12/11/25 Regular Meeting of the Governing Board

001Folks, I would like to call this meeting to order. Today's date is Thursday, December 11th, >> 2025. This is the organizational meeting of the governing board of the San Marcos Unified. >> Oh, he's going. Okay, I'll wait. Is that better? All right. I would like to call this meeting to order. Today's date is Thursday, December 11th, 2025. This is the organizational meeting of the governing board of the San Marcos Unified School District. Please let the record reflect that all board members are present. The San Marcos Unified School District Board of Education meeting is a business meeting 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. Oh, sorry, I missed that line. Please, yeah, please let the record

002reflect that all board members are present with the exception of member Carlson. All right. Uh, going back to the orderly the cond the the fashion in which we will conduct this meeting. Only the person recognized by the board president may speak while the 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 comments is in pro are in progress. If you speak out, you 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 students. On behalf of the board of education, we thank you in advance for helping us conduct this meeting respectfully. Our mission statement is that the San Marcos Unified School

003District is an innovative and collaborative community providing an unparalleled educational experience through an engaging and supporting supportive environment. All of our students are challenged, inspired, and poised to excel. 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. Just thank you. All right. Uh, approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> Second. >> Okay. Moved by member Martine, seconded by member Miam to approve the agenda as presented. Student board members, please say your vote. >> I I. >> All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Report of action taken in closed session. Tonight, the board

004met in close session and discuss pending litigation. Vote to approve settlement in the matter of San Marcos Unified School District versus Lousardi Construction Company, San Diego Superior Court case number 37-2023-0000005486 and authorized the district representative to execute the settlement agreement on behalf of the board. settlement to occur upon fully executed settlement agreement by all parties. Government code section 54956.9D1 and government code section 54957.1 A3B. Is there a readout from Aaron? And here it is. All right. Agenda item number 3.1- uh 1211 2025. In closed session, the board approved the settlement in San Marcos Unifi unified vers uh school district versus Lousardi Construction Company, San Diego Superior Court number 37-2023-0000005486 regarding pending litigation. Aaron Garcia in her capacity as assistant superintendent was authorized to sign and execute the settlement agreement on behalf of the board and

005district passed with a motion by member Ahmad and and seconded by member Miam. settlement to occur upon fully executed settlement agreement by all parties. Government code section 54956.9D1 and government code section 54957.1 A3B. Roll call vote as follows. Trustee Ahmad voted I. Trusty Miam voted I. Trusty M Martin voted I. Trusty Heric voted I. And uh Trusty Carlson also voted I. Okay. That vote is that >> that wolf doesn't come because she was on. All right. All righty. Uh, next one. All right. Next board. Next. The board conferred with legal counsel regarding existing litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9D San Diego Superior Court number 25 CU042362C. 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. Last, the board

006discussed student read case number 2-25/26 and number 3-25/26. No action was taken. All right, ladies. Report by student board members. Yeah. Good evening everyone. My name is Inara Mod. I'm the San Marco student board representative. And my name is Madison Sasua and I'm the Mission Hill student board representative. This month I wanted to highlight our band cheer and basketball programs. Our band won third place at the CSBC championship. We are very proud of their dedication and hard work they put into an amazing show. We're also shifting over from football to basketball with some great boys basketball grow themes. The team is starting the season strong with a record of 5 and two. And finally, our competition cheer team has a champion show this week against our noisy neighbors San Marcos. We first want to recognize

007Eduardo Gomez, a senior at our school with this month's rising star award. This program brings our community together to recognize seniors who have demonstrated character, integrity, a love of learning, community involvement, and strength. Eduardo was recognized for his determin determination to his education despite life's challenges. Next, this week we had our annual fall fall show production put out by our dance department, evolving our dance pees all the way to our varsity dance team. All dancers got the chance to perform in the Nutcracker and they did a fantastic job. So did the community by showing up and showing night spirit. And then ASB is selling winter grams in the quad to celebrate the end of the semester and the holiday the fun holiday cheer to come. This year, me and Maddie attended our California School Boards

008Association annual education conference held in Sacramento. Weworked with fellow student student board reps, >> learn the importance of our voice on the school board and what we can do with our voices. >> We also visited the California's capital and learned some history about our state. Thank you. Thank you, ladies. Um, all right. So, next we have our yearly election of officers. Andy, thank you. Uh, President Ahmad, board bylaw 9100 states that each year the board of trustees shall hold an annual organizational meeting in which the board shall elect its entire slate of officers for the coming calendar year. The election of board officers shall be conducted during an open session of the annual organizational meeting which is this evening. Fantastic. So, number one, election of the president of the board. Do I have any nominations

009for president of the board? Hey, so I'm actually going to nominate uh Stacy Carlson, even though she's not here today. She's sick with the flu and basically told her not to come in. Um anyways you know and when when I look around down the dis parents sitting at the table and each one of us serves because for our students and for our families and for our communities and Stacy has served on this board for 12 years. But this year her daughter like my daughter is graduating high school and that will be her last student going through our system. And so I know it mean would be very meaningful her meaningful to her to have her signature on that diploma. So because of that I will nominate Stacy Carlson board president of the board for this

010upcoming school year. Do I have any motion? >> Is that your motion or should I second it? >> You No, I can. Is that my motion? >> And I motion I motion to um elect uh Stacy Carlson as president of the board. Do I have a second? >> A second. >> All right. All right. Moved by member Ahmad, seconded by member Miam to nominate Stacy Carlson as the president of the governing board. Is there any discussion? >> Okay. Uh, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Number two. Do I have a the election of vice president of the board? Do I have any nominations for vice president of the board? Right. Andreas, would you like to continue doing it? >> Sure. >> All right. So, in that, um,

011I will nominate Andreas Martin to continue as vice president of the board. Do I have I'll I'll move for that. Any second? >> Second. >> All right. Moved by member Ahmad, seconded by member Miam to nominate Andreas Martin as a vice president of the governing board. Is there any discussion? All right. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Right. Motion carries. All right. Election of clerk of the board. Do I have any nominations for clerk of the board? >> I'd like to nominate uh Heidi Herd. >> All right. Um so, and I'll second that. So, >> I have the I have the mic on already. All right. So, um moved by member Miam, seconded me by member to nominate Heidi, member Heric as a clerk of the governing board. Is there

012any discussion? Right. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? All right, the motion carries. Now we got to play musical chairs. >> Thank you, President. Thank you, President Amad, for Sorry. Go ahead. Go. You go. You go. You go. >> Just I was going to say same thing. Thank you, member Ahmad, for um leading us this year uh with deep appreciation on behalf of the students, the board, and me most certainly for leading us and uh being a good steward of good governance. Thank you. And I would also add with two new board members that I can only speak for myself, but I know it's a big lift to onboard two board members and you did it with grace and patience. So I appreciate your leadership. >> Thank you. Um it has been

013an absolute honor and I will say you guys were very light to lift because you guys are amazing. So um thank you and let's do our musical chairs real quick. And so in proper fashion, since the since Stacy Carlson has been elected president of the board and she is not here, the vice president will take over her duties and I will move down the table. Thank you so much you guys. Of course. All right. Thank you. Um, we'll go ahead and go to item six with report from Dr. Johnson, our superintendent. Thank you. And ladies, by the way, thank you for making it out to Sacramento. I know it's a huge sacrifice to step away from school for one whole for how many days? Two days. Okay. And I'm really glad you're able to network

014with other high schools and see what they're up to. So, thank you. >> Yeah. Way to go. Thank you. Okay. Just a couple of updates for you because as I was talking to our student board representatives, we were here just we had a break of uh the Thanksgiving break. So, we we've only had two and a half weeks of school since we were last here. So, I'll have a very brief update for you this evening. Um, as was already mentioned last week, we had the opportunity to attend CSBA, the annual education conference in Sacramento. Thank you to uh, President Ahmad and Vice President Martin for representing the board this year. Um, and we were very proud to have our two board uh, student board representatives join us. I did get a chance to talk to

015uh, the ladies about their experience and they said they had a really good time. Um, they were up there, your sessions were Tuesday and they were flying home Tuesday. I flew up Tuesday because the Woo. The conference started for us on Wednesday and I understood not until the next day that they saw me in the airport. We were crossing and they didn't even say hello. So, I'm a I gave them a mild little friendly scolding for that one, but that's okay. They had a they had a really good time and we're very happy to have you there. Uh, also wanted to highlight a really interesting um event that happened recently. Our director of student services, Christy Frius, was invited to speak as a panelist at the select committee on me youth mental health and treatment

016access which was chaired by assembly member Dr. Darshana Patel who we know well. Uh the hearing focused on understanding existing programs and funding streams, how resources are being used and whether current supports are meeting the needs of students, providers and school districts. Uh Christy was able to share insights from the district's perspective. She's obviously someone who's got uh a lot of involvement um supporting students and navigating access to services when they're needed. And her contribution focused on what's working well and where we might uh where where some improvements could be made. We also had um Izzy who's from San Leho Middle School, one of our students spoke during the student voices segment which was great and she shared her personal experience as a middle schooler uh in accessing mental health supports and she did a

017really outstanding job. uh and during public comment, two Mission Hills High School students, Annabelle and Trinity, who are both part of our peer-to-peer counseling program uh shared their thoughts and experiences as well. So, it was great. Uh we were very well represented represented at this um hearing and Assembly Member Patel was really impressed and she expressed an interest in continuing to work uh with us and with our team and with our students to uh influence these systems, these statewide systems going forward. So, that was really exciting. Also wanted to highlight really quickly, the board is aware of the Reus and Mariposas groups that started at Mission Hills a couple years ago and I think I've previously reported out that we have an Inquentro and Mariposas group that started launched this year at San Marcos High

018and they are going gang busters. So I'm very very excited about the work that they are doing. Uh, I just want to highlight very quickly this group hosted a really fun soccer match at uh, Bradley Park recently and we want to uh, acknowledge the city of San Marcos parks and wreck for they actually donated the field time to the to the groups uh, so they could have their game. Uh, and Chick-fil-A San Marco sponsored free meals for everybody. So, it's really nice when the whole community comes around to support our youth. Um, and then just last weekend the group partnered with the Mi Posas group uh, together and they all attended a San Diego Soccers match at Frontwave Arena. That's great. Uh and I wanted to thank uh publicly Dr. Solano Umez and the county's

019migrant ed department for sponsoring that experience for them. So it's great and it's just really exciting to see the all the students coming around and these programs as they continue to grow and uh in their participation and their impact on on on the school campus. So that's really exciting. Um tonight's agenda includes um a double peak school presentation. Excited to hear from our students and staff. And after that, we will have a strategic promise update focused on goal 2. Matt Armstrong is here to talk about visual and performing arts. Uh we'll have a presentation on the Woodland Park Middle School project. Uh and then Aaron has her first interim budget report which comes every uh December. Before I transition on, I do want to say just a a brief word about the Woodland Park uh

020project. The board is aware that we are in year one of a multi-year, multi-million dollar uh construction projects across uh several school sites in the district now. All um uh aligned to the measure JJ uh which the bond measure which passed last November. I will say anytime you are doing school construction, there's going to be uh disruption. Uh but the district goals are always to minimize that disruption as much as possible. Keep these projects moving forward as quickly and efficiently as possible so we can get them done, get back to normal. uh make best use of public dollars and support our students who are still going to school as all this work is happening. Um in a perfect world, you would have vacant um uh facilities. You'd have empty schools that and some schools some

021school districts actually do have entirely uh empty schools and you can you can put all the kids over there in essence, so to speak. You can land the plane, get all the passengers off, rebuild your plane, put them all back on and keep flying. Um we don't actually have that luxury in San Marcos. Um, and we have done a couple of projects uh recently that are similar, but I think I think shed some light on the particular challenges we have at Woodland Park. So, we we did uh rebuild a rebuild of Richland Elementary, as you're aware, a couple of years ago. We're currently doing Knob Hill. The physical layout of those sites actually um facilitated the housing of students when we needed to move and have interim housing. So if you recall on the campus

022of Richland, you had the the playground and you had the old building. Uh and so what the con what the uh construction crews were able to do is build the brand new. So the students did lose their playground for two years, but they had were able to construct the brand new building. Everybody moved over all at once into the new building and then they demolished the old building and built the new playground. So it just kind of worked that way. Knobill is similar like the the actual footprint of the uh building and the and the the layout of the of the of the plant itself has allowed us to put what we might call like a portable village on one side of it. Now there still will be movement of students or whatever but we

023can we can accommodate them that way. Um Woodland Park is very unique in a couple of a couple of ways. Number one um their layout the actual footprint of the site as you you may be aware is is very long and narrow. Um, it also has changes in elevation all throughout the site which present really unique challenges in terms of working to relocate students and teachers during the construction. So, um, our team has been working on this for a number of months. And when I say our team, I'm talking about our instructional team, our facilities, our maintenance and operation, transportation, working with the general contractor, Lucardi, uh, our site administrators, um, on on what our what our options would be actually really for next year when the bulk of the work is going to be

