Um, and that has increased year-over-year significantly to Clifton. So, our costs have to have to rise. We have to provide additional resources. We have to provide space for these classrooms. They do take more space than than a standard classroom as well. So, I look at this increase not only as just this one-year situation, but something that we need to we need to help keep us fiscally responsible in the future as well. We're going to pay this money sometime or other. Um, and I think that effect is just going to multiply as time goes on if we don't do what what we need to now. Um, also and and believe me, I under I'm a taxpayer. I have relatives, family in town, they're taxpayers. I understand the impact it has to the taxpayer. But when I make this decision on how I'm going to place my vote, I come back to our code of ethics as a board member.
And then on slide 69 we uh see that we are targeting those training opportunities. >> Yeah. And also when it comes to the training um and opportunities for staff, um it was indicated in one of the surveys that while we're making progress, our staff still wants to feel heard and be more a part of the decision- making. And so there are two ways that we're going to combat this. And the first way is we are going to apply for um a professional development waiver for this next school year, which we're in the process of. Um, and that's the ED flex. Um, I think it's 1003 waiver. Is that correct? Um, and then these, you know, having those days built into the the year for our staff to do professional development will also help with subs and and helping with the kids. And then another thing that we're also going to do is actually Dr.
Magnolia High School went global on April 30th, welcoming 10 visitors from France. Their ambassadors paired with these gr guests for a full American high school life culminating with an all-star basketball game in a packed gym. It was truly an epic moment. In the realm of civic duty, South Junior High continues to set the state standard. Anaheim City Council member Moss recognized South Junior High for receiving the 2026 Civic Learning Award of Excellence. This is the highest recognition in California, and South was only one of three schools statewide to receive this award. South students were specifically praised for their advocacy regarding local issues like mental health and community safety. Finally, Cypress High School continues to prove what it means to be Cypress strong. The Chalk Foundation recently recognized Cypress during the 2026 Centurion Games for raising over $26,000 for children's health since 2021. In regards to career readiness, after data showed a high interest in the arts, Cypress partnered with the Boys and Girls Club to host a performing arts career panel where 80% of the participants reported an increase in confidence in pursuing their professional dreams.
Um adult educate Well, let me then go over to Apple Valley High School. Um well, it was shared earlier. We are proud of uh the Construction Industry Educational Foundation design build competition. 585 students participated. 39 teams. And this is not just high school students. Um first place People's Choice Award went to the shed that looks like a dog from Apple Valley High School. It's amazing. So, um So, I think those two things go very nicely together. Um our adult education program went through their first WASC cycle and they've been granted a six-year WASC accreditation and they will have a mid-term visit, but that's amazing that they um first time around. And then, um we've had lots of celebrations already this month and a lot that were coming. Um, tonight's retirees, Teresa, Tammy, Sherry, Martis, Dennis, Kent, Holly, um hard for me to say Holly and not just Profe, um Earl, Cheryl, and Cynthia.
And the second code of ethics and our board member says, "I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability, race, creed, sex, or social standing. That's my priority and my vote will be to support the 6% budget." >> Thank you, Commissioner Paris. Uh, Commissioner Estret Barnes. Um, similarly to what Ellen's saying, just from 2019 to 2021, the district we voted 0% and about 1% for the two years prior. So that's five years of just being chronically underfunded as a district. So, um, I do also look as an opportunity with the with the 4% that we were able to catch up and and still be playing catch-up for those five years of underfunding our district. So, that's just my contribution. >> Thank you, Commissioner Est.
Johnson just sent out this week. Um, we're going to invite staff to join us on the strategic plan and kind of build leaders within our corporation. We have lots of young teachers. um and we want to, you know, get them involved and get them knowing the inner workings of our corporation. So, we're super excited about that. >> Another area that we looked at was um student enrollment. So, we were losing students and I think if the next slide would show you maybe one more uh so that we are losing uh students to online programming. Um our our way to kind of combat that this year was we started our Panther online academy uh for K through eight. Um moving forward we're looking at potentially expanding that program to high school, seeing if that's effective that's effective or not. Um but looking at ways to keep students enrolled in James County schools.
From international exchanges to life-changing medical inventions, these updates reflect our collective commitment to elevating student voice and celebrating achievement. Thank you. >> Thank you. We have no uh PTSA report. So I'll be moving on to 7.5 board of trustees report. I will start with Mr. O'Neal. >> I will I will first of all I just want to say thank you for moving this forward to this time slot. So I appreciate that. I don't know about the rest of the the board but I appreciate it. Um I wanted to on my list of a few things I wanted to echo what Dr. SI said uh congratulating the eighth grade student at Oxford Academy for their fantastic um uh creation of the AA powered eye drift detection and correction system. If if that's the type of student that our education system can can produce uh coming out of our district, boy are we in great shape for the for the future.
