Board of Education Regular Meeting, June 24, 2025

001everyone here in the chamber and those watching via live stream and call the June 24th, 2025 regular board meeting of the board of education to order with most board members present. Um our u trustee Wyers Payne will be joining us in a little while. Um Dr. Beula is participating via live stream. I see her right there waving to us. She is still doing her Yale training, so she's going to come back new and improved. We're very excited for her and continue our professional development. So, we will start. We do not have our We will just do a pledge of allegiance straight up. Okay. Um, please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance. Trusty Cruz, you want a final pledge of allegiance here? Excellent. I aliance to the flag of the United States of

002America and to the stands nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right, please be seated. Okay, we'll now move to we'll now move to A3, our land acknowledgement, which is a traditional custom that date dates back centuries in many native nations and communities. 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 occupies. Roll the clip. 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

003the memories of their ancestors who bravely resisted cultural erasure and fought to protect their land and way of life. 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, SD SCPA. We will now move to item B, adoption of the agenda. We have a full doc tonight. I always say that, but sometimes I mean it and I mean it tonight. Including a second reading of the adoption of our 2025 2026 local control accountability plan and the district budget and the swearing of student trustees and restorative practices. Um so it is indeed a full uh agenda tonight. Uh and do I

004have a a motion to adopt the agenda? I have a motion from Trusty Baldis and a second from Trusty Cruz. Um, we will move directly to a vote. Student trustees, please vote. All the trustees, please vote. That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. Miss Stoultz, can you please provide information for public speakers about today's meeting protocols? Yes. Today's meeting of the board of education is a business meeting that is conducted in public and board members will not engage in dialogue with members of the audience. Board 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.

005Please 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. 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 item 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

006in the lobby. All right. Uh thank you, Miss Stoultz. We will now take a moment to recognize our outgoing student trustees, Quinton Baldis and Joseph Cruz, whose terms expire on June 30th, 2025. I understand that we have a video tribute to present. [Music] One of the things that I always remember is when we were talking about student outcomes focused governance, you brought us back to the fundamental experience of what it is to be a student. And for us, it really did bring home how important it is to always keep the student first and foremost in our minds and to ensure that we're providing the foundation for you to go out and pursue a life that's fulfilling to you and gives you meaning and also helps support the whole of society. I'm deeply humbled and honored

007to represent the almost 95,000 students of the San Diego Unified School District. I'll work tirelessly to understand and advocate for all of our diverse needs and interests. For the 2024 2025 advisory board, we have some big plans and big aspirations. Rusty Cruz. Throughout my life, I've learned that a life worth living is one where you're serving others. That my happiness stems from the joy of those around me. That I am what others will remember me by. I want to thank both Trusty Baldis and Trusty Cruz both for offering not only a great perspective on what we're trying to do here at San Diego Unified, but for always teaching me something new. You continuously elevate the conversation, reminding us how important it is to center student voice and student needs in every single thing you do.

008Joseph, my trustee, he has been a very thoughtful trustee and he's carried the weight of the community on his shoulders. I feel that in his responses and everything that he does. So, he has represented them well. For Quentyn, I think you're one of the most fascinating trustees we've had of the group because you always stay focused on the the bigger picture. Congratulations to both of you, Quentyn and Joseph. You've been such amazing board members this year, and I've thoroughly enjoyed spending time and learning more about you and just seeing you um thrive over this last year. Really appreciate the fact that you really took into account student voice by bringing together representatives from all of our schools and even bringing them to the meetings. I've really seen your growth since you began a year ago

009to where you're at now. And I know that the way that you've brought that voice in is by listening to other students. So, you've just been great elected officials. We're going to miss you. You're going to do great things going forward. Um, but we always have a place for you to come back and contribute here at San Diego Unified. [Music] Hi, Mr. Wow. It's not until you see the video that you realize that growth is real. They have really grown into young men in that time. Um, we obviously as a board thank both of you for your service. Uh it's been um it's been an honor and a pleasure, but I'd also say one of the things and I'll just say this again and for the record is we need to institutionalize a mentor role

010because we've in a way we always I know I when we started this my thought was I'm going to be consistent about mentoring these two young gentlemen. And I know I said it about the last one. you get wrapped up in things for whatever whatever it's worth. I in the future I think we should really institutionalize that mentor role because in the end you have too many responsibilities that if you don't actually hardline it won't happen and our student trustees deserve that men mentorship. Um particularly since a lot of the context particularly close session and a lot other context they're not necessarily privy privy to a lot and without that mentorship may not fully understand what's how things are developing at the district. So, I'm making that commitment to to to the student trustees that

011come next to to learn from that, learn from my shortcomings with regard to that. I we have for you a um small token of our appreciation. I'm sure you're going to put this with your soccer trophies and uh and your um JROTC trophies next to them. Uh, Quentyn, we have uh this I know because it says QB and um Trusted Cruz, here's yours. It says JC can open it and and show that to the camera. And I think we should probably Why don't we take have you say a few words and then we'll take take a picture a final picture. But what it's usually not we don't usually see the pictures of whether we're doing but is that a suggestion where you do it with the new trustes and you would you like to do

012that? Let's do that. Perfect. Right now we're going to take some comments from our student trustees. I'm sure they have some fing words for us. Oh, you want to do your comments at the very end? Oh, yeah. I was um I believe that this is going to happen at the end of the meeting when we swear in the new trustees. is the new trustees will give comments and then we'll give comments to Is that what you want to Okay, we we will modify that. Um that's not the agenda as it stands but I think that's a small enough modification that we will just do it on the fly. So we will move that their comments to when we swear in the other stresses. Yeah, that's good. Oh, that's good. No, it's good. You're thinking about

013the the theater, the whole thing. That's good. Wrap it up. I like it. Good thinking on the fly. That's that's a sign of just how exceptional you two are as trustees. I like that. Um, next up then, we will move to C2. Uh, and that is the adoption resolution of the matter recognizing June 2025 as gun violence prevention month and adoption of the resolution of the matter of recognizing June 2025 as men's mental health awareness month. Um, is there a motion on item C3 and C4? We'll take them together. Um, Trusty Hazen, do I have a second? Trusty Boso, we have a motion and a second. Miss also, any speakers on these two items? Yes, we had three speakers on item C3, which is the resolution recognizing June 2025 as gun violence prevention month. We

014have one virtual speaker, Bill Slommanson. If you are available, please unmute. You have three minutes, Mr. Slowman. Am I up? Am I up now? Go ahead, please. Yeah, thank you. Uh my name is Bill Slmanson. Uh my wife uh was employed by San Diego Unified School District for 42 years. So, it's nice to be connected with you all uh in this in this way. Once again, uh today's my wedding anniversary. So, lucky for you, domestic tranquility dictates brevity. Uh, so only be about a minute or so. Uh, I am a gun owner. I'm a Vietnam vet. I'm a former life member of the National Rifle Association, which was a very, very different organization when I was in the military. I speak in support of the pending resolution. And unlike those who foolishly claim Allah some

015slippery slope argument that next they'll take our guns away. I've read all the US Supreme Court gun cases. They do not say anything like that at all. Quite the opposite. As an independent, I've written articles, essays, and op-eds about a number of gun issues. And I'm among those who are willing to embrace more gun control in the name of saving lives. But don't listen to me. Uh the stats are already the statistics already out there about the positive results that are associated with safe storage. And for those who might feel differently, there's no doubt that they have not personally experienced a gun-related tragedy. So, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to offer my support uh in support of this common sense storage measure. It does not take away gun rights. It avoids taking away

016a child's life. Thank you. And we have two speakers in person, John White and Lori Van Orton. If you would please come forward. You have three minutes each. Hi. Uh, my name is Lori Van Orton. I'm a retired SDUSD teacher and a board member of San Dieans for Gun Violence Prevention. And I'm here tonight to thank trustees Hazen and Bezo, the board, the superintendent, and the district for continuing its leadership in promoting the reduction of gun violence. Since the horrifying murders of teachers and staff at Parkland High School in 2018, San Diego Unified School District has stepped forward to speak out against gun violence. as an advocate for actions that can save lives. For example, providing information about gun violence restraining orders and about the responsibility of parents and adults to securely store their guns

017locked and unloaded separate from ammunition. Secure storage of guns can prevent suicide, domestic violence, homicide, unintentional shootings, and firearm theft. Tonight's resolution continues this campaign and also recognizes that further traumainformed solutions are necessary to keep our kids and our schools safe. Thank you for recognizing June is gun violence prevention month. But of course, protecting our children and our communities is a daily endeavor. On behalf of San Dieans for Gun Violence Prevention and all of San Diego, I want to urge passage of tonight's resolution and to thank you again for continuing to address the epidemic of firearm violence in a proactive way. Thank you. I also had the honor of serving on the board of San Dieans for Gun Violence Prevention with Lori and Bill. Um, I read the resolution. I applaud your efforts at passing

018this and I certainly urge you to pass it. In reading the resolution, I was struck by the similarity in the messages that you're conveying in the resolution and the messages that we convey in our own brochures. Safe storage, asking and gun violence restraining orders are the cornerstones of the message that we put out to the community at public events. and um and we advocate for them as well. Uh I I'm also here in the capacity as a part-time volunteer at Franklin Elementary and I am alarmed yet reassured by the fact that every time I go to volunteer at that school, I have to be buzzed in at the front door. I have to stand in a man trap and then I'm buzzed in again. Um, it's not lost on me how much security goes into

019keeping uh into preventing gun violence and I commend the district for um making efforts in that direction. Again, uh thank you for bringing this resolution up and I urge you all to vote for it. explain to you. [Laughter] That was all. Is that the entirety of our speakers? Okay, great. Um, do do we have any comments from the board? Uh, Trusty Hazen. Thank you, President Patterson, and thank you uh to our community members uh who spoke in support of this. As a mom and trustee, I'm proud to introduce this resolution with Trustee Boso tonight. Gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children in America. Not illness, not accidents, guns. And over the past decade, the firearm suicide rate among young people has increased faster than among any other age group. And during

020the same period, we've also seen a precipitous increase in school shootings across the country, including the awful mass shooting at Rob Elementary in Uvaldi, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were fatally shot. Every day, eight children and adolescents are unintentionally shot or killed with a gun in their own homes. These tragedies are preventable. As a school district, we have a responsibility to protect our students, not just in their classrooms, but in their neighborhoods and at home. This resolution recognizes that safe gun storage, education, and communication are critical tools in preventing firearm injuries, teen suicide, and accidental deaths. It builds on state law, local ordinances, and best practices and trauma-informed school safety, and is guided by a commitment I know this board has expressed on many occasions to ensure our students right to grow up

021safe and healthy and well. And before I wrap up, I want to express my deep appreciation for the work our principles, educators, counselors, school police, strategic communications, and facilities and planning teams do to implement all of the things referenced in this resolution, the training, the prevention, the education, the security measures we need to put in place to keep our kids safe. Thank you. Thank you, Trusty Hazen. Um, Trusty Cruz. Thank you, President Patterson. I am so grateful to push this resolution forward alongside Vice President Barrera. Mental health, especially among men, has too long been brushed aside, overshadowed by stigma, silence, and outdated notions of masculinity. June gives us a moment to confront that silence head on. This month, we recognize that strength is not just about perseverance. It's also about vulnerability, seeking help, and healing.

022Men deserve a place and support to care for their mental well-being without fear of judgment. As a district, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to uplift this conversation, ensuring our schools and workplaces foster environments where men, boys, and everybody could feel safe to talk, ask for help, and thrive. Thank you. Thank you, Trusty Cruz. Any further comment? I just want to thank Sings for Gun Violence Prevention. You have been a constant presence in this community. Your voice is amongst the most consistent of any advocate advocacy group uh in the entire region. It's always good to see your red shirts. Um I was also raised by a Vietnam vet and early on trained in gun safety and frankly when I had my kids the I bought a gun safe and I don't think they've ever

023seen the guns. At a certain point, you just have to recognize um that these are very frankly unsafe things to have in a home. We at some point in their my children's growth will maybe take them out to a range and learn safety, but at this point in time, it's it's not safe for my kids. So, I really appreciate um you and your advocacy. Um the most important thing for our board above all else is that our kids are safe. um and we'll we'll worry about this the social emotional wellness and the academic achievement but the most important thing is that they are safe. So um I believe this work is consistent with that. So I appreciate you being here and I appreciate my colleagues for bringing this um motion. Uh do we have any

024other any further board comment? Seeing none uh we will move to a vote. Um student trustees please vote. I'm not seeing I did I never saw the student trustees on my thing. We're going have to redo it. It just didn't appear on my thing, so I didn't know. Student trustees, please vote. Now I see it. All their trustees, please vote. All right, great. That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. Thank you so much for being here this evening and speaking. Um, with that we will move to item D1, uh, which is a report out from, uh, our 202425 evaluation of our superintendent, Dr. Fabiola Pagula. Um, we in collaboration with the superintendent developed a rubric for evaluating the superintendent's uh, performance over this last year um, in which she was uh, interim superintendent for

025that time period. It is very lengthy. We have provided that on our agenda. You can see it is on the agenda, right? No, it'll be published on the agenda after you make it public. It'll be published in the agenda. We've already distributed to media outlets, but we will have it in our agenda moving forward if you check online for the full one. I will not go through this um lengthy text here. Um but we evaluated the superintendent on came out to about eight different categories. I'll just briefly uh read the categories and our rating. The rating was on a scale of one to five. Um going from no progress uh districtwide to significant progress um on and what we did is aggregate the the board of education evaluations including the student trustees gave their evaluations

