oh so a lot a lot and is it would it be correct for me to assume that these academies are like projects this is project-based learning or is that not correct um i well i guess you know for example using the fourth grade architecture academy as an example when those students are done they have created floor plans for their own dream house one of the things that you know these are smart kids first of all if it isn't engaging and it isn't real and it is not authentic for them they don't care they will just you know say first of all bright people don't often sign up for extra work moreover extra work that's hard because when these children are are are young starting in kindergarten you know moving up they're kind of just rolling along with the rest of their classmates although here in our school district in general the teachers do a a great job of challenging those kids you know as best they can within these heterogeneous settings but oftentimes for these kids when they get to me and someone has flagged them and said this kid's an automatic for me and this is why and look at this data and whatever i have to work with them because sometimes they kind of freak out they're getting this stuff and they're they've not done work like this before because this is more at their level um and in the beginning it's you know they're used to just getting everything done in five or ten minutes moving on to the next thing um so it's project based in that it's real and authentic um did i answer your question anne yeah i mean it's it's project basin that it it they can't do it in three five minutes 10 minutes it's something that takes working on and coming back to and working on some more and coming back to and doing it in parts and pieces yes that's exactly right and some of the kids will get an assignment back from me two or three times but you know when they get to that final assignment 15 which as i mentioned earlier is a new component that i put in this year some of the questions in that are what are you most proud of for these kids i'm most proud of the fact that one night or one day in my classroom i was so mad with you miss h that i had tears in my eyes but i figured it out you helped me and i got it and that sense of accomplishment for them you know when you when you do something that you didn't believe you could do because you've never had the chance to try to do that kind of thing and you do that it kind of sets you on fire which is another thing we want for these kids all of the academies are also based on a parallel curriculum model with the notion of practice and the notion of identity so that they could see themselves as tomorrow's nasa scientists and tomorrow's you know architects of green you know buildings and that sort of thing but that's hard work and so when they learn how to work hard at fourth fifth and sixth grade level that's commiserate with their ability then when they're rolling into the advanced algebra in middle school and those those high-end classes at the high school they have the tools in their tool belt having gotten the chance to do that with the academies thank you very much thank you lori um just a few questions also um can i what percentage of the students that you receive or that come into the agp um into your class how many are with you for all three years of the program what percentage do you think um well that i could get you that information faith i don't have it off the top of my head because sometimes as i mentioned earlier if we think about giftedness first of all one of the things that is different from how they perceived it when we were kids where it was an all or nothing nothing thing if you think of it as a seed that's getting watered and they'll sprout and germinate at different times right so you know i might not get kid in fourth grade but i get them in fifth grade because they have now sprouted so i would need to go back and and look at that but um there's a big chunk of these kids because first of all of course we start by looking at the data and if these kids have that strong data right from the beginning you know but there's a lot of other factors for example let's say you're a kid who is on two travel teams um maybe you're going to hebrew school have all these other things on your plate you might just pass on the opportunity when you know or the parents might say to the classroom teacher or to me we're going to pass for this year um so i could get that i could probably look all of that information up and figure it out for you i guess my my question was is this a program that um they you say you've got a third grader or fourth grader do they forgive me if this is a dumb question do they graduate out of the program or do they stay with you all the way ah i see what you're asking thank you i get it now i see what you're asking i'm sorry i misunderstood so historically when i came here in 1997 um pardon me for being very direct but if a kid got in in fourth grade they could do nothing but barely breathe like i could pick up their wrist to try to check for a pulse and they were taking a chair that could be someone else's but they were not on fire to do anything it would be like extracting wisdom to get them to do something so several years ago now i would have to look up exactly what year we decided that at the end of every year it all starts over fresh and which students should best sit in those seats would be the students who would fill those seats you know we don't really have to worry about that now because i have managed to create a a way that we can have more many more seats than we used to okay okay and um and they're with you how long on average you get them once or twice a week or you get them on a on a letter day no this year i get them whenever uh every day of the week whenever um it just it's it the stuff comes up and so sometimes that you know involves you know talking with let's say the fourth grade teachers at chapman school and saying okay i have enough kids here who need to talk with me about um this thing can i schedule in a google meet so that we can get on a screen together um but hopefully they're with me all day yeah in faith i'll just jump in really quickly it was in the program prior to this year she would do them once every four days for about 45 minutes and that's part of the shift we're making to keep the instruction um virtual and have monthly contact time that's focused on seo and we've opened this as if we can stop presenting screen so we can see because we actually don't need the presentation up that way we can see each other just a little bit oh i'm sorry of course i i um so my question all right so this is the virtual um kind of frames this next question for me um as you know we're going through a modernization um pro the modernization process and divide trying to decide on you know a plan and obviously the focus is in elementary and 300 kids is not an insignificant number of students um so uh granted you're doing it virtually but what are have you been asked what are some of the needs that you need for your program that should be considered as we go about looking at the design of elementary schools uh thank you for asking that question faith i guess what i would say is just to make sure that there is a space where we can meet for those social emotional topics you know that i'm hoping that you know so that it becomes something where the kids are like okay today all of the fourth graders here at norton school are going to get together and we'll need a place to do that you know um space has been an issue i'm very excited about the modernization because um i have delivered instruction in some unusual spaces over the years since i've become itinerant um you know but the nice thing is the way it's working teachers tend to be flexible people anyway and with this virtual model and the ability to literally and these kids are are very savvy in this if we can balance having me be able to come in so we have that piece that i've spent a lot of time talking about tonight somewhere anywhere a cafeteria a library somewhere then we'll be good okay okay and i do have just one more do the social emotional needs of these kids differ from the regular students oh there are lots of issues that um are very particular to to this particular group of kids you know perfectionism which is huge and can be completely debilitating by the time a child becomes an adult um depression and anxiety something known as imposter syndrome where once they finally go away to college and they get away they are able to get out of that that place they were where everybody in their community believed oh faith well she always knows the answer and oh my gosh you know faith is brilliant whatever but meanwhile inside faith as a as a girl is going well i didn't know the answer to that what if i'm not really what people think and that the pressure the pressure on these kids for all of those things and there's a million more that i could talk about are very unique to this particular group of of learners and as i mentioned before um when and i still have my office at hummuston but when i would come into hummuston and i would almost see them not want to make eye contact with me because they were saying oh there's miss h oh my god what might she be thinking right now that i'm here we need to we need to to do some things to fill fill that okay thank you um well thanks for the presentation um i guess unless anyone has any other follow-up questions thank you lori that was wonderful thank you so much for your time this evening and thanks for listening thank you laura you're welcome thanks lori sure um so next up is the social studies summary yes so we have here with us the team that worked on the five-year review of the social studies curriculum k-12 so i think we'll see some familiar faces we have tim galvin the social studies department chair at ted for high school we have kristin giuliano who is the division leader for social studies at dodd middle school we have genie monty one of our curriculum instructional coaches from the elementary school we also have kelly grillo principal from norton school who oversaw we always have an administrator who oversees one of the subject areas to help guide and facilitate the process and also kevin hanlon so i am going to turn it over to them to share um an executive summary of the social studies program thank you again all of you for being here tonight so thank you marlene um so what you guys are seeing on this first slide is the c3 framework booklet um and the three c's that you see there stand for college career and civic life so the goal of the framework is to guide uh planning to create a robust instruction that prepares students is for the challenges of college career and then of course the third c civic life that's a real push for our students to become knowledgeable thinking and active citizens so as you can see on the side bubbles there are four dimensions that make up this framework the one on the left the first one developing questions and planning inquiries this is where it all starts and it really does start with the development and it mostly is on behalf of the teacher of what's called the compelling question um there are two types one is the compelling the other is the the supporting but the teacher really steers the ship with the with the compelling question um the compelling question is usually the bigger question um it usually focuses on an enduring issue or or a concern um they can deal with student curiosities they can they can deal with unresolved issues concerns that students might have an example of one might be why do we need rules um so that would be a good example now the supporting questions would be kind of focus on answering some of the smaller types of questions like descriptions or perhaps like definitions or processes so to go along with that larger compelling question why do we need rules a question might be posed what are some rules at dodd middle school or what are some of the rules of my family so that pretty much covers in a nutshell dimension and one pass it on to tim galvin thanks kristen um so with the compelling and supporting questions established students move on to dimension number two uh which you'll see in the lower left hand corner applying disciplinary tools and concepts and in the second dimension students are focused on acquiring knowledge that's why you see the light bulb up at the top of the second column and the supporting questions that kristin mentioned are used to guide the exploration of the key concepts that are part of the unit and uh they provide ultimately the foundation for students to be able to develop a supported claim related to the compelling question which is guiding the unit in the second dimension students are challenged to learn through a number of disciplinary lenses so depending on the course or the theme or subject they may be challenged to think like an historian or a geographer or an economist or a political scientist so if you're working in a civics class obviously you're going to be looking uh primarily but not always through the poli sci lens um in our ap geography class obviously a geographic lens um in our history classes you'll spend time in each of those uh four lenses um for example uh you know a unit on the the new deal the great depression in the new deal um you'll be looking at geographic themes economic themes um obviously politics uh the politics of the new deal and uh some of the historical forces which created uh that uh that calamity so um that's the second phase and it's it's mostly about um preparing the building blocks that students are going to need to move on to phase three in phase dimension three that's where students are working with the inquiry inquiry literacies as they're called under the c3 framework uh students are selecting and gathering sources they're evaluating sources for evidence which can be used to support claims related to the compelling question and they begin organizing evidence as they prepare for the fourth and final dimension and i'm going to pass it back to kristin for that awesome thanks tim so the fourth and final dimension basically concludes this inquiry arc and this is where we're looking for our students to communicate their conclusions and in some cases to take some informed action so the way they communicate their conclusions often students are given a variety of choice and through the rest of our presentation you will get a chance to see some samples of different uh modes of communicating conclusion but the venues can be as small as just their peers in their classroom or in some cases they could reach out to a larger venue and in some cases students can actually reach out to the community to report some of their conclusions so this is the kind of final and closing piece to the inquiry arc so we're going to pick up just a little bit on the elementary side of things that i'm going to start with just a brief overview of the work that was done over the last cc cycle ccc cycle which was really to align our curriculum to that c3 framework to have it grounded in those dimensions of inquiry that kristen and tim just guided you through and that really happened in earnest uh for our grade six curriculum and if tell if you'll slide forward a little bit as we um dug into some of the feedback from parents and teachers really the call and it was a call that we knew was going to be there we need to do that work in our other grade levels as well um so kell if you can go just one more on that front um i think the quote on the left is really a good synopsis of the direction that we need there we go thanks uh synopsis of where we need to go the opportunity to engage in higher level thinking update our resources students to interact with primary resources and again giving teachers the resources to make this easy to do in the classroom so i'd like to turn it over to genie monty who will just share a few samples of how this played out in grade 6 and how to shape our work at the elementary level going forward thanks kevin so i have been working closely with the district sixth grade teachers to align our curriculum units to the c3 framework and our team spent several meetings updating the sixth grade social studies units with the focus on all four dimensions developing questions applying interdisciplinary concepts evaluating resources and then communicating that information through something more of an authentic um current product so on this slide you're going to see we've included some examples of a performance assessment from our south american uni in which students had fired by just income to do a news broadcast um and called it um where in south america so the news teams were responsible for putting together a special on a specific country in south america and they had to include new segments like an introduction a lead story uh this day in history edition and money watch and i'm never be able to get to all of those but there are different segments to the news broadcast um and you'll get a chance to see a little a little bit of each hi i'm sophia pepper and you're watching cheshire local news today my team and i have a special presentation for for you we're focusing on a country on south america's coast argentina here's sophia pepper with our lead story today how are you sophia thank you sophia i'm doing great but some of argentina's forests are not in 1914 argentina had approximately only 105 million hectares of forest now we're left with only approximately 28 to 45 million hectares the cause is the expanding industry of soybean growth and production it is taking over the youngest cloud forest and the chico eco true news good morning i'm emma sloan with your news from peru let's start with our headline story more women are working as reporters in south america but before i continue if you don't know what a porter is i'll tell you a porter is someone who leads people on a two or more day hike they carry most necessary things including tents sleeping bags cookware and more in peru this is a popular job but it was only for popular so as you notice this is a the culminating uh project um for the end of so we're in south america um where they had to choose you know which country and do the research on it follow the four dimensions um social studies they had their developing question and they did the research on this applied all of that information to this newscast so it's interesting to see so if you do get a chance it's uh kind of neat the way they put it together and then we'll go to the next slide so what will be so as you look at this slide you'll notice that our focus is to align all elementary social studies curricula to the c c three framework um as we've begun to do in sixth grade we're looking at to update resources in all grades for the purpose of staying current and using resources that meet the needs of all ranges of readers and learners in most grades we'll we will not be relying on a text actually the only text we have right now is fifth grade us history in point three i've started working um in this area with um integrating academics with not only sixth grade but also recently with uh third grade at norton we worked on aligning one of the social studies units with our informative standards in a reading unit and we also incorporated third grade writing standards um and in the process we are also working on vetting appropriate resources for this integrated project in third grade and then and that's with the help of our district reading specialist and that's it for that slide you can go ahead calendar thank you so as you have heard uh through our presentation the c3 framework is the kind of the guidebook that we use to design this robust uh social studies curriculum but it's really not the only thing that comes into play with designing our curriculum so i designed this graphic to kind of maybe help uh clarify a little of like the balls we juggle as as we build curriculum um so many of you are very well aware of the common core state standards and they're still uh part of of our design and now they're called you can see below the title it says common core standards so they're still referred to as they're now referred to as the css so things like writing reading um listening they're still kind of uh part of our uh of our design and still very significant um but the the large bubble is um you'll see the acronym csde and that's connecticut state department of education they also put forth um a framework for uh standards for our our for our social studies and and that's across the board for all grade levels um in addition to the to the standards which uh are several different strands geography history economics civics um just to name a few of them and they also provide some themes um that we can use to design units and so forth uh in addition they they also put out some regions so uh grade six seven is is a continuum curriculum where we met uh grade six and seven teachers met in the past to decide which themes would be grade appropriate for seventh grade and which would be grade appropriate for sixth grade and likewise we took all the global regions and we discussed you know what would be best for for each grade level um and and we kind of design from there so we have our our standards and our kind of organizational themes and geographic regions presented by the state department of education but that c3 is kind of that guidebook with the with the four dimensions of inquiry that we previously described grade eight is um similar in so far as they do have a thematic approach um and you know they do cover traditional topics so their units are kind of a combination of both thematic and just traditional time period topics um one of the things we thought as we worked our way through through this we got a lot of advice from steve armstrong at the state department level who was a fantastic resource for us as we tried to figure out how to juggle all this and put something together he had suggested this case study approach so on the far right in the center uh bubble you we did take that idea and we went with it and we found this was awesome because we could actually um put out topics from these geographic regions that related to our themes that were timely that were current that or meaningful to our students that they they could kind of latch on to so this is just a little graphic to kind of you know maybe uh visually kind of explain a little bit of of how we put together our grade 7a and likewise similar for grade six curriculum you can advance it cal so for for dad um we have four goals that uh we're really kind of uh honing in on and the first of which is uh we have not completed our writing our grade seven 7 curriculum we still have two more units that we're looking to tackle this summer through the summer curriculum writing institute and with writing a unit comes all the pieces that that go into that like common assessments prioritizing our standards academic tasks just overall just engage in compelling content in addition grade 8 is looking to revise their reconstruction unit and create a common performance task along with a summative assessment and both grade levels are really looking to develop a more multi-cultural curricula just to address social inequity and and lastly one of the things that surfaced through our review was the need to have a digital database that can house all of our documents our resources and more importantly any crop video clips or websites because we're finding uh as we progress in our curriculum we might revisit a website from the year before that our whole lesson is hinged on and we open we go to open it and it no longer exists so we're really looking for a way to digitally have a storage spot for all of that and as you saw with jeannie in the the grade six this slide just highlights some of our work samples from our both seventh and eighth grade um students um the ones in in red are for seventh grade along with the poster you see the water is a human right and the ones in purple are for the eighth grade those hyperlinks are available for you i'm not gonna go over everyone and our intention is if you guys have time later you could by all means take some time to look at um all of them if you if you would like but i if you would go back kel just go back to the inquiry qft hyperlink right there if that will open can you click to see if that will just open up or yeah she's presenting in a tab kristen so it's not gonna okay no no problem so if it doesn't work how just go to the next one i can i can highlight that next one so you please feel free to take a look at all of those hyperlinks um so what you're looking at here is an eighth grade student work sample this is a culminating end product this is a way for tim baker students he teaches the 8th grade u.s history where this project was completed this was a way for his students to report out to communicate conclusions and what this group of students did here was they used the website wix.com and they were able to create a fantastic website this particular topic came in this large expansion thematic expansion unit that they had focused on it was a three-prong unit uh expansion started with the power of the presidency of andrew jackson the second prong hinged on the physical expansion the westward expansion and then this comes out of the third prong of that uh thematic unit which kind of stemmed from human rights namely all this new territory brought along you know the the question of uh slave rights which trickled down to as this group of students chose women's rights so this um this website was student created 100 and it's pretty impressive uh if you take a look there are several pages more than actually what i'm showing you and they chose the pictures they wrote up the excerpts um they chose the you know the topics and so for the subtopics uh and it's just a little glimpse at what these these these students are able to do this last page i wanted to just highlight this because um tim talked about using evidence and and finding credible sources and so forth and they do that at dodd and it's impressive we start them i think they start them in sixth grade with creating works cited pages and so forth and they really grasp the concept of how important it is to give credit um to to those sources that they've used and also to seek out credible resources so this is just a sample of this group of students their works cited page for this particular website so that's kind of just a little glimpse and and i encourage you to take a look at some of the other student samples that were on that previous previous couple slides back thank you kristen um so we'll take a look here at the key goals for chs with the advent of the c3 framework and the new state standards that came out in 2015 uh much of our work in the last cycle has been focused on alignment with the c3 emphasizing the skills needed for college and career as kristin mentioned earlier and also that key focus on citizenship and preparing students to be engaged and informed citizens we have worked on our core classes primarily at this point uh particularly our united states history and civics and to some extent modern world history um in a in on the next slide not just yet but i'll go i'll walk you guys through what a mini inquiry loon unit would look like in a history classroom and we'll get to that in a moment um when you look at our course sequence map you'll see we have developed a mission statement which is reflective of the c3 framework philosophy focused on developing inquisitive learners who are going to be engaged citizens and obviously an emphasis on skill development social studies is a great content vehicle for students to develop the essential skills that they're going to need regardless of where they go when they leave cheshire high school and so the both of those principles are reflected in our mission statement you'll also see to the left of the course sequence map we have kind of like an overarching question for each grade level uh modern world us history then civics uh and then senior year is open electives primarily but we have a guiding overarching question which is very much in the spirit of the c3 framework we have worked on trying to continue to expand and diversify our elective course offerings we had a number of ap offerings in 2016 and a few college prep offerings but we've worked to now add three additional and i'll talk more about some ideas for ad adding beyond that but we've added ap comparative gov ece human rights in the law and starting next year the black and latino american studies course all of these courses have um work very nicely with the c3 perspective and um we're excited to have them as part of our course offerings at this point we also look to develop a annual literacy assessment which we did develop and it is the goal of it is to provide a benchmark assessment of our students literacy skills when they join us at cheshire high school and then administer that at the end of their freshman year and beginning of their sophomore and end of sophomore years our ability to administer the annual literacy assessment this year was kind of disrupted by covid and minimized instructional time but next year we will look to bring that back we will also be looking to potentially expand it to grades 11 and 12 so that's something i'll talk about later on the goals to be so what does inquiry look like in a social studies classroom and you've at this point in the presentation you've already seen some very uh solid examples and some exciting stuff that our students are working on at the elementary and middle school levels um but i i want to just give you kind of like a brief snapshot of what an inquiry unit could look like and it may be quite different than uh it should be quite different than you know how uh social studies classrooms were set up uh you know even a decade ago as we talked about previously we begin with planning the inquiry and so in this example that i'm about that i'm sharing with you the compelling or overarching question that students were engaged with in this mini unit was why did the united states win world war ii as kristin talked about earlier in the presentation students need to develop we work with students to then develop supporting questions which are going to uncover the key concepts that students are going to need to build an effective and well-supported claim to the compelling question and in this case the supporting question uh for for this mini unit was one of the key ones was what was the critically important role played by the american home front in world war ii once we have our questions established we move on to the second phase as i spoke earlier that's kind of where the students are establishing the building blocks for their investigation in dimension 2 you'll see a combination of collaborative work among students a direct instruction from teachers peer feedback in this case direct instruction was provided on the relevant themes of the american home front military readiness um building the arsenal of democracy sacrifice rallying the public et cetera from there students were provided with a variety of resources uh differentiated depending on their ability level um they would work with selected resources you see there's blue hyperlinks in there and as they're working with those resources they're getting uh teacher feedback and they're building their understanding of all of the different factors which help to create um the potent home front that allowed us to succeed in world war ii uh from there uh with the building blocks in place we move on to the third uh dimension number three and that's where students are going to begin um independently as as was spoken about at elementary and uh middle school level they're going to work on independently gathering effective information they're going to vet resources analyze them pull out evidence that they can utilize to help develop a well-supported claim to the compelling question in this case we have the students identify two sources using the chs databases and then they moved on to phase four and in dimension four of the inquiry arc uh as we discussed earlier that's where students are going to communicate their conclusions or take informed actions in some more culminating projects for a course in this case students work collaboratively to communicate their understanding by developing a google doodle um and you'll see one of them there in the bottom right hand corner students were able to use google drawings if they wanted to do it using the google suite they also could have drawn it or some students used other apps that they were familiar with as well but the google drawings is a highly effective tool that's available right in our suite and the majority of groups used that and so they had to build a google doodle um which was going to tell the story of why america was successful in world war ii and how the home front provided the foundation for that victory these are some other examples of students communicating their conclusions i just wanted to kind of give you an idea of the diversity of of work that students would be engaged in kind of working from going clockwise starting in the upper left-hand corner that's from this year those are students who are engaged and you can tell one of the students is remote from home the student up on the smart board this is a mock judicial nomination uh process um the student from home was if i remember craig this was in our ap government class was a senator who was um asking questions of the judicial nominee who was seated at the table in the front of the classroom but it was a an excellent opportunity to bring in our remote learners and our in-person learners and have them participate in a simulation continuing to move clockwise uh that is a uh also using google drawings that's a design for an underground railroad memorial that was created as i said in google drawings and um the students had to design who would be honored on that pathway and why they would be chosen to be a part of this underground railroad museum continuing to go clockwise we have some students who were working on videos for either civic engagement project or history through pop culture net neutrality was the issue that the student was working with in the bottom right hand corner 911 in pop culture in the uh bottom and then over on the bottom uh left is a group of students who uh created a class mural they were using the superhero theme as a way to understand the federal bureaucracy and each student was assigned a particular federal agency and they had to um portray that agency as uh as a superhero and um each student uh probably about 80 uh close to 80 students each created an individual pain that went together to create this class mural so these are a variety of ways in which students are challenged to share their conclusions their evidence-based conclusions in um and creative ways as i mentioned before and and kristen talked about this earlier as well taking informed action is also part of the fourth dimension and that's not something that we can necessarily weave into each and every unit but it's a very effective opportunity in a culminating project and a great example of that is our civic engagement fair this is students taking informed action at cheshire high school it's the required culminating project for the civics course students select an issue that's important to them that they have a passion for they research that issue and develop a deeper understanding of it and then from there they create an action plan how are they going to raise awareness about their selected issue how are they going to share that with the public in this project they're required to produce something whether it's a website a video we've had students host rallies we've had students write poetry or create artwork they have to create a something tangible and then share that out both online we encourage students to post online and share out their their products but also at our annual um actually each semester we have it civic engagement fair in which teachers students and administrators come and move around the civic engagement fair and students share their work why they think it's important um what they produced and uh most importantly what kind of change they would like to see um put into place what are they advocating for so so that in a nutshell is the civic engagement fair and last but not least these are some of the key goals for the next cycle as it relates to curriculum we're going to continue to work on developing curriculum units for all of the core courses that are c3 aligned we are also looking to expand our course offerings um to incorporate more of a global perspective this came up in both our student and teacher surveys the need to take a look a deeper look at our modern world history course and also to think about proposing some global history courses potentially something in the ancient civilization area um like that used to be grade seven but due to the changing standards now grade seven is um focused on uh geography and regions of the world as kristin elaborated upon earlier so we kind of have a whole as it relates to ancient civilization um other ideas to consider for expanding