024happening. I did communicate to families last Friday our plan for the 26 27 school year, particularly for the incoming sixth graders on what we have concluded is the least disruptive of all the potential options. And I'll have Aaron uh walk through the walk the board through that in a little bit more detail this evening. Um we will have anformational meeting for parents on January 26th. In the communication I put out last week, we had a link for uh parents to submit questions and we encourage people to do that. take advantage of that so we can be uh prepared to address those questions at that time. Um, and I guess I just wanted to reiterate that we all recognize that this is not an ideal situation. Um, but all of the other options that we examined

025are either not viable at all or actually less ideal than this one. Uh, creating greater disruption for students and staff, extending timelines of the project, impacting more students for a longer period of time. We really wanted to try to avoid that. So, um, again, an effort to minimize disruption and keep this project moving forward, get it completed, get back to normal, um, Erin's going to walk you through kind of some of the some of the, uh, details on that later on this evening. And I'm happy to take any questions if the board has any at this time. And if not, I will. >> Thank you. We know that's hundreds of hours that have been put to get prior to getting to this point and hundreds of people underneath that. So, we appreciate that and we

026look forward to the president. >> Thank you. Yeah, just to clarify the we can ask questions of >> Aaron. That's okay. Thank you. All right. communication session per education code 35145.5 and government oh sorry presentation sorry Double Peaks uh elementary excuse me double peak school uh principal Erica and team esteemed members of our school board, Dr. Johnson and cabinet members. Thank you for the opportunity to present this evening. I am Erica Oberris, the very very proud principal of Double Peak School. Tonight, I am joined by our administration team, assistant principal Kylie Lewis and assistant principal Barry Zeit, along with our innovation coordinator, Mrs. Christine Dixon, and four amazing innovators, Taylor and Maddie Roar and Jolie and Liv Teslar. Double Peak and is is an amazing TK through 8th grade community of 1,156 students. We are

027fortunate to house our district's base program and are home to 45 emerging bilingual. Double Peak is defined by a tight-knit community that is actively supported by our site council, PTO, and band booster organizations. There are many things that set us apart from other schools in the county. The school offers a robust music program and fosters, excuse me, a robust music program and fosters student engagement through our students supporting students program, otherwise known as Subed, which offers middle school peer tutors the opportunity to support students in younger grades. A central focus is on promoting inquiry and innovation for all students across all grades. Innovation is the heart of our school. This was established when our school opened 10 years ago and remains a focus in our daily instruction. We value how we approach education, shifting from

028traditional models to ones that are dynamic, personalized, and deeply engaging. This shift is not merely about adopting new technology, although we have really cool technology. Um, it's about fostering an environment where our students are prepared for the complex, everchanging world they live in. Innovative classrooms offer distinct advantages that directly address the developmental needs of our students. They lead to students developing stronger communication skills in building engagement. Our classrooms encourage active participation in collaborative problem solving. Innovative learning is often tailored to individual student needs. It emphasizes interdisciplinary hands-on experiences that are focused on realworld problem solving. This approach ensures that learning is relevant and meaningful to all of our students. Our innovation block changes the way students interact with knowledge. Students are challenged to synthesize information and solve complex problems rather than focusing on rope memorization.

029This builds critical thinking skills that are going to be essential in their future. Innovation time during the school day enables students to tap into their creative potential and find solutions to problems, preparing them to be creators and future leaders. This aligns directly with the heart-c centered work our school is going to begin with USD. Open-minded neurode divergent thinkers thrive when engaged in innovative practices in the classroom. Our innovation program is not a separate entity. It is core to the instructional mechanism that links directly back to the attributes of the portrait of a graduate. The skills cultivated in innovative classroom critical thinking, collaboration, communication, empathy, and adaptability when problem solving are the very attributes we promise to instill in every student who will ultimately become future leaders in our community. By prioritizing innovation in our classrooms,

030we are investing in a future where every student is equipped not just with knowledge, but with the capacity to use that knowledge to make tangible and positive impacts in our community and beyond. It is my distinct pleasure to now welcome Miss Dixon to the podium. Good evening. My name is Christine Dixon and I am the innovation coordinator TOSA at Double Peak School. It is my privilege to lead our schoolwide innovation program, co-e across grade levels, and support the integration of STEM throughout TK through8 classrooms. Tonight, we're excited to share an overview of our double double peak school innovation program and why it's such an important part of our students education. At Double Peak, as Miss Ober said, innovation isn't a single class. It's a schoolwide approach. Our innovation lab and maker space give students hands-on

031opportunities to design, create, and solve problems using technology and engineering tools tied directly to classroom learning and real world challenges. It's purposeful, highly engaging, and it builds future ready problem solvers. Innovation also extends to every classroom. I have the privilege of collaborating with teachers to weave STEM and digital learning into ELA, math, social studies, and science. So, innovation becomes a mindset that strengthens learning across the entire school day. Our innovation program has continued to evolve the past 10 years as I try to keep up with my eager student learners. We have proudly hosted 44 innovation tours from schools and districts because we are passionate about spreading STEM and sharing everything we have so that all students can benefit. Um we are very happy to be here to share with our own school board and uh

032community. Thank you for being here. Um, and now it's my privilege to hand it over to four double peak students that you will love. Uh, because the best way to understand innovation at Double Peak School is to hear directly from our student innovators. >> Hi, my name is Maddie Roar and I'm in third grade. Hi, my name is Liv Teslar and I'm in third grade, too. Our maker space is a creative place I always look forward to going to. We learn how to be engineers, work together in design teams, and let our imaginations grow. We use the design thinking process to help solve problems. My favorite part is when we get to prototype. Hi, my name is Taylor. I'm in seventh grade and I've had the privilege to be a double peak since first grade.

033>> And I'm Jolie. I've been here since sixth grade and I am currently in seventh grade as well. >> We've both enjoyed being business leaders in Miss Walker's inquiry class. >> The cool thing about inquiry wasn't that it was just go sell some stuff. We learned about revenue and profit, how to apply for jobs and hire people, and how to make changes in the world despite our age. All of our profit went to a charity of our choice, which opened up our minds to problems in the world. I love this because I grew up in a nice community. I didn't always understand the struggles of others who weren't as fortunate as I. After this class, I feel more ready to apply for a job when I'm older. And I also feel like this class opened

034up a whole new job area for me, entrepreneurship. Now onto our innovation lab. Innovation is an incredible sixth through 8th class that I've always enjoyed. In innovation, we learn things like coding, cyber security, technology, video making, podcasting, and so much more. >> One thing I love about innovation is that it helps us better understand what we are learning in our classroom. For example, we are currently learning about ancient Chinese accomplishments in history. And therefore, we have the opportunity to create an infomercial advertising a chosen achievement. When I was younger, I would explain from excitement to my friends out of school what I was doing in the innovation lab. They'd ask me what that was, and I'd be shocked that they didn't have the amazing program. Another another excited part of our innovation program is when

035we get to do science. >> Our science lessons teach us about the things that apply to our actual life. Right now, Miss Ger is teaching us about weather and our climate. We learn how important it is to be curious. We love the hands-on science experiments. Check out these cute kinder scientists. We sincerely thank you all for your time tonight. I would like to invite all the board members to please come visit our campus in the near future. Our door is always open for you so you can experience the magic of our innovation program for yourselves. Thank you. Yeah, >> thank you ladies. That's our future right there and it's right now happening right now. >> All I got to say is following the little kids. It's just you guys speak so well. It must be

036so hard. Next we have um our strategic promise update with goal number two vision performing art or VAPA uh by Matt Armstrong who's fashionable this evening as always. >> Yes and thank you for recognizing how difficult it is to follow children like that. Um so good evening to everyone. Um once again my name is Matthew Armstrong. I'm the visual and performing arts coordinator and I've been in the district 22 years now and it's my pleasure to present for the first time to our new board members or newer board members at this point. Um tonight I get the pleasure of not just presenting uh VAPA but celebrating what we do um and our work in our strategic promise and there'll be a little dash of some LCAP nuggets in there as well. Uh, I will get

037to show you not just the shiny objects and the the sleek sports car that everyone sees in the community. Um, I'm pop open the hood a little bit today and get take a look. Uh, so who are we? So, as a music program in the district since 2017, we have been recognized nationally as one of the best communities for music education. We have K uh TK12 music with no itinerate teachers. And I will tell you, we are the envy of the county with that. Absolutely. We have two the two largest bands in the county as well. I'm going to show you a little bit of them at the end. We are consistent leaders in design and performance. We are one of the few districts that offer honors wind ensemble, honors jazz ensemble, world music, video

038game sound design, and a program called United Sound, which focuses on supporting our special needs students. Um, as mentioned earlier, uh, we finished we cons consistently finish in the top three in Western US regional competitions. Congratulations to Mission Hills, who just did this last weekend. We have had seven invited appearances at the Music for All National Festival in Indianapolis. We consistently perform at local and state conferences, and we also have longtime partnerships with the San Diego Symphony and professional musicians. There's a few images of what you see in the community and on our stages from TK all the way through high school. For dance, we have one of the largest dance programs in San Diego as well. We have partnerships with local dance studios, professional dance companies, and it is a truly award-winning blend of

039classical, contemporary, modern, commercial, balotico, and color guard. It's a very special program as you can see from our images. It's if you haven't been to a dance show, you must. I will say that really about anything. There's nothing there's nothing I'm going to talk about today where I'm going to say no, you should miss that. um award-winning theater. We have been recognized in theater by the California Educational Theater Association for set design and music. Um our visual arts have been recognized by SDCOE as well as California Art Education Association. We also have award-winning digital media and I mentioned um the video game design. We are the only and first district to offer sound design for video games. It is a growing industry. It is one of the largest entertainment industries in the world and we

040are currently the only district that has an offering for that. Um, so it's a very special thing. And just a quick story about that. Um, I actually visited that classroom this morning where I handed it off to a former student from San Marcos High School who then handed off to a special guest who was a professional in in the industry who was also an alumni from San Marcos High School. So it was a a really it didn't dawn on me till after I left like, "Oh my gosh, that's absolutely amazing." So, as we're in the community, um, some LCAP things here. We bring families in all the time. Elementary schools, we are bringing families onto campuses to enjoy work. The students work multiple times a year. We're bringing families into stadiums for showcases, um, performances

041in the community and conferences. I mentioned some things you may not know. We have a conservatory that has mentor studentled uh performances in retirement homes in the community. Uh we recently received a national advocacy and action award for innovative fundraising partnerships. And I I know you're all aware of our empty bowl, but did you know that last year they donated over $20,000 to our local food banks? Our SMUD teachers and leadership provide support and guidance to other school districts constantly. And I'm sure we all get those phone calls and emails. How do you do it? It's it's the same for us um across the district. Uh we have we are consistently connecting with our higher ed partners in Polyomar and Cal State San Marcos doing joint events. Um we are currently working together to build

042out a our capacity for continuing students who want to be teachers. Um there is a unique pathway um that we I I will highlight a little bit. Um so I'm working with Cal San Marcos to develop music pathways and visual art pathways and dance pathways um for credentiing. And just a couple of months ago, actually last month, we had a community member and a parent of our one of our organizations who won the National Volunteer of the Year award. and he was presented that at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. So, it's not just the students, the parents, the the the entire organization is amazing. When it comes to connecting with students, we have built-in leadership scaffolding at a very early age. We talk about leadership in all of our classes. We have mentor programs

043from the middle schools down to elementary, from the high schools to the middle schools to the elementary. Um we have a leadership conservatory at one of the schools and that is going to be in operation at the second high school um next year where students are in seminar twice a week after school on their own. It's not a it's not a class but these are students who are engaged in leadership. Um, and these students are are our champions for that that mentor program. Every student that comes into the the music programs in our district uh at the secondary level has a mentor from the middle school through the high schools, 100% of them. Uh we are launching our VAPA ambassadors right now to show that it is possible to do VAPA, to be in AP

044classes, to do sports, to do all of the things. So I'm looking forward to sharing those names and faces with you as we launch that this year. And as I already mentioned, our career connections, we start that early on and we talk, we use language that is career focused all the time. And I talk about our pipeline. Currently, we have six teachers in our district that teach in the arts that came from our district. We have over 20 classified staff members that are alumni of the arts working in the arts. As I mentioned, we have a partnership with CalState San Marcos where we are working on arts integration and we have the only arts integration residency in the state. So, we are leading the charge there. We have already presented three times at a state

045level regarding this uh residency moving into strategic goal two. The reason we're here, VAPA does a lot. This is where we're going to look under the hood a little bit. Anything that's in green shows where VAPA has an increased favorable response than the general population on a campus. So I know it's numbers are small but you can see the green. This is not this year's data. This is last year's data. Anything in green shows that when students are in a VAPA class they are showing a more favorable response in how they feel, their supportive relationships, their sense of belonging. Yeah. Can I jump in real quick? I just want to highlight for the board. This is a really important slide. We we went over this earlier a little bit ago. These are the very metrics