026and then we aggregated those. Uh we had on conscious accountability uh we had her at a 4.3 which indicates above expected progress. Crisis leadership obviously she came in at a at a at a critical juncture in this in this district's experience and she brought stability um and um and led led that through that crisis with grace um and adapted very quickly to her new role. healthy or organizational culture. Um that was a she had four points on that. Student outcome goals. Um she helped lead us through a process of adopting student uh outcome focused governance goals and um we had her at a 3.2 on that which is expected progress. Um stabilization we gave her a 4.2. Democracy and civic leadership. She's clearly led at a time in which we've had a lot of significant

027challenges in relation to civic participation and led us through some critical times. We gave her a 4.2 uh on that. And then collective wisdom, which is relying on the wisdom of the whole staff, community, students, um and her own leadership team and the board. Uh she came out at a 4.5, which I think is reflective of the fact that that's pretty much her highest score. So we really um I think appreciated as a board the way in which she built consensus and governed in a way that brought together a lot of folks um wisdom and experience and um and values. And then fiscal responsibility she had a 3.7 in terms of navigating us through some of the budget challenges we we've been facing. So overall I don't think we've summed overall but you can see

028almost everything was six out of the eight categories were were um above expected progress. So, we're very excited and we're we're excited um moving forward. I don't believe um um that's all we have on that. Dr. Bula will speak in a moment remotely here. I'll have her in on the next agenda item. Um so, that is D1. That's just a brief report out. Again, that will be available online in more detail and it is lengthy. So, um D2 is administrative appointments. Uh Dr. Beoula, I see you on there remotely. Uh, are there any management appointments to announce? Yes. And I I want to say it's lengthy because it should hold the breath and responsibility of this role, but that's just my humble opinion. Thank you for that. Um, we have some uh folks that I

029want to congratulate and also welcome. Um, I am really happy and proud of of this this partnership and this team that is going to help us make sure that we have beautiful instruction for all of our San Diego children. And that is our deputy superintendent of instruction, Nicole Dit, our senior executive director of thriving school communities, Marisa Roledo Allen, our executive director of multilingual depart for our multilingual department, Veronica Lopez Mendes, our executive director for due process hearings and mediation, Brian Spry, and I want to welcome and congratulate our new principal for Roosevelt Middle School, Stacy McGee. [Applause] Thank you, Dr. Beulup. And I I just want to say as much as the superintendent has been working under an interim title, we've had our these three prime employees under the same um title interim. And

030I in particular want to thank Marissa and I above all I want to thank um uh now permanent deputy superintendent Nicole Dit. uh a lot of these challenges. The budget team can figure out what it looks like on the books, but socializing these changes and socializing some of these budgetary decisions is an incredibly not just cognitively difficult process, but emotionally and socially difficult. So, I want to express my appreciation um for you, Nicole. Um and with that, uh we will move to item D3. Again, uh glad you didn't go too far, Bobby. Uh we are going to have Dr. Bugula back here under item D3 to provide her information report. Thank you, Dr. Patterson. As I reflected on last week's meeting, I again want to express my deepest gratitude to all of those who came

031out to support my appointment as superintendent. I'm beautifully overwhelmed, overwhelmed with joy, and I appreciate all the hard work that our team has already done in the last nine months. I'm looking forward to taking this journey as superintendent in partnership with all of our educators and especially our board of education. But we I want to talk a little bit about wellness. We discussed our adopted wellness goal and how we're working daily to provide social, emotional, and physical wellness to our students. Well, one contributing factor to student wellness is the availability of our middle school and high school sports programs. Part of wellness is physical wellness. So, Scott Justy, Lonnie Jones, and our entire athletics department do a wonderful job at working with our schools, students, and parents to make our athletics programs a success. And

032I would like to take a moment to congratulate all of our California Interscolastic Federation student athletes, their dedicated families, and our coaches. Eight of our high school teams have taken home um have taken home spring 2025 California Interscolastic Federation Championships. And we're very proud of Claremont High for Division 2 volleyball. La Hoya High Division 1 tennis. Lincoln High division 5 softball. Mission Bay High Division 3 track and field. Patrick Henry High open division badminton. Pointloma High Division One Baseball, Pointloma High Division 2 softball, University City High Division 3 baseball. So, congratulations to our champions and to all of our students who competed this spring. I also want to update you on preschool enrollment. Um, at our June 10th meeting, I reported that Santos Gonzalez and Ivan Torres and our entire early childhood team was in

033the midst of their priority preschool enrollment drive. We have total of 1,200 seats at 29 elementary schools. Tonight, I'm pleased to report that the priority application for the state subsidized preschool program has closed and we have received 640 applications. These families will be informed of their enrollment status by mid July. We have nearly 230 seats still available though. So to fill those remaining slots, we will be reopening applications for late submissions throughout the school year and our individual sites will promote them. Our San Diego Unified funded school readiness preschool program for families who are not eligible for the state's program will begin its application on July 15th. Um that concludes our superintendence report. So thank you very much. Thank you Fabi or Dr. Buga rather. Um we will now consider item E1 approval of the

034proposed 2026 2027 academic calendar. Dr. Google, please provide information on this item as well. Can I just ask if we can is there a way to turn up her volume? I can't I can't hear what she's saying. I'm trying to lip lip read it here, but it's tough. Thank you. Sorry about that. And when I hear the video back, um it's slow, so I I understand there's something happening um with the technology. So, trustees, tonight you're being asked to approve the proposed academic calendar for 2627 school year. This calendar was developed using our established instructional calendar development guidelines which incorporate both direction from the board and relevant ed code requirements. As part of this process, the calendar committee comprising representatives of SDA, AASD, PTA, and OTBS had the opportunity to review the draft, raise any

035concerns, and formally vote. We received five yes votes in support of the calendar, and no no votes were submitted. During the review, two recurring items were discussed across multiple groups. One, the impact of an earlier start date on attendance. Committee members raised questions about whether beginning the school year earlier affects student attendance. We shared attendance data showing the first week attendance was consistent at 96.5% for both the 2324 and 2425 school years, indicating no negative impact. the placement of the non-instructional day near the springtime change. After reviewing the springtime change and spring break schedules, all groups agreed it was best to keep the non-instructional day on March 8th. Moving it later would place it too close to spring break, reducing its intended benefit. I want to acknowledge that this year staff experienced a delayed start

036in convening the calendar committee. This was due to staff transitions and shifts in responsibilities, but we also recognized the importance of timely engagement and meaningful input. In response, we have actually implemented a plan to begin calendar committee meetings in September of each year and to adopt calendars on a three-year cycle moving forward. I also know there's some other um missing voices from these groups that would like to be a part of it. So, we are also making sure that we're um again to the point of making sure that we're seeking the collective, we're going to invite other voices also to be in that space. So, thank you for your consideration and your continued partnership as we plan for a successful 2627 year. Wendy will be available if in case there's any questions as well. Thank

037you. Thank you, Dr. Beula. Let me get a motion real quick and then um is there a motion uh to adopt this calendar? Trusty Hayes and second from Trusty Cruz. We have a motion and a second. Miss Staltz, are there any speakers on this item? Okay, we'll now move to board discussion. I see Trusty Hazen with her hand up. Yes. And I was going to comment and it's a similar one from uh the superintendence uh report and this one and it's uh and I mentioned uh to Vice President Barrera. So when you were discussing preschool, I know you know some of the feedback that I hear is around the challenge of halfday programs. Um and so I would at some point like for us to come back to um what it is that families need

038in terms of um early childhood um education and whether halfday programs um are really meeting families needs and if that might be one of the reasons we're underenrolled at least, you know, by about 200 people at this point. Um, and then in terms of the calendar, um, it's also about, uh, half days. I'm wondering, so the calendar we're asked to adopt, and I made a motion I support the calendar as it stands, um, but it doesn't reflect the minimum days, um, that some schools use. And I'm not talking about the the weekly um short days that elementary schools have, but I know and I hear this from families um that many elementary schools at least the last couple years have used minimum days during TK and kindergarten assessments at the beginning of each year. Um

039and during weeks of of parent teacher conferences, uh which can be really difficult for working families um who are trying to get to work on time. um take care of the shifts they need to work and also pick up their children. And so I'm wondering um and I guess the other piece that I want to point out is that at least this last year um there was essentially a week of half days leading up to spring break with a week off school. Also particularly disruptive um for all of our working families. And so I'm wondering if the board can receive a copy of this calendar that includes um those anticipated half days as well so that we understand um how some of those days may butt up against uh vacations and and other um non-instructional

040days so that we understand the implications potentially for families um because I think those are important considerations. Trusty Bazo. Thank you, President Person. I also wanted to comment on the academic calendar. Um, I've had the opportunity to speak with some parents um in clusters, the various clusters in my area that were concerned they didn't feel like they had input into the calendar, particularly some of our non-title one school area parents. So, I appreciate Dr. Beula um taking that input. Some of it was that they would end school, but they're still doing like if you get into the championships and CIF that that was happening like after they graduate. So, um things like lining it up with the with college um college times, the community colleges, there was some concern. Um, so I'm glad that as

041you mentioned, we'll be able to have more opportunity for parent input from all the um, cluster areas as well, so we can kind of make sure we're not running into those issues in the future. Thank you, Trusty Bosa. Any additional comment? Trusty Baldis, I'll just say I really do support moving our start date forward. I know with AP classes, there's about a month after you take the test where you pretty much just sit in class. You don't do much. The teacher puts on a movie for a few weeks. So, I really support this and I think this will really help with those classes. Thank you, Trusty Baldis. I feel like Can we do something about this June gloom? My constituents, when you let kids out and it's gloomy, it's it's it parents are not happy

042about it, kids not happy about it, but I don't think we have much authority over that. So, um we have a motion and a second. We've had discussion. Uh we will now move to a vote. Um student trustees, please vote. All the trustees, please vote. That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. All right. That will bring us to item E2, approval of revisions to the restorative discipline policy and regulation 5144. I think we're all very excited to hear this item. Dr. Beula, please introduce the item. And thank you. So, thank you, President Person. Um, the next item is the um is a presentation for board approval for updates on the restorative discipline policy, a policy that reflects the evolution of our approach to student behavior, community, and equity across San Diego Unified. The updates

043are grounded in research-based practices, shaped by input from our educational partners, and aligned with our ongoing commitment to creating equitable, supportive learning environments for all students. At its core, the policy reaffirms our belief that every student deserves to feel safe, supported, and empowered to grow, not in spite of their mistakes, but through them. Restorative discipline isn't about lowering expectations. It's about raising them. It asked students to take responsibility for their actions, understand their impact, and actively participate in repairing the harm within their school communities. Our shift from punitive discipline to restorative communities is rooted in four key principles. Promoting positive interactions and relationships, which I'm going to say is the antecedent to having this work work well. You can't restore if you don't have anything to restore to. Two, building on the collective strengths of

044our students and school communities. three, providing solution focused responses to conflict. And four, nurturing social, emotional, and behavioral skill development for all. Systemic reviews of research across seven countries consistently show that restorative practices improve school climate, reduce disciplinary incidents, and strengthen student teacher relationships. To be clear, restorative practices does not eliminate consequences. They make them more meaningful. They emphasize accountability, learning, and healing over exclusion and punishment alone. At this time, I'll turn it over to Ebony Weathers, executive director of equity and belonging, and Sha Lebby, um, our executive director of investigation, compliance, and accountability. Thank you. Hello. Uh, my name is Ebony Weathers. I'm the executive director for equity, and belonging, and Shaw and I are here today to present this item to you all. It is an update to board policy 5144. Um, but

045we are up here today really as representatives of a much larger working group within the district. Um, so this is really a team effort comprised of not just inner district folks, um, but a lot of our community partners and our families and students as well. So, we're excited to share these updates with you all. Um, and we will take it away. Um, in October of 2020, the board originally adopted our restorative discipline policy. Um today we're going to be sharing like I said some updates. So you will see we're going to bring you through some of the broad uh broadstroke updates on the restorative discipline policy and then towards the end we're going to get into some of the details of those updates um based on the last five years of feedback from our community

046partners um as well as some growth that we've had within the district. And Dr. Dr. Beula shared um what she shared to open us today and I think it's really powerful. We're going to jump into some of our preventative and restorative practices in just a moment, but it's important to note that we've invested a lot of time and energy into this piece because a lot of the restorative practice work in the district is around building a strong foundation of restorative communities where our students feel safe. Um we value respect, relationships, and responsibility. And so much of our work in restorative discipline is around building those communities to which we can restore when harm does occur. Um so in the beginning of the revised policy you'll see here that we have moved from on the left

047um which was the original document in 2020 um a list with three columns of some suggested restorative practices for our sites to use and addressing behavior. Um while on the right we have added not just some suggestions on how our sites can address um harmful behavior but we've actually included as you can see in the zoomedin version um tools that our sites can use so in the moment our sites have access to restorative tools that they can use with a student or a group of students to address behavior. One of the bigger shifts that we've made um with this new policy is that in addition to the paper version, we have a very robust online version that provides access, quick access um to tools for our site staff and not just for our site staff,

048but also for parents and families as well. In addition to that overview document um of some ways that our schools can be restorative and proactive, we also wanted to be really intentional about providing additional suggestions, tools, and resources for how sites can open from day one of the school year. Uh inviting students in and creating that environment of safety, of responsibility, respect, and relationships. And so you'll see here a couple of those pages um outfitted with some links to resources that we've curated. And like I said, not just within equity and belonging and not just within investigations, compliance, and accountability, but really across many of our departments, including counseling and guidance, special education, MTSS, BSR. So this has really been a community effort of providing resources and support. Uh Shaw's going to go over um

