001Good evening. I would like to call this meeting to order. Today's date is Thursday, April 9th, 2026. This is a regular meeting of the governing board of the San Marcos Unified School District. Please let the record reflect that all board members are present with the exception of member Carlson. The San Marcos School District Board of Education meeting is a business meeting of the of the board held in public. While we welcome and encourage public participation, the expected behavior is that this meeting will be conducted in an orderly fashion. Only the person recognized by the board president may speak. While that member of the public is speaking, members of the audience must not yell or speak out regardless of whether you agree or disagree. While public comment is in progress, if you speak out of out,
002you are out of order and will be asked to leave the meeting. As adults participating in a public meeting, we need to model civility to our children and our students. On behalf of the Board of Education, we thank you in advance for helping us conduct this meeting respectfully. Mission statement. The San Marcos Unified School District is an innovative and collaborative community providing an unparalleled educational experience. Through an engaging and supportive environment, all of our students are challenged, inspired, and poised to excel. Pledge of Allegiance. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Ready? Begin. 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. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? Member Miyam.
003Uh Is it member Miyam? Yeah. Oh, Yes. Member Miyam Miyam and member Ahmad uh moved by uh member Miyam and seconded by member Ahmad to approve the agenda as presented. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 4.4, report of action taken in closed session. Tonight, the board met in closed session and conferred with legal counsel regarding existing existing litigation under government code 54956.9 D1, the San Diego Superior Court case number 37-2024-00031313 -cu-po.inc. No action was taken. Next, the board discussed student expulsion case number 0525.26. No action Excuse me, no action was taken. Next, we discussed matters pertaining to public employee employment transfer, appointment, discipline, dismissal, release, evaluation, and reassignment. No action was taken. The board then conferred with library negotiate with Excuse me, with labor negotiator Joel Garcia pursuant to government
004code 54957.6. No action was taken. Before our student board reps make their presentations, this is the last opportunity to fill out a speaker card if you wish to speak during public comment. Please complete a request form located in the in the alcove to the left of the double doors as you enter the board room. If the item you wish to speak about is on the agenda, please complete a white speaker form. If the item is not on the agenda, please complete a blue speaker form. If you wish to speak uh specifically to the public hearing items, please complete a green speaker form. Please ensure that your completed speaker form is placed in the designated bin in the alcove. Five, presentations. Report by student board member. Ms. Madison. Hi, welcome. I hope everybody had a great
005spring break. My name is Madison Sadasua, and I'm the Mission Hills student board representative. So, tonight I wanted to start just kind of updating what's happening in ASB at the moment. So, it's a election season, which means we're having our interviews, applications, and prepping a lot for next year. This year, we also implemented a new voting system. So, 4% of the votes are from the school public, 46% are from the exacts, and 50% is from the ASB class because they're the ones that see us best and really have an understanding of what happens in ASB. We're also decided to change our teams this year from different positions. So, we have the ASB president, but instead of having the vice president, treasurer, and secretary, it's now a whole executive officer team, which really helps like implement
006teamwork and really share um all jobs like together. Next, I wanted to update our sports. Um boys lacrosse had a really rough beginning to their season, but they just won 14 to 13 against CCA in overtime with eight goals in the fourth quarter. So, we're really hoping that they're going to pick it up this season, and it's going to be end up being a great season for them. Our swim and dive team also just got second at the Mount Carmel Mount Carmel Invitational, and they also beat league champions of last year, El Camino, 101 to 66. Next, our boys volleyball is 16 and three right now. They're undefeated in their league season. They are ranked second in D2 and just won last night against Army Navy. Lastly, I wanted to recognize our robotics team, the
007Iron Kodiaks. They just earned the Excellence in Engineering Award, and they've they have been working really hard and committed a lot of time and dedication into their builds, and they are headed to state championship next. So, we can't wait to see what they do there. That's all. Thank you. Thank you. 5.2, Palomar Elementary, Principal Todd Marquette. Good evening, governing board, vice president Martin, uh Dr. Johnson. Thank you guys so much for having us here tonight. Uh we always love to brag about all the awesome things we have going on at our school. Um with me tonight is my our incredibly hard-working and amazing assistant principal, Mrs. Nicole Amoto. Also this evening, we have some very special student guest speakers, and you'll be hearing from them shortly. But before I get to that, I'd like to
008go give you a brief over the overview of who we are and who we serve. We are pleased to report that our enrollment continues to steadily increase. When I joined the Palomar Elementary team in 2022, we had an enrollment of about 715 students. We currently serve approximately 790 students ranging from TK to fifth grade. Next year, we project our enrollment to be over 800 students. Approximately 9% of our current enrollment are classified as emergent bilinguals, 14% currently have IEPs, and 37% are socioeconomically disadvantaged. We have three main conditions for learning that we are focusing on this year. First, students will regularly participate in welcoming and inclusive experiences that impact learning and their sense of belonging. Our second condition is regular, differentiated small group instruction aligned to grade level essential standards, and finally, we aim to
009utilize independent practice that is engaging and respectful to the learner and is and that is congruent to learning objectives. In addition to our academic goals, we use the six pillars of character to promote our core values of trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Finally, in our ongoing effort to support the district's strategic promise, we aim to provide our students with opportunities designed to help them develop into future-ready students. Now, I'd like to turn it over to Mrs. Amoto and our special guest speakers to highlight a few of these programs. I'm not as tall as him. Thank you, and good evening. Um Palomar Elementary is committed to developing future-ready learners through meaningful student leadership opportunities, such as student council, safety patrol, and peer buddies. These programs intentionally cultivate the portrait of a graduate attributes of
010adaptability, empathy, communication, critical thinking, and leadership. By empowering students to take ownership of their learning, collaborate with others, and make a positive impact on our school community. Tonight, we have the pleasure of hearing directly from some of these student leaders as they share their experiences and reflect on how these opportunities are building the skills and mindset needed to thrive in an ever-changing world. First, through student council, students practice communication and critical thinking as they represent their peers, organize events, and solve real-world problems. >> Hi, my name is Keaton and I absolutely love being part of student council at Paloma. Did you know that I actually get to be involved in figuring out big events that'll be happening at my school? And guess what? Last year it was my idea to use trash around our school
011to create an awesome project for Earth Day and bam, that's how we created a colorful rainbow by just picking up trash. Every student from TK to fifth grade could participate in making our school litter free and more beautiful. But there's one thing that I absolutely love more than anything. It's not handing out awards during flag salute or discussing character traits of a 100 people. It's showing younger kids how to be respectful and how to be a role model. Imagine this, I'm walking around school and a little kid says, "There's a big kid." I looked around and realized they were talking about me. I used to be a TK, but now I'm the big kid. I get to build relationships with others, not just adults, because they look up to me as a role model. Also,
012I rise to the occasion, I'm more responsible and I empower others to do their best cuz they look at me as a leader. That's who I am and that's who we are, leaders. We strive to make our school, our community and our world a better place. Hello, my name is Penelope Boyer. I'm a fifth grader at Paloma Elementary and a proud member of Paloma Student Council. I absolutely love being a part of student council for four main reasons. Number one, I get to share my voice. Getting the opportunity to share my ideas and opinions for school events is truly special to me. Number two, I get to be artistic and create things for events like our neon glow dance and red ribbon week just to name a few. Number three, I like making a difference
