001I would like to welcome everyone here in the chamber and those watching via live stream and call the April 15th, 2025 regular meeting of the board of education to order with all board members, president, present. I'm not lying. They're all here. We're all here. Um, now for our flag ceremony. The Kernney High School Army JOTC color guard will present the colors. Please stand for the presentation of the colors. Order color set. Please join us for the pledge of allegiance. Trustee Vice President Barrera, would you like to lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Sorry to catch you off guard there. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 5. Thank
002you. Please be seated. Okay, now on to A3. Land acknowledgement is a traditional custom that 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. We respectfully acknowledge that the Kumi people are the original inhabitants and caretakers of these lands now known as San Diego. Despite the attempted genocide and ongoing impacts of colonization, the Kumi spirit remains unbroken and their traditions continue to thrive as they carry the memories of their ancestors who bravely resisted cultural erasure and fought to protect their land and way of life. In honoring their legacy, we
003pledge 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. Uh we will now move to item B, adoption of the agenda. We have a light docket tonight, including a progress report uh on financial literacy and economic self-sufficiency. Do I have a motion to adopt today's agenda as published? We have a motion from Trusty Hazen and a second from Trusty Whitehurst Payne. Uh any discussion? No discussion. Thank you. Great. Uh student trustees, please vote. All other board members, please vote. All right. Motion passes unanimously. 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
004business 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. Please listen for your name to be called. Speakers are listed and called in the order received. When your name is called, please come to the podium to speak. 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
005coming 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'll have one minute remaining. A buzzer will indicate that your time has expired. If you have not yet done so and would like to sign up for in-person public comment, iPads are available in the back of the auditorium and in the lobby. Thank you, Miss Staltz. Uh we uh we've now agenda C1, which are student advisory board, but I understand that the uh student who was going to present is unavailable. So, we will uh hold that until next meeting. And we will move on to item C2. adoption of a resolution in the matter of recognizing April 2025 as ArabAmerican Heritage Month. Is there a motion to approve
006item C2? Trusty Hazen with a motion. Do I have a second? Uh, Vice President Barrera with a second. Um, do we have any speaker speakers on this item? Miss. Yes, we have three speakers on this item. Get to my list. You will each have three minutes. Actually, now I see there are four speakers on the item. You will each have three minutes. Farida Ericott Ryan Thawn. We'll go with Ryan. Hey y'all. Good evening. Thanks so much. Fita's in traffic right now. Hopefully she'll make it in time. Uh good evening trustees and president of the board and superintendent. Thanks so much for having us today and thanks again for reaffirming the Arab American Heritage Month resolution. After as you all know lots of work with different community partners last year and this year finally getting it
007pushed through in a way that everyone's agreeing upon is amazing. And from that resolution we've had the chance to do a bunch of amazing workshops too. So, there are some educators here and counselors here that we've worked with to produce uh culturally sensitive PDs and culturally competent training for a number of educators, administrators, and counselors. And a lot of the feedback we've been hearing over the last couple months of these workshops is that's the best PD we've ever had. Can we get more of that? So, please help us out with that. We're we'd love to do more of that. Um, I wanted to give one more piece of feedback here of course is that um, in addition to us affirming and uh, the the updated resolution and uh, thanking you all for pushing it through
008again, we want to just check in about like what are the other ways that we continue to serve our students. How do we make sure that student voices are heard? How do we make sure that student uh, numbers are even accounted for? Right? I know that we've worked on the Muna resolution and trying to push that through with the data department. as long as we're still making forward progress, that's what we want to see together. So, we thank you again for that. Um, and uh, I had something else here, but my brain is a little bit fried after a long day of trainings. So, I wanted to thank you one more time, and please reach out to us if there's anything else coming up, and we'll be reaching out to you as well. Thanks so
009much. Uh, Brian Batugo, not here. Is he Martinez? Hello. Okay. Um, Isel Martinez, CSA PAR educator president and I actually attended the ArabAmerican History Month training as just my regular pareducator role and I found it like from the understanding of what the cultures are, the countries, the the implicit biases that come from what those students go through, those communities go through to what we as educators can do. Um, what I took away from that is so many different layers. And our school, Claremont Canyon Academy, has a large large group that fall under the ArabAmerican uh, indicator is one of those things that like, okay, how can we help? How can we make them feel like they belong here knowing that they're a child of two worlds? And um our team has like completely embraced all
010the information that we got and like Ryan said, we want to see more and a variety of different ones. I know that there was a a Native American uh PD, but there our cultural diaspora is huge and being able to understand the different facets from all of our students would be so amazing because then we're meeting the child where they're at instead of the other way around. So, thank you. Okay, another call for Faridita or Brian. Okay, not here yet. All right, thank you. Uh, do any of the trustees have any questions or would like to speak to this item? Trusty Hazen, thank you. I want to thank our ArabAmerican community for again collaborating with us to support this resolution. people of Arab heritage have helped create the beautiful and diverse fabric of our country
011and San Diego community. And I'm so glad that we're able to honor that tonight and through the work that has started this year. I'm excited that since the adoption of last year's resolution, our district has, as we heard, conducted workshops and professional development to raise awareness about and support our ArabAmerican students. And we've committed to collecting and disagregating data about students who identify as Middle Eastern and North African so that we can better understand and address student needs. And in the face of increasing rates of anti-Arab and Islamophobic incidents, I'm grateful to be part of a school district and a board committed to combating hate and discrimination and cultivating inclusive school environments where all students feel a sense of belonging and people of all backgrounds are celebrated. So, thank you again to the community for
012working with us on this. Thank you, Trusty Hayes. Any additional questions or comments? All right, seeing no further discussion, we'll move to a vote. Uh, student trustees, please vote. All remaining trustees, please vote. Motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. All right, on to D1. Uh, General Council Green, under item D1, are there any reportable actions from close session? No. Thank you. Okay, we have now arrived at D3. Uh, got the pipes ready. Dr. Mula, please provide your information report. I'm actually going to do the administrative assignments first. Um, I want to welcome three new principles um to our organization. First, um, Dr. Craig Thurman as a principal of Autobon K8 School. Um, second one, and I believe both of them are in the audience, so I want to congratulate them both, um, Bernard Steinberger,
013who will be moving from Roosevelt over to Innovation Middle School. Congratulations, and Brendan Simon who will be our new principal for Mirllin's middle school. Congratulations. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you're going to do at those schools. So, thank you so much and congratulations to both of you. So, I'll go on to the report and it is a long one. Today, I have a slightly longer report, but I promise it ends on high note as we celebrate the incredible voices of our students through the Voices for Change campaign. But let me begin with a few updates. Last week I had the honor of participating in the second annual bational forum which brought together education leaders from Baja California and the federal Mexican government. One exciting outcome of this collaboration is Assembly Bill 833 authored
014by Assembly member David Alvarez legislation that San Diego Unified proudly supports. If passed, this bill will expand crossber educational exchanges and help address the shortage of qualified bilingual educators in our state. It's also a powerful step forward towards strengthening the cultural and educational ties between California and Mexico. I want to thank my fellow superintendent for convening this important event, especially our colleagues in Chila Vista Elementary School District for hosting. I also want to thank the Jewish family services for joining us on visits to Uklid Ibar Raf and John Marshall elementary schools last week. These visits highlighted the critical work happening across our district to support refugee students as well as the challenges they continue to face. I'm grateful to our teams for coordinating these visits and continuing to foster meaningful dialogue with our partners to
015identify new funding opportunities and expand our support. This morning was another proud moment. We wrapped up the Aspen Challenge. I know several of you were able to come and join us during that time. a 12-week journey where our high school students take on some of the world's toughest problems with creativity and courage. I had the chance to witness the high school um teams that were really battling social media addiction and they came up with some great strategies of providing community spaces without technology. I left inspired by their brilliance and the leadership of our students. So, thank you again Dr. Richardson and your team for bringing this opportunity to our schools. Also today we celebrated purple update day at Dwey Elementary School, a national day of recognition for military connected families. I'm proud to share that
01630 of our schools have now earned the purple star designation with 11 new honores just this year. This is a testament to our deep commitment to honoring and supporting the unique experiences of our military students and their families. Before we close, I also want to address a topic that's been on m the minds of many in this community, especially in the light in light of recent reports about federal agents visiting schools in Los Angeles and the requirement to certify federal funds within 10 days. Going to be very clear, our responsibility as a public school system is to educate every student and to care for their social, emotional, and physical well-being. Every student, regardless of where they come from or how they identify, deserves to feel safe, supported, and inspired when they walk through our doors.
