollment in our state universities and um Mass was declining by making Community College universally free just since September just since September it's now November Community College enrollment has gone up 14% wow 14% that is amazing for the first time so many students so many people who live in the Commonwealth who never thought that any sort of public high any higher ed was possible whether they had to work they couldn't afford it they didn't think they were capable whatever and so they just didn't even try suddenly that door is open so their dreams in fact um I remember talking to Jose from LEL had been a brick mason for 14 years he's now going to uh middle sex Community College to get a degree in uh Health Sciences life sciences and he has a job waiting for him good salary living wage and his 14-year-old daughter he said he she said I can see she's just so proud of her papa and for the first time she is thinking of going to college so it's an intergenerational thing so it will help these these families who are now struggling to get a get an education fill some of the workplace gaps and Health Care education um and so many other areas that we have in Mass Massachusetts we need workers and so their families will be better off and then the next generation's families will also be better off always been on the same page with this special needs in the Mental Health crisis what's the state working on now cuz you know as I've T to you my biggest concerns coming out of Co is even like kids that go to school here they were the most impacted people by the co crisis you know uh what's the state working on now to uh kind of combat the Mental Health crisis well a lot of things um I I hope you know that um you know I helped push through Advocate and push through the M most major mental health Reform Bill two two years ago uh propelling Massachusetts to be first in the nation but we also have a new program where we are opening up outpatient clinics in various areas across the state and there are some in Metro West so that people can go to get outpatient help um you know when a lot of people put you know local priority money I have put money towards my schools to be able to get more funding for for mental health behavioral health in whatever way they feel it's necessary but when uh we had arper dollars for example knowing that schools and other places were having a hard time finding social workers counselors behavioral counselors I put $400 million towards uh tuition and loan repayment for people who went into these mental health behavioral health and promised to come out and work in public service mental and Behavioral Health so hopefully we will be seeing and I've been talking in increase in the number of people going into these fields and uh I've been talking to some of the local uh colleges and and universities across the state about providing more programs so that people we have more people going into all the more reason why we need access to education in the state Senate President Karen spilka always a pleasure great to see you here at the polls today thank you thank you

girls uh Championship victory tonight [Applause] of okay we're start with the uh New Jersey public open public meeting statement New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which time any business affecting their interest is discussed and acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act and of Education policy 0162 the Board of Education of the B bound Rook has caused notice of this meeting to be posted in the board office and at B Brook High School and mail refs to the carier news B Brook clerk South Bound Brook Board of Education and any person who has requested individual notice and paay the required fee you please stand for the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance plge Allegiance the United States of America to the rep it stands one nation God indivisible Liberty okay this time we do have um Mr gorsy going to swear in our new board members yes sir um it's my pleasure to swear in the even evening two board members Miss Sue high and Mr Nicholas incal CA if you would please both join me Dr Freeman I'll give you [Music] please repeat after me I st your name Cal do solemnly swear or affirm Solly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will true Faith to the same to the same and to the governments established in the United States the the United States and the State and State under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me Godly swear orir swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education for and that I am not disqualified as a voter not pursuant to rs19 4-1 pursu to RS my glasses okay no disqualified to conviction of a crime or offense nor disqualified due to a conviction or offense crime or offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 listed in in NJ s s 18a 18a 12-1 12-1 and that I will faithfully and that I will Faithfully partially and partially and justly and justly perform all the duties of that office perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me to the best of my abili so help me congratulations [Applause] thank you Mr B okay Mr Gorski can we also have a roll call please Mr B here Mr Dawson here M Gazo Mr in Calera here Mr zuo miss m Mr minus M here Mr bmer here Mr janzi Mr B you have a quarum present this evening thank you Mr gy at this time I'm going to pass it to our superintendent good good evening everyone and Welcome to our January board meeting it's a pleasure to see everybody out the audience tonight we are going to get started with our recognition recognition of the meeting first I would like to call up Mr Ross to introduce our students of the month from the and the [Music] [Applause] an okay so we get to welcome the youngest of our Crusaders our wonderful students from Lamont and we will start off with sorry prek prek student of the month is Myra Calderon menar come on down on down so as Myra makes her way down with Mom she has three older sisters her favorite subject is literacy I love that being in imprison myself you love to play with your sisters yay and you're going to become a firefighter in your future [Applause] come on over here come on over stay right here come middle we go yay congratulations for you thank you you all right round of [Applause] applause so we are moving on to kindergarten and it is Zana abdelhak Zena are you here Y come on look at you smile has so you have a sibling yes named Omar your favorite subject is math yes and you like to play with your toys and you're going to be an artist you already are an artist let's give her [Applause] Applause picture with everybody come on over here go [Music] I don't want to Mar the pi [Applause] congrat we have our first grade student of the month Elmer