013in school life for my fellow Paloma Panthers. Number four, younger students look up to me, so I try to always show them respect, kindness and leadership. Student Council has shown me amazing things and many opportunities. I can take my amazing experiences and carry it with me for life. Thank you for listening to me. Have a great evening. Hello, my name is Lucy Stangle and I'm a third grader at Paloma Elementary. I'm here to tell you why student council is so much fun. First of all, it gives us a big opportunity to be role models to everyone at our school. I'm also an independent person, so it gives me a great chance to work with others and let other people share their ideas. It's also fun because we get to be more involved in setting up
014with awesome school activities like our dances. We also get to go to second grade classrooms and share upcoming events. I love being part of our leadership team. Thank you. Next in safety patrol, students demonstrate leadership, responsibility and adaptability while ensuring a safe and respectful campus environment. Good evening, board members. Thank you for allowing me to be here today. My name is George Nejam and I'm a proud fifth grader at Paloma Elementary. This year I was able to participate in safety patrol. Throughout the year, I learned responsibility, leadership and confidence. Safety patrol allows us to help younger students feel more safe and secure which allows which secure which allows us to feel like leaders, good examples and role models. We learn to make decisions and manage daily tasks depending on the situation which encourages a sense
015of responsibility and independence. It also shows responsibility by coming on time. For example, 3:05 is when you should be at the lunch tables. Furthermore, 3:10 is when the gate opens, so you need to be responsible and come on time. We learn important skills every day like talking with others, working together and solving problems. Thank you for listening. Hello, board members. My name is Luciana Rhodes and I'm a fifth grader at Paloma Elementary School. I'm in multiple activities that Paloma offers including safety patrol, student council and peer buddies. But today I'm going to talk to you about Safety patrol is a big responsibility for fifth grade leaders. Before and after school, we help the flow of traffic and pedestrians coming and going from our school. In safety patrol, we help people cross the road and we
016get to be leaders by stopping cars and helping people. It makes me proud to be a part of something like this because younger kids in younger grades look up to us. They trust us to help them cross the road and keep them safe and that makes me extremely proud. But in safety, there's one more thing that we do. We help stop cars so no one gets hurt. It's fun and all, but people are always in a rush and they never want to stop to let people cross. So that's why safety patrol is so important. Safety patrol is really about the safety of our community and not just an after school program and it taught me the importance of showing up and doing your duty. It has been a great learning experience this year. I'm a
017proud to be a part of something that keeps everybody safe. Thank you for your time. Have a great rest of your night. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Andrew Salazar and I am a fifth grader at Paloma Elementary. I'm here today to talk about something that is really important to me, being part of our school's safety patrol. Every day before and after school, we help students, teachers and parents cross the street. I wear my vest, pay attention to traffic and make sure everyone gets across safely. It may seem like a small job, but it actually makes a big difference. Safety patrol teaches responsibility. I have to be focused, alert and ready to help others. It also teaches leadership because younger students look up to us and trust us to be safe. Trust
018us to keep them safe. One of the best parts about being on safety patrol is knowing that I'm helping protect my classmates. Parents trust us, teachers rely on us and students feel safer because we are there. Being on safety patrol has helped me grow. I've become more confident, more responsible and more aware of how important safety is in our community. I'm proud to be a part of something that helps keep our school safe every day. Thank you for your time and have a great rest of your evening. And finally, through peer buddies, students build empathy and strong communication skills as they support and connect with classmates of diverse needs and backgrounds. Hi, my name is Addie Meckem and I'm a fifth grader at Paloma. During my six years here, I've had the chance to participate
019in many leadership opportunities including safety patrol, student council, connection club and peer buddies. Today, I would like to talk about peer buddies. In peer buddies, I get to spend time with students in the special education class during the recess. It is fun to bond with them playing things like hide and seek, talking with them and encouraging them to participate in different activities. Sometimes I go into their classroom for fun Fridays where we watch movies and I help serve pizza. Being a peer buddy is a great feeling because I get to help others and be a role model to these kids. This experience have helped me be more patient, more friendly with new people and more thoughtful about including others. One of my favorite parts about peer buddies is seeing the students smile when we play
020together. I also love that even when I'm not with them, they still say hi to me and that brightens my day. Peer buddies has taught me that everyone is different and that's makes people unique. It helps make Paloma a better and kinder place. I'm thankful for an amazing opportunity to be a part of peer buddies and for getting to speak about it. Hi, my name is Sawyer Garts team, but most people know me as Soy. I'm so happy that Mrs. Yaya chose me to talk about my experience in peer buddies because it's one of my favorite things about Paloma Elementary School. Peer buddies is where students of all abilities are able to be with each other. I usually volunteer on the playground with students that are in first grade through fifth grade. Being a part
021of this program is a way for everyone to be with each to be with to get to be together and feel like they belong. I've gained so much I've gained so much respect for so many students and I've gained more awarenesses about different abilities. When we are out on the playground, our buddies can run, jump and get all their wiggles out before they go back in the classroom. Another thing I love being in peer buddies is watching my classroom peers work and play alongside their buddies. I get to see how kind and patient they are in ways that I normally don't get to see when we're in our own classrooms. I've learned a lot about myself, too. It makes me feel proud to be able to step in and help without being asked. I've learned
022that I'm a good listener, not just when my buddy's talking, but with their body language or how they're acting. An interesting thing that not everyone knows is I was in community friends preschool program with SMUSD when I was little. It was my first chance to learn with special needs students and it's where I first learned that having a disability only equals to a different ability. This fall, I'm planning to volunteer for the shooting stars program which is a basketball pro basketball program for children with special needs and I'm really hoping that there will be more opportunities like peer buddies in the middle school. Thank you for listening and have a good have the best have a great day. You can see some of the unbelievable student leaders we have on this campus. It's a tough
023act to follow. Um, before I close, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our local community, our incredibly supportive PTO, our generous PTO funds several integral programs throughout the year, including our STEM, art, and garden programs. Also, every year they provide teacher grants aimed at supporting future-ready classrooms, and they're integral in planning and hosting school community events. We're very grateful for their ongoing support. Finally, looking forward to the future, we're excited about the upcoming rebuild at Paloma Elementary. This summer we'll be replacing 21 aging portable classrooms prior to our major rebuild in the near future. And in closing, I want to express how deeply proud I am of work we accomplish at Paloma every day. It's truly amazing place where amazing people make amazing things happen every day. Thank you, and go Panthers! Can
024I Yeah. Can we I want to say something. Will Sarah remember a month Yeah, I really want to say Mr. Marquette, Mrs. Emoto, this I mean, you guys have amazing students, parents. I mean, they're great. I just want to speak to you students. We have a lot of speakers come and speak to us and I mean, by I mean, you guys were amazing public speakers. And even more so, the fact that you guys are living as leaders and recognizing that you guys are leaders and the responsibility that it comes with, it's a great, you know, example maturity you guys have. I'm so very, very proud of you. And parents, thank you so much. I mean, this is just amazing. Um, Andy, I think you're up next and I don't know how you're going to follow,
025but I actually would like to piggyback off what Sarah said. You students have learned something that I think a lot of adults still haven't learned. Um, and that is service. You guys are serving your community, you're serving your classmates, you're serving the kids that are younger than you. Um, you're serving the parents and all the adults that travel around your campus. And just hearing your stories just brought such a smile to my face and um, the lesson that you're that you've already learned at such an young age, you're so far ahead of so many people, including a lot of grown-ups. So, keep serving. It's it's a beautiful gift and I hope you guys feel as blessed to to serve um, as your classmates do to receive your service. So, great job. Thank you, Paloma Panthers.