017At San Diego Unified, we're building schools where students experience the deep joy of being seen, heard, and celebrated. Discrimination, harassment, and bias-based harm have no place in our community. To our students, you are powerful, and you belong here. Your voice and your identity and your perspective make our district stronger. We see you. We believe in you. And we will always stand by you. To our families and community partners, we need you. This work is too important and too complex to do alone. And together we can build a district where every student is not only safe but uplifted and empowered. And now I'm very honored to close my report with a celebration of our students through Voices for Change campaign. A powerful reminder of how young people are leading the way and why our commitment to
018them matters more than ever. Oh, this jumped. Okay, so students have the opportunity to produce a promotional video or poster targetings. Is am I reading the right one? Am I jumping? Okay, thank you. You guys, this was crossed out. I apologize. You may recall that about five years ago, our district filed a lawsuit against dual labs because the ecigarette epidemic they caused was harming our students productivity. We received a settlement in the case and directed the funds toward boosting awareness about the dangers caused to students from using ecigarettes and vapes. Trustee Sabrina Baza, who has a background in public health, has been instrumental in making sure we leverage these resources to help our students. Together with student trustees Quentyn Baldis, Joseph Cruz, and our counseling and guidance department, Trusty Boso coordinated the Voices for Change
019PSA campaign during the months of October through January. Students from kindergarten through 12th grade were invited to use their creativity to raise awareness about the dangers of substance abuse, including vaping, drugs, and alcohol, while promoting mental health and awareness and healthy choices. So, thank you again for your leadership. I apologize for the snafu. There was some crossing out in my reading sections and I jumped over. Um, I also want to go into students that had the opportunity to produce a promotional video poster targeting students. And today, I'd like us to take a moment to recognize the winners for their terrific work. Once the winners of both the poster and video contest are named and their work is shown, we'd like all of those of you who are here to come up and be congratulated by
020the board and take a picture together. The poster winners come from grades TK through 5ifth, 6th grade through 8th, and 9th grade through 12th grade. We're going to call out each winner's name and then show their poster on the screen. So for the first poster is Yasfan Machado Gonzalez, third grader from Perkins, K8. Are you here? Look at that. What a beautiful poster. Can we [Applause] clap? The second poster, seventh grade from Marshall Middle School. Isabella Russell. Are you here, Isabella? [Applause] The video winners come from grades TK through 5th and 9th through 12th. Um, video from fifth grade language academy, Ido Chavez. Ido Chavez, are you here? Yes. Let's see that video. Okay, you could want to vape [Music] Is this a vaping device? Hey guys, it's time for us to get some donuts.
021Oh, sorry. I had no money. [Music] [Applause] [Music] No, thank you. [Applause] [Music] I love it. Nice. We have a second video from Miram Mesa High School. Um, this was a team effort. Um, Lance Catal, Josh Rickettts, Micah Pruguladid, and Lennin Madrid. Ninth grade and tth graders. If you're here, are you here? Yay. Let's see the video. [Music] Hey, are you ready for that next band rehearsal? Of course I am. Are you going to go practice after school? Of course. I'll see you after school. See you there. Let's go, Mr. Vance. Go. [Music] So, did you see the new piece that we're doing? Yeah, man. I heard it's going to be so awesome. Um, I'm sorry I can't make it to rehearsal today. I have something to do. If there's anything you need, just let
022us know. All right. I will. See you, dude. Yo, Lance, what's going on with you, man? [Music] Look, I don't know what you're dealing with. [Music] Yeah. [Applause] And we do have another poster winner from 9th grade East Village High, Paul Sahara. Paul Sahara, is he here? Yes. Congratulations, Paul. Let's take a look at it. For all of those who are here, I congratulate you. are really beautiful and creative and and have such a positive message to all of our youth. And if you can please come up so we can get a picture together and congratulate you. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] Good job. Congratulations. Everybody kind Okay. Family pictures now. [Applause] Okay. Yeah, picture. Here we go. Right here. You want to be up here? Okay. Yeah. I think Trusty Boso has a comment on
023that as well. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. I just I didn't know we were doing this today and it's the first time I've seen these, but they're amazing. And I want to thank my fellow student board members for the their work on this project. And um you know, as I think we all know, vaping is such an epidemic and I feel like you know, it's so this is a small thing we can do, but hopefully it's not the last time that we do this. I mean, I'd love to see this. I don't think it's that much budgetary wise to continue something along the lines of this because it's such an important and, you know, serious public health epide epidemic. So, um, I'd love to, you know, see this more long-term, not just a one-time competition. So,
024thank you. [Applause] All right. And I just want to welcome our MU as a Murland's alumni and a parent of a Murland student. Welcome aboard. We're a tough community, but uh we're going to love you and support you. Uh, big shoes to fill. So, all right. Um, we will now hear item E1. Interim Guardrail 3.1 to 3.2 Economic Self-Sufficiency Financial Literacy. Dr. Bula, can you please introduce the item? Yes. Thank you, President Patterson. And I'm going to welcome up Dr. Erin Richardson and Dr. Gabriel. Oh my gosh, I was going to call you just Dr. Gabriel. So, trustees, today marks an important moment. Our very first presentation try tied directly to one of our guard rails. If you think back to the community input sessions during the development of our goals and guardrails, one message
025came through loud and clear. Our family families and community members want us to make financial literacy a priority. That feedback led directly to the adoption of guardrail 3, economic self-sufficiency, which states, "The superintendent shall not allow students to graduate from high school without financial literacy skills required to achieve economic self-sufficiency and thrive postgraduation." There is strong momentum on the issue across the state. Last year, the legislator legislature passed a laws requiring that by 2728 school year, all high schools must offer a standalone one semester course in personal finance. And starting with the class of 2031, that course becomes a graduation requirement. According to the law, students who complete the course will have the option to be exempt from the traditional economics requirement. Closer to home, we've taken meaningful first steps with pilot courses. But I
026also want to be candid. I learned just last week that we've fallen short in implementing the CAFE grant, a critical resource that supports districts like ours in building the infrastructure needed for this work. And while that's disappointing, it also highlights the value of our governance process. These presentations are not just about reporting out. They're also about reflection, transparency, and course correction. They give us a clear look at where we are and where we need to go to meet the needs of our students. With that, I'll now turn it over to Dr. Richardson and Dr. Nuna, not Dr. Gabriel, Dr. Nuna us to walk us through today's guardrail presentation on financial literacy. Thank you. Well, thank you. Uh, good evening Dr. Bagula, uh, Dr. Pettison, board members, uh, student board members, and the public. Um we're
