001All right, welcome everybody. We got an exciting night tonight. Um, and welcome everyone at home uh live streaming this. And I'm going to now call to order the December 10th, 2025 regular meeting of the board of education with all board members present. We will begin with A2, our flag ceremony. The Canyon Hills High School Navy or JRTC color guard will present the colors. Please stand for the presentation of the colors. Forward center guard or dirt arms. colors. Ready, cut, present. Colors. >> Trusty Bos, would you like to lead us? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Colors ready, cuts ready, cut arms. Right face forward. March. >> All right, please
002be seated. All right, we now move to A3, the land acknowledgement. The land acknowledgement is a traditional custom that dates back centuries in many native communities and nations. Our land acknowledgement was developed in partnership with local Kumi leaders. Students from the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts prepared the following video to show our respect for the Kumi people who are the original stewards of the land our school district now occupies. We respectfully acknowledge that the Kumi people are the original inhabitants and caretakers of these lands now known as San Diego. Despite the attempted genocide and ongoing impacts of colonization, the Kumi spirit remains unbroken and their traditions continue to thrive as they carry the memories of their ancestors who bravely resisted cultural erasure and fought to protect their land and way of life.
003>> In honoring their legacy, we pledge to uphold their cultural heritage and right to safeguard their sacred connection to the land for future generations. >> With gratitude and strength, we stand with the Kumi, embracing the past while forging a brighter tomorrow. All right. Thank you. Uh we uh will now move to item B, adoption of the agenda. We obviously have a very full agenda this evening. uh and we'll consider a variety of items including charter petition renewals, the first interim budget report and associated financial audits, 2026 legislative priorities, and proposals to negotiate term sheets for joint occupancy at five district sites. Um I'm going to propose some um changes to um to facilitate uh proceedings tonight uh given the nature of some of the the nature of the public comment and the the quantity of
004com comments and we're going to move some of items back and some of my items forward. So if you'll uh bear with me on this right now, I'm going to do that. I want to make sure that uh we're going to get this right because it doesn't look like my comments are exactly right. So this is >> a first. So okay. So um what I propose to do is move up our financial audit reports. uh our auditor has um some constraints uh of flight actually. So we we need to get that up front. And then we have our charter petitions which are sort of distinct from our of our for our normal topics and uh we'll get those out of the way. That would be items uh G1, G2, and H13. Those are all related
005to charter school petitions. Um and uh we'll leave the student uh student advisory presentation because we have some students here. We'll leave that where it where where it is. And then with regard to H8 through H12, we're going to take move forward H9 10 move forward H9 10 11 and 12 and then right behind that put H8 um given that that that is the bulk of our comment tonight. So we'll try to get through some of the some what are apparent from public comment public signups are some of the easier items. Um and then we'll uh follow that with H8. Are we following? Is board following? Okay. And then after that we will come with our traditional board which is um which will be um the remainder of the agenda as well as H14 the
006annual election of officers. Um is that clear to you Marty? At least I know I know what I'm saying but okay. Um, we're going to land this plane. Uh, so, uh, I would entertain that that motion. Uh, uh, Trusty Barrera with a motion and trustee H or Vice President Barrera with a motion and trustee Hazen with a second. We have a motion in a second. Um, we will move to a vote. Student trustees, please vote. All other board members, please vote. Trusty Hazen. Oh, okay. Uh that motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. All right, we have ourselves an agenda and I believe that places us uh right out of the gate um with the student advisory board C1 uh report from a student advisory board member Aaron Whitmer and I believe you have another
007another participant as well. >> Um I would like to invite up Aaron and Katherine. So, while they're walking up here, I just wanted to give a little overview of what the student advisory board has been doing. So, as many of you know, um Ashley and I have been really collaborating with the student advisory board to enhance student communications. And one of our key focus areas we've been working on is developing a public service announcement um to help push out the anti- vaping campaign as well as creating materials to increase awareness about the student advisory board. And through that a significant part of this initiative was in involved in working with um our student engagement intern and um our other intern from San Diego Met. So, I'm not going to introduce them because I'm going to
008let them do that themselves, but please welcome Katherine and Aaron. Hello all. My name is Aaron. Okay. My name is Aaron Whitmer and I'm a senior at the SDMet. Um, this semester I'm interning with the Office of Investigations, Compliance, and Accountability, the ICA. Um, my internship goal this semester was to increase student access to ICA resources, information as well as district policies. Um, so with this, I talked with previous ICA interns, board members, and the student advisory board members. Um, and I found that many students were unaware of district resources as well as key policies. Um, specifically the policies including sexual harassment, discrimination, and misconduct. part of my project um was to improve the student know your rights page. Um this page is a central um page with a lot of student rights, sorry. Um
009and so I wanted to update this content and make it more accessible. So while working on this page, I realized um a need for a one-stop shop for students to have access to relevant information as well as policies. Um, so there were several different pages with great information, but I wanted all the links to be in one place um that was easy accessible for students. So I collaborated with the student board members to integrate the centralized resources um with all the links on this student hub. So um I partnered with as well the district communications office um to get the student hub on certain high school websites. So, as we can see here, um this big red or purple, um student hub button is on the top corner of the district website. And this is
010my updated, um easier to read, more accessible, um site in the blue. Um and then we also got the student hub button on the San Diego Met High School, UC High School, and Mission Bay High School websites as seen right here in the yellow. Um this is example from the Met High School website. And so it's now on these websites and I hope that it will get placed on the rest of district um school websites in the future. Okay. Hi, my name is Katherine. I am the student engagement intern for the secondary office. So I've been working with Aaron throughout the semester on her um on the student updating the student hub. Um I'm working with our ASP presidents throughout the district to get the student hub button to be placed on all their websites.
011as well. As Ashley and Alina mentioned, we have been working a lot with our student advisory board to promote the um anti-aping campaign that has been proposed by by um Trusty Boso and Trusty Ordaz about um we've been working on promoting it, making sure students know that there is an opportunity for them to promote their videos and create posters and campa for our for this campaign. We have also been working on um creating a video for our student advisory board to promote it for schools that we are currently missing a couple schools that do not have students to represent on the student advisory board and we're working to to have them on our board as well. I've been working a lot on updating this website, expanding our resources and working on updating the student engagement
012website which is also linked in the student hub. Um, it's almost completely updated and I've been working on posting more on this SC the students SDSUSD Instagram page as well. >> Thank you so much for having us. >> Thank you. Well done. Is that trustees ordas and when is that the totality of the Okay, great. Thank you so much. Um, and I in my haste I neglected to prompt Miss Stoultz. No, we should actually have you read this out. We have a very intensive meeting this evening. So, >> okay. Cody says I have to read it. Please excuse my voice. It's a little raspy tonight. Today's meeting of the board of education is a business meeting that is conducted in public and board members will not engage in a dialogue with members of the audience.
013Board bylaw 1025 sets the time limit for public comment on agenda items at 10 minutes per side pro and con or 20 minutes total. Speakers will be able to provide testimony at the beginning of the appropriate agenda item or at the end of the meeting for non-aggenda comment. Please listen for your name to be called. Speakers are listed and called in the order received. When your name is called, please come to the podium to speak. And tonight, I will be calling up groups of uh four or five people to come and line up at the podium. Speakers participating via Zoom will be asked to unmute when their name is called. If you are unable to unmute yourself, we will call the next speaker. Please follow along with the agenda so that you know when your
014item is coming up for discussion. When you begin speaking, the green light below my name on the dis indicates that the timer has started. When the light turns yellow, you will have one minute remaining. A buzzer will indicate that your time has expired. If you have not yet done so and would like to sign up for in-person public comment, iPads are available in the back of the auditorium and in the lobby. >> Thank you, Marty. worth the wait. Um, we will Oh, from what I understand, is our auditor still stuck in traffic? >> Curious, curious, and curious. Um, okay. So, let's begin tonight's fun by um acknowledging that our auditor is still stuck in traffic who we moved forward to accommodate. Um, and what so what we'll do is we will um I will entertain
015a motion. Can I just I'll just modify it on the fly here. and we will now move our order after our charter petitions. Um and so we will proceed um with our charter petitions. Um oh, I'll entertain a motion to do that. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. Uh and we have a second from um Trusty Boso. We have a motion to second. Student trustees, please vote. Come on. Lucky lady and all remaining board members, please vote. That motion passes unanimously. Student trustees concurring. We have a new agenda. Um and uh that will bring us to our um our charter petitions and the first of which is G1. Now to be clear, this is a second reading from my recollection. Um this is the King Chavez Community High School's charter petition renewal. Uh I'd like
016to ask Dearra Walsh if she's in the room. Hopefully she's not delayed in traffic. There she is. um director of our charter schools office uh to come to the DAS and present the item. Uh a first reading of this item was conducted on November 18th, 2025. Welcome. Thank you and good evening. Uh that was essentially my presentation for this renewal item. Um staff is recommending approval of the renewal for a 5-year term beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2031. Um staff report includes a summary of the charter petitions and renewals for the school enrollment data and fiscal analysis. Um and tables 5 through 10 summarize the academic results of the school and the staff's findings regarding the renewal criteria. >> Thank you, Dra. Um we have we have a motion from trustee or
017from vice president Barrera to move staff recommendation and a and a second from um trustee when um we have a motion of second u do we have any discussion on this item to be clear to the public we heard extensive comment from the public and had discussion on this item several weeks ago. So any further discussion seeing none we will move to a vote on this item as well. Um, student trustees, please vote. All other board members, please vote. That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. Congratulations. It's easy the second time around. Um, so, uh, with that, we will move to our Don't go anywhere, dear. Where's your um with that we'll go to item um G2? Yes, we'll go to item G2, Urban Discovery Academyy's Charter Petition renewal. Uh a first reading of
018this item was also conducted on November 18th, 2025. Miss Walsh, please present the item. >> Thank you. Um so this item is for the renewal of the charter of Urban Discovery Academy for a 5-year term also beginning July 1, 2026. and ending June 30, 2031. And also approval of material revisions to remove grades 9 through 12 from the charter petition, remove a facility located at 1400 Park Boulevard, and relocate students in grades seven and eight to the facility operated by the school um at 14th Street, all effective July 1, 2026. Uh staff is recommending u renewal of the charter and approval of all the material revisions. And again, the staff report includes a summary of the charter petition and renewals, enrollment data, and fiscal analysis. And tables five through eight in this um staff report
019summarize the academic results for the school and the staff's findings regarding the criteria for renewal. >> Thank you, dear. Do I have a motion on this item? Trusty Wires Payne with a motion and trusty with the second. We have a motion and a second. Do I have any discussion on this item? Seeing none, we'll move to a vote. All uh student trustees, please vote. All other board members, please vote. That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. Congratulations. Oh, okay. Good. Elvis has entered the building. Um, we will now consider um item H13 uh action on material revision to of Albert Einstein Academyy's charter to modify the dual language immersion program, postpone the opening of the Albert Einstein Academyy's high school to fall 2028 and change the location of administrative office. Miss Walsh, please present
020the item. >> Thank you. Um, yes. So, uh, Albert Einsteinmies has submitted material revisions for the three items that you noted. Um, within a charter term, a charter school may request approval to revise its existing charter, but the material revisions may only be made with the approval of the authority that granted the charter. Uh, in reviewing material revisions, we're guided by the charter schools act, which is the foundation for the creation and operation of charter schools. It is expressly written in the act that charter schools are intended to be separate and autonomous from the school districts. In alignment with alignment with this intent, Albert Einsteinies is an independently operated charter school with its own leadership team and governing board and is recognized by the state as a local educational agency. Based on this independent status,
021the school is solely responsible for decisions regarding its operations and educational program. Because the district does not operate the charter school, the review of material revisions is limited to ensuring that the proposed revisions do not violate California Education Code or any other applicable law and that the school will remain fiscally stable if the revisions are implemented. Uh the three proposed material revisions were approved by the Albert Einstein Academy Board on September 9th, 2025. The first revision is to modify the English German dual language immersion program. The revision replaces the dual immersion program with a German language program. Uh the school identified several reasons for submitting the material revisions which we've included in the staff report for you. We've also included the written uh changes to the charter petition so you can see the actual language
022that will be changed within the charter petition itself. The second revision is to postpone the opening of the high school to fall of 2028 due to material supply chain and scheduling delays. Table four provides an updated uh simplified construction timeline for this project. And the third revision is to change the location of an administrative office that the site um the school currently has on the high school site. Um, but due to upcoming construction on the site, it's necessary to temporarily relocate the administrative office. Uh, we reviewed the Albert Einstein Academy finances to confirm the school's ability to pay the increased rent and for financial sustainability. Um the m the monthly rent expense does not materially affect affect the projected ending fund balance for the school which remains well above the minimum reserve requirements and none
023of the revisions appear to violate uh any current laws. Staff is recommending that the board grant the proposed revisions to the charter. Um I assume one question that will come up is if the revisions are not approved, what will happen? Um, in that case, the school will continue to be out of compliance with its current charter. Uh, and we would issue a notice of violation to the school. We would provide them with 60 days to correct the violations. If they are unable to, then we would issue a notice of intent to revoke the charter. And that is the u first step in a revocation process. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh, do I have a motion on this item? I have a motion from Trusty Wyers Payne and a second from Trusty Hazen. We
024have a motion and a second. Um and with that, we have a motion on the floor. Uh we will now receive public comment. Uh presumably there are some speakers on the side of page 13. >> Yes, we have 15 in-person speakers and six virtual. In order to hear from everyone, you will have one minute. I'm going to call groups of four to to the podium, please. Axel Schwarz, Brad Bakiel, Alicia Mandela Edmonson, and Sabrina Bochen. Please go in any order. I am asking you number one, reject the proposed charter change. Two, investigate our school's governance and finances. Three, remove Superintendent David Cheretta from our if our board refuses to do so. The charter change process excluded parents. The superintendent refused meetings for nine months. Communication came via holiday emails after enrollment deadlines. German instruction was
025reduced without notice. And the new charter language allows complete program elimination. Our school is in crisis. Losing students. Teachers are underpaid. Our principal fired improperly. And union efforts met with potential union busting involving middle school students. Our board elects itself with unlimited terms. Four reelected each other in under two minutes in October. There's no accountability. Most critically, over 300 million in taxpayer construction funds were received by our school or are being received by our school. Our middle school costs 16 million. Yet the similarly sized high school is budgeted at 170 million with no public accounting. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Brad Bakiel. I'm the director of business services for Albert Einside and I'm here to speak in strong support of the material revision to our charter including the new model for our German
026language program. AA has always been committed to multilingualism and global education. The proposed revision strengthens that commitment by creating a sustainable, equitable, and highly qual highquality German program that all students can reliably access. Over the past year, AA has engaged in extensive analysis, staff input, and community feedback to design a model that maintains daily German instruction, aligns with best practices, and ensures program stability for years to come. This change is necessary as hiring qualified German teachers has become increasingly difficult across the region and internationally. Our previous model was no longer feasible. This revision allows AA to meet its charter promises in a realistic, sustainable way while continuing to offer a rich, immersive German language pathway. I'm an Einstein parent and longtime English teacher at Crawford High here in San Diego. When we learned that David
027Shredder was violating the school's charter, we investigated. Many people were afraid of retaliation from David. But we heard was what we heard was shocking. A huge drop in teacher morale, multiple lawsuits, underfunding of essential services, and financial mismanagement. The school used to have a wait list. Now families are leaving in droves. David Sharetta and his few supporters claim families who want German are elitist. That is false. Many of us are second language learners ourselves and know that learning languages opens doors to a wider world. We want that for all students. David's actions are harming students, families, and teachers. Einstein teachers make less than any teachers in the county. David makes almost 30 times the per student salary of the top county superintendent. Even worse, there are multiple investigations into concerns about the purchase of the
028site for Einstein's future high school. Suspicious appraisals and cost overruns, almost hund00 million worth, have us all asking, where is this money going? Please vote no on the charter change. David Sharetta needs to be removed. >> The next group would be Stephanie Measures, Cole Jones, Arthur Congo, and Kristen Rabian. Um, I'm not Stephanie Measures, but she had a family medical emergency. Would it be possible for me to read her statement? >> We don't allow deferral of time. >> Okay. >> Hi there. I'm Cole Jones, a school parent and board member of uh Friends of Einstein um nonprofit parent organization. I come from a family of educators and financeful professionals. And here are my observations. Most families were unaware of the program changed that this program, the 50-50 program, had been neglected for years. Um, also
029questionable leadership, perpetual and verbal emotional abuse from the board's leadership towards teachers and family, all of them being women. That's what brought me the most. Financial steering away from this. Um, we saw constant reports from the board on a conscious shift away from it over time. So, this is not you'll hear economic concerns, but there's been a long-term conscious effort for this. Um, personal vendettas, past events appear to be created racial tensions that leadership has been acting on a a vendetta propagating division and disparaging concerned teachers and families. There was financial support that was offered. This was not accepted by the board. And scope gating in terms of principal being accumated for the only fault which was poor communication of everything. Hi, my name is Christine Rabbine. I'm a board member. Uh I'm also a
030German professor at San Diego State. Um and uh I wanted to talk a little bit about the process of redesigning the program. The program responds to this dramatic just drop off of uh people in the German teacher type pipeline. This will not change. It might change a little but not dramatically. So this is the reality we inhabit. The program, the new program uh responds well to the challenges. It's uh it was designed over the course of two years. It sets really intentional benchmarks for proficiency. I think it's a program that could serve as a model for foreign language education on the elementary level. And I have full confidence that it will it will work really well for the students especially given that AEA has grown from a small school with German and English speakers to
031an urban diverse school and students who don't speak English or German as their primary language are not well served by a dual immersion program. >> Hello Arthur Congo with the California Chart School Association. Um just to speak on some of the realities. Um San Diego Unified is the author is the authorizing body of Albert Einstein Academy. The charter office issued a letter of concern to the school in regards to them not following their charter in concerns to some English language development issues. The school is responding to those concerns with this material revision. The school has already implemented some changes to their English language development program. If you look at the state's dashboard this past year, English learner progress indicator, English learner progress indicators, English learners and long-term English learners both are in the blue with
032an increase of students making progress of 23.7 and 23.5% respectively. Additionally, the percentage of English learners who decreased at least one ELPI level was cut in half. Um I think what the previous speaker spoke about in just the realities of staffing, there are visa concerns um with the federal government currently that's kind of influencing the pipeline of educators that Albert Einstein was able to call on initially. Um it's just uh responding to the situation that they've had to deal with. Thank you. >> Timothy Lou, Isabelle Trevino, Veronica Lar Roach, and Cindy Alvarez. Hello, I'm Timothy Lou. I'm a parent of a fifth grader at Albert Einstein Academy. Um, I'd like to to speak in opposition of the cancellation of the 50/50 instructional program. Um given some of the things that I've heard just now from
033supporters, um I'd like to say ways that the administration has not supported the German program is that uh the German library librarian position hasn't been filled since the 2023 24 uh school year. There's no more German tutoring for new students who need help in German. The German music program has been reduced and German interns from Germany um are no longer available. Um, one thing is that Berget Schaefer, one of the founding members who maintained and created the reliable pipeline of teachers uh, recruiting in the school was um, harassed into early retirement. Um, and most recently the principal has been dismissed. Also, the board is very insular and the rules um, make them unresponsive to parents and teachers and students. I urge you to carefully consider how the 50-50 German immersion program affect affects affected our
034students in special education. Students who were being required to learn critical academic content in a foreign language while missing key instruction in English. As both a parent and an employee, I with a daughter who has an IEP, I've seen firsthand how the 5050 immersion model placed many students, especially those with IEPs and our growing population of English learners, at a disadvantage. While well-intentioned, the program's outcomes were not equitable for all. A model designed to enrich should not by it structure olude or hinder. It's time to rethink how we serve all students, not just those who thrive at immersion. We need a redesigned program that is inclusive, flexible, and equitable so that every child, regardless of learning needs or language background, has a fair chance to succeed. Thank you. Hello, my name is Cindy Alvarez and
035I serve as the LPAD coordinator for both campuses at AA. I'm here tonight to express my support for the proposed revision to our charter and the update structure of our elementary German program. As someone who works with directly with English learners every day, my priority is to ensure that all students develop strong English language skills so they can thrive academically, socially, and long term. The revised pro program offers a solution that better meets this the needs of all our learners. The updated German model provides a structured language class while still allowing us to focus on what our English learners need most, a strong foundation in English language development. By shifting away from the 50-50 language um immersion model, we can ensure that English learners receive the targeted instruction and support required for their for their
036language growth while all students continue to benefit from the meaningful exposure to German. This change is thoughtful, student centered and aligned with our responsibility to provide equitable access to language and academic success. Thank you. >> Laura N. Selmo, Tiffany Finstead, Rita Gonzalez. Good evening. My name is Laura Anelmo. I'm a mother of third grade student at AEA and a ILA committee member. So my son first language is Spanish. So this is the reason why he is still developing on his English skills and he has not yet pass the ELP test. For this reason I support the decision to teach German at his own subject. I believe this structure better supports students who are still learning English. However, I'm concerned about the limit instructional time. The students currently receive only 45 minutes of German four days
037a week, just three hours a week. In my opinion, this is not enough time to maintain the level of German they work so hard to build in pre in previous years. I believe that at least one to two hours for day, five days a week make a real German progress. Thank you. Sorry. Hi, my name is Rita Gonzalez and I've been an employee at AEA for the past 17 years. I am here to support the revision of our charter school for all the students that we currently serve at A.E.A. over the past 10 years, our demographics have changed where once our school where everybody spoke German, even I learning is now where some of the teachers are having to teach in English due to the student population that we serve at A.E.A. We I had
038at one point German teachers coming from Germany. That is no longer the case. The reason why we have to support this is because there is a not that there is a lack of looking for teachers but there is no German teachers. As far as students leaving Aea, some of our family members are also leaving due to the fact that they are being taught another language. Our core subjects in another language that they do not do not understand. and our testing is in English, not in German. AA strives on meeting our students as per their needs. So, I encourage you guys to approve it. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Tiffany Finstead. I was called up, but I'm actually supposed to be commenting on H8. We have we have several virtual speakers on this item. Erin Bower,
039if Aaron is available, please unmute. You have one minute. Oh, sorry. Um, we have two speakers that had signed up as in-person speakers um that are on Zoom though. Is it possible to have them called up on Zoom as well? >> Their names are Natalie Cook and Isabelle Trevino. Natalie Cook is in person instead of virtual. >> Natalie, is Natalie here? >> Yes. Hi. Um, are you able to hear me? I actually signed up for both because I wasn't sure which one I'd be able to do. So, >> okay, you have one minute. >> Okay. Um I so again the district should not approve this proposed language. I oppose what is being submitted to you. We chose Aea for its promise of true immersion. Learned later that that had not been true for a long
040time and yet the website continued to claim this. So a lot of parents took their children there hoping to have them be fluent. District and state immersion definitions require at least 50% instruction in the target language which Aea has not met for years. This is me misleading and it took away the opportunity for our children to become fluent. There is a pattern of lack of transparency and misleading parents about the German instruction. And I will speak from personal experience. My daughter's German has gone down this year. She usually receives high marks in German and this year has not. Children are sponges and can speak multiple languages. I myself spoke multiple languages at this age and not being able to speak one language did not impact my ability to learn another one. >> Thank you. Aaron
041Bower is Aaron Bower available. Leela Oberdorfer. Mary, excuse me, Mary Clauser. Okay, we'll go back to Aaron Bower. Hello, >> that's a Levi. Go ahead. You have one minute. >> Hi, this is Laya. Hi, my name is Laya and I'm a parent of three A.E.A. students. My children have been at AEA since kindergarten and the German immersion program has been one of the most meaningful parts of their education. It has shaped the way they think, communicate, and understand the world. When we were accepted into Aea, we felt incred incredibly fortunate because true immersion programs are rare, and this one has always been at the heart of the school's identity. Over the years, families have watched the immersion model slowly diminish, often without clear communication. For longtime families, this has been disappointing. And for newer families
042who enrolled specifically because the school promised a full German immersion experience, it feels deeply unfair. They sign up for something unique and valuable. And losing that promise is a real loss for the children. The immersion program is not just a curriculum feature. It is the foundation of AEA's mission, culture, and reputation. It builds cognitive flexibility, cultural awareness, and a sense of belonging in a global community. Protecting it protects what makes A.E.A. special. I urge you to preserve and strengthen the immersion model that has benefited so many students and attracted so many to the school. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mary Clauser. Sheila Jolly Jesse Chatting Chatini Pam Gasa or Jesse Chatini. >> Hello Thank you. Go ahead. You have one minute. >> Okay. My name is Jesse Chatney. I've had three kids go through the
043German immersion program at Albert Einstein. And I would just like to highlight the fact that the ger the the the board and the dire and the director superintendent >> take a shower please. >> I'm sorry. Um they keep highlighting the idea that it's very hard to find German teachers. I think what you'll find is that it's very hard for them to retain German teachers. It's very hard for them to retain many teachers if you look at the data just because what they're asked to do is impossible for very little money. And I want to push back on that and double down on asking for a forensic accounting of finances and also um a review of how board members are elected and um it seems like a very closed cycle more and more so in the
044last five years since 2020. Thank you. We'll do one final call in case anyone is there virtually. >> I'm here. >> Pamela Gasa, go ahead. You have one minute. I'm speaking from uh personal experience. I oppose this. I had my two older kids start at Albert Einstein Elementary School at third and fourth grade. Uh they went through the elementary school. Um they did great in with the German immersion program. Not only that, my youngest oldest had had had still has an IEP, was an English language learner, and learning German improved her English. She had graduated from not being an English language learner. So, this new census that they're doing, it's not going to be helpful. Not only that, I feel like leadership really needs to listen to parents and they're not doing that right now.