026Um, Oh, yeah. Let's do a picture. Uh, Paloma Panthers, if if we could do a photo. Have a good Friday. Well, you know, what what can I tell you? Well, thank you to Paloma Elementary and then Todd Mark, Principal Marquette. I know every this past Monday I walked my kids and I saw them in action. All right, I walked my son to Paloma on Monday and I saw them in action and and I was very proud to see them out there. Uh, 5.3, Superintendent Dr. Johnson will highlight important district issues and events. Thank you. Yes, indeed, if if I were chairing tonight's meeting, I would entertain a motion to skip right ahead and let's move on. I don't know how you follow kids like that, but they were doing did a great job. So, I
027just have a few quick updates for the board this evening. We just had spring break, so it's only been a few weeks since we were here last. Just want to highlight I had the opportunity right before break to attend Cal State San Marcos annual Superintendent's breakfast with Dr. Neufeld, who is the president at CSUSM. We do this annually and I really do just want to highlight uh, um, uh, this this this morning and express my appreciation to Dr. Neufeld for her continued partnership with our local K-12 districts. This is an opportunity, it's just a couple hours in the morning we get to come together with the superintendents and then members of her staff, as you can see here, uh, to talk about the K-12 and higher ed partnerships that we have. I think we're pretty
028unique in this area that that we have very tight ties with our local university here. And so, we got to talk about a lot of different issues. This time the the conversation really centered around AI and some of the challenges and the possibilities and just the way things are shifting so quickly for all of us uh, throughout the system. So, um, just wanted to express my appreciation to Dr. Neufeld and her team. Also, we just heard from our Paloma friends about um, their inclusive activities. Uh, last a couple weeks ago Discovery Elementary held an ability awareness fair. You're You're aware that the C has been doing this for a couple of years. Discovery did this year. And the highlight for at Discovery was a couple of Olympians from from the Paralympics, um, who were there
029sharing about their experience, shared all about their prosthetics, took them off, put them back on. It was a lot of fun. These were TK students I when I was there, they were and they were enthralled with this whole thing. Um, also got to hold Dr. Campbell that was there as well. We got to hold real Olympic medals from Beijing, from Was there Rio? They had Rio, too. They're legit. When you see them on the on the cameras, like they're like they're weighty and they're legit. They're really cool. So, these guys, yeah, these guys were medal winners. So, that was a lot of fun and I I just I'm so encouraged by these these efforts that are spreading around our schools. Also have the opportunity since we last met to honor our district certificated employees of
030the year, two of them. We the size of our district, we're allowed to choose two teachers of the year. Danielle Hoisington at first grade teacher at La Costa Meadows. We got to go up there and surprise her at an assembly. That was a lot of fun. And we got to surprise Robert Meter at San Marcos Middle School, sixth grade history teacher. Both very, very deserving representatives of the amazing teachers we have in all of our classrooms across the district. Um, we will highlight and honor these folks again at the recognition event, the employee recognition event at the end of the year. Also got to honor our district classified employee of the year, Joseph Nielsen, campus supervisor over at La Mirada Academy. His wife was able to join us. We we let her know that that
031this was going to happen. I think we got a Did we get a Did we get a tear, a single tear from from Joseph maybe in this moment? I think maybe we did. It was a lot of fun. Um, so that it's always fun fun to honor the the incredible work happening uh, across our campuses. And we also each year highlight a district administrator of the year, and this year was Nick in purchasing. So, we got to go over there and surprise him. His wife and his daughter came and she was You can see she was really more interested in the cake than anything else, but that's okay. She's 5 years old and that's what 5-year-olds should be focused on. So, congratulations to all of our employees of the year for this year and we
032look forward to highlighting them and honoring them again in May. Also, just want to highlight our This is Assistant Principal Week, April 6th through 10th, and I want to highlight all of our amazing I missed I missed a comment there back back there from somebody. But, our assistant principals are often the the powerhouse behind the the the spotlight, making things happen, IEP meetings, chasing after friends who are having a fun day, and writing reports and all kinds of things. So, they they do a lot of good hard work. If you ever notice them on the campus, they're almost always wearing tennis shoes because they're on the go all the time. These are folks who do really, really good work. So, it's our honor to um, to to honor and highlight our assistant principals in Assistant
033Principal Week. Uh, we've already heard from our Paloma friends tonight. Also on tonight's agenda, we're about to hear an update on a really amazing program at Mission Hills. It's our peer-to-peer program. I want to just give Tiffany a a little bit of a preview and just say that this is a such an amazing amazing program. We're so, so excited with the of the work that the kids are leading, planning, and executing themselves. Um, as the board is aware, we also have items related to CFD 21 and we are going to appoint uh the board is before the board tonight is appointment of new members of the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee. So, a little bit of a lighter agenda this evening, but we are looking forward to getting this action taken care of. Any questions I
034can answer for the board? Great. Thank you. All right, 5.4 strategic promise update goals 1 and 2. MHHS peer-to-peer program. Okay, I'm going to invite our peer counselors up. Um and we have let's see, is Mr. Dawson and Ms. Grenier will be accompanying them. Um I am not going to give a big preview because the students have been having this they have their presentation ready to go. And as we have learned, we just need to get out of our students' way. Good evening, board members, district representatives, and our guests. Um my name is Charlie Grenier and I am the counselor for the peer-to-peer program at Mission Hills High School. My name is Lisa Felice and I'm the teacher for the peer-to-peer counseling program. And today we are honored to present updates about the peer-to-peer program
035and all the exciting things that are happening at Mission Hills High School. And it is a student-led initiative focused on supporting mental health and building a stronger, more connected campus community. And with the lovely students behind me, they're each going to share a different part of the program including our mission, the services that they offer, and the impact that we are starting to see on campus. So, without further ado, I'm going to give it away to them. To advance? You see on the screen the arrow to the right? You have to click the left mouse button to Okay. Thank you. Hi, my name is Jelani. Our mission as peer counselors are to create a welcoming and inclusive community where students feel safe, supported, and heard. We strive to provide a judgment-free zone where students can
036be connected and supported with empathy and understanding. We also work to break the stigma around mental health by encouraging open conversations, providing resources, and helping students feel less alone. At our core, our our program truly believes that students per- students supporting students better supports the students' well-being. The main goal of our program are to enhance student support, improve behavioral health, and ensure students feel safe and welcomed on our campus. Based on our data so far, we have already seen so much impact in student well-being. Students are engaging with the wellness center, co- learning coping skills, and reporting positive emotional changes after receiving peer support. This shows that student-led programs do have a positive effect on students' well-being. I have to lower it a little bit. It's okay. Hi, everybody. My name is Tania Beltran. I
037am a senior at Mission Hills. And um oh, no, that didn't go to the next slide. It's okay. It's okay. Our program offers a variety of services to meet students where they are. These include school-wide events and outreach activities, classroom presentations and workshops, tours of the wellness center, and my personal favorite, one-on-one check-ins and appointments. This is my personal favorite because it just um creates like that bond with other students and that um helps them into I feel like that helps them go back to class and start learning again and just like knowing that their support system is right there is just like astonishing. I wish I had that a long time ago. Um we also collaborate with teachers, counselors, and staff to ensure students are supported in the best way possible. These different services