027excited to present today on some of where we're at um and looking at this interim goal. Um you just read through the goal, right, that our students will um will not graduate without financial literacy skills and without some planning, right, so that they can thrive postgraduation. I'm going to hand over to Dr. Richardson. So, one of our um interim guard rails was that we would pilot at least one course at our high schools during this year. And so, part of our report is to share with you three different courses that have been piloted um and to share with you the success that the students have had um in those courses and then also to share um our spotlight students and how they are fairing in the courses as well. So, our first course has been
028at Claremont High School. Um, it is through a college and career lens and looking at financial literacy. I think it's important to note that this um does meet the G requirement for A throughG um and is designed to help our students look at the practical value of um finances and also looking at managing their personal finances. In um this course, we had 177 students that were enrolled in the semester course with about 95% of the students passing with a C or higher. And um in this course, we had 25 spotlight students that were enrolled with a success of 65%. Another course that we were piloting was at Morris High School. This is with our partners at Junior Achievement. Um it's financial literacy. um one two and we have uh 32 students. So it was only
029one section that we had but 32 students that took this course with 94% passing a C or higher and then we had about 67% of our spotlight students who passed. If you take a look um it was only three students that were enrolled in the course that were spotlight students. The other course is really through our mathematics. It's a financial math class and you can see that we had Canyon Hills, Claremont, Lincoln, Madison, Mirram Mesa, Morris, San Diego High, and Twain that were piloting this course. And you can see the number of students that were enrolled in that course. Um, and so this looks a little bit different, but um it shows here that we had 496 students and we had 459 students that received a C or higher. And when we look at our
030spotlight students, we had 44 students with a success rate of 28. I think this is important because um what you'll see is a timeline of implementation. So Dr. Beula shared with us that for the class of 2030 that we need to have um all of our students will have to graduate with the financial literacy course. And so while we have been piloting this year, between the years of 2025, which we're currently in to um spring of 2027, we will need to figure out what courses it is that we are going to offer and make sure that our students fulfill um for the class of 2031. So just wanted to um share kind of a timeline of not only just what um the board heard from our listening sessions that we had last year and in
031the design of this but also how we are going to meet the expectations of the state. The next piece was just highlighting some of the aspects of what the state um wants to make sure is living within the course. Um it exceeds more than just personal finance. It goes into giving. It goes into 501k and savings and insurance investments. Looking at um benefits and um the pluses and minuses really of credits and loans um getting into income taxes and all of those things. So, as we are looking at the courses, we also want to make sure that it's aligning with the essential skills that the state is asking to have for implementation. All right. I'm gonna hand it over um to Gabriel who's going to share um guardrail 3.2 interim. So um the interim guardrail
032is that by 2030 80% of our students will be able to develop a budget savings plan that will include identifying resources of income to help help offset college and post-secary expenses. What I'm really excited about with this um part of the report is that we're also here we're talking also about reaching some of our elementary school students. So this was um a program um Cal Kids program was launched in 2022 by the state of California which is essentially a program that gives scholarships to youth um school age youth from grades 1 through 12. And we hosted two events at our high schools, one at Hoover and one at Logan Memorial uh educational campus where we invited all the right um all of our uh community, all of our youth from throughout the those communities um
033including uh high school communities adjacent to that, all of our whole clusters, including San Diego High for Logan Memorial. Um and we were able to um secure have so so youth came in and they were able to sign up for Cal Kids. They had to check their eligibility. Um, so there is an eligibility criteria of uh low-income, unhoused and foster. And with that eligibility, it actually opens an account for them and their parents or their guardian would put in an email address. And we were able to track that. Um, at Lincoln we uh I'm sorry, I misspoke. I said Hoover, it was Lincoln Cluster with um some inviting Morris as well. We raised $52,000 that was granted to youth in that um event and 77,000 at Logan Memorial Educational Campus. Um, and what's what's really
034um beautiful about this is that the younger they um get this money, this seed money, it's from 500 to 1500, it actually is an account that's acrewing interest. And so this is the beginning of their investment. Maybe not the beginning, but in addition to their investment for their uh college expenses in the future. Some of our next steps in thinking about this partnership um include doing more than just these one-off events, but really including this in what we do at at all of our schools. um and bringing this into family events, um engaging with community schools, doing enrollments at open house, um and then having other big events as well where we're uh exposing our community and helping them gain access to these resources. I would like to add that we're also in conversations with
035a couple of our local credit unions that have agreed to open up accounts for our children. Um I keep thinking about this course shouldn't just be theoretical, but it should have real money. So, I'm appreciative of the Cal Kids efforts, but also the local credit unions that are willing to come and start these um programs with our students. I think it's important for them to learn real money. Thank you, and Gabriel. Um, Miss Stall, there any public comments on this? All right. This is very triggering to do on April 15th. Is that was that intended? Good lord, I'm sweating. don't have the anxiety. Yeah, that's good. Yes. Um, do we have any board comments or questions on this item? Yeah, Trusty Balderson, I just want to start by expressing my utmost gratitude for all the
036work that's been going on. I know for many years now, students have always been saying that the information we learn in school, it doesn't really feel applicable. We want to learn how to do our taxes and how to go out and thrive in the real world. And everything that you're piloting, it's so applicable. and it not only shows that our district is very passionate about listening to student voices, but we're also passionate about student success. So, thank you all very much. All right, looks like Trusty Wire is paying with a finger. Well, you know, I'm excited about this. It was at Lincoln, so yes, it was at Lincoln first. We did it first. Uh, but I see that LMEC did get more money. Uh, Richard, always looking at the numbers. Um, this is something that's
037dear to my heart and as a math teacher, I know I always hear that from students where they wanted things that were relevant and um, I'm glad the state put this in operation so that we're doing something to help the students to get there. And as you said, because today is the tax day, mine are all done. Heard from IRS already. They received it. Heard from Cal Franchise. what it's all done. Um, but that's something that I know creates a lot of anxiety and and folks to get it done. And it's even the whole thing of um predatory lending and how our students go away to college and a lot of them are seen as new fish so that they can give them these high loans and so forth. So no matter what walk of
038life, even children who are going to be renting etc. We need to give them that orientation. We've assumed as a society, as a school district, that they would learn it vicariously. And I know for a fact as a a math teacher, it was not focused on helping our children to learn things that are practical like this. So, I'm excited. Um, like to get in the weeds a little bit and find out what's going on in the courses. I've promised to do a workshop for a group of students who are getting scholarships for my church on college going. Have you thought about how you're going to pay for it? What are you going to do? What strategies are you going to use so that you don't come out owing uh a bunch of money? um like