049towards the end of our presentation, but we just wanted to share here there's been a a shift in how we've organized behavioral offenses so that we can have uh more accurate the offense ways of addressing those behaviors as opposed to the original four levels. We now have five levels. And we're going to take you through an overview of those different levels and the uh suggested responses that we have through that restorative lens. Um, and you'll see here in the in the updated table of contents, we have those icons that make this document really user friendly for our staff, for students, for families. Um, so that they can access with just a click, um, different parts of the restorative discipline policy and also many of those resources. Um, one of the fan favorites that we've had,

050um, is this piece right here. And we're going to come back to this, but this and I know it's it's small, so hopefully you can open this up within the document. Um, but this is a two-page spread within the updated policy where you can see the various behaviors across um different categories. So, you'll see general behaviors, violence, and threats. We tried to categorize these um just so that our school site staff can really quickly at a glance see what the behavior is. You can see across the top we've got now color-coded levels as well as the suggested response. So we've got classroom interventions, possible suspensions, permissive expulsions, and mandatory expulsion recommendations. And all of that information is really easy to read and at a glance on those two pages. Um but then we also get

051a little bit deeper into the detailed pieces. So on the left you'll see here the original 2020 version of the RDP um or restorative discipline policy which included a short definition of the behavior. Um it has the student behavior incidents on the left and then it's got a list of supportive practices and responses. What we found through feedback um was that the list is great but how can we get access to some of these tools because for some folks they don't know where to find them. They don't know what they are or what they mean. And so what we tried to provide um were some direct access to those resources. So you'll see on the right the updated version where we've taken and I can zoom in here for you. I think um we've taken

052that list of student behaviors and we've given it um life so that you can see it really clearly what the behavior incident is. And then you'll also see examples of definitions or potentially some examples of those different behaviors. Um, and then over here on the far right in those lighter colored orange bubbles, you'll actually see access that's clickable to different pieces of ed code that discuss those behavioral offenses or other existing board policies or procedures that relate to each of those behaviors. We've made that um sort of paragraph up at the top that you saw here in the original version on the left. We've turned that into an easyto- read list. And so each of the behavioral levels will include a bulleted list um that defines each of those behaviors and what qualifies them to

053be in those categories, helping our sites and our students and their families sort of understand why the behaviors are categorized um how they are categorized. This is from level two, but you'll see throughout the document that we have one of these for each of the five levels. Um, and additionally for each of the levels, as opposed to that list of suggested practices or interventions, we've actually created um, clickable resources that our site staff and their families can use to implement each of these pieces. So, whenever you see that icon with the little paper clip, um, that's actually a link to a larger resource that has five to 10 different examples of tools that that somebody could use to actually put this restorative practice into implementation. Shaw's going to take us through a broad overview. These

054are some of our really detailed um, shifts between the 2020 version and the updated version that we're presenting tonight. Um, so I'm going to pass this over to Sha. All right. Thank you. Um, so we we do kind of get into the weeds here in the slide, so I'm not going to go through every detail, but try and give you um kind of a broader overview of the significant changes. Um, I'll just start by saying my office recently as part of um I think the district examining our internal processes and procedures, we um just over this last school year took over the uh screening for expulsion. So, um that kind of gave us a lens in working directly with sites when serious issues came up. So a lot of that feedback um over this last

055year uh we took that into consideration in terms of identifying the seriousness what's having the biggest impact the consequences to you know both individual students maybe victims and also the uh community. So one of the things to understand and sometimes we have to explain this to um when parents are upset we have a level five which is um specific in ed code that those are mandatory expulsions level four which we've identified is all the expellable offenses so they're not required um but they can be recommended. So we call those permissive expulsions. Um and in order for a permissive expulsion, there not only needs to be the behavior, there also needs to be um the site has to demonstrate that they've exhausted interventions, restorative practices, or there's a serious uh threat or danger that the student

056presents. So, um, a few of the bigger changes we previously and in and education code only has a general sexual harassment. Um, title 9 sexual harassment, which uh, Title 9 office is part of the A office, that's a federal law. So, the state regulations haven't um, kind of caught up to that. So what we did is um we disagregated the title nine offenses. So we have general sexual harassment, we have title nine sexual harassment, um dating violence, domestic violence, and then the more serious sexual assault, um stalking. And um the other big change that you'll see and that's when you see in some of these categories where under um let's say non-title 9 sexual harassment you have green, orange and red. What we've done is shifted towards u more of a progressive discipline. So, uh,

057one of the things we identified that's a frustration I think for sites as well as, um, impacted families is when you see repeated behavior and the consequences, um, don't elevate. and you know everything that Ebony went over giving the tools to the sites to really emphasize those interventions and restorative practices at some point there does need to be consequences for the student. And so we've actually expanded um the number that um is available and elevated it once um it either comes to a second or third offense. So that um you know again I do think a higher form of discipline is also an intervention. Um at this point you know we're not the criminal justice system but if our students aren't understanding serious consequences then once they turn 18 it's a different story right? Um

058the other thing we did is elevated um certain types of offenses that were having a very serious impact like terroristic threats. That's something that you know can lead to a lockdown at a school, police involvement, um heightens concerns around the community. And so that was something that um based on feedback and the impact it really has especially at this time and obviously talking about the gun safety resolution you had um we identified that that should also be uh permissive expulsion. So the last thing we don't have a slide for it but um what I think is is really helpful and based on um my department's work with directly with site administrators when these incidents come up. We do have detailed steps for each level. So, for instance, on a level four behavior, um, you know,

059site administrators aren't going to have our 40page policy on hand and as many trainings as we provide when there's a fire and something happens and they need to respond. Um, trying to give them that checklist to make sure that they're reporting to the right people. And then one of the other uh big things that we're trying to emphasize is the documentation in powers school. So that way um again if we're getting a referral to us, we have um a clear history of what prior interventions were in place. Um and then it also helps us uh collect data. So we'd have much more robust data to try and understand and maybe that gives, you know, Ebony and other departments the ability to um kind of direct resources to areas where maybe we're seeing um certain practices

060working better that can be utilized and that can be um distributed across the system. So I think the only thing And then uh the board policy is what um I think you'll be voting on and adopting today, but it also comes with uh an administrative regulation which is a lot lot more words than policy based. So Thank you. Evan Shaw, sit tight for a second. I'm going to get us a motion here to continue the discussion. Do I have a motion on the item? Uh, Trusty Cruz in a second. Trusty, Vice President Barrera. We have a motion in a second. Um, Marty, do we have any members of the public like to speak on this item? No members of the public. Great. Um, do any trustees wish to speak on this item or ask questions

061of our guests? Trusty Hayen. Thank you, President Patterson, and thank you for all the work that went into this and appreciate all the engagement you did with with the end users. Um, so both think with with students and with educators and with principles um and developing something that's user friendly. So really appreciate that and I think this really um aligns with our values as a district and the work we want to do. I do have some questions and I know I shared this um with you earlier but I'm still not clear. It's around the lack of clarity specific to suspendable behavior. Um so the policy's cate categorization of level three behaviors as warranting a possible suspension for me leaves too much room for subjective interpretation. And I worry that without clearly defined guidance on what

062constitutes a suspendable or expellable offense, we risk reinforcing patterns of disciplinary action that have historically and disproportionately impacted students of color, students with disabilities, and other marginalized groups. So, I'm wondering if you can speak to what for me feels like ambiguity, but specifically in that um level three category and why we have possible suspension and how and why you feel confident that administrators will know when to suspend and when not to within that category. So the categories um level three is specific to suspensions, level four obviously are uh the permissive expulsions and then level five are the mandatory. Um so in terms of ED code which what we align with it there are only a number of offenses that can be suspendable without any prior history. So um for the most part across the board

063and I think sites are aware of this that on the first time they cannot suspend and they generally don't except for I think there's four that they're able to on the first. Um, the other thing that I think is really important and in talking to the sites as well is you'll hear it there on the ground and there needs to be some discretion. There's certain types of offenses where let's say robbery, which sounds very serious, but the elements of robbery could be, you know, a third grader trying to ask for another student's lunch money. So I think we have to um in here kind of um allow for the discretion of the sites and looking at culpability and severity of the behavior, not just the offense specifically. So um I don't know if that answered

064your question, but for the most part um it's because what I'm hearing is that for certain offenses on the second or the third, you know, we would highly recommend someone be suspended, but it's not that's not explicit here. Um, so I struggle with that. And then my next question, which you just spoke to, which is around um the age of students, and something I didn't see in here, is whether and how the age of students is considered when implementing the policy. exactly to the example you gave, right? I noticed that some offenses result in suspension for it describes fourth through 12th graders. Um, but yeah, I think about, you know, the difference between a four-year-old who I had, you know, my own child was four very recently, right? Like threatening to cause physical injury, not

065recognizing what that means compared to a 15-year-old. And how do we distinguish between those things in in the policy? I think I don't know how much more I have to add than what Shaw shared, but I think that what he did share was kind of speaks to that point, which is if we account for each of those differences in whether it's age or grade level, I think it would become, you know, a K version of the restorative discip discipline policy, a first grade version, a second grade version. Um, and at that point when you're developing kind of overdeveloping the policies, um, I think it kind of takes away from our site leaders ability to have that discretion and be able to look at the general policy and use what they know of their students and

066use what they know of the interventions that are available on their campuses to make those decisions around how to address the behaviors that are happening on campus. So, I think overplanning can kind of be harmful. It can help us to create um overdocumentation in many policies that become more confusing when we give the guidance and we give the education and support to help them make those educated decisions at the site level. I think it it has a better outcome. And is there anything that you would recommend because I appreciate that feedback. We don't want to be too prescriptive and we want to provide flexibility. I guess what are we doing or what can we do to ensure that we are that these policies are being implemented equitably and so I guess as a trustee like

067what information would be available I don't know a year from now to make sure that the concerns I have aren't are unfounded so and I like I know you like data so we should we should um I think part of this you know in addition to um utilizing powers school which is the student records we're working with our IT department to develop a section that's specific for these interventions which um you know will help us track that but my department is also getting a new case management system. So um that will also help us in terms of um especially the ones that are referred for expulsion or come through placement and appeals for suspensions and appeals like data can be misleading but I think we also can collect it and maybe see trends where certain

068sites are overutilizing suspension for the same types of offenses. So, I think that's that's what we're trying to do also with this uh policy is make it the stepbystep roadmap for them to um make sure we're reminding them to input uh the information into powers school so that it does give us a better ability to track that and address those issues. Thank you. and maybe uh I guess to the superintendent if we could and I don't know when but whenever you think is appropriate you know see some of that data and see how the policy the revised policy is working and being rolled out I think that would be really helpful and then just the last question because I think the work is really important and the training component of it is really important right

069I love that this guide is user friendly and you can click on the links um but I'm wondering um in in the new budget uh do we have we allocated funding um to support the training, the professional development, everything that needs to happen for counselors, for educators, for principles to implement this um thoughtfully um and with integrity. So, one of the things that was important to us um because being part of the 2020 adoption and seeing how that roll out happened and the the implementation and just kind of gathering that sort of anecdotal data um one of the things that was important to us with this was to lay that foundation um before the release of the document before we adopted a new policy. How can we set the foundation of that professional learning, getting

070people the skills that they need to actually implement it when it's put into their hands versus putting it into their hands and then hoping for a great implementation. Um, and so we've spent the last two years really focused at our middle and high school levels of providing that additional support, meeting monthly with our restorative community leads, ensuring that they had a community of practice that was strong, um, and and access to different um, restorative work and restorative teams and different uh, departments across the district such as our counseling guidance department, um, equity and belonging, MTSS, all laying the foundation before um, placing a new policy in their hands. So that's definitely something that's been important to us. It's work we plan on continuing to do. We have a very strong restorative justice practice team. Um,

071but like I said, the beauty of this is that it's not just the work of one department. It's really a collaborative effort. So, we definitely plan to continue that work. Thank you, Trusty Baldis and then Trusty Wires Pain and then Trusty Baso. Oh, yeah. Thank you all for the work that you were doing. I want to say I think this definitely is a step in the right direction. My concern mainly is in holding staff and administrators accountable to this because I've had my own instances. I've spoke with a lot of students that say they have experiences on campus where disciplinary action is taken and the staff will write it up differently than how it actually went down or the staff might be over suspending. So, do we have a plan or anything in place to

072go back and hold the staff and administrators accountable? And if not, can we plan on doing this? I guess that's in the title of our department. Um, you know, we really can only I mean on the accountability side for uh the oversight is when it comes to us for uh recommendation for expulsion. So again, we're analyzing um the evidence itself, whether it meets the offense, also the prior um interventions that have been taken. And um and so on that level, I think there's more attention to it to ensure consistency. Um and I think our outcomes over the last year do reflect that. Um I can't speak I guess to us having um direct oversight over every suspension but I want to add to that too. I think um part of my motivation in designing the

073document and the way that it was designed was really to make it something that students could easily understand. And so when we talk about accountability for the adults in the system, the first step in my opinion is making sure that our students can read it, understand it, and have access to it. And so when they see those discrepancies, they can come to Shaw's team or an adult or a parent or family member and say, you know, hey, I'm seeing in print that this is what should be happening. It's not what happened. What can we do from here? I do. Can I interject for a second? What I what I'd like to see here, and Trusty Baldis, I think you bring up a really good um point, is there's three different things that are going to

074have to work together, right? this restorative policy um as Ebony just outlined is is more reader friendly and really wanted to make sure that students are able to read it. The second piece is what James is working on with the communications department to be able to communicate with students directly. So that's an avenue where we can actually say like this is the policy. This is what should be followed. And then there's the reporting structure that those interns worked with Shaw. So this is where you start to see like the work that's being done isn't isn't work that's in silos, which it's actually work in service of. So I actually think all of those three components working together will get closer to what you're seeking. And I and I understand what you're saying and I agree