046that we're tracking in our um in our LCAP and in our um our compass our developing compasses scorecards that we're that we're working on. So, it's just really I thought this was really really cool to see how um how the how the the students in these type of programs are responding to these really important questions. Is is it too small? We were gonna He was going to make it six point font. I said go ahead and make it five and a half to Yes. Well, can you send it to >> Thank you. So, we may not be scored. There is an estate metric for us. But who are we? We're creative storytellers. We are innovators. We're divergent thinkers, interpreters and analysts. We are truly collaborators, community focused and globally aware. And what I feel is

047the most important one in our life skills is we have a growth mindset. Our students know what a growth mindset is. But in the end, if we were superheroes, we are the intangibles, right? We are not scored, but we are that portrait of graduate and the portrait of an artist. These are posters that are hanging in all of our arts classrooms where we are ch we are making sure that our students understand the language that is in the portrait of a graduate and adapting it to the artist and when they are in the arts classroom these are the things they're doing. So when they have to write that resume for the first time it's like well what have I done? Oh that's right I've done all of these things in my music class. Just a

048quick nugget there. And this is these are things you don't even recognize. A musician on a stage when they pick up that instrument to play a note within an ensemble, not only are they reading a foreign language, which is the music, they are also reading any number of foreign languages with instructions, Italian, German, French. They have to interpret this. They have to manipulate an instrument. They have to use their ears and respond to the person next to them on both sides across an ensemble. Then communicate with a conductor while making musical and interpretive choices. This happens like that and it happens again and it happens again every second and musicians on stage. All of those things are happening simultaneously. And this is one of the reasons why arts and humanities are some of the highest

049MCAT scores and and med medical school um acceptances in in all of the degrees. They're looking for these types of skills. We are those intangibles that career and and and jobs are looking for. I wanted to have some music for you tonight. Here's a list of all the events that are happening this month. We're a little busy in December. Um, in fact, as soon as I leave here, I will be joining one of the many things that are happening. Um, so please come join us at any of these. You will enjoy it. I guarantee it. If there's still time, I as I mentioned, we have two of the largest bands and most innovative bands in the county and in the state. So, here's a small snippet of both of them. One of these days we

050should show the boards aboard one of their uh their dot books because their heads will spin Can I narrate for a second? So, each one of these students has their own I just have to talk about the dotbooks. I'm a bandad geek. Each one of these k the the not the guard but the um the guard has them too. Okay. Uh they have their own what they call a dot book and it's every single move where they start and where they finish and they're all on different spots. You can see that. So it's it's throughout the entire about 7 minute performance, right? About 7 >> 8 and 1 half to 9 minutes. >> 8 and 1 half to nine minutes. Okay. Um and they memorize them throughout the fall and it's only of the season

051only starts at the beginning of the year and concludes in the right before Thanksgiving, right? So they only have these two and a half months or three months to learn these programs. And it's just all three of my kids went through band and when I looked at one of their dotputs, it gave me it gave me a headache just to look at it. It's incredible how they learn this stuff. So >> I just have to add I just learned our very own member Miam was a marching band and was a director of >> in this district >> at San Marcos High >> over five years ago. Just five years ago. Just five years ago. >> Just five years ago. >> That's I remember. Yes. Yes. >> Here's your alumni. Yep. We can go on for

052a long time. Um, I want to be respectful of everyone's time tonight. Um, thank you for letting me present. Uh, and I hope that gave you a little insight about not just the shiny objects that we see in the community, but what it takes for those students to get there and those lifelong skills that are part of that learning. So, thank you and I appreciate you. >> Thank you, Matt. I remember uh Sarah and I, we were on down on a football field. I think it was homecoming. And just the incredible amount of coordination and the costumes and everything that goes into this and I'm very thankful to uh two of my nieces uh were Mission Hills High School program. So, thank you. Next, we have our uh Woodland Park Middle School construction project update

053by Erin Garcia. Okay. So, Dr. Johnson gave a little preview of what we're going to talk about tonight. Um, but before we start getting in the nitty-gritty of talking about the reason why we selected um the option of moving um the sixth graders off campus next year, just wanted to go over some of the details um of the project. Um this is the proposed um site plan after the renovations are made at Woodland Park. Um this is a really good overview of the whole layout of the campus where you can see um the reason one of the many reasons of why we're having such challenges in this construction project um is because of this long narrow layout that you can see clearly here. Um you see there from the front of the campus where the

054administration is all the way to the those back fields. You can see the back fields um are way further north. And what you can't see on this particular um picture is that those upper fields back there um are at a higher um grade, a higher elevation, which um presents challenges um in terms of getting utilities and things back there. Um so um what is we think is going to be an amazing improvement to this site is you can see that path down the middle of the campus um that the students can walk in in a beautiful new front entrance and walk directly through the middle of campus from front to back. Um that doesn't exist right now. Right now there's a a huge building right in middle that kind of cuts it off um in

055half. And so the students really have are directed to either walk down the lefthand side which is a small alleyway really not meant to to be a corridor of path of travel um or they have to walk in the the right hand side which is really a fire lane um over there. Um so this reconfiguration of the layout of campus is going to be probably the biggest improvement that was very noticeable for all those students. um as well as multiple brand new buildings and then reconfiguration and modernization of um some of the existing um buildings as well. But again, this long narrow layout is um one of the main reasons it's presenting challenges um to get this construction project um delivered on time. Um and here's just a few renderings here. This is going to

056be the library which is kind of in the middle of of campus there. some very um good natural light coming in through those windows. Um the the scope of the project um it this is a modernization where we're going to replace um some existing buildings, reconfigure the site and replace all of the portable buildings that's currently on that campus with permanent buildings. Um the main funding source is there are measure JJ bond funds as well as multiple other um smaller funding sources. Um our budget is $5.2 million. Um and um we also hope that we will be able to get some state funding eligibility um for this project that will be reimbursed years into the future after the project's done. Um our architect is HMC Architects and our contractor is Lousardi Construction and the construction

057for this project is well well underway. If you've been over there, there is lots of activity going on already. And here's some more renderings. Again, the front entrance um of the current school is very insufficient. It it's it's the way it's set up is don't even really it's not really a a a significant entrance. The the fence is set back so that it's you know the kids just kind of walk around the corner of the admin building. Um so this front entrance is is going to be a big improvement. It's going to look very similar to how San the entrance of San Marcos Middle School currently. Okay. And this is an example of a brand new um building that's going to be sitting in the middle of the campus. And so currently all of the

058buildings on campus are one-story. And so in order to get and make the improvements and get in all the new classrooms that we want to um we are going to add some new um twostory buildings. Um but you can see how this one is designed. Um it starts at a onetory and then moves to a twotory. So that will blend in seamlessly with the current one-story buildings. It will look like it has always been there. Okay. And the roof line of that the the first story is going to mimic the roof line of the existing buildings. And this is the brand new building that is the first one to be constructed that they're working on now. Um this is the one that's going to sit up on the upper campus where those fields are. Um

059you can see that this also has a one story um that opens out. It's that's PE some PE facilities that will open out into the fields there and then drops down and is actually um a two stories on the other side. And this this is the main building that will kind of join the upper and the lower campuses. And this is just um a picture some pictures of the initial um prep of getting the construction fences set up um in September and locating all of the utility lines. Um you can see the the picture in the middle is from the opposite side of campus from the back that we just then the picture we just looked at earlier. So that's the gymnasium in the back and you can see that blue construction fences being laid

060out over the existing black top areas. And so that's where that new building, that brand new new building um is that I just showed you. Okay. And then this is the construction schedule for the entire project as of this month. Um you can see we are currently in phase one. That's what's happening in 2526. So the way that this um project is set up is essentially three phases um that span three school years. You can see what's happening in 2627 is the bulk of the work. There's a lot of activity that needs to happen in that second year. And so that's kind of what we're going to be focusing on for the rest of the presentation tonight. how we're going to um move some students off campus so that all of that activity can take

061take place with the least disruption and we can deliver the project um at by August of 2028 in only three years. So, how'd we get here? how did we come up with this construction schedule and um begin to identify the impacts that it was going to have um on the students and staff. So in January of 2025 um we hired our general contractor Lousardi Construction and and what they do when they c they come on board is they assist the architect and the district team in developing the construction phasing timeline um and they also conduct value engineering so that we can maintain that project budget. This is a this is a huge budget. this is our largest um project in terms of dollars at $105 million and we need to stay in in budget. Um

062and so Lousardi came on and they start doing all the work in that and let me I'm sure they had a million different iterations um of the phasing of the project and all of the timing. Um so in summer of this year um they identified um that there was going to be significant impact and insufficient space on campus during that 2627 school year in order to complete the project in that three-year time frame which was the goal. um we needed to bring on significant um interim housing so that we can get in to the all the old buildings and um modernize them. Um the interim housing created some difficulties um where they would be placed on campus because of ADA requirements and considerations for path of travel. And remember I just had talked about that

063field. If we put some of those um interim housing way back on that upper field, they're at a whole different um elevation and there's no utilities up there. Getting utilities and then creating passive travel for ADA to get back down to other parts of campus um would be sign very significantly challenging. Um and again no utility um connections up in that upper part of campus. So, um, this fall, district staff considered multiple options to address all of these concerns in order to, um, minimize the disruption as much as possible. So, we wanted to go over all of some of those options that that were considered. Um, the first option is we considered um, keeping the sixth graders at their elementary campuses for one additional year. Um however um I think many of you know that

064unfortunately some of these feeder schools um particular space um Richland is one of the feeder schools to Woodland Park and they are um over capacity um right now and then Knobill is under construction so it has some definite constraints um right now. The other two schools um do have room but it just doesn't work for the majority of those students. Um and the other the other constraint here is that our middle school teachers don't have the appropriate credentials to go back and teach in the elementary setting. So our our middle school teacher teachers have um primarily single subject credentials. Um and if we had pushed them and moved them back to elementary um they don't have those multiple subject credentials that would um they would would be needed in elementary school. Um and then also

065um our sixth graders um after they've been at their elementary school for um six, seven years um they're ready to move on. They're ready for something different, a different type of challenge. And so um keeping them on their elementary campuses just isn't the um the best um option for them for their social emotional needs. Um, second option, use every single available space and classroom at Woodland Park and have teachers row during their prep periods. Um, we had, I know, a team of district office people working with administrators with spreadsheets, whiteboards, um, all kinds of different things trying to make that master schedule work. They were planning to put up dividers in the library to use three or four set up three or four classrooms in there and rotate all these. They tried all different kinds

066of um options here and just determined there just weren't enough classrooms to be able to make that um happen and keep all the kids on campus. Um, option three, um, just again, we are are bringing in 16 portable classrooms for interim housing for the students that will remain on on campus next year. Um, those 16 portables we put up next summer. Um, we could have brought in 12 additional portables to be able to keep the sixth graders on campus. Um, and there's multiple options or they could have gone. Um, the behind the gymnasium, there's a city parking lot there. They could have gone there. um they could have gone up on those upper fields. We also the district owns the Fulton House property that sits um behind at the very back by the tennis courts

067um at Woodland Park, the very far north end of campus. So, multiple options there. Just determined that none of those were viable for some of the the grade elevation reasons I explained before. Um the um the using the city parking lot is not available right now because they're doing a master plan for the for Woodland Park. um and they couldn't make a commitment to allowing us to use that. Um so even if we had done that though making all of this work would have likely added one to two years to the schedule which would have been more disruption for dime for more students and more staff. Um it would have required students and teachers to move in and out of different classrooms multiple times um each year and uh would have added approximately five to

068six million dollars of additional cost to the project. We also considered moving the eighth grade students um for their last year um at Woodland Park. Um what happens though at middle schools is in seventh and eighth grade, they have more elective options. And so if we had moved the eighth graders off to a smaller setting, they wouldn't have been able to have those same offerings or same elective choices in a smaller setting. Um, and I that's something that they very much look forward to to have lots of different choices of electives their eighth grade year. Um, again, social emotional needs and the school connectedness for eighth graders. So, they've already been on campus for two years. Creating that connection to the teachers and the their the school um community and moving them for the that

069last year um would not have been ideal. and then they would have two consecutive transitions um as they get um up to Mission Hills High School. So, um we know this is absolutely not ideal, but the the final option that ultimately we landed on that has the least disruptions is to move our sixth grade students to San Marcus Middle School for the 26 27 year. Um this allows for the completion of the project in three years. Um and San Marcos Middle School has sufficient space to to accommodate this. Um the school currently has a capacity of over 1,500 students, but their current enrollment is 915. So if we add 400 Woodland Park sixth graders, that only puts them at 1300 students. Um and so there definitely is um sufficient space um at San Marcos Middle

070to house all of these students next year. Um just want to take a moment here to say that um this is a common practice to move students off campus for a short period of time. Um when it's in school construction um as Dr. Johnson explained earlier at Richland we didn't have to do that. We did a flip of the campus so there wasn't a need to do that. You can see because of the layout of Woodland Park, we can't do that. It's a much more complicated type of project. Um, Delmare the last couple years did something similar where um they um bust and we know this because we provided the busing um for both Del Delmare um when when they did their construction. Um they hired our school bus drivers and our school bus our