039a lot of even medical doctors and lawyers graduate owing a lot of money and um just helping them to be aware of ways that they can minimize the debt where you go too further too much further down the road. So I'm excited about this. This is first step and uh thank you. I heard that three courses at one time instead of just one. Congratulations and uh we'll dig into why and how and so forth in the future. Okay, thank you. I think part of that lecture that trusty wire pane just gave is for me, but I did get an extension done. I will say that. Um, trust uh Vice President Barrera. I thought that was President Person's attempt to lead the uh withhold federal funding until we get get our um no um thank you
040very much uh Aaron and Gabe and um I do want to thank trustees Baldis and Cruz for continually uh raising uh the need for this level of education for for our students and I know you were channeling student voice because I know you hear it you know all the time so very much appreciated. Um, and I'm wondering, Gabe, as we uh continue with our strategy on enrollment in Cal Kids, if we could keep kind of a um the percentage of our students who are eligible and how we're, you know, kind of filling up that cup. That would be great. Yeah. Yeah. I want Well, one, I want to give a shout out to Dr. Steve Dorsy because he really spearheaded this, got it going at Lincoln. We connected, we did at LC. So, I want
041to give him a shout out and and it and it we are working with Cal Kids directly to see how we can track more more effectively or have those numbers start to work together so that we're real clear on how many students we're enrolling and how many students we still need to get to. I would also like to set up a me an automatic mechanism so that when we welcome students in UTK and kindergarten, we don't have to host these uh festivals, but it's something that we do maybe even enrollment. So, Trust Trusty Bazo and then Trusty Hen. Thank you for um this initial presentation. I just wanted to ask a question because actually Joseph asked me right before we started what um what I think would be the most important thing to think about
042now that he's starting his uh new adventure u post high school. And one of the things just cuz this is impacted my family recently is um uh retirement and I know it sounds to when if you're 18 like that's like an eternity and eons away but there's so many people in this country that don't you know don't have those resources when they get to that point and need that. And so and my husband was forced to retire early which we never you know planned and you know because of medical issues. Um, so those things happen and so I hope as we're talking about this program that would be something to build in is it sounds like it's eons away but you know I told him any little bit you can start putting towards that you
043because we just started putting you know when my husband started at UCSD it was just part of his paycheck and thank god we did you know it bec and I know a lot of people don't have that um safety net so um you know I don't as we're building the curriculum I just think that's something to to make sure that we're including I just want to say that's good advice to someone to who told me he's grown today. He's 18 years old so he told me he's grown now. I was just going to um highlight that that is one of the essential skills is um how to grow wealth and be able to retire whether it's through a 401k or or how you invest in stocks and different things like that. So, it is one
044of the essential skills. Trusty Hazen, thank you. And it's exciting to hear this report um because I think you know something we talked a lot about leading up to this. Um and I'm wondering I have a few questions. So, we saw um information about passing pilot courses and it's an important output to look at as part of the pilot process. But what I'm most interested in is student outcomes and understanding if students know and are able to do more to set themselves up for long-term economic self-sufficiency as a result of passing the course. Right? All of the things that we just heard uh from Trustee Boso and Whitehurst Pain about how important this is. Um, and I think since you you talked about the different essential skills these courses are designed to achieve and we
045heard from the community how important this is, I'm wondering how moving forward we plan to evaluate whether students are able to successfully manage their finances, save, um, set themselves up for retirement, all of those things. Um, is there a plan for that? And can you talk us through sort of maybe what phase two looks like? we've tried on these courses. Now, what in terms of knowing if our students are going to be set up for success long term or have the skills to do that? I think that's some of the research we're going to have to do with our students between 2025 and 2027 um before we land on what that course is. Um could it possibly look different? Could there be multiple courses? So, for example, we had a CCT course in there. we
046had a partnership with junior achievement and then we also had a math course. Um we are also staying close to the state to see how they and that's also the reason why we're working through the next two years is to also meet the guidance of what the state is saying um whether or not it's through a social science class like economics replaces economics or if it's a math course. So there's a lot of unknowns as far as implementation, but I do think um while I don't know that we could say the success of the students in their personal finances, I think we could um evaluate at the end of the course of how maybe they felt at the beginning of the course and then their knowledge that they gained in the course that could um
047help us in the implementation. Yeah. I mean and I think at you know very basic level knowing like do students feel better equipped to you know to save to whatever those sort of core essential skills are we want them to have um because I hope that that passing the course is correlated with achieving those skills but I don't know if if that's true so it' be great to learn um a little bit more about that and I'm wondering so you shared two courses I guess three does the math one count technically as financial litery I heard a loud yes from the audience. Yes. Um, so three courses and is the goal to make a recommendation about fewer courses that would count as financial literacy or to have a variety of offerings or what what's the
048plan as we move towards sort of wider full-scale implementation? And I guess I sort of one thing I would point out is I guess question around variability like how do we ensure that um we're providing a high quality courses um everywhere um if we're doing a lot of different things. So I think um I mentioned it briefly in the last question. There is a lot of conversations about where this course actually should belong and so we really want to be part of the conversation at the state um and understand where the course should be. Right now we've been testing out the courses. Um I don't know about the variability. I don't know that if I can answer that, you know, today, but I do think that that's the reason why we gave ourselves an on-ramp
049is so that we could move along the guidance with the the state and what they're recommending from their curricular side at the um education department and then also um work with our teams here um whether it's through the grant like Dr. Bagula um mentioned, but I think we need to learn and over the course of the next two years so that I can better answer that question and and see where we land and and see if the variability is allowable or if it's actually a little bit more finite. That's super helpful. Thank you. And just quick last one and just want to echo uh what Trustee Breer uh shared about the value of our student board members um supporting and advocating for this. And I'm wondering and you spoke a little bit to um understanding