075with it. So I think just um making sure that those three mechanisms are working together would address some of your concern in the beginnings of it. Of course, definitely. I I really like how it's becoming more reader friendly for students. I will say um currently it does feel as if I I've never seen anything in relation to this. I feel like if there's any disciplinary action, it seems almost hidden from staff in administration. So I would be very comfortable moving forward if we mandated that every time disciplinary action or restorative action is taken that this be presented in front of the students in front of the parents and the families because if that was mandated then I'd feel like it would be shared to the students and that true accountability could be had. Um we're

076voting on this. So could I propose that as an amendment to mandate that or going forward? So so you are you're in essence this would be a substitute motion. Um so what you would like what what would you like to add to it? uh just that when restorative action or disciplinary actions are taken that this has to be provided to students and their families to specifically dictate that if you cause property damage. It says here that you get this action. So what I would say is at what level would you like to I mean I think just provided but I mean at the suspension level or the expulsion level I will say at the at the suspension level. So when we're looking at the different levels when a suspension is is given to a student

077that is something that's required to be actually handed to not the restorative discipline policy but a document that states those offenses. So the student and the family needing to know what offense did the student commit that aligns with you know what is stated in the actual policy. So that's something we currently have. Um we also have um the requirement that our staff shares their sight discipline plan with families and students within the first week of school. And so that's another way that our our families get access to those documents. We also plan on making this very public. So this will be a document that remains on our website. Um that's something that can be there easily accessible for students and families consistently. Yeah. No, I I really I appreciate all that and I think that's

078amazing work. I just feel that even if it is on a website or even if it is sent out that people aren't truly going to look at it. They're not going to see it. So unless it's provided in front of you before action is taken, I don't think that students will see it or that they'll truly understand. So let me just say I don't actually think there's an additional motion on this thing. I think we could just communicate to the superintendent. From what I understand, if there is a suspension or an expulsion that in addition to the documents describing there, we could also provide this uh a uh maybe not the full policy but the sort of top line of the policy. Well, I think we can I love that suggestion. I think the more

079times people see it and have access to it, the better. Um, we're actually revising the report on suspension, which which is that document that we we need to provide to parents in the in instance that there is a suspension. So, I think we can work on adding parts of this document or the document in the entirety to part of that so that as our administrators are reaching out to families to make them aware of a suspension, they're also providing portions of this document that are relevant. Okay. Definitely that that I don't think we have to amend the motion. The superintendent understands the gist gist of it and you'll you'll return next time and and let us know how how you implemented the suggestion that's coming from the dis. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And thank you all

080so much for your work. Okay. Uh now Trusty Wyers Pain and then Trusty Bazo. Thank you. And again I I must say that I'm totally impressed with the work that you all have done and it's something that we've needed for a long time. Um I like the comprehensiveness of it with the the legal strategies there. Um the information will be be on the web. It will be shared right up front. It's available when the student is at the front end even in difficulty. You share the consequences. Go over it with them at that point. I I mean I'm just totally impressed with this initial step. also recognize that you'll have to make some adjustments as you go forward because that's what correction is about. but to lay it out in such a clean fashion so

081that everyone from the kindergartenner all the way up to the 12th grader understands what our policies are and not only to share it on the web so forth but to be able to share it with the SSC to share it with the site PTAs the um committees on site everybody so that we do a blitz communitywide this is our policy you want to know go online. Uh it's not some people say this is a mystery because one person was treated one way and another one was treated another way. There's one idiosyncratic difference in here uh about different treatment for special education students. We do have laws governing that that are different from um the gened population. So that's something that students when they're look comparing um treatments, they need to recognize that, you know, there

082may be something going on that we can't address. But I like your idea, Ebony, of of overdoing it. Give them an extra copy during that time. And um hopefully schools are listening and that they will want to do this because I've had people in the community to say to me that very thing, you know, that my child was treated differently and so forth. But if it's there on the web, we can sit down and go over it with together, go over it with the school or whatever, it's not a mystery. It's right there and you know, your child knows. We shared it with you. It's a public document. I I just think that um you've done a good job and I'm looking forward to uh some kind of report in the future about how many

083this and that and what you've done and comparing and all the interrator reliability things going on etc because I know it will be good. Thank you. Seems seems like you may have picked up a vote there. Um Trusty Bazo, thank you President Peterson and thank you. I'd like to echo my colleagues comments about just the emphasis on better access and resources and training and not just doing the same thing over and over again when it's appears to obviously not be working. So, um, thank you for all your work on that and I think that's so important. I did and I know we talked about this a little bit when you guys uh presented during our one-on- ones, but I wanted to talk a little bit about more or find out a little bit more about

084engaging with parents and uh community and what that looks like because although we discussed it, I didn't see too much of it in the slides. Um, for example, not only for the individual who's going through the restorative uh, you know, pro that process, but if there's a student that was on the receiving end of some type of behavior, we also have those parents that, you know, are a lot of times up in arms and I can't blame them sometimes. And, you know, one of the elementary schools, one of the parents actually called the police. So I just the ways that we're helping those parents too so we don't get to those points where they're feeling like they don't have support through the schools and um you know what are we doing to communicate I think

085both both parties it's important of course we want to work with that student but also the other students if it's a classroom or you know if it's on the playground whatever um are we making sure that we're pulling those parents into or family members if they it's not a parent um just to make sure they're they feel like they're being heard as well and and what kind of what that looks like. Absolutely. And I think that's something that we've consistently heard over the last 5 years is you're investing a lot of resources and energy into a student who offends. What about me and my child? Right. Um and so you'll see throughout the document, one of the things that was really important to us uh that we heard over and over again was lacking was

086the notification for those parents. So when something has happened to my child, I didn't even know it happened until my my kid came home and was sharing with me, you know, this happened and something happened with that kid and they went and talked to that kid. And so that is embedded throughout the document um in the I'll find a page here for you. Um, but if you look at like level one, which is on page 11 of the document, when you look at the steps to take when a student performs a particular behavior, as we go up in those levels, um, and we see a greater need for parents and families to be aware of something that's happened, maybe it's not at the level one, um, where a student might have not come to class

087prepared with material or there's not a student, another student who is impacted by a behavior, but as we start looking towards level two and level three, uh, definitely we've we've put in there specifically and called that out, these areh behaviors for which a parent of the student who is impacted also needs to be made aware within the first 24 hours. So that's something that we've definitely considered and taken feedback from our parents and families. The other piece um is that in addition to creating support plans for the students who are offending or exhibiting certain behaviors that are harmful, towards the end of the document in the appendices, you'll see a safety plan that is designed to be shared with students and families that have been impacted by behaviors in an attempt to create that safety

088and work towards repairing harm for those students as well. So, that's definitely something that we've heard and that we've accounted for in the updates of the document. And I guess I was just take it one more more step further like maybe at a principal chat or something, couldn't we be proactive and say, "Hey, if this happens in your classroom so parents know ahead of time because I'd rather know upfront than after my kid gets hit or whatever, but like having it more the whole school and having that, you know, transparency and accountability and having that information available kind of before maybe, you know, hopefully this won't happen to your student, but if it does, this process. Vice President Bar. Yeah, thank you, President Person, and thank you so much uh Ebony and Shaw for leading

089this work. And I I know as Ebony um mentioned at the beginning, this is what you're presenting to us tonight is uh work that's been done with many many people and many many stakeholders uh leading to this point. So, I just want to um make sure that uh we've got a little context for where we are tonight. This is an incredibly important uh presentation that you're making and an incredibly important moment in our district even though it's not getting the attention, you know, that we might have had several years ago. and the the basic concept around restorative practices. Um I you know I think of even before the policy in 2020 going back years before that incidents happening at different schools in our district and a kind of a an understanding on the part of

090the U school district leadership that we have a basic choice which is when we have uh behavior that is harmful ful. Um when we have people who are victimized by behavior that's harmful, we can either accelerate uh the process of students frankly going into the criminal justice system or we can educate our students and what's our job, you know, as a school district. And so the idea that um conflict or you know uh behavior that can be harmful um that in the same way that students have to learn how to read and learn how to do math, students need to learn how to uh get to a point of respectfully uh you know being in relationship with other students and with people. in a in a community, but that's that's learned behavior that as an

091education system, we've got a responsibility uh uh uh to teach. And I think that's kind of the underlying uh you know, concept behind restorative practice. And then, you know, when this policy was adopted in 2020, um our district, like most uh uh institutions around the country in the wake of George Floyd, were reflecting on where are there systemic racist practices that are going on within our system and how do we examine those practices and how do we commit ourselves to becoming an anti-racist institution? And among those obvious uh you know areas was the disproportionate discipline, expulsion, suspension of students of color. And the development of the 2020 policies came at a time of honest reflection on the part of uh this district, but was also implemented um at a time when students were coming back

092to in-person school coming out of COVID. And so maybe the most challenging time, you know, uh in in in our district of uh students adjusting back, you know, to being in in in-person relationship. And what I appreciate so much about this work is that what you're doing is in no way backing away from the core values that um are underneath restorative practices. are in no way backing off from the core reflection of a commitment to uh moving this district forward as an anti-racist institution. Um but what you're saying is if we're going to implement those core values, we have to do it well. And this is what this is getting at. And and I know that the you know that the reaction especially in those you know first couple of years coming back from COVID

093um was you know there was an assumption that what this means is there's there's no consequences for certain behavior and and we're creating chaos on our campuses and I know students parents and educators were feeling overwhelmed um by how do we um you know h how do we how do we implement these policies and it would have been very easy um for you and for the leadership of this district to actually back away from our core values and say, "Well, this doesn't work." And what you're saying is, "No, this has to work." Um but there's a way to to get better and better and build the capacity in the district to do this well. And that's a reflection of where we're at tonight. And we know that a few years from now, um hopefully we'll

094look look up and we'll say we've done this better. And certainly by you know certain metrics you know number of expulsions um you know we've had success but by other metrics we know that uh we've got work yet to do but we're not backing away from uh you know what we know uh is is that uh you know restorative practices is about learning and is about education. um and that a a commitment to equity means that we honestly address um where we've got systemic uh issues, you know, in our district. Um we're not backing away from that. We're just getting better at it and I appreciate, you know, this work. Thank you, Vice President Barrera. Trusty Cruz. Thank you, President Peterson. And wow, this is an incredible presentation. Thank you so much. I really appreciate

095how much effort was put in defining and explaining the infractions within these levels, especially for us students so we can educate ourselves in these disciplinary uh policies. So, I have a quick suggestion and I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure at least once a year most high school administrations hold a policy assembly, right, with their students to talk about their school policies. And I think if this presentation could be taken, make it more studentfriendly and presented to these to students at these assemblies, that way we can ensure that they've seen these resources and know where to find it. I think that would be a great step towards effective communication. I love that idea and I'm wondering if that's you volunteering to be on this developing a studentfriendly version committee. Yes, I will pass that

096opportunity to the next two student board members. All right. Thank you. I love that. I appreciate that feedback. Um, thank you so much. I'll just um I'll just say a couple things here. Um, one, I want to reiterate what folks have said already, particularly the superintendent, which is In a way, it's unfortunate that we present restorative discipline in isolation from all the things we do to establish the baseline, the behavioral, social, cultural, school, climate baseline to which we restore to because it makes it seem as though the main part of the story is the discipline when the discipline's hopefully a very small portion of what we're doing to foster that that baseline that we would restore to. in the event that there is a departure from that baseline. So, um you know, I don't know.

097It's almost like it would be great to see for just communicating to the public at some point some sort of a workshop where we talk about the totality of the work we're doing as a district um with our BSR team and our our discipline team and the the supports we provide to students that are you know from the MTSS perspective the tier 2 and tier three supports we're providing to students who may be struggling behaviorally ly. Um so with the understanding that this is a small small part of it that we use to restore to that baseline we've established. Um I I want to commend you for responding. It is very good as a board member to see staff responding to the community in to community input to staff input to student input and to

098board input and seeing that change in real time which we are seeing in terms of the the biggest when I came on the biggest challenge I saw from site leaders is unclear instruction with regard to cumulative misconduct. So you had students and we would see it in close session where you would have five years of the same behavior and it and and parents are frustrated, other students are frustrated and I'm very happy to see such clear guidance on the cumulative aspect. um before if you didn't do the big five it was just you know groundhog day and I also want I am very appreciative of the integration with powers school um at at the lowest level referral so we can get a sort of a picture of what's happening behavioral student oftentimes when it gets

099to us it's very unclear what what's going on what's happening because a whole side of that referral in class and on-site referrals were not getting registered and we had no real idea about the context of that behavior behavior. Um, I also want to um point out, you know, we frequently the concern three years ago to Richard's point was around our focus on reducing suspensions and expulsions. But the main reason we would want to reduce those is not because we're commies or something. It's because they're not behaviorally effective. And you could have a hypothetical district which at each level just punched the kid in the face. And the reason why we don't do anything like that is because it's not behaviorally effective. And so the the what I what I'm what I want to emphasize on

100this and I and I think your report captures is these are researchbased effective approaches at each level. The the response and that is the nature of justice. the response is proportionate to the disruption and to the behavior. And I also want to talk uh just the last thing I'll say is it's very I I want to respect the work you're doing because it is that heart of real decision- making and leadership is to create a system that balances goods against goods and bads against bads. It's very easy. the public often times sees I mean naturally when you're involved in the system in in a disciplinary process you see goods weighted against bads and it's like oh no but but what you're doing here is we see a situation in which on the one hand this

101is a student who is struggling on the other hand they are they have perpetrated a behavior that may have serious consequences for other students and you've got to weigh those two things against one another and one of the things that I think we we don't talk about is that there is I assume it's nationwide but there when we do not get a handle on the behavior help to get the supports a student need they have collateral impacts on their peers which can be profound if you have two or three students on a on a campus that are struggling it could you might see that in the cast scores for the whole campus and the student has a right to a to justice in relation to the consequence of the behavior but those other students, their