our global perspective could be an asian history course that's come up both from students and teachers and so those are some of our goals going forward with curriculum as it relates to text and resources and technology we have been very fortunate to add a number of new textbooks in our ap courses but we are looking to acquire updated textbooks especially for u.s history but also potentially an additional supplementary text for our world history course excuse me uh we're also in hope or we're hoping to um create a social studies learning library in um the coming up next couple of years and we envision this as a dynamic learning space which could include both a mini library of discipline specific texts beyond above and beyond what our chs library has but also as a dedicated learning lab where students are receiving extra support and help on instruction we're going to continue to expand the use of the inquiry-based model that we've presented to you here tonight on assessment as i mentioned earlier we're hoping to we're not hoping we will be bringing back our annual literacy assessment on next year and as i talked about we're going to consider opportunities to to make that an assessment for all four levels on the professional learning um one of the things that the subcommittee came away with was a need to revise our modern world history curriculum um so we hope to engage in that work uh in the next couple of years and um continue to develop the new black and latino american studies course which we begin teaching in the fall but will be engaged in professional learning to to fully implement that course over the next couple of years and with that that's all the goals so thank you guys for thank you for listening tim i and and everyone you did a really nice job of encapsulating a five-year review into a very succinct plan while also getting in there um an explanation of the c3 which is in itself a very big and large undertaking um and and i i liked the way that um you were able to really meld all those together including the common core state standards the state standards the the c3 and and the examples that you gave i know our board we had some board members who are very interested in learning more about the c3 tonight so i'll turn it back to faith to see if there are any any questions i throw it out um anna tony do you want to go ahead ian um so you started out with uh the sixth grade and then but you mentioned something about the fifth grade uh us history course that is also going to be are you developing at the elementary level from sixth grade and going steps down or so we'll we'll probably take the approach with our curriculum writing institute that will revise one unit per grade level per year over the next five years and that'll get us k 6 all the way up to date and all the units um so we won't do sixth and fifth and fourth and third we'll do chunks of each grade level each of the next five years thank you i don't have any questions i i just happy to see the amount of detail that goes into this uh because when i look back at the development of c3 over time when it materialized for our tails i was worried how that would shape our curriculum but it's it it's had the opposite uh outcome which is great i i think again i'm just the amount of i i know i and and marilyn said is best you boiled a five-year review down to a very concise presentation for us but just all the avenues you showed us that goes into shapeness curriculum is impressive for me so thank you for the work on that i know it's working out very well for our students um i do have some cr questions on college and the the three the c3 i i um i'm i'm late to the game and if you guys maybe could get me some background information because um i i i just am curious how it developed and where the academic research behind it is and and um you know because it seems like you know i am old school i confess um but a shift from a to a totally it seems almost a totally thematic based approach to history as opposed to you know i'm not i'm not a big huge fan necessarily of a chronological you know let's let's go through every period of history but but it seems i'm gonna be honest it seems kind of amorphous in some respects and i'm just wondering if you could address that uh almost unmoored and maybe i'm missing something and that that's where that c3 review on my part would help me understand it better sure i guess i can get us started on that um i would say you know at the high school first i would say uh the c3 framework does not have to be taught chronologically or thematic or if you have an opportunity to do both you can continue to teach in a chronological fashion while working through thematic-based units i think kristin talked a little bit about this and and their curriculum document for example all of our us history courses um are taught on are continue to be taught in a primarily chronological um basis at the high school um now that doesn't mean that they're not delving into some overarching thematic units at different points immigration is a great topic for that to look at immigration and changes over time another important way you could do that is coming out of world war ii and going into the cold war and then ultimately vietnam you can focus on foreign policy and the changing role of america and the pros and cons of it so you can you can do little mini thematic bursts um without really leaving behind the chronological um format um but it doesn't paint and it doesn't paint curriculum developers or teachers into a box um it continues to provide us as educators the opportunity to develop develop curriculum um as as we kind of have presented here and um you know tonight um and the other thing i would say too is oftentimes when people first hear about c3 or the inquiry arc and they see the focus on skills um and and maybe a misconception develops that well we're not working as much with knowledge and facts anymore and i hope that we dispelled that tonight um but you know for students to create some of the work that you saw today they have to have a knowledge base right um and and that knowledge base shouldn't just be provided by teachers of course some should be but they should be challenged to to engage in self-directed learning and expand upon what the teachers are offering in the classroom too and i think i think that's one of the things that i really like about the c3 framework is it it doesn't leave behind the importance of direct instruction from time to time and unit to unit and day to day but it goes beyond that um and it really allows for challenging work um and authentic learning opportunities that engage students so um so um tim how do you um clearly you know the projects are demonstrating knowledge to acquisition and and and all but um how do you what different tools do you use to assess their their learning i mean it can't just be you know the the fair at the end of the year or so what do you do along the way to um pull out from the kids uh what they know and measure it i think i think you have to have a diversity of assessments and you probably and you're going to see that at all of our levels um you're you're going to can you know in that world war ii unit that our u.s history teachers are working with you know that's just one performance-based assessment within a unit it doesn't mean that they're not having um an objective assessment that's also evaluating um another skill set it doesn't mean that they're not also working on um a document analysis uh task that's um evaluating their skills with document analysis or um a writing based assessment so i think the key with assessment is is diversity um and uh you know evaluating our students ability and in a variety of areas okay and do you um do you uh along the lines um have um oral challenges almost almost like a different dissertation ask challenge to their work and just you know so they have to defend their work before um the teacher or before classmates um do you offer those kinds of opportunities yeah i mean i i think i could speak for the high school you know if you're if you're looking at the civic engagement fair that kind of is like the college version of students needing to defend why their issue is important why you know why they're raising awareness about it and also kind of explain you know their the policies laws and changes they would like to see implemented and defend that and um they're asked to do that through their product but then also through q a at the at the civic engagement fair as well um you know to go back to the um the ap gov class and the students who were working on the judicial nomination simulation um they need to they need to play their role effectively and and part of that is challenging other students um you know so you you get uh a good opportunity for peer-to-peer um questioning um and and and i think the best environment we can put our students in is to have them um exchange ideas with each other and defend their uh positions in dialogue with their peers because that's when they're they're most engaged so i think um you know that that's kind of where we are at the high school but i can uh yeah i i have one more high school question and i've got i do have some questions about the lower grades as well but but yeah i know you have heard it we all have the concern that um history as it's taught in civics as they're now taught in high school is activism it's becoming activism it is not necessarily a grounding in the understanding of um you know the arguments that took place um why uh to to justify the three-fifths compromise or why the connecticut or connecticut is the constitution state you know what was it about the connecticut constitution that in the connecticut delegation that um you know was able to bring our own constitution into fruition so as i said you've heard it how do you address those people who are concerned that the knowledge is perhaps um giving way to just out and out i'm going to call it advocacy and activism yeah so i think um let's stick with the civic engagement fair because that's something we've talked at length with about today and i think everybody on the call has a good understanding of it um you know that is the final and i referred to that earlier as the culminating assessment for civics right they're working the entire semester prior to the last month four four-ish weeks that they're focused on the civic engagement project they're working for the first eighty percent of the class on um the american founding the american revolution mostly from a political perspective um the declaration of independence its founding principles uh they move on to discuss the constitution and its design and our founders concerns they then take an in-depth look at each of the three branches what are their roles responsibilities how do they share power how does the uh the balance between the branches reflect uh the founders concerns when they created our government and then they engage in um learning about our political system um what is the role of parties media individual citizens etc interest groups so they're going to move through the core the core concepts that i think you would expect in any civics class they're we're not neglecting those to simply engage them in a civic prod you know the civic engagement project we're building up towards the civic engagement project throughout the semester and so the knowledge that they acquire throughout the year feeds into how they approach their civic engagement project okay all right thank you um and then just looking at the lower grades with the you know the k through we focused on the um sixth seventh and eighth or at least we saw the examples of that how is this being applied or how will this apply to the um first through fifth grade um because it's it's seems like such an abstract concept and and you've got little concrete minds in the classroom how what are you guys going to how are you going to approach that and incorporate the c3 at those levels so students at at all of our grade levels can take a pretty deep dive into i mean we're about complex thinking uh here and like our kindergartners all the way up through 12th graders can take deep dives into this the content at each grade level you know purposely starts with self and community and builds outward as a really broad statement over elementary so students are starting with things that are very familiar to them um they're they're how do they operate in a community how do they how do they what's our town of cheshire like building out towards our state regions of the united states u.s history so they start topically they're starting with things that are very close to them and under and that they can understand because it's relatable to them and building outwards so that's that's how you address the developmental needs of students um based on the topics you're choosing but they're diving in and can do some of this work and you know to build a little bit of what tim said that the content part of this really comes in the second and third part of those four dimensions there's dives into content that students really need to know and understand and have exposure to and have experience with the back end of those dimensions of inquiries now you can do something with it and that might look like how can i make my community better how can i make my school better how can i so there's ways for students to do all parts of that um you know if we're teaching about government essential functions of government they can relate to that classroom rules and understand that classroom needs rules to be able to function and and operate and work and so does the school so there's entry points for our students on that front and they they their work on the back end could be improving those rules improving those structures in the classroom to make it better so there's a way to do to get at this work that's development inappropriate for all of our students but they can do some pretty significant thinking on this they're um constantly amazed by what our students can do developmentally it just starts broadly with their self and works outward okay all right thanks and then one final comment i um just want to applaud you for looking for new history books for the um um the cc um just because i had heard from a parent about the age of the books and then marlene has let me two of them that i'm now using for weightlifting uh they are massive and dated so i am glad that you guys are exploring new textbooks and um there are some wonderful ones out there i know and um and i think you know the non-ap classes really deserve some attention so i'll just um you know endorse that idea as well and um so thank you okay so marlene you're on mute i was just gonna say if there's no more questions i think we are ready for the update we are ready faith yes we are thank you um so item c we want to make sure that at each of our curriculum committee meetings that we're updating you on the types and content in professional development that we're offering we know we've had a significant a number of collaboration and professional development days and i think it's important that folks understand the content of what we're we're going over at each of the levels so and to turn it over to kevin he's going to share especially what we've been doing related to some fun things in math so uh since since the last time we met we did have a full day professional development day and as you've heard this year we've um been really focused on helping make sure teachers can work within this very unique school year i would say our march pd day represented an opportunity for us to all at each of the levels pick our heads up a little bit focus on this year but also look forward a little bit and i think that was a theme through each of the each of the pd opportunities at the elementary level on math we actually did a professional development provided by eureka who was the authors of our math curriculum it was the plan pd that was supposed to happen march of 2020 uh the title of it is major work of the grade level so it's really deep dive into the math content um that uh that students need to engage with in across great spans so an understanding of well whatever let everybody jump off there uh an understanding sorry about that kevin as we were transitioning it was not a very smooth transition i just wanted to thank them and let them know that they don't need to need to stay that was good i don't i don't think tim had dinner tonight so i'm sure he's he's rushing off to get some food right now i know he appreciates that um so so bottom line on on our elementary math pd was we got a chance to to do some really good pd that was planned last year it helped us focus on kind of the theme of this year acceleration prioritizing essential concepts but it also helped us in the future kind of pd that we would have otherwise done last year at this time so that was a mouthful not very smooth with that transition there but uh we're happy to have and eureka does a great job with a professional development there um their presenters are always top notch our teachers always walk away with some good good outcomes from that pd at the middle and high school level we did um each division and department latched on to one or more aspects of the acceleration framework and spent some time and part of the day diving into that and then really applying it to the work for the remainder of this year and in many cases looking beyond this year so our middle and high school teachers kind of took part of that acceleration framework there's five components of it they picked one or two to dive in more deeply and then applied it so that's a brief pda pd update from our march 12th full pd day thank you kevin that was good um any questions okay seeing none um we will move on to the summer transition program overview review thank you faith um we wanted to make sure that you were sort of a part of this conversation informationally um we have a number of remote students who have been remote since last march and it is very important to us that we do everything we can to get students coming back as soon as their families are comfortable and if there's anything that we could do to lessen their concern especially now that we've had more and more and more people vaccinated and the majority of our staff is vaccinated and we know there's been very little spread because students are wearing their masks and we're adhering to social distancing guidelines that's our first priority is to try to get more students back but we know that there are going to be students for whom that is difficult and we are very hopeful that we have a full return of all of our students next year so in order to sort of bridge that gap for those kiddos who some of whom haven't been in a school for over a year we have begun planning for a summer transition program and we're looking to hold this towards the end of march right before school starts and we're looking to sort of gradually bring kids in right we want them to try and take get on the bus we want them to enter in through the doors of their own school building we'd like them to be able to you know do a tour if they haven't been in that school before if they haven't been there for a year down the wing that they'll be in we want them to meet some other kids and know what it's like to wear masks and have to interact we would also like for them um to talk about any of the fears they might have about being in a public space during you know the the tail end of this virus so we've been working and planning on for every one of our schools to have a summer transition program we've been working with luther miller as part of transportation we've been working with rich clavette as part of buildings in in maintenance um we've been working with all of the principals getting counselors involved getting teachers involved to come in during the summer so that we can have a really fun energetic positive experience for our students because we want them to enjoy coming in for these you know shortened sessions across maybe a total of five days over the summer and then we want them to come back we want them to feel safe and confident that they can have a great experience so that in a nutshell is our summer transition program and i hope to be able to at our next meetings you know share more and more as as this takes greater shape any questions so far no and thank you for doing that outreach marlene that's a great idea thank you thank you yeah i wanted to reiterate that as well i i think it's really important to remember that there are some kids that have not been in the schools for a very long time and and it's a big part of their of their time frame it might not be for us yeah um but but we're talking even um high school kids having the opportunity to get in yes and something that i'm wondering about is um do we have are we making any plans to get parents into the schools or is that need to be still put off i'm glad that you mentioned that anne as part of the summer transition program we intend to have parent sessions because it's really tough if you're a mom or dad out there who's having a hard time getting your son or daughter to school because they've been home they've been able to you know sleep in because they don't have to catch the bus they've been able to sort of you know throw some water on their face and get in front of a computer they haven't maybe had to shower and get dressed and you know gather all their things because it's in their room so we wanted to offer parents some support some strategies some tips let them know they're not alone and and give them some ideas physically getting them into the building we're still not there yet with having visitors to buildings but we do have a there is a parent piece of this summer transition program that we're also working on so i'm i'm glad you reminded me of that thank you for that and marlene we've talked about this could you um just give us an idea of how many kids we're talking about in the district yeah so originally um [Music] let's see a couple of weeks ago it must have been over the the president's break right we had close to 800 kids who were remote right and um we've since dwindled that number we've been doing personal outreach we've been doing personal emails we've been doing teacher phone calls principals have started to make phone calls and we're really trying to get as many students back as we can after may 1st i know that number had dwindled into the low 700s and we expect that number to continue to drop still an amazing number of kids yeah yeah who have chosen right to to be remote yeah okay all right um so uh yeah please keep us surprised as it develops and um takes shape and uh anyone have anything else i think we're good all right final item on the list is out of state overnight field trip so yay nice to see this again so i know this is this is really do we remember how to do this part of the agenda before right because we haven't had one of these in so long this is a site for sore eyes thank you mike for talking about you're talking about the trips right [Laughter] thanks for sticking it through all the way mike to um talk to us about your work with uh chespercott and trying to make this the the safest option um to get our kids to d.c for that really important um you know that special part of middle school sure absolutely so um the process uh for dc really began back in uh this past summer working with nations classroom the uh the the two owners that we've been with probably since i want to say they nation's classroom was dodd's first customer when jeff was principal at dodd and they've been with us ever since um they are a great customer care provider for us they really are people who move um very fluidly with everything that we do and this year has been nothing less than a challenge for that um one of the things in which we took a look at obviously were all the components of our trip um taking a look at aligning with any state guidelines safety and those types of things so as i was going through all of the guidelines for schools taking a look at air filtration and those types of things we were applying the same thing to buses to tour guides to social distancing what are all those components that we have um and we've come up with what i believe to be the safest possible trip we can for our students um we took a look at from a perspective of um leaving our school in the morning where we have a huge collection of students and spreading them out a little bit more for social distancing purposes um to taking a look at the buses the buses that we're using are from gunther uh bus company out of baltimore they've been they were really reliable for us for the last two years i've been very happy with the condition of their buses um they were very responsive to the things that we had asked for including um you know including air exchange areas exchanged in those buses every seven minutes and they've also applied the highest level of filtration the merv 13 filters into that environment as well so at least we know the air in there will be as as safe to the highest standard that we have in our own schools um taking a look at the itinerary um is still a work in progress i was just on the phone with our people today from nation's classroom and really we're looking at um the smithsonian is really obviously a big portion of our trip all the different museums in the smithsonian from african american museum to the american history museum all the different museums that are there um right now the smithsonian is not open so they've been supplying me with some uh supplemental options including heading out to mount vernon um heading up to gettysburg um in those places so um we've been still piecing the itinerary together we are taking a look at doing a few things different arlington national cemetery we'll have to do in smaller uh buses um uh that visit we're not gonna be able to lay a wreath this year just because of the collection of the 200 kids on our steps on the steps of arlington is not going to be possible so we're abiding by what the the precautions are um that dc is taking care of we're also kind of taking a look at three different areas of our country in virginia and dc uh in maryland in which we need to apply all three of them have different um you know have different stages of the prerequisites so we're trying our best to abide by all of those um we are going to be taking uh six buses um the buses won't be as full um necessarily with students we want to try and spread them out um i will be sending out information to parents this week um really just about the reality of that we are gonna be wearing masks the entire time um we are going to be uh we've already developed roommates and parents have been informed of who you know the students are um and i was talking with jeff today we're still in the background with chespercrat trying to see if we can get some testing of kids the friday before the trip they'd have to quarantine over the weekend they would do remote monday and tuesday and then come to the building on wednesday morning to board the buses so we're trying to take those precautions going there coming back as you know we are in a recommendation state recommended state um right now for people who are traveling um you know in outside of the state of connecticut so we are going to be putting it out to parents that's a recommendation that the child is tested um after uh the dc trip as well so i think the uh the rub for some of our parents is is probably going to be taking a look at that weekend before the trip um when the kids are quarantined they won't be able to do this their sporting events or any other type of events on that weekend that the kids will be quarantined for that so um we're still in the process of finalizing our itinerary depending upon who is going to be open for us or who's not um and we're still going to continue to work to make sure that we're providing the safest trip to the standard that we have in our buildings every day any questions mike i have one um have you um got an idea of how many kids in the 8th grade are going to participate we have 207 that are officially signed up um i just got word today that one more student would like to attend so we're making the accommodation so it'll be 208 students okay all right well thank you um thank you sounds good keep us posted um all right that brings us to the end of the agenda um no other questions have come in right uh through the coven line or anything no other questions faith okay do i hear a motion to adjourn the meeting anne tony do i have a second man all in favor hi all right thank you everybody thanks thank everyone thank you so much have a good evening everyone thank you
joanna ii mike thank you joanna vazquez drexler aye mike davenport aye shirelle fuller aye dan nicholas aye terry pavich aye rick cavanado aye and nancy koepka aye the motion carries next we need a motion for the board of education to accept the lowest responsible bid from fred j miller company in the amount of ninety 104 dollars and eighty five cents to provide marching band uniforms for south high school and to also authorize the administration to issue and or sign any necessary documents to have fred j miller company produce the uniforms in accordance with the quest for bids for banned uniforms at south high school issued on march 24 2021 so moved thank you mike and cherelle thank you mike davenport aye shirelle fuller aye dan nicholas trey pavich joanna vazquez drexler hi and nancy kepka aye the motion carries and finally we need a motion for the board of education to approve a 2.8 increase on the base salary of the superintendent from four thousand seven dollars to two hundred fifty thousand eight hundred thirty nine dollars and a ten thousand dollar 403 b contribution so moved second mike and joanna thank you mike davenport hi cheryl excuse me joanna vazquez drexler aye cheryl fuller aye dan nicholas terry peposic aye rick cavanado aye and nancy kapka aye motion carries moving on to old business second reading from the policy committee uh the these committees were brought by the policy committee last month for first reading we've received no questions follow-up or concerns over the last month [Music] so they're rec they are recommended for approval this evening we have a motion to approve gumball terena and dan yeah yes okay thank you joanna vazquez drexler aye dan nicholas carrie pavisic aye rick cavanado aye mike davenport aye gerald fuller aye and nancy kupka aye the second reading is uh accepted next we have a reception of visitors for public comment this is the second reception of visitors which is intended for audience members to address the board on any topic pertaining to community high school district 99 does anybody wish to address the board hearing none do we have any online oh sorry comments are going to be limited to three minutes to provide all visitors an equal opportunity to address the board individuals needing more time should submit their thoughts in writing to the board secretary mrs nydiak visitors addressing the board need to come to the microphone and we need your full name you the proceedings are being tape recorded for the purpose of producing accurate meeting minutes and they are being live streamed i reserve the right to modify these protocols of circumstances warrant and we thank you for your observation of these protocols yes thank you my name is laura hoyce i'm a parent of a junior here at donovan or at donors from north high school in district 99 and i am here with concern about the state board of education and then a committee in springfield in february having passed culturally responsible teaching and leading standards and the concerns relate to the fact that many of our students in district 99 are not performing at an acceptable level in the basics of education you know reading writing arithmetic is what we pay taxes for our kids to learn the basics our kids to be educated in the various topics that we would expect in primary school and secondary school but this is different these standards that are being imposed upon district 99 by the state i under i do understand that encourage political activism and far-left ideology to be brought to the forefront in the classroom and any licensed teacher is required to change their focus to behaviors to color of skin to race to identity politics critical race theory you know these are things that as a parent i don't believe they belong in school i believe political activism is not part of the education that we residents of district 99 moved here for this is we're paying for our kids to be educated in a fair and responsible way without regard to these issues that relate to politics so i think it's a a matter of concern starting now i recognize that these implementation will not take place for a few years but there are already guidelines in place along these lines and for those of us that have children that we don't believe are engaging in any behaviors that are oppressive or so on i'm interested in knowing and i recognize this isn't a exchange of information but i will be inquiring of each member of the board as to where you stand on this issue and what your position is and how you react to these state standards that may become to be in the next several years i think it's bad for the school i think it's bad for the parents i think it's bad for the community and i think it encourages families to look elsewhere for their kids education thank you thank you is there anybody else who wishes to address the board we received two comments online um one thanks us for arranging for vaccinations for seniors at fenton last week and uh concerns about the 14-day quarantine period which we talked about earlier this evening and the other one is actually directed to student board member sam bol congratulating him on his journalism award and then making some recommendations for the dgn newspaper for investigative journalist topics a wide ranging list of items here that will also be shared with the board and put in the board minutes i'll share those with you and your counterpart mr alvarez over at south high and then your teams can determine how you'd like to handle that and congratulations again sam [Applause] that's it for uh oh and in here is a concern that uh that the newspaper or that the administration not censor the student newspapers which we make no practice of so um anyways that that was uh those are all of the comments yeah come on bro uh rick thank you for your question so the personnel report uh looks like we have an error in there so kathleen guzman uh guzen who's going to be hired as our librarian the salary amount listed in the personnel report is correct but it should be step eight so it looks like it references one on there you you can see that there's a big yeah so i went back into the contract as you were asking yeah and i talked to jeff or hr director it looks like so i saw the title and step they forgot the t but then yeah the salary i was like i i i couldn't get there mentally yeah so that's step eight instead of stepping well that makes that explains that yeah okay thank you thank you good catch thank you yeah yeah we pull it right off the contract but i wish we didn't label that well when i saw did the discrepancy for 15 credit hours i couldn't i couldn't get there mentally that's why i had to ask yeah i just don't have them memorized off the top of my head so thank you rob for filling in the blanket all right that's uh it for reception of visitors okay communication is announcement excuse me communications and announcements the report on um lend anything dan there's a meeting on the 23rd and right now the lens survey went out to ask how satisfied we were with their services this year i responded to that on behalf of the district and there is a lot going on in springfield which i've shared both with the board and with our staff so we keep a close eye on what's going on in springfield uh joanna anything on sassen no reports no report today 99 education terry yeah um you all got to the uh the memo that uh maura bates uh won an award with the oh i i didn't write down the initials yeah the public relations organization in illinois for schools yes uh her and a community member um did an outstanding job in uh setting up a uh a run walk situation and um raised uh almost five thousand dollars for um it's a catchy name too uh what what was it uh uh corona yeah yeah yeah yeah so i mean it was it was a great event and i think they're planning on doing it again and the foundation is also going to be working uh with the the incubator class to um to look for seed money for some of the kids to um to do projects and uh and their entrepreneurship and um just uh fyi pizza wars uh made eighty one hundred dollars um you know and that was strictly donations this year and we also uh put the list of uh pizza vendors on our website and i believe they're still there so be sure and and order a pizza from them now and again because you know things still haven't gotten back to normal so we want to make sure that those pizza vendors are still in town next year and uh the date has been set for um uh pizza wars next year which will be march 4th of 2022.