045I now have a TK and a first grader there and I can see the exact opposite of what was being serviced to my older kids than what is given now. Thank you. >> Sorry, both Isabelle Trevinho and Mary Clauser are on Zoom with their hands raised. They're just waiting to be called. >> Mary Clauser, >> hello. Good evening. Um, can you hear me? >> Yes, you have one minute. >> Thank you. Um, I'd just like to say that I would ask the board to vote against this change in charter. Um, the German immersion program is central to A.E.A.'s identity and to why so many families choose this community. Again, this is a charter school, so people choose to come to this school. Um, this proposal threatens to dismantle our community and I urge you to
046slow this process or to vote against this um until the families in our community have been collaborated with appropriately. Um, I would like to see the foundation of this school honored. The school was founded for a certain purpose and I think that it should remain that it's unique to our San Diego community. Thank you for your time and consideration. Aaron Bower or Sheila Jolly. >> If neither are available, that concludes comment on this item. >> Um, excuse me. I have been unmuted. I was they called my name um in person, but I'm actually on Zoom. >> Okay. I thought you were in person. Sorry. Go ahead, Isabelle. >> Sorry about that. Um thank you. Um my second grader at AEA is designated as an English learner, we speak Spanish at home. Just like every family
047enrolled in Aea, we chose it over our neighborhood school. Uh the learning of another language develops neural pathways that help them in so many ways. And I want to share um that my second grader can now read in Spanish because of what she learned in the German classroom. She tried to read a book in Spanish the way she reads English and she got very frustrated. But then her older sister said, "Just read it in German because both languages are very close phonetically." My kid was so proud and said to me, "Learning German is helping my Spanish. Please do not remove the German program that makes AA so unique and justifies its charter. AA is currently going through a huge crisis highlighting many concerns related to the current superintendent. Please postpone your vote today because the
048action you're voting on is heavily driven by his own agenda and does not reflect the views of the AA community. Thank you. >> Shane, >> Aaron Bower, you have one minute. >> Hello, my name is Aaron Bower and my child is a six-year-old first grader at AE Elementary. In January 2024, I toured AE Elementary and was shown on site how the 50/50 German immersion program was conducted. The same year, my child was accepted by a lottery and we enrolled. His kinder year was taught by a German teacher, but the S5050 model the school was founded on appeared to be feeling uh fading. And now in our second year, it's fleeting. The AEA board of trustees and superintendent are requesting approval to destroy what the founders worked so hard to create in 2002. The board and
049superintendent's opinions and requests today absolutely do not reflect what the student body and families want. We want what we signed up for, an IB German immersion program. I respectfully request you table this or at least oppose the oppose it or table it for a minimum of 12 months until you can be provided with a comprehensive account of the facts, not unsupported opinions of a board and superintendent who are in hot water with a majority of A.E.A. families currently for incompetence, bad behavior, poor decisions, lack of transparency among other items. An approval today would be of the wrong decision. >> Please don't fail our students. And to the AA board of trustees and super >> That concludes comment. >> All right. Okay. We have a motion and a second and we have heard from the public.
050Uh we will now move to board discussion. Do any of my colleagues have any comment or questions? I will say presumably on somewhat on behalf of trustee is >> I think just a clarifying question to ensure uh everybody's clear what we're voting on. So I'm wondering um DJ if you can reiterate we are voting simply on these three changes. Um and the only alternative if we were to oppose this would be as you described to move forward with revoking a charter. >> Um >> is that correct? >> That is correct. So today's action would be um a vote on the revisions to the charter to modify the dual language immersion program to postpone the opening of the high school until fall of 2028 and to change the location of an administrative office. those are the
051only three items that are being voted on and you have it correct that um if the revisions are not approved. So essentially what this revision does is u modifies the charter to reflect what is actually being implemented in the language program at the school. Um right now the way the charter is written the school is out of compliance with it. So, if they don't come into compliance with what's written into the charter, we would issue um the notice of violation. They'd be given a period of time to correct, which they they've had this issue. They have been trying to correct it. They've been unable to correct it, and that's how we got to this point. So, we would give them probably a period of 60 to 90 days to correct it. um if they are
052unable to then we would um be in a position of having to issue the notice of intent to revoke for non-compliance with the charter. >> Thank you. And then also per some of the allegations around fiscal malfeasants or all these other issues, what we're voting on today doesn't preclude us from doing that work. >> Correct. Those items are not part of this vote. I will add that um as the authorizer for the charter school, we are an active authorizer. Uh we do annual site visits to charter schools. We dig into their policies, their finances, um a lot of different stuff that gets reviewed as part of our site visit. We also um just like a district and district schools, we review all of their financial reports that come in four times a year. um we
053review their LCAPS for um trying to match it up with budgets. So there is a very active um review process that happens outside of what you're actually voting on today. >> Thank you. >> Trusty Wy >> and there's a governance component that you look into because in the past we've had several charter schools with issues related to governance. >> It's not something that we would address here today like that. But there is a part that you perform >> to maintain a legitimate governance structure. >> Yes, that is correct. As part of our annual reviews and ongoing reviews of charter schools and and part of our oversight process, we monitor u board documents for charter schools. We observe and attend in person uh board meetings. Um we do ensure that if a complaint is brought forward
054regarding governance or violations of bylaws um we have limited roles in looking at things that would amount to a violation of law. Um so we will follow up on some of those things. For instance, if there's a allegation that the Brown Act is consistently being violated, we will u review those things, advise the school if we um do feel that they are violating those types of provisions. Um so there is an ongoing component but at the end of the day the governing board of the charter school because it is an independent entity it is not part of the district their governing board is responsible for the operations of that school. >> So I would just um say obviously without getting too deep into it there's clearly some sort of crisis going on that's clear. Um,
055and I feel for the parents who have testified here today and and the administrators who have testified. This is obviously just as a human being, this is this is you've got kids involved and um there's there's you're in a moment of crisis. I would say as a matter of law are we generally show deference to um administrators and to the elected board. We are not the board of this institution and frankly in in a scenario where we were proactively attempting to intervene in a way that was outside of our purview, it would be a very serious issue. So, um, while I'm certainly moved by the testimony here tonight, at the same time, um, I'm going to personally I'm inclined to defer to staff recommendation with regard to what the the board um is requesting from
056us and presumably we may well hear more about this later, but um, with regard to what is before us tonight, um, that's that's that's how I feel just from a legal and professional perspective. So um if there's any is there any further discussion um with that we will um move to a vote. Um student trustees please vote. All other board members please vote. That motion passes uh unanimously with student trustees concurring. >> All right. We will now move to our um to our previously scheduled audit. Um this is uh items H3 and H4. I believe our auditor is in the building. Um these will be the external audit reports and financial statements. For item H3, the board is being asked to accept and approve external auditor annual financial statements for fiscal year 2024 2025. For
057H4, the board is being asked to accept and approve the external auditor financial and performance audit reports for propositions S and Z, measures U and Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y for fiscal year 2025. I'd like at this point to invite Michael McCclary, chair of our audit and finance committee, and Jeff Jensen representing Crow LLP, the school district's external auditing firm, to the podium to present these items. Thank you for being here this evening. Hello. Can you hear me? >> Proceed. Yes. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm uh Michael McCclary. I'm the chairman of the audit committee. The audit committee is formed
058by uh two trustees uh trustee White House Payne and Trusty Bazo. And together with three members at large, we are are t we are tasked with overseeing the external and and uh internal audit processes of the district. Uh before handing it over to um to our auditor, I'd just like to recognize my predecessor in the chairman role, Dan Mallister, who was dedic was a founding member of the audit committee and dedicated 22 years to to that process. We look forward to continuing um to oversee the internal and external audit of the district. I'd also like to thank the district and the auditors for working together as certain federal regulations that were required to finalize the report were delayed and uh they worked together and uh made sure that we were able to get a timely
059um completion of the audit for today's meeting. So with no nothing further, I'll turn it over to Jeff Jensen of Crow. >> Great. Thank you. Good evening. I try not to take it personal when everyone gets up and leaves when the auditor comes to the podium, but it seems to happen all the time and I and I appreciate your uh move flexibility with me on the agenda tonight. Um, as was mentioned, uh, this year's audit went very smoothly and uh, so I just have a few remarks to share with you and happy to answer any questions that the board might have. Um, as was mentioned, we presented the draft report uh about a week ago to the audit and finance committee meeting um and presented what was a draft report at that time. And the
060reason for that was is as kind of alluded to was our audit guide that we usually use to do our federal compliance portion of our audit was not issued until the week of Thanksgiving. And normally that's put out in July. So that really delayed our audit as well as basically every municipal and government audit in the United States um that has to have a single audit done. So, um, but through the diligent work of of your team, um, we were able to still get things to a draft status of virtually complete and then when the new guide was actually issued the week of Thanksgiving and ensured that there was nothing that had changed in that guide, um, were able to issue and sign final the the audit for the year ended June 30th, 2025. Um,
061basically every district in the state has an extension on their audit. Normally they're due on December 15th and this year now they're due essentially at the end of January. Um but uh San Diego Unifides will still be filed on time u on the old kind of timeline if you will. Um again and I think that's just a testament to the success of the audit for this year. So um there are several opinions that are part of your financial statements and I think the important thing to take away from that is you received an unmodified opinion on your financial statement. So that's the type of opinion you want. Um that means your uh financial statements comply with all applicable accounting pronouncements and your free and material misstatement. Um as far as the numbers that were given
062to us to audit, um there was only one adjustment this year and it was actually one that was given to us by by your staff um related to the captive uh insurance program and just the timing of closing those books. Um was not able to make it in time by the regulatory deadline that you all have to file your uh unudited actuals. So um that was not an adjustment. That was something that we found as the auditors. It was something that was given to us. So I want to make sure that's properly categorized in your minds there. So um as far as findings and recommendations this year, I would say um again there's an improvement there over the prior years in the sense that there are a couple findings and recommendations in this year's report.
063Um but they're very minor and actually very immaterial both from a fiscal impact for the couple of state uh comments that you have and then um the one internal control comment related to associated student body is really something that you the district staff continues to work to try to make that go away. But you know unfortunately that's just one of those areas that oftent times does have some uh areas for improvement related to internal controls. So um all in all again very clean audit results. um want to thank uh your team for all the hard work. Um you know this audit started way back in February uh and has been going on in different pieces up until a couple weeks ago. So um literally there are thousands of requests that we asked for through that
064period and people that we meet um throughout the district both out at your sites and here at the district office and everybody is very cooperative and willing to share information on time with us which allows us to be able to again render our opinion and sign final on that audit report. So again, I think very good audit results for you for this year. So with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions on the audit report. >> Thank you so much. Do we have any questions from the board on the other? >> Okay. >> I just want to say thank you um to the whole team because we've been very pleased in working with you all and I know you're cycling off for this year one year hiatus. Um, but it's been great working with
065you guys and um, look forward to picking it up again when you can. And I want to also thank um, Mike McCra, no m >> mccclary. We had a mccquiry and a mccclary on the on the um, committee, but Michael has agreed to take over the responsibility of chair and we're excited about that. So, thank you to all of you. >> Thank you, trustee. Um, we'll we'll have to talk to our student trustees about those ASB budgets, but I think we'll be able to figure that out. Um, so with that, I think we've exhausted board discussion here. Um, do I I need Well, actually, we've exhausted our cross-examination of you and now we will move to a motion. Do I have a motion on this item? >> Trusty Wespane and a second from Trusty Bazo.
066We have a motion and a second. Is there any additional discussion with regard to this item? Seeing none, we will move to our vote. Student trustees, please vote. All other board members, please vote. That motion passes unanimously or those two motions rather pass unanimously. Yeah, >> I think I have the next item. >> The next one that's H. >> Everyone tries to get rid of me too after the first one. >> Yes, that's right. >> I'm not I don't go away that easy. >> Bring you in. >> Thank you. So the second item is on your uh bond audits that were required to be completed for this year. So just as a reminder the uh bond school bond uh funds that you have uh an agreement for passing under proposition 39 and that lower uh
067voting majority of 55%. Um you're required to have a oversight committee which you have um you're required to sp spend those funds for appropriate purposes. Um you're required to have a financial audit and you're required to have a performance audit done on an annual basis. And so that's what this next items are here. And again, happy to report that you have unmodified opinions regarding both the financial statements for the bond funds as well as for the performance audit um for the for the bond funds. And again, there you have a very extensive bond program. You probably know that. Um and um you also have a very rigorous uh audit report that goes well above and beyond the uh expectations that the state sets for uh the the responsibilities under that audit to answer to the
068community to make sure you know the concerns of the community are being addressed and again have no findings to report. Um and we shared that with the ICO back in November at their meeting and um again just thank staff for the hard work there. Again, there's a lot of documentation just for the bond audits that um goes into this process and everybody does a great job. >> All right. Um so what I'm going to do is well I think we should amend the amend it that the previous one to be clear. I misspoke was for item three and now I'm going to entertain a separate motion for item four. Um do I have a motion on item four? Okay. Trusty Wirespane and Trusty Ordas. At this time, we've got a motion and a second. Um,
069do we have any additional comment from the board on this item? Seeing none, we will now move to an item four vote. Um, trustees, student trustees, please vote. >> All other trustees, please vote. >> Item four also passes unanimously. Thank you. >> Thank you for the opportunity to work with the district. >> Yes. Safe flight. Thank you. All right. I was about to silence myself uh only to realize that we're going to jump back into action. Um all right. So I believe we have cleared cleansed our pallet, cleared our plate here for um for the um I think we can say the main show this evening. Um, and to reiterate, we have moved items 9, 10, 11, and 12 up, and item H8 will be at the tail end. Um, and I believe we can
070um we can handle these first four in a in a more expeditious manner and then leave ourselves item uh eight. Um, so with that, I believe that Dr. Bula is going to introduce uh these items in their totality, the package as a whole. >> Yes. Thank you, Dr. Patterson. I'm having trouble with my chair today. Okay. Good evening and thank you for being here. Across our nation, I have been engaging in conversations with other superintendents that are facing similar issues, rising cost and declining enrollment. As a close to 30-year educator, I've seen many attempts to address these challenges. selling properties for one-time funds, cutting programs, authorizing layoffs, often while housing insecurity in their cities continues to rise, and educators and families are pushed farther and farther from the communities that they serve. Selling properties for
071one-time funds gets fast cash that plugs holes in budget deficits. And it's a practice that other school districts have enacted and the results were temporary relief with little to no long-term benefits for educators, students, or the surrounding community. Tonight represents a different approach. This board and this district are doing something bold, visionary, and deeply progressive. We are asking, what if a school district leveraged its assets not by retreating, but by reinvesting? What if instead we used our land to strengthen our workforce, retain families, and stabilize our neighborhoods? This is exactly what this initiative represents. Our goals are simple and clear. We're striving to bring affordable housing to at least 10% of our San Diego Unified workforce. And tonight, we're ready to take the next step toward making that vision real for our educators and for
072the region we serve. In the near future, 1500 units of affordable housing will be built on five district properties, including right here on this site where we sit tonight. I believe deeply that our schools are at their best when the people who teach, support, and care for our students can also call this community home. Affordable housing allows our employees to live closer to the students that they serve, build meaningful relationships with families, and fully participate in the life of our neighborhoods. By retaining ownership of our land and entering long-term ground lease partnerships, we not only support housing affordability, we strengthen our district financially, generate ongoing lease revenue, and invest in the long-term health of San Diego communities. No other education organization has taken a step of this scale and this significance. This is what tonight's
073action represents. Because of both the outcome we are seeking and the values we uphold, integrity, transparency, and public trust, we've engaged in a process over the past 10 months. This process included clear budget priorities centered on affordability and labor standards, multiple public workshops, an evaluation committee with subject matter expertise, legal and regulatory consultation, and a competitive solicitation that resulted in 15 bids and five recommended contracts. All of which were made available to the public last week. That is a true commitment to transparency. The action before the board tonight is specific and focused to authorize staff to negotiate term sheets for joint occupancy agreements with developers recommended by the evaluation committee. This next phase allows for rigorous vetting of financials project feasibility fully aligned with the law and with the best interests of San Diego Unified
074Community. Since the docket dropped last Friday, the disappointment of those not recommended has been voiced. And as superintendent, I understand that any process everywhere, no matter how strong, will always have um refinements, but I want to acknowledge that the feedback has been both heard and received. It is also important to note that all members of the evaluation committee were required to declare no conflict of interest related to these projects or any developer along while not engaging any conversations in the evaluation process to ensure an objective analysis and recommendations. We sit here tonight representing more than a school district. We represent an educational institution committed to creating a healthy ecosystem for our city. One that supports educators, stabilizes families, and strengthens neighborhoods. This initiative is progressive because it imagines what public institutions can do when they
075lead with this courage. It must also be done right, thoughtfully, lawfully, and transparently because it has potential to become a national model. With that, I would like to turn it over to Lee Dolor, our senior executive director of facilities planning and construction, and deputy superintendent Drew Rollins. I'm inviting you to come up to the DIAS, please, who will walk us through the five proposals and the rationale behind the evaluation committee's recommendations. Thank you, Dr. Patterson. I just had a lot to say about this because it's important. Thank you. >> Thank you, Fabi. Um at our uh board workshop last December, we established audacious goals and guiding principles to build much needed affordable housing. And then on March 25th, the board approved a resolution issued the request for proposals. And at board direction, the RFP was
076structured to provide the proposers with flexibility. When this RFP was advertised on April 1st, we had no idea how the market would respond to our need for affordable housing. And you know, following the advertisement of the RFP, staff facilitated a series of meetings and listening sessions at all five properties to to understand the needs of each community. San Diego Unified was very fortunate to receive 15 proposals. And I'd like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to all the developers and their creative teams that worked long hours on these proposals. The evaluation committee included district staff from real estate, finance, physical plan, operations, facilities, planning, construction, custodial services, a par educator, a classroom teacher, a community member, and a San Diego real estate professional. And as you noted, none of these people had any conflicts
077of interest and signed affidavit to that to that effect. Our volunteer evaluation committee weighed through hundreds of pages of proposals and uh Isl Hickey are here tonight. I saw them earlier. Um um and and the I want to say thank them and the rest of the evaluation for all their hard work. Um acknowledge that diligent work that they did. Um these evaluation committee recommendations are advisory. the board, this board has an the un unenviable task of choosing a proposal for each property that best suits the needs of the district in public. Um, this process mirrors the process we've used on past joint occupancy projects and at this step with these votes, the board is not approving any leases, contracts, or projects. The board's simply being asked to authorize staff to meet with developers, complete due
078diligence, and negotiate term sheet followed by joint occupy agreements to be considered by the board at a future meeting. If the due diligence or negotiations uh with with the staff fail at at a future meeting, the staff could request board authorization to meet with the second highest scoring developer or to advertise another RFP. you want to um >> be sorry. >> So, I'll start with um I think H9 was the next one on the agenda. Um on the river center property uh Gford way we received pro uh proposals from DRO corporation, community housing works, Monarch Group and Gangi Development. The evaluation committee recommended DRO corporation through there. catch up. >> So, okay. Uh, the evaluation uh committee recommended DRO Corporation proposed 222 affordable H units, community space uh including a linear park, children play areas,
079a neighborhood dog park, multi-purpose sports courts, and open space. And the proposed uh proposal will construct a quality child care facility and playground. >> One second, Lee. Um, is your plan We are doing this a big We're landing a motion to >> Well, is is our plan is your plan to go into currently to go into all five or just >> one at a time? >> Let me introduce that motion then. Um, >> sorry about that. >> No, that's a very very good preamble. I appreciate it. Um and I think I will also briefly go ahead the board's perspective do a brief preamble with regard to all of these um projects. Uh this is a we recognize this is a very big step we're taking and um so I you know first off I want
080to thank um everyone who has or is about to provide testimony this evening. um and I say has over months, years, uh provided testimony with regard to these sites. Uh I also want to thank Lee uh Dogarov and Drew Rollins and uh Lee's team uh who have worked for a year on this on this right now um and have developed expertise the expertise necessary to to put this before us over many many decades. um as well as our general counsel Andre Green and also I want to thank Jennifer Lassar and her team who was has been our housing consultant. Um and I also want to thank the project proponents. Uh you know we would not be here tonight without their innovativeness and their labor. um they worked long a long time on these and put
081a lot of effort in and um and and toward that end I want to go back to January or December actually when we were first talking about this um and at the time we did not know that we would even get bids on all our sites. Um we didn't know if the value of the ground leases and the high occup occupancy rates we were offering would offset the cost of um the rent subsidies and joint occupancy facilities and the community facing amenities. Um especially with the challenging state of housing finance. We didn't know if developers would find ways to subsidize the middle- inome units for which many of our teachers uh qualify. uh we had to set parameters that both ensured that the prop proposal served the interests of our district and the values of
082our communities and gave developers enough latitude to provide novel solutions rooted in their expertise and their resourcefulness. Um and of course we're here tonight happy to report that that is precisely what we got. We got 15 bids as as Lee pointed out on five properties and we got diverse financing and design solutions uh to the challenges we posed. Um but before continuing I I do want to situate this work uh in our current national, state, local situation. Um the people on this dis and everyone in this room particularly the youth have spent their entire lives watching their housing costs soar and hearing um their leaders public and private commit to attacking the affordable housing crisis. and they've seen very little for all those words. Um, so much sound infuriate. California now has the highest poverty
083rate in the country driven largely by the cost of housing. It is throttling our economy. It's driving our students and their families into poverty and desperation and and housing insecurity and homelessness. It's driving our families out of San Diego. we have somewhere around a little shy of a percent of secular annual decrease in enrollment and that is overwhelmingly driven um by the inability of young uh working families to live in our communities. So this board and uh our staff um will do a lot of talking tonight um but that is not ultimately why we're here. We are here to do we are here to do everything in our power within our purview uh to house our staff to house our families to house our students. Um and frankly if others will not act we will.