102peers have a have a right to a safe, supportive learning environment. And that is a very hard thing to balance and I appreciate the work you've done to balance that. If I can say, you have been so good about responding to the the input of this board and to the community and our stakeholders. The one thing that I would love to have either in a subsequent report or if we had a workshop environment where we talked about the totality of the work we're doing. One of the most heartbreaking things we see on a board is a student who starts struggling in fourth, fifth grade and keeps struggling all the way and doesn't get to us until 11th grade when they commit one of the big five. All of the time we're thinking as a board

103and I know the superintendent as well leadership team. How do we get the supports we can see a child is just screaming for before they're expelled. And so that is something I would love us to talk about the other end of a discipline. The reason why suspension or expulsion is at all behaviorally effective which in and of itself it is not. But it's because at the point of expulsion, we get them the the high dosage interventions that they need at Alba or at some other site. So how can we talk in in this environment in terms of restorative practices? How can we talk about how to get these stu struggling students the supports they need before they get expelled three not just months before they get expelled but years before they get expelled. So, I

104really appreciate that's my question is really how do we start thinking about getting them those supports before they get expelled? Well, I mean at some point you can do some regression analysis on it and um take a look at what's happening with the students. We've got some data folk out there who know how to do that kind of thing. But there ought to be a point hopefully we'll start collecting data and have reports and then we can look back at the data and say given this pattern this is what's going to happen. What are we doing to intervene and we'll start getting ongoing reports early on rather than at the uh other end of the spectrum. I I think that's kind of what you're talking and just to add one more thing is you can't

105really do that but with just the student. I mean this has to involve the whoever they're living with. I mean it's it's a whole child thing. It can't just be like discussing with a student. It really needs to be community engagement out as well. I was just going to chime in and uh repeat what Dr. Whitehurst Payne shared is that the I think the first step in that is really having a strong data collection tool uh team that we now have. And so looking at beyond just the the sort of broad numbers around suspension and expulsion which give us a short uh looking back piece of data around student and student experience. Um being able to look more comprehensively at data looking at student experience data. How are they feeling when they're in the classrooms?

106How do they feel when they're at school? Are they connected to adults? What is their attendance like? What is their academic outcome in literacy and in math? Um, so we want to take a broad look at all of those things because this touches, as you shared, all of those pieces and we should be able to see outcomes in all of those areas based on the work that we're doing to build those strong foundations. Um, but I think having that that piece of data when we're looking at in incorporating the power school tools in here and collecting that data and inputting the data is really the first step to being able on our end to look at and disagregate and and drill down into that data to make meaningful um and informed changes to the work

107that we do. And I'm sorry I want to say something and this is where I want to connect as well because this is not just a silo right I know we're talking about student data and data systems but we also are are studying wellness and that has to do with mind body community and relationship which has a lot to do with what happens or what even causes a child to be in conflict with another child or or at school. So that's one and then we're also studying motivation. So, I'm actually seeing like the beauty of all of these components kind of coming together um into working towards exactly what you're describing. Um it's just the infrastructure that we were building and now like the Yeah, I'm just seeing the togetherness that's coming and it's happening

108now. So, I'm actually really excited listening to this presentation going all of the pieces are starting to move in the right direction. Sure. And yeah, I think specifically um to your point Cody with seeing that history and almost the only tool to remove the student or get them the additional support or attention that they need or environment was it seems historically through the expulsion. So that's been something that's um very lively conversation. We we do have alternative schools. We have some continuation schools and we've been working with Alba and families for um we're limited based on ed code and certain policy of we need parent approval on certain placement issues but working with them as if they're identifying it too. Then we don't need to go through an expulsion to get that student there to

109get them the services. And so, um, we actually have meetings amongst different departments and leadership coming up this summer about potentially piloting other specialized programs which we're, you know, hoping will also fill some of those gaps. But we are looking at the policies we have and the programs that we have and finding ways where, you know, it may just be that school itself isn't the right environment for this student and there's another place. So, um, the placement issue is something that comes up a lot and we're working on. So, and the other thing, sorry, just to get back to what you were talking about with the baseline, I think something that was new to me coming into the district, expulsion doesn't mean they're out of the district. And I don't know if everybody understands that,

110right? Um, so a permissive expulsion is one semester. uh mandatory expulsion is one year and that student has a right to come back to the comprehensive site. So I think that's where also you know it's not just that work on the front end to try and avoid it but ultimately this student is going to have to reintegrate back into the environment and getting rid of them. Expulsion doesn't do that right. So eventually whatever the discipline or interventions are the goal is we have to have them back um to that baseline as you would say. Thank you Shaw. Well having exhausted board discussion at long last uh we appreciate the report. We will move to a vote. Um student trustees please vote. All remaining trustees please vote. That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. Thank

111you very much. We appreciate the presentation. All right, moving right along. I won't say a quick pace, but a pace. Uh, we will now consider items F1 through F6 related to collective bargaining. Is there a motion on these items? Trusty Hazen with the motion. Trusty B. Was that a Yeah, trust. Um, why don't I get a motion? Why don't I get a motion from Richard? You got Okay. All right. Without voting. Yeah. Um, that's a second from Trusty Baldis. We have a motion and a second. Miss Saltz, any speakers on this item? Okay. Um, with that, we will Do any trustees have any comments on this item? Trusty Hazen with a comment. Just a quick one. Um, so I'm really excited and happy to see um the leadership coaching um position here. Um, and I'm

112wondering if I mean we know this is a best practice. So both the leadership coaching and communities of practice and very goal aligned for us. And I'm wondering if if this is reflected in the LCAP. Um, and maybe I don't know if it's a question for this or a question for for LCAP. So maybe when the if anyone's prepared to answer it now or or then superintendent, I have not seen it in the LCAP, but I'm pretty sure we put it in there as a strategy to help move our goals and guard rails. So I'm going to hold until I'm going to verify and I'll come back. All right, we'll hold the question until the LCAP consideration. Um are there any additional comments? All right, seeing no comments from the public and having exhausted comments

113from the board here, uh we will move to a vote. Trustees, please vote. That motion passes unanimously. All right, we will now consider items G1 and G2, the 2025 26 board of education stipens and memberships. Is there a motion to approve items G1 and G2? Trusty Cruz. Trusty Bazo with a second. We have a motion and a second. Uh, Miss Staltz, do we have any speakers on this item? Would any of uh my board colleagues care to opine on this item? Okay, seeing no additional comments, 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 consider item H1, the second reading and adoption of the 202526 local control and accountability plan. A public hearing and first reading of this

114item was conducted on June 10th, 2025. Dr. Beoula, please introduce the item. And just to follow up, I hadn't seen the coaching in the LCAP and it's not in the LCAP, but it should be. So, thanks for that feedback right now. Um, thank you, President Person. Trustees, tonight you have the second reading of San Diego Unifi's 2526 local control and accountability plan, which is before you for final approval. This LCAP reflects our continued shift toward deeper alignment with the board's goals and guardrails through student outcomes focused governance model. It is meant to be more than a compliance document. Um, it should be a living reflection of our values, our commitments, and the outcomes we aim to achieve for every student. The version you um receive uh incorporates revisions recommended by our partners at the county

115and state. Um more importantly, it reflects input from broader community, students, families, educators, advisory groups, and this board. This plan is stronger because of it, and it also meets the technical requirements. Um but here's the part that I want to make sure that I'm clear about. Um, I I think about the LCAP as a really important document and I feel like I worked for two years making sure that the SPSA was a meaningful SPSA. That's why now there's mechanisms for um, SSC's to be able to pull financial reports and data reports by school. Um, we also have to follow suit from the district level. Our LCAP should be very similarly written, should be very cohesive, should be very aligned. And so there's still more work for us to do. Um so I'm gonna say that

116now so whenever I read like yes, we met all the technical requirements. Well, okay. Um but I want it to be a quality document, a document that we're proud of with our strategies and with all of the um outcomes that we aspire to do. Um including to uh Trusty Hayen's question, the strategy that we're using to support principles is not reflected in the LCAP and it should be. Um so there's more work for us to do. Um, and I know that we will continue to do it. Um, this plan presents multiple growth opportunities and we're committed to learning, improving, and building toward the system that our students deserve. With that, we respectfully submit the 2526 local control and accountability plan for your approval as presented. Um, I'm here to answer any questions and I know

117Marissa Allen and Nicole Dit are also available. Thank you, Dr. Pula. Do I have a motion on this item? Trusty Wires Pain with a motion. Trusty Basel with a second. We have a motion and a second. Miss Doulson, there any speakers on this item? Okay. No speakers on the LCAP. Okay. Um, do any trustes have any questions or comments on this item? Trusty Hazen. Thank you. And thank you Dr. Beula uh for highlighting some of the work left to do uh with the LCAP. Um I I think you know I voiced this at at the first read and have you know shared some feedback um with the team over the last few weeks and I think of course you know this meets our requirements you know from a compliance standpoint and I'm you prepared to

118to support this but I think it still lacks measurable actions and alignment of the actions with district goals and SPSAS in each goal area and I do want to say I think this is with the exception of goal four uh which I think is particularly clear, strategic and measurable and could be used as an example um for the other goals. Uh and I'm wondering um Dr. Beula if it would be possible since I know the work is ongoing um to really identify and clarify measurable actions uh aligned with our goals if it would be reasonable I don't know by you before the the first goal monitoring report at least to have more specificity around these actions so that we can see the alignment um would that be possible I'm actually working to construct um a

119a plan of action for it that's aligned to my next year's superintendent evaluation as far as conscious accountability goes. Um and so I think that within that I can start to try to build that in so that we're in flux together. Um but I'll construct that to show you. Thank you. And I do want to just share a couple examples and I you know don't want to belabor this um but I think you know when I look at just the wellness section for example right we know that wellness is the district's top priority. Um we reflected that just in the restorative discipline conversation. Um but really without clear measurable indicators it's hard to determine which of the strategies which restorative strategies and practices are making the biggest difference and which aren't. And I think as

120we think about, you know, future budget years where we're going to likely have to make some some tough decisions, knowing which of these things are most moving the needle is really important. And, you know, there are things in the wellness section, for example, that say like expanding opportunities for physical activity. What do we mean by that? How do we know if we're doing it? What are we spending on it? Is it more staff, more programs, more time, more access? How are we measuring the expansion? And you I could go through there's a laundry list of of places where you we talk about expansion but we don't say what we mean by it. Um we you know sort of are vague about you know what we're planning to do and and then I worry then that

121at this time next year when we're reviewing the progress we made we don't really know what we were trying to do in the first place. So I appreciate Dr. Beula that you'll come back to us and and share more. Um so appreciate that that work on conscious accountability. Chelsea's pain just one comment and that is that I love the way the state and we have now move to the whole business of the LCAP and even the budget. They're working documents that at some point in time you have to put a pin in and then move forward. This will not stop today. will continue and as we move forward hopefully we will make adjustments and do those things and um we trust the superintendent to carry that out. Thank you. Thank you trustee. Um yeah, I

122will just say um I think we talk sometimes in actually in officers about about bullet points where I mean we have a we have a all of us are very hooked on bullet points but the problem with bullet points is they don't actually tell you what the structured relationship is between the various elements. They're just like, and I do get the feeling to Trusty Hayen's point. Um, in spite of the dramatic improvements on the old LCAP, which I did not even understand how we were cutting up the world. It was like I had to memorize the categories because they were so not intuitive. So, I very much appreciate it. But some of this LCAP is still just like a series of bullet points without a clear understanding what the structural relationships or what the prioritization

123is. So um I would reiterate that the work that needs to be done to sort of make sense and make meaning of the interreationships between the various points. So I think that's a a valid point. Um with that we have had board comments on this beautiful document and we have no further comment from the public. We will now move to a vote. Uh student trustees please vote. All remaining board members please vote. That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. All right. We will now consider item H2, the second reading and adoption of the 202526 district budget and resolution to identify the amount of budget solutions needed in the subsequent two years. A public hearing and first reading of this item was conducted on June 10th, 2025. Is there a I see you coming to

124the floor. Would you like to give a Oh, a presentation. Yes, I have I'm going to introduce her if that's okay. That's fine. Yes, we I mean, so for this next item, we have we have the second reading and final adoption of the proposed 2526 district budget. Initially, we were not going to have a presentation or any comments since nothing has changed following the first reading presentation, but I'm going to call up senior financial director Amy Shackleford to share some breaking news related to the state budget that we received today. Um, so by late breaking, we just received it a few hours ago. So, it was announced today that the governor and the legislature have come to an agreement on the final budget act for 2025. The trailer bill was published today and of course

125it still needs to be voted on and signed by the governor by July 1st and so we are still reviewing the impacts of the proposed budget agreement but overall it does look very similar to the May revise which is very good news to the district. Um final impacts will be incorporated into the 45day budget and so we will be back at the August board meeting to provide final updates and the impact to the budget. So, just to review a couple of the highlights or the main points of the budget agreement, the first item being the COLA. So, it does fully fund the COLA at 2.3%. Um, as far as the deferrals go, um, the agreement does include a $1.9 billion deferral. Um, so that is just up slightly from the May revise. This is actually

126more in alignment with the May revise. If you recall, the legislature had proposed an $850 million deferral. The deferral is really cash um impacting for us. And so at the end of the next fiscal year, we will just have to adjust our borrowing of cash, but it doesn't impact our budget. Um the next area is on the Prop 98 reserves. So the budget agreement does fully deplete the um remaining balance in the reserve account. The legislature had originally proposed to add a $650 million deposit that would come from that Prop 98 true up, but the way that the um agreement stands is there would be no additional deposit. That balance would be fully expended at the end of 2526. Um the next area, which is also very good news, is the student success and professional