Uh they have made lasting impressions in my heart and the work that they've done. Profe was one of my children's teachers um in high school. Uh the Killians just it's going to be strange to not have a Killian at Apple Valley High School um after all of these years and and I I said to Sherry when she came through, I remember the day we hired her. Um, she was coming from private education to public and what a what a win for us to have her in in kindergarten and um starting with those really young students. And then Tammy and I worked very closely together over the years. So, um there's just a bond and it's hard when people um commit their lives to this profession and then they go off and get to retire and do the wonderful things that they're going to do in retirement, but they're appreciated.
Commissioner Rexel. >> Sure. I'll take this time to make my final comments on this. Um, I want the public to be aware too that I don't think anyone that'll be voting yes is happily doing so. Um, and because of that, we've also gotten to work. The legislative committee has just sent emails out, uh, Vice President Santiago just sent the email out to three of our state legislators because we want to bring them to the table as well to find a resolution to this medical health insurance issue because we can't keep putting it on the taxpayer and and we know that. Um, so we hope to work with them on that and a couple other things. I was speaking to Commissioner Kenova earlier. Uh, we thought of maybe putting together like a resolution for the county of people in of the districts in Pose County because it's an issue that all of us are experiencing.
The other thing that we do is we use egenuity for middle school and high school credit recovery. So we're finding different pathways for our students to to earn those credits. And then uh also the the possible um micro school micro school study at looking to see the effectiveness of micro schools and if that's something we want to pursue in Jennings County. >> In addition um we definitely want to look at the uh staff compensation and benefits with this. Um it's certainly a critical role in recruitment and re and uh retention. So to attract and keep high quality staff, we're going to have to remain competitive um with the surrounding districts um not only salary wise but benefits wise, working conditions and and opportunities for professional growth. So investing in our staff is is certainly ultimately u an investment in our students. >> And then finally, our last piece was marketing and community engagement.
So looking forward to hearing about more students doing the same type of thing. Um, I attended a Walker Junior High paint night where the students and parents had fun learning how to paint. So, it looks so simple, but I left before I got my hands dirty. >> Um, attended the Anaheim Kana Scholarship presentation at Gilbert High School yesterday where uh 10 students were awarded up to $1500 each. So, it's $1,000 immediately and $500 if they come back in six months and continue their education, some form of education, college, trade school, whatever. Um, so they could get up to, like I said, $1,500 each. Um, excuse me. I attended the the Walker Sunrise breakfast this morning, which excuse me, yesterday morning or was it this morning? God, I can't remember. It was yesterday morning. Um, it there were a lot of students out there. They're very excited and uh and the food was furnished by our own staff here and it was a delicious pancake breakfast and with all sorts of toppings to go on it.
Um, this week we did a milestone that we haven't done often. Um, we gave a 40-year Apple at Rancho Verde School to Lester Tompkins, um the custodian who started there when he was 18 years old. And he's never left Rancho Verde. There's a lot of people that might get a 40-year Apple. There's some, not a lot. But they don't stay at the same school, they don't stay doing the same work, and Lester has done that. Um he says he's got a few more years in him, and we appreciate that. Uh but I think those are the the things that we have to reflect on and realize are amazing. Um as we're recognizing within our own district the outstanding service that people have provided. Um Miss Okpara was named outstanding special education university supervisor from Cal State San Bernardino, so congratulations on that. And I I appreciate Trustee Checker talking about all of the groups that we're recognizing this month.
So, we're doing the work on our end as well so that this is not a constant issue. Um, and students and our staff certainly shouldn't have to pay the price because of it. Um, so we're doing our work on our end. Um, you know, when I was at the high school, I took a lot of these elective classes. Um, I know some of our computer science, our STEM courses, our business classes, marketing, accounting, our performing arts students. A lot of us on the board like to attend the musicals and and our different ceremonies. Um, you know, and a two but a 2% budget increase and even a 4% budget increase, to my understanding, puts all of that at risk. Um, and students should be able to choose from a range of classes similarly to how to how I did. um the fact that our special education population requires intensive support that should not be optional or a flexible choice.