084And I I I want to clarify that the people on this dis we are not yimies. We are not nimies. Um, as you've heard over many months in many public forum, we recognize that these SDUsd properties are in the heart of our communities. They are adjacent to jobs, to transportation, to transit, to restaurants, parks, and other amenities. We recognize that we will build housing where it should be or eventually others will build it where it shouldn't. And so we've come to these proposals wanting the same thing we want every meeting to deliberate and make decisions that serve the interests and values of our students, our staff, our families, and the broader community. And I I want to point out what is unique and innovative about what we're doing. And that is in large measure due
085to the work of Lee Dolgaroth and in consultation with Jennifer Lassar. And that is and this model that has enormous potential not only for us but also for all of California and ultimately the entire country. Um it is a model that is elegant and it has enormous potential to be replicated. um City Lab, UCLA and Berkeley um I think Turner was involved as well found that I think in 2024 their study found that there was 74,000 acres of developable property uh in the 10,000 plus school districts across the state. Uh they estimated 2.1 million of potential units to be constructed. Um and the model we have used, I want to reiterate, it uses no taxpayer funds. It doesn't require a dime of the 205 million that we hardlined into our last bond measure thanks to
086the voters of San Diego. Um, we're not selling or giving away land. These are 99-year ground leases. They generate revenue. They are joint occupancy and serve additional education functions. And the benefit of the, and this is important, the benefit of the affordability is not diffuse. It's very hard for agencies who cannot internalize the benefit of their of of affordable housing development to do these developments. But for us, uh, ultimately our staff and and our family and their families derive direct benefit from this. We can actually internalize the benefit of these developments. And not only that, it ultimately our students get teachers who live in the communities that they serve. Um and a final thing, it does not supplant the private sector. It provides opportunities to leverage the private sector's knowledge and expertise in order to
087find solutions that we honestly as a public agency housing is not our specialty and we really rely on that that expertise. So um and I want to say one last thing here and this is I have I think all of us have struggled. This is a thing we have never done. We we took a a kind of a foray at Central Elementary in this um with affirmed last year, but we've never done anything of this scale and I don't believe that any district in the country has ever done anything of it like this. And so um we're in a certain sense we're we're we're we're designing the process as we go, but one of the one of the challenges in the way in which these appear on the on the um on the docket, they
088come in as recommendations. and we are very grateful for our evaluation committee um for giving us recommendations. We take the recommendations very seriously. Um but ultimately I want to reiterate these are decisions that we will make as a board tonight and um we will deliberate in front of you. Uh my my uh proposal is to receive the staff introductions, receive staff re evaluation committee recommendations um and then review the terms of the in the docket item itself which is internalize what our goals are. So each time to reiterate what the goals we were trying to achieve were. Um and then go through these proposals one by one in front of the public. Um and to um and to ensure that the the selection we ultimately make is it is very clear that this is a
089decision that the board is making uh in consultation with our evaluation committee, but ultimately um it is our decision. And so finally, it is it's not uh my goal tonight as as chair of this um body to select one project or another project. Um whatever we do tonight will be pathmaking. Uh my goal here is to land these planes uh as efficiently, as fairly, and hopefully as elegantly as possible. Um so, you know, there'll be there'll be some flak. There'll be people motioning us into one um runway or another to land on. um and it may get bumpy at times um but we will land this plane um together and uh and historically. So with that now I will turn back to um item nine and we will start with item nine uh which is
090the selection of the proposal and authorization uh for staff to negotiate a term sheet for a joint occupancy agreement with Decro Corporation to construct and operate 220 units of affordable housing workforce housing at 6735 Gford Way currently the River Center. And now back to you. Oh yes, Richard, would you like to say something? >> Yeah, thank you, President Patterson, and I so much appreciate the comprehensive way that you um laid out what what's in front of us uh at here with these with these decisions. Um very much articulating, you know, the the possibility as did Superintendent Bula. Um, I think that, you know, as I've reviewed the proposals, and we've all done that in our different ways, and we're about to to do that tonight. Um, one of the things that I think is both
091exciting but also um creates caution for for me as a single trustee is that on almost all of these projects I think ex with one exception, we had multiple proposals that were coming at meeting the goals that we articulated as a board and that were uh clear in the RFP um in very different ways And I so I think what's what's come forward to us is uh requires an opportunity for both us as a board and for the public to have a full vetting of all of the proposals or all of the viable proposals for each project. And I worry that um by making this decision tonight, we're missing a step where we have an opportunity to have the different proposers come before the board, answer questions, and and make the public fully aware of
092the concepts that are uh that are being brought forward. And to that end, I would propose that we go through each of these projects, um, interrogate them, ask our questions, clarify our own, uh, you know, values, our own preferences. Um but that we organize a special board meeting uh before the end of January where the proposers can come forward in a public setting uh make their presentations to the board and allow the board to make uh a final decision at this stage uh on which projects were u we're going to consider. So I I will I will make that motion. You're making that motion in regard to um what what item >> um okay so as I understand um Vice President Barrera is making a motion. It's unclear how to do this in in relation
093to um to our operating procedures, but I will just take this as um as a motion in a certain sense out of order. But with regard to all of the motions, all of these items, um, H9, 10, 11, 12, and 8 collectively, he is making a motion to, I believe, continue to go through all this tonight and then also have a workshop in January. >> I just want to ask a clarifying question. When you say uh Trusty Breer, do you want to have all of the groups that submitted applications to have the opportunity to interview? >> I do. Thank you, Trusty Bazo. If the staff or the committee um clarifies for us that um that there are proposals for individual projects that are simply not viable and sort of disqualified, then I don't think we
094should take our time. But the other proposals I am proposing that. Yeah. >> Okay. We have a motion on the floor. >> Okay. Clarifying question. Sure. >> To clarify the motion. Does it apply to H11 for which there was only one bidder? >> It does not. Thank you, Trusty. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Do we have a second? Trusty Bazo seconds the motion. We have a motion and a second to um proceed as agendaized, but in addition to that, well, presumably also to then not have a vote at the at the end of each item except for um let's see that would be H um I think that's H 11 is cardinal except for H11 which would be cardinal. So that would be um the motion which on the floor which is uh for
095H9 10 9 10 12 and 8 would be to proceed as normally but then not take a vote and then have a workshop at some point in January um and then um but then on H11 to actually take a vote at on that item. So that's the motion on the floor. We have a motion in a second. Uh we will now open it for discussion. >> Trusty Wers P would like to hear from staff on that >> regarding the motion. >> Well, it the um it it's you are the deciding body. the the the um you had a a panel of um experts who provide a recommendation but it's it's simply a recommendation and there are a lot of factors in this decision. So um but you are the deciding body and um um you
096know I think the the board has the latitude to um decide how it wants to handle the recommendation whether you um accept the recommendation or you decide to do do something else with it, you know, and and you can certainly it may end up that you agree with the recommendation in the end. I don't know, but it but I mean it's not um for staff to really weigh in on I think um your I mean we've given you re the recommendation came from a a 10 member panel. Um so no one person including myself really um uh it was a weighted vote. Um and um and we had uh an independent independent consultants also review the and look at the financial viability and comment on that and you know Lassar and Kaiser Marston looked at
097this. So there's a lot of uh data and um um a lot of time that's spent in developing the recommendation. Um however, you know, there there are a lot of differences in these some of these proposals and different visions because we allowed for a lot of flexibility in the prop in the RFP. So um I'm kind of just giving you this from the heart. I don't know what is that is that I hope that I don't know if that helps. >> No, that that's helpful. Uh I have served as a chair of the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation board of directors and we used to get proposals and so forth, staff, etc. And um it's important that we understand and tighten up whatever it is we're after. Now, if we're saying we're going to expand it
098to nove January and we want to look at something again, we need to be sure that our parameters are tightened because I do believe in due diligence that the committee did their best to u narrow it down for us and and to give us something to look at. Uh, I'm not opposed to us expanding it to January, but I do want folks to understand because you can get in that cycle of going around and around until folks um get whatever it is they're looking for and that's not fair to anybody concerned. I don't know that there is a timeline that's um absolute we're on this deadline a timeline and it's an absolute timeline but I do want us as trustees who will be making this decision now andor in January to really understand what it
099is we're looking for that we articulate it and we verbalize it. It's in writing so that we all understand fairly what's going on and we don't waste staff and committee members time when we are not clear on what we want to do. All here but now somebody says this or that or whatever. Let's just be tight about what it is we're looking for and that once the proposal is tightened or whatever it is we want to get that we adhere to that and that we affirm on that because you can always change. There's always something you can modify. As I said, I don't I'm not I don't have any skin in the game in the sense that uh I'm not going to get a penny out of it either way. I've talked about the fact
100that this particular property I live down the street here on Campus Avenue. I'm a part of San Diego City and I want to see the best for this city and for our school community. That is my bias. And so with that, if we vote to extend it to January, we all need to understand what we're committing ourselves to and and we get any anybody who goes beyond that point once we've gotten the RFPs out and the criteria specified so that everyone understand if you don't come forward at that point and say what your issues are, then you've nullified your process so that we don't get here with all this work and then no, let's change it. We didn't understand. Let's make it very clear what it is we're after. Sorry about that, but that's my
101sermon for tonight. >> Thank you, Trusty W. Trusty Hazen. >> Thank you. I agree with Trusty Whitehurst Payne. I think it's critically important that we clarify for each of these projects, the feedback we have. I imagine we're all prepared to provide feedback on each of the projects. Um, and so I guess I would ask that we the president if we could vote on 11. Um, and then go through as you had outlined um to share feedback to see if we can get to consensus around our shared priorities um so that uh potentially in January uh we can invite biders back um to provide additional information. um or their best and final offer so that we can at that point vote on um who we plan to move forward with with final negotiations and development of
102a term sheet. And I guess just for clarification um Vice President Bura, is that your desire that at at that workshop it would be both a presentation and a vote so that we wouldn't be postponing the decision any further? Thank you. >> Okay, I'll speak to the motion. Um I have we've all been under enormous pressure from members of the public and other um other individuals to um alter this process at the one yard line. Um and um I will just say uh we have very clear parameters about what we're achieving here. That's what we did last year. We did that in December. We came again back in March and established those. The public has come out in enormous numbers tonight to opponine on it. We have we have these proposals. They speak for themselves.
103They have diverse approaches to achieving this. Um and frankly they are rooted in these developers specializations. They're rooted in what they've done their entire careers. That's why they are they're innovative. They're rooted in their not just in innovativeness in their specialties. You have developers that have specialized in uh low-income housing development. You have developers that have specialized in infill development. You have developers that have specialized in uh mixed income developments. A lot of different things. And they've brought that expertise here. Frankly, I I don't see what will happen if these projects are unchanged. Uh you'll have to turn all your people out again. Um we will drag this out. there will be more pressure from a lot of parties um to uh alter our decision. So I will just read to you what our actual
104what we spent a workshop doing and we had a board meeting doing. I will read to you what our goals were for these projects um which were quite simply I'll read them right here and then I will conclude my remarks in opposition to this motion. Development of district property should support affordable housing for classified and certificated staff. Housing is considered affordable when less than 30% of a family's income is spent on rent. Units developed on district properties should be responsive to the needs of employees with TK through 12 grade student dependence. Maximizing the number of affordable units is the highest priority, followed by securing ongoing revenue sources to supplement the district's budget. When issuing requests for proposals, districts should provide flexible parameters to elicit a market response. The vision to develop properties comes through community
105engagement and consensus with community and labor partners. Develop properties as sustainable communities in alignment with the state superintendent's housing initiative to encourage housing development California and maintain ownership of district property. To me, I don't really see that there's any change. We have very clear criteria with with which we are to uh compare these projects and select uh the prevailing project. Um I am opposed to this motion. Trusty Bazo. >> Thank you, President Person. Um, and thank you for the comments thus far and in thinking about this. Um, I think initially, I mean, I always appreciate our staff and support them, uh, trust them. You know, they're really the experts in these in this area. Um but at the same time you know in coming out here that was first what I was going to do
106but um after just you know again hearing from various different people I think the problem is in the proposals some of the writing that was involved is there's it's causing confusion and so that's why I think the idea of doing the interview and this was a recommendation from LAR um to take the top the the top bidding uh organizations because sometimes what we what's put down in a proposal may not come through correctly and accurately. So I think that's why I've reconsidered this and I think it's better that we hear from them to explain some of the the things that because a lot of questions have been coming up and that couldn't just be answered from the pro proposal itself. So that's why I think it's important that we do provide that additional information. But
107as trusty white pain has said that would be the end of it. We we take care of it that night. So thank you. >> Thank you Trusty Bosa. Do I have any additional comment from the dis with that we will move to a vote. Uh the nature of this item is to um or this motion uh is to um proceed this evening. uh but on all items but 11 to not vote and then on item 11 to uh to vote on that and then all four remaining items will then be brought back uh for a workshop uh which will include discussion with the developers uh in January. Is that does that reflect your motion? Okay, that is the motion on the floor. Uh student trustees, please vote. Student trustees please vote. Uh all other trustees
108please vote. That motion passes with students concurring with the prevailing side. That motion passes. So with that, we will um proceed to pace. Uh we will now move to item H9 um and have our discussion as originally planned. Um but we'll not vote on the item. So with that um Lee, would you like to lead on H9? >> H9. H9 or H11? >> No. >> Oh, the the >> Oh, H. Do you want me to walk through all the items? >> Well, the motion was to proceed as normal, but if we if there was a motion to move the one item in which we will actually take a vote ahead, I will entertain that motion. Do I have a motion to move H 11 ahead? Okay. A motion from Trusty Hazen and a second from
109trustee uh uh Wen. Um is there any discussion on the item? Seeing none, we'll move to a vote. Um student trustees, please vote on the U motion to move 11 ahead. >> Uh all other trustees, please vote. >> I think that motion passes unanimously. We will therefore now consider item 11. Uh the vote on um my recollection is Cardinal Lane. Um >> yeah. Yeah. Um, okay. I'll just do a brief >> I will I will read the item real quickly. And we'll next item 11. Uh, the selection of proposal and authorization for staff to negotiate a term sheet for a joint occupancy agreement with Decro Corporation to construct and operate 107 units of affordable workforce housing at a portion of 2441 Cardinal Lane, currently the instructional media center site. Mr. Delgov, could you please uh
110present the item? >> Thank you, President Patterson. Um so for the instructional med media center we received a proposal from DRO. The evaluation committee um reviewed and recommends the proposal providing 107 affordable units. Um the height and scale of the project is consistent with other multif family uh um units in the neighborhood. And um I'm here to take any questions if there are any. Um before I give you um questions, we will take a motion on this item. Do I have a motion on approval of this item? >> Trusty Bosa with the motion. Do I have a second? Trusty Wyers pay with the second. We have a motion in the second. Um we will um do we have any speakers on this item? Uh Miss D. >> Yes, we're speaking on H11. Correct. >> Correct.
111>> Sure. >> Yes, we do. Let me get to that one. We have five in-person speakers, Armen Neshat, Fatia Macaulay, and Henry Sheay. If you could please come forward. Also, Margarita Shay and John Athetherton. >> Good evening. My name is Armen Nashot, director of real estate development at Decro Corporation. We are a nonprofit organization with 36 years of experience building affordable housing across Southern California. And for this proposal, we were joined by AC Martin as our design lean and architect and and Bernard's as our general contractor. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be recommended and considered for the instructional media center site. As with all of our work, we started by listening. Input from district staff and neighbors and the community directly shaped a plan for 107 affordable and 108 total homes designed
112at an appropriate scale for this site and for this community. Our team studied the surrounding area closely created a building that fits seamlessly. Its massing, its architecture, and its site design is all meant to feel like a natural extension of the neighborhood. The homes will serve households from 30 to 80% of area median income with one, two, and threebedroom units that are aligned both that are aligned with the district's employee housing survey which demonstrate that a majority of district staff need at least two or three bedrooms. Our aim is to expand highquality family-friendly Thank you. Just to confirm this is one full minute. Okay, great. Hi, my name is Fifthia McCaulay. I'm the chief real estate development officer for DRO Corporation. Thank you for your time and consideration and for your support around the instructional
113media center this evening. Our CEO Ted Handel could not be here this evening. Our board is having its annual meeting this evening and it could not be changed. Uh we are, as Armen mean said, we are a 36-year-old affordable housing developer uh that's been operating in California as well as Florida. Uh we've been doing this for a very long time. Uh and this project really exemplifies what we do in terms of working with employed and unemployed people that need affordable housing. And that's such this kind of project. Uh we are again Californiabased. Uh and really our focus is on providing dignified spaces that provide for a sense of community and well-being for residents and community members alike. And today owns and operates 24 affordable and supportive housing developments in our portfolio uh comprising over 1100
114units. We applied to the school district to develop these projects and they're well within our range for our development team. Thank you. Good evening, illustrious board members. Uh, I can't appine on the need for for housing here in in the San Diego Unified uh boundaries more than uh board president said and Dr. Beula. Anyhow, what I'm going to say because I have a 30-year history of building uh educational facilities in in Southern California, especially in San Diego and for San Diego Unified, I will say that providing workhorse housing isn't a luxury. It's a way in saying to our educators and staff, we see you. We value you and we want you to be part of this community long term. It's a practical solution the ve to a very real problem. and it sends a message
115that we are committed to stability not for just not just for employees but for the students who rely on consistent relationships with trusted adults. I hope the board continues to move this initiative forward. I believe it's one of the most meaningful investments we can make in the people who make our school who make our schools work every single day. Thank you. >> Were excuse me, were you John? Were you John? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. uh Henry Sheay or Margarita Sheay. All right, we also have some virtual speakers on this item. We'll start with Paul Greer. We have also Brian Ang Paul Greer or Brian Ang Margaret Sturivant or Katie Sturivant. Francis this Callie Greer and P Torres if any of you >> Yes. Go ahead Callie you have one minute. >> Oh thank
116you. Hi, this is Cali Greer and I am a homeowner in Birdland and I am opposing this project. Birdland, this street where you're going to put this apartment complex, we are a oneway in and a one way out. We are built in a canyon. So, we go far back and we go down into a canyon. So for safety purposes, I oppose this because if there was an emergency situation like a fire, there would be no way those people that are the furthest away from Jennese and the 163 would a would be able to get out of there. It's also very impacted already by apartment villages and you're the area is on a dead end. So the main route to get in and out will be impacted constantly. So, I oppose it strongly. Thank you. >>
117All right, we'll check on our virtual speakers again. Paul Greer. >> Yes. Um, thank you very much. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Yes. Go ahead. Do you have one? >> So, um, I am a I'm a resident as well. I'm the wife of Cali who just uh spoke. I also am a community college professor at San Diego City College. I've been living in this neighborhood for 20 years and um as Cali had mentioned uh the safety of our neighborhood is in jeopardy with this plan. Um we already are overcrowded and we are really asking this board and everyone else to consider not this site. um it it just will not uh farewell with traffic in the future as well as uh for many of us uh we have to get to work and everything
118else and it might prevent us from getting to work on time. So it's not just us uh we have over a thousand residents in this neighborhood and as Cali had mentioned it's one way in one way out this is not the way to go. Thank you for your attention to this matter and allowing us to speak our words. >> Brian Ang Margaret Sturdivant Katie Sturdivant can get on. That's what it is. >> Pores, go ahead. You have one minute. Oh, >> I'm sorry. Hi. Um, this is Patricia Torres. Um, I've lived in this neighborhood for almost 29 years and I live right on Cardinal Drive and the parking here is horrible with the apartment complex on Cardinal Lane. Everybody parks in front of our street. We can't even park in front of our house. people
119park uh block our um driveway and the traffic going in and out of this neighborhood is really bad especially with the school around the corner. I can't imagine if you build another apartment complex what the parking situation is going to be here and the congestion of coming in and out of Cardinal and like the other people mentioned in case of an emergency there's only one way in and one way out and I can't see having another apartment complex in our neighborhood that will just make it a lot worse. So, I appreciate if you guys consider people that live here that you please do not build in this community because it's congested as it is already. Thank you. I'll do a final call for Brian Ang, Margaret Sturdivant, Katie Sturdivant, or Francis this. >> They're not
120answering. >> All right. Looks like um that exhausts our public comments. Um, I'm going to give Lee another opportunity to um to describe in great You want to describe in greater detail this project at all or is that >> um you know >> I cut you off the first first time, right? >> No, no, it's okay. No, I don't I really don't have much more to say. I mean I think and I think the developer did a nice job. I mean it it there is um a a fair amount of um multif family in there are single family residents adjacent and there are multif family uh in the in the area. the the project is parked, fully parked. Um, we did hear a lot of concerns um during our community listening session about traffic and
121congestion. I mean, I'll just tell you honestly my my my what I see from that area is most of the traffic congestion occurs because the the two hospitals nearby generate a lot of average daily trips. So, they they've expanded dramatically over the years. So, if those people that are listening, um, and and they they've added a lot of staff and a lot of patients and a lot of, uh, and that's caused traffic and the the, um, the road infrastructure hasn't been dramatically in, you know, I've I've watched this city grow up through my whole life, so I've seen this this area. Um, so what the residents nearby are saying is true, but I don't think that this project demand de demonstrabably changes that effect. I mean it it will add a few more daily trips
122but not demonstrabably the the big deal really is the the traffic and access to those those hospitals. Um and I think that's a bigger problem that requires a bigger solution. That's just my my overall perspective. the there is there are apartments just directly adjacent to if you look at this aerial photo you'll see an apartment complex with um that's right adjacent to our property and and I want so we won't be impacting the parking um so I I do think this fits well um in the in the neighborhood it you know and and I I support the recommendation of the valuation committee >> and the joint occupancy is actually district parking >> yes um okay um Do we have Thank you, Lee. Do we have any additional comment or questions from the board? Um, Vice
123President Ber, >> thank you, President B. I just wanted to uh uh thank uh Decro in this proposal for the number of two-bedroom and three-bedroom units that you include in this. I think we were clear uh in our board discussions, our workshops that we actually want to give uh opportunity to our employees who are themselves parents of students in our in our district. And I think by that unit mix um I think you're you're helping towards that goal. So appreciate that. >> Trusty Hazen, >> thank you and want to echo uh Vice President Bar's feedback. I agree. I think it's really exciting to be able to bring online so many two and threebedroom units. Um I think it's really an exciting addition to the community. I really appreciate the clarification and feedback um about parking.