038help make support help make support accessible and visible on campus. We also recently just had our annual site from the Children's Partnership, the organization that helps fund the program, where we got to show them all that we do. It's not the right, it's the left. Hi, I'm Adrian and I'm here to tell you about how peer counseling is more than just a class. It's a foundation for our wellness center. The students go through a year-long course where they learn about important skills such as active listening, communication, conf- confidentiality, and of course mental health awareness. We practice a lot through role play and real-life scenarios in order to prepare for students who may need our assistance. What is different about our course from others is that we get to use our skills in real-life scenarios such
039as our wellness center, where we our students support other students through our year-long training. Another thing that's special about our course is that we're able to use or get college credits through our dual enrollment class, where we speak to real professionals and learn about the workforce that we may be going into. My favorite part is learning about the new careers in mental health that I didn't know about and expanding my understanding of those that I did. Overall, it's just a great environment where we get to make a real impact on the campus as well as future our understanding of the career that we may want to enter. Good afternoon, board members. My name is Leilani and I'm in peer counseling two at Mission Hills. This year has been an exciting time of growth for our
040peer-to-peer counseling program. Our wellness center opened in November, started with the soft launch, and then expanded to the full campus. Since then, our student participation has continued to grow. We were honored to host Arshana Patel, whose visit highlighted and affirmed the impact of our peer-to-peer counseling program. We've also expanded with peer counseling two, where students complete internships and gain hands-on experience supporting their peers. In addition, students can now earn paid internship hours and dual enrollment college credit, helping connect this program to future career pathways. Overall, these updates show how our program is growing both in its impact on campus and in preparing students for the future. In just 6 months, our program has provided over 400 peer support sessions. Around 88% of students report feeling better after receiving support, and 92% report prepared to return
041back to class and learn. We have also trained 39 student leaders in peer counseling one and two, giving them skills in empathy, communication, and leadership. These numbers reflect a real need and show that this program is making a difference. Hi, my name is Emmy and I'm one of the PC2s that work directly in the wellness center. Um I'm going to share my story about how I got to know about this program and what my experience has been like. When I first heard about this program, I remember feeling really like a appreciative of the fact that people are taking this initiative to help support the students on our campus. I had a lot of friends who were going through rough times, but didn't really have any way to contact counselors or were just feeling too nervous
042to contact them to receive support. So, when I saw this opportunity, I took it immediately so I could be that person on campus to help my peers. Um a day in the life of a peer counselor in the wellness center is just we have a lot of students walk in and they can do walk-ins after getting passed by their teacher and we'll help support them any way that we can. We also can get assigned students um that are regulars and we can have one-on-one meetings with them and see them regularly to help support them even further. This program has made a big impact on our school. I think that a lot of more students are engaging with mental health because this message is coming from their peers who understand them and are going through the
043same things that they are. So, they're much more interested in learning and supporting their own mental health. And finally, I think that overall, being a peer counselor is important because you are a leader on campus that students can come to for support and can open to. Thank you. Good evening, board members. My name is Sophia and I'm currently a junior attending Mission Hills High School and I'm in peer counseling one, which means unlike Emmy, I'm not working directly in the wellness center yet. I will be joining peer counseling two next year. But from my experience and my introduction to this class actually was through another program called Breathe and Bloom at our school, which was a mindfulness program about mindful eating, mindful habits, and overall mental health advocacy. And it was run by two college
044interns, which I had such a great time with. However, I had not seen that being promoted as well as I had wanted to and that inspired me to want to seek out other opportunities to advocate for mental health, and I think this program is a very strong example at our school as to why mental health should be both be advocated and an example as to how it should be advocated for. Um I had originally not thought I would be part of a program like this, but um as I learned more and more of this program, the more I grew onto the concept of being able to support students um with similar what Amy mentioned previously, how students may not want to approach school counselors for the fear of it maybe reaching their parents, the fact
045that they visited a counselor in school whatsoever alarming their parents, or just the fact that they're visiting a counselor not knowing exactly what counselors do even. But with peer counseling, I'm able to see that students, even when I'm not in the wellness center working, I have students approaching me and asking for advice or asking, "Can I approach wellness center? Uh is it okay if I go in the middle of class? Can I receive that support?" I say, "Yes, of course you can receive that support. That's what we're here for, and that's what we are trained for through our two classes." Um and I'm seeing the impact with how students of slowly are updating me of, "Oh, I was able to color with them today. I'm not sure if I'll speak with them today. I'm like
04650% there." And slowly seeing them, "I really like this um counselor. I really like this peer counselor. I've been talking to them. I've been I've booked an appointment with them, and it's really been helping me through the whether it's academic struggle or a mental health struggle in which they um or even a relationship struggle, whether it's with parents. And having students who understand that it's really crucial in our school environment. Uh I think it's a very important to have that peer relationship. Um and unlike having it with adults who are on our campus, students really understand and can sympathize with that. And I believe it's really important for our campus. Thank you. There we go. Um hi, my name is Deru. I'm a junior at Mission Hills High School, and I'm also in Peer Counseling
0471. Um I heard about Peer Counseling 1 or just like the um program in general through my yoga teacher. She saw how I interacted with my friends and my peers in her class, and she recommended it as an option for me. Um and as soon as I heard about the message and the goals of the program, I knew that I really wanted to be involved in it because just the idea of students being able to go to their peers and someone who has a more likely chance to understand them um rather than going to an adult that may not um know what they're going through, really like um made me like res- it I really resonated with that. And um I'm really like passionate about wanting to help people in the future as well, so
048I thought that it would give me all the tools necessary to do it in the future. And the um content that we learn in the class can not only um help me help students next year or in the future, but it can also help me help myself, too, because um the lessons that we learn in our class is really like just life lessons that we can take with ourselves in general, like empathy, um healthy versus unhealthy relationships, compassion, all that stuff. So I think just in general this program is really important to our school and to be there for like my peers and to have that support available for them. Hi everyone. My name is Sadie. Um I'm a peer counselor two at Mission Hills High School. And here's some photos from throughout our school