050what this means for for kids, but I just want to put in a plug for really getting student feedback. At the end of the day, this is some of the most practical important information we can share. And so, I think really using student feedback and their perspective to inform this work moving forward is is really important. Trusty Balls, you see your hand up? Oh, I was just going to echo um Trusty Hazen's point and I wanted to know if in the two years where we're designing the course if we have any plans for student engagement or if we're still uh coming up with them. So, that's all in design and and up for consideration. And I think just like student voice brought this guard rail forward along with the community. Um, and then I know
051we've been in conversations about financial literacy. I think we're going to have to also listen to our students about the course and courses at this point in time to see in which way we should move while staying within, you know, the recommendations of the CDE. All right, seeing no further discussion, thank you so much Aaron and Gabe. We really appreciate it. You're free to go. All right, that uh brings us to items F1 through F6US with the bargaining units regarding temporary outofclass compensation and standby differential. Is there a motion on these items? I see a motion from Vice President Barrera and a second from Trusty Whitehurst Payne. Um Miss Staltz, are there any speakers on these items? No speakers from the public. Do any of the trustees have questions or wish to comment on these
052items? Seeing no comments, we will move uh to a vote. Uh no, this is a trustees uh vote here. So uh trustees, please vote. Um all five trustees uh have voted unanimously in support of the item. All right. Next up, we have the board uh consent agenda. Items G1, G2, approval of proposed scheduled board meetings and regular and special meetings minutes. 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 from the consent agenda for separate discussion and action. Any agenda item removed will be voted upon following the motion to approve the consent agenda. Does the board have any items they would like to
053have pulled from the board consent agenda for discussion? All right, seeing no items have been removed, we will uh we will move to uh discussion of these items. Um Miss Soulz, do we have any members of the public who have signed up to speak? Okay. Um great. Uh there is as a matter of course no board discussion since it's a consent item. So um do we have a motion to approve uh the consent consent agenda? Um, Trusty Cruz with a motion and a second. One of the hot cakes. Trusty Bazo with the second. We have a motion and a second. Student trustees, please vote. Remaining board members, please vote. Uh, that motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. All right. Uh we now have uh okay yes I see we yeah okay we now have
054did I did I miss an item okay um we now have uh we'll now move to H1 district operational matters agenda item H1 is a public hearing for the board to take any public comments and make findings related to two solar contracts that appeared later on this board agenda under consent as item I38. Please note the following corrections to item I38. Under fiscal impact, the total not to exceed amount is 18,288,89012. And Staten Solar Corporation's contract value is 9,674,371, representing a $1 increase in each amount. Also, also the contract for Staten Solar Corporation was marked in the agenda as partially executed. However, the attached document did not include any signatures. We are That's some trivia there. Uh we are opening the hearing. Miss Staltz, are there any speakers on this item? All right, seeing none,
055we can open this item for board discussion. Government code section 4217.12 authorizes a public agency to enter into energy service contracts if its governing board determines it is in the best interest of the agency at a public hearing during a regularly scheduled board meeting. Attached to the agenda item is an energy analysis, one for each contract prepared by outside experts, showing that the cost to construct the solar panels will be less than the cost of energy consumed by the district without them. For the five sites, Benshley Weineberger, Carver, and Rosa Parks elementary schools, Persing Middle School, and Pacific View Leadership Academy for contract award to Staten Solar Corporation, the district will realize savings in energy costs of 15,863,000 through 2050, the expected life of the solar PV system. for Carson Elementary School for contract award
056to straight line general contractors. The district will realize savings in energy costs of 4,221,000 through 2050 for Oak Park Elementary School for contract award to straightline general contractors. The district will realize savings in energy costs of $3,87,000 through 2050 for the district's supply center for contract award to straightline general contractors. The district will realize savings in energy costs of 5,571,000 through 2050. Do any trustees have questions or wish to discuss this this item? Seeing no uh questions, uh is there a motion to adopt these findings that based on these energy analyses, it is in the district's best interest to award the two solar contracts to achieve those cost savings? Trusty Hazen and with the motion. Trusty Wyers Pain with the second. Student trustees, please vote. I can't. Okay, there we go. All right. All remaining
057trustees, please vote. That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. All right, we have now arrived at the superintendent's consent agenda. We will now consider items I1 through I39. the superintendent's 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 requests a specific items be removed from the consent agenda for separate discussion and action. Any agenda item removed will be voted upon following the motion to approve the consent agenda. Does the board have any items they would like to have pulled from the consent agenda for discussion? Trusty Hazen. Yes. I 11 and 21. I 11 and I 21. Any others? I would like to pull item I
058two I believe. Let me double check that before I before I irresponsibly pull the wrong item. Yes. Uh I'd like to pull I two for discussion as well. So that is we are now pulling I2, I11 and I21 for discussion. Speakers on I17 and we have Okay. So we will also pull I17. All right. So what we will do then has well this is an interesting question. Do we have to pull the item for speakers because as the I think we should pull that item too. Yeah. Okay. So we'll pull that item. Um, so we have four items that we've pulled and um are there super would you like to All right. We will now begin consideration of the remainder of the of the consent calendar. Um, Dr. Bulu, would you like to highlight anything
059in this? Yes. Thank you, Dr. Patterson. Tonight, I'd like to highlight item 15, which reflects a major investment in the future of our educator workforce. San Diego Unified was awarded a $9.6 $6 million grant from the state of California through the teacher residency implementation and expansion grant program. These funds will support our collaborative work with local commission approved teacher preparation programs to grow and strengthen our teacher residency pipeline. Launching and expanding a residency program takes deep coordination between our district and our university partners to ensure our schools are ready to host and mentor aspiring teachers and the residents are supported through strong cohort-based model. This is an exciting step toward developing highquality diverse educators who are ready to serve our students and stay in the profession for the long term. Thank you Dr. Bula. Um,
060do we have a motion on the superintendent's uh consent agenda on everything except for the four we've pulled? I have a motion from Vice President Breer and a second from Trusty Baldis. Um, okay. We will move directly to a vote on everything but the four items we pulled. Student trustees, please vote. All remaining board members, please vote. Okay. The consent agenda passes unanimously. We'll now return to the um to the four items that were pulled uh which I believe are I2, 11,1 17 and 21. 211. Can you list? Yes. Yes. So those are Thank you. Um we have pulled I2, I1, I7, I21. We will move through those um in the order in which they were pulled. Uh, I pulled I2 and I believe Trusty Hazen pulled 11 and 21 and the public pulled I17.