127block grant. Um, two weeks ago, you call the the legislature had proposed to drop that $1.7 billion dollars down to $500 million. So, that would have been a loss of almost 70%. Fortunately for us, um, the final agreement is to go back to the $1.7 billion. So, that's roughly $27 million of one-time funding that the district should be receiving. Uh, the next area is the TK add-on. This was a um an area that was of much debate ever since the LAO had announced in the fall that districts didn't need to receive additional funding to go to 10 to one, which districts quickly agreed, yes, we do. Um and so the final agreement does align again with the May revise. So we would be receiving approximately $5,500 per TK add-on. And so that is that $11

128million of which $7 million is already included in the budget that you see this evening. Um, another area which is also fantastic news is the expanded learning opportunity program. Um, little bit of a shocking news with the legislative plan that was proposing to only implement a 50% funding for that first year. What we'll see in the final agreement is that they are fully implementing that plan effective July 1. And so that is fantastic news for our families because we are a rate one now and we will have the additional funds to be able to expand those programs at the beginning of the school year. Um and then the last area which continues to be an area of debate is the Prop 98 trueup. And so what we see included right now is actually $1.9 billion

129which has gone up um from the $ 1.3 billion um that was included in the May revise. Um, just a reminder that final dollar amount won't be calculated until the fall because we do have to wait for t final tax receipts because the LA County and the wildfires. And so what we'll see included in the January governor's proposed budget in January, sorry, um is the plan and that final number of how um his proposal and how to allocate those funds. Um, and so those are the highlights of what um, was included in the state budget. The last item I did want to talk about and cover was on the resolution that was attached to the board agenda this evening. You'll note in the last paragraph, there is a typo on the fiscal year. It said

13026-25. It's supposed to say 2627. And so the resolution states that the board is agreeing to provide the list of budget solutions for the 2627 year by first interim in December of this year. With that, I will turn it back to President Patterson. Thank you so much. We are going to I'm going to need a motion on this thing. Uh wow, look at this. Sharon Dr. Wy Spain with the motion. Do you have a second? Vice President Barrera with the second. We have a motion in a second. Miss Doulson, any public comment on this item? Seeing none, we'll move to board discussion. Do any of my colleagues have any comments on this? I hope I think we have a comment here. Yes, trusty wires fam. This is a whole point Richard and I've been saying

131it's like jello and I just finished telling you guys this. It's you come in, we don't know. It seems like sky is falling and then we get this report tonight. So, if I were in church, I'd say hallelujah. But since I'm not taking it out, right, it's the Church of White Pain here. I'm a believer. Uh, Vice President Barrera, did you have your hand up or no? No. Okay. Sorry. All right. Oh, Trusty, uh, Hazen. Yeah. I'm just trying. So, great news and really appreciate all of the advocacy that that went into this. Um, and that the the legislature and governor, everybody did the right thing for our kids and schools. I'm wondering in terms of like plus to the bottom line, I was trying to sum up all of the different things that you

132just shared. Um, and I know I left the room for two seconds. What what is the to so compared to um where we were yesterday? How much more funding will we have in the uh 25 26? Yeah. So for the 45day budget in August, we would see the um the one hopefully the and we're haven't seen the final dollar amount. So these are all again just projections and estimates. Um with the unrestricted side of the house, it would be the additional TK dollar. So we had included 7 million. Our estimates is 11. So we would see an uptick of $4 million of revenue, but we've already budgeted. We've been at 10 to one. So this would just be offsetting those ongoing expenses. Um on the restricted side is where you would see the um prof

133uh the student uh success professional development grant the $27 million. Those are discretionary in nature even though they have outlined priorities of the legislature. Um and the ELOP funds would be on the restricted side as well. There are some programs that um would help provide some um relief to the budget such as the extended school year and areas like that that could be utilizing those ELOP funds. Um and then the one area I didn't mention is the learning recovery emergency block grant that was $5 million. That is still in that did make it to the final budget that would while it's on the restricted side, it still has flexibility that would help us on um on the um on the unrestricted side. So the unrestricted budget is only going to change on the revenue side

134from those additional TK dollars the of that additional $4 million and everything else will be on the restricted side and then specifically for the ELOP which I'm particularly excited about. So are we anticipated anticipating the 36 million that we had seen at May revise which would then kick in at the beginning of the year and do we I I have questions, but I guess I So, we expect that we'll be able to start utilizing those dollars um not fully implement universally, but begin implementing that expanded uh prime time at the beginning of the school year and using those monies. Correct. Great. Um, and then because this budget isn't just about next year, but the next few years, um, while I'm really excited, um, that things have turned out more more positively than we anticipated, um,

135just a few weeks ago, hours ago. Um, I'm wondering, uh, what are the concerns? Um, and Amy, I don't know for you or for the superintendent, um, concerns we have about addressing the $138 million deficits we're showing, um, in in the out years. Um, right, we've, and I know President uh, Patterson has spoken to this previously, right? We've implemented the SERB, we've done the attrition models. Are we confident that we have sufficient strategies available um to balance budgets in the out years without limiting um the impact we seek uh to have on kids? So I I'll begin. Um it it is going to be more challenging. We've done a lot of the lowhanging fruit solutions in the past. Um we are starting earlier this year to help with the 2627 year. There are going to

136be some challenging decisions that we're going to have to be looking at. Um because of the the $138 million and ideally as I mentioned at the last board meeting um the more that we can focus on the ongoing solutions and not utilizing one-time solutions that would offset the 2728 gap. Um, right now I'm very confident that we will have the solutions developed and ready to go. They are going to be challenging. They are going to um be cutting deeper than the items that we had to implement this year. Yes, Trusty Hazen, I know that our team is going to be having this conversation and we're still going to be rooted in our values. Um, however, I have not had the chance to sit and talk to the team after today's news. Um, so I'm hesitant

137to really go into any sort of details about it because I haven't talked to them yet. Okay. And then lastly, only because I um noticed that LA Unified uh in their budget included um a contingency amount of about 0.25% um to cover unanticipated but potential cuts to federal funding. um have what is our strategy in response to potential cuts? Have we set anything aside? How how are we planning to to address that should that happen um in the coming months? So, our budget does not include a contingency. Um as we covered in the previous meetings, we do receive about 6% of our funding is from federal. It's mainly the food services program which is not one of those areas that is anticipated to be reduced and the other large portion is the title one also

138not anticipated to be reduced. We do have smaller dollars on the impact aid which we haven't received any notification if they would be reducing and then some of the other grants um or funding sources are competitive grants like our um electric buses and MSAP grants. Um but as far as the ongoing, we um have not set aside any contingency because those areas weren't currently um listed to be eliminated. I know we have some small dollars on the migrant ed and um adults that we would um be uh covering, but those were a couple hundred,000 my understanding. Special education as well. Child nutrition is not special education. Special education. Yeah, we haven't received any information that they would be reducing the funding. Um, we would just we would be continuing to have our ongoing challenge based

139on the shortfall between the state and the federal budgets. Got it. So, for those um you said migrant education, some of those other smaller dollar amounts, we would have to make those. Yeah, we would look at other restricted opportunities that we could shift those those um fundings around to utilize to cover. Thank you. All right. Um, we've had, uh, no comment from public and board discussion. With that, we will move to a vote. Student trustees, please vote. All other board members, please vote. That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. All right. We will now consider items H4 and H5. projected debt service schedules for Proposition S Y U and issue and issuance and sale of said bonds. Is there a motion on items? We don't have a presentation on this. Is there a motion?

140Uh it's actually H3 and four. That was a typo on my Oh, that Okay, sorry. I'll my script there. Items H3 and four. We had a late breaking change. Um, is there a motion to approve items H3 and H4? We have a motion from Vice President Barrera and a second from Trustee Whitehurst Payne. Um, Miss Staltz, there any public speakers on this item? No. Would any of my colleagues care to opine on these items? No. Seeing none, we will move to a vote. Student trustees, please vote. All other board members, please vote. That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. We will now consider items the actual H5 and H6, adoption of annual resolutions for the conduct of 202526, district business and approval of the annual Proposition 28 report. Is there a motion to approve

141items H5 and H6? Trusty Cruz with a motion. Do I have a second? Trusty Hazen with a second. We have a motion and a second. Uh Marty, are there any speakers on this item? No. Okay. Would any of uh the board members care to discuss this item? Okay. Seeing none, we will move to a vote. Student trustees, please vote. All other board members, please vote. That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. Uh we will now consider items I1 through I61. The super consent agenda 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 the board member of the public or staff request specific items be removed for the consent from the consent agenda for separate discussion

142and action. Any agenda item removed will be voted upon following the motion to approve the consent agenda. Do any of the board members uh care to pull any of these items? Trusty Wires Payne would like to pull 21. Okay, we've pulled item 21. Uh has any member of the public signed up on any of these items? No. So, um, given that, do we have a motion on the superintendent's consent agenda except for item I21? We have a motion from Trusty Hazen and second from Trusty Baldis. Um, we again do not discuss consent agenda items, thus the consent portion. Uh, we will therefore move to a vote on all items except for I21. Student trustees, please vote. All other board members, please vote. Items I1 through I61, except for I21, pass unanimously with student trustees concurring.

143We will now move to item I21. Uh do we have a motion on I20 on I21? Do I have a motion for the sake of discussion? A motion from Vice President Barry and a second from Trusty Boso. Um, we now have a motion on the floor. Uh, I it was pulled by Trusty White Payne who I believe will now provide her comment. My uh concerns on this particular item do not deal with any personalities or any any of that. I'm just concerned about the process. I have said repeatedly and this isn't just now it's been years several superintendent um that we need to take a look at our central office level of support to all departments to the board to the superintendent to the uh turns out legal counsel all the departments that we need

144to have an independent study to look at what levels they should be at with all the factors considered but not by anyone in the system. Um I've talked independently to folks who are out there in in corporation and they want to know you know are they interchangeable or not or whatever. We just need someone to do it without any any bias or even the appearance of I'm not accusing anyone of bias, but we need to look at it independently, the factors involved, uh whether or not um there's something that should be modified. So, I I'm I'm about a no on this because this is the one issue that I've seen over and over and over again under several superintendent, not one, not two, but three superintendent. And I just wish that we would get it

145right in the sense that we know somebody from the outside who looked at it said this is what it should be and we will adhere to that. folks can accept or not accept, but it's not from anybody inside the system. It's just my opinion and you all are free to vote the way you want to vote. So I I believe the motions were in made in order to allow discussion of the item. I um would you would you care to make a substant motion requesting this return to us in a different form? I see um Superintendent Bula's hand up. I would like to um ask if Christine Morris head is available or Ander Green is also available because this is actually a really tricky one here. Um there's a lot of cleanup of hiring assistance

146that needs to be done. lots of and I'm gonna say this lots of unfair practices in the past over many superintendent by the way um of their assistance and I'm trying to write the wrong and make it a just process. I also agree with Dr. Whitehurst Payne. We actually sought out a couple of companies to do an independent study but they were charging over $100,000 and I was not going to do that especially when we were making cuts at central office. Um but I do agree that it needs to be done. Um, we're trying to find a more affordable third party, like you said, unbiased. Um, because there is a lot of wrongs that I have to write. Um, and I'm going to say it needs to be done. But I do want to call

147up um, if Christina is there or if Andre is there if they can um, speak to this, please. We have council and HR here in the room. Um, would you like to begin? First come, first serve. Is this on? Yeah, great. Hi, everybody. Um, so I can't obviously speak to how this was done with before I was in this current seat. Um, but I can assure you um that there is an objective process that is done by a team of very very highly competent professionals within human resources. They are classification and compensation experts. So any request for a new job classification within San Diego Unified is expected to go through that team. Now, that being said, I know that there are cases um from the past where that didn't occur. So, there may be some

148inequities from there, but I can assure you that uh while I'm in this seat, all positions go through this team. They're done independently. They're done objectively without regard for who's asking for them. Um, and so they are studying the nature, the scope, the responsibility, the oversight, all of the different factors that go into assessing the the com the classification first of the position. And then they are using our salary rules. They're looking at our uh salary grades for all of our classified positions and they're making sure that the new classification that they're creating is graded appropriately in light of the other other positions. So that is the process that they are are working through. I also want to share that um what Dr. Begula and what um uh Dr. Whitehurst Payne pointed out about the

149need for the overall analysis of administrative support across the central office is currently a project that we will be well not currently we're starting the process of pulling data to analyze that. That's something that the budget review team is looking to do as well because we realize that there are inconsistencies and potentially inequities right now. So, we're taking it bit by bit. Um, but please know that that is absolutely something that we will be doing um in advance of next next year and throughout the the beginning of the fall um and winter. So, thank you. General Council Green. Sure. I'm just here in case you have questions about the function and the rationale for creating the new position. This is actually my executive assistant. And I think that some of that you know that since

150the legal assistant 2 position that she currently holds was created, my division has drastically expanded from just having a couple people in risk management and legal to having all of a having uh risk management grow to captive insurance, taking in all of our claims administration inhouse, including most recently workers comp, and we've added safety to the risk management program. So the reason for this uh position and I had no influence on what salary was assigned to it. It went through the regular HR process. We created a position description. They rated it and that's when I saw it. Um but the need for this position is to account for the additional uh highle duties that my current assistant is asked to do because of the size of my organization or my portion of the organization. And