it is optional and parents do provide consent um uh the first one occurred last friday april the 16th at columbus north so that was the first round for them for a shop the next will be may 7th columbus east have been approved correct kelly for this friday so we'll get information out tomorrow to parents so they can begin signing up and getting the consent forms and so forth so they will do theirs this friday the 23rd with a second shot on friday may 14th so finally we're able to provide this opportunity how many doses were administered last friday 131 yeah 131. i don't know what we were what we were expecting necessarily we had enough doses for 400 and some i think so we have we have opportunities so hopefully we'll get plenty to sign up tomorrow age range i know i've heard or read somewhere that it's not just people that are 16 young people that are 16 years of age now the people that will be turning 16.
hard to believe we're talking about march of next year but put that calendar that on your calendar and hopefully we'll be in the commons area of our buildings so it'll be wonderful thank you very call mike anything i know in my associated school boards no report okay we have several upcoming meetings may 3rd we'll have our workshop meeting and then we will at 6 30 and then at 7 o'clock we'll have the board reorganization workshop meeting it is the last meeting for dan and rick they've both decided not to run again and we will be missing you and the last meeting for um sam and zoe sam and zoey go one more one they go oh the heck with you i'm not going to say goodbye but we'll be saying goodbye and we'll be welcoming our two new board members jenny and christopher so that will be at 6 30 on the third and then followed by the reorganization at seven and then we'll have our regular business meeting on may 17th anything else hopefully graduation on the 21st yep graduations are coming yeah make sure that we have good weather on that day so i put in a request okay all right good going do we have a motion to adjourn so moved second terry and joanna all those in favor hi all right thank you thank you everybody you
soon do you know what the exact limit is there later on i'm looking to kill you there's not the a eligibility guidelines you can be within a four month window but in under 16 and 17 year olds there is not a grace period you have to actually be 16 at the time of being vaccined at the time we have about 2 300. and the 18 year olds have been eligible right yes and the 18 year olds are eligible to receive any of the current vaccines but 16 or 17 year olds can only receive pfizer and columbus regional health is the only current provider in town advisor thank you for clarifying that so he has 16 and 17 only one option in terms of relaxation okay so we'll see what we get signed up for this friday this is data from yesterday but it's the most recent data we have so we're 12.3 in terms of the per capita number it stayed around that 11 to 12 number over the last couple of weeks uh the percent um positive test rate is up to 16.7 percent so it takes up and we're five hospitalizations at crh so some key numbers there um just like spring break broke your streak you don't have the same we don't no that's a good one situation so yes thanks for reminding us that we've talked before about that 37 day time frame or something like that after um spring break and we've not seen that start to take up at least that that sharp increase uh extra i did some four of those other chat provided today so in our email to you today we do believe we'll stay at pollute as a county when the data comes out on wednesday from the state department of health so that's also good for our county that's where we currently are 0.5 provided that information to you this reminder that 11 positive cases at one point we were averaging about 40 per week after right before and after christmas or winter break so important copenhagen related decisions are certainly prom um we put information out about two weeks ago regarding prom that it's going to be held saturday may 1st at 8 o'clock p.m the start time is correct at northside middle school is a combination of being outside and inside so we'll use the middle school football field these tents out there and then have the concrete patio and north side middle school's cafeteria to come in and out of and then for graduation we are changing times a little bit so this is important for parents and students to know the reason for these adjustments is to provide opportunities in case weather is not good because we are moving graduation to outside so csa new tech was originally scheduled to be on third excuse me friday may 28th they're going to bump up to thursday may 27th at seven o'clock uh on the columbus seas football field if it rains they'll go to may 28th they're originally scheduled to take the time columbus east and north are scheduled for saturday may 29th and we'll keep them on those days and just bump them up with time columbus east is first this year they were scheduled for 10 o'clock a.m remembering about nine on their football field north was at one o'clock p.m typically a three-hour window uh between them about two hours once one ends and the other one begins um but we're going to bump them up to 11 so the window's a little tighter but make sure they can have a chance to get done in the morning uh if it doesn't work and we have a rainy morning then we're going to look to the afternoon and look at 2 o'clock and 4 o'clock in the afternoon east and north respectively and then if that doesn't work we'll look for an evening time probably most likely seven o'clock within that five to eight pm time frame i will be deciding them maybe but it's likely if we get to the evening we'll have to run them at the same time i think the only one that that affects in terms of participating in both is me and we can work that out and make sure that that's okay we'll make sure and recognize our students and get their wellness to them so we are planning to get outside and try to make arrangements to battle weather if we need to the good thing for us versus maybe somebody else's football field is we have turf so turf handles the water a little better than just a dirt grass field so hopefully that'll work out well here that's just my second shot there for the last time so questions um regardless any of the code 19 related stuff how many people dr roberts will each uh graduate great question mr grimes so um initially bill we're looking at four is it as we work with bartholomew county health department and that may be where it stays but at this time frame and given the weeks from now till then things will be just great at that point in time we can open it up a little bit more but uh that's i think to get to there that's about 250 per side at the football fields um because staying with the numbers that's similar to what we did for football games last year and it doesn't count the participants that are actually on the field graduating so we will release additional specific information as we get closer to that that time frame that's a lot what is possible uh we will um get some social media stuff out tonight in regards to the graduation so that can start being digested since we've now stated publicly get information to the republic republic i think janet is on in terms of some of this perhaps and then also communicate more openly tomorrow all right thank you very much next on our attendance the opportunity for public comment and we have not had anyone sign up this evening so we'll move right along to the opportunity for board commendations go ahead mr grimes thank you i've got uh we'll make quick mention of a couple student athletes that have made the national scene um gloria cloud a nine-year-old fourth grader in taylorsville uh recently won the tenant under girls folk style national wrestling championship in coralville iowa yeah so good job to gloria and then also uh mentioned um columbus north junior tucker smith shot footer who set the school record two years ago as a freshman has broken his own record twice this year and i just uh talked to mr lewis the north ad today and tucker is uh currently has the second best throw in the nation behind a uh senior from texas wow nice thank you very much oh yes i'd just like to commend the service that the employees give to the corporation is always deserving of commendation but this evening the reports that we've seen from service people the school nurses and all the work that they've done with fighting the virus the spread of infection preventing this spread of infection and administration of vaccines and then all the volunteers that we have involved in adopting careers it's just amazing all the extra work that's been done the board does appreciate it absolutely thank you very much for that other okay school board member reports mr grimes the school foundation board just met just under two weeks ago just some things donors choose the partnership with donors choose continues to be a success i'm not sure i have the most recent numbers here but 7 500 kids have been impacted 14 schools 91 projects 61 teachers all of the scholarships offered by the school foundation have been closed and uh for for review and all of the scholarships offered have multiple applicants which is great and then um kind of on a personal note um two saturdays from now may 1st the school foundation is putting together a 5k on out of the fairgrounds and with the finish line in front of south side that's in memory in honor of my sixth grade teacher that i talked about earlier mr wallace and then also my dad chuck and it's a good better mess out of the box award that goes to the bcsc teacher each year and that's saturday may 1st out of the fairgrounds 8 30 and the winner of that award will be recognized shortly shortly before the race and i'd like to see a lot of you there i got to bring hard copies old-school registration pass out i forgot to do that and then also for all the runners out there november 13th the the foundation will put on another 5k um and any of you that uh have to create out creative ideas for a possible name for that one and maybe even some ideas for a location the proceeds from that one will go toward the general fund of the school foundation awesome awesome thank you very much for sharing that other i can't share with you that the business advisory group met on friday and it was so fun we had members of the csa new tech senior class several of whom have been a part of columbus signature academy since kindergarten and of the 91 seniors there are four in the top ten as well as the two lilly scholars from our county so just an amazing group and it was wonderful to listen to what they valued about csa new tech what they thought was most distinctive i think is what i'll say about csa new tech and i thought it was interest i could i could go on and on i promise i won't um the scene those who were there were asked so what were their takeaways from having been at csa new tech and i think it's important to share as to part of the value of this particular pathway they all talked about the confidence that being a part of csa new tech gave them allowing the opportunity for them to know themselves their leadership skills in being both very humble and very confident about themselves and their skills and related to that their communication skills and lastly i wrote just their valuing they can take risks and that it's okay and they've got the background and the confidence to do that i could go on and promise i'll stop and then i'll just give you a sneak preview because we're going to hear it i got to hear the preview of josh's presentation on the columbus virtual pathway so it is crazy exciting so you're ready right okay so that's what i um went on at the business advisory group all right we are now ready for cabinet reports and there's your segue mr jensen i'll wait for my partner to come up here yes please do okay i'm going to try to make my part a little bit briefer than i had planned because i could just like you talk about seniors i could talk about this high educational objective of provide multiple pathways if you don't actually engage the learners all all need that'd be really easy to do so so my goal is kind of just give a review of that pathway and then turn over to josh to talk about what's going on with our one of our one of our newest pathways first of all we talk about multiple pathways the value cannot be questioned we heard that tonight when you heard those top 10 seniors especially from csa and dr shedd you heard him talk about that on friday it was just truly amazing so in order to kind of give a little foundation for the multiple pathways i want to try and go back back to history just a bit so we're going to way back machine now for those of you younger folks who may not know the cultural reference the way back you see just think about build ted's most excellent phone booth okay so we're going back to 2005 and here the business advisory group starts talking about school reform and what's necessary and we're having those discussions about that and i told ms wilden this last week you know it said uh strategic planning that we're talking about all this exciting stuff about what needs to happen to develop a conceptual framework for how we move forward and of course the engineers i have in this committee on the business advisory group said you need a one-page graphic describe that i'm going to tell the whole story it's like that's how engineers think right so it's just like non-social studies way different for me you know so everything is so we have that so as we do this we're looking for one of the best practices out there and we looked at uh lcsa look at that so i'm not gonna go into all the rational research behind the csa pathways but i do want to point out this third bull here trade developed different schools to meet each student's needs that was the origin of multiple pathways that's where it started and so i wanted to take this one religious look real quick at this one because i think dr shedd i think the second bullet point was part of your moon shot last week so again this all and i think a lot of when you look at a lot of these components that are made in research recommendations national recommendations you'll see a lot of things we talked about last week in strategic planning so 2008 csa started we had some great leadership at csa lincoln we had mr phillips at csa at central we have randy grass and we have mike reed of csa new tech we have all transitional leaders who can make this vision happen along the same time the district was immersed in looking at universal design for learning and adopting that as the overall instructional strategy for the framework for the district not only for instruction but for curriculum and for assessment also at the very same time you're looking at innovative destruction so we had jack has come in to work with the business advisory group and secondary principals talked about what is taking that concept from the business world of disruptive innovation and looking at it in the educational world again ms wilden you would be surprised how many disruption charts we looked at as examples of what that what that would be and this is the first time we really got into understanding and seeing where christensen was talking about online learning and virtual learning would be disruptive to the educational world and we looked at that so the business advisory group say okay what's our next what's our next pathway and we look to talk about global studies again becomes kind of leading that we're an international international company called company so let's look at global studies so the original vision was to be ecliptic creek north side and columbus north clifton creek would house a program much like what we saw in forest land and towards township half the school would be immersive for language the other half would be thematically based on global studies same time though we're just kind of getting into the whole capacity piece of busy for magnet schools we did not have the capacity at that time to start that elementary piece so it had to wait so we start holding hands start having these pathways but the next question being how do we let parents know about these pathways and so somebody said you need a one-page graphic so this is what we developed so don't get too concerned like looking at this column right here that's going to be over 100 because students earn multiple patterns so so many math people look at that saying oh my gosh that's what how could that be against sutured multiple pathways so that was 2009.
we ran into 2015. this was also being published in our back-to-school issue so every year this is being published in our back-to-school issue along with descriptions of all these pathways now in 2015 you see we've already switched to deeper learning works that's our new tagline and this is the first time where you'll see online education at that time online education was just for credit recovery and credit accrual that's what it was being used for that was morphing into using that for summer school so then 2018 implementation of going back to global pathways and we finally got legato going so we have that language first and peace and in 2018 we also started our virtual pathway and you can kind of see the growth where he started just kind of phasing it in but all of a sudden with a pandemic here something about a huge enrollment which leads us to where we are now so turn over to mr i was just so excited to get started so thank you mr jensen dr roberts dr shetty members of the board uh i'm excited to share this part of my presentation it might be a little bit of an abbreviated version of what dr shedd saw on friday but i think i want to give you an update on where we're at and i think where we're we're headed so uh as as mr jensen said you know we are we saw this year that the um pathway grew from something that was just you know 30 40 people uh and then well over 400 and so as we look at kind of where we are currently um as of april 12th we're at 167 actually as of today we're just under 200 students who've committed for the virtual pathway going into next year and i anticipate that number probably growing a little bit as we add things like our credit recovery again as as well as families who make the decision going into fall that they're they're wanting to remain in the virtual pathway as you can see the breakdown right now um is probably about 70 secondary students so grades 6 through 12 and then 30 elementary which i think makes a lot of sense when you think about what a virtual student would have to do having a parent at home versus not having a parent at home just a little bit more information for you just so you can see it uh demographics uh match our district pretty close so we're not seeing an overwhelming difference in what um students sign up for the pathway at this time certainly something that we'll continue to dig in and make sure that we're getting a representation that matches our demographics in the in the corporation so when we think about the vision and the work that we're doing bcsc for for a really long time is providing options for students and really excited that we get to continue that pathway and that option for our students i mean at the heart of all of our work as we look for this there are kind of three foundational elements that are going to guide the work that my team and i do in the coming years as we build this pathway the first of those is that students should feel valued safe and successful certainly i think at the core of that is that they feel valued and feel a part of this corporation the second is that learning should be personalized flexible and meaningful and then finally i want stakeholders to be proud of our public schools you heard a little bit about that a few meetings ago when i introduced myself but my goal is to make this a program that is something that other corporations in this state kind of look at and say how did you make that so successful we need to do something like that um and that's my my work so as you can see kind of some of the work that we'll be looking at certainly making sure that we establish a strong school culture that's based on our diversity we have a shared vision that we'll talk a little bit about as mr jensen said i hope that i you know i think i've learned from mr reed from csa but i really hope that we can be a transformational team that looks at what's out there um reacts to it but then innovates and pushes forward as we look at what this solution looks like moving into our next set of educational changes that will certainly come as a result of our pandemic i want to talk a little bit about that personalized learning piece because i think that is the peak of what we're offering in that virtual pathway we have a chance to really cater our program to the needs of the students that are choosing that pathway in a virtual pathway we may have students who are choosing this because their anxiety is so high that they can't come into a school building um and so that's one type of student we also have students who are really excited and eager to move their pathway and move and accelerate their learning at a pace that might be faster than what a traditional setting could offer so when we talk about looking for programs that allow us to have that personalized touch edge annuity is is at the forefront and that's what we've been using the past couple of years so edgenuity that platform really allows our students to essentially continue the work that we've been doing with universal design for learning it is completely customizable by teachers so a big part of what we'll be doing is looking at what works in that curriculum customizing it making sure that the pieces that are in there fit the needs of our students and are relatable to our students just like we did at columbus signature academy all of those courses are grounded in research and they're aligned to state standards so it combines direct instruction videos with assessments performance tasks and rigorous assignments that you might see in a classroom like i said our teachers have the ability to customize the customizable pieces so when we talk about english 12 and our senior english class being able to add an element of our senior project piece where our teachers can take that senior project piece that we've worked really hard at bcsc and embed that into that platform in addition edgenuity provides opportunities for support tools such as types of speech dictation translation and a bunch of other tools that will be very vital for our students who might have special services and special needs in that platform so some some things that i'm working on right now and kind of working through one of the things that i think is going to be really critical is we went from you know 30 to 50 students to 400 and so that means we have a lot of data out there in the community that we can gather and make sure that we're we're hearing so that we make the right moves moving forward so a big part of our work this spring we'll be collecting feedback from those current stakeholders of people who are participating or who did participate in the virtual pathway this year so that when we make decisions moving forward we've taken into consideration what has happened this year certainly knowing that the pandemic makes for a different case the next thing that i really want to focus on is strong staff culture i think that one of the things that drew me to csa when i first came here 11 years ago and kept me at that position was that that strong staff culture i want to build leadership capacity and i want to solve these problems as a team we'll be working as a small team i'm excited to report that i've begun to form that team i've got three higher secondary teachers and we're still looking for social studies so we're working on those interviews as well as two elementary teachers who are on board already and have already started to have those conversations i'm really eager to continue to work on that and build that strong staff culture that then translates to student culture we know that the student culture in a building is a reflection of the staff culture and so i want to make sure that that still happens knowing full well that as we look at our work those students might not be coming into our building every day but they still need to see us collaborating so that work will include establishing norms and planning a school launch i think as we go into that new school year looking at how we start that school year and establish expectations from the beginning it's going to be really important work and work that we're excited to do we've already got ideas for how we can get those kids connected to our school and then ultimately taking the feedback that we've gotten from those stakeholders and ensuring that we put the scaffolding in place to make this a really effective and efficient program as we think about what's going to draw people to come back it's a high quality product and if we're going to put that out there we need to make sure that everything is running smoothly and that we're offering the best possible product that we can so that those people continue to come back and we in fact probably recruit some more of those students and surrounding areas maybe from home school network saying we want the columbus virtual pathway so just to kind of i guess summarize what we're looking at i want to create a viable option for students wishing to attend and graduate from a virtual school i want to establish a sense of belonging between staff and students in that pathway i don't want them to feel isolated i want it to be a true school feeling that they are connected to us and then ultimately develop that program into an exemplar for the state that we can be proud of so columbus virtual pathway is a pathway for you uh a pathway for us and a pathway forward thank you very much uh do you have any questions yeah i've got one yeah so with the bulk of your kids uh being secondary what kind of daily structure would you envision for the secondary students throughout their you know different subject areas and so forth yeah i'm glad you asked that and i think that's something that is part of the work that we'll do in establishing those expectations because what we learned so far this year is especially at the secondary level high school students don't really like to wake up early and so if they're not working until you know noon or one but our teachers are preparing stuff early we need to make sure that we're we're either establishing the routine that students are getting up early enough to begin network where the teachers are being available at a different time so i think part of that expectations in the open house that we start early will be what should a normal day look like still allowing that flexibility for students to work at their pace but also providing them the support that they need we know that if we left freshmen up to make all of their decisions they would make some wrong decisions and that's okay but we also want to make sure we're pointing them in the right direction so that they're saying okay this is what's best for me i can adapt and adjust from there yeah i think having some sort of schedule or recommended schedule will be very much part of that work yeah i guess you know i ask because i guess my fear might be you know for the secondary level to lean too much on ingenuity and then the personal you know individualized contact gets lost in the shuffle so would you so another question i guess would you envision each secondary kid having contact with at least a teacher each day yeah absolutely one of the things that that i was part of at csa that then got translated you know brought to east and north and mcdowell was the advisory program um and i have no reason to doubt that we'll not have an advisory in columbus virtual pathways so that would be at least three times a week probably um a collection of students at that secondary level meeting with a teacher sometimes you know just for a check-in other times kind of doing some social emotional learning work to help support them as they move forward so advisory will be a minimal contact point but i also will be working with our teachers to make sure we have that regular communication all of the ones who who are on the team now have stressed how important it is to build those relationships and so that will be part of the work that we do absolutely it's not really a question it's just maybe a sharing exercise i have a family member in a different school district um high school was not doing well um is now a teen father we were not sure the outcome for the same man but there was a virtual pathway in that district and he is back on track i mean a totally different kid a totally different kid has has kind of a purpose has gotten his degree actually graduated early so i mean i know you look at that sheet and you see all these different things that the school district does and it's to catch those kids so it's really important absolutely i guess i had a couple questions about geography i think one of the slides a couple slides back there was a reference to about call it now migration of about 140 students who live somewhere in our district that are choosing a virtual pathway that's not the one that we offer has that been relatively consistent do we intend do we hope that that will drop yes we hope that will drop we hope we'll be able to attract those students back to us uh so yeah that's it's absolutely one of the reasons why we knew we'd have to we've been talking about we that we'd have to go through a virtual pathway at some point and again as the competition grew i mean we saw that happen post-secondary right i mean post-secondary i mean how many of our teachers now go to grad school in person that's been going on for years so again that disruption that innovative destruction piece has kind of come down into into the uh to k12 as well do we have today do we have any students who are part of our virtual pathway that don't reside in one of the townships that make up the we do we got a few from outside surrounding counties not just a handful but we have some so as we again hope as we grow our reputation especially you know with josh's leadership we will even get more and there are um i mean there's a precedent for like our group line i don't remember the name of it but our group buying opportunity where we combined with other corporations what's the multi-county organization thank you the the purchasing co-op or the multi-county organization that participates in our c4 programs could this be something similar someday or other corporations would want to work with us as a part of our virtual platform it's possible again it's going to be it's going to be competitive because you're still working for those students trying to get the students on so um who else is are there for-profit organizations in this space now not that many there's some for-profit but most of them said right now kind of kind of the biggest competitor right now is indiana uh connections academy which again we actually how we started this whole thing we used their their curriculum which was pearson and so pearson's behind that company behind that school and so you have that you have achieved at wayne township so you have a lot of especially the bigger bigger districts have some form of that indian creek is probably our closest competitor right now at this point there are a number of options around the state of indiana online from online standpoint and has indicated the presentation and conversation we've had students from our district choose those options and so we we believe that we can compete well provide a better option for them and they might as well might as well if that's what the family is choosing to do choose the online option that's that's right here and to mr prime's point get that personal touch and if you even have a location you can be able to meet face to face with your teacher and see people who are going to help you out where that's not necessarily the case probably rare to be the case in the other online yeah options probably the biggest difference we've had so far as part of our comments from from students or parents who are in the program right now is the fact that we have been you know we respond to phone calls we call them back we have that personal touch and again with a lot of the larger virtual programs are out there that hasn't happened so they've been pretty pleased with with us so far and under just leadership which are really even better and then on the funding side do we receive from the state the same kind of funding for a student in our virtual pathway as we do for student csa or nowhere for these i see mr phillips grabbing his microphone right there mr center uh it appears as the legislature well we are thankful they funded all virtual students at 100 for this entire school year just recently in this session they did so for the second semester current legislation looks like it's going to continue so that in the fall we'll get 85 of the state funding for any student who receives 50 or more of their instruction uh another interesting tidbit tied to legislation would be that we will have to based on the enrollment we have designate this as a school and then some school number some processes will have to go through that with the department of education based on what i wrote i'm sorry would that be the school number would it be a secondary school what a great question it's just gonna be a k through 12.