071school buses got them to the different campuses for two years while their um school was being rebuilt. Um we are doing the same thing for Incenus next year. Um they're going to rebuild the school and they're going to bust kids to two different campuses. Um they're going to put first, second, and third um kinder first, second, and third on one campus and four, five, and six on another campus um until the school gets built. Um and then when Double Peak School was built um here in San Marcos, students were spread across three different sites um for one and a half years um before they were able to come back together. Uh what we're calling this this project is is we're calling it a Woodland Park Middle School satellite school that happens to be located at

072San Marcos Middle School. So when the sixth grade students move over, they will continue will always be bulldogs. They're not going to be lions. They're going to be it's going to be a satellite woodland park at San Marcos Middle. Um there will be consistent course offerings like band and dual language. the same exact courses that they would have been offered at Woodland Park, they're going to be able to um opt into over at San Marcus Middle. Um they will remain in classroom cohorts with only Woodland Park students and Woodland Park teachers. The Woodland Park administrators will be engaged with students at the satellite campus for one to two days a week. Um we are working um to provide for Woodland Park staff to provide student support services like counseling and they will have full access

073to all Woodland Park extracurricular and after school programs like clubs and athletics and then most importantly it's bolded here on the chart um transportation will be provided at no cost. Um the district will provide a shuttle service between Woodland Park and San Marcus Middle School for all sixth grade students. Okay. So, um we have already started the communication plan out to families um about um this happening. Um last Friday, December 5th, the notification email was sent out um to all staff at both schools first. Um and then all incoming sixth grade families to Woodland Park and then the current families at both schools were also notified that this was happening. The district staff plans to meet with the Woodland Park staff um next week on December 17th to kind of field all their questions um

074about this. And then we will meet with San Marcos Middle School staff in on January 14th. And we've already planned an informational meeting for all incoming Woodland Park and San Marcos Middle sixth grade families to be held um at San Marcos Middle School on January 26 at 5:30 p.m. Um we are working on anformational website um with frequently asked questions um that will be um developed and that's it. Um, so when we sent the communication out last Friday, we did send um a survey with and this is this QR code is a link to that survey where um parents could submit all the questions that they had and then we'll use um some of that feedback and um direction to um create the frequently asked questions um web page. So happy to open up to

075questions. I have our executive director of facilities, Tova Corman, here and uh executive vice president of Lousardi Construction, Nick Novak, here and they're going to help me answer any questions that you have. >> Fantastic. Can I actually um for Nick because a lot of these decisions are based off of is this really loud? I just feel like it's very loud. um about just the construction or technical back or you know foundation on which we're basing uh our options on. Just give just give us a little bit more insight into what's happening at the site and um why we're we're in this particular situation. >> Be happy to. Um to start off, hi everyone. My name is Nick Novak. I've I've been in the community for about 20 years. Um my first project uh 15 years

076ago was San Marks Elementary School right across the street here. Uh big part of the school construction uh in this community especially and I actually have two children 12 and 14. I understand you know disruption is not ever good uh especially in a family environment with all the stuff you have going on as as a family. So being involved in school construction in this community I did San Marcos High School. I've done Santa Leeho Elementary School Double Peak with Toba. uh you mentioned a million iterations went through it wasn't quite a million it's probably about 30 uh iterations of the phasing the goal in general um with a lot of experience we have is how do you min minimize this disruption as much as possible right and deliver a project in the most efficient manner

077you've done a great job describing exactly the challenges on a very linear site as opposed to a square um type site where you have the ability to utilize fields doing transfer of whether it's setting up a campus or transferring during the construction from existing fields to new um buildings. So looking at all the different iterations and options, understanding the site grade differential, understanding the existing utilities that are there, trying to maximize uh the budget, quite frankly, working through all the elements of cost, the function, the schedule delivered as soon as possible. We as a team work closely with um both the architect, the director and even principles really identifying what's going to create an avenue or environment that gets the buildings online as soon as possible with the least amount of disruption. We looked at

078options of jumping around the the campus and that would create more disruption plus it would extend the duration of the construction. So we said if you could look at quadrants or segments of the of the site and just take um um quadrants at a time or areas at a time that's why we break it into into three phases that allowed us to really get a the sixth grade class coming in when their seventh grade class to have a whole new frontage a new campus a new entry and new buildings and so their seventh grade year they're coming to a brand new campus and so thinking about you know the considerations you have as parents what you can deliver and not having them in an environment of construction going whether it's from top hill over to

079here. um it would prolong the opportunity so they of them being in a construction environment for two years as opposed to saying okay one year you go away now we can come back to this location you have a brand new campus we do a ground you know ribbon cutting groundbreaking so to speak before that so trying to get whatever done we could in the most efficient manner being sensitive to the budget the community being a fiduciary you know I pay taxes right I want we want to maximize all the dollars to put it into the construction is really I think what lended itself to being the best avenue as far as the opportunity for phasing. So, a lot of previous experience going into it knowing that it's never ideal. You know, you make one decision

080on one element and it impacts another, but what's the most least disruptive overall is kind of how we arrive at this point. But, >> thank you, Nick. So, as we understand it, um it would be only one sixth grade class that would potentially be impacted and they would then seventh grade year come to a brand new school and be able to participate in the excitement that is a brand new park. >> The at the the phase the be the entry phase. I wish I could show you a layout, but I have it on my plan. the whole entry where you have the admin plus all the B building and the C buildings which were plus the library >> will all be done from the front. So the south half if you will of the site

081will be complete with utilities online and the following year we're going to finish up the back half so to speak of the the twotory building is building 800 >> into the following year to be done in August of 28. >> Fantastic. So this but there's only one one class that would have to be offsite. >> Okay. >> Correct. and the the sixth graders that are being moved off site for um one year in their eighth grade year everything completely done the south and the north portion of the campus completely finished. >> So basically cost effectively and time-wise this was our best option. >> Sorry I have some so I just to preface um I have four kids. They will be on four campuses. I hear the concerns. Um, I've had the calls. Um, and I

082appreciate all the moms that called to say like, how am I gonna get them to four campuses and I I appreciate the logistics plan for transportation. Um, I think most of the questions that I've fielded have been about logistics and I don't know if we worked out those details of like how are we going to have bulldogs on the site in one cohort? Are they going to be having lunch period, passing period, those types of things with um the larger student population or is it going to be just those sixth graders? Um and I don't know if those details are worked out yet. It's just questions that I've had come up from people. >> Yes. And so I'll I'll say that in our head we have a lot of that worked out, but not definitively

083quite yet. And so we're working on that, but we want to hear from parents. We want to hear what those concerns are so that we can address those as soon as soon as possible. So that's what that one of that that survey is for. Um we want to hear all those things and so um we um will be working at all of those details as quickly as we can. >> Okay, perfect. And then you mentioned that admin was going to rotate one to two times a week. Do you mean will there always be a Woodland Park admin at San Marcos Middle? Are they rotating or is there just one person that's going to be there a couple days? Can you answer that, Tiffany? >> I can't necessarily answer that. The plan is to have a

084Woodland Park person one to two times a week. Um, we will see what that looks like. I can't say definitively. Yes, absolutely. Every day of the week there will be an admin there. Um, every day of the week you will have Woodland Park staff there certainly. Um, and support staff there as well. >> Okay. And what I can sorry what I can say about that is that as soon as um through through this all all this planning we had the the site admin both at San Marcos Middle and Wooden Park involved we were working on at the district level on some of these higher level phasing pieces and we we charged them with okay now you guys are going to need to work out all these things you're bringing up lunch schedules and passing periods

085and are they together are they not there's actually been some interesting conversations about do you have the students doing lunch in cohorts or do you do you mix them because they're all going to be at Mission Hills we've gotten they're all eventually all be at Mission Hills together. I've actually gotten different feedback from parents on that. So, we've the my my point being um we've charged the the site administrators to start getting down into those that fine grain detail and they're working on those things now. But, but Katie Katie herself, the principal uh principal Buffham at Woodland Park is a thousand% um interested in making sure that she know that those sixth graders know that she is their principal, that they are Bulldogs, and she's going to be on that campus as much as she

086could be. Um I I know we probably haven't worked this out, but one of the questions that is running around in my brain is I know the Bulldogs will as as a parent will be dropped off at Woodland Park and then bus may be bus from Woodland Park to um uh San Marcos Middle if you might have multiple kids going to that school. So have do we have any idea like you know am I going to drop you know as a parent having to drop someone off earlier or are we cutting into the day? I think we're required by a certain amount of school hours. So, how are we >> Yeah, we're looking at those pieces, too. And I don't want to I don't want to get too down into the fine grain details at

087the moment, but I will say that um when you start we did have a long conversations uh with all of our team uh on on school start times and when you start pulling one thread, you actually start pulling lots of threads, the feeder schools and other things. So, it gets gets pretty tricky pretty quickly. Um, but I think at the moment, and forgive me for if I'm overspeaking, but um, I think what we were talking about is if if the students could be on a bus from Woodland Park to San Marcos Middle um, in the morning in order to to get there on time, it would really only be about 15 minutes earlier than they would normally have been dropped off if none of this were happening. So, I don't think it's going to be

088too much of an impact. And if a if a parent had a both a sixth and an eighth grader, we would definitely have supervision. And if they need to come drop them both off, we'll most most definitely have supervision for all the students. >> Great. Thank you. >> Um and then the last question um that is it's coming up is do families if they're if they want to opt out of this, do they have the option to transfer to another middle school? >> The transfer options will be open for every family just like they normally would be in the at the regular window. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> That's those are trans and I want to be clear those transfer requests, right? because we're we're monitoring the capacity across the the district and that at

089that through through the spring at that time. >> And I just want to point out also I was super nervous when I talked to my son about this because I thought he was going to be devastated and he handled it very well. Um and I I've talked to other parents that had the same concern when they were talking to their kids. Um they're happy they're going to be with their friends still. It's just a location. They're going to change class. They're going to change campuses anyway. So um there's that. I know that change is hard and it's it's never easy to like not have the plans that we're expecting, but I I have confidence that the district's doing what they can. >> Thank you. I'm just glad that we're getting that school up as fast

090as possible. Thank you. >> Thank you, Erin. Thank you, uh, Nick Novak for joining us in Tova as well. I just for as an educator I I actually do work on master schedule at my school for the past uh 20 years and it's a logistical nightmare. So best of luck but I I I know that with the each team involved that each team is very competent and that it will get the job done. Uh we'll have hiccups but no matter what the endgame is that it will be done well and it will be done right. And that is the commitment that through bond measure JJ we have done as a board and as a community to our students and our families. And again there's hundreds of hours that have been put into this and hundreds

091of people with those teams. So thank you. I appreciate it. We'll go ahead and move on to a communication session. Per education code 35145.5 and government code 54959 95 54.3. Members of the public have the opportunity to provide public comment on any agenda item as well as any non-aggenda item that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the board per board bylaw 9323. Individual speakers will be allowed up to three minutes to address the board on each agenda or non-aggenda item except for our union representatives who have five minutes in accordance with board bylaw 9323. 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 comments received. Generally, if there are seven or fewer speakers,

092each speaker will be given three minutes. If there are eight to 10 speakers, each speaker will be limited to two minutes. If there are 11 or more speakers, each speaker will be limited to one minute. One speaker's time may not be seated to another speaker. If there are more than 20 speakers, which 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 very 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

093be no deliberation nor action taken. The board may one acknowledge receipt of the information report and comment. Two refer to the sta to staff for further study or three refer to the matter to the next agenda. A recording is made of all open sessions of the governing board. Again, on behalf of the board of education, we thank you in advance for for helping us conduct this meeting spec respectfully. Susie, do we have any speakers? >> Yes. Um, Aman Sullivan is first. >> How many How many do we have? >> Um, just for this topic, one, >> esteemed board members, my comments today are focused on two elements. proposed changes for policy 1213.1 regarding complaints concerning district employees and my family's personal experience navigating through this policy related to the district employee. In May of 2025,

094my daughter's high school basketball coach began, sorry, basketball coach at San Marcos High School began engaging her about her religious beliefs and values. This occurred on campus during and after school hours. It happened multiple times over the spring. He even followed up to her to her car to continue the conversations. Perhaps it was because they were on good terms and she was his starting point guard that he thought that he could engage these conversations. But my daughter was clear every time that she didn't need to prioritize basketball over her faith to be good at basketball. At parents, we were okay were not okay with this unsolicited non- basketball related coaching. Reached out to the coach on the matter and he would not respond. My wife then emailed the principal asking for discretion and help. The