049year of some events we have. So we mostly do events to stay engaged with our students all around campus. So if you look, wait. If I So like right here, we did a gratitude chain where we had students write down something they're grateful for, and we actually hung it up in our center. So we do a lot of change like Red Ribbon Week or like for Valentine's Day, and it's just a way for us to really connect with students and for them to like get to know us a little bit. Um in a lot of these photos, you could see like our grand opening where we had um a lot of families, friends come and just to see like the hard work that paid off and for them to just get like the gist of
050what we do at campus and for them to really understand why we do it. And it was really fun. And yeah, thank you. Hello again. Um thank you for hearing about our program. The Peer Counseling Program and Wellness Center have been an important part of our campus community. Through this work, students are not only receiving support, but also developing skills that will impact their futures. Most importantly, we are helping create a culture where students feel safe to ask for help and empowered to support one another. We are grateful for your time and support. Thank you. Yeah. Um I just want to say what a great example of empathy in action. And thank you all for participating in this program. I'm so I'm so happy that we have this program, and I'm so grateful for you
051guys for participating in it. Um there I mean, just the you guys participating in the way that you've described it, being able to remove the stigma um and the barriers to our students and to get the help that they need or at least the access bringing it more accessible to them. Um I mean, thank you. Uh I'm so grateful for you. I know it's a great program, and it's great for your futures as well. Uh I hope you will recognize the um priceless, you know, um impact that you're having on so many people's lives. Thank you. I just wanted to tag in on what Sarah said. Um I visited I think it was last spring we came to the um to the wellness center before it was done, right? Before it was And then last
052semester we came to see it after it was all completed. And the transformation of that space has been truly impressive. Like it looks it's a place where you can tell students can go and even if they just need to take a minute, right? But what you're doing individually as part of this program um for our students, just having advocates for mental health that are on campus with your peers, e- we even when you're not in the wellness center, when you're in your classes, you're you're in tune with that, and that matters to the full student population, to all the teachers that are there also. So thank you for everything you're doing. I can most certainly say that this is full circle for me as some of you already know, I'm a I was a peer
053counselor founding at the middle school and at the high school. Um thank you for saving lives. I mean, up front, thank you for saving lives. And uh to the advisors and the counselors, also thank you for help guiding them and, you know, grounding them as well as the student body. So thank you guys. Thank you. Have a good evening. All right. Oh, yeah. We Could we take a picture with you? We'll We'll do it fast. Autographs, yes. I'm Grandpa. Did you just call yourself Grandpa? That is that's aging both of us, friend. I've met a couple of you already. I was like 5 years No. Thank you guys. It's cross. Okay, yes. Uh 6.0 communication session. Uh per education code 35145.5 and government code 5 4954.3, members of the public have the opportunity to provide
054public comment on any agenda item as well as any non-agenda item that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the board. Per board bylaw 9323, individual speakers will be allowed up to 3 minutes to address the board on each agenda or non-agenda item. Except for our union representatives who have 5 minutes in accordance with board bylaw 9323. Public Excuse me. Public comments will be limited to 20 minutes per topic. In an effort to hear as many speakers as possible, comment times may be shortened depending on the number of uh comments received. Generally, if there are seven or fewer speakers, each speaker will be given 3 minutes. If there are eight to 10 speakers, each speaker will be limited to 2 minutes. If there are 11 or more speakers, each speaker will be limited to 1
055minute. One speaker's time may not be seated to another speaker. If there are more than 20 speakers, which could would consume more than 20 minutes, all speakers who are not able to speak during the 20 minutes allocated for each item will have the opportunity to address the board at the end of the meeting. This will allow the board to conduct the board's business during the meeting. Per the Brown Act, members of the board are limited in their ability to respond to statements or questions made during public comment. Unless an item has been placed on the published agenda, there shall be no deliberation nor action taken. The board may one acknowledge receipt of the information or report and comment, two refer to staff for further study, or three refer the matter to the next agenda. A
056recording is made of all public open sessions of the governing board. Again, on behalf of the governing board of education, we thank you in advance for helping us conduct this meeting respectfully. Lisette, do we have any speakers? Yes. Megan McNicholas. Hi. Good evening, members of the board and district leadership. My name is Megan McNicholas. I'm a parent of two at Discovery Elementary School. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight and for your service to our students and community. Our school facilities are publicly funded community assets. They belong to all of us and how they are accessed and how fees are structured matter. Last month, the district presented a thoughtfully developed nine-group system for facility use. This structure reflected an effort to align with state law and assign fees based on the type of use,
057level of impact, and cost recovery. In that system, churches were placed in one of the higher groups, reflecting that their use, while valuable, does not directly support school programs in the same way as lower groups, like PTO events, youth sports, theater programs, or city partnerships. However, the board chose to override that placement and reduce the fee specifically for churches. During that discussion, a number of comments made by board members I found concerning, including describing the adjustment as the very least we could do as a gesture of appreciation, suggesting that churches should be moved to a lower cost tier and have additional fees removed. I want to be clear. This is not about questioning the value of churches or the role that they play in our community. Many organizations, including faith-based groups, contribute meaningfully. The concern
058here is about fairness and responsible stewardship of district resources. The original group placement reflected a neutral, criteria-based approach. Adjusting that placement after the fact, based on preference or perceived partnership, undermines the integrity of the system itself. It also creates imbalance. Many organizations that directly serve students and families, often with deep ties to our schools, remain subject to increased costs without similar consideration by the board. And there are financial implications. The proposed fees were designed to cover actual usage costs along with a small additional amount to support the district itself. Reducing fees for one group shifts those costs back onto the district's general fund at a time that is already limited and we are making cuts. It's also important to recognize that if any group found the fees unsustainable and chose not to use the facilities,
059the district would not incur any cost from that. But by lowering fees in advance, we reduce potential revenue while still carrying the expenses of our district. Public school facilities should remain neutral and equitably managed. Policies should be applied consistently without preference and in alignment with the principle that the community use should not create a financial burden on the district. I respectfully urge the board to revisit this decision and ensure that the tiered grouping system that is applied as intended with clarity, consistency, and fairness for all users. Thank you for your time and continued service. Katie Von Berg. Hello. My name is Katie Von Berg. I'm a parent of two, one at Discovery, one at Sands. And my speech is very similar to Megan's, but so I might skip around a little bit here, but at
060last month's board meeting, I was really concerned by some of the comments that were made by board member I'm sorry, I don't want to mispronounce her last name. Meum? Meum? Okay, sorry. Um she mentioned that she thinks that churches belong in tier two and because they are regular weekend community stakeholders and that we should put them in that lower tier and not get all of our costs back. And these comments raised concern for me about equity and consistency on how this policy is applied. And I want to be clear that I understand that tier two organizations don't don't pay the capital direct costs. So we're actually kind of losing money when we rent out to them. Um so this includes some of our partners like City of San Marcos and the City Youth Sports Council.