i hate it yeah i i i i wish one number jade is that with the foreign that'll that'll be welcome to think about that because again as you know with the count the state accountability system k-8 stage council system is basically based on standardized tests whereas the high school accountability member has multiple things graduation rates um college college and career preparation so so it has more more variables in its accountability system than those ka so we might look at 912 k school for those reasons and i know we don't judge schools by how much funding goes into the school based on the number of students and how much it costs to operate in school but i assume there's a level of reasonableness that we can deliver a good product based on the funding that we'll be receiving from the state absolutely thank you there are other questions all this comment i appreciate learning this touring the facility about just reminding myself the candidate i'm sorry that's that's my will students students would have the opportunity to be in the virtual pathway but then also take c4 classes and so all the options that we already offer our learners will still be available for these students as well right yeah that is correct as well as participating extracurricular activities for those type of things as well so yeah so how does that play they just gonna have to claim east north pretend to have to get your yep school number it'll be a little more complicated if you have to get our own stream right we'll do that all right we won't go down that job tonight somebody should jump through there yes yeah okay yeah but in short these students are bcsc students opportunities participate in our bcsc activity awesome it's very exciting thank you all right oh mr phillips you can't wait so for our first quarter financial report is it halftime yet [Music] i certainly hope so so the uh like you said this is the first quarter financial report you'll see and you may have seen in the packet that this is looks a little different than that the whole screen full of numbers that i used to show you trying to make it a little bit more visual for you and so this is just a simple comparison of revenues the gray bar and the centers of the first at the top is the education fund gray bar in the center is this quarter first quarter this year the one at the bottom is last year the same quarter and then the budget at the top so the education fund operations fund in the new operating referendum fund they're about where you would expect them to be so everything is on track you'll notice the education fund this year a little less than last year that's just because number one interest income just is next to nothing at this point and last year we had impact aid payments we had a double impact aid payment from the federal government that came actually twice this year those have not occurred so it's a cash flow issue there um on the operations side you see that we're well ahead of where we were last year at the end of the first quarter and again the bar is so small in the operations fund compared to the budget because we get mid-year tax draw the property taxes will be the big chunk of the second quarter that we'll see but two things that occurred this year that didn't occur last year by this long time school safety grant a hundred thousand dollars from the state of indiana arrived during the first quarter this year thank you to janae norman and then also um we were reimbursed for a large portion of the electric bus that we purchased last year so the expenditure hit in 2020 and the reimbursement came from that vw settlement from the state level came in the first quarter of this year and then there's no no revenues for the operating referendum fund at this point so the next slide shows the same thing but with our tax anticipation warrants and transfers so religious tax anticipation awards at this point in time and you can see that we're well behind the prior year in both the education fund and operation fund and that is obviously the differences in the tax anticipation warranty round we didn't borrow as much this year we borrowed this as new on the operating referendum plan since that was new this year so reduced our borrowing for these two funds and increased it here on the expenditure side this is the education fund we are exactly where you would expect us to be at the end of the first quarter salaries are up about 1.3 percent um would be more if we could hire for all our positions frankly we still filled a lot of positions with temporary teachers and subs to get us through this year but all other education fund expenses are exactly where you would expect them to be in the first quarter on the operation side salaries are up where we would want them to be about 2.2 percent considering our raises and then the only the only uh place where um there's a variance between this year and last year is on the uh the other side and that's because last year we purchased our buses in the first quarter issued the po for the bus replacement reverse score this year that won't happen until the second quarter so everything else is exactly as you would expect it to be at this time of the year and here's our new fund the operating referendum fund these are the four categories that we advertised during the campaign for the referendum and they match the budgets to it to the penny that you approved in october spend these dollars in exactly these ways and again in all areas this is where we would expect to be at the end of the first quarter and actually same thing down here in the school safety and security item once we purchase issued po for the buses remember we're buying additional buses out of the operating referendum side on the school i'm sorry safety and security part of the operating referendum budget that will jump significantly and then here um just a summary kind of this you know we won't do this every time but since this is the first time we're reporting on the operating referendum and we promised and we'll follow through on the the commitment to be transparent about how we're spending these dollars that we asked our taxpayers to pay particularly since they all just received their property tax bills in the uh in the mail list this weekend i believe so on teacher salary increases between january 1 and march 31st an average of 1924 in experience increases for the 487 teachers of qualifying in addition the 221 teachers that didn't qualify for the uh experience based increases received a one-time stipend of 556 dollars and that was all captured in that bar the previous bar craft there support staff average have averaged nearly over 900 approximately 900 support staff have gotten about 400 in additional pay during that three months the first quarter of this year and then on the safety and security side um once we get some invoices from the city and the county for sros and we pay our pay for our buses we will basically spend that entire that entire allocation in the second quarter this year and then finished that one out and then this one it was really interesting mr grimes and and hearing all those students today um talk about their teacher this you know the previous slide about the operating referendum and this slide right here just i i think about the things that those kids said about their teachers and what mr grimes shared about his experience with their teacher and they didn't talk about you know just really made me love calculus i think there was one student said actually but the rest of them talked about things like relationships and coached me and um you know supported me and created passion in me for this subject and led me to what i want to do for a career so this is why we went after the referendum this is why we spend such a large proportion on on getting the best teachers we can but you know this is uh something that you it's not hard to remember 8.8 more money on people in the first quarter of this year that we would not have been able to spend on and this is on you know salary increases because we didn't add a whole bunch of people so 8.8 more percent that we all spent on our people in the first quarter thanks to the record so these are cash a month in and it should be quarter and i guess it's the march month in cash balance report the the this one looks a little bit differently uh the white line is the tax anticipation warrant line and so you know you can see that in the operations fund um for the prior year we were close down to the white line at this point this year we're you know we're up a little higher than that so that's just to show that part of our a large portion of our couch balance is made up of new money that we borrow at the beginning of each year just to make sure we can pay our bills while we're waiting for the for the property tax draws so the operating referendum fund you can see that you know we're we're using that very quickly as we wait for our property tax drawn there and then the really good news and the strong news is that our health trust continues to um continues to grow at a pretty a pretty quick rate as proving continues to to reduce the amount of procedures that people are getting but also because of the plan changes that we put into place last year this is kind of evidence now that maybe more of our savings last year was due to the plan changes we made in covin but we will never know that for sure but we're approaching the four million dollar mark in our in our reserves in the in the health trust fund so that's certainly and then the last thing again this is timely and this is probably the only time that i'll do this unless there's a need to do so um we're i've gotten calls from several people in the county asking who do you want us to call send people to when they have questions about their tax bill because we don't know how to answer them about the school referendum portion and i said call doctor so what i wanted to do is just point at a couple of examples for you in case you get questions so the actual impact of the referendum that the 0.156 on the tax rate is less than what we advertise for every taxpayer across the across the uh the county if you can see that when you if you were to pull up your tax bill you look at table two the property tax cap information and the middle line there is the referendum impact now in in the 2020 tax year the bill here was 149.47 that's because we already had a referendum in place the high school renovation project from 2010.
so that was the portion of their bill paying that this year's referendum impact is right here so the actual impact is simply the difference between the two so if anyone wants to say what's the exact impact because looking at all this you can't tell for sure but right there is the the impact to the penny of the referendum so you just do the the difference this is an actual tax bill i just clicked on a house on the gis system pulled up tax bill here it is now um what's important to note is that if if you were to have looked at this in the fall or i'm sorry this would be back in the spring what was the election yes when we were running when we were running to pass this referendum whatever that was um this would have been the net assessed value after all the deductions and exemptions i should say and so if you were to put that into our tax calculator which is still on the website anyone wants to go there and plug in their information this is what the impact would have been if you plugged that in now their assessed value went up a little bit this year so if you apply the assessed value amount to that the tax rate the 0.1560 for the referendum this would have been if we would have known that your assessed value was going to go up to here this would have been the impact of the referendum this number is below both of those the reason is this portion of the of the referendum tax rate on the high school renovation project went down by about a quarter of a 10 so it reduced just a little bit so that's why the the net difference between those is uh a little less than it would have been otherwise that clear as much for everybody mr stones what's the life span of the 149.47 um it will continue to decline just a little bit again it depends on what happens with the set value but um i believe it's 20 30 i just can't i don't remember off the top of my head 20 30 20 31 somewhere in that time so this is an example on a home an actual home in clifty township these same two examples i won't go into as much detail but this is simply farmland there are no deductions on it so their net net assessed value is the same as the gross assessed value so anyway same same impact there now this is interesting assessed value and i told you this during the campaign it's been a really long time um assessed value for farmland is on about a five-year drastic decline so they changed the formula it's not because they're actually losing value and they're in the property itself the property is actually the values are going up but they just changed the calculation the way that the state assigns assessed value to farmland so their impact is obviously about half of what we would have plugged in last year to uh to see what the impact would have been for a farmer in this county and then last this is a business a large business obviously but the impact is a little bit more than what we would have had normally because their assessed value quite a bit so these are just i just wanted to show you a few examples in case you get questions about the actual impact of the referendum on the tax rate yeah their excellent foreign credit 600.
uh the actual tax bill went down yes about 600. even with the referendum being obviously an impact because of that such value continuing to go down the overall tax liabilities has continued yes and but i think this is the the bottom i think it's supposed to level off the declines in the farm assessed value but uh what what happens there anytime anything happens where one type of taxpayer pays less guess what happens everybody else gets more and so that that burden does get shifted any other questions you very much for the graphic presentation that was personally for me much easier to understand and appreciate so thank you for that work turn to you dr rogers all right yes so thank you for adding that m that him would be then the adjustment of six feet down to three feet and the identification of close contacts in specific classroom settings uh so getting into the rest of the request for approval then we have the minutes of the regular school meeting from april 5th two weeks ago and for the strategic planning session thank you for uh all being there on thursday and participating in that uh we gained a lot of information that we'll be sharing back out with you uh as a start of our strategic planning time uh something milk and by the way that sheet isn't funny so since that was just thursday packers worry out there is a sheet of the memphis precise um the agenda for that night supplemental contracts as a letter b field trips professional leaves letter c and then school fundraisers letter d we also have claims in payroll not as much as typical uh just one set of claims dated today april 19th that's about one point rounds up to 1.2 million dollars payroll uh just one set uh covers the work days of march 15th to march 2016 on april 9th a normal payroll but just a reminder that there was only one week pay for our staff members who are nine month staff members because of spring break falling within that window of time so our payroll is about 2.6 million dollars additionally we have an sr2 grant application in there we've talked about uh how we're going to use that money and you have that information in your package secondary world language resource adoption that presentation was given to you two weeks ago we're also asking that you award the fruit service bibs for milk dairy dry goods frozen products and bread products thank you ms bill's fault for that lengthy spreadsheet of all that information the items that we have to purchase that was probably enlightening for you mr perhaps as well in terms of seeing all that information 2021 revised capital projects resolution that's letter j letter k is the 2021 additional appropriation resolution those come from the public hearing that we had as well as the information that was provided to you two weeks ago also in the public school meeting as i was signing those i didn't jump over another eye of the school meal prices so a reminder we looked at that during this mill presentation also this evening flight increases with school meal prices and then the the last one besides the letter m that we mentioned earlier is the lease of the clover center property over at 2401 beam road and the use of that space would be for the virtual pathway and we talked about the uses of that property so those are the items that i have for you soon all right thank you do i have a motion for approval of items for a through m as has been presented this evening thank you mr grimes do individuals have any questions about some of these items would like further clarification so with that um all of those in favor of items for a through m as has been presented to us if you'd signify by saying i i those opposed there you go dr roberts thank you miss yes thank you dr shed there's an additional addendum at your places this evening so i'm requesting approval of the human resource recommendations including the addendum this evening i would add to miss heidi's resource resources recommendation human resources recommendation that is on that list she has submitted her retirement notice and uh we certainly appreciate everything that teresa has done referral corporation we will find a time to appropriately recognize her um thank you for that time with that retirement we we are looking to uh add uh or recommend to you it is part of the event that you have uh dr gina pleak to fill that position as we go into the next school year uh so doctor please put in here that role if you approve these recommendations this evening and then that would leave the seat of director of title services open and that will be the posting that we have we do have a draft job description that we're working on it has evolved a little bit over the last few years and we'll get that out here very shortly so we can begin recruiting applications for that that open position so that is our recommendation thank you so is there a motion for um to approve those human resource recommendations as we saw in our packet and on our desks this can see that that's right now yes is there a second thank you dr bills um are there any questions comments it's heine you have to know that none of us are doing this with great enthusiasm but we're very excited for you and the next next adventure is as you mentioned in alert all right so all of those in favor of the human resources recommendations as presented to us in our packet in this evening if you signify by saying hi thank you um and those opposed all right we have passed those unanimously with great love for you miss heidi thank you so much and we're very excited oh man our input okay are there comments other comments individuals would like to offer here this evening congratulations again to the top 11 at east and top canada north for all their hard work and accomplishments and thank you again to all the many presenters this evening for your very thoughtful and thorough presentations absolutely thank you the only thing i would just say is in light of recent events in indianapolis yes thank you favorite teacher was shocking say again favorite teacher was mrs in second grade uh thanks to josh for the tour today it is so impressive everything and all the myriad kinds of work going on for if people could see the detail that we get in a through m it's a massive amount of work and we deeply appreciate that what our candidates uh learners do is very impressive so i can't thank everyone enough for all that we do here for our school corporation which is the best dr roberts i have nothing to add um i appreciate the great work from so many with the presentations i mean to see that maybe the most presentations we've had in one school we're meeting them here we appreciate that so we will have our next one and only school board meeting in the month of may will be monday may 10th 6 30 at this gracious facility thank you to mr williams mr burnett for sharing this with those who don't choose to sit with us in the terrace room so with that i will call this meeting adjourned
um us as adults so uh we've never been asked to come back to school right all right perfect thank you and good morning fisher saints happy friday happy fourth quarter and we are pretty much almost done so with the school year and i can't i don't even know what else to say other than i can't believe that the year flew by that quickly i mean in my opinion i thought it went by pretty quick so i'm excited to go ahead and start off with our final student awards um assembly and i also hope that you all had a wonderful spring break because this is the first time that we're together for quite some time um so with that being said thank you so much for being here y'all happy friday and i can't wait um for all of you to go ahead and celebrate each other and each other's accomplishments um so with that being said i will go ahead and pass the mic on to our principal dr clyden all right thank you miss abbad uh i echo everything that miss abad said uh it is a happy friday right it's been a long time since the last quarter assembly so welcome and thank you for being here so here's our quote just like quarter one and quarter two right we we come up with these quotes to keep us moving and so the quote today is from walt disney all right keep moving forward now uh you know we miss about and i we actually really find this quote to be uh inspirational for us as we're moving throughout the school year right and we as of monday we're coming towards the last 30-something days of this school year and you guys have all worked so hard um and we'll continue to work hard right for the last 30 plus days as we uh finish up this school year so remember continue to move forward not just in school though but in life right when uh something knocks you down get back up keep moving forward okay decision you don't like or uh you don't win a game or something like that you dust yourself off you get back up keep moving forward so we want you to keep moving forward now thank you mr bob so here's what's happening not just at fisher but in alam rock school district all right this is a historic time for our uh district and let's talk about fisher though this is a historic time for fisher we we've never been in a pandemic in our lifetime right definitely not you guys i know we haven't um us as adults so uh we've never been asked to come back to school right uh during a you know pandemic so this is all new and this is the history this is historic time so this schedule here is going to start on monday your teachers should have been already prepping you uh yesterday regarding this new schedule so i'm gonna really walk through the new schedule with you so uh period seven aka zero period stays the same okay no changes there morning meeting stays the same so your start time which is nine o'clock in the morning and your end time of school which is two o'clock stays the same that does not change all right so 9 a.m 2 p.m and the school does not change now what does change is uh the current schedule that we're on right now it has a period right after lunch correct so it either has third period or sixth period right after lunch starting monday that period for those two periods have been moved before lunch as you see here okay in order to do that we had to shorten some of the class time so for example period one is 44 minutes long which i think now it's like 74 minutes long right period two 44 minutes period three 44 minutes then you'll have a 60 minute lunch like like we currently do but instead of the lunch being at 11 46 we move that up 16 minutes right so it's a slight change in the schedule it's actually not too much of a change so uh 11 46 is our current lunch it is now 11 30 and it ends at 12 30.
under god indivisible with liberty and justice this wording very slightly from the original which yields compassion compulsion magazine in boston columbus day almost fifty years later the plebis received official recognition in congress on june 22 1932 and they were added the phrase under god on june 14 1954 president eisenhower said we are affirming the enchanted trending of religious faith in america's heritage and future this way we shall continuously strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be in our country's most powerful thank you so much cynthia segura for leading us in the flashlight and and uh sharing that with us tonight um the history of the flag salute we'll go ahead and move on to our agenda item 4.2 roll call we have board member uh cruz gonzalez board member uh rodriguez pena president we have board member bo here you have a board member greer here and board member arianis i am here and thank you guys all for for being here now we move on to 4.3 approval of the agenda one of the things i would like to go ahead and mention um i'm so sorry let me start over uh approval that can i get please get a first eyemotion second we have a first by uh miss by board member rodriguez pena we have a second by board member one thing that i would like to go ahead and discuss actually just share is we're gonna go ahead and table 10.2 to meeting on may 4th that is the only thing on the agenda that we will go ahead and table any discussion comments that we can go ahead and vote and it passes 5-0 and let's move to 5.0 report action of closed session matters at this point there are no report action items of closed session to report at this time we'll move on to 6.1 this is public comment on agenda for non-agenda items from our public miss lika do we have yes we do have uh five hands raised first is nancy sharma nancy you may mute your mic uh uh are we supposed to um is uh is the board closure school closure part of the agenda because um i think i accidentally clicked back you can start your comments now nancy okay i i wrote a writer about the school closure requesting you to please not close my school would it be okay if i read that out yes you may the moment i heard my principal announced the school closure i felt terrible i can say this a confidence that dalton is my second home and it'll always remain my in my heart even after 20 or 30 years honestly i've been enrolled in this school ever since i was in kindergarten i can still remember my shy voice greeting the strangers i now can call my friends my older sister have been enrolled in dalton ever since i'd watched her i knew where i would want to start my education dalton had been part of my life ever since i could learn how to walk the school has been with me through those happy fun-filled days and those sorrowful rainy days i'm willing to attend the school until my graduation but it isn't all about me this is about the other students who have been attending this exact school and making friends and memories ever since they came i can say that everyone i can't say that everyone feels strongly about school closure that i can say that dalton hasn't given neither the students nor the parents any trouble instead the school has helped whether it was to arrange money or have a celebration the school is more of a family than just a bunch of classrooms my memories are filled with very deep emotions and if we think about just how one person's memories can mean so much of them then dalton is home to hundreds of students each with thousands of families so it is my humble request to reconsider your decision for closing my second home doctor thank you for letting me read this thank you miss nancy sharma for for your comments next we have is diane reese hello are you able to hear me yes ma'am oh okay thank you good evening school board members superintendent ortega district officials and viewers my name is diane reese and i'm a 32-year veteran teacher from dalton elementary in our district i recall speaking at a previous school board meeting on february 16th a few months ago offering insights toward the potential to reopen schools this year although many groups were formed to discuss how to approach the final steps my suggestion for our district to offer a parent survey was heard and implemented within a week it is a testimony to witness that our voices are being heard in these meetings such as my own and will be considered for future decisions the lens of how we see our professional worlds intertwined throughout a school year whereas they are stretched only as far as our own involvement in the decision-making process a reorganization committee was formed with a diverse group of 30 members addressing the foreseeable need to restructure our school-wide plan based on declining enrollment the discussion to repopulate at key school sites in maximizing capacity is serious a very serious challenge for the committee and the school board as well models three or four will lead the decision to how many schools or whom to close the school board will determine how soon to implement the selection of the school closure tiered process for the upcoming school year whether it is 2021 22 or if it is uh the following year every school in this district is invaluable let's go deeper every employee at a school site administrator and district personnel is invaluable but the key to every school is the children who walk onto the campus with a desire to learn and see their own school in their own neighborhood the school provides the catapult for the children families and communities to see their vital role in their home away from home feel so children can learn and make lifetime friendships i can describe the same quality for all of our schools but dalton is small but mighty sometimes the strength of the school isn't in the size but the quality of its programs dedication and the extent to which you become family within the families whether dalton's capacity number fits the model for the committee's proposal or the school board sometimes a quaint hometown feel is what is needed for our students if i could leave a message for any of the reorganization committee and the school board members who vote in the near future please consider consider the dynamics of how quality impacts our capacity for lifetime success thank you for this opportunity to speak my views this evening and have a good evening thank you miss diane reese for your comments next we have jennifer yes um good evening can you hear me yes ma'am yes good evening uh president arianes board members superintendent ortega and district officers my name is jennifer varone and i've been a teacher for azusa unified for over 31 years many of those were at slauson and when i was told that i would need to choose an elementary i did my research i asked many community members staff teachers parents and even students which school they thought i should move to they all pointed in one direction towards dalton now having been a part of dalton's staff for this coming year this year i have known why they all were pointing that way what laura clark greg cahill and the entire staff has built is extremely unique as uh diane ruiz mentioned all of the schools are valuable no one wants to see their school close however i would ask of the committee and the board members to take a look at dalton there's a small community feel a tight-knit feel where kids are thriving as nancy sharma beautifully spoke about they're happy they're laughing and it is such a unique community parents come on campus with a huge smile to meet laura clark and i always believe that environment is shaped from principle on down everyone feels like family at dalton perhaps instead of looking at capacity and numbers we should be looking at the type of school that we offer and perhaps instead of having all large campuses we do offer some variety there are some children that will thrive in a smaller tight-knit community we'd like to keep families in azusa that is our main goal not to lose our families we all want azusa to thrive in numbers but perhaps we should offer diversity please i consider you to take a look at dalton and keeping dalton open because of its small tight-knit family community thank you very much for letting me speak tonight thank you miss jennifer brown for your comments next we have miss kathleen strahanian good evening can you hear me yes ma'am i don't know why my picture's there but okay i recently watched the school reorganizing team meeting last week which is why i am speaking with you tonight as a 33-year educator in the azusa unified school district i have the benefit of institutional memory and i want to share it with you tonight when i first began my career at ellington we were a k-6 school then the district decided to move to sixth grade move the sixth grade to the junior high we then became a k-5 school as time went by our sixth graders were leaving the azusa unified school district and going to the neighbors neighboring district which is covina as you know ellington school is located in covina we didn't want our students to leave our district so a plan was created to help our students stay in azusa unified much research parent input and extensive meetings were held a decision was made and ellington became a k-8 school then the district decided to put transitional kindergarten students at all sites ellington became a tk8 school during the meeting last week ellington school was mentioned many times however ellington school's location was hardly mentioned i am speaking tonight because i know that if ellington schools elementary students are asked to move to other locations our students will go to covina our parents will not want to drive to another school in azusa when covina is a city in which they live here are some possible solutions to keep ellington students who reside in covina to stay in azusa unified ellington school could become a tk5 school tk6 school or tk8 school i hope it remains a tk8 school it is modernized and already a tk8 school why would the district spend money to make another school a tk8 when ellington is ready to go lastly this pandemic has taught us that social emotional well-being is extremely important all azusa unified school district students are anxious to get back to school making a dramatic change in student locations would be traumatic to students now more than ever stability routine and continuity are extremely important i am sure you would agree that students should always come first i will send each of you a copy of this and hope you will be able to take my recommendations into consideration feel free to reach out to me if i can be of help thank you for this opportunity to speak tonight thank you so much for your comments tonight ms kathleen shaheen next we have miss vicki davis good evening dear board members i am grateful for the opportunity to speak to you today my name is vicky davis and i'm an english teacher at asusa high school today i would like to talk to you about two things the first is a heartfelt thank you for adding agenda item 9.1 the naming of the asusa high school theater the dave h lewis theatre of the performing arts your vote to make the name change will be appreciated by the entire associate community as i mentioned at the last board meeting we have over a thousand people who would like to see the name change thus your support is important to us mr dave lewis's legacy will live on with every scholar who participates in the theater program at asusa high school regardless of whether that individual is an actor performing on his or her first production a stagehand or an attendant the lessons that mr lewis taught our scholars continue to live in those he touched with his kindness joy and enthusiasm his presence is missed by those who knew him the second item i would like to address is my appreciation for denouncing and combating racism xenophobia and intolerance against asian americans and pacific islanders i was moved by the opening words of the approved resolution 20-21-27 denouncing xenophobia due to covet 19.