151so I would ask that you support this. She's already doing the work. She's really fantastic. I think some of you know her. Um, and this has been a long time in the works. So, uh, we cut a position as well last year. So, she's taken on both me and the deputy general counsel. And, um, and she's really, uh, instrumental to me in helping to oversee the other departments that have been gradually added to my portion of the of the organization. Thank you. Any additional comment from the board? Seeing none, we will um we will move to a vote. Um student trustees, please vote. We're again voting on I21. Uh all other board members, please vote. That motion passes with five board members, four, no, one student trustee for, one student trustee against, four other board

152members, four, one board member against. I don't know how to reflect that in the record, but yeah. Yeah. Um, but it passes. A split vote, but it passes. Okay, thank you. Um, all right. So, we will now Wow. Okay, we're rounding the final turn here. We will now uh receive public testimony on non-aggenda items. Miss Staltz, have we received any requests for non-aggenda comments? I believe we have. Yes, we have two speakers on non-aggenda. Arlene Newub and Genevieve last initial Z. You each have three minutes. San Diego Unified loves to talk about compliance, but what it doesn't talk about is how performative most of it is. Let's talk about what happens when a district confuses policy for progress. Meetings are held to check a box. Accommodations are granted but not implemented. Wellness is promoted in

153public while retaliation happens in private. That's not support. That's liability management. Even the simple human accommodations I asked for for my disability related needs, like flexible scheduling and written feedback, weren't respected. I made accommodation requests based on research and my lived experience. Flexible scheduling, clear communication, a break from punitive management. Not one was honored. Because in this district, if you need support, you're the problem. If you speak up, you're a liability. And if you expect dignity, you're labeled difficult. You can't weaponize policy and then ask why morale is low. You can't gaslight staff and then wonder why they burn out. You can't mandate trust. You have to earn it. It isn't earned through power. It can only be earned through principle. And this district has a long way to go. Hello. I notified the Golden

154Hill K through8 school of the infection, rashes, and severe emotional abuse, hygiene, facility denial, and bullying in Anwood Myers's classroom. I witnessed the trauma-inducing environment in class myself when my brave asserted child was genuinely terrified to ask the teacher to use the bathroom. So, I told the teacher we were going to the bathroom, and her response was inappropriately shocked. As we left the classroom, another classmate ran after us and grabbed my child's hand and explained that she had to go so bad but was too terrified of getting yelled at for asking. As I escorted them both to sanitation facilities and back, they told me of another classmate who peed his pants in class after repeatedly asking to use the toilets while Miss Anne repeatedly said no. I saw him after school with excrement on his

155jeans. I begged admin to get my kid into a safe and healthy classroom. And the only response I got from the school is talk to the teacher. October 11th, 2024, I sent an email to Golden Hill K through8 office. quote, "I am not working in the human resources department and should not be in the position to tell a teacher that children have a right to bathroom access. That's not my job. Nor should I be burdened with enforcing district regulations or California law in a situation of violation is this. This is a school's job. As a parent, I have a right to ask request compliance with California codes without providing the labor to enforce these rules. This is beyond a parent teacher issue. This is a student health and wellness concern. My kid has been complaining

156about this issue since the beginning of the year. I already voiced my concerns that my child was refused access to toilets while in school a few months ago when my kid was having stomach aches and painful urination, UTI, constipation from holding it in class and did not receive resolution. Parents of fourth graders tell me this was an ongoing issue last year as well. End quote. As soon as I said the words excrement induced infection and rashes, the school should have filed a child abuse report. I should not have been told I had to confront the person causing my child's injuries in order to escape the person causing my child's injuries. I found out the hard way that the is part of the San Diego Unified School District's legal defense team. They report to legal. They

157do not provide child abuse reporting resources to families who report child abuse. It would be a conflict of interest for them to help a parent report the child abuse. Stop sending child abuse victims to the ICA. They delay reporting which endanger student health. I was misled into thinking the ICA was the appropriate agency to report the injuries. And this delay caused a more severe injury on my child. This is the second year in a row in which Golden Hill K through8 children have been injured in Anne Whitmire's classroom for hygiene denial. Help us. Thank you. That concludes non-aggenda comment. All right. Uh thank you uh to both of you for taking the time to provide your comments uh this evening. Uh we appreciate your input and please know that your perspectives uh help us to

158better serve our students. Um now we have a little special occasion here. Um, we are going to conduct a swearing in of our 2025 2026 student board members Ashley Ordas and Alina Wen uh and administer the oath of office. Uh, trustees Baldis and Cruz will administer the oath of office to Ashley and Alina. Let me check here. Is this where when you'd like to provide your speech at this point in time? Okay. All right. You ready? Okay. Uh, we're going to slip this back in the agenda. Um, Trusty Ballers, would you like to make some comments before we bring your uh your colleagues up? Um, sure. I would love to. Thank you, Cody. As the voice of 95,000 students, this role was never about me. It was about all of us. The students who ace

159every test and the ones who are just trying to make it through the day. From every school, every classroom, every student, our voice matters. At the start of my term, a mentor, also a former student board member from Scripps Ranch High School, told me something that stuck. To step out of your shoes and into the lives of every student in this district. That challenge lit a fire in me. I wasn't here to sit quietly or check a box. I was here to build something that actually represented student voice. That's why I made my mission to launch the largest student advisory board this district has ever seen. Trusty Cruz and I set a bold goal. One high school student from every school and one middle school student from each subdist. We hit the ground running, campaigning

160in person, emailing over 20,000 students. We had met our goal. We built a team of 45 students, 45 student representatives, each a window into their own campus communities. And then we listened. We met every other week diving into real issues: mental health, the vaping crisis, student homelessness, and the vital role of the performing arts. When I met with students addicted to vaping who told me how nicotine controlled their days, I co-authored a resolution with Trusty Bos targeting the use of nicotine products like Jewel. When I visited SCPA and saw students whose entire world was built around the arts, I fought to protect VAPA programs during our budgeting crisis. When I spoke to students living in cars, showering, and gym facilities, I passionately advocated for the inclusion of student housing during our affordable housing workshop, even

161traveling to Sacramento to continue this advocacy. Real representation involves listening first. Our current political system is drowning in performative leadership. Billionaires parade as champions of the working class while moving to gut Medicare behind closed doors. We've seen what happens when decision makers are too far removed from the people their policies affect. And that's why student voice matters. That's why I'm proud of what this board has done to not just give students a seat at the table, but to listen and to care. I look forward to what comes next. I have no doubt that this board and the student board members who follow will build on this momentum, that they'll push boundaries, ask tough questions, and hold systems accountable. If we keep listening to the people most affected, if we keep centering students, then real lasting

162change is not just possible, it's inevitable. Finally, I want to thank the people who have helped me along with this journey. Dr. Beula, I've had a lot of uncertain choices to make in my life, but supporting you as the permanent superintendent was not one of those. You have some of the most successful leadership skills I've seen in someone and your passion to supporting the students of San Diego Unified is unmatched. I thank you for all you've done and wholeheartedly valuing student voice. Cody, I know every time you go up to MC an event, we're all in for a worldclass stand-up comedy set. Aside from your comedy, when you speak or raise points on the dice, you managed to pull us out of our work at the district and make us analyze issues at a societal

163level. You've taught me a lot and I really value all of your lessons. Sabrina, I thank you for being so relatable and easy to talk to. You are so genuine and every time you use your public health background to advocate for a student's wellbeing, I feel so comforted and as if you always have our best interests at heart. Sharon, I'm always so inspired how in each discussion on the board, you're able to hone the discussion in on our most marginalized students, ensuring each and every student is supported and protected, especially during these troubling times. Richard, your commitment to student voice is unmatched. I've spoken to countless students in the district and I often hear you serve on the board. Do you know Richard? I tell them yes and they tell me they met with you

164about an issue that you listened and you enacted real change. Aside from that, your knowledge of the educational system, not just in our district, but at the state and federal level truly is unmatched. I thank you for all your knowledge and commitment to bettering all student lives. Shaina, you're the most detail-oriented and prepared person that I know. To each and every board meeting, you have a full packet of questions where you pick up on small niche details that truly affect student lives. In today's day and age where members of Congress can vote on and pass budgets without reading them, we all need to role model a little more off of you. Joseph, I truly could not have asked for a better partner in crime. From rooming together in Sacramento to getting Chipotle after board meetings,

165I've enjoyed every moment of this journey. Your leadership style is admirable, and I hope to see you on a presidential stage someday. Stacy, our work mom. Thank you for always being there through thick and through thin. You've helped Joseph and I through countless problems, always teaching us a valuable life lesson at the end of it. You understand the inner workings and politics of this district to the highest degree, and I can't thank you enough for all you've done. The three M's. Marty, from the moment I stepped into office, you've consistently been one of the most organized and dependable people I've ever worked with. I thank you for being the go-to person if I have any questions in relation to board procedure. I hope when I go to college I can model more off of you.

166Melissa, thank you for being so relatable and easy to talk to. I really appreciate how even when I submit my gas mileage reimbursement a week or two late, you don't get upset. You always stay positive. Martha, you carry so much wisdom and know this district inside out. You're the most genuine person I've ever met and it is so inspiring to be around you and to hear from you. Thank you to the school police officers, district staff, and technicians whose behind-the-scen work, study presence, and daily dedication make everything we do possible. To the student engagement interns, Jackie, you were one of the nicest and friendliest faces at the district. When starting this job, I was a little nervous, and seeing you in the office every day helping us get on our feet was very comforting and

167supportive. Lena, you have so much wisdom for your age. I always leave seeking I always loved seeking your advice and hearing your perspective on any dilemma specifically in relation to the student advisory board. You truly were instrumental. Kayla, thank you for crafting the student advisory board with us and helping us run it throughout the year. We couldn't have done it without you. And then to my family, thank you to my family for your unwavering support through it all. From missed family dinners on Tuesday nights to the frequent calls from the Scripts Ranch attendance office, you stood by me through every step. I couldn't have done it without you. And finally to the new student board members. You two are some of the most inspiring people to work with. I can't wait to see the the

168amazing things you all do. Thank you all. I couldn't have done it without you. [Applause] It's time I put the fries in the bag. Y'all, coming into this role, I was having the biggest case of imposter syn the biggest case of imposttor syndrome of my life. I was afraid. I was scared. I was unsure if I can enact the duties of which I was elected to do. But the kindness and warmth of everyone in this room, the students and the people of this school district gave me helped me overcome this fear. I ran on the slogan, "Let your voice be heard." These were the five words that echoed in my head every time I stepped into this role. I made it my mission, my creed, that regardless of who you were, what you did, your

169age, your beliefs, how you lived your life, whatever, you deserve to have your voice heard. It's so easy to get caught up in the big things, the headlines, to pay attention to the students who are willing to speak up. But what about the students that don't? What about the average student that just flies by the radar from kinder all the way to senior year? Because truthfully, before all of this, that's who I was. I hope throughout my term and until the very end, I stayed true to that promise and your voice was heard. This job has truly been a once- ina-lifetime experience. Every day I got to come into this office or visit a school or speak to students or staff has been nothing short of a blessing. I promise. I genuinely mean it when

170I say it. I'm going to miss every meeting, every presentation, every agenda and discussion. I'll cherish all of it. Serving on this board has been a dream come true. I'm going to miss walking by your offices, smiling, and saying hi. I'm going to miss the people, meeting students from different schools, learning about the campuses, the culture, the perspectives. You know, at first, I was really scared to work alongside adults. But now, and maybe I'm saying this because I am one now. You guys are pretty cool. And so, I want to start off my thanks to none other than my other partner in crime. And I swear to God, we did not we did not like work on this together. We ended up writing like very similar things. Trusty Baldis Quinton, here we are, man. The

171end of the road. Serving to represent the students alongside you has been such an eyeopening and rewarding experience. I knew our dynamic from the very beginning was going to be interesting and I was not wrong. I love how well we bounced ideas off of each other and how we could always count on each other. Even when things got difficult and uncertain, we persevered as a dynamic duo all while eating Chipotle along the way. Cornell better watch out because they don't know the Brawl Star player that's coming to him. I wish you nothing but the best of luck in your future endeavors because you're going to need it when we face off in the 2022 presidential election. It's been an honor, brother. Next, I want to give my utmost thanks to you, Stacy. I've been blessed

172to have such, no, not even such, the greatest adviser I could have ever hoped to have. You've always gone above and beyond in making sure that Quinn and I did well in our roles. You've held us to a high standard because you know, you knew how much we were capable of. Even when we didn't know ourselves, even when it was as simple as being someone to talk to when things got rough, you were always there for us. You have cared and nurtured us throughout our term like the amazing mother you're soon to be. And I know you're going to be an even mentor/mom to Ashley and Alina. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Stacy. I also want to thank my family and friends for supporting me throughout my journey. I want to thank

173my former staff and teachers like my former principal Dr. Larkin, my AP Lang teacher, Mr. Cohen. I want to give my heartfelt thanks to the student engagement interns, Lorena, Jackie, and Kayla for supporting us before and during our term. I want to give my thanks to the former student board members, Zachary Patterson, Leah Nepa, Blessing, Lavender Williams, and Matthew Ptorianiano, who's right there taking a picture of me. Even at my last meeting, I am still inspired by the work and accomplishments you all have made during your terms. And it's an honor to join you guys in student board member retirement. I also want to give my deepest thanks to my co-workers here and not here who've made serving on this board so incredible and fulfilling. Thank you to the tech technicians who are already sitting

174over there making sure that the camera is getting my good sides. Thank you to the custodians for letting me stay in the office way past any normal teenager should be let. Thank you to the police officers for making sure we're safe and protected at all times. I want to specifically shout out you, Officer Pack, going all the way back to my swearing. You stayed with me as I waited for my ride and gave me the inspiration I needed to move forward in this role with confidence and self asssurance. Every time we've spoken before and after meetings, you've always encouraged me and made me a better person for it. And I promise I will strive to live a life that gives back to the community just as you have. I want to thank Dante, Jordan, Lonnie,