G Elmer Garcia are you here Elmer his older brother helps him with his homework his favorite subjects are math and physical education his favorite H is soccer yes all right and when he gets older he's going to become a policeman well done a picture come on congratulations all right congratulations [Applause] again next up from [Applause] [Music] okay our second grade student of the month is Donald Donnie [Applause] [Music] Atkinson Donnie is from miss prto and miss henningson Class come on Donnie he has a little sister Kora she's three years old his favorite school subject is math he loves playing football and playing Zelda and he wants to be an inventor and make new things when he grows up congratulations [Applause] Donnie ready one two three one two sorry congratulations [Applause] Donnie our third grade student of the month is Axel Morales Alvarado oh there he is [Applause] [Music] hi Axel how are you Axel is from Miss alero's class he has a brother Andy who's four years old he loves uh gy because he can exercise he wants to play uh his favorite hobbies are playing soccer and painting and he wants to be a policeman when he grows up [Applause] [Music] congratulations congratulations here go AEL [Music] [Applause] and next up from SW school we have Mrs [Applause] [Music] Wier so we're going to start with our fourth grade student of the month Leah Santana class [Applause] Leah's in Miss st's class and I know she's here with us tonight so Leah is actually going to be a big sister in May music art math and reading she likes to watch TV and help Mom and Grandpa and she either wants to be a singer or a dancer [Applause] come over here sweetie 2 thank you [Applause] our fifth grade student of the month is Abigail abendano Hernandez so Abigail comes to us from Miss CES class she has one brother her favorite subject is Art she likes to play with her friends and when she wants to when she gets older she wants to be a teacher [Applause] [Music] you ready [Applause] and our sixth grade student of the month is Noah Rick Noah from class his favorite subject is PE his hobbies are swimming and this is a really cool career he wants to work at Disney [Applause] good [Applause] job another round Applause for our small school [Applause] students okay up for CMS place of Dr Sant Sur is M [Applause] Lun so our seventh grade student of the month cannot be here because she was going to the girls basketball game so she hasn't got back yet but her name is Juliana pantes Gonzalez uh the teacher who nominated her was Miss Kasabian she has one sister her favorite school subject is language arts her favorite hobbies are drawing Reading Writing and working out and she wants to go to college to get her psychology [Applause] degree our eighth grade student of the month is Brian Hernandez Miss Cruz Miss Peterson and Miss Lang ball nominated him he has three siblings his favorite subject is math his favorite hobbies is sports definitely soccer is number one and wrestling and he wants to be an engineer when he grows up congratulations [Music] two congatulations [Applause] congratulations and next up for bbhs Mr Smith [Applause] all right good evening B Brook School Community our first recipient of the Crusader citizen of the month is Mario IM [Applause] IM Mario has one brother Diego his favorite subjects in school are science math and English he enjoys training and running and he's only in 10th Grade so he's kind of decided on what he wants to do in the future but we have plenty of time to [Applause] [Music] decide thank you [Applause] our next recipient is Harrison [Applause] musan okay Harrison has three brothers and one sister his favorite subjects in school are art and English is favorite hobbies are track and field reading Legos and gaming and in the future he wants to pursue a political science degree but he's unsure what path he wants to take with that degree so we'll figure that out sooner rather than later [Applause] so just a note too uh Harrison was just nominated and selected amongst our student population to be the next uh student representative on the board of education so we should give round [Applause] okay our next recipient Ashley Garcia [Music] Chavez Ashley has two brothers and one sister her favorite subject at school is English um she enjoys listening to music and shopping as her hobbies and she wants to attend rvcc uh to obtain a certificate to become a certified now technician [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay and last but certainly not least our friend from Pride proein down the street Dan Rodriguez [Applause] Solace there you go okay so three siblings and uh she has two brothers and one sister so three total siblings her favorite subjects in school are history and Avid she enjoys dancing reading books and painting and she wants to attend college and earn a full scholarship to become a certified [Applause] radiologist 2 1865 [Applause] all right thank you one last round of applause for all of our and parents because we know that it doesn't happen without your support [Applause] okay at this time we're going to recognize our educator and support staff of month I would like to call you by surprise M up to recognize our educator of the [Applause] B Okay so the Lafayette staff has chosen Emily zahak kevich for educator of H so we are excited to nominate Emily zahak kevich as lafayette's educator of the month for January celebrating her exceptional work as an ASI teacher and her steadfast commitment to our school Community as the ASI teacher Emily plays a crucial role in supporting students academic growth and reading her thoughtful individualized approach helps students strengthen their skills and build confidence meeting each child where they are and providing the support they need to thrive Emily's ability to engage her students through interactive and meaningful activities not only enhances their reading abilities but Fosters a love for learning Beyond her teaching responsibilities Emily is deeply involved in enriching the overall School experience at Lafayette she plays a key role in organizing and coordinating various initiatives including the holiday adop a family program taking the lead em Emily rallied our staff to provide gifts and clothing for three families ensuring their holiday season was brighter she is also instrumental in managing the win after school program regularly sending updates to keep staff informed and engaged additionally Emily organizes our our Friday coffee clatch schedule and sends out weekly reminders creating opportunities for staff to connect and support one another she is a reliable and compassionate colleague always ready to offer guidance and support to her peers whether providing advice or simply lending a listening ear Emily acts as an impromptu mentor