now 12 30 to two this is the bulk of the change here okay for let's talk about those of you that are remaining in distance learning there was a survey that was sent out to your families in march asking if you were if you and your families were interested in having you come back to in-person learning for a 90-minute block in the afternoon okay those students were where them and their families filled out the survey you should have been already notified by me or someone in the office so we already have those students coming so this is the historic part we have students coming back to school on monday so yeah on monday we have students that chose to come back coming back to school on monday uh for from 12 30 to 2 o'clock a 90-minute block for instruction and this instruction is going to be targeted around sel right social emotional learning uh skills gonna be targeted around some fun activities uh some class assignments so we wanna make it a really fun time for those students that are coming back so this is why we had to shift the schedule right because we have students coming back to in-person learning which is awesome now those of you that are not coming back to in-person learning and you know who you are you're going to stay in distance learning okay so you'll keep doing school as usual from your house right you'll follow this new schedule everyone's following this new schedule but when you hit 12 30 rather than reporting to a class like you're doing now right you're going to be doing asynchronous work so let's let's take up monday and wednesdays okay uh you're going to do async work for first period second period and third period on monday and wednesdays you will also your teachers should be able to connect with you right through office hours you can message your teachers call your teachers in that time for assistance to get some some extra support or tutoring regarding your assignments so that's what we want you to do tuesday and thursday it's the same schedule right but you'll be doing async work for fourth period fifth period and sixth period but i really want you between 12 30 and two besides doing your work reach out to your teachers if you don't understand something or if you have a question and your teachers can and probably will call you for small groups right virtually so be ready for that as well now fridays fridays stay the same okay there's no in-person learning on fridays so in-person learning is only monday through thursday those students are coming to the campus fridays schedules stays the same uh except that we we our lunch time is 11 30 to 12 30 okay but other than that it stays the same uh no no major changes with friday schedule morning meeting you still have to report uh checking with your teachers attendance is taken and morning meaning okay but then the rest of friday is either assemblies like this teachers calling you back for small group instruction or maybe some class presentations on friday and then you're doing async work for all your classes on friday so fridays remain the same you don't need to worry about it the only changes are on the monday through thursday schedule but you see it right here and this was sent out yesterday to your parents in parent square and also it's going to be posted in echo and your teachers are are going to be posting on their specific uh classrooms in echo so you should be fine all right there's really no need for questions on this it's pretty self-explanatory once you read it all right so we're going to move on all right student of the quarter let's do it okay we're ready who's up sixth grade congratulations naily ortiz for sixth grade student of the month naioli often you are quiet in class but whenever called upon you always volunteer to read or answer questions you have greatly improved in math and in language arts and you've been an absolute pleasure to have this year great job natalie keep up the good work awesome danielle smed is my student of the corner danielle worked hard on her pbl project and she is a leader keep up the work and keep on shining good job danielle my student of the quarter is carla ponce rivera carla has made lots of growth this quarter also she created an imovie on helping the homeless great job oh that's a cool eye movie congrats carla [Music] hello hello one of my choices for student of the quarter is brian brian thank you so much for working so hard all quarter long and also for keeping your video on for both of the classes i have you for so i really appreciate it thank you so much and keep up the good work and know y'all brian does not have a teacher that has a potato head that was miss harold in case y'all didn't know no we have we have a teacher like that yeah it's awesome hello jessica you are my next choice for student of the quarter thank you so much for always working hard and for all the work that you put into your pbl project and for all the participation you do every single class thank you so much and i love having you in class congratulations for my first student of the quarter i want to give it to someone who has been working really hard making sure all his assignments are turned in i'm always asking questions emailing me whenever he's not sure so my first student of the month goes to jayden great job jayden congrats jaden for my second student of the quarter goes to valeria she has been doing an amazing job in class she's always logging in working well with her groups um doing an amazing job with that um so great job valeria and next up we have our seventh grade student of the quarter and again ladies and gentlemen um to receive student of a quarter it doesn't necessarily mean that um all these students have straight a's but maybe it means that they showed improvement throughout the school year or that they showed one of our core values of motivation um perseverance and community for my seventh grade student of the month i chose samantha gutierrez valdez samantha always is one of the first students to come to class she always has a bright smile her camera turned on and is quick to ask how i am doing once class starts she is always one of the first students to volunteer to solve math problems she continually turns in her homework and also is very polite to the other students samantha it has been a pleasure to have you in my math class this year thank you for doing a great job and being a fisher congratulations samantha my student of the quarter is brian sandoval brian has made lots of progress this quarter he is also a leader while working in groups keep up the good job right on brian [Music] fisher saints my student of the quarter is brandon nick carrillo brandon is a wonderful student who is hard-working and respectful turns his assignments in on time keep up the great work brandon okay the student of the quarter for the third quarter um again not only for third quarter but this is for our my seventh grade um humanities course again this is the course team taught between miss uh berta and miss madrill for the third quarter we would like to recognize denzel ramos as our student of the quarter uh denzel has shown great effort and improvement this year and especially in that in this third quarter i look forward uh denzel to seeing your achievements or your future achievements congratulations congrats denzel hello daniel you are my next choice for student of the quarter congratulations thank you so much for all the hard work you put into the last quarter i can really tell you tried so hard and you put in so much work so it does not go unnoticed sir thank you so much and congratulations once again hello hello brittany congrats you are also my choice for student of the quarter thank you for all your hard work all year long and also for the extra work you've been putting into the global exchange project congrats thank you so much and keep it up [Music] as for my seventh grader i would like to congratulate elijah chia you deserve this award because you have shown so much improvement from the beginning of the school year and you really took off during third quarter um you participated in everything you joined every near pod you shared every assignment with me um when i talk to you you respond to me and i feel like that has been a huge improvement since the first quarter which started off a little bit slow so i want you to keep this up for fourth quarter and finish off the year strong okay so elijah congratulations congratulations elijah and that was our seventh grade student of the quarter now we will go ahead and move on to our eighth graders student of the quarters shout out to eighth graders you all have one more quarter and then y'all are officially high schoolers so we gotta keep this going for my eighth grade student of the month i chose tonya aguirre castellanos in my math class tanya did great in quarter three during her benchmark ii assessment on transmath she received the highest score placing her at grade level on the unit 4 orinda math test she also tied for the highest score out of my three math classes she is a very quiet young lady but she is very smart and very polite keep up the good work tanya you're a pleasure to have in class congrats tanya good morning fisher saints mr mintier here today i have the pleasure of honoring for the student of the third quarter to michelle lopez michelle has done an excellent job during the last past quarter working hard on all her work great job keep it up congratulations michelle hello mr mintier again my second student of the third quarter is going to be nancy clemente i chose nancy because she's working very hard on her work ask questions keep it up nancy a pleasure having you in class congratulations nancy all right my first student of the month or our student a month for eighth grade humanities again that's the team taught chorus miss berna and miss madrill um for our eighth graders this third quarter we'd like to recognize hillary clinton uh hillary has been really challenging herself to improve in the third quarter which she's been she has grown and shown a lot of improvement as well as she's pushed herself or challenged herself by signing up to be part of the global exchange program and she's really done well there as well so again hillary congratulations please do continue to grow and to challenge yourself congratulations hillary and ladies and gentlemen i love that y'all are continuing to go ahead and hype up your classmates so let's continue to do that y'all hey guys this is miss niwen uh i wanted to congratulate my eighth grader harleen saini i think i said your last name right uh for receiving student of the quarter for third quarter um harleen you received this award because you were always active you always participate and you're really responsible and i love how you give me feedback so that i can give you feedback you're an avid learner and i hope you keep this up and congratulations congratulations harleen and that concludes all of our students who receive the student the quarter for third quarter so can we please go ahead and give them some claps some virtual claps some party hats some love with some hearts whatever y'all want to go ahead and send them over and let's go ahead and take the time to go and congratulate them so again congratulations our students of the quarter for quarter three next we will be going on to our quarter three honorable students again ladies and gentlemen for honorable students um these students received either a 3.0 gpa or higher for third quarter so let's go ahead and get started um the first students that are going to be awarded will receive the honorable award and these students received either a 3.0 to a 3.49 gpa so big congratulations all right here we go our first student carla castellanos let's give her a round of applause awesome all right kimberly kimberly cornejos give her a round of applause jocelyn jocelyn flores gonzalez congratulations all right daniel alejandro garcia nice shirt too oh oh yeah reina henriquez good job rayna all right carly hernandez awesome jessica ibarra good job congratulations jessica reyen ryan ferrote brayan o'brien good job jose lopez good job jose good job jose daniel magana awesome way to work juan diego ross rojas good job juan good job juan we got a lot of students in this category rachel rachel nguyen good job rachel congratulations rachel long to win congratulations tren tranwing good job tran good job christina paul congratulations christina paul i like the fisher look at that that's one of our uh student of the quarter shirts awesome yup aion is representing her fisher saints t-shirt for an award that she received earlier this year too jayden renteria god jaden kaylee webb jr congrats kaylee right and that concludes our honor roll for the students who received 3.0 to a 3.49 the next award is the principal's honorable award and these students receive a 3.5 to a 3.99 and i am happy to say that usually we have more students in the honor roll category but this time we actually have more students in the principal's honorable category which basically means that a good amount of our students receive that 3.5 to 3.99 gpa so again congratulations y'all as we're moving forward through the school year we're making history so let's go ahead and get started way to earn my award we should call the doctor clinic honor roll award all right carlos adami good job carlos good job kaylee uh gunia congratulations kaylee jaden robles good job jayden good job jayden anaya cardenas good job anaya great job anaya ariana castellio castillo maria castillo good job maria way to work jasmine galindo good job jasmine nancy clemente good job nancy brittany contreras cortez all right good job brittany to go ahead and show off that ipod our ipad brittany i'm all for it i was just thinking that blake blake dao good job blake way to work allison cruz alexander cruz good job allison javian francis good job javion congrats javion cassandra garcia good job chris sandra jorge garcia reyes nice name jorge congrats jorge ho good job mai congratulations malachi lavelle good job malachi congratulations malachi michelle lopez diaz good work michelle nice butterflies congratulations michelle sofia de la cruz good job sofia brandon nick carrero good job nick congratulations brandon vanessa vasquez good job vanessa way to work congratulations vanessa denzel ramos acosta i've seen a theme here there's quite a few students that got student of the quarter and they're also on the honor roll that's awesome working double time i like it yup and i'm really excited to go ahead and say that they busted their butts off because some of them this is their first time receiving honor roll as well so most definitely this could happen to anyone y'all [Music] ramirez good job jennifer good job jennifer congrats daniel aguirre daniel sanchez aguirre good job daniel congratulations daniel daniela smith daniela congrats danielle katie vargas gomez congratulations katie oh katie alonzo villa good job alonzo congratulations alonso tian good job tien just one word needs to be said tian congratulations ian awesome all right y'all and that concludes our principles honorable so can we please go ahead and give them some claps some celebrations some party hats send them some love with some hearts thank you y'all and last but not least we have our superintendent's honorable award and these students receive the 4.0 gpa or above okay so again these students received 4.0 gpa and above they will be receiving the superintendent's honorable award and let's go ahead and get started all right diana amador ramirez great job i love your glasses can i get a pair i'm going to say i actually like your hat diana i'm for it i can see mr bod rocking those glasses uh belinda villegas good job belinda congratulations belinda jocelyn cortez good job oh i like that doggy german ship i used to have one when i was a kid jocelyn i feel like you always have some wholesome pictures especially with the dog one i'm for it i love it then we have vaide congratulations awesome rihanna estrada great job congratulations riann gabriella arroyo good job gabriela congrats gabriella way to work good job tenton fellaini bonsai good job congrats delaney kayla ratz ratstong good job yup congrats to leigh also shout out to leigh i was looking at your earrings i like it a lot oh yeah tallay is a artist i learned that in the global exchange project program you learn something new every day arlene good job congrats congrats harleen andrew serrano montes congrats andrew congratulations andrew haley haley tina good job haley congratulations haley all right and can we go ahead and give a super clap whatever it is that you want to go ahead and do to send some love to your students um or to your peers and that concludes for our honorable students thank you y'all for the cops thank you thank you i appreciate this and last but not least for as we end before we end our awards ceremony i'd like to go ahead and give a special shout out to two students that will be receiving a special student award this quarter these students are being recognized by the executive board of the santa clara county construction careers association and they're receiving this award for their classroom citizenship work ethic effort talent creativity and also one of our core values for persevering through obstacles so the first student that will be receiving this award is rhiann estrada congratulations rhianne not only was ran receiving this award but you saw her name in her picture earlier for receiving honor roll as well congratulations riann and the next student who will be also receiving this award the same award from the santa clara county construction careers association is last but not least harleen syene again you all saw harleen not just for this award she made honor roll and i believe she also made um student of the quarter as well so she's a triple threat y'all so she so she was able to go ahead and receive these awards and most definitely y'all we just want to be able to go ahead and recognize them for all of the work that they did um and not just these students but also for our honorable students for third quarter and our student of the quarter students um so with that being said we thank y'all congratulations to all of you let's go ahead and give a final round of applause some collabs some party hats some hearts to our to yours to our fisher saints so thank you so much y'all we have one more quarter to go we're almost done so we'll see you at the finish line good job everyone let's get after it [Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] did [Applause] [Music] oh it keeps on going all right you
when i heard the board read the resolution in a carousel format stating asusa unified school district believes that we have a special responsibility to understand and intentionally work to eliminate racism it was inspiring to me i was also delighted to see superintendent ortega's april 14th email message where he said we are all committed to respect equity and justice and with that thought of respect equity and justice i want to say thank you to the board and the cabinet for everything you are doing for our district and our students i appreciate all your efforts thank you miss vicky davis for your comments next we have mr daniel testing is everything clear on your end yes sir thank you um hello miss arianis um hopefully your children are doing well um my name is daniel alberto aka mr daniel i'm a program leader at dalton elementary school i'd like to first start with the prelude of two school years ago we've had the closure of a few of our schools which is a president president such as gladstone street and i worked at that school i get transferred to dalton elementary school very nervous about making a good impression i come to you today speaking because i feel that this school has a lot more to offer than just the size of it i understand that as administrators you have to look at the business side of these things however it it the word i choose to use is an investment i would never speak of dalton if i did not feel it's a school that i very much believed in and two years prior as well there was a re-election and i would like to point to you school board and say that we the city of luza parents faculty members we voted for you to be in your positions and history repeats itself more school closures and i ask how will you explain to these children that they need to walk farther distances that the locations of school that they rely on for free lunch or or meals will no longer be there for them the teacher that they've known the friend that they knew will no longer be part of their life change is scary whether it's you're young or you're old the unknown is a scary thing and just think about these changes these drastic changes that parents students faculty will have to go through i would not speak for dalton if i did not believe in this school nord staff to go up to miss laura clark and ask how she is doing while she fights back her tears to say that everything will be fine when i know her eyes she she just can't hold it back thank you so much mr daniel for for your comments tonight next our last speaker we have michaela michaela are you there yes hi michaela you can go ahead and start when you're ready i think dalton is a beautiful place and i really want it to stay open because i see my parents laugh when i get home and i see every kid laugh and everybody loves the school i know people want to close the school but it's just a beautiful place when i see everybody smile and i i see the teachers work so hard so many times and i obviously love how they talk and how they take care of us and they have courage to be themselves and yeah that's all thank you michaela did you want to speak anymore or are you done i'm done okay thank you so much michaela for for your comments tonight next we have miss esther campos ball hello um i hope that everyone can hear me um board member ariana's thank you and captain members rest of the board um i would like to take this opportunity i wasn't going to speak tonight but listening to nancy and michaela and jennifer diane um and daniel really made me um move to speak and as you know i i very seldom approach the board for any issues um but as i begin i'd like to um first of all thank the board and the cabinet for putting uh mr dave lewis's uh name change for the theater versus a high on the agenda for tonight for vote i know that there are a thousand plus folks that are probably listening to this meeting tonight who are very much appreciating the fact that you considered to vote on the issue so thank you very much for that but as a community member i want to speak about um ellington and dalton and the impact that they have in our community but most importantly i want to speak about the loss of students and the loss of students to our district if we should close those two school sites i know and i truly understand the responsibility the fiscal responsibility that is behind the decisions that our district has to make but when we talk about closing two schools that are essentially vital to our district and the loss of students that we could possibly face because of the fact that we're closing schools in this in areas that could very easily feed into covida school district or glendora as a community member and a faculty member of this district it brings me great concern um extreme concern not only for you know the fact that our students are going to be having to be shifted but also because of the fact that we have a huge potential potential excuse me to lose students to glendora and covina and i think we've bled enough students already and knowing the community of dalton as well as i do i can i can almost guarantee you that these kids will end up going to other districts and with that said board members when the item does come up for vote i really would like for all of you to consider that thank you thank you miss esther jumpless ball for your comments tonight do we have anyone else raising their hand at liga we have no more hands at this time at this time we move on to our next item which is 7.1 comments reports and requests by the board of education we'll go ahead and start with board member uh uh cruz gonzalez thank you um since we met a week ago i have nothing else to add today thank you thank you next we have board member rodriguez pena yes hello on good evening everyone just want to report that i i went to a the walk through through at murray elementary school and i can see why l.a county has given our district an a i give them an a score because everything was so organized so neat the ppe um was set up perfectly the water fountains were very clean i did to the whole walk through from the beginning like if i was a student going in what would happen they take my temperature they walk to the cafeteria but i also looked into a classroom and it was quite odd to see i mean it's almost historical you see the teacher sitting at one end and she has her shield in front of her with the mask and then across are her students and they're sitting there with masks and shoes in front of them and and it's it's different look you know and we used to be able to walk into the classroom and you know see the students um in session but we literally had to look in through a window so i just want to thank um superintendent ortega and principal jeanette flores for um giving me that great walk through because it's i really see um why our scores are so high every time the alley county comes in and looks at our schools because i know all our others all our other schools are consistently doing the same thing um also um azusa leadership learning educational foundation has partnered with azusa unified school district and purchasing if you have seen banners that say they read you are amazing it's a small token of our appreciation of our appreciation and you know if you don't have it at the school side yet you will be getting some time this week um because i've seen him at several schools and uh we do know that you are amazing gladstone high school one thing i noticed it um i haven't been not much but i was driving down aero highway and i noticed they're finally putting a three-way signal right on eden um aero highway going west and aiden crosses and it will take forever to get across and i know the the community and the parents have asked her i don't know how it happened but um i guess they're listening and i noticed they're putting it the signal on and um it's safer i mean i used to go to get my grandkids all the way to the other side just to come to the back way because making that laugh was like either took forever or good luck if you went across um and i noticed that i've also seen the crossing guards out um nice to see them working again and i want to thank the city museum because i know they are being paid and put there through the city of azuza thank you board member rodriguez pangafer for your comment next we have board member beau i would like to share that uh in partnership with assemblywoman blanca rubio's office and community-based organizations heart of compassion and city of refuge azuz unified will be hosting a food distribution drive on saturday may 1st at our former adult education site located at 1134 south barranca where we have hosted several food drives in the past and very recently the drive will open at 9 00 a.m and we will be ready to distribute fresh food to 400 families on a first-come first-served basis i look forward to a great turnout from our community volunteers and i hope you can all join thank you next we have board member career good evening everyone just a couple reminders i mentioned these last week the first is there is a daca clinic happening this saturday in partnership with the immigration resource center homework house foothill community church and my third place it'll be saturday uh this saturday april 24th from 2 p.m to 5 p.m at foothill community church again the space is going to be open for for anyone who might want to you know walk through the daca process there will be attorneys on hand to review documentation and ensure that that everything is is is up to speed if you are interested again i want to uh encourage you to reach out to me and and i can um work with you and connect you with immigration resource center to make sure that you have the the needed documents if that's something that you're you're wanting to do um you can reach out to me again my phone number is 626-629-8061 feel free to call me or text me you can also email me at uh agreer azusa.org and then finally i will be having a coffee online a week from today on tuesday april 27th at 6 p.m if you've attended one in in the past uh you should have by now received an email with with the link to to sign up uh they should also be on on some of the social media channels that i have you can check them out there or again reach out to me if you'd like to be included and i'll make sure that you get the zoom credentials but that will be next week tuesday april 27th on uh at 6pm great thank you and thank you for your comments i i would like to go ahead and remind everyone that this saturday april 24th at 5 30 you're all invited to stop asian hate rally that is being sponsored by mayor robert gonzalez and in partnership with our school uh board you guys are all invited to come and participate i would love to see you guys there um i think this is a great opportunity uh april 5th the city passed their resolution um last week we passed our resolution in unison together unified to stop the xenophobia that is happening and this is our first time actually doing this um here in our city you know with um residents that live here so i i would like to invite you guys at home to please come and you know stand together with us in solidarity against xenophobia happening towards our fellow asian americans and pacific islanders and um other than that i have nothing else to report we'll go ahead and move on to comments and reports by student board members we have destiny contreras good evening ghs welcomed back students in the classrooms with teachers yesterday for the first time in over a year crystal flamino olivia britt mario valenzuela gianni morales karen mourinho and myself set up balloons and posters around the school as well as repainted our happy rock to welcome everyone back we hope to see more gladiators in the coming weeks as we all try to finish the year strong shout out to miss perdomo miss parmar miss neil and all the other teachers motivating students to finish the year out strong ghs is proud of the gladiator football team who played azusa high school last friday coach lopez led his team to a 22-8 victory and his players demonstrated respect and sportsmanship over the course of the game we would like to thank the aztecs for their hospitality and a chance to play on their beautiful new field ghs would like to congratulate members of the gladstone hosa who completed who competed in the hosa state leadership conference on april 9th through 10th and had all the members go to the second round of the competition anthony echeverria was awarded the bronze medal medal in the barbara james scholarship competition this award is given to members that have the highest number of volunteer hours through the year anthony worked tires tyler tired leslie to give his time and dedication to hospice patience the other honor was fifth place in cultural diversity and disparities exam competition leticia perez put all her time in studying and learning the material to be able to get to this level ghs would like to congratulate mario valenzuela junior for a gold meda medal in skillsusa state level competition and matthew tell us for a silver medal in skillsusa state level competition their progress in graphic arts facilities management has earned them a place in skillsusa national competition jhs would like to recognize miss wall miss flores mr enfante miss parmar miss casanabe miss alvarez mr shea mr velasquez miss clavicia miss poole and mr hague for their hard work this week in the project-based learning leadership cohort with high-tech high mentors even as we reopen for in-person learning these gladiators remain committed to continuous improvement and developing their crafts as teachers ghs athletes would like to thank azusa unified bus drivers for their service to get them to competitions over the last month football boys soccer girls soccer and girls tennis have all had away games against league opponents riding the bus with the windows down in socially distance is the way to go thank you you destiny contreras i i i want to just uh uh congratulate you on how you uh you're from asuza high and you're making uh congratulate uh congratu make it a congratulations to to gladstone um because in reality you know we may be two schools but we're one city one unified city so thank you for that i want to ask you a question destiny are you students going to put the mask on the happy rock yes we put it on them i saw that that was that was cute and the tradition continues yeah yes yes thank you jacob vasquez i do not see jacob here this evening he did mention that he had a game and might be running late no worries we'll go ahead and move to alex arkenberg good evening board members cabinet and superintendent ortega just before spring breaks serious students parents and staff participated in our second trimester virtual awards ceremony students were recognized for academic excellence academic achievement honorable and attendance over 60 students received awards and recognized and were recognized for their hard work thank you to all the parents who were able to attend and help make this a special event students and teachers safely returned to campus yesterday the custodian and office staff worked hard to make sure the classroom hallways and restrooms were ready for students to return finally we are proud to announce that sierra high school has been recognized as one of the 27 schools in the state of california as a model continuation high school congratulations to the teachers for making sierra high a place where students receive a high quality education thank you yay congratulations sierra high school that's that speaks volume volume of our administration our teachers and you students putting in that effort so congratulations that that's well deserved next we'll go ahead and move to comments and reports by cabinet and superintendent good evening board members staff and community members uh i'll be brief um i just want to share that the highlight of my year has been visiting and supporting sites as we resume in-person instruction seeing students back in the classrooms has been the highlight by by far and away so i just want to thank everyone who's been involved this is an effort that has taken many many people and i i don't think we could say thank you enough i also want to recognize and express my appreciation to our human resources team that has been working on a variety of issues especially leaves and feeling vacancies as they've come up and they've been coming up quite a bit so i want to thank my staff for for all the work that they're doing um that is it uh thank you good evening boarding community um in the business department we are continuing knee beat elbows deep and developing the 2122 budget um there's a lot of factors that's going into that and we're working on changing our uh improving our budget philosophy as well as how we incorporate uh feedback and input from our like our site administrators our department heads and vice versa i'm additionally we are working hard to improve our meal offerings so we're looking into seeing how we can have more digital signage as well as identifying meals in advance so people have options as well as maybe looking into having some samples if covered the guidelines allow it so we have some food tasting to get some input from our community as well as our parents and students additionally um her mlt department is still working to assess all of our facilities um at times we're looking to see exactly the capacity of all of our units electrical plumbing vice versa so we can make those decisions to come up with a five-year facility plan so we can reassess things most districts they go out and contract the company out and we haven't closed doors on that but we are trying to see how we can create this level report internally before we reach out but i want to continue to thank our team for our hard work and our efforts and i do want to give kudos to our transportation department we are one of the few districts that did continue to have transportation and we are we were successful at offering transportation for all our athletics internally versus having a contract out so i want to thank all the ladies and i can say that because we have all female drivers so i want to thank all of our ladies for showing up and being there and just being a smiley face for our students when they pick them up for school as well as for athletics so thank you this week we welcome back at our elementary sites our fifth and sixth grade students and i have had the pleasure to be at sites to do uh arrival duty and dismissal duty to help out and to be visible there and to see our kids on campus this week we also welcome back our secondary students 7 to 12.