124Uh and and I think the other thing, you know, in terms of the concerns, um that we've heard about about parking, about traffic, um and potentially fire safety, um I guess could you clarify, um if those were concerns of the city, would we even be allowed to move forward with construction here? And can you describe sort of the city's role in this process and ensuring um this is a safe place to develop more housing? That that's a great question and a great leadin to it. Um the answer is if if the city doesn't feel that there is adequate access for fire access. Um in this case there's access on two sides of the site which is essential um uh and helpful very helpful. But if the city were to analyze the building permits and determine
125there was there were issues, they would require a modification of the project in order to make it make it so so the permitting, you know, won't go forward without that. So, and we're certainly um anxious to work with the developer to to make this project possible um because it does support our families um with multi with more bedrooms and and we do appreciate that. This is a DRO is a nonprofit affordable housing developer. So, this is really their this is their bread and butter. So, I want to thank that team for coming out and and proposing on this. They proposed on another number of them, but they're really their heart is really in this work um supporting nonprofits. So, um but but we will definitely um uh certainly make sure that this does not impact
126um the safety of the residents of this um development or any of the other adjacent neighbors. >> Thank you. I just want to make clear my commitment and I think the commitment of this board to ensure that all of these projects ensure the safety of every community where we intend to build um both fire safety, traffic safety um and that that work to ensure those things are in place is ongoing. Thank you. >> So an environmental impact study has to be done. It's part of the new process. >> I don't know that there is an ER with this. It's it's it's consist there's legislation that allows us to um well I don't want to get into sort of the legal but but there is legislation that allows this type of project to be exempt under
127SQUA that's something we will analyze though we'll analyze the full impact yeah so long as it's consistent with the general plan the general and the community plan that is your exemption document so and that's if this is ministerial which is required by our >> RFP presumably it won't and level of service is not analyzable under SQA. So >> yeah, but at one point that facility we had a lot of employees over there in that area. I I don't know was I there one time in my long career in the district, lots of cars, lots of traffic over there and now we've more or less moved it out and gutted that area so that there's a modicum very few. So I mean it's like now we don't want to go back to what it was. >>
128Your your point your point is well taken that over the years the district has actually reduced the number of average daily trip load on that particular street. So if anything, this sort of brings us back to what it may may bring us back. Of course, we have to have a traffic study and and an analysis to for me to be able to tell you with certainty, but the um it would it's it's likely we've reduced quite a bit over the years. And this isn't um a major impact in comparison to all the other um uh uh entities that impact uh traffic in that area, namely the two hospitals. But I'd also point out with regard to with average to average average daily trips and vehicle miles traveler and emissions, these are all our staff. So
129they're living somewhere farther away than this. So actually by bringing them closer to their jobs and other amenities, we're significantly reducing ADTS, average daily trips and vehicle miles traveled and therefore carbon emissions. So this is overall a win, a sustainability win. Um Drew >> and just realize that some of the functions that are present IMC will move to the new education center when completed. So some of the portable buildings that are there will be demolished. So there is a change coming that I would I would suspect is likely to mean fewer district staff will be stationed there if you will as well. >> And the elementary school Fletcher will pick up any students there. Um I know it was small at really small at one time. I don't know what it's population is now, but
130yeah, it'll help that school. >> Yes, we're very hopeful that um that our staff that moved into these these um many of these uh developments, especially this one, um will will be staff that have students dependent that can attend our local schools. >> Thank you, Lee. Any additional comment from the DIS? Seeing none, we'll move um to a vote on the the item. Um student trustees, please vote. Oh, I believe Alina is absent. Okay. Uh all other trustees, please vote. Uh that motion uh passes unanimously with uh trustee ODAS uh concurring. Um trusty Wen is not currently present. Okay, with that we will move Congratulations to Decro. Um, with that we will move back to item H9 um on our agenda um which is the selection of proposal and authorization for staff to negotiate. Okay,
131hold on. I'm now I'm just going to say this verbally because it's no longer this. Um, we will now move forward with a discussion of the joint occupancy agreement um that has been uh has been issued an RFP and and received responsive bids um for affordable workforce housing at 6735 Gford Way. uh currently the river center in uh Linda Vista. Uh Mr. Doggo, please present the item. >> Okay. Well, I was um I'll sort of change my structure a little bit the way I was going to present these. Um so for the rever the river center property on Gford way, we received proposals from DRO Community Housing Works, Monarch and and Gangi Development. Um the evaluation committee recommended DRO and their proposed 222 affordable units. Um on their project, the community space includes a linear
132park, a children's play areas, a neighborhood dog park, multi-purpose sports courts, open space, and the proposal will construct a quality child care facility and with and playground with designated parking. Uh there there was we did I did receive a a question from um at the last minute. So I'll just try to answer that question. Um related to the revenue. So the revenue on the DRO proposed is annual ground rent revenue of estimated at $318,728 increasing annually by two and a half% a year. There was there was another and and some of these proposals some of these projects are fairly close in in range. I think the I'll stick with the deckro proposal just for a second. Um we the the committee um really like the way the child care center was laid out on this
133particular proposal in terms of that it was a separate distinct child care center that had its own parking. It was a it was a true um you know a true joint occupy in terms of the quality space that was dedicated for childcare. Um there the other there was another proposal. I don't know if I want to get too much into specifics and I and I don't have a lot of data, but I will tell you that some of the um it's some of the other um uh proposals the way they describe the way the rent is was described was harder to follow, you know, and I don't know if it was on purpose or not. We, you know, we're getting more clarifications. I guess we will get more clarifications on this one because it's going
134to come back, but um staff had a hard time estimating potential rent because it came in as a potential or a percentage of receipts. So, you know, there's guaranteed money and then there's a percentage of of receipts or net operating income. those kinds of things are a lot a little bit less harder to predict, harder to um to under to fully you know understand. So so in some of them that's if if you see those comments that's that's kind of what the and in and Lassar and Kaiser Marston have similar you know um comments on those kinds of things. We did our best because we do think that there is um potential revenue that was proposed, but it's harder to it was a little harder to determine and maybe that's something that if the board
135is going to interview um these panelists that they can dig dig a little deeper. That's my suggestion on on on when when rent isn't guaranteed, what what is it, you know, if it's a percentage of um in this case a percentage of receipts um but a percentage of some some other um revenue that that that can be more discerned or more guaranteed. Of course, staff will at after this step, staff will go and we'll negotiate a term sheet where we'll try to lock down um not only the best and final from those proposers, but also lock down the terms so that it's more certain so that we have a you know something that we can take to the bank, if you will. Um, and so, um, that's I don't know if that answer that that
136was a question that was proposed to me and I'll just say I hope that answers it the best I can given what I you given what we have. Um, the the other the other two proposals were very good though I will say and and the the committee thought highly of them as well. So I don't want to prejudice the um future discussion on this item to say that um they you know um I would say you know the the other proposers all are worth were worthy of consideration. >> All right. Thank you. Um Mr. Dolgarov I'll call you. Uh thank you. Um so we won't take a motion because it's not there is no motion to vote on. So um we will now take public commenters on item H9. >> Yes, we have 10 speakers
137on H9. Armen mean Nesot, Fatia Macaulay, John Athetherton, and Eric Shrainer. Great. Hello again. U my name is Armin Nash. I'm the director of real estate development at DRO Corporation. Again, we're a nonprofit with 36 years of experience in affordable housing development in Southern California. And for this proposal, again, we were joined by AC Martin and Bernard's. Our plan uh delivers um 2 uh 22 affordable homes for households at 30 to 80% AMI. And we're thrilled to include several community amenities that were already listed, including multiple parks, children play areas, as well as a um high quality child care center. Our proposal supports the district through revenue generation as well as a strong labor standards which we formalized via aou with the San Diego County Buildings and Construction Trades Council. We look forward to partnering
138with the district as well as working with the Linda Vista community to bring this vision to life. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Fia McCaulay again. Thanks so much again for your consideration. Uh picking up where I was left off uh earlier. Um Decra applied to the school district to develop these three sites uh which is well within the range of the projects that are managed by our development team. Uh these three projects will be managed by Armen who you've met today as well as one of our project managers and it's well within our range of the workload that we have for our development team and they'll be supported by myself as well as our CEO. I I would like to add specifically for this project that our team does include um past child care facility
139experience as well as the potential for new markets which is also within our development team experience and we appreciate your consideration of our proposal. Thank you. John Athetherton followed by Eric Schwiner. Sorry, John Atheertton. I should have not I should have said earlier that I am with Bernard's I'm with the Decro Corporation and also with AC Martin. So I am one of the proposers on three of the three of the ones tonight. I did want to say thank you for the time tonight. Um, being a being a San Diego resident and working for with San Diego Unified, I know how hard it is for the district staff, whether cert certificated or uh par educators, how uh difficult it is for them to be able to come in. Some are even coming across border to be
140able to teach some of our students here in uh the San Diego Unified um school district. So, thank you for our consideration tonight for for uh our proposal. And that's it. Thank you. Hi, Eric Shrainer with Monarch Group. Um, I'm gonna defer to Sarah uh Crew Jagger. Um, she'll use her own time. Thank you. >> Peggy Moss, Kevin Lightner, Uh, good evening. My name is Kevin Likener. I'm senior vice president of housing at Community Housing Works, a public benefit nonprofit and the project lead. The CHW team is the best partner in supporting the district in achieving its goals to provide affordable workforce housing in Linda Vista to its employees and their families. We proposed the highest number of units at plus 30% more housing than the recommended group and the highest revenues paid to the
141district. We've successfully developed and operate two thriving communities in Linda Vista. Unfortunately, that is not accurately reflected in today's agenda report. We provided you earlier today with a letter that outlines inaccuracies and oversightes that we found in the report. We are confident that given the opportunity to present in January, we can answer any questions that you may have to demonstrate why we are the best partner for the district and should be selected to develop the Linda Vista site. Thank you for the opportunity and for trying to address the housing crisis in San Diego. >> Good evening. My name is Penny Moss with Property Works LLC and I'm a strategic consultant on the community housing works team. Thank you for reiterating your goals earlier and one of them is about community engagement. With years of experience
142myself when I was in the public sector leading public private partnerships of this magnitude, I understand how important it is to build early consensus with stakeholders, the community, and how proposals that conform with the community plan can streamline a successful delivery. When the community plan and stakeholders are an afterthought, that causes problems. And when that causes problems, that causes delays of time and money, not just to the development team, but also to the public partner and in this case the district. Our proposal conforms with the Lindab Vista community plan. And we proactively engaged in early stakeholder outreach, not just saying we will do stakeholder outreach if we're selected. We sought the feedback from the community. We incorporated it. And that's why there were letters of support for our team in our proposal. Thank you for
143the opportunity to come back to you in January. >> Tony Manolatus, Matt Winter. Hello board members. Um Tony Manoladis with Menalis Public Affairs. I have a uh twin boys who are at Lewis Middle School and our daughter is a Patrick Henry graduate. Big supporters of San Diego Unified. Um I am a strategic consultant with the community housing works team. I have worked in the land use and public sector arena for nearly two decades. So I'm very familiar with our region's housing crisis and I can't thank you all enough for leaning in to solve that problem. It's a big and bold move which is why it's so important that we get it right. I know firsthand how important picking the right partner is for these complex public private projects and I can't stress this point enough.
144The community housing works team provides this board and this district with the highest reward and least amount of risk. The highest reward and the least amount of risk. CHW carefully curated a local team with experience in delivering public private projects to provide a variety of affordable housing options that meet the employee housing survey. Thank you for your time. Appreciate you all. >> Um hello, my name is Matt Winter. Uh uh I'm a director of housing for LPA, the architecture firm, working with the community housing works team. And since he did, I'm going to mention my daughter goes to Mission Bay High School as a freshman. So, um, our approach to the Linda Vista was to design a community that reflects both the district's goals and Linda Vista community plan. With the site top techic canyon,
145we respect the canyon edge, maintain required setbacks, and shape the building masking to fit comfortably within the surrounding neighborhood and also uh included a standalone daycare center. These choices directly address environmental sensitivity, create views to open space, and mitigate for increased fire risk, and respect the character of the community based on feedback we heard from Linda Vista community members. We also developed a unit mix and open space program using the district's employee housing survey to support employees with families of varying sizes. This is a district that can move efficiently in approvals, minimizing delays and uncertainty for the district. Uh we welcome the opportunity to present this design and interview at a f future date. Uh, thank you >> Darren Crit Critow and John Allen. Hello, I'm Darren Critslow. Good evening. I'm with Community Housing Works.
146Our proposal for Linda Vista was designed to meet the district's goals. affordable workforce housing for employees and a stable long-term revenue stream. We based our approach on the employee housing housing survey and the community plan to make sure that the project is both financially feasible and the project we can deliver. Some elements of this proposal are not fully reflected in the agenda including our revenue structure and affordability mix although they were reflected in LAR memo. We have decades of experience securing financing and the financing behind any proposal is critical especially when funding is scarce. That is why we do not rely on local affordable housing funding sources which are extremely limited and difficult to secure. If the financing doesn't come together, the homes don't get built. So, it's incredibly important to ensure that the capital
147stacks proposed in every proposal are achievable. The LAR memo recommended interviewing the top ranked teams. We respectfully ask that the board take that step so we can fully um evaluate and thank you. >> Good evening. My name is John Allen. I'm with Streamline Development Group. We are the middle- inome housing partner on the CHW team. Um we're happy that you retained an expert LSR um to guide your team in evaluating the complex proposals before you to support the staff and provide the third party evaluations. Um, the LAR memo rated the CHW proposal a 98 out of a 100 score, the highest of all 15 proposals before you. They also recommended interviewing the top ranked teams before advancing the the recommended selection. And because that step has not yet occurred, as a result, the committee mistakenly
148overlooked and misrepresented some of the financial and programmatic components of our proposal, which would have been clarified through the interview process. We welcome that additional level of review which will give you all the confidence needed to select the partner who brings the highest reward and the least amount of risk for the district and the communities you serve. So, it's smart to give yourselves the benefit of hearing from the strongest teams directly, ensuring that all that information is accurate and available. This decision is too important for the board and so to get it wrong. So, we support the decision to uh come back and see you in January. Thank you. And I believe this may be a duplicate name, Penny Moss. >> Okay, thank you. That concludes comment on this item. >> All right, thank you
149so much. Um, we will uh now bring it back to the DAS. Do any of uh my colleagues have any questions or comments on this item? Trusty Hazen? >> Yes. You know, I think as I reviewed this item and the proposed number of units and I appreciate uh President Person, you reiterating uh that the top priority of this board as identified in our guiding principles is maximizing the number of affordable units followed by securing ongoing revenue sources to supplement the district's budget. And as I look at uh what's recommended here um 222 units versus um 294 in the second score top scoring uh proposal. It's confounding to me um because the top scoring uh bidder does not provide um the maximum number of affordable units. Um, and that's really important to me and I believe
150important to the board because we identified that as our highest priority. Hearing that the committee appreciated the child care center is great to hear. I think we all would like more child care. We know there's a child care crisis. I'm an early childhood education advocate and the top priority that we identified for all of our projects is the maximum number of affordable units. Um, and it looked like that may have been missed in this recommendation. >> Thank you, Trusty Hayen. Uh, do any of my remaining colleagues have any comments or questions on this item? >> Seeing none, um, I will I will defer my comments and Oh, yes. Uh, as far as process, there were four proposals for this site. Um, I'm just trying to think about January. You can see the scoring within the
151item. Would you like all four proposals to come back or is there a line line you'd like to draw or anything that way? >> Uh, the motion as it stands is bring them all four back. >> Thank you. >> And >> thanks. >> Unless somebody wants to make another motion to alter the motion, that's how we'll proceed. There's anything you want to make >> not specific to this proposal but in the motion I know the recommendation is to bring all of them back. I believe there is one proposer for some of these uh whose financing is impossible um and depends on revenue from the afford the new uh affordable housing finance authority um who has no revenue. Uh so I would ask that we remove them um from the future. >> Okay. So I am
152>> I am now >> but I defer to the motion maker. >> I mean it'll be a new motion. Did you want to make a new motion? I didn't clarify that >> I I I think I clarified in my motion that a staff believes there is a proposal in any of these projects that's not viable that that would not come back. Uh and so yeah. >> Um thank you uh Vice President Barrera. Um the the uh proposal the proposals that rely on the regional housing finance authority while are compelling and we thank the proposers for their work the the revenue stream it was really difficult for the committee. Um and you saw Lassar kind of was trying to grapple with that issue as well in their memo. Um, it really was difficult to grab, you
153know, to to grasp because it relies on potential future revenue that would need to be approved by voters. It's it's years off. Um, so the staff did not really um consider those to be viable proposals and I would I would recommend that the board not not spend the time because um there is so little there's a lot less certainty around the financing proposed under that scenario. So I I'll that that's our staff's thoughts on this. >> So just to be clear, I believe you are expressing the consensus of staff that the Michael's group proposals are not financially viable and therefore will be excluded from the January meeting. >> Yes. >> Okay. Let the record so show. Um okay. Does anybody have any additional comments on um item H9? Uh seeing none, we will move to
154item H10. Um it's not selection and it's not um so this is just consideration of the proposals for 2375 Congress Street. Uh and uh that is currently that currently houses the Aerald J. Ballard Center site. Um so uh Mr. Dog once again would you like to present this item? Okay. Um Okay. So, for the Ballard Center on Congress Street, we we received proposals from Bridge Housing Corporation, Community Housing Works, the Michaels Corporation, which we talked about earlier, and Monarch, the Monarch Group. The evaluation committee recommended Bridge Housing Corporation with proposal uh their proposal to build 141 uh affordable units um and constructing improvements within the existing Harold J. Ballard parent center to provide 6,500 foot facility for district's exclusive use and the balance of the center would become a 9,000 square foot child care facility.
155Um there were other compelling proposals as well. Um except for I would say the Michael's proposal that doesn't almost unres you know sort of unresponsive if you ask me. >> All right. Thank you Mr. Belg. Um uh with that we will move to public comment on H10. Um >> yes we have seven speakers on H10. Mary Jane Jagazinski followed by Eric Schwrainer. Good evening. I'm Mary Jane Jagazadinski. Um I'm senior vice president of development for Bridge um located here in San Diego. Uh as you know, we're a 42-year-old nonprofit. We have five offices across the Pacific Coast, including here in San Diego where we have almost 2,000 units. Our total portfolio is about 16,000 and we were just named uh the development company of the year by afford by uh multif family uh housing uh
156last week. So, we're very proud of that. But aside from all that, what what matters here is we since uh 1983, we we build homes. That's important. That's where you're at as well. We read that your requirements very carefully and we feel like we've really addressed what you asked in terms of shared uses as well as affordable homes as well as considering community benefits such as um a place for the farmers market, not stuffing more apartments in than the neighborhood can accommodate. So, thank you. Look forward to January. Appreciate your time. Hi, Eric Trainer. Um, no comments at this time. Thank you, >> Peggy Moss and Kevin Lightner. Good evening. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak. uh Kevin Likener, senior vice president of housing at Community Housing Works and lead of the CHW
157team. Again, we commend you for your efforts to move forward uh producing housing on district land. Uh once again, our proposal for this site proposed significantly more housing. I'm not sure we were stuffing it in, but um 346 units on this site uh that would serve a wide range of uh AMI uh area median incomes and ensuring long-term financial benefit to the district as well as delivering a project that fits the surrounding community. We carefully propo carefully crafted our proposal with the district's employee housing survey and the Oldtown community plan as our north star. The LSAR memo recognized this by awarding us the highest score among the proposals and recommended that the top ranked teams be interviewed, which we fully support and appreciate and look forward to coming back to see you all in January.