061And I don't know that that's really a direction that I agree with either. Um I think this deserves some reconsideration because these groups are frequent high users of the district facilities and excluding them from long-term maintenance and replacement costs shifts the burden back to the district's general fund and we're currently cutting teaching positions. That concern becomes even greater when we discuss expanding tier two further. And again, this is not about questioning faith or intent. Many churches and nonprofits do amazing work. My concern is about fairness, consistency, and alignment with our board policy 1330, which emphasizes that community use of facilities should not result in an expense to the district and that reduced cost use is tied to direct support of educational goals. Um many nonprofits, like our sports and our arts, um serve the children
062and families and do amazing things just like those churches do. When our one category receives preferential treatment over others, you're effectively asking them us to subsidize that use. Um public schools must remain welcoming and neutral spaces, and this means that facility facilities use policies should be uniformly applied and free from religious and ideological preference and fair to all community organizations. Um so as you consider that um in the future, I respectfully ask the board to reaffirm your commitment to equitable cost recovery and long-term stewardship of the district facilities and standards. Lastly, I want to take a minute to apologize for a misstep I made during the February board meeting. At that time, I incorrectly stated the dollar amount of salary increase that Dr. Johnson has received over the past few years. The number I stated
063was not accurate and I want to take responsibility for that. In full transparency, and maybe a reminder to double-check even when we are using technology that feels very confident, I will say that it may have been a moment of relying a bit too heavily on AI and not enough on primary sources. So for anyone interested in reviewing the accurate and publicly available information, I encourage you to visit the Transparent California website. Um thank you. And quick plug, there's a multicultural fair at Discovery in a couple of weeks on April 25th. If any of you would like to come, we'll send you an email. Thank you. Thank you so much. Jonathan Maraz. Good evening, board members, Superintendent Johnson, and members of the executive team. My name is Jonathan Maraz. I am speaking as a community member,
064parent, and taxpayer. I respectfully request that you pull item 9.11. I will also be speaking on item 9.16 uh for further review. The agenda states that competitive bidding would result in no benefit to the district. I struggle to understand how we can honestly make the determination without actually going through a competitive bidding process. The signs to specifically protect the taxpayers, ensure fair pricing, and promote transparency. I was going to read all this. If you guys pull the item, it doesn't make sense. It says we're displacing students that have been displaced for 2 years. How does that make sense? And I know Aaron, I know the team here, but I'm also a taxpayer. We need to be good stewards of our community funds. Just look at the item. Why are we not bidding out a $500,000
065expense? I like Kia. They've been working on this project for 2 years. Why are we continuing to use them? So I recommend you look at the process at the item and review why are we avoiding that. As a taxpayer, I don't trust anybody. How am I going to trust this process? Be transparent. I'm going to go into item 9.16. KOC. KOC is a great program for the community. Why are we increasing fees in 2026-2027 when the district is giving back $2.2 million to the state from 2023-2024 funds? How is that a benefit to the community? You guys are going to hear a lot from me. I'm going to keep an eye on the finances. I am I have two kids in the district. Just keep an eye on it. That's the We are here board
066members are here to look out for our funds. If you have any questions, you can reach out to me. And I am a little disappointed that I wasn't selected for for CBOC. But I am um public funds. Let's do our Let's do Let's do the best to be transparent and um keep our administrators in check. When Andy got hired here 6 years ago, I told him if something happened, I was going to keep an eye on him. So, let's do that, okay? Thank you, Jonathan. All right. Yes. Yeah. Oh, no, you'd have to direct it to staff. So, yeah. Do you want to I was just asking you. Oh, okay. The speakers are available. Yeah. All right, thank you. Um seven, I believe. Is that where we were? No, seven. All right, the ques- the
067question from the board member was it are we allowed to respond? So, uh I'm not sure what you're thinking of. So, um if if there was an item that was that you're want to speak to that is not on the agenda, brief comments are appropriate. Um if there is an item that uh is on the agenda later on, we can discuss it at the time when it's called. For consent. Yeah, good. Take the opportunity to respond um to the two speakers that commented about the last meeting. Um you two ladies, thanks for coming out. Um I will just speak for my own personal comments to hopefully clarify. I appreciate the insights that you guys both brought. Um the comments that I made last month were around the what felt a little bit arbitrary 5% increase
068for religious organizations in the tier in the tiered bracket that they were in. So, they were being charged supposed to be charged 5% more than the groups in their tier. Um so, just if that was ambiguous or if that was unclear, um my comments were to level the playing field for those three groups that were in that tier. And just to confirm with staff, they remained in that tier. It was just the 5% that was taken off. So, they're the same as other nonprofit organizations. Correct? All right, thank you. Uh does anyone have anything they would like to report? 7.0 Members of the board? No. Very good. Um let's see here. Eight action item, move to uh appoint uh yep, action item. We'll go ahead and move to our CFD. Um Okay. For action items