095email was passed along until it made it back to her varsity coach and my daughter was dismissed later that day. He even had the audacity to tell her that her values of family and faith did not align with the program he was building. When she asked about her younger sister, he said she was too also dismissed as she has the same values as you. Then he held a team meeting and told the girls that you can go to the principal and you can go to the ad, but you can't get rid of me. To us, we feel our daughter was harassed for her values, then discriminated against, and then retaliated against. Since then, seven of the nine families have come forward to the school about their individual complaints about this coach, each with their own

096stories of equal or worse conduct, including bullying, belittlement, manipulation, and control. The school performed an investigation and blamed his inexperience for his conduct. In the meantime, irreputable damage had been done. Four of the five starters from the last season have left the team. We actually stumbled upon the ability to dispute the school's decision, and we were passed on to the the district's HR department. We shared our story as well as the other parents, and months later got a letter from the from the district that the school did their investigation adequately, including a note if they found inappropriate conduct that corrective action would be taken, although they were not allowed to disclose that there was any. From since then, the girls varsity coach has had has not been appeared to be reprimmended in any substantial way,

097has been well protected by his school. We have since been left frustrated and disillusioned by the process and the findings. In fact, this week I'm learning that we actually have the ability to escalate this to the board, which we didn't which the district did not communicate to that that was an option um as they when they sent us their final decision. And this is why I recommend that you do not modify board policy 1213 which would further suppress suppress investigations and escalations for making it to you. Um the duly elected stewards to oversee and compensate when the administration protects their image over their own students which is meant to serve. There's so much more to be said I can't say in three minutes but the female student athletes and students deserve better than this. Thank

098you. >> Thank you. Susie, >> Jesse Raymond. >> Hi. Uh, good evening, Jesse Raymond. I've been in San Marcos now for 10 years, and I'm falling on the heels of of Ammon's comments and a very similar um temperament here. This statement that I'm going to read for context comes from my daughter, and it's not from a disgruntled players perspective. In fact, she was a three-year varsity athlete at San Marcos High School. A two-year starter and a first team all league selection last season. This would have been her senior year at San Marcos High School playing varsity basketball under the coach that Ammon was just talking about. And this was sent to the San Marcos High School administration. After hearing the decision to keep the current girls head basketball coach at San Marcos High, I made

099the difficult choice to have to leave the basketball program. This has been one of the hardest decisions of my life because basketball has always meant so much to me. But more than the game, my mental health and personal growth matter most. The environment under the current coach has become so toxic that it's hurt my confidence and well-being. Being under this coach has taken a toll on me that most people will never see. He's made me feel small, silenced, and like my worth, dependent on how well I obeyed. Not not how hard I worked or how deeply I cared. The way he speaks to us, the way he tries to control and break us down, it's not leadership. It's not what a team is supposed to feel like. I cried quietly after practices. I doubted myself.

100I questioned whether I was strong enough. And now I know that strength means walking away from what hurts you, even when it's something you love. Your email says San Marcos is about empowering personal growth and honorable contributions. But those words don't exist in this program under this coach. As a young woman trying to grow, to heal, and to rise, I'm choosing to stand up. I'm choosing my future. I'm choosing my voice. And while this goodbye hurts more than anything, I've learned something I'll carry with me forever. I will never again let somebody break me down just to feel foul, just to feel powerful. Never. I came from 16-year-old, 17-year-old young lady, and it breaks my heart. Thank you. Robert Redfield and thank you for letting me uh speak tonight. Uh my name is Robert Redfield.

101I'm a parent of a student currently attending Creole Elementary and an active member in the school school's parent teacher organization. I'm here tonight to discuss board policy 1230. 1230 establishes that school connected organizations such as a PTO quoting shall be established and maintained as a separate entity from the school or district. Each school connected organization shall be subject to its own bylaws and operational procedures or to the rules or bylaws of its affiliated state or national organization. BP uh BB 1230 explicitly establishes that a PTO is responsible for its own governance and operational procedures. However, there is no external authority or mechanism to ensure PTO's adhere to their own bylaws and rules. In the case of Creole PTO, the bylaws are woefully inadequate and frequently ignored or overlooked even when clear and explicit. More problematic

102is that when policies are ignored, the only redress is to appeal the matter to the same individuals responsible for ignoring the bylaw or policy. Nothing gets resolved. Tensions build and conflict erupts. When dispute when disputes occur occur between PTO officers, the PTO is likely to seek the assistance of their school's administration to intervene and adjudicate the issue, which directly contradicts BP230's purpose of acknowledging school connected organizations as independent entities. This confusion results in school administrators and staff expending their time on matters that are outside of their scope and distract from their primary purpose of educating our students. With that said, I want to publicly apologize to Principal Keaton and any district staff. She's had to consult on matters pertaining to the internal governance of Kore PTO. It is not an effective use of their time.

103I'm formally requesting that the board consider revising PP1230 to read that the district will only authorize parent teacher associations and not parent teacher organizations to be the fundraising arm on behalf of uh the schools or students um parent teacher school connected organizations. PTAs perform the same functions as PTO's but have the added benefits of establishing common policies for parent organizations across the district's school sites and more importantly provide a governing apparatus to settle organ organizational disputes without involved in school or district staff. I believe this will be effective in preventing the internal issues of independent parent organizations from becoming a distraction and drain upon the staff and administration at both the school site and district office. PTO's and PTAs are independent and self-governing organizations, but the outcome of their decisions have implications on the district

104due to the fact that a large percentage of the funds raised by these organizations are then granted to SMUSD. In other words, the means by which PTO obtain fund, whether they comply um and whether they comply with requirements of tax exempt organizations is relevant to the district because it benefits from the way these organizations fund raise. This is presumably why every organization has to get approval every year before um from business services before fundraising on the school's behalf. Unfortunately, evidence exists that shows Creole PTO has a history of engaging in self-deing transactions to benefit the private interest of officers or using the nonprofit organization to promote their private interests. The PTO has not attempted to identify an alternative source for goods and services provided. Is that the >> Thank you, Robert. I apologize. Thank you

105for that. >> Thank you. Would I be >> I just um Is my mic on? Can you guys hear me? >> Sarah has all my sound here. I'll borrow this. How about this one? No, >> you could probably >> I'll just I'll just shout. Um I just wanted to acknowledge Ammon and Jesse. Thank you for coming and sharing about your daughter's experience. It's as a parent, it's it's painful to hear another parent share. Um I don't know all the details, but I just wanted to say that we heard you. Um I don't know where things are and I don't want to get out of my lane, but I just want to acknowledge that you guys came and spoke as spoke about something that's vulnerable and painful for you and that takes a lot of courage

106to stand up for your daughters. Um, so again, I I don't want to speak out of turn other than to just say, um, your girls sound amazing. You guys are amazing parents, and I hope that, um, we can follow the the processes to, um, get a resolution to this. >> Okay, we have eight speakers um, regarding the FFA. Um, so we'll need to either we'll either need to allow three minutes for each or we need to cut it down. >> Thank you. >> Um, >> it's 24 minutes. >> It's collectively. So let's do two minutes. Is that okay ladies? Two minutes. >> Okay, we'll go with three minutes. >> Okay. Okay, then it's three minutes per person. >> So, just for Thank you for that clarification. appreciate that. Are any others in the same situation

107or were the were the rest of you ready to speak? Perfect. Okay, great. Thank you. >> Okay, your name was Viviana. Okay, then Laurel Mendoza is first. Good evening. My name is Laurel Mendoza. Tonight I'm speaking on behalf of the San Marcos FFA chapter secretary Seth Serrano. Every day I visit the tunnel greenhouse at my school. Rain or shine, cool mornings and hot afternoons. Out of the s seven San Marcos FFA chapter officers, I'm the only one focused on horiculture as the rest are more in interested in livestock. Being more horic horiculture oriented means that there are fewer opportunities for me to be involved in my FFA interest and my experience is shared by other students aiming to get involved in or already a part of our program as creativity is a tenant of FFA

108is an imperative that we provide students with a means to express it and floral design serves an outlet for the program to foster the creativity and innovation that helps FFA improve itself. Without a properly funded and managed floral design class, we stand to lose horiculture oriented students as well as the creative minds that we help make our program great. My SAPE project is being the horiculture department manager. In January, my adviser had given me the task to help oversee the greenhouse that stood behind our agriculture classrooms. I spent the first quarter of the year nurturing the neglected plants in the greenhouse while educating myself on the issues through articles and videos online. In May, our FFA chapter received over 1500 Dania and pathos plants from our local nursery. As a result, I organized chapter members

109and friends on a 7-day systemized process of transplanting and categorizing new plants. After m multiple meetings with the school superintendent, we agreed to visit scheduled visits during the summer break to ensure that the 1500 plants are well taken care of. I maintained the entire area and propagated over 800 new plants. It was satisfying to see the drastic positive changes that I made over the course of two months. Despite without having the painstaking task of manually watering the greenery weekly due to the faulty water sprinklers, I enjoyed being there. In the fall, I coaxed a no nursery owner into providing our chapter with over 2,000 pots during the industry tour. While gaining hands-on knowledge of the nursery operations and plant identification, I made a lasting impact on the program's horiculture department. We now have 23 horiculture

110interns under the leadership of myself and our adviser. Rehabilitating the greenhouse was an act of love. It reaffirmed my ambitious ideals and displayed the importance of patients towards growth. I hope to have sewn the seeds for the future of San Marcos FFA members to harvest their own passion for gardening and to foster an atmosphere of ecological consciousness. I wouldn't change anything about this valuable experience as it has taught me to be independent and be headstrong in my future career in business. San Marcos FFA must continue to provide opportunities for students like me who are not only interested in livestock. The floral design class is a crucial for our program's reach and it's an outlet for people who don't want to study livestock but want to be in an agriculture class. Thank you. Charlotte Stone. Good

111evening. My name is Charlotte Stone and I'm here to explain why it is essential for San Marcos High School to keep floral design within the agriculture CTE pathway. I would like to begin by thanking you all for your recognition and your support since the last meeting. I am currently a student enrolled in San Marcos High, an active member of our FFA on our officer team serving as the vice president um the San Diego section president in charge of managing 16 plus schools in our county and their agriculture programs. Floral design is not always just an elective that students take for fun. It is a vital part of the horiculture side of agriculture. A is a as a whole is built on diversity. Animal science, plant science, envir environmental systems, floral design and so much more.

112When you remove the floral design pathway, you do not just adjust a schedule. You fundamentally change the identity of our entire program. Without it, our agriculture pathway becomes mostly entirely animal-based. And when we teach only one side of agriculture, we unintentionally exclude an entire sector of the industry. a sector that includes horiculture, floriculture, landscaping, and greenhouse production. Cutting floral design sends the message that those pathways are less important even though they represent a huge part of what agriculture truly is. But beyond academics, floral design plays a major role in student opportunities. More than 200 students currently rely on the floral design as their entry point to our agriculture pathway and therefore our FFA program. If floral design is removed, these students lose access to FFA membership. That means fewer students earning agriculture scholarships, fewer students

113attending leadership conferences, fewer students competing in industry-based contests, and fewer students being prepared with the communication, teamwork, and problem solving skills that translate directly into the real world. I was once that freshman in the floral design class, taking home weekly bouquets, but also so much knowledge about how to run a business, what it takes to hire professionals, and what it truly means to be a florist. For many students, floral design is the class that sparks their interest in agriculture. It is the course that fits their schedule, their learning style, or their creative strengths. Without it, we risk losing students who might otherwise discover a passion, a talent, or even a future career. Keeping floral design in the A pathway is not just about saving a class. It's about protecting balance, preserving opportunity, and ensuring our

114program reflects the full and diverse world of agriculture. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, >> Kate Foster. Good evening, members of the board. I just want to thank you for taking your time out to hear us out every single one of these meetings we've been at. My name is Kate Foster for those of you who don't know me. And I want to begin by thanking you for your support that you've shown to our program and our students. It really does mean a lot. I serve as the San Marcos High School FFA chapter president and I'm also the regional vice president which means I represent 18,000 members all over Southern California and the 60 chapters that are within that. Tonight I'm asking you to vote no on the proposal to the floral design program removal

115of the agg in the agriculture pathway. This is not just for the sake of a class but for the 200 students whose futures in agriculture education depend on it. This decision would eliminate the only horiculture pathway available to our students. Those who love plants, floral design, botany, and greenhouse sciences are not interested in animal or veterary science. They cannot take another class after their agricultural chemistry courses that align with these horiculture values. If horiculture is removed from agriculture, these students have no way to stay involved in FFA. This means that they're losing their access to competitions, conferences, leadership camps, and career development events that match their interests. It means that it's losing eligibility to run for chapter, sectional, or regional office positions. It means that you're taking away the opportunities that help these students grow

116into leaders, discover their futures, and become future ready. Floral design and horiculture teach far more than creativity. They teach business skills, financial literacy, customer service, problem solving, and real agricultural sciences. Most importantly, these courses give students who do not connect with livestock a place to belong and an entry point into FFA that fit who they are as a person. Removing horiculture breaks this three- ring model of agricultural education for a huge portion of our students. It removes their pathway, their opportunities, and their voices. I am here to represent those voices. Many of those students wanted to be here tonight, but are working in the greenhouse on their those active members that have made these posters. And I also want to thank one of our future FFA members who's an active eighth grader at San Marcus

