Saliva and Naraseli and everyone. We hope that we continue this mission and make the best out of it. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, President of DAC, Sophia Romero. >> Presidente. No present. That's right. All right. All right. So, um, and just as an FYI, we also new new for this, um, incoming board is that they're going to receive support from all of the ex, uh, outgoing, uh, board members are going to remain, two of them are are coming back in different positions and then the other three are going to be remaining as um, mentors, coaches to continue to support for one additional year. So, we're excited about that as well. And, uh, again, on behalf of the DAC board, thank you for your continued support, guidance, and capacity in building opportunities. And we want to launch you guys out. Again going back to our why and and a reminder from Simon Synynic that working hard for something we don't care about is called stress.
But, that's typically our manner is to to dig and find the curriculum. Often, it's principal to principal and I remember doing this as Appomattox High School principal, calling a principal from another system somewhere, non-public school, and getting a sense of okay, can you give me a um give me the background and send me the curriculum so I can share with my department chair. And then we come to an agreement that way. How does How does it work for students who are coming from home school? Same. They have to send us some kind of They have to be using some kind of an a curriculum. And so, we ask them to provide that for us so that we can get a sense of what is the material they've been using to back up this claim of content. Okay. Thank you. 28 is uh that is my wheelhouse.
Um, I love Clifton Public Schools and the better schools that we have, uh, the better the community is as a whole. Um, and then the last thing is, you know, I, like Jenna, was also an honors AP student. Um, but this budget really helped out the main bulk of our students, which are our general education students. you know, we might have not have had an AP class. Um, but I can't stand to see that them being in larger class sizes. Um, it puts stress not only on them but on the teachers as well. So, I respect all my colleagues here. Uh, thank you all for your time and to the public. Thank you very much as well. Be kind, be safe, have a great night. >> Thank you, Commissioner Rexel, Commissioner Ciano. >> Thank you so much. I'm going to throw this in my comments.
Um however working hard for something we love is called passion. So there's passion all in this board and all in our obviously everyone that's up on the dis our greater community and all that support all those that support our our students and families. So thank you for your passion and we look forward to continuing this work. QUESTIONS AT THIS POINT? THANK YOU. SO, thank you for your presentation, Miss Chavar Arcelli, and all of our parents, the Zlac board, uh, current and, uh, future. Um, I speak um, I'll say on behalf of the board, um, as we all know this, we don't do this work alone, right? And just having you being part of the board and contribute to this the success of our um, our our our English language learner students. um as you saw as we saw some of the increase in A through G completement graduation rate uh that's all due to your work on the board and being able to support our students throughout that.
Uh and it has to do with students with disabilities, um differentiated differential differential graduation and competency standards for students with disability. Um it is particularly close to my heart because that's >> [clears throat] >> that's my world. >> Yeah. Um at what point in their academic journey do you do you have this conversation about they're going to have the differential graduation as opposed to the regular graduation? As late as possible. As As late as possible, right? Cuz in our minds, everyone's graduation track as long as that's still possible. And then at at some point it could be that we determine that's no longer perhaps and it it sometimes happens right around a second attempt at math one. And so we start thinking, okay, maybe we need to make a different pathway. But we don't make that decision early and we are careful about that, particularly at that 8 and 9 transition.
Mr. Uchi, note my extension on check 227175. The whole thing threw me off when we split the vote for Tom to Tomahawk Promotions. Uh, good evening everyone as always. Thank you to the speakers. Thank you Jenna for the excellent student rep report. Special education week holds a very personal meaning for me. As you all know, when I was in school, I struggled the district struggled to identify my specific learning needs and place me in special ed. While my parents fought to get me out of that placement, I am I will always be profoundly thankful for the teachers who guided me through that time. I always shout out Mr. Pharaoh and both Mr. Mr. Enzaldi is the principal and the teacher. They took the time to truly care and helped me find my way. I couldn't be more grateful for their patience. Recently, I had the privilege of attending school 16's career day.
So thank you so much on behalf of the board for all of your work. >> I'll open to questions if we have any >> M. I don't have any questions. I just want to thank the outgoing board for all of your help, your dedication and as Mr. Guero said, uh, we wouldn't be moving in the right direction if it wasn't for your support, dedication, and the time, effort that you put into this. So, uh, thank you for the outgoing board and welcome the in incoming board. We know you'll continue on in the same direction. So, thank you. >> Quick, Miss >> Quick comment, uh, thank you so much for all of your service these last two years and congratulations to the new board. Uh I have a similar question to uh what trustee Hosshi shared with the previous presentation with regards to vertical integr uh vertical alignment.