0698.1 through 8.6, the governing board will be acting as the legislative body of the community of community facilities district number 21 of San Marcos of the San Marcos Unified School District. Item 8.1, public hearing regarding proposed CFD number 21 of the San Marcos Unified School District. This is the time and place designated for the public hearing on the proposed establishment of CFD number 21, the proposed rate and method of apportionment of special tax within CFD number 21 and incurring of bonded indebtedness indebtedness by CFD number 21. I declare the public uh hearing now open. Do I need to do this? Um oh, yeah, it's right there. Aaron, please provide information regarding proposed CFD number 21. CFD number 21 will provide school facilities funding as agreed to under the provisions of the school facilities funding agreement
070by and among San Marcos Unified School District and the property owner approved by the governing board on February 12th, 2026. Key Analytics has prepared and submitted the CFD report and proposed CFD number 21, which has been made available to the governing board as part of these proceedings. Has the staff confirmed that all notices, filings, and publications for these proceedings have been completed? All publications of notices and filings of these public hearings for proposed CFD number 21 have been accomplished and are on file at the district office. Those actions are shown on the filing list provided to the board members. Have any written protests been received from any person or party to as to these proceedings, the special tax or proposed bonded indebtedness indebtedness of CFD number 21? No written protests have been received. Liseth, is
071there anyone present who who wishes to speak in favor of CFD number 21? There are no speakers. Great. It's uh Liseth, is there anyone present who wishes to speak against or protest generally? There are no speakers. Good. Um that's it. Yeah. One last thing. No. Uh if there are no more comments, I will declare a public clo- hearing clo- hearings closed. Public The public hearings in regards to CFD number 21 are now closed. Aaron, has staff determined whether there is a majority protest as to the establishment of proposed CFD number 21, the furnishing of the specified types of facilities or services within proposed CFD number 21, the levy of the special taxes within proposed number 21, the levy of the special taxes within proposed number 21, the necessity to incur bonded indebtedness, or other related
072matters? No protests have been received as to any pending matters related to the proposed CFD number 21, hence there is no majority protest. Item 8.2, the next matter on the agenda is consideration for resolution number 28-25/26, which reads as follows: Resolution of the governing board of the San Marcos Unified School District determining the validity of prior proceedings, establishing community facilities num- district number 21 of the San Marcos Unified School District, authorizing the levy of special taxes within community facilities district number 21, establishing an appropriations limit, making certain findings, calling an election, and taking related actions. Do I have a motion to adopt resolution 28-25/26? Moved by member Herrick. Seconded by member Amad. Amad, yep. To adopt resolution number 28-25/26 as presented. All those in favor, say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right.
073Item 8.3 as adoption of resolution 28- 25/26 formed CFD number 21 and addressed related matters. The next agenda item is discussion of resolution number 29-25/26, which reads as follows: Resolution of the governing board of the San Marcos Unified School District acting as the legislative body of community facilities district number 21 of the San Marcos Unified School District, determining the necessity to incur bonded indebtedness indebtedness in an amount not to exceed $6 million within community facilities district number 21 of the San Marcos Unified School District, calling an election and taking related actions. Do I have a motion to adopt resolution 29- / -25/26? I'll move to approve it. Moved by member Amad, uh seconded by member Herrick. To adopt resolution number 29-25/26 as presented. All those in favor, say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries.
074Item 8.4, resolution number 28-25/26 and number 29- 25/26. The assistant superintendent, business services, is is the acting election official for the described combined special tax and bond election of community facilities num- district number 21 of the San Marcos Unified School District. Aaron, have you received the waivers from all the landowners that are necessary to conduct the combined special tax and bond election of community facilities number 21 of the San Marcos Unified School District at this time? The district has received a waiver from each landowner within the boundaries of CFD number 21 permitting the election to be held at this time, and the waiver was duly completed and signed. Does the assistant superintendent of business services acting as election official for CFD number 21 concur in the request to hold the election less than 125 days
075after adoption of the resolution of formation of CFD number 21? Yes, I concur. Has the CFD number 21 election officer official received the ballots from the qualified voters within CFD number 21? If so, uh please declare the results of the election. The special election called for CFD number 21 on the combined special tax and bond election has been conducted. The result of the election is 69 votes in favor and zero votes opposed. The certification of election results will be attached to resolution number 30-2526, which is presented for your consideration. Item 8.5, resolution number 30-25/26, resolution of the governing board of the San Marcos Unified School District acting as a legislative body of the Community Facilities District number 21 canvassing the results of the elections held within Community Facilities District number 21 of the San Marcos
076Unified School District. Do I have a motion to adopt resolution number 30-25/26? So moved. Moved by member Herrick. I'll second. Seconded by member Ahmad. To adopt resolution number 30-25/26 as presented, all those in favor say Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you for bearing with us. Item 8.6, conduct conduct first reading of ordinance number 01-25/26. Ordinance of the Community Facili- ordinance of Community Facilities District number 21 of the San Marcos Unified School District authorizing the levy of a special tax within Community Facilities District number 21. Do I have a motion to present first reading the ordinance by title only? I move that ordinance 012526 be presented by reading of the title only and that the clerk forgo the reading of the entire ordinance. Thank you, member Lena. I'll second. Oh. No, I'll second. Thank you.