And like we want to do a better job at showing the good that's going on at James County Schools. And so we There are lots of things that are doing that are going well, but we don't think we do a good job at sharing that. And so, we want to improve communication um because we think if we improve communication about our school system, it's going to increase student enrollment, we can strengthen our partnerships with our families and the community, and then we can attract and retain quality educators. And so, we just think we need to tell our story more effectively and just show all the good for Jennings County schools. So in closing, operational effectiveness is about aligning our people, systems, and resources to the best support students to best support student success. U we do face challenges, uh but we're looking for clear strategies and opportunities for growth.
So, it was very delicious. Um, I also attended I'm on a a scholarship foundation for Kennedy High School and we awarded this year $23,750 to 17 students and this year marks it's our 30th year and we with that uh 23,000 we achieved uh giving away $300,000 to date. So we look forward to net you know getting up to $600,000 someday. Um, I want to uh uh congratulate the future graduates. You have two weeks before you're you're walking. That's that's so exciting because this year has gone by so fast. It's like we just started. I want to thank staff and uh everybody that works for the district in helping these students get to this point in graduating. Uh they the students don't do it by themselves. and I want to wish everybody uh a great two weeks before graduation and then a great summer past that.
Um specifically teachers, classified, nurses, administrators, and co-administrators. Because without all of those roles, those students that's why we're here. We're here for all of those kids, and we need every single role um to make that happen. But there's one to add to that. And I can't believe you didn't get it, because you have them all. This Friday, tomorrow, is Communicators' Day. And so I just want to make sure that um we realize that we have a single role in this district. Um Zoe Weidner, who does a lot to communicate out positive things that happen in each and every classroom and on campuses and throughout the district. And so um she's not here right now. I wish I had had the opportunity earlier to say this publicly while she was here, but she'll hear it later. And then finally, our staff appreciation ice cream social is next week, and we hope everybody will come out and have a scoop and enjoy, and if the weather will hold, it'll be worth it.
At lower funding levels, we simply do not have enough staffing to meet those needs. And we make it work, but also then at the expense of many of our general ed population students. Um at 6% we're able to have a behaviorist fill the two self-contained classrooms, the inclusion classrooms, and two resource room positions. Um, it's easy to hear the noise of those who do not want to raise the tax and it's understandable. But just as loud as that is the cry of parents who want opportunities for their children. Um, is the staff who want support and I can only speak for myself in saying that with support it doesn't just come in words, but it comes in making hard choices like this one. Um, I also consciously can't attend our musicals, our programs after this knowing that I voted that those all could have been in jeopardy.
>> Thank you. So in this section, um I'm going to highlight a couple areas. Marketing, I know that's one that we've talked about, um often in the past. It does keep bubbling up for us. Um and the marketing story that we need to tell or we need to share that the the committee felt were the successes and experiences, but they really loved from the personal level um of what's an experience like for a high schooler in the welding pathway, what's the experience like for a kindergartener or a preschool program. Um so a lot of innovative ideas and things that we can look at um with that portion. We also did a lot of study and I know you have um we have together in the past on the impact of online corporations um in the state and that's what this data reflects. This is on the transfer report for all corporations in the state.
Thank you. >> Thank you, Trusty McCullis. >> Thank you, Madame President. April 10th, I uh was actually a guest speaker at one via class at Savannah High School. April 11th, uh I attended Lewa's community garage sale. And then following that, I stopped by the anti-hate summit hosted by AUHSD Social Justice Collective. On April 15th, I went to uh ah I had another uh visit uh thank you Gary Brown uh to Laera High School. It was great to see my old alma mater and all the great renovations over there and future projects. I also went attended Gilbert's uh open house and capstone which was really cool. And they also had the grand opening of their um their um the music uh studio. Yes. The first in our district. So cool. Um, and then, oh, I saw another amazing theatrical performance by Savannah's Theater, Starmites. Great job, y'all.
Right? Thank you. >> [applause] >> Do we have any public comments? Yes, there is one this evening. Okay. As provided on our public comment card, speakers are requested to limit comments to a maximum of 3 minutes. If more than one person wishes to speak on the same topic, subsequent speakers should limit their remarks to new information only. Public comment shall be limited to a maximum of 20 minutes per item. Kian Peak. >> [applause] >> Sup party people? Oh, it's this one? All right, sup party people. Uh good evening Superintendent Nelson, members of the board, those in attendance and watching. Shout out to the girls that are swimming CIF. Hey, congrats on 13th overall. Hopefully, I can join them next year uh in the 100 breast. I just got to cut 1 second for consideration. Uh but, man, D4 is hard. Um today, I've been cheering them on, preparing for the end of the year.