yesterday i was at azusa high school and today i was at foothill middle school i want to share that today i overheard teachers talking and a teacher said that yesterday um she was able to help three students raise their grade uh in one tim session and so um just how awesome that is when you have that one-on-one connection and that support uh to see those kinds of outcomes so kudos to uh to that teacher uh this week we continued with our los angeles county department of public health uh visits uh from the inspectors and we continue on the path of impressing uh continuing the path of uh doing well um we are expecting that our secondary schools will begin to get phone calls and um and schedule visits for that and so we welcome that um that opportunity to showcase our secondary schools uh as well and so um i just want to thank all of the staff members uh who have contributed uh to this uh this success in azusa so thank you good evening i am excited to announce that ausd is launching a project-based learning collaborative team so we just started and so far we have 24 k-12 teachers who have signed up to participate where we're going to engage in exploration of project-based learning learn how to implement in classrooms and collaboratively plan projects and then share our learning as you heard tonight ghs has been engaged in a project-based learning pilot that has gone very well this year and so um we are excited about that and expanding and we are also excited to share more about project-based learning during our summer learning presentation tonight great thank you for all your comments i really appreciate cabinet you guys always have and great information um to share with us so and congratulations to our uh our transportation team go ladies that that's great to hear thank you uh next we'll move on to general functions 9.1 this is the discussion the approval of naming of the asusa high school theater the david h lewis theater of the performing arts thank you board president so bert um per the board policy 7310 um under the memorial upon request of the public comment as we had in our last board meeting as well as um the signatures received from the azusa community members as well as faculty and staff and students we are for having this discussion today to allow us to elaborate further on this opportunity so at this time i'll pass it back to the board president so we can have further collaboration thank you can i please get emotion to move 9.1 you make a motion to move 9.1 great we have a first by board member rodriguez pena can i please get a second second we have a second by board member greer do we have any discussion any comments that you i think it's well deserved you know mr lewis gave 31 years of his um education working as a cons not only as a drama teacher but as a counselor and i know that he affected many students also you know by showing them their talents i recall some of the students from um i used to see them do the plays at foothill middle school and then all of a sudden i see them in high school and they were doing fantastic plays and he gave all the kids the opportunity um you know where to be but he would also be in the place too right so i i think it's very well deserved for mr lewis i think it's a beautiful honor to him i just ditto i i echo those those thoughts and sentiments as well um i would ask is there is would there be any type of uh ceremonial ribbon cutting or or unveiling is that something that's even feasible um to to do in this this season we would have to see based on the current current copic guidelines what would be allowable and at the same time not make others feel isolated or not included in the process okay and i'm sorry would it be a signage or would be something on the wall or his name will be yeah so as far as exactly how uh the site would like to put it up we have not determined but it's going to be up to them okay thank you i i would like to comment um you know mr dave lewis was a teacher that did not look um at his check-in time you know being 7 30 and clock out time at three he went way beyond because he wanted to give back and empower each one of his students and it's evident as we are discussing today and as we are going to vote today how he affected our community as a whole and i'm i'm very excited um i think all of you that have come to the school board meetings have let us know with your emails how he has affected your lives how he empowered your child you as a student um so thank you thank you so much for that and for for the ceremony i i i thank you for sharing that but i i think um i don't know i i would like to probably do something virtual as well um maybe just cabinet and board be there and something virtual for our our families at home that that may not be able to be there what do you guys think i i also want to glad and yeah he affects many many students but he also affects many parents especially his favorite drama mamas which is which is patricia sanchez and one of our employees in dalton and ochoa and that's what he called them because he they would be serving the popcorn and i was being making the hot dogs they were there every single event well when i when i went so you know many parents he's also affected because he was had parents volunteering all the time but the drama mamas that's what he called them and they were always there for him so i think i think we're all um and agrees that for a ceremony we would you know uh i i as as board members and cabinet we would like to be present but we would also like some type of virtual for our families our parents and our students to to engage in this ceremony i'm sorry do you mean us be there and do it virtual or do you mean do it virtual us us be there and and then uh zoom it to our families at home oh yeah because of covid yeah i didn't know we were going to be there yes yes so i i'm i'm proposing that you know we we'd be there physically for those of us that can um and uh that that would be yeah i would i would say latasha if you if you were able to look at just look into what is feasible you know that might be helpful even to just ascertain yes sir what what makes the most sense there may be more options available to us or or less options available to us if we look into that okay and the date too because of right when when that that will take place and and if you could just um i think it would be great to to to be informed um like you said on the signage on on how that that's gonna take you know how that process is gonna unfold um that would be much appreciated as well um are there any members of the lewis family that we've been in contact with that we would invite to the ceremony as well yes yes we have okay and then you need to look at the capacity right i mean how many people can attend it's like maybe not all board members could be there maybe two i i don't know i'm just thinking out loud you know depending because i don't know how many family members he has and i'm sure they should probably first be right to families but like uh yeah like you're saying and board members saying but there's other possibilities i mean i'm expecting if we open it up to everybody yeah we'll have all of susa there so yeah that's why i you know i'm also suggesting to creating a link to zoom to be able to um you know have the people at home be part of it as well um through zoom and take our stages and like i said maybe only several of us but i guess they'll let us know can can be there or not oh fine and then let's see we can record and then push out the recording like youtube yeah okay so that you know if you can't attend on that day at that time we can push out the recording so the community can watch it whenever they want to access the video i i think that's a great idea yeah yeah um i think that's good we can go ahead and have it on our our youtube channel um so yeah tasha if you could please get back to us on just uh the program and and all those little details that you'll take care of and let us know yes ma'am any more comments suggestions great at this time we can go ahead and please we already motioned we had our discussion if you can please cast in your vote for 9.1 and it passes 5-0 thank you guys so much for this thank you community for for joining us in in this effort 9.2 we have school reorganization update good evening uh board president board member staff and community tonight we're going to be updating the board of education on where we are in terms of our school reorganization process i want to stress that tonight it's an update it's just an update to keep the board informed of where we are uh last week we kicked off what we are calling phase two of our school reorganization uh process with the school reorganization team and at that meeting last wednesday uh we shared that these are the four objectives these were going to be the four objectives for that evening uh so we were going to recap our process we were going to revisit our purpose we were going to understand model uh four and then understand model three and and try to gain um some clarity on on model three so just really quickly again we took the team uh through the through a recap how we assembled the team how the team came together how we have been meeting since november how we've had had uh six meetings uh so far how the team in phase one came up with some recommendations and some butts and those were presented to the board of education and the board of education agreed uh with the team we showed those recommendations to the team again this is just to bring the context back it had been a little while since we had met and so we just want to make sure that we were all in the same place these are the same recommendations that came to the board of education we then revisited our purpose why are we doing this why are we all together spending our wednesday evenings on a volunteer basis and we talked about we're doing this because we're trying to maximize not only our capacity but also maximize our programs at this slide we took a pause uh at this moment during the school reorganization team and we let them know that we were now in phase two and uh that we were now moving into uh getting more detailed into what these models would look like and what they would include including that when we scrolled up there were now going to be names attached to models we reminded them that during phase one of our work we were bringing an idea we were bringing a model but that it that did not mean that whatever we were bringing forward uh was the best or the brightest uh but that it was a starting point uh for us as a team um we talked about the fact that we brought four models to this team and that team narrowed it down to two uh we talked about the fact that one of the models that we are currently uh exploring which is model four when we came with that idea our idea was a 612.
that team recommended it to be a 712. so we wanted to make sure that just like in phase one of this work uh whatever we were presenting in no way shape or form meant that this was the final decision um and we wanted to to to let them know that just like in phase one this team was going to have ample opportunity to speak into the models make recommendations uh bring up ideas uh generate possibilities and that all of that eventually would get to the board of education lastly we reminded them that in case they forgot that they were human and that this was hard work uh we let them know that um when they saw the detailed plans that and that we're gonna have school names on them that as a human right it's understood that there could be a reaction to what they were about to see maybe they went to a school that's going to be listed here maybe their kids go to a school that's going to be listed here maybe they work at one of these schools maybe they went to to a school when they were younger um and that that can evoke emotion right whether that's sadness happiness anger frustration whatever those things are um but we applauded them for their efforts to be as objective as possible and as open as possible as we moved into the second phase uh we lastly let them know that on that night which was last wednesday our objective was to try to understand the models we let them know that we were not looking for reactions we were not looking for likes or dislikes we were not even going to be discussing the schools that they were going to be seeing that night that the objective of that night was just to understand the models that were presented to them so we started with uh model four and the reason we started with model four is because this model that the team came up with didn't have any butts didn't have any um things to consider um and so therefore it was the least complicated of the two models that we were going to be discussing on that evening we did point out a couple of things to them uh as we showed this uh to them uh number one we pointed out that on the on the right-hand side of this uh of this uh what they were looking at we said look uh this is now a three-year implementation plan um and we let them know that again originally if we if we went back to phase one this on the right used to be a five-year implementation plan and so we pointed out that that had been changed per their recommendations and ultimately the board recommendation as well we also pointed out that in these three columns here on the right hand side you will notice that the first year says 2122.
we reminded them that that is one of the things that they wanted to consider and discuss further and so we let them know that just because it says 2122 right there that that was still an item of conversation that had to happen in this team because this is something that the team wanted to discuss do we begin in 2122 or do we begin in 22 um we also let them know that in this model when they see ahs and ghs here on the bottom left-hand side that they will notice that it now says 712 it no longer is a 612 because again that was recommended by the team and by the board of education and then we let them know that when you see schools on this spreadsheet there is a number attached to these schools and we let them know that that number is the number that we were calling the capacity of that school we let them know that our initial um our initial work at the elementary level uh took the capacity and subtracted six classrooms and we explained to them that our thinking was that we were going to subtract two classrooms uh for preschool our preschool program continues to grow uh and if we were going to eventually get to something like this then contracting schools would only mean growth at those particular schools so we want to to reserve two rooms for preschools we want to reserve one room for a library we want to reserve one room for an innovation lab and then we wanted to have two rooms uh that would serve as like flex uh so depending on the site um we have we have had here in our district uh we have had for instance uh parent centers at our rooms uh i'm sorry at our sites so is that a consideration um we have uh special education programs uh that sometimes are uh pull out in nature and so having space for for those kinds of uh services uh we have been uh through the work of uh gary and dana and the ed services team had a mckinley children's center and so we have vapa teachers who teach band and we have all these other kind of things that happen and so we kind of just put aside two rooms kind of tbd so we explained that that's kind of what we had what we had thought about um we let them know that um the approach that was taken here was for this model was easy we started with the 712 and we said okay well 712 there's 310 students projected next school year and that would be uh all going to the two schools that left us with 3764 students projected for next school year that is at the top and so we started to look at our schools at the at our capacity and decide and deciding which and how many of our schools would be able to house that projected number uh the following uh the following school year again not necessarily knowing at this point in time if we were starting next year or starting the year after so you will see there that at the elementary level based on this initial uh idea initial starter 98 we would 98.87 of our facilities would be would be up to capacity at the elementary level our high schools or our secondary schools in this case are 7 12s even by moving 712s into them would still hover around 82.544 and then based on projections at both the at the elementary and at the secondary of course that still begins to decline over the course over the course of the year so again we just explained the model this was not about talking hey are these the right schools are these the wrong schools this this initial on wednesday was do you understand how it works and how how it how it functions then we moved to model three model three was more complicated as you might recall on the recommendations to the board this one had a lot of tentacles uh should it be a k5 should it be a k-6 should it include a tk should it not include a tka should include one middle school or one or two should include one high school or two high schools um and so uh we we said we're gonna start kind of looking at that and kind of thinking about how that how that functions so based on on on the data from the from from them um the one area that was probably the most pronounced um although it was only a little bit more than half the team had said that the tk6 was the preferred model and so we decided to start with that because again that seemed just on the initial data that seemed to be something that most members or a little bit more than half of members were were in favor of so we started with this tk5 again just like the model 4 we went over it three years how it works the transition uh how the schools were um were were chosen um and here we noted that um if this was a tk5 model unless we were going to consider construction uh in a tk5 model we would have to have two middle schools uh again unless we were going to consider construction and so we just let them know this is how the tk5 works and per the tk5 um we we're gonna have to have two six eights and so we explained to them that based on this um again not saying that this is a final decision or that this is what the way it's going to go down just bringing the initial idea that this would be these would be the two the two middle schools we then moved on to the tk6 again explain the tk6 model how it works how it functions uh the ins and outs again this was not about a conversation about the school sites um this was a conversation about do we understand how the model functions and operates and we clarified all of this all along uh we paused to take questions of clarification like hey explain this again to me or how did this function or or what is that number again or how did you come up with this and we responded to the team as those questions came up at the we then moved on to some decision making to kind of get a pulse of where the team where the team was at and what they were thinking and so on that evening the team was able to decide that model 3 would be a tk-6 model um and that it would contain only one middle school um we ran out of time and so we did not uh we did not finish model 3 to clarify model 3 and so tomorrow at our next school reorganization team meeting we will be discussing and talking about um the tk8 and we will be talking about the high schools um and so the team knows that once we have clarity on what model 3 looks like we will then begin to address the other pieces of these models which include the programs the potential drawbacks the potential benefits the support staff the potential budgetary impacts um with the clear models okay model four here's the additional information model three here's the additional information and then of course we would begin having those robust conversations in terms of schools location you know those kinds of those kinds of things [Music] and so that's where we are at again we have our our meeting tomorrow uh to address the tka and the high schools uh and then we move on to the other areas uh that the team had wanted to see uh in terms of the two models uh that we were at um so at this point in time i turn over if there are any questions that we can uh address for for the board yes um do we have any questions comments discussion that not on not on this side um time time right now so on the other side of the the rest of the conversation there will be some questions but i don't have anything i actually have have a question yes just to to to think about i i first want to thank you um thank the the committee for their time and being very thorough all the possibilities um that have come from how it has been able to the committee has been able to uh pretty much you know work backwards and and and come to you know to this um as as we look at all these models um you know one thing that uh that i see um that i i would like to just you know uh point out the ponder um i i see all the elementaries um be re just grow substantially right and so um so there there's a few parents that have moved away from from for example um you know let's say hodge they were at 700 at one point you know they moved to a smaller school because perhaps their you know their child needed that type of environment so i i don't see here um you know that that flexibility and so i understand you know that we're trying to fill capacity but at the same time i think it's important that we also you know take the needs of consideration of special needs students um that need that smaller space that smaller school um so something to think about um you say tk through eight models so i i only see one that is still a decision to be made tomorrow tomorrow night okay and so we didn't get to that part uh last wednesday okay and so you said um so so once you know um tomorrow you said you're gonna talk about the tk8 programs and drawbacks with each model or did i hear that tomorrow um we are hoping that the team uh further clarifies model three and so there's two pending issues on model three one pending issue is should model three include a tk8 or should it not so that's the first thing that the that the team is going to kind of digest and try to speak into and then the second thing that the team has to address is should model three have one high school or two high schools and so those will be our objectives tomorrow as we continue to try to get a real understanding of what the model 3 is going to look like and is it is it possible to put these models side by side so that we can see them in the pros and cons on both sides you know i mean on one page is that a possibility even if it's in half by 14 just side by side sure i think that that's a good idea yeah you can compare it any anybody else i have one more thing you mentioned that you're looking at like for one room to be one preschool innovation lab or like a flex parent center uh you know special education i i i know um in each elementary um actually in each school there are it's very important you know and and i bring this up for our special education students um they get pulled out for ot speech rsp um when there are mainstream so um i i think that's a high priority again for our special education students um that that is is needed um parent centers um that is just an amazing we didn't have parent centers 20 years ago you know when i even when i was here as a student i think that's a great addition to every single school here because it's inviting to all our parents to come and so i i would like to to see both of these um you know the special education classroom or what not however you want to call it parent center i think those are our are a need because our schools are not are not schools without our parents bringing their their students their children to this school district so i think that's a high high priority well that's kind of a place where they go you know and they have their meetings and the ones that are set up at the schools that i see you know they have like comfortable has couches and they have guest speakers in there and they feel that it's somewhere where they can go they even have computers in there where parents can look at areas you know maybe they don't have a computer at home maybe they do now after all this but you know um or they have taught the parents there you know how to look at fairies how to see their child's attendance or how to see their grades middle school high school parents so i i think that's really important that we keep the parent at centers you know i don't know um yeah they're very important and the preschool uh we have a preschool is the preschool going to continue at each site uh each elementary yes that would be the plan okay so then we're gonna it looks like it there's gonna be more than two rooms then that are going to be needed i mean so two rooms right now would house four preschool programs um although we are looking into also the possibility of a full year full day and so that would be just one room right but but but a typical preschool program one room houses two programs because you have your am and your p that's right that's right um yeah i just i just want to make sure that we we keep in mind like i said you know uh special education for the art you know for this the the pull out that they do parent centers um the preschool and so just to keep that in mind that we uh don't exhibit and just fill up every room and that we have flexibility you know to to make sure that we have room for these extra extra um things that are taking place at the elementaries um other than that thank you so much for your presentation if there is any more questions if there's no more questions or comments we can go ahead and move on well i mean i do i do have questions about this it's about moral process right so um so you're anticipating you're going to continue meeting with the committee right um what what what are you anticipating bringing to the board right because i see certain decisions here that need to be made at some point so uh tomorrow our expectation is that we gain clarity on model 3 which then lines us up for the date is not in my head but whatever that following week next week wednesday that we would begin the conversations of these other items that the team had requested um i right now those are the only means we have i i don't i don't know how i don't know the magic or the or the unmagic that that might happen uh obviously this is now we're getting into some some real you know bigger decisions compared to phase one um so i really do not know how to answer that question we are we're we're committed to meeting on a weekly basis um but because they're so i'm anticipating that the conversations about school sites and locations has the potential of being broad and big and deep that could potentially necessitate more more meetings with the team but but i but i'm not 100 sure again it could be the opposite it could be next wednesday we come up with these other ideas and there's an aha moment and it's crystal clear and then we're ready to to move and come to the board and say okay this is what the team is saying this is what their recommendation that's what they're recommending um and and we move from there so i think i mean so gabriella i just um i think for myself i really want to be able to understand and make sure that our community understands what kind of process timeline we're looking at because i think we're already starting to get um people coming to the board um questions i'm feeling like decisions are already being made right and having having gone through this now twice right the end of the school year is the worst time of the year to be talking about this and feeling like decisions are being made right i think the the process that the four of us i mean sabrina you weren't here at that point the last time where it happened during a school year and it felt like it was paced out i'm talking about terms of like decisions right like that lead to final action by the board so i just i feel like the sooner we can be we can clarify to the community about when decisions are making are is this something board's going to take action on this school year is this something that recommendations are going to come there's going to be some public input action's going to be taken next year the sooner we can clarify that timeline and even if it's not set in stone the better because i don't want to have people feeling like they have to put a lot of effort into something when actually decisions are not being made right now right so i think i'm just and i'm not saying i mean i'm deferring to i guess gabriella arturo as our president and superintendent what kind of timeline are we thinking about so so what i'm hearing i is that right now for example there's there's names attached to to um right the the closure of schools um today we heard you know community members from these schools come out and express their concern and so what you're saying is you know what is the process time you know when are we gonna make this decision because here it says 21 22 we're looking at this next school year we're looking at like we're going to make a decision this june before july is that correct well yes or no right because this team wants to consider not be getting this i'm sorry mr ortega your mic might be off thank you um so not necessarily uh because one of the items that this team and the board subsequently agreed is that this team needs to have a conversation about is this starting 21-22 or is this starting 22-23 now again this is this is not a decision-making team and they know that from from the get-go uh but what they're bringing or we're bringing recommendations to the board based on on their input um maybe and i don't know if this if this kind of satisfies this maybe we give ourselves an internal deadline and then we can come to the board just again in full transparency once we kind of get a feel and say you know per the board the board does not want to make a decision in june just as an example uh which means then that based on how this team is going um we can come with a recommendation and say you know we're not going to meet this deadline or we're going to move forward or the board is saying no we need to have something then i need we need to go back to the team and rethink our weekly meetings uh and the length of our meetings uh to to to to add more ample time to uh to have this this this decision or this recommendation i'm sorry i think just like um shiloh mentioned you know actually this is a conversation so i feel that um it's very premature you know these are names these are not a for sure decision but the parents at dalton you know have been told that their names on the list and so when you say your name's on the list of course right are you going to say what you know so this is i'm sure what we have here we do need more clarification you know that it's it's just a recommendation and the names on the list doesn't mean you're the one you know how do we let them know that that you know that's this is not a guarantee this is not for sure you and i think that's why we had so many parents today from dalton because that's what was told to them and you know i totally understand i think i would add there's there's a degree to which there's well yes i think that's a fair question how can we be how can we be clear how can we communicate but but also there's a degree to which no matter how clear we are um there there could still exist some confusion because there's an there's a name on a slide um and so i think it's helpful um what shilling is asking and and suggesting around timeline for process so so because it's a con yeah it's a conversation so yeah if if if this is looking like action is not likely to take place until the the next school year that's helpful and and then we can we can encourage our community to you know be involved in the conversation that's going to be taking place over the course of months as opposed to necessarily exerting energy towards a potential that isn't decided on i think additionally it's an important distinction and it's hard to kind of hold a container that we can have a decision by x date and at that date we can also say we're going to implement a year out right so for example if we voted i'm not saying we are but if we voted on june 15th to adopt a plan we can also in that with that action say and this plan will be implemented as of the following july july 22 not july 21 so rather than saying we've made a decision we're implementing it in 15 days we're going to be implementing this decision and implementing the plan a year out so so that's that's a good point is it is it helpful or hurtful i mean for us to have a conversation now and establish i mean to to establish whether um we as a board already deem it best to not look at 21 22.