A great number of our special ed students come in as grad track. And then we make it a different decision later through the IEP process as a team. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Does anyone at the dais have a problem with me making a motion to approve those all of Trustee Akparawa's as one motion? Okay. So, I'm going to go ahead and make the motion that we approve consent item 13, 17, 22, 26, 27, and 28. Can I get a second? A second. I will I made the motion. All right. I'll second. All right, we'll take the vote via roll call. Mrs. Longshore? Aye. Mr. Rawley? Aye. Mrs. Tucker? Aye. Ms. Akparawa? Aye. And Ms. Buchanan? Aye. All right. Item M, closing items. Future items. Do any members of the board have any future items? I do. Okay. I would like to request a presentation on the possibility of I'm calling it a beta program of doing a late start with a small number of student and teacher volunteers.
It was a fantastic experience. The students asked such thoughtful, engaging questions. It was abundantly clear how bright their futures are. I went to the talent show. That was amazing. There were students and staff performing and that was just a really good time. Uh I also had a great time at the Boys and Girls Club Gala. Uh the work they do for our community and our district is incredible and they certainly know how to throw a party. I was deeply proud to stand beside my fellow board members when the Clifton Board of Education was honored. Thank you to the club for that recognition. One of my absolute favorite traditions is watching our fifth graders along with staff and chaperones leave for Washington DC. Seeing the proud parents wave tearful goodbyes as their children head off for the first time in most cases. I hold that dear.
Um as you know I was in Anaheim Elementary for eight amazing years and uh am very proud to have you know ensured that we have uh dual language immersion programs in all 24 of the elementary schools. Uh my question is with regards to how uh or I mean it's been a whole year since I was on the board. Um, do you collaborate with Anaheim Elementary, their DAC groups? Um, what is some of the future plans with regards to vertical integration and our dual language immersion programs? Can you speak a little bit about on that? >> Um, I would you want me to speak on your behalf? Okay. So, so yes, that that is unless someone wanted like to come out and and uh come up and and and speak to that a little bit, but that is one of the goals for for this coming year.
Um I realize that I'm the what but my what would be seen if perhaps we would have two volunteer teachers maybe elective one elective two elective or maybe elective and physical education teachers that would be interested in starting late possibly two periods in and it would be the possibility of having about 64 approximately depending on class size volunteer students grades 10 to 12 to participate because transportation would possibly be uh problematic um they would need families to transport for this. Uh since administrators are on campus while students are present this should not be an issue for extra coverage and as we continue to ensure that we support all our students we could collect data on the participants with regard to their improved attendance grades and discipline with this. I know that Mr. Peak has provided a lot of data supporting a late start and has been a strong and eloquent advocate for a late start and perhaps seeing if a beta program might be feasible to put into place because it's a smaller amount and using volunteers I would suggest possibly Granite Hills to see.
Watching them return is just as thrilling. And I always get to greet Judy when she comes back with a hug, which is nice. She's like a kid coming back and I'm like a parent. It's awesome. Um, please know I'm going to speak about this. I am committed to the district. That being said, you know, our local taxes are affecting the community on a daily basis. It's incredibly difficult to watch. This was the first year I was going to go up on the budget. I just couldn't go up 6%. People are really struggling. However, I respect my fellow commissioners and the decisions they have to make. We don't always agree and honestly we shouldn't always agree, but I know every person on this board acts with the best of intentions. On a much heavier note, I want to extend my sincerest sincerest condolences to the Papawa Witch family.
We have um quite a few districts that feed into us, right? I believe we have five. Okay, we have five. So, so obviously that, you know, we we need to do a better job of reaching out um and making those connections for our board and and uh and so our plan is to do that and I believe that was reflected in in the um recommendations for for this coming year is to do that type of outreach as well. >> Okay, nice. And also, first of all, congratulations with regards to the suspension rates. I'm really curious how you did that. You know, I remember going to elementary school, not high school, and you know, I was on an emergent bilingual myself, you know, speaking Tagalog. And I know that a lot of people who were coming, you know, from the Philippines around that time, like often times I try to help them speak in, you know, uh, you know, I try to help them since I was bilingual and they didn't know and I would often times get in trouble with my my teacher, right?