117or Sanlejo Elementary Middle School. My goodness. Um, and I want to thank you all for listening and I want to ask you to protect these 200 students. I want you to protect their access to FFA, protect their futures. Thank you for listening and I respectfully urge you to vote no in February on this business proposal. Thank you. Lance Morgan, >> I know we all gravity is the best part of all of this. The um side that I'm going to speak to is from the parent booster. So when you're talking about a program where the parent booster organization in FFA allows us to really leverage the student's interest and we're able to really make sure that these after school activities and this is such a program that goes beyond school hours. So if this program gets

118cut off where's the booster organization for it? I don't think there's going to be one. So I think that having it nested within MFA allows it to have a lot more support from the parent environment around it as well. It's my two cents though. I >> think it's Cal or it's Colt. >> Good evening. Um, I just wanted to um take a moment to see u this thing with the full design. I do not wish to step on the toes of my other speakers too much and to just re reiterate what they were saying, but I'd like to contribute a few things. Um namely um I would like to highlight that this school year is the 50th anniversary of our uh FFA chapters incorporation and through this year as we've um taken the time to

119celebrate our chapters alumni we have just been reminded again and again of just how beneficial this program has been and the opportunities that the FFA and the agriculture program have provided to students at San Marcos High School. Uh personally myself uh as a freshman in San Mar the first semester my freshman year at San Marcos High School FFA was the only program I was involved in and now as a senior I open programs on and off campus including as vice president of this chapter and as a night of the round table to speak about really what this means for students because the loss of this floral aspect of our program will mean damage to the program as as an entirety. Um, and really this affects students because it lessens their opportunities. There are no other

120high schools uh in our area. And really the norm is that these floral programs are a part of their FFA. There's no other high school that does that has it as a separate program. They would lose this network of other high schools as floral. They would lose uh these connections. And additionally, the loss of other vocational uh programs at San Marcos High School. We have seen the impact before uh in the past we've lost our uh auto shop, our home economics and there are clubs on campus that have been formed to replace uh those organizations that we've lost but they just cannot uh provide students with the same kind of experiences that an organization to the degree of floor design as part of agriculture. The scale of our agriculture program has been massively beneficial to

121our floral students. it provides them with far greater opportunities in this area and um I just wanted to uh speak about that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Col. >> Denise Godfrey. >> I couldn't know what the I could tell. >> Hello again. and just wanted to thank you so much for for hearing us out. Um I am not an FFA student and um I just always look at you guys and I'm was like man you guys really rock as far as like that poise and you know ability to speak and I just anyway um I've spent so much time trying to replicate their experience through you know different leadership programs and um I was really grateful for that whole VAPA presentation because that kind of like really encapsulates what I feel about this program And

122you know, I was thinking, you know, especially hearing the drum beat, I was like, that's the beat of my heart and my soul when I get involved in flowers and I see these students talk about their their animal and their plant projects, you know, through FFA, it just like really sings to me and it just is awesome. And um I just was kind of highlighting what they said as far as that um through that VAPA program that connection and belong belonging and that growth mindset that is exactly what FFA has brought to San Marcos High. And you know I look at you know as far as like that future readiness um that adaptability communication creativity critical think global awareness growth mindset community civic engagement collaboration you guys can right that is what we've learned through

123FFA and I just I'm at such a loss the fact that we're going like okay we have a ret teacher retire environment and they aren't replacing it that teacher with another a teacher to maintain the impact of you know the availability of that program and I I just I think it's cool that you're doing a business thing but I just think that this whole business floral together without having the FFA it just dilutes the two programs and when they talked about where this like business you know organization is all those schools are up in Orange county. So, how is that going to work as far as competition? Whereas, you know, I look at Charlie and Kate, I mean, gosh, they have just rocked and as far as like that connection with, you know, these competitions

124and everything and, you know, this local San Diego community, they aren't going to have the same thing with the business. So, I just really implore you like push them to actually replace that teacher and maintain that, you know, availability of that program. Thank you. Thank you, Denise or Desire >> Sky Olson. What's the last speaker after that? >> Hi board members. Um, I'm speaking on behalf of uh an FF as an FFA member and also uh my mother who could not be here to speak. But um I just want to say that the ACT department at San Marcos High School oversees a very valuable uh and life-changing program for us Knights. Uh the current program works well in many ways and continues to get better in the light of roadblocks. One of which is changing

125floral design to a CTE program. Um, as we've mentioned before, this floral design has over 200 students enrolled and that is 200 students that do not have access to FFA. And for many floral design students, the FFA club is their only extracurricular that they are involved in. And I and just to show how much of an impact, I encourage you to look at the the FFA our FFA social media. I encourage you to come to our events, see what our students are doing and how much it has impacted their lives and what and what could be taken from them if they if floral design changes to a CTE. Um, as for me, um, I am my parents youngest child and I'm going into my senior year and I'm a proud A student. My parents are

126proud ACT teachers and um they will always be supporters of this valuable program and they will continue to be even after I am gone. So I ask you this question I ask you let me whoa let me ask you these questions. Why do we want to disrupt the FFA benefits of 200 floral design students? Why can't the SA Whoa. What is the motivator to move floral design from ag to CTE? Money, status, if if will I'm so sorry. >> Okay. >> Um yeah. Um will will agen FFA lose funding if floral design moves? If so, will it be will that how will that affect our current programs? And will will it be replaced or will that be yet again more things taken from our current FFA students? I want I well I implore you to

127ask these questions and think about what is working now and what is best for us students. I appreciate your attention and thank you so much. >> Thank you Sky. I have a I have a couple of questions if I think Tiffany you don't have to give me the answer right now but just a couple of questions. So um in the last couple of meetings we have heard that um the floral design classes offer a horiculture pathway for the FFA students those kids who are not necessarily interested in animals. I'm sorry I'm sure there's another term for it but livestock. >> Livestock. There we go. Thank you. Um and that may not be interested in livestock. If I understand correctly, we will be adding horiculture classes for those students. >> And then my other question is

128let's say someone's like well I'm not interested in livestock and I'm not very familiar with horiculture. So but they end up taking floral design just out of interest and through that class determine well I am interested in horiculture versus business. do they have a option to switch into horiculture and follow an FFA pathway and like basically um floral becomes a uh like an entry point for them. >> You can always switch a pathway. So if you are in floral design and you decide that um I'm not interested in the business pathway, I'm more interested in in an egg pathway, there are other options for you. You can take sustainable agriculture which is also offered at San Marcos High School. Um so as a freshman you could take a bio, you can take a KIM as

129a sophomore, you can take sustainable agriculture as a junior um and we are working very hard on bringing dual enrollment horiculture classes um as well at Samaros High. So there will be four years of options for a student to be in an a to be in FFA um without having to be in a floral floral design course with floral design being in a business pathway. >> So they have four years of pathways that include horiculture >> that include horiculture. >> Okay. I if I could just I think what probably would be best is that we if we could schedule a time when the services team could do like a presentation and walk you through all the all the details. >> Love to do that. Okay. Thank you. >> You answered my question. Thank you, Dr.

130Johnson. >> Sorry, I don't have a question. I just have a comment. Um a lot of adults can't get up to that podium and speak as well as you guys did. And I'm just really proud of you guys as um San Marcus High School students. You're representing very well. Good job. should have heard them at Ramona High School when they were in competition. That's why soon as I go like give them give them two minutes. They can they they're they're that they're that good. But anyway, no, but seriously, no, thank you for your voice. Your voice is what makes our school runs. Thank you. Thank you. Reports by board members. Uh item nine. >> I just want to wish everyone a very happy holiday season and stay safe. And I think we're gonna have a

131warm one, so stay cool out there. >> Uh, real quick, because I know we're um, so I visited Korea for their flag salute. You guys were at CSBA. Um, and it was like I started crying like it was very patriotic. They had service members there. Um it's something I I would love if if more elementary schools did um kind of incorporated once a year into their um program because it was just all the the musical performances were like patriotic songs and um it was really special for all the families they had um people that were active and retired military came up if they were um in the in the community. So it was fantastic every time. >> Yes. And then I also visited the wellness center because I missed the grand opening and um I

132think it was on your slide Annabelle and Trinity were there as the interns and they toured me around and it's a fantastic facility and um I'm really excited to see the peer counseling taking off there. Um and that just the space is going to be so nice for more and more students as they realize that's available. So very happy about that. John, we need your your support with our military members there. Um, I just want to reiterate uh the importance of our uh CalPore schoolboard association conference we attended. Um, I know I learned a good thing or two about AI. In fact, uh, member Ahmad and I uh, had a good conversation, a robust conversation in DC last year with members from Coronado Unified School District, and we actually do have a future. >> Yeah,

133we we need to plan that bunch of kind of chat. But anyway, uh, and good governance. That was a very key highlight for for me to be there and to listen all to all these experts. So, thank you. Uh item 10, action item or excuse me, action agenda. Um we'll go ahead and move on to 10.1 20126 uh governing board meeting dates. Andy, >> thank you. Um board bylaw 9100 uh states that the board will approve a schedule of regular meetings for the year and a board governance calendar stating the time when the board will address governance matter at governance matters at regular and tentative special meetings for the following calendar year. The board has received a copy of the dates for 2026 board meetings and there was a typo so I want to apologize

134for that and call that out to you right now. Um, we have the June meetings listed at June as June 11 and June 18 of 2026. That should be June 18th and June 25th of 2026. So, I apologize for that. >> Wait, really? June 25th. >> June 20. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> June 11th is graduation day. >> June. Okay, got it. Thank you. >> Yeah. So, it should not have fallen there. So, it should be 18 and 25. Correct. >> Yep. >> Thank you. Sorry about that. So, uh, staff recommends approval of the 2026 governing board meeting dates with that one amendment. >> Okay. Uh, I just have a comment to make because I know there was a little bit of confusion this year with some of the dates. Um, I just want to

135clarify to our public that the regular board meetings will always happen. Uh, those are the meetings that are marked regular. The the tentative ones or the special board meetings may not always happen. So, you may see this publicly posted. Tentative just means that they may not always happen. It just depends on we have to reserve the space in this room almost a year in advance and so hence um we block those dates out just in just in case we need it. >> Thank you member Ahmad for that clarification and Dr. Johnson for that amendment amendment. >> Yes. Do we Oh, do I have Yes. Yes. Do I have a motion to approve the 20 26 2026 governing board meeting dates as amended? I >> thank you, member Heric. >> And I'll second. >> Thank you,

136member uh Ahmad. Moved by Oh, yes. Moved by Heric. Uh move uh seconded by Ahmad to approve the meeting dates as amended. Uh student board represent. Oh, >> good. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Right. Motion carries. Thank you. All right. Uh 10.2 20252026 first interimm report and positive budget certification. Aaron Garcia. You have these slides and hard copy in your packet. Okay. The format of the slides aren't quite right, but we'll do our best to get through it. Okay. Um, so I wish very much I could deliver a cheerful >> oh, >> happy, positive budget report um for the holiday season. Um, but unfortunately that is not going to be that tonight. Um, this is the 2526 um first interim um financial report. So this is the annual

137budget reporting cycle. Just as a reminder, um the board of adopted this budget um first back in June. We did an up 45day update to it in August. So it's been a little while since we um have looked at a formal um revision to the budget um since August. And so here we are in December. We are currently projecting $311.7 million of revenues coming into the general fund for the fiscal year. The bulk of that, as always, comes from from the local control funding formula, almost 74%. Um, and just as a reminder, um, our local property taxes fill up um, that bucket first. And if that doesn't um give us sufficient funds to fund our whole formula calculation, then the state comes in and they give us um state funding um on top of our

138local property taxes that we collect um to fill out the entire 234 $30.4 million of LCFF funding that um we are entitled to receive. We also get revenues from three other funding sources. Other state revenues of about 40 million. Then local funds come in at about $31.7 million. Um and federal funds um round that out with about $9.3 million. So just want to go over some of the changes um that we have in our budget um of revenues since the 45day budget update. Um in total we are projecting 4.2 2 million more revenues um than we were back um in August. In terms of LCFF funding, um we've picked up some additional revenues there um from new TK students um that have enrolled this year. Our ADA for TK is um anticipated to go up

139to 616. And then our UPP, our unduplicated pupil percentage um has increased to 40.7 um%. So that picked up about 400,000 of additional LCFF revenues. Um in terms of federal revenues, we're recognizing um deferred revenues or carryover from the prior fiscal year in our federal restricted programs. State revenues are up just a little bit, just small adjustments to multiple restricted state programs. And then um the majority of our extra funds, $2.9 million, are coming from local revenues um from carryover donations. Um we have additional um bus service contracts. We're doing some additional servicing um a couple of new districts um Leven Grove and El Escandido Elementary um have asked us to do some routes for them. So that's going to bring in some additional um funds. Our peer-to-peer grant, we're recognizing another half a million