would that be helpful or or harmful for the process do you believe at this point um in terms of obviously counting know the fact that we're in april right uh can you know the the fact that some other team members have brought up but um i don't know i mean as a team i think some people would welcome that and applaud that and i'm not sure that the entire team would feel would feel that way i i don't know so again that's a tough tough question to to answer because i don't know how how the entire team feels about but would that vote come from the board of education and not the team i mean the team i get you know they work very hard they have recommendations i totally understand but i mean the final decision on the schools on the timeline isn't up to the board of education thousand percent so so just to speak on board member rodriguez pena um what i i'm gonna suggest and i would like to hear my uh my team my team's input on this is um since we are not uh it's not set in stone that you know let's say model you know model four you know dalton ellington and powell is set in stone that they're the you know um model three the same thing you know dalton ellington liam powell um can we switch it up a bit so that way it you know can we see i mean i i know i'm asking for a lot but if we can so that way we can see other scenarios so so the way the way the process is set right now um yes um i i am expecting uh that as we're going through this process with this with the team just like they changed the models uh i i am expecting that that this also has the potential to change in terms of the schools that will ultimately come to the board of education um as a as a recommendation so i just want to go back to um to what adrian said and it really aligns with what i think where i was leading and that is you know let's just be let's be upfront right so we think that i mean to know that you guys are meeting on a weekly basis and saying oh you may have to accelerate that's a lot of meetings for our community members on this committee right um especially when i mean you say we're in april we're almost in may right we're a week away from may right so a week and a half away from me so i mean we have to be realistic about is this really going to be for an implementation for next year and if not let's be clear about it let's set reasonable timeline so that we can make a decision i i mean i mean sabrina in terms of like decisions in advance i'm just going to say just in in from the experience that we had when we first started initiating the conversations to shut down schools and it happened around this time right this is when sort of the information came out it felt very rushed community felt like they did not know what's happening realistically just logistically like there was no way that even if we made a decision in that may me in the may when it was first proposed the district staff was not going to have enough time to put everything together to to close schools by that september right or august so i'm just saying like so if that's the case let's be let's let's be upfront about it right let's not have something on there that's misleading when we know it's not really not possible it's not very feasible so what i'm i'm hearing from the majority of the board is that um and correct me if if you know if it's not what i'm hearing is that 20 21 you know to start this this next school year 21 22 because that will be the next school year it seems a bit rushed um there is going to be a lot more schools from what you just said um other than just the two schools the movement the you know just the whole hustle and bustle of everything and so realistically um perhaps there needs to be more time is that what i'm hearing yeah just add some nuance and clarification though um i want i do want to applaud the the the process um especially recognizing that we've come to this place because of of what we've learned from from previous processes and and last year one of the things that we talked about when we moved to keep sixth grade at uh elementary schools is how how can we um have a more robust plan and how can we project out and have some years where we're not making decisions right now that that's going to be uh eminently you know implemented you know in in x number of days weeks months um and so so that's why i'm personally in favor of that of the the idea of let's have let's have a conversation without the cliff being you know right right in front of us let's have a conversation and and to discuss the different processes i also though want to recognize that there's a there's an impact to the conversation the the the input that comes in while the conversation is happening has an impact on the the product or or what is being you know provided to us because originally there was a thought around it being a five-year process and one of the suggestions that came in was five years seems too too quick excuse me five years seems too protracted there's no need for it to be that that long so what if we expedite the process and i see cabinet saying okay then this is what it would look like if we if we expedite the process so so what we're seeing is a true and authentic response to the input that that's coming in and so i i want to be careful to say um to not use language to say that it feels rushed because it's what it feels to me is that that uh cabinet and this team is is being responsive is is listening and and is adapting the process based on the the input that that's received and so now i think at this juncture there's additional input that's being provided now from the from the board and so think you know thank you again for for the the process being flexible enough that there are points throughout where where additional input can be made and and the the models can can adapt um as a result so with that yes i i i think i would would agree and and suggest that we um i mean for the lack of better words take take the option of implementing anything in 2122 off the table and so that we we can have a conversation about the the subsequent year i agree i i think that um we're all in in favor of that and i i would agree with uh my fellow board member greer i i think you guys have taken this have not slept it just it's amazing you know it's awesome how much you guys have done and um just having the flexibility and us having this conversation of being able to say hey hold on you know let's go ahead and um turn a little bit to you know to this side let's look at this um let's look at the options of you know uh the other schools you know kind of shifting them a little bit looking at um you know giving those those options so so like you said we we are not married to to dalton ellington and pal b you know those schools that like today we had um community members come and and so one thing i i do want to share is is this the reality of it we we are we are going to have to make decisions and this is not these are not going to be easy decisions i think they did a very good job you know they've been working very hard and i know i just feel that um it wouldn't be so rush and i think our decision-making it's very important that we really think about what schools you know what funding what programs it's really important that we really think strongly i mean we're going to make this move just make it right and with that being said you know um one of the things that um why we're going on this path i i think it is very important that that we educate our community right time and time you know we can say it a hundred million times but then maybe only two people heard but i think it's very important that the community understands that are low enrollment we have people here in asusa that have children that don't bring their kids to a susan unified right so our people are not having kids like they used to as well right the low birth rate i mean all these factors are why we have to do this i think about educating the community and and helping them understand um because again i feel that you know the dalton parents and family you know came today they they had very good points um but i just thought it's very premature for them to already feel that it's my school you know so we need we need more time and um think about this and it will happen i will say yes we do need to close some school it's going to happen uh financially we see that already but um you know let's get to parents and let her know you know why or you know how we can help them uh you know when they go to their new school you know how what can you again um someone mentioned about you know they're gonna have a different teacher well that's the same thing happened the last time we made the move but you know we explained your teachers go with you your programs go with you when you go to another school i don't think we've gotten there yet to to speak to these parents at this time but these are the things that they need to know so they can't feel comfortable when we're making that change and i'm not saying everything's perfect when flowers but you know um with gladstone street school and mountain view that changed i mean i see they went into valleydale and paramount and i mean they seem to be happy and the programs are there their teachers did go with them these are the things they need to know before you know that you know they're thinking you know um we're not having the same teachers and programs and and that's not a that's not a true statement i just want to add you said uh programs um can we get some some information for example um we we have these models where we have a seven through 12 right and then we have um the one the one high school where it's it's nine through 12 right um have you guys uh figured out like what programs can be available so i i think we we you know what programs can be available for our students if this happens um what are the opportunities right with sports or um just the different scenarios yeah so once the team uh clarifies model three those are the next steps the next steps are to go to the team to to imagine right to have some ideas of what programs might be again drawbacks possible drawbacks possible benefits support staff and budgetary impact uh so that that is all part of the process uh that will come so are you saying that they definitely said model three no you're not saying that that's what i'm hearing i'm sorry that's what i'm hearing no no i apologize uh model four is crystal clear everybody understands what it is oh okay so you just work in a model okay we're just trying to get clarity on what because there were so many moving parts we're trying to understand okay what is model 3 going to look like not the programs and all that right now but just logistically what is it going to look like um and so that's that's our next objective and then once we get that and we have clarity then we start moving into the these other areas yeah which include programs okay thank you for clarifying that absolutely and also in in staff you know i mean um i'm just starting out there but you know who's to lose their jobs you know it happened you know i'd like to know and see how many people are going to lose their jobs through this whole reorganization you know um programs you lose programs you lose people so we need to know those statistics also before we move on to the next uh topic just just so i'm i get 100 clarity on this because i just want to make a little nuance um i i understand completely i think i we heard uh implementation in 2223 but my nuance or my clarity is that we're not suggesting that we're going to pause this work and then start in september again correct okay i just wanted to be super clear about that that we continue the work and if that decision comes in september great it comes in october like whatever that is at that time okay thank you more time with your your team you know thank you for your community would be great i just want to be crystal clear thank you again so much for um we actually are seeing you know something concrete and um our our questions are being answered and in a responsive and prompt way and we i i truly appreciate that um you know the transparency and the dialogue and so thank you thank you cabinet for for that in case we're going to go ahead and move on to the next agenda item which is 9.3 increasing diversity through our hiring practices presentation thank you board president bear with me as i bring the presentation board president arianes members of the board of education staff and community it is my pleasure to come before you today to discuss this important topic of increasing our diversity through our hiring practices the presentation will review current research on race and ethnicity as it applies to the teaching practice i will also review our own data relative to race and ethnicity and we will review courage hiring practices and i will provide my some reflection and thoughts on next steps before we get started on the presentation i want to thank the board of education for requesting this presentation take place first let me start off with some california data on diversity a case for diversity uh and this data comes from education uh trustwest uh more than 250 000 students are in schools without a teacher of their same rates i'm happy to report that that is not the case in asusa in california 77 percent of students are students of color and 35 percent of teachers are teachers of color and again i'll show in subsequent slides how that is not the case in azusa going on more than half of schools don't have a black teacher and one in six schools don't have a latin next teacher and more than one in three schools don't have an asian american teacher again our data in this regard is uh better than the state average uh more than 78 000 black students are in schools with no black teacher more than 109 000 students are in schools with no latinx teachers and over 67 000 asian american or pacific islander students are in schools with no asian american or pacific islander teachers there are some pretty powerful data sets this is an important quote why diversity in our schools matter it is clear in the research that having uh black teachers for black students or latinx teachers for latinx students prefers real academic advantages this comes from dr maira lara also from education trust west and i also want to highlight recent legislation that is making its way through the state legislature a recent department of education press release highlighted assembly bill 520 that is currently working its way through the state legislature this bill would establish the california diversifying teacher grant program awarding 15 million dollars in grant for school districts to provide one-time competitive grads that develop and implement new or expand existing programs that address a local need to develop teachers workforce while emphasizing the retention of male teachers of color so i want to dig a little deeper into the research according to a report produced by the greater la foundation educators of color can have a range of positive effects on students of all races and ethnicities especially students of color the report cites these academic advantages schools with greater number of black teachers have greater representation of black students in gifted education programs and advanced courses the same holds true for latinx teachers and students exposure to just one black teacher in elementary schools significantly reduces high school dropout rate amongst black boys and more latinx teachers in math and science in middle school and high school increases the likelihood of latinx students taking stem in classes in college i wanted to highlight our own data of um on diversity uh the two pie charts before you are is our data as of a month ago uh and it's uh of art from our teachers um the largest block um at 53 percent is hispanic um and then our next i uh percentile of essentially is white at 39 percent and then on the student side our students are at 92.1 percent hispanic moving on to the recommendations from the research i first incentivize on entrance into teaching and this could start as early as high school the research provided examples of programs that started outreach programs for high school students to start thinking and planning for a career in education also support innovative and supportive teacher prep programs like paraprofessionals to teacher programs this requires districts to cultivate partnerships with higher education institutions i'll talk a little bit later how we have been working in this area and how we could continue to deepen our partnerships in this particular area and then districts should develop and cultivate uh partnerships with local colleges and universities to increase diversity of teaching applicants again i'll show a little bit later the number of of uh partnerships that we currently have um and then i'll share my reflections as to where we could again continue to to improve where we're currently at and then include job posting and descriptions that contain language that welcome all individuals regardless of background and i will explain what we're doing in this area i also wanted to pay a little attention to um some important attention to the supporting and retaining of new teachers national studies indicate that once educators of color are in classrooms they tend to change schools or leave the profession at higher rates than their white peers this creates a cycle of hiring less experienced teachers that can ultimately have an effect on student outcomes and achievement and on the right of this slide it shows again this is national research how district serving more students from low-income families have higher turnover rates among teachers and then increase the cycle that i just described i want to change the focus uh now towards our current partnerships uh the district is currently partnering with 21 teacher preparation programs at colleges and universities these partnerships provide preparation to obtain a student teaching experience these partnerships are valuable for the teacher candidate themselves in the district because it allows prospective teachers to work to gain first-hand experience working in our schools and alongside some alongside our outstanding teachers additionally when it comes to hiring we often see that the candidates that are applying to our positions are coming from the pool of teachers that have participated in our student teaching program below is a is data that depicts the number of current teachers that participate in our current laco induction program induction serves two objectives first induction is a systemic approach or support for new teachers this support is provided through trained support providers that meet with new teachers on a regular basis and provide them formative feedback and also provide act as a sounding board for new teachers who are experiencing the profession for the first time and um they get a non-objective voice to be able just to bounce ideas from the second objective is to help our newest teachers clear their credential so that they are they satisfy the ctc's requirement for credentialing we currently have 16 teachers participating in this uh program so it shows you that we don't have a lot of new teachers that are entering the profession for the first time um that 16 teacher represents four percent of our entire teaching staff i want to highlight our our current uh practices around hiring for certificated uh the application process starts with the position being posted uh on ed joy and it's usually posted for two weeks my office screens for appropriate credentials to make sure that the person who we're moving on to the sites to start interviewing have at the very minimum the correct credentials and then the sites are asked to identify the candidates that they want to interview the site's interview and then reference calls are made um and that's done in collaboration with me for for teachers and then my office conducts the second interview okay where i sit with the uh teacher uh and and and uh start the the interview and have a second interview with with the candidate for classified uh the position is also posted on edjoin uh we also i post it on our ausd website and we post it at sites um as well the hr office grades for appropriate qualifications um and then the hr identifies candidates to interview and then hr in accordance to our collective bargaining agreement with csca holds their first round of interviews uh with sad administrators and other uh members who participate and then the site holds the second round interviews reference calls are made again and then the site recommends the chosen candidate and then it's moved on to the board of education i want to spend some time talking about the reflections that this uh developing this presentation has allowed me to think about and start implementing uh the first starts off with uh establishing uh for our even our middle schools and our high schools student groups that promote and encourage students to pursue a career in teaching um really um making that something that is a a tangible um real um experience for for our students uh would it be nice wouldn't it be great for our own students uh to to be our teachers and we're seeing lots and lots of those examples but if we're able to to grow that capacity that'll just be phenomenal like i mentioned earlier deepen our partnerships with local colleges and universities to grow our application pool we're already in the process of of doing a lot of this work we are exploring a possible partnership with uh apu uh on a teacher residency program to help us help us with how to fill teaching positions like in special education a teacher residency program integrates coursework with actual classroom practice for a one-year residency program it is something that um we are we are actively uh looking into uh we are in the process of uh do conducting an internal hr audit of our application process um where we're looking to ensure that our process is equitable and we eliminate bias we're doing this by examining our job postings we are looking at our practices around screening we are taking a deep look into the questions that we ask um our our candidates at all phases of the interview process i will share that some of this work has already started and we've already taken some steps to make some of these changes and that is reflected in the questions that we ask uh in the second round of teachers and management uh candidates uh and then find the final round we've curated questions that highlight our district's priorities uh questions that focus on collaboration questions that focus on continuous improvement and reflective practices one of our questions and whenever i ask this question i get a very distinct response from the candidates as they hear the question and the question reads we are working on confronting systemic racism in asusa how will you build positive relationships with staff and community also in our new employee orientation presentations we are articulating how we embrace diversity uh recently uh in a message to um all staff our superintendent mr ortega stated the following uh we are all committed to respect equity and justice and this is what uh miss davis mentioned in her comics today we believe in teaching and modeling our students the responsibility of the responsibility of every member of our society to treat all people with love and respect for our shared humanity in the deep appreciation for the diversity that enriches us going forward we will be intentional in our communication to our newest employees by clearly stating that we are all committed to respect equity and justice so the continued work is um and in closing i i want to state that we are just beginning this this real uh heavy process of looking at our hr practices through a equity diversity and inclusion lens in preparation for this presentation um i participated in a virtual workshop uh led by lako on the topic of equity diversity and inclusion with a specific focus on hiring and retaining employees i in addition to the aforementioned changes uh we will continue to explore partnering with university teacher residency programs and also explore how we could build opportunities for our classified employees to pursue careers in the teaching profession and with that i will close and um welcome your questions uh or discussion would you like to go ahead and start yoga oh okay oh yes i was going to ask regarding the um the teachers okay what colleges are we partnering or excuse me i'm sorry how many college colleges are we partnering with that have teachers come train and i don't think the words are i train here this is unified we have several colleges correct like zach and one not mount cycle we have 21 colleges 21 21 colleges um and i'm sorry what do you call not training they're teacher preparation programs oh i i mean i should really say teacher or professional uh programs because we have some for psychologists we have some for speech and language therapists um counselors uh so it's not just but it's not only for being a teacher it's not only for people okay and we have a do we have a shortage of teachers at this time do we have a short a charities of teachers the state is projecting a shortage of teachers um and that we're we're seeing a shortage of teachers in areas like special education math um science uh some of the stems and as i mentioned some research clearly pointed just how beneficial um those it could be for students uh students of color to see students that represent them that are that they could relate to teaching those classes you know it's great that that this is the unified school district has hired many of teachers that are born and raised in azusa they know the community the students you know it's they connect and they have gone to the schools here at ausd i don't know how many teachers there are but i know there's so many and i think that's really great and and also they become administrators we have many principals that went to azusa glaston high school centers lost and what have you but i think that's really great that you we're hiring within our community yeah yes i agree can uh thank you for this is i'm grateful that we're taking time to review this that that your your team is looking you know looking at the the questions and applications to to consider bias and and just going through with the fine-tooth comb i'm grateful for that um this is this is really interesting to me on on slide seven uh where it says supporting and retaining new teachers um maybe can can you put that spite up there thank you so this this statement here on the left it says uh national studies indicate that once educators of color are in the classroom they tend to change schools or lead the profession at higher rates than their white peers um this to me sounds like like something i'm curious to know you know what's maybe behind this i don't know if the article that this is referencing is is readily available and or can be forwarded to us i'd be interested in knowing more about what this is uh describing and then once if we were to look at that and understand what why that happens what are what are things that we can do here within the district since we recognize that this is something that that happens excellent question i will say that california is ahead of the curve when it comes to its induction program and its intentional steps that they take to support new teachers it used to be when i started teaching that a new teacher would clear their credential with additional college coursework uh now in order to clear your credential which when you when you get your teaching credential you receive a preliminary teaching credential and then you have to go through induction which is a very intentional support mechanism to do two things provide that support non-evaluative support formative feedback to teachers and then throughout that process or through that process the teacher clears their credential and then they they they're satisfying the commission on teacher credentialing requirements um in addition to that uh we should always be looking to see how we are supporting our new teachers one of one of one of the points that we have here in asusa is we have uh professional learning communities throughout the organization and what you see in situations as is reflected on this slide is where teachers have high levels of isolation uh do not have anybody to go to and we have built-in support system through our professional learning communities wherein a teacher um i'll be how new they are can could get that support from their colleagues and then really get that that learning through through practice and and experience educators no thank you yeah i i i wonder if there's more to with this in mind if there's if there's if this can direct our uh our our eyes to investigate and look into some national things within our districts you know specifically and and i would i would just uh look forward to seeing what av because what they're really specifically looking at is not just the hiring but the retain retention of teachers of color um once they enter the let's see into the profession uh mr ankio do we do we already have data around our own teacher retention rate i know that in a lot of the public comment we have teachers of 20 years 30 years participating um do we keep that kind of data or is it possible to to run that kind of data about our own year year retention rate absolutely yeah i i that that data exists um and i don't have it on a report to to be able to share with the board in our next board update but i could commit to providing that to the board thank you i um i actually have a question uh going back to your slides and you know reading reading the um the quote that's you know it is clear in the research that having black teachers for black students or latinx teachers for latin ex students confers real academic advantages um i agree with that what i don't see here um and this is like sensitive right um lgbtq um so how how how do we approach that right um some teachers you know do we have teachers that that that are for those group of students i mean i i don't know you you can present so um and that's a that's an area for further study um and i could um bring it up to the uh group that i am interacting with later on um so we'll see what we're what what the thought is around that and how to best approach that great thank you so much for doing it i i you know please give back to us on um because i would like to have that included here in our district as well you know be accepting of of all um including our lgbtq community and thank you for your presentation thank you i think we're moving in the right direction and um having conversations and that that's what it's all about now moving on to our agenda item consent calendar can i please get a motion to move uh 10.1 through 10.9 seconds we have board member greer on first motion we have a second by board member chris gonzalez do we have any questions comments concerns seeing that there's none let's go ahead and uh point point where this is with the exclusion of 10.2 i'm sorry yes sir with the exclusion of 10.2 as stated in at the beginning of our meeting yes sir and we can please cast our vote thank you great thank you it passes 5-0 we will skip 11.0 no items were pulled from consent calendar at this point for this agenda we'll move on to business and finance 12.1 ratification approval of the executive environmental consulting services agreement between asusa unified school district ausd for asbestos inspection can i please get a motion to move 12.1 and make a motion to approve 12.1 thank you we have a first by board member rodriguez pena we have a second five board member cruz gonzalez do we have any questions or comments seen that there's none and we can go ahead and please vote we have a 5-0 moving on to 12.2 we have ratification approval of consultant gina r murphy guerrette resolution number 20-21 29 can i please get a motion to move 12.2 move second and so we have a first by board member grier and we have a second by board member rodriguez pena do we have any discussion comments i like to i just like to know on the uh hiring process where we're at on this position and how long are we kind of on keeping this person yes so we currently the job was flown on friday um and we were flying it open to field so that way as we're getting qualified candidates we can do the interview process and then the consultant will be here until we have the vacancy field thank you great seeing that there's no no more questions let's please take our vote and we have a 5-0 moving on to 12.3 approval of lease agreement between the asusa unified school district and east and gabriel valley regional occupation program rop can i please get a motion to move 12.3 and make a motion to approve we have a first by board member cruz gonzalez second we have a second by board member rodriguez pena do we have discussion comments yes i want enough i'm sorry go ahead i didn't see you um yes i i have several questions about the proposed lease agreement um i'll start with a basic question is there a was there supposed to be a site plan attached to the agreement okay um and in my my reading of of the agreement um i know we're this is uh you know the east san gabriel valley rop is a we consider them a trusted partner we work with them um it would seem that bringing um them to one of our sites that's not currently occupied um you know brings a program that we're already participating in it it boosts the programming programmatic offerings of the district and also is a revenue source so i i think it meets all of those um strategic goals so troop proven partner trusted partner revenue stream um is there uh you know especially we're talking about money even among trusted partners i didn't see in the document um a due date for lease payments is that contemplated to be monthly or annually yes so the uh if it's not in there well actually the second paragraph did outline the lease amount and if it'll be paid on the first subsequent month after board approval unless i overlooked that but that's the draft attach a is that when you're talking about in the actual body of the lease agreement but the lease terms identify that the payments will be paid uh monthly um based on the amount of square footage that'll be utilized is it possible to bring that up on the screen or tell us what page it is or what article right now oh the attachment draft attachment a is that one you're talking about yes please i think that's true so you would like to see where where it says that is that correct yes okay um yes if you could keep scrolling right here the lead show commenced on may 1st um it does not specify exactly the date the payments are coming but so we we're taking that as the first time it will be due may 1st when they occupy the facility after board approval okay and then if um maybe i haven't had enough coffee or maybe it's late but when i count the number of the lease term account three years and two months if it's contemplated that it begins on may 1st is that something that has changed or from what's presented here yes ma'am so this is an oversight on both sides so originally they wanted to occupy the facility in april and then when we had to go back and re-change the terms because they want to decrease the lease that's when we changed it to may first so if it's changed just to kind of um shouldn't it also change as well for it to be concise with with the dates yes and we could change the three to two um this is to get approval of the lease so that they can take it to their board to approve so we can modify the two to um to reflect two months on the actual document so should we um [Music] not vote until it's it's changed right now just clarify that it's two months not three months as we as we take action and what i'm hearing as well is um that we would like to go ahead and have on on this lease agreement um a date on when we expect payment is is that what i'm hearing absolutely um i i have a few more substantive questions but i don't want to take up all the air um so i do want to open up to the rest of the board for their own questions so that we can maybe kind of bounce off of each other i have just one question um can can you could you clarify um the the cancellation and term termination i mean the the hypothetical scenarios i it's in it's article seven and it's referenced a couple times where it says uh that uh the termination can be terminated you know here in but but i'm not sure that i see reasoning and or just justification or what what are justified um reasons just for understanding and clarity so our our thought process um working collaboratively with them is that it will be a mutually agreed upon uh decision um they wanted a long release um we held fast on the years that we offered um they were looking at a five-year and this was their way of ensuring that we wouldn't just have powers we just say nope we just want to cancel the lease so are you saying um it's mutually agreed upon so so the the district therefore with this lease does not have recourse in the event of a desire to uh um and terminate the lease earlier than yes sir and i i have a few questions i have two uh three actually well first um so what what will the district be responsible for for example um you know uh maintaining of of the site um lights water trash what does that look like so we agreed to maintain the grounds um so that we can maintain our curb appeal um but the facility we will maintain our electricity based on our usage so we will be dividing we'll be looking at the meter for both utility and water and they will pair they their fair share for both water and power and they are handling their own technology um but they do have the option to contract out with us utilize our services as well as if if there's items that need broken fix it since they don't have their own maintenance team as well but they will have their own facility and what um what projection of revenue are we expecting for for the district with with this lease so right now based on the current square footage i believe was about 78 000 originally we did project out a hundred thousand a little over 113 000 but they have decreased the amount of square footage that they would need to utilize at this time so so we're releasing it on square footage is that what i'm hearing yes ma'am i have a couple of follow-up questions one to board member agree and one to president arianis regarding article 7 cancellation and termination um i i don't see that we have to come together and agree on a termination um i'm reading the first sentence district may terminate this lease by giving the rop written notice of termination at least six months prior to the date period i i don't see where it says that we would need to mutually agree to me that reads that we can unilaterally terminate as long as we honor the six months notice and that is true but what i'm saying is we're working in collaboration to agree that since they wanted more time that we will mutually have a mutual discussion with them before we just terminate that so even though we have the six month false so that's not part that's not actually in the lease no no ma'am the only thing we would have that buy buyers is six months okay um tagging on to uh board president's question around the revenue um can you can you give us more detail around how we got to 75 cents per square foot um and and my my thinking around that is in looking at um industrial commercial leases in azusa they're more at a dollar a square foot so can you tell us about how the the price per square foot was negotiated yes so we had a previous board meeting where we outlined and i um had a presentation where we showed exactly what the average square foot was going for at the time and we identified what we could um what we would earn as far as revenue based on the square footage they were requesting um identified and shared what their current square footage lease was and at that time the board took action and agreed to the 75 cents per square foot and for my edification how long ago was that i want to if i can't guess i want to say october-ish this year but it was this fiscal year okay okay um i want and i just want to ask a question regarding um what we you know um the same questions that president ariana said but also the the custodial i see this is a district was solely responsible for groundskeeping so what about the custodial use where you know you're emptying the trash cans you're vacuuming the floor or well because ppe we need all that who is doing that they have their own custodial teams they have their own dirty rounds oh okay because i don't see it here i'm just seeing the