That's my what? And I would leave the how to our amazing staff. Thank you. You're asking for a presentation on that, what it would take to propose something like that? Are you asking for that to start for next year, for us to work towards that for the fall? Cuz that's really what I had indicated when we talked about this um months ago, that I was more than willing to look at some options, but it would take us a a school year to do that, to get people involved. Options would be great. I don't need a presentation if this is something that you're working for. I just it's just been on my heart a lot if there's something that we could do with and I know how much financially it would be to do a complete change, but just maybe to see if there's some way to do that and then follow up with results on on things like attendance and But for clarification, are you asking for us to try to do that as a startup for this coming school year?
Bob was a wonderful man. I was proud to call him a friend. I'm going to miss our conversations about the city, the pantries, and everything in between. It's a tremendous loss for Clifton and really for everybody. Great people like Bob are incredibly rare. I'll always remember him with immense fondness. Lastly, I want to wish everyone a happy Mother's Day to everyone celebrating, especially my own mom who had her hands full. But I'm proud to say out of three kids, I'm proud to be the third favorite. I'm just kidding. Maybe I'm probably the third or fourth. I hope you all have a wonderful week. Take care of yourselves, your fur babies, and each other. >> Thank you, Commissioner Seattle. Commissioner Suarez. >> Thank you, President Basford. Uh, good evening, everyone. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week. I believe in my heart that teaching is not only an honorable profession but one of the most challenging and critical to the functioning of a democratic society.
Because they' be like, "Oh, you're cheating or something." No, I'm just trying to help. So, how were we able to get our data from 6.4 to 3.0 in the last three years? Absolutely. That's a great question. I think that goes back to again the uh the in the spirit of continuous improvement the you know working with our DWAG board to ensure that we're monitoring not only the data but then also supporting the sites and working with the sites to ensure that we're you know implementing different strategies and and um um you know um programs to help with reducing suspensions. But I I do believe that it goes back to a lot of the work around um the student experience in the classroom connected back to engagement, instruction, um culture, climate, belonging, where you know, we have one of our teachers here um Miss Slang over here to my right who is an ELD teacher, department cher at Anaheim.
If you could, that would be amazing. I don't know if >> I don't believe I can. That's why I'm saying that. We're within a few weeks of us shutting down and not having access. So, I won't have access to people to to work through that. But I'm more than willing to work on that process for the 2027-2028 school year. That was my goal all along was to look at some options for students that wanted Elite Start. I don't know that it's feasible, but I'm more than willing to try. >> [clears throat] >> I understand and I don't know if it's feasible either, but I figure if it is you'll be able to work magic and make it happen. Okay. As long as I know that the timeline isn't set and you're asking for the fall. I would love it if it could be for the fall for Mr.
Thank you to all of our teachers for the tremendous work you do every single day. Thank you. Um and what a great event at the Boys and Girls Gala. Um it I really appreciate working with all of my colleagues here in the deis and it was really an honor to be recognized and to celebrate um and to see past board members. It was a really nice time. Um and then just in general, I really appreciate our school district. I was able to attend Project Unifi talent show and it was truly a joy. I brought my mom and she and I were smiling and clapping the entire time. Great work to the staff and students for making the talent show such a wonderful time. And today at school 8, I had I was a volunteer for their field day and it was so grateful that the threat of rain turned into a perfect spring sunny day.
And I know that for those of you that have visited her classroom to to do their student soap boxes, you see a high level of engagement, a high a very welcoming environment where students feel seen, valued, heard. So when you're working on that collectively as a district, then you're g you're going to see that impact attendance, suspension rates, A throughG, graduation, DFS. So it's a it's obviously the collective work of of not starting with our DAC board and our parents and our ELACs at the sites and then obviously with our staff and teachers and support staff that are working back at the sites closely with our students and families. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> ladies. I I'm looking in the front two rows here and um I love the representation that we have at all school sites throughout our district. So, thank you for that.
Peak, but um I know that's difficult. It sounds like He's not here, but it sounds like Mr. Peak is ready to do that. He's got a first period that he has optional. So, we'll work through that with others. We are really trying to stay away from students not taking first period off. Um but we certainly are more than willing to look at um the options of >> uh two through seventh period to accommodate students that don't need transportation, which I that still causes some issues for me because there are kids that might want to do it that can't. And so, um we will we will bring forward it's going to take some surveying and some information from students that have an interest as well as the adults and uh I think negotiations with our um groups, so. Okay. Thank you very much for considering Absolutely.