140dollars there. We um are expecting more interest on our funds that are invested in the county treasury of about $400,000. And then we have a whole bunch of multiple um small grants that are new and carrying over from the prior year. Um and those all add up to about a million dollars. And then expenditures, we are projecting to spend $338.8 million. So you probably noticed that that that's where the problem is. the revenues that we're bringing in, the expenditures are are much larger. So, we're deficit spending. So, um expenditures um 82% of that will be spent on our salaries and benefits for our employees um followed by um over 12% coming um from services and operating expenses. Just as a reminder there, the bulk of the services and operating expenses are our utility bills, um

141particularly electric bill, um as well as our premiums related to property and liability insurance. Um very expensive, and I'll bring up um both of those things a little bit later. Um and then we have a little bit of money um spent on books and supplies and and capital outlay. and then I'll walk through the changes in expenditures um since the 45day budget update. Um we are now projecting to spend $7.7 million more in expenditures. Um and um the salaries um have haven't changed much at all. The one I want to point out here is the benefits. Um benefits um are up $2.6 million. Um and then the other one that's um a larger increase is their services and operating expenses. And I have I'll walk you through some points on the next slide. So in

142terms of salaries, we made adjustments for all of the newly hired staff that came on at the beginning of the school year. And we've also accounted for vacancies primarily in classified salaries um for positions that we haven't been able to fill quite yet this year. Just as a reminder, um the district did negotiate a 1% salary increase, but all staff um that was has been in in place since the beginning since July 1st. That isn't always um has been and is included in the budget. Um so benefits. So the district negotiated benefits cap um required us to increase the budget by $2.6 million. So, what happens with our um health benefits is they um they increase um in the middle of the year each year and we get the new rate increases at the end

143of August um from our insurance provider. So, when those came out this year um unfortunately the Kaiser premiums increased by over 11%. Um and the new rates for that those rate increases start right now with the December payroll um is when the higher rates come out. So we have seven months of the increased rates um we need to account for in the budget. And so that um required us to increase the budget by $2.6 million. Um currently if we look that at an entire year's worth of those um in um increased rates um that cost of that is actually $3.7 million. Um so that is impacting our costs um because these are ongoing higher level um bills we have to pay. Um so that's impacting our our future multi-year expenditures as well. um books and

144supplies. We've just essentially added um expenditures for local and federal program um carryovers that came into the budget after we closed the books. Um and then um of the $2.8 million that we're increasing for the services um two and a half million of it is for planned grant services. So our ELOP program um had $1 million of extra services. is a essentially contract with Boys and Girls Club um to provide those after school programs for our students. Um and then our routine restricted maintenance account is planning to um spend about $800,000 additional for um construction related um u maintenance projects. Um and then capital outlay, we've added a million dollars um for um to add additional freezers through our kitchen infrastructure grant. Um and then our technology department is doing some infrastructure through -ate funding

145um of about half a million dollars. So when we put that all together um you can see um we we saw the revenues they're um lower than our expenditures. So we have deficits spinning across both portions of our budget, the unrestricted and the restricted. the restricted. Um, as you know, we have received some large one-time funds um, um, grants in the last couple of years. We recognize those revenues in previous years and we're spending them down. So, the restricted portion of the budget naturally um, you typically deficit spends and and that's fine. We expect that to happen and we're not concerned about that. Um, but we do want to watch and monitor our unrestricted balance. Um so one positive note here is that in the adopted budget we were projecting deficit spending and unrestricted of

14613.2 million. So we have been able to reduce that a little bit. Um I was definitely hoping to be able to reduce that even more. Um but with that increase in health benefits just weren't able to make that that happen. That was an unexpected very large um increase this year. Our ending balance um allows us to maintain a 10% reserve balance by the end of the year. And the ending balance does include $2.7 million of commitment set aside. If the commitments were removed, our reserve balance is only $10.7 million. So, previous years we've had larger commitments, but as we spend that down in deficit spend, um we don't need to have as much commitments um in there to maintain and reflect that 10% reserve balance. Okay. And before we jump into the multi-year projections, I

147always want to do a review of our enrollment and average daily attendance. Um so we are definitely in a declining enrollment pattern trend. Um so um when we look at this it has the uh five previous years of enrollment and the solid blue bars and our ADA and the checkered um blue um columns. Just want to point out a couple things. So this year in 2526 when we um did our seabeds that's our one day in October where we do a census count of all of our students um we had 356 fewer students than the prior year um our with total enrollment of 18,54 students um we are in the budget reflecting a 94% attendance rate um for funding purposes which is what we were able to achieve last year and we think that won't

148be a problem. Be able to to maintain that moving forward. Um I just want to point out one thing though. If we if we look at the the number of of students that um declined this year and last year in only the last two years, we declined by 874 students. That's an entire elementary school. It is very impactful. We're not feeling the impact of that decline yet because we are funded under LCFF. Um, we're able to use the prior three-year average of ADA. So, we're not feeling the full impact of that loss yet, but we're going to in the future. And it's it's going to be painful. Um and um our funding is going to be diminished um over time because of that declining enrollment impact. >> Erin, I have a question there. When we

149look at the um enrollment decline, are we seeing it across the district at all grades or are we are we seeing that we're graduating more students and young fewer and fewer kindergarters are coming? Like where is that? >> Um so we are primarily seeing it in kindergarten. Okay. Right. The fertility rate is dropping. People are not having children as much as they are. The birth rates are extremely low. Um in California, our population is um aging and they're just not having um new births to to replace those kids. >> It's a multiplicity of factors and we're going to do a deeper dive with the board on on on this one. We can have like some real time to kind of go through it all. But yeah, it's it's a it's multiple factors playing in that

150everybody's experiencing, >> but the main driving factor is the lower birth rate. So, we're seeing much smaller classes of of kindergarten come in and then as that works through our system and the larger classes at the high schools metriculate through the system, the the smaller classes, you know, filling that in um is just causing the decline over time. >> Okay, great. Thank you. So, we're going to look at our multi-year projections um next, but just know that what we're seeing there um is primarily due to the result of this um declining enrollment that we're experiencing. Okay. So, just as a reminder, multi-year um projections are not forecast of exactly what's going to happen. they are in fact projections. They are a mathematical calculation of all the factors that we know today. Um we plug them

151in and we get the results um out in terms of revenues and expenditures are expecting. So um very important that we notate the all of the assumptions that were used in the projections in the full first interm report. I believe there's about five pages of very detailed assumptions. um that are documented um there. I'm just highlighting some of the major ones here on this particular slide. Um I'm showing you the the cost of living adjustments that we are assuming for LCFF, our enrollments, attendance rate, and that funded ADA. The funded ADA is a three-year prior average um ADA, our unduplicated pupil percentages. um we get an add-on for TK to lower the class sizes so or so we can have 10 to one adult to student ratios in there. So we're assuming that we're going

152to be able to maintain our TK88 of 635 students for the next two years. Um and in terms of expenditures um we um haven't begun any kind of negotiations for the next two years. So um we're assuming no salary increases at this time on those. um health benefits at we are still assuming at 2%. Um I can tell you that this is something I'm going to look at um for our assumptions as we move into the second interim because I think we need to start planning for larger increases in the health benefits. Um so our budget is uh more realistic because um I think it's just is what it is and we need to expect those to be higher in the future. But for this particular um projection, they're um assumed at 2% for the

153next few years. We have our stirs and pers pension contributions that we have to pay and um also we're assuming um attrition savings. We always have um a certain number of employees retire um and they're replaced by um less costly employees the following year. So that that always happens on the natural. So we have those um savings assumed in the budget. Um the other thing I've added um on this particular report is I've added a chart of our FTEES um that we have in the budget. Just want the board to know that we keep very close attention to this and you have to um when you are in declining enrollment. Um we are also assuming in the budget and um anytime we can we are making reductions um for a couple for two reasons. We're

154making reductions in any staff that are paid with one-time funds that are expiring and that is happening this year. We have um some smaller grants um that we have some staff in there um that will will not be returning next year because when that fund those funds expire in June of this year. So, um, for the most part, those those staff that are working in those programs know that and they are aware, um, that, um, their positions will need to be, um, laid off this year or next year. >> Thank you. I want to reiterate that because you'll see this back in February. So, this is so the the the just I want to say this in in my words is that it's not uncommon when you get a three-year grant, then you're hiring people

155with it. those people coming into those positions know I'm here for three years. They know that going in. When the funds are are expended, then you have to close those positions down. And the technical mechanism for doing that is a layoff. So people hear that word and they think all kinds of things. But what that means Joel will be bringing to you a number of layoffs which means we're closing those positions down which is not the same as where those people go. Often times those people have got places to go because the HR is also working on making sure that as many of them have places to land. You'll hear us say all this again in February. I just want to put this in your mind right now. Um because what what um what Aaron

156is talking about here is is really really important. You can see the FTEs that we're tracking. And I I think the board knows this, but I I don't mind saying it out loud again. Cabinet reviews. We have a standing agenda item every single week to review any new position requests that come through this district. Right down to a campus supervisor. We have eyes on this. Um sometimes we can approve them, sometimes we don't. Um but but just just know that those those even those I don't know minor is not the right word but but uh every every new position that is requested we require them to come through our executive team. >> Okay. So we are we are tracking um very closely our FTEEs. We are reducing again um staff when um funds that um

157are supporting them expire. And then that we are also right sizing staff to align with our enrollment projections. It is never perfect. Um just as an example for those 350 students that we lost if they were in neat perfect packages of 25 students at the right grade level at the right school we would have been able to reduce 14 teachers right but of course we didn't do that. Um I can share with you from last year to this year we reduced seven and a half um teaching teach certificated teaching staff. So we try very hard to rightsize as best as possible but is never perfect and you're always going to lose funding for students quicker than you're able to reduce your expenditures. Okay. So what the projections are showing right now is this. Um you

158can see that our revenues drop um next year um um and our our expenditures drop too because some of those um efforts that we're putting towards onetime um grants that we received will will end um and our overall general fund budget will be deficit spending. But the unrestricted balance I've highlighted there, um we are at this point looks like we are maintaining a structural deficit of between 9 and $10 million um across all three years. So um definitely something we're looking at. We will be making um reductions um for next year to try and reduce that number as much as possible, but um I can tell you right now it doesn't look like we're going to be able to eliminate the deficit spending. There's no way we can reduce that much in that short period

159of time. And also um of of course there's a we we don't know exactly what's happening with the state budget. That information is going to be coming out soon um in January. Um but everything we're hearing is that um the state's really, you know, kind of hitting a wall and experiencing deficits of their own. Um so right now we don't have an expectation um that we will be funded um for anything beyond pretty much the cost of living adjustment for the next couple of years. Um and so this just shows graphically where our ending balances and reserves have been. we've been able to hold very steady at that 10% reserve level. Um it does appear at this time for the next couple of years that um will be dropping. >> Can I wait wait wait

160wait before you go on I want to say I want to say two things. Forgive me for making a long meeting a little longer. um at last week's so at last week's CSBA conference uh the subject of uh the cost of living adjustment came up again and that is one so Kevin Gordon was speaking out of this and I talked to him later and I said if there's if there are and there were indications that there are efforts to actually now finally try to address this legislatively because Eron has explained before the the cola is this um formula that's that's it's a federal formula it's based on the cost of goods and services across various sectors it really doesn't have a direct tie to actual expenses that K12 school districts uh have. So, and there

161has been it's been a real big challenge for us for a long time. Um, and there hasn't really been an appetite on the legislature to address it. They just put the number out and and and you know that we've talked about before how for us to just just open the doors and not do anything different with all the rising costs about 4% increased expenditures every year. So, if we had a 4% cola, we'd break even and anything less we're in trouble. So, I say all that just to say that there there may be efforts now finally to to um get the legislaturator's attention on this. Um it's not going to be an easy thing, but I'm I'm very involved in that and I've I will be advocating hard for that. Um AXA does trips up

162to Sacramento. Uh CSBA does the same kind of thing. So, just know that that that's that's um that is part of our efforts. And then can you go back to the graphic the uh Thank you again. And I want to you see this same you see the same um graphic that looks like this every year. And I want to highlight again what what Aaron said that the multi-year projection is not a forecast. It's a projection. It's if it's in layman's terms, tell me if I got this right. If you get out a calculator and you say if everything if if nothing changes with with what we know with our revenues and nothing changes with expenditures, this is what's going to happen. So obviously it's a planning tool. Obviously you're not going to let this happen.