158We respectfully support your approach and your efforts. Thank you. >> Hello again. I'm Penny Moss with the Community Housing Works team and I was talking about community importance before. I'm going to talk about that again. We aligned our approach with the adopted community plan, keeping building heights appropriate along key frontages, reinforcing the historic transitions that make the neighborhood unique. And we were the only team to incorporate the planned city roundabout at San Diego Avenue and Empia Street, which is really important to this site because it will impact how it's developed. We began early conversations with community and tribal leaders to understand and incorporate their feedback as well. And again, that reduces risk for the district in the future. The approach that this team took and the time we invested in the community was designed to
159reduce our collective risk upfront. We appreciate that you are punting this to uh January to get some more information and we appreciate the opportunity to dive in a little bit deeper with you then. Thank you. Tony Manelattos and Matt Winter. Hello again, Tony Manoladis, um, a strategic consultant on the community housing works team. I've worked in and around public agencies for many years, and I understand how important it is to select a partner who can deliver predictability, transparently, and with minimal risk to the district. For this site, CHW intentionally assembled a team with deep local experience in public private partnerships, community sensitive design, and complex site conditions. Streamline brings expertise in middle-income housing and financial structuring. Highland brings proven public sector delivery. LPA brings decades of experience designing schools and civics projects across our region
160and our outreach and land use partners were selected for their understanding of the San Diego communities and public processes. I can't thank you enough for leaning in uh to this housing crisis. Uh board member Peterson perhaps said it best tonight. You know, there's been a lot of talk over the years, but very little moving the needle and you all are moving the needle in a big bold way and I thank you for that. Um, hello again, uh, Matt Winter, uh, architect with LPA. I just wanted to note another piece of my, uh, expertise is I, I know a lot about historic neighborhoods and, historic property. I spent, uh, nine years on the city of San Diego historic resource board. I came off it last year, um, early in the year. Um, you know, Oldtown's a
161special place in San Diego with deep historic roots, um, dating back to Kumay. Our design goal is to balance workforce housing production while respecting that history and creating opportunities for community activation. You know, we intentionally stepped down massing and introduced architectural elements consistent with Oldtown character and built from the district's own survey data to shape unit size and mix. Additionally, we aimed to keep our project to three stories at most street edges with the exception of the small area by the hotel um side uh which is a little taller and a little lower in grade. Um we respect the Kumaya mural which is the inspiration for creating Aristo way a a contemplate a contemplated connection in a community plan. This will be a place where the residents can relax students can learn about the Kumaya
162and neighbors can easily pass through the site. When we presented this concept the Kumaya their feedback is overwhelmingly positive as was the feedback of local leaders. Thank you >> Darren Critlo and John Allen. Good evening. I'm Darren Critslow with Community Housing Works. Our proposal for Oldtown was shaped directly by the RFP and the district employee housing survey. We proposed a broad range of affordable work workforce homes and a long-term revenue structure that aligns with the district's stated stated goals. The agenda characterizes parts of our proposal in ways that don't accurately reflect the RFP or the definitions provided during the process, particularly around affordability and the long-term revenue. We were not contacted to clarify these items, and those details matter because financing determines whether these homes can actually be delivered. For that reason, we respectfully ask
163that the district follow the recommendation in the LAR memo and interview the top ranked teams. Thank you. Hello again. My name is John Allen with Streamline Development Group, the middle income housing partner um with the CHW team. Um our team received the highest score of all proposals for all sites. Um not only did we not receive that interview, the recommended interview, the agenda uh report ranked our team significantly lower, um due to many of the items detailed in the opposition letter uh sent this morning. Until the district has fully eval evaluated these errors and omissions, um we feel the board would not have the the adequate information you need to make this what would be a milestone decision. And so in that effort to deliver the muchneeded housing that your employees and their families need,
164uh we agree that the safest path for the district is to conduct those interviews before selecting a partner to ensure you may select the team that really does best meet your goals and your vision. We really appreciate the board's um leadership and we're really ready to participate in that process. Thank you very much. >> That concludes comment. >> Right. >> Yes. >> I said I sorry I I did because of the nature of the way this is um played out. I we I wasn't prepared for this particular thing, but there was one of the proposals um and they did speak tonight, but um um the Monarch group, there was a question that the committee had about their district use. And so I think I I think I from a staff perspective, I'd recommend that we
165interview them, but we would I would and it's written in here, I think that it would give them the opportunity to explain the community use use. they they specified that a community or I'm sorry district use because they specified a community garden as a district use and that that is something that um would not in our opinion constitute joint occupancy. So, you know, if the board so pleases the board, I I mean the staff would would suggest that if you're going to interview all of them, you interview them, too. Um but but would ask that the board or recommend the board clarify that particular question that's come up um or that came up in our analysis. >> Thank you. Thank you Lee. >> Are there any additional public comment? No. Seeing none, we'll move to
166board discussion. Do does the board have any comments or questions uh in relation to uh this item? I I guess just simply to reiterate what I shared previously around the prioritization of um maximum number of affordable units. Um and my hope is that in January we can get more clarity um around the differences in these proposals um in terms of that specific priority identified by the board. All right. Thank you, Trusty Hazen. Um I again will defer um simply add um and reiterating and again it's in the guiding principles um that affordability as defined by this board um is no more than 30% of an employes's income. Um so that that's the definition of affordability uh we're talking about. >> Thank you, Trusty Hazen. Um, seeing no further discussion, uh, we will, um, move to
167the next item. Um, which we will skip item 11 because we voted on it. We won't skip it. We already handled it. And we will move to item H12 uh which uh pertains to the joint occupancy agreement um that was u offered in uh request for proposal at 21101 Commercial Street and that was formerly the Irving Street warehouse site. Uh with that um we will move to Dolgarov again. It's you. Okay. Hello. Welcome. >> Okay. on the Thank you. on the uh for the uh commercial street property, we received pro proposals from DRO and Mirka. Um the evaluation committee recommended the Dec Dro proposal um with 87 affordable units and a 4,800 foot child care facility along with a 2100 square foot secure outdoor play uh area for district use. the um uh the their
168proposal is much more complete than the the America proposal. Um and there were there were some sort of missing um components to that. Uh that that's that concludes staff's comment on this one. >> Thank you, Lee. With that, we will move to public comment. Marty Stoultz, please announce the speakers. >> Yes, we have three speakers. Armen Neshot, Fatia Macaulay, and John Athetherton. Good evening again. Uh my name is Armen Nash. Uh our team includes extensive public sector lending and legal expertise in delivering affordable housing. We're excited to leverage this expertise both for the commercial street project as well as all the projects that we were recommended for tonight. Our plan for commercial uh street delivers 87 affordable homes for households at 30 to 80% AMI and again includes one, two, and threebedroom units that are
169shaped by district staff input and the employee housing needs assessment. A central feature is our on-site child care center to provide reliable care for working parents in the broader neighborhood. The design integrates seamlessly with the streetscape and supports a walkable environment. And again, we've partnered with the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council on anou to execute a project labor agreement to ensure highquality construction workforce protections for this project. We look forward to partnering both the district as well as community to bring this vision to life. Thank you. >> Hello again. I'm Macaulay again with Deco Corporation. Uh, one thing that we do want to make sure that we emphasize is the expertise of our development team to complete projects such as this nature, especially ones that are mixed use. Uh, in particular, the
170child care facility and the secure outdoor play area were direct reflections to the member survey that was um conducted. So, we really took care to actually find provide something that was reflective. Also, I think in terms of workforce needs, as we know in Southern California, you can still be employed and uh not able to support rent that is market rate. And that is one of our focus areas. Uh we deliberately looked at AMI levels that were not over 80% uh to be reflective of those that really do not have the ability to pay market rate rent. Uh and lastly, I would say that in terms of this particular project, we're especially proud of our collaboration with um our architect and the GC. Thank you. >> Good evening everybody. I'm sure everyone's just as tired of
171as I am of hearing the public comment period tonight. Anyhow, uh John Athetherton again with Bernard's. Uh I have been a um GC working with San Diego Unified for probably 25 years. Uh we bring the expertise on the education side for mixed use. We've done a lot of I've personally done a lot of uh joint use projects with San Diego Unified over the years. That's why I'm got I've gotten involved with this and being able to be a partner with San Diego Unified. Um they talked a lot about the affordable housing portion of it. Bernard's also has the a multif family a multif family uh facet to our to our building group also. So, we're marrying our education group and our multif family group with this partnership and we hopeful uh we look forward to
172coming back in January and having further discussions. Thank you. >> Thank you, Marty. Um great. With that, we will move back to the board. Um do we have any questions or comments from the board? Um Vice President Barrera. >> Thank you, President Patterson. Um, so I appreciate you clarifying one of the um, issues that the board should be asking one of the proposers around on the previous uh, item on the Ballard Center. On this one, my understanding is that the other proposer while um, proposing a significantly larger number of units had um, gaps in the in the application. could you give us a little bit of what we might be asking that developer to clarify? >> So, um there were the one the one thing I think I think one of the sort of fatal
173flaw was that they proposed a private uh child care op a private for-profit child care operator to operate the child care facility and has to be a district use. So, it doesn't really qualify in under joint occupancy. one sort of big fatal flaw. The proposal itself was missing some pieces. I mean, it was kind of um there were there were elements that were not there were elements that were of the questions in the RFP that were not responded to. Um, so I would say um completing that and sort of clarifying I was going to bring this up but but but clarifying the the district use which didn't seem to allow them to qualify but because they were sort of ranked lower. You're absolutely right. They did offer I I would say the other piece is
174they offered you know um a lot of rent but not specifying how that rent would you know I mean I would if you're looking at the revenue piece there wasn't enough specificity on on the on the revenue as well. So I mean um those are the areas I think that would help if Miraka which was the other proposer if they could clarify that too if you want to bring them back. I mean obviously we are bringing them back um um that they they'll need to clarify the the district use for sure in order to to for us to satisfy joiny >> trusty wires pain >> is this the old site that used to be Alba at one time or uh Cook Marcy Cook or something over there? This is our was the former um uh
175warehouse and maintenance facility on Commercial Street. Um >> a large portion of that has already been redeveloped. This is sort of the last piece. There's a >> a building that was attached to the warehouse where um >> I think instructional and other materials were stored along with other um but it was it was part of um I've seen some old photos. It was actually quite a quite a place, you know. It was like basically the hub of the of the ops, you know, of physical plan operations before Kernney Mesa was built. Um, and um, >> uh, so that's that's the site we're talking about. And this is just one portion of it's it's not a very large piece of property, but there is a multi-story building on the property now that's that's vacant. Um, and
176um, so that's >> where's that where's the other school? I mean the the uh, Alba the old Alba >> the old Alba. I'm not um >> Okay. There was an Alba. So Alba was at um was was was located adjacent to You're talking about when it was it was it was adjacent to Man Middle School at one time. Part of it. Yeah. >> No, I'm talking about when YOU that was >> Oh, YU. Okay. >> Yeah, that was a facility. >> That property is not too far away. It's um it's been it is now um the site of where Chavez King Chavez has one of their schools. It's a triangular piece of property in um and it's it's not it's a few blocks away from Logan Memorial Education Campus. Um >> yeah, I I don't
177I don't have the address for you, but >> it's good. >> The youth opportunities, right? Or something like that. >> Going way back. >> Uh any additional comment from the board um on this item? Okay. Um thank you. Seeing none, we will move to our final housing item, which is to return back to item H8 um which is a consideration of the joint occupancy uh agreement for which an RFP was issued um back in April for 4100 Normal Street uh which is currently us uh Eugene Brooker Education Center. Um Lee, would you like to introduce this item as well? Okay. Um, so on 4100 Normal Street property, we received proposals from Affirmed Housing Group, Proteia Malik Infill Development, the Monarch Group, and the Michaels Corporation, which we've talked about earlier. The evaluation committee recommended affirmed
178housing group's proposal to construct 943 affordable housing units to include a public plaza, a dog park, retention and rehabilitation of historic buildings, preservation of his heritage trees, a community garden and on-site child care facilities. Um I will tell you that the other the other proposals were also um you know compelling um and and much different. So um they had so it's going to be an interesting conversation around that one because um they're divergent the proposals are very divergent among the three you know um and um happy to take questions. Well, before you do that, why don't we um why don't we go to public comment? Do we have any public commenters on this item? >> Yes, we have a lot of public comment on H8. So, we'll call names in order. I'll call up groups
179of four. Andrew Sharp, Gaff Gaffin, Andrew Malik, Kristen Harms. Good evening, board members. I'm uh pleased to be with you tonight. It's very I would say it's just very on brand for the board to decide that we need to challenge ourselves and do better and come back in January. So, we certainly appreciate the chance to come back and provide a little bit more detail. Um, I'm here representing the Proteia Malik um proposal, the Keystone Education District. Um, I think as most of you know, my my son graduated from San Diego High, received a great education there thanks to your commitments and thanks to our educators and this is really an opportunity for us to give our educators a world-class environment um for to live in. Um we are proposing parks, we are proposing a pool
180and um a lot of other amenities. And I just want to say in terms of the pool, one of the things that's important to us is we want to be an enrollment magnet. I know how important that is to the district. The pool we had proposed would be the home pool for the San Diego High Cavers. Um would give them the same competitive opportunity that La Hoya and other schools have. So we we think that's uh both an equity issue as well as enrollment issue. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Yehudi Gaffen. Most people know me as Gaff. Uh I'm here with my partners Jeff Esau and Andrew Malik. Um I've worked side by side with this district since 1998. It's amazing how time has flown, Prop MM. Um I've
181seen firsthand how public schools really get the funding and the support that they need. This deep proposal and understanding has driven everything we've done and we are proposing to bring $4.2 billion to your district through our long-term lease. Uh but I must say for me this is more than just a project. It's a career capstone to honor my late son Josh uh who led our work at San Diego Unified School District for many many years. and we're proposing to turn NX1 into a career learning center that will be funded through the foundation that I formed in his name. Um, my promise to you is to make this a win-win, a win for the district, a win for the city, and a legacy we can all be proud of. Thank you. Um, good evening. My name
182is Andrew Mwick, partners with GAF and Jeffrey Esico. My focus my entire career has been building housing for the missing middle, creating policy and projects that work for the workforce. Our proposal, the Keystone Education District, is designed to be a regional resource for the district. We are offering an urban lifestyle that makes the most climate friend makes it the most climatefriendly project on the list. The numbers tell the story. Our project houses the most people and the most families. We are delivering,00 missing middle homes without competing for scarce low-income housing subsidies. We aren't just looking at unit counts. We are looking at dignity. We want to build a neighborhood that treats your education workforce with respect, benefits the surrounding community and honors the deep history of this site. Thank you. >> Good evening. I'm Kristen
183Harms with the University Heights Historical Society. The Brooker site is not just another housing site. It has local and regional significance as the location of the former normal school which was built in 1898 and later moved to Montazuma Mesa where it became San Diego State University. It is also home to the extent teachers training annex which is listed on the national register of historic places. Therefore massing and scaling on this site is extremely important massing and scaling around annex one. So whichever proposal this board decides to accept, we ask that the following be included in the term sheet. Scale amassing the buildings to protect the historic integrity of annex one. Incorporating the architectural styles of the apartments along the adjacent campus avenue, adding a preservation architect to the project, and closely collaborating with a representative
184from the historical society to ensure that secretary of interior standards are fulfilled. Thank you. >> Bruce Coons, excuse me, Bruce Coons, William Ellig, Mark Johnson. >> Thank you very much. Uh, Bruce Coons, deputy director, Saver Heritage Organization. Since we have a little time, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for treating uh, annex one and two and and the oak tree well uh, in your RFP that you sent out. Um just wanted to reiterate that the uh ground plan that was provided by the uh district was a pretty fantastic ground plan. It's a opportunity to have a very significant public amenity and housing. An opportunity that we don't see very often anywhere in town. And so we just wanted to make sure that whatever project is proposed would uh look more at that
185ground plan that the district provided because the public open spaces there were extremely significant and they provide breathing room for the historic buildings. The one image I saw recently from one of the proposals, the uh building needs to step back a little and uh not overwhelm the historic building. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Bill Ellig. I'm a University Heights community member, planning group member, and there are concerns that I have with both the affirmed and the other projects as well. Scale and mass of the buildings need to be balanced between the public open space that we did not see in a lot of these uh proposals. We're asking that the building height along Normal Street be approximately 70 feet, then transition down to more the center, the north side, and in addition to
186that, the campus side as well. We did not see much uh pedestrian circulation on these projects, north to south, east to west, very critical for both the neighborhood and for the people involved. Uh public access uh by outside vehicles, you know, that hasn't been well defined. We don't want to have a public road through the property. And then finally, we ask that the that there be collaboration between whoever the proposer is and the uh coalition community of University Heights that we can help them uh meet the goals of of this project. Thank you. >> Hi, good evening everybody. I'm Mark Johnson, co-chair of the Community Coalition of University Heights, and I'm also a member of the selection committee helping inform staff on these recommendations. So, a lot of hours spent on the on these recommendations.