175and Juy, and the rest of the athletics department for being so welcoming every time I step through the office, even though I'm just trying to see Stacy. I want to thank Susan Gerald, the audit manager who who's now retired, who always kept Quinn and I company as we were setting up for student advisory board meetings. Speaking of student advisory board meetings, I want to thank the student advisory board members, one of which is in the audience, Samuel. Thank you. Hope you stay in the student advisory board. Thank you for your service. I want to thank James Canning. You're an awesome guy. And I thank you for moving forward with my advisory communication idea. One might say, you got this in the can. I want to thank you, Andra. I hope one day I'll be as

176cool of a lawyer as you are. I want to thank you, Shaw. I want to thank you, Jen, for your constant kindness and encouragement to me. I want to thank you, Drew. I want to thank you, Pamela. I want to thank you, Lee. I hope one day I'll be even a tenth of the conversationalist you are. I want to thank you, Michelle, and Scott Irwin. I want to thank you, Enrique, for always being casual and cool with me. I'll always cherish the ties you gave me, even though I really won't have a reason to wear one anymore. I want to thank you, Nicole. I want to thank you, Jessica, and Francis, for always letting me come in and take snacks in your office. I want to thank you, Melissa, Marthy, and Marty. And and now,

177Susan, you three, then two, then back to three are such a powerhouse, and I am eternally grateful for the work you all do to keep our board running. I want to thank you, Superintendent Beula. Fabi, you've been such an incredible ally and person to work with. I'm going to miss our ice breakers during our one-on ones. Your kindness and hugs every time I would walk into your office. I'm going to miss your poems, but my excitement to see what amazing things you will accomplish as superintendent outweighs all of that. Thank you so much, Fabi. TR now to the board members. Trusty Boso Sabrina, thank you for being my buddy, my b my dest buddy throughout the entirety of my term. When I'm unsure of what I'm thinking or what I'm questioning, I can always turn

178to you and you always encourage me to speak up and say it. Your dedication and passion for the health and well-being for our students is simply unrivaled. I always appreciate the warmth and kindness you give me every time I take a seat here. And so from the bottom of my heart, thank you, Sabrina. Trusty Hazen Shaina, you are the living, breathing embodiment of the saying, "The devil is in the details." And when the devil is in the details, there is no better exorcist than Shaina Hazen. I've always admired your grit and resolve into getting into the nitty-gritty and making sure that not only are the things we're voting on look good on paper, but work well in execution. I believe that if you can't outsmart them, outwork them. and you do both flawlessly. So, thank

179you, Shaina, for being an incredible role model to both me and the students of our school district. Vice President Barrera, you know how like when people get so rich they don't even have to prove their wealth and status by wearing expensive clothing? You remind me of that, but in but instead of something stupid and materialistic like money, you exude experience, accomplishments, valor, and care. When you walk into a room wearing a polo shirt and khakis, peak fashion, by the way, holding a Diet Coke, you walk you walk in with a level of quiet authority that only comes from a life lived in service to something greater than yourself, our students. Every policy you've championed, every school you've stood up for, and every young mind you've helped change, you wear decades of dedication. You wear decades

180to of dedication to education like a welltailored polo shirt and pair of khakis. So I raise my diet coke to you Richard and to the board and to the members of the audience and to the rest of San Diego Unified to service to prosperity and to education. Thank you [Applause] trustee Whitehurst Payne Sharon. You never cease to amaze and inspire me with each and every meeting. When I met you back in March of last year at the Delmare City Hall during the Model United Nations conference, I would have never guessed that no less than 3 months later, I'd be serving alongside you on the board of education. You keep things down to earth. You've never gotten caught up in all the unnecessary bureaucracy. You care more about the people than the politics. And you've never

181lost sight of what's important, the students. You truly represent the word represent. You represent our region of Southeast San Diego so fiercely and so proudly. I have no doubt that despite blessing and now I have left the board, you will continue to represent our region proudly. So speaking on behalf of all the students of Southeast San Diego, thank you. I'm going to miss the cough drops you've given me. I'm going to miss your sermons because we all need a little pray in our life. And most of all, I'm going to miss that little look you give me and Sabrina every time something unnecessarily goofy happens. Thank you, Sharon. And last, but certainly not least on the board, President Peterson Cody, where do I even begin with you, brother? From singing and crying on the dis,

182you are the metaphysical, existential, reality interpreting uncle. ever thought I needed. Had I not served on this board and you showed me even a 10-second clip of any of your philosophical ramblings, I mean lectures, I would have been like, "Is this guy even speaking English?" And he's the president of the board of education. But seriously, I could not have thought of anyone else who would be as innovative and entertaining to help govern this school district other than you. Every time you turn on your mic, I'm like, let him cook. For all the adults in the room, that basically means allow someone to pursue or say something without interference or interruption, even if the outcome is uncertain. And I, in my my opinion, I think you've cooked pretty well. You don't just think outside of the

183box, Cody. No box can contain your thoughts. You hold a galaxy's worth of empirical, abstract, and intellectual wisdom. Thank you, Cody, for sharing that wisdom with me and everyone around you. And don't worry, I will watch Wedding Crashers soon. And to the two new student board members, Alina and Ashley, I have nothing but the absolute faith that you two will do incredibly. Getting to mentor you two as we drew closer closer to this day has been one of the greatest responsibilities this job had to offer. I'm going to miss our little training sessions over Boba, but it's time for you two to take the reigns. I cannot wait to see the things you two will accomplish during your term. My biggest piece of advice to you, be who you are. Stick to your guts. Stay

184true to yourself. Serve confidently. Serve apologetically. Serve loudly and proudly. Be the voice of the students you were elected to be. Once again, congratulations. Above all else, I hope it I hope I kept it real with y'all. Peace out, San Diego Unified. Joseph Cruz, aka Mr. President, Morse High School, class of 2025, student representative on the board of education, signing out. [Applause] Um, we can pick that up. [Applause] All right. Now, we are going to have our two student trustees administer the oath of office to our two new student trustees. Um, we typically do that at the podium. So, um, with if you want to stand up and and um I I believe um Trusty Ballis is going to administer it to Ashley and Trusty Cruz to Alina. Is that correct? Okay, James, do you

185want to Yeah, you'll map it all out. He's This guy's our He's got the optics. Get the Get the picture. Yeah, totally. Put put the French fries in the bag. I don't know what [Music] I never heard that one before. Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I state your name. I Ashley Advas do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic. against all enemies, foreign and domestic. that I'll bear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States that I will bear true faith

186to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California. That I take this obligation freely That I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. And that I well and faithfully discharge the duties which I'm about to enter. and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter. Congrats, Ashley. [Music] Raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Alina Win, I, Alina Win, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign

187and domestic. against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. that I will bear true faith and allegiance the Constitution of the United States. and the Constitution of the State of California and the Constitution of the State of California. That I take this obligation freely That I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter. discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter. Congratulations. [Music] [Applause] All right. I believe we're going to Oh. Oh, there's more ritual. You got it. Okay, I see what's happening. Do you

188want to Oh, from the DAS. Okay. Hey, it's your show. Greetings and salutations board president Peterson, Vice President Barrera, Superintendent Bagula, board trustees Baso Hazen and Whitehurst Spain, families, friends, staff, and most importantly, students. Tonight, I stand here with deep humility, immense gratitude, and a heart that is full. Because this moment, this oath, this seat, this responsibility, it doesn't just belong to me. It belongs to every student who has ever wondered if their voice mattered. It belongs to every young person who's dared to imagine something better and decided to help build it. And it belongs to my community because I wouldn't be standing here without the people who poured into me, who saw something in me before I saw it in myself. my mentors, my teachers, my peers. You've been my foundation. You've been my

189mirror, my compass, my courage. You reminded me that leadership doesn't start when you get a title. It starts in the little things. In how you show up and how you listen, and in how you love your people. And I carry that with me tonight and every night forward. There's a quote that's been echoing in my heart lately. And I'm sure many of you guys have heard this quote before. Be the change you wish to see in the world. And it's not just a phrase that you'd see like on a, you know, like homework or a poster or even like a bus while you're on the side of the road. It's a responsibility. It's a challenge. And it's the exact reason why I'm standing here today. Because real change doesn't happen when we wait for it.

190It happens when we show up for it. But I I didn't arrive here alone. To Joseph and Quinton, thank you so much. You've done more than just pass the torch. You've shown me and Ashley how to carry it with grace, with clarity, and with purpose. In just a month and a half of training, you've given us more lessons. You've given us more than lessons. You've given us a roadmap for how to lead with the heart. To Kayla, our student engagement intern, thank you for bringing warmth, consistency, and contagious energy into every space we share. You made this process not just manageable but meaningful. To Stacy, you've been a steady hand in moments of uncertainty. Thank you for helping us feel not just included but truly anchored in the space. You've made the unfamiliar feel familiar.

191And to Vice President Richard Barrera, thank you for being a mentor in the truest sense of the word. Your support, your wisdom, and your belief in student voice have made all the difference. You've taught me that real leadership is about uplifting others, not with just words, but with action. Now, to all students across San Diego Unified, this seat is yours. I may be the one here up at the microphone, but I'm not here to speak for you. I'm here to speak with you, because of you, and in service to you. Whether you're sitting in an AP classroom or attending a continuation school, whether you're running your school's clubs or, you know, just quietly surviving the day, even when you're just thriving or you're trying to find your footing, you matter. Your voice matters, and your

192story deserves to be heard, seen, and honored. As your incoming student board member, I am committed to making sure student voice is not just symbolic, but systemic. I'm committed to equity, not as a distant goal, but as a daily choice. Because when we say every student, we have to mean every student, especially those too often overlooked. And I'm committed to showing up, not perfectly, but authentically with honesty, with hope, and with a fire to move this work forward. I carry my family name, win, with pride. a name that's rooted in resilience, in grit, and in the power of community. And with that, I offer a new mantra for this chapter of service. Let's win it together. Not because I have all the answers, but because I know we'll find them together. So, as we begin

193this journey, I invite all of us, students, families, educators, board members, to commit to something bold. Let's stop waiting for change. Let's be the change. Let's listen louder, lead braver, and build better together. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. I stand before you today deeply honored to be sworn in as a San Diego Unified School District board member. To the board trustees and the rest of the staff that I have met so far these past few weeks, thank you for the time, the welcoming arms and kindness that you guys have given me and Alina. I can already see the dedication and hard work you guys put each and every day to sustain and keep schools a welcoming community for all students in San Diego. I admire you all for the effort and commitment you've given to

194this board and the perseverance from all of you during the good and bad times. To Joseph and Quinton, thank you for being Alien and I's strongest support pillar. Their incredible leadership and unwavering support was immense. Thank you both for taking the time during your busy terms to guide me and Alina to guide me and Alina with such care and dedication. Your mentorship, training, and encouragement have truly meant the world to us. You laid the foundation and showed us what it means to serve with a purpose, and we're so thankful for the knowledge and passion you've passed on. Your legacy will continue to inspire us as we step into this role. Alina, I can already tell that you will be the perfect partner that I will ever work with. Your passion for student success and the

195warmth you bring to every space is inspiring. I cannot wait to start this new chapter with you. To Kayla Nuen, the student engagement intern, thank you for giving me the extra push that I needed to apply for this position and the constant support you always provided me with. To Stacy, I appreciate your warm smile and your sympathy. But the greatest thank you and appreciation I have to give is to everyone in the audience who came here to support my family, my school administrators, and staff from the communities and programs I am a part of. You guys are the ones who are my motivation to continue on. A special shout out to my principal, Mr. P who not only I have have grown a strong bond with but he is one of my biggest supporters and

196who I can truly name the best high school principal UC can ever have. This role is not just a title for me. It's a commitment. A commitment to every student and every classroom on every campus and every neighborhood. I see this not as a position of privilege but as a responsibility to serve and uplift every student voice with power and purpose. I will work to create spaces where all students feel seen, supported, and included, no matter their background or school. Uplifting student leadership, mental health, academic growth, and access to resources is crucial because when students are equipped with the right tools and support, they thrive. I will listen with intention, advocate with passion, and lead with the belief that every student has the potential to grow, lead, and make a difference. We often say that

197students are the future leaders, but I believe we are not just the future. We are also the now. Our voices carry insight, energy, and innovation. And it's time we are included in the conversations and decisions that that shape our education. I want to help create a legacy where student leadership isn't an exception, it's an expectation. To every student listening, I see you. I hear you. And I'm here for you. This is our moment to lead together. Let's build a future where every student not only has a seat at the table, but the confidence to speak, the power to lead, and the support to succeed. Thank you for trusting me with this role. I'm ready to get to work. Wow, the force is strong in these ones. Um, all right. Well, we all need to work

198intensively on this board on our final speeches. this these students have really upped the game on that. Um I believe we're going to also change the name plates and Oh yeah, name plates. You want to change name plates? Actually, let's change name plates and then should we seat them for a moment? Let's seat them. Come on. You're you're the board. You're the trustees now. No turning back. Come on up. So, we'll get your plates in here. We'll get a few pictures of you with the board and then we'll come up and um take a picture together. Do we know which host to go whereas? Oh my goodness. Changing the guard. What an interesting view. I know, right? James, you want to get a couple pictures with the new trustees and then we'll all Hold on,

199folks. Yeah. What? You want to do? Okay. It's up to you. You'll take some private pictures of them, but just Yeah. Okay, that sounds good. All right. With that, I'm going to adjourn this meeting, and we're then going to take some pictures with um with our new and our former trustees here. So, this meeting is now adjourned. The next regular meeting will be held on July 8th, 2025. Thanks for joining us this evening, and we're going to take some pictures. [Applause]