061So, first with regard to I2, I just want to stop for a moment. Um, this is a um this is a donation from the trust of Elizabeth Smallfeld um who gave 10% of their of of the money that they left to their um uh the balance of the trust to the district. And it's I just want to take a moment to thank um the the family and to thank um Elizabeth Smallfeld who has apparently passed. But we um it's extremely generous for uh a member of our community to provide these funds and this these funds will in particular be used um for the tutoring of and help for special needs students. So, I just want to express my gratitude um for for this and uh to make we'll we'll we'll make a motion on each
062of these things and vote independently. I'd like to make a motion on I2 um and entertain a second for the motion. Trusty Hazen with a second. Um we'll move to any further discussion on I2. Okay, we'll move to a vote. Uh student trustees, please vote on item I two. Uh all remaining board members, please vote. That item passes unanimously. We will now move to I1 which was pulled by Trusty Hazen. Trusty Hazen, would you like to make some comments? Yes. So I 11 is the ratification of an agreement with um our community colleges and I'd asked this question in advance. Um and so it's I guess just still seeking clarity. So it applies the agreement that's included applies to 10th through 12th grade students. And I had asked why not 9th grade students that are
063academically prepared. And I thought what I heard was that the state law changed and now 9th grade students are eligible. And so I'm wondering why they're not included in the agreement or is there an opportunity to update the agreement to include ninth graders because it seemed the response was the agreement will be updated but it's not updated. So great. Thank you. And then I21, and I shared some of these questions before, um, but I21 is about supplemental math materials for upper grade students. And I know that we have um an item coming soon and a lot of work has been done um around the recommendation of an adoption of a new math curriculum. And the intention is that our curriculum is exceptional and high quality uh and really limits the need for supplemental materials. And
064as we've uh really dug in around our math goal this year, uh one of the things that's emerged is is variability and the need to have a high quality curriculum. And so I wonder and worry about this item. It's it's a few schools who will have access to this supplemental material. um and it seems unequitable and I'm I'm wondering why why the recommendation is is made to support this um when we're going to have something um that shouldn't require supplemental. I'll follow up on that as well um because I I feel like I know exactly what the answer is, but I don't want to I'm not 100% sure, so I don't want to misspeak. So, let me make sure I know it. Thank you. Um, all right. So, well, let's just se separate the milk
065from the meat here. So, on item I 21, um, a mo motion in a sec. Did I already take a motion for I20? No, I haven't. So, I 11. Let's do Do I have a motion for I1? Trusty Hayes in a second for I1. Uh, Vice President Barrera. Um, we've had discussion. Student trustees, please vote on item I1. I'm not seeing um all remaining board members, please vote. That motion passes unanimously. Um we'll we'll take the vote on I21 and then we'll come back to I7. Um uh do we have a motion on I21 with a provisiso that they will return? Do you are you are you requesting? I think I'm going to abstain on I21. Okay. All right. Um, and I wanted to make sure ratification. So, it's already being used by sites. And
066so, I just wanted to verify that I knew exactly who the vendor was um that's doing this. So, it it is already being used this year. All right. So, well, nonetheless, I'll entertain a motion on I21. Um, and the with the understanding there'll be a memo from the superintendent in relation to the item. Do I have a motion on I21? Um, trusty wires pay a second trusty Bazo. Um, student trustees, please vote in item I 21. All remaining board members with a abstension from trusty Hazen. Uh, consent from all those trustees voting with Trusty Hayes abstaining. We'll now move to I7 which was pulled by the public. Um, do we have a speaker on this item? Yes, we have one inerson speaker and two virtual. Uh Mattaline Conaway. You have three minutes. Thank you. Good
067evening. Um, my name is Maline Conway and I'm a history teacher at Man Middle and I'm a member of the family engagement team as my at my site. Um, as well as our CI team for our district and I want to express my appreciation to the board for your support with the community engagement initiative grant. This grant has enabled our team, many of whom are here right now, um to which includes parents, students, teachers, and the administration from Man Middle and the district's uh family engagement department to reimagine family engagement at MAN and across our district for positive student, school, and family comm community and community outcomes. Um, one of the most meaningful aspects of the CI partnership part peer learning network has been learning about the challenges and initiatives of other districts in California.
068The C at through the CI we collaborate in professional learning with other districts to analyze data and share evidence-based practices for continuous improvement. The examples we are provided from other districts have helped us to apply their experiences and the data that they bring um to help us chart our own course as we work towards strengthening trusting relationships with our families and community. And so we're excited to continue to develop and enact our community engage our family engagement plan at man and see how that can be replicated and adjusted across the district. So we just want to say thank you for the support you've given us. Uh, we have Sharita Kirkland on virtual. Sharita, if you are available, please unmute. Yes, I am available. Can you hear me? Yes, you have three minutes. Okay. Good evening,
069board members and student board members. I really wish I could be there, but I'm under the weather. and thanks team that's also there that's present. I just wanted to share as a parent partner that I have been given this opportunity to work s alongside family engagement um for a two-year commitment and um with that commitment um we have been able to for me and my child because my son is also along with us too but we've had an opportunity to build with the staff um the relationship that is needed to thrive and and have that sense the belonging that families need to be able to connect in the community and build the barriers that we've um uh that that families have in the community towards uh school districts and staff and faculties. Um, also going
070along um to the conferences with CI um we've learned how to take the ideas from other school districts and implement them into what is needed best for our school site. Um and it's a challenge and and and and and I think that the team that we have is um very phenomenal in fostering ideas and creativity that each one of us brings um individually and I just that's just what I wanted to share. So thank you. I support the the item. Josiah Williams also virtual. Go ahead, Josiah. You have three minutes. Please unmute. Need to unmute Josiah. Josiah, please unmute or we will end public comment on this item. It sounds like he's not available. All right. Okay. Uh thank you to the members of the public who spoke on this item. We will now entertain
071a motion. Do we have a motion? Uh Vice President Ber Trustee Hazen with the second. Um we will now move to a vote. Uh student trustees, please vote on item I7. Uh remaining board members, please vote. That motion passes unanimously with student trustees concurring. All right. Thanks. All right. Uh that brings us now to non-aggenda public comment. We will now receive public testimony on non-aggenda items. Miss Stoultz, have we received any requests for non-aggenda comment? Yes, we have six inperson and five virtual. So, we'll go with the in person first. Each person will have two minutes. Rea Ness Cimento. Hi there. My name is Raina and I'm an addict. I know that's not exactly the greeting that you expected, but the fact of the matter is I'm a statistic and so are half of you.
07250% of all Americans have a close friend or family member with a substance use disorder. And most of the time, this began with experimentation in adolescence. And I was I was no exception to that. It's not always malicious when teens experiment with drugs. They might be nervous about making a presentation in class, so they ask their friend for a Xanax. They might have a test that they're too too tired to study for, so they ask someone for an aderall. But what they don't realize is that those could be fake prescription pills. And six out of 10 fake prescription pills contain fentanyl. It's a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. I applaud the board because in 2022 you passed an initiative to keep Narcan in all of
073our schools after a mother came to you with this initiative after her son had oded on opioids. But what if that child had access to fentanyl testing strips? A lowcost and effective way of knowing if what he had was fake or laced. Now, the thing is on your own website for San Diego school district, it states 73% of teens don't even know that fake p prescription pills exist. So, I bring to you to please um bring the initiative forth to have fentanyl testing strips in all of our schools for teens to be available free of judgment or retaliation, but also with the education that they know that 60% of these pills could kill them. 22 teens die every week from this. Thank you. Evelyn and [Music] Gier. Hi, my name is Evelyn and I'm a
074sixth grader at Stanley Middle School. At a recent school board meeting, I heard some parents expressing concerns about GSA and Rainbow Clubs in schools. As a kid who actually goes to these clubs, I wanted to help clear up any worries. First, kids shouldn't need parental permission if we want to attend these clubs because there's nothing inappropriate. There's they're just safe, friendly spaces where we can be ourselves. We do crafts, play games, write stories, or just decompress after a hard day. Sometimes we talk about fairness or how to speak up if something feels hurtful. Our adviserss don't give lessons on gender or sex orientation, but even if they did, those things are things that already exist in our lives. Some families we know have two moms or two dads. Gender identity isn't private. It's just how