187It was an honor to be able to serve in that role. For Normal Street, the affirmed proposal scored highest of all the number of proposals that came in. It's not a perfect plan, and there's a lot of room for improvement on all of the proposals that you've got before you. What is built here can't overburden the University Heights community, especially when compared to what other neighborhoods are being burdened with. We have to address the existing infrastructure and we have to find a solution that has the scale and size and mass that's compatible with this site and compatible with the neighborhood. That being said, of all the proposals that are before you, the mix of units has been way off from what your district employees need for two bedrooms and three bedrooms, as well as what
188Reena says we have to have. So, we're looking at the most affordable units, especially the missing middle two and threebedroom units. And that's one of the reasons why we like the affirmed units. So, the affirmed proposal so much. It had the most number of those units. But there's a lot of room for improvement. Make no mistake, our community welcomes this once in a-lifetime opportunity to truly make a meaningful positive impact on the affordable housing crisis, and we applaud you for your efforts in leading on this. We look forward to talking more next month and working with you. Don Martin, Manny Rodriguez, Leaf Gensert, and Kate Gasparo. Good afternoon, President Peterson and Honorable Trustees. My name is Manny Rodriguez and I'm the president of the Yimi Democrats of San Diego County. The cost of housing is
189crushing working families. That's the truth. And I appreciate President Peterson making a point to that earlier. Um the solution to this is building more housing, especially housing reserved for our workforce, which needs it the most. Cities that have built a lot of housing have seen their rent stabilize and even drop, such as Austin and Minneapolis. You'll hear from you'll hear concerns from million-dollar single family homeowners about how, you know, it doesn't this these proposals might not fit people's aesthetics preferences. Well, on behalf of the Yimi Democrats of Feno County and our hundreds of supporters, we ask that you prioritize the needs of working families over the aesthetic preferences of the affluent. Please do. And you can do that by selecting the proposal that will build the most homes for working people on this site. The
190proposal with 1500 homes. Thank you very much. Uh, good evening trustees. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. My name is Life Genszad. I'm the vice president of RISD, a local public transport advocacy group. And I live in North Park, just over the wall of Texas Street. So, I come here very often. I'm very familiar with the area. Um, we love high transit rator. We have one of the highest bus routs in uh in the county with the 215 and the seven very close by. Um, we advocate for the Keystone project to have the highest number of residences. Um, we heard already about overburdening infrastructure. So, we want to make sure that public transport is infrastructure. We want to have as much people as possible on public transport because otherwise they live somewhere
191else and they drive much more. So if we're serious about VMT uh decrease, we need to focus on uh dens dense residency and public transport nearby. Thank you. >> Aria Gman, Margaret Man, Mary Brown, and Ike Warner. Good evening. My name is Arya Gman. I'm the policy manager at Circulate San Diego. Circulate is a policy and planning organization that advocates for vibrant communities through policies that encourage more homes, um, affordable and market rate, uh, and transit oriented development. I'm here today to encourage you to fully take advantage of this unique site and select the proposal that maximizes the number of homes constructed here. This opportunity presents a significant opportunity for San Diego Unified to address the housing crisis in a way that directly supports its staff. Your goal here should be to support as many
192employees as possible. The current recommended proposal builds over 500 fewer homes than allowable. And by choosing to move forward with this proposal, you are making a choice to leave 500 district employees and their families with more expensive and less connected housing options. This project is about more than just this neighborhood. This is a high resource and very well-connected area. And as such, it is a real opportunity to fully transform the broader region. Thank you. >> Uh good evening trustees. My name is Ikeer. I'm a community advocate and a member of the Uptown Community Planning Group speaking tonight in a personal capacity in opposition to the staff recommendation. The district has said it wants to make a serious dent in the housing crisis and provide homes for a meaningful share of its workforce. But the staff
193recommended plan delivers fewer homes, less public space, and dramatically less long-term revenue antithetical to your goals. It also leaves many teachers behind because a narrow affordability band means most won't qualify. I hope in January you will strongly consider the proteos. It maximizes housing units, the single most effective way to ensure more educators and staff can benefit and your top priority. It provides more mixed use space, community serving design, and a stronger financial return over the life of the ground lease revenue that you can reinvest in students and schools. The staff recommended proposal, while well-intentioned, is inconsistent with the Uptown Community Plan proposing only a quarter of the allowable density and relies heavily on LITC credits, which are scarce and should be reserved for sites where they are truly necessary. If San Diego Unified is going
194to do workforce housing, it should do so boldly by delivering the plan that delivers the most homes, the most benefits, and the greatest long-term value. Thank you. >> Barry Hager, Robert Josoy, Melody Lockach, Jonathan Taylor. Good evening. My name is Melody Lockach, vice president of development at Affirmed Housing. We appreciate staffs and the evaluation committee's recommendation of our proposal and the time spent to review each proposal. Affirmed Housing has been developing affordable housing for more than 30 years. We are headquartered here in San Diego and work throughout California. For this effort, Affirmed is partnering with the Pacific Companies. Together, our organizations have completed approximately 400 developments and de delivered more than 30,000 apartment homes. We also have experience with project labor agreement. Our general contractor is currently working on two PLA deals. Our proposal included
195modular construction. We remain flexible and open to considering construction types and materials to best meet the needs of the district, residents, and community. This year, Affirmed has closed financing on approximately 750 affordable homes, and for the next year, we have secured tax credits for more than a thousand additional homes. Thank you. >> Hello, my name is Jonathan Taylor and I'm the senior vice president of asset management for Affirmed Housing Group. Affirmed has partnered on several ground lease developments across San Diego and throughout California. With MTS, we have completed Shoreline in Grantville and are nearing completion of Skyline in Rancho Bernardo. Our project at the Spring Street Transit Station received its tax credit award just this morning and is scheduled to begin construction next year. In the pipeline, we have an additional project under development with
196MTS in the South Bay. Altogether, our partnership has produced 470 apartment homes under a ground lease arrangement with MTS. At Affirmed, we invest time and resources upfront to ensure the long-term quality and durability of our affordable housing communities. We select highquality construction materials, install energy efficient systems such as solar panels and solar hot water heating. We design our buildings to maximi maximize natural light. We also prioritize green spaces to enhance the well-being of our residents and our neighbors. Thank you. >> Jeff, excuse me, Jeff Edgrren, Jer Gerrer Garabedian, Sable Beltran, and Sarah Iser. Good evening. And it is evening. It is evening. My name is Jeff Edgar. I'm director of acquisitions at Affirmed Housing. We've been really excited about our proposal and we wanted to share more with the board, but we waited until this
197public hearing. We've been very careful not to speak to any board members about our project because we wanted to be sensitive to the communication requirements within the RFP. We look forward to the opportunity to present to the board outside of this meeting in January to provide additional information. I also want to highlight the strength and credibility of evaluations we have received. Affirmed was ranked as the number one proposal by Kaiser Marston for this site. Kaiser Marson is one of the most respected financial advisory firms in the state. Lassar Development Consultants widely recognized as a leading expert in community development also ranked affirmed as the number one proposal. Additionally, a firm scored approximately 10 points higher than the competing projects. Thank you and we look forward to demonstrating the quality and competitiveness of our submission. >>
198Good evening. My name is Gerard Garbedian. I'm senior architect, senior associate at Dalan Group. Doan is the architect for the affirmed housing proposal. I personally attended the community meeting at Bernie Elementary School to hear residents feedback firsthand, and I've walked the site in both annex buildings, working collaboratively with the firmed housing and their partner. We incorporated the features that the community requested while still meeting the district's housing goals. Our proposal of 952 affordable housing homes has been thoughtfully shaped to fit within the existing community. Along campus avenue, the building step down to four stories, three and four stories to respect the neighborhood scale. While on Normal Street, they rise to five stories. We are also proposing a phased approach to development, allowing each phase to lease up in smaller, more manageable stages. Our plan retains
199both annex one and two and preserves the heritage oak and fus trees. The team is confident both in the timeline and phasing of our strategy. Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Sable Beltran, project manager at Affirmed Housing. Our proposal is the only one that offers 100% affordable homes. We are proposing that all units serve households between 30% and 100% of the area median income. To provide context, in San Diego, an affordable three-bedroom home at 100% AMI rents for approximately $4,300 per month. Rents for units above 100% AMI in the other proposals would be significantly higher. For example, a three-bedroom unit at 120% AMI would rent for about $5,160. According to the housing survey included in the RFP, rents at the 120% AMI level are not affordable for district staff based on their household
200incomes. In addition to my role at Affirmed, I'm also a resident of University Heights and personally supportive of the project. Thank you. Members of the board, my name is Sarah Iser. I represent Cosmott Companies, financial consultant to Proa Malik, known as the Keystone Education District Team. COSMOT has been a leader for close to 40 years to government agencies and private developers, including school districts. We are experts in structuring P3 projects. Cosmott viewed the opportunity to redevelop the district headquarters as not only an affordable housing opportunity, but a way to generate long-term revenue for the district and provide additional community benefits. A firm prioritized short-term cash flow. We chose to include the district as a true partner, offering a share of the revenue versus fixed rent. While the fixed rent model offers immediate payment, it short
201changed the district during the life of the term of the ground lease. Our proposal creates over three times the net present value for the district and is projected to provide 4.242 billion. >> Nikki Ka, Jordan Latchford, Tracy Knight, and Sharon Gil. Good evening everyone. Um, happy to be here. My name is Nikki Ketta. I'm the chief financial officer for Affirmed Housing. I've been with them for over 16 years. Affirmed has secured more than three and a half billion in total financing and we bring the 30 plus years of experience applying for and successfully utilizing tax credits to build affordable housing. We maintain strong, transparent, long-standing relationships with our investors, lenders in who specialize in tax credit transactions and understand how to efficiently close these types of deals. Our proposal includes four phases because we are
202mindful of the project sizes that are most competitive in each tax credit funding cycle. This structure maximizes the likelihood of securing the necessary financing for each phase. Our expertise also is in these complex financing structures with public private partnering and we come with a certainty of execution and delivery. Through this approach, we have met both of the district's key goals, maximizing the number of homes and generating reliable ongoing revenue for the district. Thank you so much. Good evening. My name is Sharon Gail and I'd like to talk about historic preservation. It's uh not true as you've been told that people care about it that anyone care that very that many people care about. The proof is last year we had over 30 million people tourists or residents who could have gone to the Marston house.
203Those people went to the zoo. They weren't to the beach. But the Marston House that Soho runs, that Bruce Coons runs, was open only two days a week. You're being asked to spend a lot of money on historic properties that are going to lose money. The Marson House loses money for the city year after year after year. Those are going to be they're waste going to be a waste of money. Why don't you just give the buildings away? If somebody wants them, they can take them someplace else and have a museum. But this is going to be a waste of money. Your first priority is housing. Thank you. >> Hi. Good evening, uh, President Person and board trustees. My name is Jordan Latchford and I live here in University Heights and I'm here to urge
204the board to support the project with the highest number of homes. I want to begin by thanking the San Diego Unified and this board for your thoughtful work to address the region's housing crisis. Research shows that adding homes at a mix of income levels is one of the most effective ways to improve overall affordability and reduce pressure on existing rents. And because this site is publicly owned land, including some market rate homes is what helps pay for the amenities, improvements, and long-term investments the community has consistently asked for. That's why I want to encourage the board to consider a bold vision for this site. The site's over 13 acres in one of San Diego's most walkable, centrallylo neighborhoods with transit, schools, and local businesses all within steps. Very few places in the city offer this
205combination. So, if we design this thoughtfully with highquality public spaces and a mix of housing types, this site can become a real asset for both the district and the community. Thank you. Good evening everyone. My name is Tracy Knight and I serve as the board vice president of San Diego Architectural Foundation. The foundation's mission is to promote outstanding design through education and community. Architecture and urban design aren't luxuries. They're essential public goods that affect how people live, interact, and thrive. By prioritizing quality contextsensitive design instead of cheap, short-term or autocentric projects, we invest in a sust sustainable and resilient future for the city. The city has a rare opportunity to create a walkable mixeduse urban neighborhood filled with parks, shops, and civic spaces that bring people together. Prioritizing vertical growth over sprawl creates room for
206more public amenities, stronger infrastructure, and improved skyline. San Diego deserves more than just buildings. It deserves a project that fills and lifts up every resident and strengthens our city unlike what's been recommended. As we make decisions about developing, zoning, public spaces, affordable housing, and infrastructure, we must demand design excellence to serve everyone. Good architecture and planning is not optional. It's the foundation of a livable and beautiful San Diego. Thank you. >> Izzy Martinez, Breer Marsh, Denise Carter, and Eric Shrader. Hi folks, Isel Martinez, CSEA, San Diego PAR Educator Chapter President for 759 and PAR educator for Claremont Canyon Academy. As one of the members of the evaluation committee, we took great um stride to make sure that the guiding principles that the board set forth were really looked into in every single proposal we read
207through. There were some moments where some proposals had um unclear financials and we asked staff to help clarify. There were some moments where we were looking at the joint spaces to make sure that it was going to be the best fit, not just for the employees that would be in that housing, but for the community as well. Most most uh proposals had several questions that we asked staff to clarify in moments. And so I reiterate that this is a difficult decision to make, but I I applaud you for making this uh necessary movement forward because staff really really really need this. Thank you. >> Uh Denise Carter with Pacific Companies and I just want to reiterate what Affirmed has said as a partner of theirs that you know we're committed to building affordable housing here.
208We own 326 properties with over 27,000 units. We currently have 37 projects under construction in California with about 4,800 units. We have extensive experience developing, building and owning large projects. We just a couple years ago completed 980 units in Santa Ana in one block. We have over,200 units under construction in San Jose right now. We just completed 138 units in San Diego with another 557 that are under construction currently and uh we also did a about 580 pro uh units in uh the city of India. So I believe that we're you know we're here to enhance what a firm is doing here and bring our experience and you know we always even in doing these big projects we look at the neighborhood and we look at the community and we try to design and build
209to those Hi, Eric Shrainer again. Um, we look forward to seeing you again in January. Thank you. Edgar Ramirez Manriguez, Robert Matlock, Miriam Ga, and Marsha Buda. >> Good evening. My name is Edgar Ramirez Mriquez. I am a resident of University Heights and member of the North Park Community Planning Group. And today I am speaking in opposition to the redevelopment proposal by Affirmed. The proposal includes not one but two above ground parking garages totaling nearly 1,000 new parking spaces. University Heights is one of the most walkable transit-rich neighborhoods in the city. And this isn't new. Early in our neighborhood's history, our historic street car network moved middle and workingclass people to their destinations quickly and affordably. Today, our community continues to benefit from that people focused development. Doubling down on car dependency doesn't make sense.
210Not for our neighborhood's history, not for the children next door who will face more traffic pollution and potential collisions near dangerous intersection. And not in the face of climate change. Let's plan for people, not for cars. Thank you. >> Kevin Likener, Wesley Morgan, Brittany Bailey, and Shaquille Adams. >> Good evening. My name Excuse me. Good evening. My name is Wesley Morgan. I want to begin by thanking the board, superintendent, and every development team present. Your comments at the beginning of the meeting show real ambition. It is inspiring to hear San Diego described as a model for the nation on educator housing, and I look forward to seeing what comes. The decision to defer these to January is the right one. Thanks for your leadership and for making long-term vision you're making come to life. As
211you prepare for January, I want to urge you to adopt the most forwardlooking plan for this normal street site. The proposal that delivers a maximum number, not just percentage, number of affordable homes, the most familysiz units, and the strongest community integration should be the one that moves forward. Height is not a problem. Height is how you unlock parks, plazas, public space, and green corridors. Limiting height only faces more pavement and above ground parking garages, ingress, egress, parking lots like the current recommended proposal. We need an evaluation process that centers educators and regional needs, not the narrow preferences of a few long-term residents. Thank you very much for your leadership. Hello, my name is Shaquille Adams. I've been a resident for I'm a San Diego native for 30 years. I'm in opposition of uh I'm in
212opposition due to the fact that we need the maximum height limit for more teachers to be closer to their workplace. And the more more pe more teachers are at their workplace, the less they have to drive. Eliminating traffic, which is a major contention in San Diego everywhere. Thank you. >> Sarah Crew, Jared Cadrey, Gary Landon, Anthony Deng. >> Good evening board members, uh, superintendent and staff. My name is Sarah Kruer. I'm a partner at Monarch Group and here on behalf of our A+ San Diego team uh also including Klein Financial, Eden Housing, Legal and General Torres, and numerous trusted community partners led by the Prebus Foundation, Jewish Family Services, and Alliance San Diego. Our team brings over 150 years of experience in a long trusted partnership with the district with nearly 45,000 homes delivered, high-quality
213homes, uh including 9,000 here in San Diego over the last 50 years. Our focus, commitment, and heart are entirely here with you, the district, uh just as it's been at Levia over the past decade where we now house 53 district employees who live in highquality affordable homes. You have highly varied proposals as you've mentioned uh significant riskreward trade-offs to consider and we appreciate the opportunity and the willingness to come back uh at a public workshop in January to discuss this further. Uh thank you so much for for your leadership on this uh positioning uh I think San Diego Unified statewide to lead and innovate on workforce housing. Thank you. >> Good evening board. My name is Anthony Deng and I'm a policy advocate at Climate Action Campaign. Our mission is to slash climate pollution and
214create healthier communities through effective and equitable policy action. We are continuing to watchdog the board's 2023 electrification resolution committing to building all electric developments without fossil fuel hookups. And we applaud the board in these soon to be all electric housing developments. We also want the board to select a developer proposal with the most housing units. It's critical we build dense housing in walkable neighborhoods such as this one to reduce vehicle miles traveled and to reduce climate pollution. Additionally, we want to emphasize the speed of delivery in the criteria. The city, county, and state all have 2030 greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, and the school district must play its part to reach these. Projects that rely primarily on lowincome housing tax credits could take decades to get financed. Our housing and climate crisis are urgent, and
215a proposal that can be delivered faster should be scored higher. Thank you. Anisha Agarwal, Quesav Gupta, Josephine Vo, and Tiffany Finstead. >> Sorry. Hi, my name is Anisha Agural. I'm just a resident of San Diego. San Diego is facing a serious housing shortage. We haven't built enough housing to keep up with demand in over 25 years. And with the crisis we are facing, I want to urge the board to opt for the proposal that builds the most homes. While I'm glad the district is committing to build affordable housing for its educators, regardless of which plan is chosen, housing more staff near their place of work presents an amazing opportunity. And that's something that shouldn't be wasted. Um, by choosing the plan that results in the most homes, we will be building a brighter future for
216the city and a step forward in making San Diego a better and more affordable place to live. If the district is serious about tackling the housing crisis for both the city and for its educators, the obvious choice is to choose the plan that maximizes housing and thus maximizes community benefit. Thank you. Sorry, one second. >> Okay. Hi, I'm Josie. Um, I'm really excited and grateful to see that our school district is moving to create affordable housing. I'd like to oppose the affirmed housing proposal for the Brecker site. To me, it's not enough um housing. We all know that we're facing a housing crisis in San Diego. and I understand concerns for historical and neighborhood preservation, traffic and parking. Unfortunately, I find these arguments very harmful in the face of our current crisis. Um, the people
217who provide the services on which we rely should live here in our neighborhood with us. Um, this is a golden opportunity to safeguard housing for our collective future. San Diego will continue to grow. Any housing we choose not to build is housing that district employees will not have available in the future. Some of these plans accommodate hundreds fewer people and family in our community. We cannot claim to care about affordability, housing, our educators, our children in our community, and then also decide to pass up the opportunity to build homes for them in our neighborhood. Um, thank you, >> Mike Phillips. Adam Klene, Stephanie Morgan. Okay, we'll go to our virtual speakers. We have several. Josh Clark, if you could please unmute. >> Josh Clark. >> Hello. As the parent of a San Diego Unified student
218and resident of Uptown, it's thrilling to imagine the Keystone project anchoring our community. This project sets a high standard for how other projects should improve their sites, communities, and the district. It represents the greatest return on investment for our district, which is routinely mired by deficits that I fear suppress enrollment. You all do a great job working with constrained budgets, and the Keystone project will make that work easier for your successors. Keystone maximizes the number of public servants and their families who will call uptown home, a century old street car subur where most of the trips can be done by biking, walking, or transit in a resourcerich area. Uh, and I would like many more people to have these opportunities. Keystone's community enhancements will improve the public realm and help turn a harrowing intersection into
219a safer and more attractive place to travel through. The Brocker site is a node in the rapid transit, regional bike, and community pedestrian networks. Lastly, selfishly, I'm excited to take my family and friends to hang out at Keystone, to use the pool shop, and chill in the plaza. This project has all the features of quality urban placemaking in its design. We don't want to spend another hundred years imagining what could have been at this site. We deserve Keystone. Thanks. >> Justin Schiffer. >> Hi there. My name is Justin Schiffer. Uh I am a teacher in the district and possibly the first teacher so far on this on this call. Um, I want to commend and thank the district leadership and the board for taking a progressive approach in helping the city address its housing affordability
220crisis and create a long-term revenue stream for the district. And while the while the efforts are admirable, I think the district can and should do more to maximize the number of homes on the Ed Center site. 952 might sound like a lot, but I think the numerous state and city incentives, density bonuses, and being in a transit priority area mean that this buildings, these buildings should be built taller and ultimately be more homes for more staff. I think we have a moral obligation to do as much as we can to help solve this housing housing crisis and provide again homes for us teachers. So, I ask that the board prioritize the plan with the most number of homes in the January workshop and not the current plan. the scale of the crisis and especially among
221teachers like myself means we can't afford to leave 500 homes on the table. Ultimately, maximizing the number of homes provides the most benefit for the district staff, the district's finances, and the city's housing stock. Thank you, >> Zach. Excuse me, Zach Sturgeon. >> Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. Um, I'm calling in to oppose the current recommended project by Affirmed Housing and support the Keystone proposal. This location is along a major transit or corridor and this proposal best takes advantage of this location by improving pedestrian connectivity to major transit hubs and understanding that the proximity to transit presents a great opportunity to prioritize building denser housing over wasting valuable land on excessive parking. This proposal is also the proposal that generates the most long-term revenue for San Diego Unified and is the
222most sustainable. Thank you. >> Sam Borinski. >> Hi, my name is Sam Binsky and I'm a student who just graduated from high school in San Diego. I'm speaking in opposition with the affirmed plan and instead support the Keystone Education District. There will be a lot more homes under the Keystone Education District plan and it'll be a far more transit oriented development project which is crucial in the simultaneous housing crisis and uh transportation infrastructure that currently exists in the area. So I support a dense solution uh as the case education district provides. Thank you. and Aden Chowdery. >> Hello. >> Yes, you have one minute. >> All right. I uh Good good evening. I am Arian and I'm a resident of San Diego and I would like to oppose the current recommended proposal and support the
223Keystone development which would provide which would provide over 500 more units than the than the current recommended proposal with more more housing. We just need more housing of every type and closer to where teachers work, closer to where people want to live. This this place is a very valuable location near transit and a and a vibrant walkable neighborhood. The Keystone proposal will provide great amenities to the neighborhood. It it will attract investment. It will it it would it would encourage more walking and transit, which is what we need. And I would like the board to consider the long-term uh benefits of the Keystone proposal to the district's finances. Right now, the district is facing financial troubles. And while short-term gain might be attractive, I think the long-term out outlook over $4 billion more revenue than
224the current recommended proposal should be. >> Thank you. >> That concludes uh public comment on H8. All right. Thank you so much. Um, do any of my colleagues have any questions or comments? >> Lee, would you like to >> just I'd like just one just want to remind um on this one the Michaels was a proposer. So, just want to and then I think we'll try to do Marty a favor um here the the format for this um I I know um Richard proposed the amendment or the amendment and the motion um but um I think to clarify to help staff organize the special meeting I I would so I hear interview how many minutes uh how question and answer you know how much time and and will there be other materials requested I'm just
225trying to kind of make sure for it's for all of you and for us you know I think it would be better to clarify that now provide some sort of parameters and call it rules of the game um so that we can um better facilitate that um dialogue so we can get more clarity um if that's what I'm hearing the board is seeking so that's just a suggestion. I obviously I'm just >> Okay, I that's fine. I I I just wanted just just asking >> I will at the since we're nearing the end here. Are there any additional comments on item eight before we and then we'll wrap it up with that discussion? Uh uh Vice President Barrera. >> Yeah, thank you President Person. Um, thank you so much again for everybody uh who's taken
226such an active interest in this and and to the different development teams. Um, as we talked about at the very beginning, these proposals for for this site are dramatically different from each other in concept and what they accomplish. And so I think it's important to once again hear, you know, from each of us uh what we're what we're emphasizing and and we've been clear uh in uh our stated goals and what we put in the RFP that we're wanting to maximize affordable housing for our employees. Um, we also should be clear that our goal this entire time has been an equal mix of housing that is affordable to our classified employees and to our certificated employees. So we are looking um you know for proposals that provide that mix and we understand that the combined
227you know proposals are important in providing that mix but for this site we want to see that balance. Um we should also be clear that we want housing that's affordable to our employees who have families and who are also parents in the district. And we're going to be and we're going to be looking for that as well. um and want to be really really clear about affordability and we talk about you know 30% of income and and that's um that's important. It's also important that what we're providing is something significantly more affordable than what our employees can just go out across the street at the Winslow and rent. So, you gotta, you know, I think somebody said we're we're going to be pushing you when you come and make these presentations. Consider this a push.