ground keeping because i know we need to keep it looking nice you know our our district um bronze men but um it's not on here that they'll they will have their own custodian so the intent was to identify the areas that we're responsible for but um going forward we can make sure we're updating our leases to identify both sides okay and i had the same question to the utility but i understand thank you no problem i i do have a couple of questions that's okay um uh mr something that stands out to me is the um that this lisa proposed lease agreement seems to be very tenant friendly in that we're giving the proposed tenant the ability to make tenant improvements and there's no opportunity for the district to have any approval or oversight of those improvements um it seems to me that that could put the district at risk if the tenant were to make improvements that were um not compliant or you know if they knocked out a load-bearing wall and in the instance where we would have maybe multiple tenants because they're occupying a part of the property i i'm wondering about our role as a district to be able to authorize and approve proposed tenant improvements um that is not identified we did not have the discussion but that is something that we can look into going forward when we have lisa they must identify to make sure it's filled out so so when can we see and just to um the these things attitude to the lease that we're speaking of so um with board approval we can um i can take the recommendations modify the lease send it back to the rlp uh entity so that they can have a board approved or another option is with the table it i can make the amendment send it back for their first approval and bring it back that would just delay the uh occupancy of starting the may 1st which is so are you comfortable so so sabrina if we if if we take action with the recommendation that you haven't are we comfortable just allowing latasha to to write the language aligned with what the intent that you just laid out in terms of us having approval over any tenant improvements uh frankly speaking no no i i i think that this document um doesn't afford the district enough protections um again i i understand where we want to go with this trusted partner programmatically it's a boost it's a revenue stream that's not currently happening i deeply understand that but i'm coming from a perspective of risk management and risk mitigation for the district so that um you know many of these things are not uh huge in and of themselves but i think when there's ambiguity in several of the clauses um down the road you know a year from now or 18 months from now when something happens and it's not clearly defined in the document that's going to put both parties at risk or it could put both parties at risk and it will involve a lot of you know human power and and and uh legal resources so i would prefer to do a little more work on the document and then bring it back to the full board bring a new document back to the board um for our for our review and possible approval that's that's what i would be comfortable with so so i have a question actually um you know to that but for latasha um what is um the need for it to be made first just you know so is there you know for them to get their programs ready i mean is there an explanation for it you know has to be makers so they're currently having to move out of their current location and so originally their desire was to move in in april um but then um they had a change in staffing and they wanted to uh decrease the number of square footage which is why we had the table to item last for last board meeting and so this is the um last schedule board meeting that we would have before their board would take action to actually make the lease enacted so so i i hear what you're you're saying um but and i hear what you're saying um but but i think it's really important um that that we vote on something that that is clear um but at the same time i mean if we pass it today let's just say with the exception to make amendments if they're okay with it right we we're literally going to be changing certain things on there right just to get you know to to kind of help them out i mean it kind of gets so so why can't we table the item until we right that's something it's constant it's it gets messy so i think so i think it just gets real messy so i'm i'm gonna have to yes um we're sorry just so you i'm not sure what you're you're suggesting that they'll be tablet you're suggesting we vote on it to tonight as or with suggested amendments you know so what i'm saying if we were to vote on it tonight right so just just like when you lease an apartment so forth when you enter into agreement right once you enter into the agreement yes it's like so if we were to go ahead so basically if we were to vote i'm giving the example we were to go vote on it tonight and then try to go make changes like how how would that look so so i could could i could i reckon so here i'm i'm hearing that that there's we're in a bit of a pickle in that the the the lease is is we're hoping for that to start on may 1st but the document is not quite you know where we would prefer it to be can i can i recommend and suggest if or or would the board be comfortable if there was a subset of a couple of board members here that were willing to hear the sentiment and then be in on the uh on the conversation to ensure that the document is up to apar i would recommend some board member beau being on that that subcommittee if if you're comfortable and would that then allow us to be a bit more nimble in in uh producing a docu document with word approval that that can be in and allow for for a may first start can i suggest something different sure so that way we're not trying to do another subcommittee how how about you know how long would it take for you to go ahead and um make these changes us have an emergency meeting for five ten minutes and getting this approved i mean so that way we don't have to you know it it just sounds a lot more clear um i don't know what do you guys think so a special meeting right just especially so we can go ahead and get this approved and be able to how fast can we turn this around for us to be able to vote on it and be comfortable enough for us to be able to move forward so what i i have no problem with committing to jumping on this first thing in the morning i just don't know if this will constitute a special for me but i would have to defer so here's another i mean just again as we're talking about um options another option is to because this we do this with other stuff it happens is we we take action and the action is i make a motion to approve item 12.3 with the following with the following changes that can then go to their board for approval and then at may 4th we bring back the contract the amended contract for approval how does that work in terms of the lease being fully executed and the tenant moving in how does it work right if we come back on the fourth to ratify or to approve the contract are we are we moving a move-in date or no it would have the may first date uh but again the understanding is that that contract is going to have the things that we are highlighting tonight right but then there's three days of uh right that's what you're saying there's three days of technically them not moving in and that would be it could be prorated and all things are possible right so or it could be may 5th so changing that on i mean that would still be prorated so what i'm hearing so what i'm hearing from everyone is is possible solutions but latasha you just shared right now miss latasha demo that you can get on this tomorrow um go ahead and make those changes uh you know for the suggestions that uh we as a board have um brought up and would like to have this included in um this lease agreement so that way in turn they can turn around and take it to their board um by their next meeting and so the majority here said that they would be okay to to to meet to go ahead and and have this you know well we wouldn't be able to meet before the next rop meeting because they're meeting on thursday right so she so we're talking about tomorrow but we kind of have a board meeting we can't have a special we can't have emergency board meeting on this and special meeting requires 24 hour notice so um i didn't know when the rop board meeting was done so so i mean i say i'm gonna just throw out another suggestion right i think i think um we should do what arthur said and we can we should be the final executor of the document but i think in order to if we want to facilitate and have rop vote on it at thursday right let's do what adrian suggested and if latasha can update the language and two of us review it tomorrow to make sure the language is it reflects what this board the direction the board's given right then that can go to the rop meeting and then that can come back to us in may and we would be the final like so they wouldn't move in until after they'd have to move in may 5th we wouldn't we wouldn't we wouldn't do i mean i'm okay with ratification like letting them move in may 1st but if the rest of you are not then it would have to be may 5th the only concern would be like would they ask for a pro rate or would they be okay just to keep it may first well it's just it's five days we're five days off so it's yeah not huge um does our so thinking about the other in our partner um does the rop have the ability to call a special meeting for next week so that we're not trying to do this revision in 24 hours to satisfy rop's board meeting deadline i don't know their ability to add our renewable rates so so so what i'm hearing is um we we as a board would like these um amendments added um we had a suggestion from uh two of our board members and i i would have to agree with with that um having a special ad hoc committee to look over the amendments and for us to go ahead and vote on it tonight and um go ahead tomorrow uh latasha will go ahead and have that um latosh do you have a time frame after two after four um where we can i don't have that level no worries remember but if i can um just get clarity on the amendments as requested yes um let me just real quick and so then we will vote on tonight ad hoc committee tomorrow present it to the rop board on thursday um the only uh clarification that we need is would we prorate or leave it at may 1st i think we can defer that to the staff to figure out okay you guys figure so um other than that then uh added the amendments if the board approves it with the amendments being um and so the amendments that i have um are correct me if i if i'm wrong are the the proposed tenant improvements right clarification the district would need to approve any and all attendant improvements and the next one um i i didn't say this yet but article 7 references rop sub tenants in line one two three four five um i don't see any the art the lease is silent on sub tenants and i i would um i would suggest that we prohibit subletting right our our tenant is our proposed tenant is rop not any of their sub tenants challenge um i would encourage that we just identify language to cover that uh because rfc services is partnering with others to provide the service in a program as tenants it's not as a tenant but i think that let's say if i was doing a banking class i would have bank of america to come in and occupy that classroom to teach that course so for example they partner with um what's that called pacific oaks college right to come in and provide classes in the past rop has done that so i understand that i understand that in terms of a programmatic partnership but that that's i'm not understanding that that's the same as a sub tenancy yeah and it i don't know i don't think it is no i'm to bank of america or pacifico so can we re-reword that is that what you're asking um i i would like it to be clear that we would prohibit some tenancy or subletting yes ma'am and just uh for clarification would be just the partners right so um not include anything just remove the sub tenants is that is that what you're right i mean the the partners that are coming in to offer the programs are they they're not being charged to lease the space right they're just coming in to teach the class is that how it would work or is that how it does work on their current site i could not speak to that that would be a rop question and i don't know so okay but i think i think you're probably right i think you're probably right that it's not yeah they they probably get it they're not listening to grant which they'd be able to go ahead and carry out the class yeah right so they wouldn't be a sub tenant yeah so i'm oh i'm um i just want to make sure that we're protected and that it's also clear because it does say subtenant here but it's not addressed anywhere else uh those are two things right so we have one two i also have the three months to two months that's right i also have the uh the payment uh the payment uh due dates payment due duties that's right and kind of taking a step back um i know in article 2 option or 2c it talks about rop option to lease additional spaces um so they have the option is is would the rop have the exclusion exclusive or write a first refusal option on that space so for example if we enter into this lease agreement and then another community partner wants to come in and take suite b would they be would we be allowed to do that or do we need to offer it first to rop we would not have the offer okay since the contract only says the square foot is that correct that's what okay well and i mean it just says they they may at least additional identified spaces but they're not required to and we could also lease it out to someone else correct and the main means that they have the ability to say hey you know we're going to add another classroom is this classroom available and we'll go through the exact same process we'll walk over the square footage for marriage measure it and then we'll come back to the board to identify then increase the square footage so we have a total of four yes four amendments so as we're moving forward um the majority has decided we can go ahead and um we we will go ahead and vote on this today so can opera just for additional clarity um [Music] if we're going to are we saying just make those changes and not have a not have it reviewed by uh and then oh good good so i i need uh two board members that are available tomorrow um that would like to be part of the subcommittee to read through this and um just as um and i'm so sorry board member had suggestions in sabrina uh would you be okay to be on this ad hoc so can we can you clarify what the motion is on the table that we're voting on so yes so what i am proposing at this point right now i i need a motion for 12.3 approval of the lease agreement between the isuzu unified school district in east san gabriel valley regional occupations with the amendment of the proposed tenant improvements the sub-tenant section to go ahead and include that it's a 3.2 that it reflect on the date and the payment due added on review by the way yes upon review by an ad hoc committee tomorrow when latasha reaches out to to the committee um and they would uh have to re return it back to her um so so we just needed a time actually a projected time i will work hard to see if we can get this done by two o'clock because i do have to afford them enough time to review it to assure that they agree because it could be that whatever we change they may say never mind as well that's the rsa house to post do they have a brown act yes provision for posting so is it already exceeded then it you didn't they're not required to post the actual lease they have the item posted and they could post their attachments or present presented during the board meeting so again just just for clarification before i move forward with with motioning and being able to carry this forth i i'm gonna ask ask our board um who would like to be in this ad hoc committee for tomorrow um by two o'clock be able to uh read this and be able to i would say um would you say five o'clock for them to return it back to you or four thirds give them two and a half hours does that seem feasible ample time okay i can do it i mean okay great are you you're gonna be on the screen yeah i can i can be the other person i have i have a little break number four okay now i can go ahead and motion with all of that we have now i now will go ahead and motion with everything can i please get a motion to move 2.3 approval of lease agreement between the asusa unified school district and east san gabriel valley regional occupation with all the amendments and the ad hoc with the times discussed to move this forward so we have a first by board member career a second and we have a second by board member cruz gonzalez if we can please finalize our vote the shared screen is not there but what i can see right now it is a five zero so five um zero is what it is don't know what happened to the screen oh there it is great thank you thank you guys for taking the time um and and pulling this through and working it out now moving on on uh our agenda for today we'll move into curriculum and instruction 13.1 summer programming 2021 frank chang good evening board president arayanes members of the board superintendent ortega members of cabinet staff and the azusa unified community i am pleased to have the opportunity to present regarding our summer of extravaganza programs our partnership with stink together and citrus college will offer a variety of learning experiences for our students for the summer of 2021.
with me in the presentation if um applicable will be principal of glaston high school gabriel fernandez as well as director of special education aaron kramer i'm going to go ahead and present my screen which will be the slides that were in the attachment with the agenda hopefully you see the screen right now on the title page which is azusa unified think together citrus college and summer extravaganza um so we have a very enriching opportunity uh for students in partnership with think together you see the dates before you we will be running three full sessions 12 days each starting in on june 14th running all the way through august 3rd this was a conscious decision to ensure that our students would be able to have learning opportunities throughout the summer we we heard of lost learning we know about the need to get our students back into a classroom so the beauty of the collaboration of think together is the students will be working with teachers and staff in person we have these enhancement opportunities and support opportunities for students who are rising grades 1 through 12 which is essentially current grades kindergarten through 11.
we also have an opportunity for credit recovery and advancement for current grades 8 through 12. so tentatively our school sites for this upcoming summer will be for grades current grades k through 6 murray paramount hodge we will be combining dalton and lee but it would be actually at lee we will be combining magnolia and powell but actually at powell combining ellington and valley dale but actually add valley dale for current grades 7 through 12 we will be having a larger environment at our two high schools azusa high school in glaston two comprehensive high schools so our middle school offerings will actually be at the high schools i pass this now to um dr dana mitchell thank you so dr linda darlingham and recently wrote um an article that was published in forbes about how districts can accelerate learning as we build back better and she wrote about how districts must aim for reinvention to address equity and opportunity gaps not based on remediation but rather on what we know about how students learn effectively so there was five critical important evidence-based areas that she wrote about that support this notion the first one is about positive relationships and attachments are the essential ingredient that catalyzes healthy development and learning and enables resilience from trauma the second one was around learning is social emotional and academic and children learn best when they feel that they're safe affirmed and deeply engaged within a supportive community of learners the third idea was around learning enhance is enhanced by physical activity joy and opportunities about self-expression the fourth is around students perception of their own ability to influence learning all children are motivated to learn the next set of skills for which they are ready few are motivated by labels that rank them against others or communicate stigma and the fifth one children actively construct knowledge by connecting what they know to what they are learning within their cultural context creating those connections is key to learning one of the evidence-based strategies that darling hammond and many others indicate as high leverage that supports these evidence-based assertions is through project-based learning has many benefits it promotes students ability to transfer learning it increases the development of critical thinking and reasoning it's associated with improved motivation toward learning and it's also a high leverage strategy for our emergent bilingual and our international students as well supports academic language encourages collaboration and can scaffold the structure and the function of language and gives language relevance and context as well plus it's engaging and it's rigorous so our summer programming is built around project-based learning students in primary grades will be using the sobrato early academic language curriculum also known as seal which not only supports the development of academic language but also project-based in grades two through seven our students are going to engage in literacy-based project uh project-based learning that includes something called story design and story design combines stem and english language arts so essentially the students will be reading grade level literature they identify a conflict in the literary text and they identify a problem in the text that could have a practical physical or technological solution then they design and propose a solution incorporating stem topics they construct they test they improve a prototype of their solution and then they communicate that out to the class and present so um just want to give you a couple quick examples um in in the early grades one of the texts is is called after the fall how humpty dumpty got back up again and the students the project they design is an egg protection which if you remember from the last board meeting our engineering students that's exactly what they did right with origami math um they were able to design these protections so this is the same concept but it's for for younger learners another one another piece of literature is tale of despero and that project after they read the story the students actually design a lighting system so we've got all kinds of these examples where students are reading literature and then they get to do these really neat stem projects as well so in addition to the elementary grades uh k through uh seven we also have a summer bridge program um and that's going to use a pbl model um as well as high school courses as well and uh mr chang when we turn it back over to him he'll um talk about a little bit about that as well mr chang you want to go to the next slide thank you very much so during the summer programming think together is going to be working with us side by side so we'll be rotating groups of our literacy project-based learning and think together programming and think together is going to be providing enrichment courses and modules for all of our students it includes a fitness module it includes a visual performing arts module and it also includes a stem enrichment model as well and so um one of the the elementary stem enrichment model is called invention adventure and that is a very creative interdisciplinary stem course um and then the uh the stem course that the secondary students will get to participate in is called drone blocks and so the students are going to get drone kits and they're going to learn about programming and so that sounds like that's going to be super fun and engaging also i think together is going to offer um drivers education to the students yes who and that they work with um state farm and so state farm actually has a curriculum and so students can take that and that would count as their driver's education course before they you know do the behind the wheel thing so i now i'm going to go ahead and turn it over to back to mr chang thank you dr mitchell um so dr mitchell covered some of the high school offerings um but there is a threaded component um and the threaded component includes seo mindfulness avid inspire strategies the social awareness aspect project citizen we as dr mitchell had mentioned the stem aspect which is drone backs life skills dr mitchell had mentioned driver's ed so you can see that there are comprehensive offerings for the high school the secondary a critical piece for the high school program or the secondary program are the learning supports there will be credit recovery courses for students in the air in the core content areas and what will be very different and which aligns very well with pbl is that instead of just simply reviewing content we are looking for skills-based learning which will focus focus on overarching skills such as collaboration critical thinking and communication with specific focus on ela and eod standards of mathematical practice and science and engineering practices we'll go into a little more detail in the next slide but i want you to know that it's not just going to be a repeat of content we are going to be focused on the skills that are necessary and the standards outline those skills those overarching skills the students need to be successful not just in the content area but in life in general and that means how to justify your arguments with evidence that means how to cite your evidence as support those are some of the skill sets that are across all content areas we are also offering summer bridge programs for incoming ninth grade students these students will get both language arts and math support as well as some way to introduce them into the high school life success success skills necessary to adapt into the high school life they will actually be receiving incoming high school elective credit so the next slide is in relationship to the convergence of what i just mentioned the ela standards eod standards the science and engineering practices and the standards of mathematical practices these are the key elements dictated by our educational frameworks for the cde but as you can see there is a convergence of these skills across these disciplines and you might be wondering how the social studies play into this well social studies actually goes hand in hand oftentimes with the anchor standards for ela to further this discussion i'm actually going to bring on mr fernandez principal at glaston high school as he has been working with high tech high regarding project-based learning and so mr fernandez if you can talk a little bit more about how pbl and skills-based learning align all right uh thank you mr chain uh just real briefly we this week we've been doing some reflection on what we've done here in the distance learning model with project-based learning so far this year at gladstone and what what the teachers are finding is that the students are more excited more apt to engage in higher level thinking higher level application of their knowledge and skills and something that traditionally we see in summer school often becomes like a drill and kill approach to to work but with this model we're really looking to reignite passion for learning as we start to reimagine our kids coming back to school i think that's critically important for all of our learners and assistant unified to feel that love for learning again when we get to see our teachers in real life and pbl those of you who know the theory and the practice of it um it really is about making relevant rigorous authentic learning experiences for kids so that they want to perform at high levels and i think we're on the road to doing that with uh dr mitchell's leadership and mr chang's leadership thank you mr fernandez so um we have one last component it's actually the component that i want to talk about in regards to citrus college which is which will be entirely virtual and online this is another opportunity for our students there's two sessions it's for current grades nine through twelve and it's going to be focused on core academic courses and this will be for credit recovery and great improvement now as i mentioned previously think together will be in person but the six citrus college offerings will be entirely virtual and online in total we hope to service the opportunities are available to all of our students but we definitely hope to service as many students who are interested and we can always increase the capacity to ensure that our students are their needs are met so i've quite i've covered quite a bit in a short amount of time um i definitely am open to any kind of questions or any discussions that you might have yeah i have several questions um so the first question is really around um what's the slide slide number um seven right so with the summer bridge program um i see we talk about i really appreciate earlier you talk about accelerated learning right you put lunarlon hammond but then i see embedded in our approach math and reading intervention right so let's let's be true to if we're going to have a vision for accelerated learning let's embed that in the actual look for the opportunities that kids have and make sure that those are not only called accelerated learning but also designed to be accelerated learning and not intervention classes because i think and i think that's really important because it's too easy to fall back into just old patterns right so just one thing i want to highlight um i actually should have said this is this is really amazing just overall i think the approach it's exciting kids are going to get can get up to nine weeks of really amazing engagement so i want to say that first before i start i should have said that first apologies um the other piece i have a question about um um for either um dana or frank um or even gabriel so we talked about you talk about the high school courses are going to be um skills based right so uh could you talk a little bit more about that is that gonna you're talking about like competency based or is it or are you refer you're referencing the project-based learning approaches what is what is it that you're referencing when you say it's going to be skills based versus content learning which we normally do right with credit recovery all right so i can start and then i can definitely pass on to gabriel in regards to the pbl portion but this chart this diagram right here focuses on the specific skill sets within each of the content areas these are the overarching skills um that are for each framework might it be the math frameworks or the science frameworks or the ela stamps frameworks they all align with the overarching skill sets that we mentioned earlier of critical thinking communication and collaboration which also parallel very nicely with pbl and this is when i want to turn this over to gabriel pbl with the overarching skills um is a very very good parallel yeah so right thank you mr chang so one of the things that we're seeing at the high school right now with the the pbl work that our teachers and our students are doing is with that emphasis on skills for example our leadership team leadership students are partnering with our graphic arts teacher and partnering with avid teacher and they're working on the speaking skills they're working on video production skills all that goes into the communication with a lot of collaboration and critical thinking involved and again the level of effort that we're seeing out of kids the level uh the depth of of the work quality that we see it's not just the coverage because i know you've seen summer school before and you're just going through chapter after chapter after chapter just to cover standards and you're going at it very minimally without much depth that doesn't require much abstract thinking where our students really are engaged in authentic tasks they're something that would translate to real world applications after high school and i think that is intrinsically motivating to students to raise their achievement level and as uh sheila nina's saying um accelerate their learning because i think that's one of the main areas the focus is to see our students shine getting ready for 21 22.
so i think i heard you tell me that the skills are going to be demonstrated through project-based learning that align with um with the diagram that you have here that's is that that's that's what's going to be happening okay um my last question is around the citrus college piece right and i understand there are separate entities so i have two questions one are students um getting college level credit for this or this just high school credit and then two is this are these virtual opportunities going to be aligned to that vision you just outlined around around being engaging and project-based or just very much um going to be more like we normally see in summer credit recovery right so these are non-credit classes for high school credit recovery so they will be getting credit recovery for graduation purposes of high school um so the curriculum is actually varied um we are going to open it up to both the apex online curriculum as well as the current curriculum that the teachers are using strictly because of the familiarity last year we had strictly apex online for credit recovery but this year with our teachers now much more adept at online virtual learning they will be actually able to embed our current curriculum to these virtual opportunities and so it will be a variety there will be a variety and because it is more virtual um it will be synchronous asynchronous as well as a very specified time for direct instruction thank you and then my last question dana is around special ed right so you know often during the summer we see um we have classes because because of for everything with ieps there that we have to give we have to give them instructions throughout the school year so where are those students going to be are they going to be in those separate classrooms um which you know when i walked through them in previous summers right it's sort of disappointing to see that and then see what the stem kids were getting right or where are they going to be integrated into the summer learning where are they going to end up so yes so we have extended school year right and the students who are in extended school year are going to have the same exact program that everyone is having right so they're going to get the project based they're going to have um the think together enrichment all of all of it yeah so i just have a question regarding um so in person so the parents are not having um options of doing distant learning at all during summer school the option for distance learning will be only at the high school credit recovery and greater improvement with collaboration at citrus college this is yeah that's just okay well that was my okay so they don't have an option to elementary do not have an option to um distant learning and then my second question was uh think together is that only in the morning and the afternoon or is that during the whole day um what what thing together is offering is this only an after school program no it's actually the entire program will be from eight to three every single day um the only day that we will be taking off is july 5th to respect the july 4th holiday yeah oh okay thank you i'll just add that this is um this we've designed this very differently we've worked with think and they've been just tremendous partners to really you know meet our needs but what we're excited about is to be able to offer this concurrently right so one group will be with a credential teacher doing project-based learning another group will be doing the you know the stem activities or the physical education of the vapa and then they switch right so the classes will be a little smaller but then they'll have an opportunity just throughout the day from you know to be able to engage in this and so we're excited about it thank you and so i actually just had some some questions um for drivers education i think that's that's a great partnership um for for high school students and what age can these students you know participate in this class you know it's been so long so i don't want to misspeak um ryerson so i can definitely find out and then get back to you on that okay last i remember for me it's been a long time as well but um having an 18 year old i believe it was 15 and a half so so can you please just check on that and and make sure that our students that are around that age get you know the notice the and the um you know the um availability of them to be able to register for for that class and how does that impact um ecp students as as well if if um if that if they can go ahead and take that class um uh how looking at how we have um you know group a group b right now um with safety protocol ppe so are we looking to to also i i know that we're opening up um state is opening up june 15th but what does that look like in our classroom right we're inviting students to come what is the ratio you know i didn't i didn't hear any of that so yeah great question and right now it's 20 to one and so that's what the that's we're going with the guidance right now um but that could change right i mean it could change uh depending on if the you know if the protocols uh you know if they do change are we gonna um ask them to to still wear the mask oh yes yes thank you so much i'm you know i apologize for not talking about that but absolutely right so we're still we're still practicing you know distancing in the classroom as it relates to the protocol mask you know masks hand sanitizing all of that yes absolutely okay great and um when can parents start deciding if they want to bring their kids today it went out to i know it yeah it went out today so we're excited we're starting to registering uh registering students so um it is in peachjar and i believe it went out in the um parent communication as well so and it'll be on social media and then we'll also be just you know doing this frequently to let you know families know um and then also it's going the information goes to the sites and so we have our principals and community liaisons you know it's just encouraging parents um you know all are welcome to fill the application they can choose all three sessions they can choose one session yep sure can it wow i want to go and it sounds like it's going to be great yeah we're super we're super excited and i'm just really thankful to to uh to the ed services team um to uh you know mr chang for um you know for overseeing and just facilitating this um and everybody on the ad services team and also just i'd like to say thank you to to principal fernandez um the work that they've been doing at glaston high school with this pilot with project-based learning um has truly been inspirational um we've been able to see you know some of the projects and i'm just very appreciative of the work that the teachers are doing at class on high with us and paving the way um because this is this is very exciting work for us to be able to do district wide and we're looking forward to it and just one one last thing just just to be clear um uh drinking fountains i i and i'm bringing this up because it's gonna be warm right i mean so it's important that you know well we still have that bring your own bottle i know for a fact that some um schools have actually given students right now um water bottles and so they you know and they're writing their names on it and they can clip them on there and so i i think that's great and so um you know kind of if they can just let the parents know so just just they're aware it's going to be hot in the summer so it's a great idea [Music] it's not determined on the capacity of the classroom like before like how many um this fit in one not necessarily anymore actually right now with the 20 to one that's the recommendation for with think together that's what they um that's what their protocols when you are working in um like as an after school like a you know a service provider um it's 20 to one so it just recently went up i think maybe a couple weeks ago it might have been 15.