075people express themselves. Some parents worry that these clubs encourage kids to be LGBTQ plus, but that's not how it works. Being queer isn't contagious. It's just part of who someone is. These clubs don't tell us who to be. They support us in being ourselves. Research shows that one supportive adult can re reduce the risk of suicide for LGBTQ plus kids by up to 80%. These clubs can help be that support. These clubs save lives. If you're unsure about GSA or pride clubs, the best thing you can do is create a space where your child feels safe to talk to you. Every kid deserves to feel seen, supported, and safe. Thank [Applause] you, Yasmin Bosen. Good evening, Board of Education staff. I'm here just to make sure that last year you guys have an LCAP report
076that we never knew anything about it. And this year is coming up again. And I asked for the Latino families if they got any message from the superintendent. And out of 10, three didn't have anything. seven said that they did have a uh they have a a a message from the superintendent and they also said that what what is that for if that's how they said it they said it I don't know what they are calling us if they're doing up north where we can we don't have any access to it and even though if we come over if we express ourselves the district doesn't care anything about the Latinos family so that's the feeling about of the Latinos family. That was the first thing I came for. And the second thing I came for
077is because I want to thanks Martha Corales. Mrs. Corales, thank you for all your support. Thank you for all the patient that you did have at Lincoln High School and all the Latino families are going to miss you. But I hope you guys you still around us keeping us helping us. And what they said, we have to bring something that she really likes. when we used to come to your office all what you have there that was a big jar that I couldn't find anymore but I found this for you. Thank you much Arlene Newb California's great start transition to elementary School Toolkit released in December of 2021. Page 13. The importance of play in learning. The transition to elementary school is a meaningful one and has the potential to shape how children view school
078and learning. Utilizing play and playful learning strategies during this transition helps children associate school with joy and fulfilling their natural curiosity. Embedding opportunities for playful learning in the classroom is important to help create a more equitable learning environment for all children. Children who enjoy school are more engaged in learning and will have greater success throughout their academic journey. Integrating playful hands-on exploration exploration and learning activities provides young children with opportunities to learn more about the world and themselves. The risks children take while playing teach them by challenging them to grow, testing their limits, and providing opportunities for them to learn how to overcome obstacles and cope with frustrations. Incorporating play into the TK and kindergarten classroom can be achieved in part by utilizing centers or stations that provide children with opportunities to choose a learning
079activity according to their interests. Play-based learning is not just fun. It's a cornerstone of educational equity. Removing it disproportionately harms students with disabilities, students with trauma, and students who learn differently. Play builds skills that standardized instruction alone can't achieve. The toolkit is clear. Play is the gateway for children to enjoy learning. My principal suppressing play actively made school less joyful and less accessible for my students. Play is not optional, as my principal and area superintendent think. It's foundational for equitable, inclusive, developmentally appropriate learning. Letting administration deny science and ban play in kindergarten classrooms for years after the state endorsed it based on personal preference for outdated interact ineffective methods is educational malpractice. You see Martinez Hey again, Izzy Martinez, uh, CSEA PAR educator president. Uh, earlier this month, I believe it was the first Wednesday,
080I want to say April 4th, is World Parrofessional Day. My members showing up. Um, April has not been the celebration that I typically feel in regards to the partnership we have with the district. Um, I've spoken to many of you about this partnership and how um, CSEA paras come with a collaborative mind, problem solving. um let let's figure it out to make sure we're here meeting the needs of the children because at the end of the day that's what we're here for, right? I'm basically working myself out of a job yet. Where is the partnership? I communicate. Communication falls short. I ask for certain questions. Emails go fall short. um we're asked to give grace when grace isn't afforded to us. And so I want to continue this partnership, but right now my trust is
081broken and I want repair in order for us to again refocus on the children because that is what we're here for. Thank you. Farita Ericott. Hello everyone. My name is Fida Erica. I work at the Mesdel Arab Community Center of San Diego. I'm really sorry I missed agenda item C2. I was in traffic. But I'm really happy to be here today um in honor of ArabAmerican Heritage Month. I really want to uplift something that we were able to do uh recently in March which is a youth forum at a school in the district. Uh during this forum which was student initiated we were given the opportunity to sit with students and really ask them what are the challenges they've faced as Arab and Muslim students as well as how have they been impacted by what
082they've seen and experienced happening in Gaza Palestine and in the Arab Muslim world. I understand that these terms are associated with stress and controversy, but the reason I'm saying them here is because we need to deontroversialize the realities, lives, and identities of our students. So, the top challenges and themes they named were having a controversialized identity for being Muslim, Palestinian, andor Arab, feeling otherred, a lack of safe space support on campus, religious discrimination, and a lack of representation in the curriculum. These are obviously heavy things and of course this is not what we wanted to be the outcomes of our first conversation with the students but in some ways this is actually what progress looks like because this school this principal and this district have thus far supported our ability to be responsive to the
083needs of our students and that's the first step towards actually addressing those challenges and making sure that schools are an equitable place for all of our students. So I just want to thank you all and we can follow up after with a summary version of this report. Thank you. We'll go to our virtual speakers elain. Hello. Um, good evening. My name is Yasmin Musean. Um, I'm a proud um, ArabAmerican Palestinian student and president of the Middle Eastern North African Club at University City High School. Um, I'd first like to thank you for placing the ArabAmerican Heritage Month resolution on today's agenda. Um, as a proud Arab-American student in the district, um, as a 10th grader, I can't express how meaningful it is to see our identities recognized and valued. This resolution is not just symbolic,
084it's necessary. Over the past year, and for many years, Arab and Muslim students across our district have shared and experienced painful experiences with discrimination, silencing, and um, Islamophobic and anti-Arabas. Many of us have had our identities politicized and our cultural expression scrutinized. As um Fida mentioned at the at the um youth forum at University City High School, we initiated this collaboration between the district, the clubs, like I mentioned, the Middle Eastern North African club and the Muslim Student Association and the Medv Community Center. We opened up about being told that our existence was too controversial, about being erased, about facing hostility for simply speaking our truth, for simply being who we are. And it's very tiring and sad that we have to experience this. And this resolution is a step towards um improvement. We were
085supported by the district and community partners in holding that forum for Arab and Muslim students, creating a safe space to speak honestly, process our experience experiences and begin healing. And the collaboration of the district is extremely important. Um because that frames the way that our system works. Um that's why this resolution matters. It affirms that our stories deserve space. Our cultures deserve celebration and our voices deserve to be heard. Since last year's ArabAmerican Heritage Month, we've seen what intentional recognition can do. Students like myself have felt more empowered to speak up, organize, lead, um, host these forums, speak our truths, and feel comfortable just as any other student should feel in the school. I also want to mention that we shouldn't have to feel like someone mentioned earlier that we that the resources should be
086there for us. We shouldn't have to reach extra hard if to to you know get the resources that we need and to get the support that we need just like any other student that may not be a part of our group and in every group each person should have access to the same resources and opportunities. Thank you Yasm mean your time is up. Thank you. I believe we have an in-person speaker who I thought was virtual. Thelma Navaro. Is Thelma here? I believe she's coming. Sorry about that. I must have pressed the wrong button. Um, good evening. My name is Dema Navaro and I'm a researcher and policy advocate with the center on policy initiatives. Community schools have been a pillar of our community showing that a community centered student first approach is not only
087feasible but a necessity for our students. Taking away funds from this program will jeopardize years of development and resources that are critical for the education um and develop for the education of children and low-income households in San Diego, especially during already uncertain times. Implementing the community schools resolution was a pivotal point for San Diego Unified School District to address many of the challenges that students and family has have previously faced alone or solely with the support of teachers who are already spread thin. Community schools have been utilized have been utilizing local partnerships and community assets to address highlighted needs and priorities. These partnerships allow schools to create and improve support systems all while sharing decision-making across different partner organizations, parents, and students. Over time, this creates a shared responsibility for education outcomes in the community.