228Um, we want to see real benefit to our employees. Uh, and we want to see that mix and we want to see uh units that are available uh to our families. uh and we want to see you work with the community uh to make sure that the design of of these projects uh are something that the community can really get behind and champion and and feel proud of. So consider that my push when you come back to us in in January. uh get as close to these board goals. And if it wasn't clear uh before that we're looking for this mix of of units that are available to our classified and our certificated employees, we are looking uh for uh units for our employees who have families. Um we're looking for a real benefit in
229rent uh compared to what our employees can get out in the private market. uh and we're looking for something that is uh uh going to really add vibrancy to to this community. Those would be my Okay, let me just clarify here. So far as I understand it, we are not restarting this process. The proposals that were provided to us as a result of the last year of of process are the proposals we are going to consider in January. Or are you saying they should change their proposals? I want proposals that meet our goals. Period. So, let's see what you Let's see what you come back with. Okay, hold on. Now, we got to stop here. Is this actually we're going to say that we're now going to completely resubmit new proposals that these this is
230so wild. I'm completely stunned. I I'm sorry to say it. I I I don't know where we are right now, but we've gone through a process. And so to me, if what is being asked is essentially to recirculate new a new RFP that you've just stipulated from the dis I don't know I I don't know what we're going to see in January in the next six weeks. I don't I I I am a little at a loss here because we're if what we're saying is come back and we're going to interview with regard to your proposals that you submitted as part of the process we laid out, then okay, let's do it. If in the course of interviewing these developers, they're able to clarify things in a way or they're able in the course of
231our questioning to to commit to stretching in some way or commit to meeting with our staff to develop a proforma that that stretches what's already. That's I guess that's part of an interview process. But >> didn't we hear that that some people said they had some things in their proposals that didn't come out that were ignored or remember there was one group that came and said they had this in their proposal and it wasn't. So, I'm going to make a motion without that is >> a clarification of that I I'm going to move that we extend the original elements of the RFP with regard to project proponents, particularly with regard to the ban on contacting the board um off DAS and if a if a project. If a if a proposer would like to clarify
232for the entirety of the board in a in a manner that is publicly accessible through a a public pro search process that they can send an email to to Lee Dolgarov and Lee can make a determination to send that on to the board if there is a clarification needs to be had in relation to the proposals they've submitted. That is the motion I would like to make so that it is clear that those constraints remain in place. I have a motion and a second on the floor. Is there any discussion on the motion? >> Trusty Bazo. >> Yes. Thank you, President Person. And I think what I understood or I guess where what where I feel is I I don't think it would be appropriate at this time for completely new proposals to people to
233add to their proposals. I don't think that's appropriate especially after we've had this public discussion and there's you know I I I think to make to ma maintain the consistency and the fairness of the project we need to stick with the original proposals. If there is within those proposals something that was un like maybe they feel like the committee did not understand we can give them an opportunity to to discuss that. But I don't feel at this point like we should just give them free reign to just you know be able to to you know add whatever they want at this point. I think we need to stay within you know the proposals we have and um let them share information that they might think was miscommunicated. >> Is there any further discussion on the
234motion I made with regard to the constraints on propon project proponents? Seeing no further discussion, I'll move to a vote on the motion. Student trustees, please vote. All other trustees, please vote. I I saw Shane. >> Yeah, that motion passes un student trustees concurring. >> Is there any additional trusty Hazen? So I guess uh to the point of the format and what comes back to us in these presentations um I appreciate that um officers are going to work on this uh with Lee and and the team. I I would say um you know I'm interested in being able to see a very clear comparison and maybe this comes in an additional staff presentation before um we receive these additional presentations um but understanding units that are 80 to like 110% AMI really looking at the
235needs of our employees and understanding how the proposed number of units, bedrooms of units, uh income uh requirements of these units overlaps with the needs of our employees. Um so that we can very clearly compare across all the propos proposals. Um again the bedroom mix by AMI financial feasibility timeline really understanding how feasible these timelines are um with some of the phasing that's been proposed um and is there anything else? Oh and then the lease revenue as well and the feasibility of what's being proposed um in that regard. Any additional comment or questions from the board? >> Trustee Wes Pain. >> Definitely the financial outcome for all of them because I think I had a question to um Lee about what was a financial outcome and he was trying to calculate it on the spot.
236So if we can get clarity, I mean the sum for each of them. you were trying to tell me what it was, but if they could give it to you in a way that we all can see clearly. >> Absolutely. And um we'll we there were some as I mentioned that were more certain than others or were easy to calculate and we can certainly reach out and request clarification on the ones that we didn't have strong certainty on. So we can really understand both the near-term and long-term cash flows and the certainty of those cash flows, whether they're guaranteed revenue or a percentage of net operating income, which is basically debt service minus the operational costs on a project ongoing and is it a percentage of NOI or is it a percent or is it
237is it a rent structure? How is how's the the revenue structured? I I think I I appreciate Trusty Hazen's uh request to talk about how it overlays with our staff needs in terms of and the AMIs and so forth and how that we can certainly do that provide you with some structure so that you have a a rubric to kind of think about the can I guess I mean you know um go ahead sorry >> just to clarify on that point um just in simplistic terms really understanding I think both at the very high end and the low fund of the AMI sale really understanding how many total employees do we have that would be eligible um because we know the middle more than enough um but compared to the number of units proposed for
238each of these projects um so that we really understand the likelihood of housing employees in in these units based on what is truly affordable to them. >> Thank you. Could I make a suggestion? In order to keep this process very clean and transparent, we could put out a questionnaire to all the proposers to line out the criteria or the explanations that you've asked for and have them respond in writing. Um, and I think I heard also that any comments or clarifications that any proposer wants to make are to go to Mr. Dogarov only and those should be in writing as well. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> Thank you. Okay. Um >> I think yeah also clarifying now what we mean by presentation. Um so I don't know Vice President Barrera if you want to
239share what what you meant. I know for me, I would like to hear, you know, maybe 10 minutes from each of the of the biders um to let us know uh what distinguishes their proposals. Um why they believe them to be most aligned with our guiding principles. Um anything we may have missed in in the first goround um I think would be really helpful. >> Trusty Bazo. Yeah, I think in um relation to that, I don't think we need to go into detail. I mean, we've already done that part. So, it's just really more how do you feel that your proposal was better was what was like an where did you think maybe the com committee was not might have been confused on certain issues? So, having them focus on that more than just like
240the details of the project if that makes sense. >> Thank you, Trusty Bos. Any additional comments? Seeing none, we will um take a moment here to let those who would wish to leave leave and we will proceed with our docket. So, I'm going to give people five minutes to not that you want to leave. I mean, it's so riveting. Um >> I don't know what's happening. What's happening? How you doing? Sorry. I can find your agenda. >> No, it was someone else. Well, I don't like Thank you. All right. Yeah. We'll start at 8:40. All right, we have quorum. That's the important thing. Um and we have all members present except for um Trusty Wyers Pain. She'll be back in a moment undoubtedly. Um and now we will return to uh the previously scheduled program
241and that will be considering item C2 and C3. Uh resolution recognizing December 2025 as disability awareness month and a resolution supporting the implementation of Assembly 800 workplace readiness week. Is there a motion to approve items C2 and C3? Uh, trustee with a motion and trust with the second. We have a motion and a second. Miss Tuls, any speakers on this item? >> Yes, we have a virtual speaker on C3. Actually, two virtual speakers, Kelly Mayhew and Jim Miller. >> Oh, they're virtually present. >> Please come forward. >> They have virtually arrived. Please come forward. >> Yes, you each have two minutes. How's that? >> I am I'll let him introduce himself. Um, I am a professor of English, humanities, and labor studies at San Diego City College. I'm also with AFT 1931. Um, and I
242am also the chair, well, I coordinate labor studies at City College, and I am also the chair of the uh CFT's labor and climate justice education committee. Um, I wanted to thank you all for bringing this forward, the uh um the the resolution in support of implementing um AB800, the workplace readiness week. We have been actually working on something like this for years and um you know in partnership with SCA and other uh entities across the state um we uh believe that implementing not just you know letting students know about their rights as workers but also labor history the the importance of work and what their work lives are going to be like is enormously important and should be threaded throughout the curricula. curriculum um in K12 and then of course on into community and
243higher ed. Um uh Jim and I are also coordinators of our internship program with our union. Um and both of us are steering committee members for um CPI's students for economic justice program. Um we believe this is a pipeline for not just future workers but future organizers and folks who are interested in making the work lives of people much much better. So, um, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Jim, but I wanted to thank you all, um, for bringing this forward. >> And Jim Miller, professor of San Diego City College, um, also aft and CTF. And just I wanted to sort of end by saying as somebody who's spent nearly 30 years, you know, teaching labor studies at San Diego City College, I can attest to the fact that like most of
244the students that I get are incredibly fired up about learning this. And I always ask the question, how many of you learned any of this in high school? And there are no hands. So I'm here to applaud and show great deep gratitude for the fact that this is going to finally be many times they pass things in Sacramento and you don't have implementation. So I think this is just so important. It really is education for being, you know, a citizen and a democracy in an era of historic economic inequality, you know, and great struggles for working people. So, um, you know, I think that this is a a huge, um, thing for the future of the of the students in this district. Thank you very much. >> And as educators, we want a house. >>
245Yeah. There's a spare. Do we have any houses for nondist employees? Other district employees. >> Apply. We'll see there's openings. >> Um, thank you so much. Uh, so we have a motion and a second. We've heard from the public. Do any of my colleagues have any com questions or comments with regard to this item? Uh, Trusty Hazen, >> I just wanted to speak briefly to C2, the disability awareness month resolution, which I'm pleased to join trustee Whitehurst Payne in introducing and it's really more than just about disability awareness month. Um, but really a call to action and we spoke to this yesterday. Um, but I want to reiterate that the state and federal government is not providing sufficient funding for special education. And I'm proud to be part of a board in a district that
246is advocating for full funding of IDA and really appreciate the work the superintendent is leading to develop and implement a robust plan to transform special education in our district. >> Thank you, Trusty Hazen. I heard a is that a barbaric yell. >> I've been around so long. I I remember when we got started with this and taking trips up to LA um to advocate on behalf of this whole issue. So, it's good that we're doing this. Thank you. >> All right. Well, I was wavering on C3, but the but Miller and Mayhew have uh brought me back in line. Um appreciate comment from the public. Um uh we will uh move to a vote. Uh student trustees, please vote. All other board members, please vote. That motion passes unanimously. Student trustees concurring. Thank you so
247much for coming out and sharing with us tonight. Um okay, that will take us to item uh D1. Um, under D1, um, any reportable actions from close session will be published within 24 hours on the district's district website's board actions summary. Um, and that will take us to D3. Um, as there are no management appointments to announce under item D2, we will continue to item D3. Uh, Dr. Beoula, please provide yourformational report. >> Thank you. There's a couple of things that I want to um actually highlight and celebrate. As many of you already know, we're providing a safe parking lot for unhoused families living in their vehicles with priority given to families of our students at the formal Central Elementary and City Heights. The safe parking lot opened before Thanksgiving holiday break and we have
248referred 24 San Diego Unified families to stay in the 40 available parking slots. While there, families receive services that include housing case managing referrals, access to shower facilities with a food pantry at the Copley YMCA, tangible items including clothing blankets and hygiene kits, access to a kitchenet to prepare and heat food, a warm indoor space for parents and students to complete homework, use Wi-Fi and play games, a soccer field and outdoor play area. I appreciate the dignity this gives back to families. While it is unfortunate families are living in their cars, we're grateful to be able to provide them a safe space with access to basic necessities until they can get stably housed. I want to extend my appreciation to our district staff, especially Christy Drake along with the Copley Price Family YMCA, Jewish Family
249Service, and the City of San Diego Housing Commission for their partnership. So, thank you. Um, next one I'm going to tell you about this bell. In October, I shared with you that our district won a 2025 Golden Well award um for our Equity by Design, the San Diego Unified Office of Graduation initiative during the California Schoolboard Association annual education conference. Some of us had the opportunity to take part in the event where the honor was awarded. Here's a picture of us with the award and I have also brought it into the auditorium tonight. I want to congratulate our team. I think I actually really think this belongs to Dr. Robersonson, Dr. Richardson, and Dr. Del Rossario. For those who are unaware, the Equity by Design, the San Diego Unified Office of Graduation Initiative, is the
250work we've done to re-imagine graduation as a gateway to postsecary success rather than a checklist of credits. Our office of graduation has pioneered a systemic data-driven and equity- centered approach that is closing opportunity gaps and delivering real results for students who have been historically underserved. So, I just want to say thank you um to the team. Thank you for representing us well. And that concludes my report. >> Thank you, Dr. Guulo. Um, we will now hear item E1, which is the first reading of the 2025 20226 Title One eligibility ranking report. >> So, uh, thank you, President Patterson. I want to begin by grounding this item in the work that's already underway. This is only for information. Um, so I want to just ground us in that. Um, this is the proposed 2627 title one
251eligibility ranking report has been reviewed with the DAC or the district advisory council over the course of several meetings and will be reviewed once more on December 17th. At that final meeting, the DAC will vote on a recommended scenario to bring back to the board. The insight and questions raised here tonight will help inform their thinking as they prepare that recommendation. The board will then receive the DAC's formal recommendation at the second reading for consideration and action at the January 13th meeting this evening. The first reading of the proposed Title One eligibility ranking report, which is what the one you received, requires no action tonight. This is an opportunity for any sort of discussion, clarity, and understanding before the final recommendation brought forth in January. For the 2627 school year, we're presenting two potential pathways.
252The first scenario maintains the longstanded standing rounded threshold of 40%. Under this approach, Tiara Santa Elementary and Dana Middle School would newly qualify for Title One funding. Four schools, Doyle Elementary, Pacific Beach Middle, Stanley Middle, and Henry High fell below the 40% threshold, but would receive extended eligibility for one additional year to ease the transition. The second scenario lowers the eligibility threshold to 35%. Expanding access to title one funding for schools that are just below the traditional cutoff. Under this approach, four schools, Tiara Santa Elementary, Gage Elementary, Dana Middle School, and Korea Middle School would newly qualify. The four schools currently below 40% would continue to receive Title One support without requiring an extended eligibility. The difference between the two scenarios is the eligibility threshold for title one funding. Scenario one keeps the threshold at
25340% creating a smaller pool of schools and a higher starting per pupil rate of $620. Scenario two lowers the threshold to 35% expanding eligibility to more schools and beginning the per pupil rate at $616. The total entitlement to schools remains the same, approximately 23.7 million. But scenario one concentrates funds among fewer schools while scenario two spreads those dollars across a broader group of students. Both scenarios have trade-offs. Honestly, if we can argue both sides on this one, and both carry implications, and that's actually what I want us to be very careful of for how we distribute resources across schools with high levels of need for 26,27 and beyond. Tonight's discussion or questions again is an opportunity to understand these implications clearly and to signal the values we want to carry into our final decision January.
254This is the first step in a two-part process. The DAC will finalize its recommendation on December 17th and then the board will take action on January 13th. Tonight, we're simply opening up the conversation. I believe that Gutierrez, who is the director of the SPSA department, is here and prepared to support any questions with that discussion. Thank you. Oh, I see you're gonna jump into action if there's questions. I like that. Okay. Uh, Trusty Hazen, she >> It's a process question. So, in terms of the two scenarios, the 35 versus the 40%, are you seeking direction from the board or is a recommendation going to come from the DAC about what they recommend we move forward with? My understanding is the DAC is going to come back. We thought it was very important for you to
255receive all of this information that the same information that they were going they're going to receive to study it and make a recommendation to the board. >> So at this second read when we're asked to vote on this, we will simply receive either the 35 or the 40. >> Is that accurate? So on uh December 17th at the DAC general body meeting, we'll present not just the title one ranking two scenarios, we'll also be presenting the title one reservations as well, just seeing the whole title one picture as a whole. At that particular meeting, there's going to be a poll that will be given and that poll will actually talk about the different scenarios and we'll be presenting to the board office the results of those scenarios as a recommendation from the board office to
256uh the board members for consideration. The DEC is very well aware that they are an advisory committee and they're just going to present the recommendations to board off uh board trustees. >> And thank you. I appreciate that. And for clarity, what I'm hearing is any uh school who's currently receiving Title One funds but may no longer be eligible next year would receive a one-year extension. >> Yes. >> Irrespective of where they fall. >> That qualification is any we have four schools that drop below the 40% threshold. They have to still be above the 35.00% threshold. If they would have dropped below 35%, they cannot be grandfathered for an additional year, but every one of those four schools still uh remained above the 35% threshold. >> Thank you. >> Well, I'll just Oh, I didn't see
257No, no, no, no. >> All right. All right. Thank you. Um I will just say I mean I think there are clearly schools on this. I you know my my subd district is largely is fairly affluent and um you know my kids elementary school Troy Pines Elementary it it probably doesn't need I mean you don't want an infinitely variable scale where you just you know it keeps getting smaller and smaller because at a certain point that concentrated poverty that we're trying to address with title one funding is not um is not a is not a factor or diminishes dramatically as a factor. And so um and yet there are sites I I think about Koreah presumably it's on its second year of 39 as I recall we had a bit of this discussion last year.
258Um those kids from Koreah just came they probably came out of Dwey or Cababrio or there's still students that that need that support. And so I mean I don't I'm not going to opine on which of those scenarios necessarily, but I am going to say I see sites here that I think could definitely benefit from having that title funding. I understand the trade-off and that there's some point at which you transition into okay, you don't need title title funding, but I don't I I see a site knowing Korea firsthand. >> I think it has a lot of the it has a lot of those challenges that we associate with with that kind of concentrated disadvantage. So, that's my two cents >> and it's not a hill I'm going to die on tonight. Um, either way,
259but I I would like to say that one of the things that I would like to see, and I'm always coming up with something different, you're not not going to be the boring person here. Um, I I would like to see us focus on on the students more than on just people and staff. I.e. A lot of times we hire a resource teacher or we hire somebody to go in there and run the program or whatever, but it would be nice to actually have someone there who actually works with the students who um does something to really let those students know that yes, I'm funded by Title One, but I'm here for you. and what can we do to help you so that you understand that you're in title one and we're going to do
260something to make you understand how special you are so that you can improve because I think sometimes we get caught up in hiring people whose job it is um is to look nice to walk down the hallway in heels or whatever heels but high heels but the kids don't realize realize that they're there for them to help them that the title one monies are to help them. So I don't know. That's why I say something radical. If those kids at Korea or wherever they are, understand this person is here for us and she wants or he wants us to achieve to understand what Title One is about and how we're going to improve and maybe it could have some workshops, put some money out on some folks to come in and help train. Whatever it
261is, I don't know. the world is open, but at least to start thinking about that. I know I can say what I want. >> I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I mean, Korea won't get that because it's not ranked right now, but >> I I'm what I'm hearing you say, Dr. Whitehurst Payne, is that you would like to see innovative strategies that are in the SPS that expend the title one funds and we're holding people accountable for the results. >> Vice Vice a good summary, >> Vice President Barrera. Thank you, President. Um, so just, you know, scanning this real quick, we do have schools and obviously our, you know, stu schools with a higher uh percentage of uh students qualifying for free and reduced lunch that lose a little bit in the scenario of moving,
262you know, from 40 to 35. So, there's a big benefit obviously in including some schools that wouldn't otherwise qualify, but it's not a lot that those schools are losing. It's, you know, I think Lincoln was $77,000, LMC was 5,000, you know, a few of them are $1,000. I I'm wondering if we could just total that number up. And if it's not that much money, you know, is there a way that we can do this that we just keep everybody whole in addition as we, you know, uh, include the schools at the 35%. Yeah. >> Can we connect that with how much Title One funds they leave on the table, too? >> I'm okay. >> Snap. Yeah. >> And yeah, if that's something you could bring back to the next meeting just to have a little
263bit more of a summary of >> Yeah. the the >> it will return for action at a meeting. >> Yeah, I could present. >> Well, I was just saying like what >> scenario I believe it's about $130,000 because it's the two newly qualified schools. I I just want to uh clarify a couple things. One, when a school is title one qualified, it's the school that's qualified. to the services and supports are for any student at the school site. Um the second part that I uh do want to clarify is like for out years. I know this year we have two schools that would be qualified if board takes action on January third uh 13th to do the ranking down to 35%. It might be a different value next year. We might have more schools that
264would need to do that. um would have had needed to be grandfathered. So I know this year is an anomaly. Last year uh six schools would have qualified if we would have gone to 35%. So there's always some a little variability year after year. So I just want to put that out there especially if board wants to recommend you know what how much more money would it take to maintain the stability. It might change the f uh for the year. Again um board does take action on a yearly basis. So we can come back and talk about other scenarios for future years. I'll come back with that um those new values. >> And by the way, Baker is my school. >> Baker is mine. >> Baker. >> Richard and I share, but >> Oh, okay.
265We'll go back and make that adjustment. >> So is Chavez. Well, >> exactly. Did I miss where? I'm get I'm coming. >> But make sure those >> Oh, are you continuing on this? Are you Are you tallying? >> No. >> Always. >> You're on a roll. I like it. I like it. Let's do it. >> Are we good? >> We're good. >> Okay, we're good. Okay. Um All right. Um this item will be brought back for action at a subsequent meeting. Thank you so much. >> Bless you. All right. Wow. Okay. We will now consider um items F1 through F3 related to student discipline and collective bargaining. Um is there a motion on these items? >> F2. Vice President Ber with a motion. Do we have a second? Um Trusty Wires Pay with a second.
266We have a motion and a second. >> Um Miss Da any speakers on these two items? Okay, seeing none, uh do any trustees have any questions or comments on these items? Seeing none, we'll move to a vote. Um this is um for uh gray hairs only. Um >> um trustees. >> It's late. Not a >> trustees. You Well, you'll be there one day. Uh >> uh trustees, please. >> I won't call you. >> I got it. Touch a gray. Trustees, please vote. That motion passes uh unanimously rather. All right. Um we will now get to the board consent uh agenda. Um uh we will now consider approval items G3 through G6. Uh appointment of representatives to the community advisory committee for special education. Appointment of audit committee members and approval of revised audit committee charter.