077Uh member Herrick. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, motion carries. So, I'm just going to skip down to Okay. The title of ordinance 01-2526 reads as follows: Ordinance of Community Facilities District number 21 of the San Marcos Unified School District authorizing the levy of a special tax within Community Facilities District number 21. Copies of proposed ordinance number 01-25/26 are available at the district's business offices for public inspection. It is expected that ordinance number 01-25/26 will be presented for its second reading and considered for adoption at the next regular meeting of the governing board on May 14th, 2026. The matter related to CFD number 21 are now complete. The governing board will no longer be acting as a legislative body of CFD number 21 for the remaining items of the governing board
078agenda. 8. There you go. Yep. All right, we're moving on to 8.7, appointment citizens bond oversight committee members. Aaron. The Citizens Bond Oversight Committee for Measure JJ was first established 1 year ago and they've been meeting since May of 2025. The Oversight Committee is composed of seven members and we currently have three vacancies on that committee. Um we've advertised for the vacancies over a 4-week period and applications were due on March 25th. A small committee commit- met to review the 15 applications that were received and rated them based on a rubric. Um we first ensured that each applicant um qualified based on the representative category that needed to be filled verifying that the applicant was not an employee or a vendor of the district. And we also wanted to have individuals that represented various schools
079and areas within the district. Um we then looked for individuals that have some education or experience in either public finance, construction management, architecture, or contract law, which is the preferred type of experience for members listed in the committee's bylaws. Um according to the rubric, um the staff is recommending the following three individuals be appointed to fill the CBOC vacancies. John Mosher to fill the citizens senior citizens organization representative, Josefina Trazlavina Washington to fill the position of a parent of a currently enrolled student, and Emily Mullins to fill the role of a parent of a student currently enrolled and active in a PTO as she is currently the president of Paloma PTO and the vice president of San Marcos Middle School. Um staff recommends that the board officially appoint these three individuals to serve a 2-year
080term on the bond oversight committee. Okay. Is there any discussion? I just wanted to thank Aaron for that rubric. It was very helpful. You're welcome. Great. Do I have a motion to appoint the following representatives for the citizen bond citizens bond oversight committee? John Mosher as a senior citizens organization representative, Josefina Trazlavani Lavanya Washington as a parent representative, and Emily Mullins as the parent and PTO representative. I'll move to approve. I'll second. Moved by member Ahmad, seconded by member um Miyam. No. Yes. Yeah, I got it. To appoint those just named as the representatives of citizens bond oversight committee. Student board Oh, there's no student. Okay. Um all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Don, it's just great to see you showing up month after month and just
081have the level of involvement that you do, so um happy to see your name. Thank you. Thank you. Motion carries. Yes. All right. 8.8, public hearing to receive comments on the school facility facilities fee justification report. Aaron. Oh. Yeah, tonight the board will consider adopting a resolution to increase the level one statutory school fees commonly referred to as developer fees based on a justification study that was recently completed. Prior to adopting an increase in fees, the government code requires the board to conduct a public hearing. The district has provided proper notice of the public hearing and made the school facilities fee justification report available to the public for 10 days in advance of this meeting as required. This public hearing is now open. Lisette, is there anyone who wishes to speak? There are no speakers.
082This public hearing is now closed. 8.9, resolution 31-25/26, resolution of the governing board of the San Marcos Unified School District approving an increase in the statutory school fees improved on new residential and commercial industrial construction pursuant to Education Code section and Government Code 65995. Aaron. So, now that the public hearing has been conducted, the board may now take action to adopt this resolution, which will allow the district to increase the statutory level one school fees that are being charged for new residential and commercial developments located within the school district. Prior to taking action to increase school fees, the district had to complete a fee justification study and ours was com- completed by a consultant, Key Analytics. The study must demonstrate a nexus between the fees being charged and the need for facilities and projected cost
083of those facilities. Based on the projected facility cost impacts to the district, the study determined that the district is justified and may lev- levy the maximum level one statutory school fees. The State Allocation Board sets the maximum level one fee, which were increased by 3.56% at its January 28th, 2026 meeting. The new maximum fee a unified school district may charge for residential development is $5.38 um cents per square foot and commercial indus- industrial construction is 87 cents per square foot. The level one fee would be applied to any new residential or commercial development that is located outside of one of our established CFDs. Properties within any of our CFDs may pay a special tax in lieu of paying this level one developer fee. Um following adoption of the resolution tonight, the new fees will become
084effective in 60 days. Do I have a motion to adopt resolution number 31-25/26? Resolution of the governing board of the San Marcos Unified School District improving an Excuse me, approving an increase in the statutory school fees imposed on new residential and commercial industrial construction pursuant to Education Code and Government Code section 65995. I'll move to approve it. Moved by member Ahmad. Seconded by member Miyam. To adopt resolution 3125- /26 as presented. All in favor All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. 8.10 student expulsion case number 05-25.26 governing code 48912. Dr. Kemp. The governing board has heard details of this case in closed session. Staff is recommending approval of student expulsion case number 05-25.26. Thank you. Do I have a motion to approve student expulsion case number 05-25.26? So moved. Second. Moved
085by member Herrick and seconded by member Miyam. Uh to approve the student expulsion case number 05-25.26. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. 8.11 uh declaration of need for fully qualified educators. Dr. Garcia. Yes, good evening board members. Uh this item uh I'm sure will be familiar to the board. On an annual basis, the board is required to approve a declaration of need for fully qualified educators prior to staff submitting the document to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Doing so allows the district, when absolutely necessary, to hire teachers who require an interim credential while they complete the full credentialing requirements. Having this flexibility uh for the district is important, especially in our identified areas of high demand, uh including special education, math, and science. Uh this is an
086action item with a recommendation to approve of the attached declaration of need as presented. Very good. Um do I have a motion to approve the dec- to approve the declaration of need of fully qualified educators? I'll move to approve. Moved by member Ahmad. I'll second. Seconded by member Herrick to approve the declaration of need for fully qualified educators as presented. Uh please say your vote. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Now, we can get on to the consent agenda. Um do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda for discussion purposes? Yes. So that way we can Yes, I'll move to approve. Yes, okay, very good. Moved by member Ahmad, seconded by member uh Miyam to approve the consent agenda for discussion purposes. Is there Are
087Is there any discussion? Yeah, I agree. 9.0 Yeah, sorry. Do we have to go in order? I only have 9.11 and 9.12 and I'd like a little further information on. All right. What's your question? I'd like more information on resolution 9.11 and 9.12 or resolution 3425.26. Yes, so this um on 9.11 um we are um declaring that there is no um advantage for competitive bidding in this this situation. This is to repair two classrooms that had significant water intrusion at Korea Elementary. Very, very unique circumstances with this project. Um as you all know, with all of the water intrusion and and it all happened at the same time that we were um going with the new project to redo the blacktop and the synthetic turf field there. So we needed all of that project to
088be complete before we can go back and repair the classrooms. Um we did have legal counsel um review this item. We were going to use um another um another way to resolve it and legal counsel is actually the one who recommended and um helped us write up this this resolution um for this item. Also, the um the following one about the kitchen remodel, is it a similar situation? Uh no, the kitchen remodel was um had competitive bid. There was no emergency circumstance in that one. We did competitive competitively bid that. Um I believe four people um responded to the bid and so we're we are um awarding that to the lowest bidder. All right. Any no further discussion? All right. Um Do I have a motion? To approve the consent agenda. I move to approve
089the consent agenda. Member Ahmad and then seconded by member Miyam to approve the consent agenda. Um all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? I motion carries. Closing item, uh organizational matters. The next regular board meeting will take place Thursday on Thursday, May 14th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. in the media center of the North County Regional Center, uh 2255 Pico Avenue, San Marcos, California 92069. Also, a special board meeting will take will be held on Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. at the same location. Adjournment, uh this meeting is adjourned. Thank you.