088Cutting community schools funding to balance the budget is a short-term save that risk rear that risk years of progress and a more costly future. Community schools coordinators have shared that students each day already face limited access to food, housing, and clothing affecting their school attendance and making it difficult for them to bring their best selves to school. The community schools model helps tackle these soio economic barriers from the base. improving access to basic needs and academic support. Scaling back on the funds for community schools can lead to eliminating resources that many students and families now rely on, from washing machines and hygiene products to mental health and housing assistance. We urge the district to support work um working-class families and work that are making academic success more accessible to historically marginalized students and not cut
089funding for the community schools program. Thank you. Okay, back to our virtual list. Craig Smith, please unmute. You have two minutes. Craig Smith, please unmute. We'll go to the next speaker, Lannne Frell virtual. Go ahead, Lannne. You have two minutes. Hi there. My name is Lannne and I'm a parent to a child in our district and the wife to an administrator in our district. I'm also a salon owner and hair stylist right down the way from our district building here. You might think I'm here to share on behalf of my family, but I'm actually here to talk on behalf of some of my clients. whom I call my minis. My minis are the children who come and sit in my chair for hair services, and they are some of my favorite clients. If you've ever
090had the opportunity to sit in your hair stylist or barber's chair, you understand the amazing experience that happens when you do. It's a place where your guard comes down, you feel safe and vulnerable with your thoughts and feelings. The majority of my minis who sit in my chair attend our district. And just like you, when they sit down, they open up. Most of the time they're talking about school because that's what's relevant to their lives. I've heard about everything from their favorite teachers to sports teams, safety patrols, Lego club, Dungeons and Dragons Club, leadership clubs, model UN, gay straight alliance clubs, rainbows clubs, and more. To hear about the diversity and extracurriculars that the district offers makes my heart happy. But I want to highlight a couple of clubs that I find to be extra
091special. Those are your BIPO clubs, your GSAs, and your rainbow clubs. When children's when children come to me to talk to me about these clubs, the conversation changes, it's very different. I often hear statements like, "It's where I made my first real friend." Or, "It's the only time out of the week I get to hang out with people who are similar to me." Or, "I feel safe and accepted." These environments are inclusive, and my straight son has gone to Rainbow Club at his school many times. He's learned about allyship, the importance of diversity, acceptance, and when we support all humans, through make this world a better place. It makes me realize as honor to these children in my chair that these specific clubs are extra special because they create a lifeline where support can feel
092less than or not at all from them. Here to voice any complaint as I know you hear plenty of those. I'm just here to offer my gratitude and speak on behalf of my minis because I think sometimes leadership needs to see the people like myself amongst the crowds of complaints. Leaders need to have these moments stored in their memory banks. So when the job gets political and grueling like it always does, you have these moments to look back on. I know my husband saves the handwritten cards and kind words of parents that uh kids have given him through his career. So let this be a moment of gratitude. I want to thank Sandy creating these programs. Thank you, Lann. Your time is up. That concludes non-aggenda comment. All right. Uh, thank you all for taking
093the time to provide your comments to the board and superintendent today. We appreciate your input and uh, a lot of our conversations start right here as non-aggenda public comments. So, thank you for coming tonight. Before we adjourn, uh, our, uh, our board is losing to retirement, one of really the bedrocks of our board office. Martha u, she is retiring after a long and fruitful career. And uh I wanted to give my colleagues an opportunity to uh if they'd like to say make any comments and uh trusty wires pain. This makes me sad to say this. I'm happy for her, but I'm sad for us. Martha, I call them the three M's. And um we're losing one of our rocks. We are board members. We're trustees uh who um have a modicum of success not because
094of us but because of them because of the under infrastructure that they provide for us. A lot of trustees, a lot of elected officials have staff and these three ladies are there for us when we're dropping pieces and falling down or doing whatever, but they kind of undergur us to help us to do the jobs that we do. And Martha, you're going to see more of me now than less. So don't think that you're getting rid of me, okay? I know where you live, by the way. I've been over there many times to pick up my board packets that she brings home weekends for me and so on. So, I know where you live. Okay. We love you dearly and have a wonderful retirement. Thank Trusty Bos. I mean, trust Trusty Hazen, I see your
095hand up. Well, I was shocked to learn I knew that you were going, but that today is is the last day. You've been just incredibly supportive to me. And the thing that I will miss most is your heart and your passion for doing right by our kids and your commitment to uplifting our communities. So, there's the work that you do, which is important and helpful and valuable, but what I'm going to miss most is is why you do the work. And as we were talking earlier tonight, I heard there there may be a PhD in your future. So, I am I am rooting for you um with the next the next steps on on this journey of yours. So, thank you for everything and have a wonderful retirement. [Applause] You want to say something? Yeah.
096And Martha, I'm sorry I have my back to you, but um I also wanted to express my um just sadness that we won't be able to see your smiling face. She always ha Martha always has a smile on her face um no matter what's happening. And um I think my colleague uh Dr. Dr. Whitehurst pain meant said it's Martha's job is like hurting cats with us because there's seven people here and we all have we're all busy and we all have very different schedules and different needs and uh she and the team are so I mean there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make sure these meetings go off all the events that we have to be at and uh she was always been a a strong part of that team and
097um so we're going to really miss that about you Martha and I understand today. She didn't want to have this be a big deal, but that made it even more a big deal because they um there was flowers, there was everything in the in the office. And I'm glad because I think you deserve that and more. And um we're going to really uh miss you. And I know that when because I can tell when you do this job, like Trusty Hayen said, it's not just a job to you. It's really, you know, I can tell that you um do this from your heart and it's it's more of a calling for you than just a job. So, I I'm sure it's it's bittersweet for you as well. But um thank you for everything and I
098hope you'll come back and uh visit us. Superintendent Bula, I just want you to get into some good trouble. So, I'm looking forward to that. I always appreciate your rebelliousness. Jesse Cruz, I just want to say thank you for everything you've done for us, Martha. I'm really going to miss your warm smile every time I walk into the office. And what I'm going to miss most about you is all the times you've lectured my ear off about everything in life. So, thank you. Thank you, Martha. Trusty Baldis. Yeah, Martha, we are going to miss you so much. I've like to say that my favorite part about coming into the board office is our deep conversations about everything. You push Joseph and I to think deeper about every single policy that's being brought forth. And we
099really are going to miss your smile. And I will just uh this is the point. Uh I'm a I'm a Gen Gen X guy. So, at this point is when you roll the highlight reel and uh and you play uh what's the it's so hard to say goodbye to Yes. Um but I'm going to sing it there briefly so our YouTube clip doesn't get taken down for copyright. Um but uh where I do uh I did my dissertation work in Highland Peru and they have a a song of desperid um when they say goodbye and I won't do the whole thing because I don't I'm not a singer but this song goes. So that's my song of goodbye and we'll see more of you. So bless you. Thank you. And with that, Marty, do you
100want to say something? You're usually you. I think she deserves a standing ovation. [Applause] And with that, this meeting is adjourned. a special LCAP workshop. Somebody mentioned the LCAP um will be held on April 22nd, 2025 and the next regular meeting will be held on April 29th, 2025. Thank you so much.