267Appointment of board member to the California School Boards Association delegate assembly and excusal of board member absence. Is there a motion on these items? We have a motion from Trusty Weissa. Um uh a second from Trusty Wen. Miss Tulsa, any speakers on these items? >> Yes. >> Uh do any trustees have questions or uh comments on these items? All right. Then um we will move to a vote. Student trustees, please vote. All other trustees, please vote. That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. We will now move to item uh I'm looking to make sure we still have our budget team. We haven't lost our budgeting. Uh we will now consider item H1 approval of fiscal year 202526 first interim financial report education code section 42130 and resolution in the matter of intent to declare
268positive certification at first interim and identify the amount of budget solutions needed for fiscal years 2026 27 and 202728. Dr. Beula, please introduce the item. >> Thank you, President Person. Today we have the 2526 first interim financial report for your approval and I will begin the presentation and then hand it over to our chief financial officer Amy Shackleford. So let's go to the next slide. So that's how it's going to roll but I want to speak to this one. Over the last decade San Diego Unified has made major investments in our students and our staff. Um I always want to begin uh financial opportunity presentations about the investments we make. We have to say how much we're spending on children because that is our priority, not cutting. Um, over the last decade, San Diego Unified
269has made major investments in our students and our staff. Those investments have mattered. Student achievement is rising. Our educators and staff are among the best compensated in California. Our systems are stronger and more aligned than they've ever been. We've expanded programs that reflect our values, like offering full-scale transitional kindergarten before the state required it. Because we believe deeply in early learning and in supporting working families, our health benefits remain among the best in the region because we believe in a well-paid, thriving, and healthy, engaged workforce. We're very proud of this progress, but we also have financial realities we must now confront. Um, and so what we're looking at here, I'm not going to go through all of it. Sorry, I'm very aware it's nine o'clock. Uh, tonight, Amy Shackleford, our chief financial officer, will provide
270you an update on our financial position. And in March during our next interim budget review, we'll discuss in more detail how we will solve this deficit. With that, I will hand it over to Amy. Thank you, Amy. >> Thank you, Dr. Beula. Tonight, I am presenting the district's two 2526 first interim financial report as required by ED code section 42130. This report provides an updated assessment of the district's current year budget and projections for the two subsequent fiscal years. The first interim reflects the district's actual revenues and expenditures through October 31st along with all known CH changes that affect our financial position. Staff is recommending that the board maintains a positive certification for the current and subsequent two fiscal years. Tonight, I'm going to focus on just the unrestricted side of the general fund as
271that is where our budget deficit resides. As a reminder, our be beginning fund balance is $9 million higher as a result of the 2425 unudited actuals coming in higher than projected along with some minor audit restatements of about $87,000. Revenues are now projected to come in about $5 million higher and both expenditures and contributions are trending lower. Taken together, these updates result in an ending fund balance that is about $60.8 million higher than what was included in the adopted budget. It is important to note that this improvement does not represent new of newly available funds. The reductions in contributions and expenses are a multi-year approach to implement previously identified budget solutions as discussed in our 45day budget presentation and our unodudited actuals. And this is to help solve the projected 2627 budget deficit. Reflected on
272this slide are the major assumptions used to develop the district's revenue projections. The district continues to experience declining enrollment and average daily attendance or ADA which remains the most significant pressures on our LCFF funding. In addition, our unduplicated pupil percentage has decreased slightly in the current year. Because the upping three-year average, this decline will impact our revenues across all three years. And you will note by the third year we are projected to fall below 60%. I just want to point that out because we are a concentration district which means we are greater than 55%. If we fall below that 55% we will lose a fairly large chunk of revenues for our um concentration dollars. Roughly $35 million. 55. >> What year? >> Um, it's a rolling three-year average. So, as soon as the average of
273your three years hit >> years from now, two years, just a crystal ball, five years, whatever. >> Yeah, it it could be two years, it could be five years. It's um we are fortunately um uh with our reclassification of our EL students. So, that's part of the reason why we lost students. But then on the free and reduced side, our numbers are going down. Our foster and homeless are going up. So it's it's it's a mixed um group of why our percentage is going down. And so with so if you could do the affordable housing and get that constructed in the next three years, that would be great. So with respect to COLA, another significant component of our LCVF funding, we have incorporated the currently published rates for each of the three years. I do
274also want to note though that the recently published legislative analyst office did publish an estimated cola for next year. And so instead of being 3%, they're estimating 2.5% because we have received five of the eight indicators. We won't know the final until April. Um but roughly that half percent could be about $6 million loss for us and that would impact us on an ongoing basis. Um because it is that cola um how the formula works. So this slide outlines the major assumptions used to develop our expenditure projections. Key cost drivers include the statutory stirs and PERS pension contribution rates. Health and welfare insurance premiums are increasing significantly effective January 1st primarily due to rising medical cost. For the two out years, we have assumed our historical average of 7% annual increase as it's not yet
275clear if that 11% was a one-time increase or if it's going to be reflecting a new trend. Um, utility costs also remain a roller coaster. Uh, we continue implementing the district's solar projects. At the same time, we are experiencing rate increases from service providers, including the most recent approved 30% water rate increase that's going to impact us over the next two years. And lastly, I want to highlight the projected contributions for special ed and routine restricted maintenance. Special ed special education total expenditures are exceeding the four about $400 million. Um while revenues total about 120 to 125 million over the next three years. So this does result in our contribution that continues to grow each year. This is one of our areas of focus with those one-time dollars and our budget solutions. Being able to
276use those funds to pay down the contribution helps us on the unrestricted side as as I noted in that very first slide. And then you'll also see that the routine restricted maintenance is just projecting to uh decline slightly. As a reminder, that is statutory required 3% calculation of our total general fund expenditures each year. So, at budget adoption, our projected budget gap was 138.6 million. Since then, through the 45day budget and our improved ending fund balance at unudited actuals, our budget deficit remainder to solve was 80.3 million. Since then, we have continued to work on implementing budget solutions, utilizing those new revenues through the 45day budget and additionally other savings such as our improved revenues of the $5 million. Uh $12.5 million of personnel savings, which includes our vacancy savings and attrition, 12 million of
277maximizing restricted funds and other expense adjustments. So the current budget gap to solve is now reduced to $47.7 million as of first interim. This is a significant improvement, but the remaining $47 million are still in process to be resolved and ideally as many ongoing solutions that we can implement will help us with that long-term structural deficit. What is not in the first interim? So, I want to start with potential LCVF revenue decreases. So, we will not know our final ADA for this year until April when the school year is almost complete. Our P2 attendance report that determines our funded ADA is not due to the state until April. Um, and if the COLA does does come in around that 2 and a half%, that could be a loss of about $6 million depending on what
278our final attendance and up percentage. So, um, as I also touched upon earlier, we could see potential ongoing significant increases in our health and welfare premiums in the two out years. We have another double-digit increase. That's roughly another $5 million hit that can impact us on the unrestricted side. Um, one area that may present opportunities for the district is the governor's January budget proposal. Um, this includes possible adjustments to Proposition 98 and any new revenue streams. Prop 98 was underallocated in 2425 by approximately $1.9 billion. And as a reminder, they did underallocated in 2526. That will be a little ways down the road that we would see uh the true up and implementation of that. So the 2425 would impact us in 2627. The 25 26 would be 2728. Um and then additionally the state
279is seeing higher revenues um from the 2425 year and currently year to date they are also seeing higher revenues. And so it's the ongoing um watch of what is the governor going to propose in January? Um is it going to be ongoing? Is it going to be black grant? Is it going to be more restrictive in nature, more discretionary in nature? And then what is going to happen between January and June between the legislature and the governor and that piece we won't know obviously until June when our budget will already be adopted but we will get indications along the way about what's going on at the state level. And then lastly on the federal side, um our ongoing uncertainty that we're facing and so what we've included in first interim is a 10% reduction across
280our title funds. So the multi-year projection reflects the remaining 47.7 million as you see circled in red. Looking forward to the 2728 year, you will note that our budget shortfall is projected about $113 million. Uh the reason why that number jumps back up um over to over hund00 million is because of the use of our one-time solutions um for the last few year couple years. Um the district maintains our required 2% in all three fiscal years. And you will note that at the bottom that we are utilizing 59.766 million of that improved $60 million ending fund balance. So that will get incorporated into our 2627 budget as part of our gap closure of the 138 million and that leaves zero dollars to apply to the 2728 uh potential deficit. In addition to the general fund,
281the district is also required to provide updates to our other funds. We do have a total of 11 funds. Um it's approximately $3.5 billion that we manage with the exception of the general fund. These funds are restrictive in nature. So unfortunately, we can't transfer those ending fund balances to help us on the general fund side. Um but fortunately these are all of our funds are projected with that positive um ending fund balance. We are continuing to develop a comprehensive set of budget solutions to close the remaining $ 47.7 million. These efforts reflect ongoing evaluations of our operations and programs. A detailed list of budget solutions will be included as part of our second interim report that is due on March 15th. BRT continues to work with central office and with school sites to evaluate and
282to develop those remaining solutions. So for next steps, staff recommends positive certification and approval of the board resolution. Um, we will return with updated information after the governor's January budget proposal and we will bring forward that detailed budget list of deficit strategies as part of our second interim report. And that concludes my report. >> Thank you, Amy. Um, I before I even uh got motion, I got a motion. Um, so we have a motion from Trusty Wires Pain and a second from Trustee Oras. Um, we have a motion and a second. Miss Staltz, any speakers on this item? Scared them all off. Um, do any of the trustees have questions or wish to discuss the item? >> That's okay. All right. Um, it looks like you don't have many questions here, but we're looking forward
283to we'll see you again in January. >> Excellent. >> Have one thing to say. And that is I keep hearing on the news that we've got this big deficit of 47 million and she just told us how many billions of dollars we operate with. >> Was it three and a half or whatever it was? >> Yes. >> And 47 is a high high, but that's not that's not the end of the world for us. So, thank you all for doing a good job. All right, let's go into the holidays with that. Um, all right. So, um, we have a motion and a second. Um, we have no apparent, uh, further discussion from the dis. Uh, we will therefore move to a vote. Student trustees, please vote. You're you're an eternal student. Uh, student trustes, please
284vote. There we go. Uh, all other board members, please vote. >> That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. Um, and that brings us to item H2, which is approval of the 2026 legislative priorities. Dr. Bula, you're back. Please introduce the item. Trustees, you have received our proposed 2026 legislative advocacy priorities and policy principles for your approval tonight. There will be no presentation, but I know you have read them. And for anyone in the audience and at home who has not, let me give you a short overview. We have a variety of needs that we must advocate for at the state and federal levels. But the greatest of them all right now is to support fully funding our special education. Special education services cost us more than 400 million annually, but we only receive about
285125 million from state, federal, and local sources. The remaining 275 plus million must come from the district's general fund. This is not sustainable as what as what was discussed in the first interimm presentation. We will advocate for the state of California to make investments in behavioral health supports and early interventions. and federal advocacy will include working to secure increases in individuals with disabilities education act funding. Other areas of focus of our advocacy are strengthen equity focused investments in the local control funding formula to help address the affordability crisis and improve outcomes for our most vulnerable students. Prioritize student safety. Support the success of English learners. Support military connected families and students. Protect federal title programs. to maintain educational programs at federal department of education. With that, I ask for your approval. Dr. Sierra Cook, director
286of government relations, is available for any questions via Zoom if she has not logged off yet. Um, but I believe you all received this and have gone over them. >> Okay. I have a motion from um Vice President Barrera and a second from Trusty Wen. Miss Staltz, any speakers on this item? >> Actually, yes. Isy Martinez still here? >> Oh, Izzy told me she was tired and turning. She said she was going to talk, but now, but then she's turning. >> She was the only one. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, okay. Okay. Um, do any of the trustees have any questions or comments? I'll just say I'm very appreciative of Sierra. I think she's a huge asset for us in Sacramento. we appreciate her and I think when we saw saw this um the documents
287associated the item we all kind of said yeah that sounds good job um and with that we will um move if there's no further discussion we'll move to a vote uh student trustees please vote all other board members please vote that motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring Okay, there's more. Wait. Um, we will now consider items H5 through H7, approval of easements to the city of San Diego and San Diego Gas and Electric. I have a motion from Trusty Whitehurst Payne and a second from I saw Trusty Bazo first. I'm going to give it to her on this one, but um we have a motion and a second. Uh Miss Staltz, any speakers on this item? Okay. Uh, do any of the trustees have questions or wish to discuss this item in a way?
288Okay. Um, seeing none, we'll move to a vote. Student trustees, please vote. Oh, no. Wow. So, it's a rare no. Can we did that once? Okay, we'll take the vote again. Uh, student trustees, please. I like it, though. Yeah. Um, all other trustees, please vote. I did that. Yeah, I did that once, man. We got to look down. >> Yeah. So, hey, so all our uh all of our all of our our characters are turning in pumpkins at this point. Um so, uh with that, we will that motion passes unanimously. Student trustees concurring. Um we will now consider u our superintendent consent agenda items I through I45. Consent items are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion followed by a vote. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless
289the board member of the public or staff request a spe that specific items be removed from the consent agenda for for separate discussion and action. Any agenda item will removed will be voted upon following the motion to approve the the motion and the vote to approve the consent agenda. Um do the boards have does the board first of all do any members of the public have they removed? No, there are no public speakers, but I do have one um clarification for the record. Item I40, the title of the item is ratification of agreement with San Diego Comic Convention DBA Comic Con Museum. There's some extraneous words after that in the published agenda which do not belong there, but the item is correct as it was written. So, I'm just correcting the record. >> Let's go
290ahead. Strike the >> extreme. >> Oh, hold on one second. Do any of the board members have anything to remove? No. Do any staff have staff removed anything? Okay. Now, uh, now we have a motion from Trusty White Payne. Um, do I have a second? There we go. Trusty or does with the second? Um, >> I'm sorry, Trusty Wen. My bad. That's That's it. I'm losing my Yeah, I'm losing my um Yeah, exactly. Um, all right. So, we have a motion and a second. And the second is from Trusty Wen again. Uh, and we do not discuss this item since that's what makes it consent. So, we will move to a vote. Uh, student trustees, please vote. All right. All other board members, please vote. Okay. That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. Um,
291okay. Now, I believe Do we take >> non agenda comment and then we go to the vote? Yeah. Okay. Good. All right. We will now receive uh public testimony um on items not on the agenda. Um have we received any requests? >> Yes, we have several requests and it looks like some folks are still here. So, we'll go in order. Arlene New, >> you have two minutes each. I had my friend signed up again because, you know, anyways, I'm here to remind this board of something written directly into the administrator contract, a savings clause, which means any mandate that conflicts with the law is automatically void. And yet, SDUSD continues to enforce mandates that directly violate state law. Let me quote education code. Chapter 8, early primary programs 8970. The legend legislature hereby finds and
292declares all of the following. Preschool and kindergarten programs have become more academically oriented with an emphasis on paper and pencil seat work and a decreased emphasis on other essential age appropriate curricular elements such as language development, familiarity with stories, music and oral language experiences, artistic exploration, social interaction, and large muscle development. 8971. Early primary program means an integrated, experiential, and developmentally appropriate educational program for children in preschool, kindergarten, and grades one to three. inclusive that incorporates various instructional strategies and authentic assessment practices including educationally appropriate curricula heterogenous groupings. Um active learning activities and language development use of concrete manipulative materials in the classroom. planned articulation among preschool, kindergarten, and primary grades and parent involvement and education. 8973. The kindergarten school day program. I still have seven seconds. The kindergarten school day program may exceed 4
293hours exclusive of recesses. provided that both of the following conditions are met. The extended kindergarten program takes into account ample opportunity for both active and quiet activities within an integrated experiential and developmentally appropriate educational program. Sabrina Boken, Riley Morgan, Lily Higman. You have two minutes. >> Thank you, board members and administration. Um, I understand that our IB programs will be fully funded next year and we wanted to thank you for that. But we want to take this opportunity to also share some great news and great things that are happening in our um cluster. The IB program, as you know, is the anchor to our cluster, supported by the Mandarin and Spanish programs, as well as our award-winning music program and the incredible engineering and marine sciences programs. Um, the IB program benefits all students at
294our secondary schools by training and retaining highly qualified educators who provide rigorous coursework for all grade levels and classes. This includes students who choose vocational careers. About 40% of missionbased students are candidates for the IB World Diploma this year. We've grown fourfold up to 130 students graduating this year with the IB diploma starting at 2018 with only 39. Overall, 70% of our students are taking at least one IB course. Mission Bay is the third largest IB program in California. That's over a 100 IB programs in the state. Last year, students in the class of 2025 graduated with the equivalent of 461 college courses. That is a um from for one student that was a $30,000 savings at UCLA with 30 credits. Um year after year, our students are accepted into extremely competitive universities and colleges
295across the country and the world. Um the PBMS middle years program is implemented schoolwide with with over 99% participation in the eighth grade community project and I think some of you have been to see those programs. Every year we have students transferring to Mission Bay High School and PB Middle School from charter and private schools. We've already had many of those students come um take our tours. So, we know hopefully they'll be coming and we've had um waiting lists this year to come to our school. So, we want to thank you for allowing us this time to highlight our incredible students, educators, administration, staff, and the community. Um, thank you so much, >> Jana Row. Yes. Hello. My name is Jana Sherpowski Row. I wanted to add on to what Lily just shared. I'm a
296proud parent of a sophomore and senior at Mission Bay High School. Both of my kids have been in the IB program um, starting at Albert Einstein through elementary school. So I have firsthand witnessed the positive impact it makes on their life but not just academically. They thrive as a person and um sharing differently in my work. I work for a statewide uh nonprofit that's focused on mental health and suicide prevention. So we know that some of the core protective factors for suicide prevention is belonging, feeling connected to adults, to their peers and um also problem solving. So the IB program and the curriculum, the amazing school community is a core contributor to really building these schools that have a culture of belonging. So I'm greatly appreciative of the investment, the continued investment in IB. Thank
297you so much, >> UI Zens. I make it quick. It's so late. Uh, also about like I so good evening. My name is Uvetans. Um, and I'm the proud parent of like two students here in our district. My daughter Cecilia is in 11th grade on the in the AB program, Mission Bay High School. And my son Marx is currently in middle school. Like it's a private the middle school, like the child school. Wonderful. 10 kids in the class. And he hopes to attend Mission Bay specifically because of the Ebie offerings. Interestingly enough, like in the school, there's only 10 there. Traditionally, they all go to Parker, uh, like pick any of the private schools. Four of the kids, four of the 10 kids intend to go to Mission Bay exclusively because of the IB program.
298Um, so I just want to point that out. I find that very interesting. Um, I just quickly want to share why B matters so much to our family and why it's an asset worth protecting. Um, apart from like the exceptional academic experience, my daughter really learns how to think critically, communicate clearly, and connect ideas across subjects. Um, those are not just high school skills. I think these are the exact skills colleagues and future employees look for. And being terrified about what AI brings in the future. I mean, you probably are too. Um, I think these things are even more valuable today than uh than they have ever been. So I mean like it's a very exceptional education that they can get. Um I think also IB teaches students how to manage demanding workloads, plan ahead
299and stay organized and just like really prepare them for the reality of college level uh college level expectations. Uh one other thing and then I'm sure I'm being cut off but like you hear me like butchering the English language a little bit. So um I am like I'm European. Um and we as a family really do love the global perspective. I think that's more more important than it's ever been. I think the kids really learn this. It's not only our kids that that really learn this. It's kids that don't have any exposure prior where a lot of the parents don't even have a passport. Like they just like come in, they just want to see what's going on in the world and they get the exposure. They actually have to do community service. They have
300to put 150 hours in which I think is extremely valuable and really teaches them valuable lessons. Thank you for your time. Thank you. And we have two virtual speakers. Jelina Bodinet. >> Hello. Good evening. My name is Yelina Bodin. And I just wanted to share a little bit about my own background similar to what the other parents have just said. Um I also have a couple of kids at PB Middle as well as Mission Bay High. and it's just been great watching them really open up their minds through this inquirybased learning that the IB program offers. I myself am originally from the former Yugoslavia and so having gone through a conflict at a young age, I really appreciate this internationally minded curriculum as a way to allow our kids to think outside of the box,
301to be aware of larger issues outside of our small communities and how those can also impact us over time. And so I just wanted to urge this board to continue to offer this program because I've heard I've seen firsthand how much it's been helping my kids and their peers to gain a wider more internationally minded perspective in the world. Thank you so much. and Petra Ives. Petra Ives. >> Last call for Petra Ives. Please unmute. She's not speaking. That concludes >> She's petrified. Um, so, um, I think that brings us to the close of our meeting. Um, thank you for coming out tonight. Thank you for sitting through a very lengthy meeting. Um, we appreciate you coming out. Um, and, uh, we take your input very seriously. We obviously value the IB program. Um and
302uh with that we will move to our last segment which is conducting the annual organization of the board of education, the election of board president and vice president. Uh Miss Stoultz, can you please conduct the election? >> Yes. Uh, pursuant to education code section 35143, the president and vice president shall be elected from the members of the board at the board's annual meeting held within a 15-day period that commences with the second Friday in December following the regular election in a year in which a regular election for governing board members is conducted. Board bylaw 10002 describes the process for electing officers. The president and the vice president shall each receive the votes of a majority of the full membership of the board before being declared elected. The election shall be conducted using written ballots on
303which every board member's name appears. Separate ballots will be cast for the president and vice president. Each board member, including the student trustees, will vote for one adult board member for the office being voted upon until an adult board member has received at least three votes. Following each ballot, the board action officer will announce the results of the vote, identifying the members voting for each candidate. Prior to the casting of ballots, board members may speak in support of a particular candidate. Under this procedure, all adult board members are eligible for election and there will be no nominations. Board bylaw 10003 sets the term of office as one year during the period commencing with their election and until their successors shall be duly elected and qualified. The term for the next set of officers is December
30410th, 2025 through December 15, 2026 and I have provided >> clarification. Have we I don't hold on. I just want to clarify is this because we haven't changed the language presumably if the student trustes voting >> the student trustees vote. >> Yeah, but the threshold is still three which correct not be a majority. >> No, no, the student trustees are still advisory. >> Oh, I see. >> I see. >> So, when we're counting that three, it would have to be three adults. >> Three adults. >> I see. Okay. Understood. >> And you each have a ballot, a pink one and a green one. >> Talk. >> Yes. I to talk. Listen people, >> first of all, I want to say that I do appreciate all the support and love and support that you guys have
305given me this year. And normally I would be up to follow Richard as the vice president. And I can do it. You think I can do it? >> I can do it. >> You can do it. >> I can do it. But but but but I I would like to yield to the next person in line, Sabrina. So I'd like Richard and Sabrina. That's just my opinion. And you guys are free to do whatever you want. I will step back in next year if I'm still alive and running around like the rest of you and I will be. Yes. But for this year, I'm going to devote myself to district E. Okay. So, thank you. >> Well, any further discussion? >> All right, everyone has a pink ballot and a green ballot. If you could
306please complete your pink ballot for president and I will collect them and announce the very official. And it is a unanimous vote for Richard Barrera to be president once again. And let's see about vice And trustee Boso has received the majority of the votes for vice president and there was one vote for Hazen for vice president. So it's Richard and Sabrina. With that, I would like to congratulate our new board officers for 2026 and hand hand the gavl. >> Uh, first of all, can we all just give a big hand to President >> Despite despite the fact that I drove you crazy on your last meeting. >> I cried about many things, but not this. >> Yeah. Um, so this meeting is now adjourned. We have our joint meeting with the community college district on
307this coming Tuesday, the 16th at City College. And our next uh full meeting of the San Diego Unified Board will be January 13. Thank you.