to for fellow staff members fostering a positive and collaborative environment her kindness patience and willingness to help make her an invaluable asset to our school Community for her exceptional teaching of 26 years 26 years her ongoing support of both students and staff and her TI Wireless efforts to improve our school culture culture Emily zahak kevich is highly deserving of recognition as lafayette's educator of the [Applause] [Music] [Applause] month the star here [Music] [Applause] congratulations and next up for Community Middle School Miss Looney for our support staff District support staff member of the month [Applause] so we are proud to recognize nurse Zia as the district support staff member of the month for January nurse diaa embodies the value of care professionalism and dedication playing a vital role in ensuring the health and well-being of students and staff across our community from providing expert first aid in health education to offering a compassionate listening ear nurse Zia consistently goes above and beyond her responsibilities she expertly coordinates Health screenings communicates preventive measures and supports families with clear guidance and thoughtful referrals fostering trust and confidence throughout the district her ability to create a calm and reassuring environment put students at ease while her unwavering commitment to health and safety ensures everyone feels supported nura's tireless efforts have a profound and lasting impact on the Liv she touches each day congratulations ncia on this well-deserved recogn as District support staff member of the month thank you for your outstanding contributions to making our schools healthier happier and a stronger [Applause] Community thank you thank you so one last round of applause for a district educator and support staff of the very well deserved at this time can we have all parents and students of the month come up to the stage to take a group picture no what yeah care [Music] it's take tell we don't have as many we can you guys slide come on this way you can make two rows one front come [Music] on yeah just come right down the front make a second row in front [Applause] just you got a lot of space over here yeah okay so everybody switch to the you guys move in we'll move in [Music] there we are one two good yay [Applause] [Music] oh you're to rep congratulations only good part of brother meeting the G favorite part yeah we're going to take a bre for everybody to take pictures any of you need to leave that's okay about 5 minutes yeah don't get too [Applause] close that's the come no choice [Applause] that's what you do everything else wa one two one more right sitting sitting in my bedroom there's no way to get I I bring thatwhere yeah yeah I can do the sticker yeah well actually what happened is we DOD the bullet there it I guess there is I probably be the sitting in our bedroom since broke his bed I mean it's been a long time since we've had them but when we first got them yes we definitely saw a difference in the bus yes for sure we don't know we did the leas so um we got 100% free and not only that we found out our Elric system was so system yeah they wanted yeah 61 [Music] you came I would been scrolling I know I wasn't thinking why president I'm just T version that's the new thing people say t version when you're not as good [Music] would somebody stream ready all right welcome back everybody let's start restart our agenda here at student guys he you hear him hello yeah so um for sports news uh boys basketball currently has a record of uh nine wins and nine losses with their next game being uh today at summer for the Somerset County tournament first round at 5:30 p.m uh on January 21st against Academy charter senior Jackson Morris set a School record for uh School single game points scoring 50 points by the end of the game so congrats to [Applause] them uh the boys basketball senior night is next Tuesday February 4th against burnard at 7 p.m girls basketball currently as of the time I wrote it has a record of 114 with their next game being in the gym against Montgomery at 530 which from The Sound I assuming they won so that's 124 now uh with their next game being on February 3rd against Scotch PLS Fanwood at 5:30 pm their coach Jen D jck celebrated 200 wins at their win at South hun on January 21st so congrats to her wrestling currently has a record of 68 with their next match being at metal sex tomorrow at 7 p.m.

e e e e e e for for pursuant to the open public meetings act adequate public notice has been given by by the secretary of the eam Township Board of Education in the following manner posting written notice on the official bulletin board of the Board of Education Office emailing written notice to the Bron and County Times in The Courier Post filing written notice with the municipal clerk of eam Township Mr Yates can we have a roll call please roll call oh hold on guys I'm sorry bear with me Mr Brown here miss buter MTZ here Mr deori here miss Fox here Mrs null Mrs N is absent Mr Thompson here Mr peelman here Mr Bach here and Mr conon here we have a quarum thank you Mr Yates we'll now be looking for a motion to enter executive session whereas an njsa 10 4-12 allows for a public body to go into Clos session during a public meeting and whereas the Board of Education of E Township has deemed it necessary to go into close session to discuss certain matters which are Exempted from the public and whereas the regular meeting of the Board of Education shall reconvene following the end of Clos session at approximately 7:30 p.m.

I used to call him Sunday Papa so he would make sure every Sunday he would play cricket with me it is such a cultural thing and it is such a uh uh such a thing back home that uh uh everybody loves the game it is like a religion back home is what we say

Sports person or athletes teach us so many lessons and so many of them are role models for young people and even as adults when we look at them we learn a lot of lessons from them thank you shha Rahul who's your favorite cricketer and why um my f favorite cricketer in fact is um shiv Narayan chandrapal okay um he is probably to me the best West indes batter if you see his formation and how he plays it is a is very beautiful to watch and I watch his Clips over and over again so that's one of the reasons why he is my favorite cricketer another reason is he's actually one of the people who got me inspired to play cricket yeah so watching him it made me feel like I can reach to this level or better so I feel like I should join the sport and I should try my best to play the great uh great memories there I know both of you guys had an opportunity to meet unmukt and shivar chandrapal who are legends of the game with their in their own uh right