163So we need to make some adjustments. Now some something will happen with revenues. We'll see. um we have very little control over that. Where we do have control is our expenditures. So this is a planning tool. Obviously no no competent team is going to let this happen. So we're going to make some adjustments. So you can see the years back when we every one of these years if you look at 22 23 23 24 25 you would have seen a graph that looked very similar to this but we made our adjustments. We did our things and then you were able to keep kind of a steady reserve level if that makes some kind of sense. So, you won't see you won't see that big big dip um because Aeron's Aeron's too good for that. But,

164uh >> it's going to get a little bit more challenging the next two years. So, um in previous years, the state was able to come up with um some additional funding. Um and I do think that's drying out. So, like in an ideal world, like the state will bring us up a little bit and then we'll make adjustments to our expenditures both and we can meet in the middle, right, to really maintain that. Um I think we're not going to get as much help from the state in the next couple of years. So I think um we're gonna have to work harder at um our expenditures, you know, so the next couple years. So but yes, we will try and we will work very hard to balance that out as as best we can. Okay.

165So Dr. Johnson alluded to some things that um this slide points out. Um we always want to end with this to just to point out there are very significant impacts um in our budget because of the low cost of living adjustments combined with our declining enrollment. So just want to walk you through um this year for 2526 we received a cost of living adjustment of 2.3%. What that does is it increases our per funding that we get under the local control funding formula by 2.3%. and then it multiplies that by our um prior three-year average ADA. Um and that results in a certain dollar amount that we're allocated for that that this school year. So this year when we compare that to the funding we got from the state last year, we got $2.4 million

166more, which is not 2.3% more. It's only 1% more funding yeartoear. And I want to take you back to my expenditure slide at the beginning. Remember I told you just we had to increase the budget by 2.6 million for the health benefit increase. The amount of funding you can see that we got here extra for the year doesn't even cover that. That's why we're seeing these large deficits pop up um in our budget because significant cost pressures particularly with health benefits, utility costs, property liability insurance premiums are increasing at rates much much higher than 1 and 2%. Um so that's why we're seeing this big challenge in our budget. Um moving out um the next two years, same things happens. We get a cost of living adjustment or three three and a half%. Um but

167when our ADA is dropping and you multiply that out, um it is much less than that in terms of um percentages of dollars we actually receive here in the district. Um, also unfortunately need to point out um that right now all school districts are using the current um COLA um projection for 2627 at 3.02%. However, um it is becoming very very clear that that number is too high. Um it is current that number is currently calculating at somewhere between 2.4 and 2.5%. Um, so when the governor comes out with his January budget um, in a month um, we expect that official COLA projection for next year to be dropping. So we'll probably be um, reflecting that in our second interim. So I wanted to point that out. Yes, I'm so sorry. But however, with all

168that down our news, um we are still a positive certification school district because we're able to maintain the 3% across the entire multi-year projection. Um so, um I do recommend that the board approve this first interim and positive certification. >> Right. Thank you very much, Erin, uh, for that um, positive budget report there. Uh, do I have a motion to adopt the 2025 2026 first interimm report and positive budget certification? >> So moved. Second, >> moved by Mia and seconded by member Amat to adopt the 2025 2026 first interimm report and positive budget certification as presented. Um, we'll take a vote. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstensions? None. Very good. Motion carries. Am I supposed to do this? 10.3 student read cases number 02-25/26 and number 03-256. Dr. Campbell.

169The details of these cases have been discussed in close session. Staff recommends approval of readmit cases 02/2526 and 03/2520 2526. >> Thank you, Dr. Campbell. Do I have a motion to approve student read case number 02-25/26 and number 03-256? Moved by member Heric >> and I'll second >> seconded by member Ahmad to approve student readmit case number 02-25/26 and number 03-25/26 as recommended. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose? Motion carries. Thank you. Um consent agenda item 11. Do I call a motion? >> Yeah. Yeah. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda for discussion purposes? >> I'll move that. >> Moved by member Ahmad, seconded by member uh Miam. Uh to approve the consent agenda for discussion purposes. Is there any discussion? >> Yeah, I'd like to pull um

170item 1119 and 1120 for discussion. Um, do you want me to start? >> Okay. So, um, with 1119 complaints concerning district employees on the fields section, I would like to keep the board in, um, for the final decision. I think that it it um supports board bylaw 9,000, ensuring accountability to the public for the performance of the district schools. Um, if we wanted to add in a step where we add in a superintendent and then still have the board. I'd be cool with that, but I I don't want to pull the board. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So, shall I call a vote then? No, I was so I would I mean I would I would move to that we um table this for other discussions and be able to discuss that the different options

171that we have potentially and not pass it as as um stated in the current proposal. Anyone want to second that? >> So put it on >> table it basically. Yeah, table it for now and yeah. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Okay. So, we are tableabling 11.19. >> You're going to ask for >> back in February >> February. >> Okay. I have a motion to table item 11 >> 19. Okay. So, I'll go ahead and ask for a motion to table item 11.19. >> Yes. >> I'm sorry. to return the board >> to return to the board in February of 2020 of 2026. >> I'll move move to approve that. >> I'll second. >> Moved by member Ahmad, second by member Heric. Uh all in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Motion carries. 1119. >>

172Then we have 1120. >> Yes, you have 1120. Yeah, 1120 was just I just wanted clarification because in the last month's meeting um Dr. Campbell, you mentioned that it the PE credit counts for CIF sports if the P if a PE isn't also offered for that sport. Um so I just wanted to clarify. I didn't see it in the policy when I when I read it, so I don't know if it's it >> does it um is it clarifying if um I'm thinking of adding a line. Um students may earn five PE credits per season with a maximum of of 10 per school year. Um students who are enrolled in a team sport course offering during the instructional day are not eligible for PE credit for athletics option. >> Yeah. Is that more clear? >>

173Yeah. I I was just wondering if instead we could just say you can't get it twice, right? >> Because >> if something came down Yeah. where they could they couldn't take the PE but they still did the sport, would they get credit? >> If they could not if they did not take the PE class but still did the sport. >> Yeah, >> I believe that is correct. Yes. So you want to say they cannot get um they cannot get credit twice. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I think we can make that work. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Students may not receive >> that back later. >> Hang on for a second. Yeah. I want I want to get clear on this. >> Get credit twice. >> Wait, Tiffany, can you just >> want

174me to >> just explain it all over so you don't mind? >> Yes. >> Example. So students who are in a CIF sport that does not have a PE attached to it >> is that like golf >> like golf we can use golf as a perfect example. >> Um if the student successfully completes their CIF season they may get five credits of PE credit >> up to a maximum of 20. >> Okay. Um and they cannot take it in their ninth grade year because every student must take nth grade PE. Okay. >> So just 10 to 12. >> Grades 10 to 12. >> Yeah. Just 10 to 12 grades. >> So basically if they're playing that a sport and they complete that season a CIF sport and they complete that season a team CIF sport.

175>> Correct. >> I don't know if there's any other form but okay. Um then they that just by playing that sport they get five to 10 credits. >> Five credits per season. for a max of 10 per year. >> Got it? >> And we say that specifically because some sports will cross semesters. Winter sports cross semesters. >> So, they'll have to pick which sport they want to apply for these credits. If they are playing a winter sport that does not have a PE attached to it, >> um, and they finish that winter sport, it can apply and they only play that winter sport. It can apply to either first semester or second semester >> with the designation and not including the ones that have like football because that has football PE. >> It's football. >>

176You can't do football PE, get the credit for PE and get >> Yeah. >> double credit >> and get a double digit. Okay. You cannot double dip. >> If you play a fall sport, uh you would get the five credits for that. But if you don't play a spring sport, >> you only get >> enroll in a in a a PE for the second. >> Correct. >> That would disrupt your schedule. >> Um you will likely be in a PE already or um you could take it for the next year. So students only need to have 20 credits of PE total. You're going to get 10 as a ninth grader, five per semester. If I only play a fall sport, that means I'll get in my 10th grade year, I can get five. And in

177my 11th grade year, I can get five. If I choose not to continue my sport in 11th grade, then I will need to take a PE for to get my the remainder of my five credits. Is PE one of those like in that scenario that you just mentioned like a a senior for example >> has 15 credits 10 from the freshman year five from a fall sport that they played in sophomore year junior they didn't do anything >> PE isn't necessarily required so in senior year could they take like a semester of PE and then >> they could yes >> and then have one second semester okay >> yep >> okay I like that amendment and that clarification >> okay >> so we're back to are there any other questions? Is it clear for the

178board where we are? Okay. You need this one adopted tonight though, right? >> I do >> for the second. Okay. So, so let's go to the wording then and make sure that we got the wording uh reflecting the board's >> direction. Students may earn five PE credits per season with a maximum of 10 per school year for participating in a school sponsored CIF sport. And is it enough to just say students may not students may not receive Lena, what was your wording? I'm sorry. >> And students may not students can only receive five credits for a given sport, even if they're taking this sport P. In addition, >> students may only receive five may only receive credit for one sport uh may only receive five credits per sport per year. >> Yes. >> Students may

179only receive five credits per sport per year. >> Wait, what if they play multiple sports? Can they play multiple sports >> per sport per year? >> So if they do if they play football in the fall, but they play track. Yeah, >> you can get you get >> you get both. >> Well, can they can they can they play two fall sports is basically what I'm saying. >> Yes, but you likely aren't going to Yeah, good luck. But so the line of five credits per sport per year. >> Okay, got it. So you cannot get 10 credits for football. >> Yes. >> On a transcript, it'll be reflected as athletic PE credit or advanced PE credit or what would that >> it will be PE credit. >> PE credit. >> The transcript only says PE

180>> because I know in my school district we actually only award for varsity upon successfully completing the varsity sport, not JV. >> So this would be different where it's open to 10th through JV >> through 10 through 12. Yes. >> But what if you have a Oh, never mind. Not gonna get Nope. I don't want to get too much to the weeds. That's not our role here. >> Yeah, maybe I'm going >> What is the How are we ensuring student is they registered for sport? And then how do we know? >> Um as part of the regulation, in order to in order to do this, you have to complete a you have to actually complete an application to do it. um that goes to the athletic director. The coaches need to sign off on it

181and then upon completion it has to be signed off of and then it goes to the registar. >> That right there is key. That's very key because then it becomes a little nightmare with the registar and I don't want to have a senior >> month of May like oh I was depending on those five credits to graduate. No. >> Yes. The application requires student signature, parent signature, coach's signature, athletic director's signature and then at the end you have to also have um coaches and athletic director signature before um going to the registar. >> Okay. So are you are you clear on the wording then? >> I have is the board clear on the wording. >> Is the board clear on the wording and it reflects the board's sentiments? Okay. So you're going to ask, if

182there's no further discussion, you're going to ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of item 11.19, which has been tabled to February and with 11.20 as amended. >> Thank you. >> What he said, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda uh with the tableabling of 11.19 and amendment of 11.20? Uh, is there a motion on the >> I'll move to approve. >> Moved by member Mott. >> I'll second. >> Seconded by member Miam. Uh, thank you very much. All in favor say I. >> I. Sensions. No. >> Okay. Very good. We'll go ahead and move on to information agenda 12. Uh, I'll turn it over to uh Aaron for the revision of existing governing board policy. Board policy 3470, debt in issuance and management. >> Business services

183is bringing one board policy update tonight for review that will be brought back in January for final approval. Um, tonight we have the debt issuance and management um policy. It's being updated to add communication to the public to the list of required debt issuance program activities. It's removing reference to qualified zone academy bonds or QZABS which are no longer authorized to be issued. Um it's adding um types of temporary borrowing or short-term transfers to the list of potential financing sources for the district. It's adding that the method of sale for any district issued debt be the most cost effective and adds that before the sale of any bonds, the governing board adopt a resolution stating the board's express approval of the method of sale and a statement of the reasons for the method of sale

184that was selected. And it finally includes um additional information regarding the report to the California Debt Investment and Advisory Commission which the district is required to submit annually following any bond issuance. >> Thank you, Erin. Item 12.2, revision of existing governing board policy 6153, school sponsored trips. Dr. Campbell. >> Um the educational services department is bringing the policy 6153 school sponsored trips to the board for minor revisions. Um this revision is to reflect um our current district practices. Um this would remove the provision that requires the board to approve overnight travel for field trips. Currently um our practices board approval is only required for outofstate or outofcountry field trips. that remains um we would simply take off the provision that um is coming to the board for overnight travel within state. >> Okay. >> This

185will come back to the board in January. >> Thank you. Um item number 12.3 revisions of existing governing board bylaw BB board bylaw 9310 board policies and board bylaws uh 9321. Quote close session Andy. >> Thank you. Board bylaw 9310 is uh refers to board policy. It's a board bylaw about board policies. And it has been updated to include a new definitions section. You'll see that in the materials you have uh to more clearly define the difference between board policies, board bylaws, and administrative regulations. Uh and the bylaw has also been updated to add add section headers, other minor revisions. Um board bylaw 9321, close session. I will apologize to the board that we just brought closed the close session bylaw a couple months ago and then CSBA sent us another another one. So, here

186we go. Uh, this one has been updated again to add that public comment is required to occur prior to close session. The board is aware that is already our current practice, so no change there. Um, and also to incorporate a few new provisions of law, uh, such as clarifying the process for notification of meetings, permitted attendees for closed sessions of the board, and other technical provisions. So you'll you'll see all the all those items in your in your materials. >> Very good. Great. Thank you. Item 12.4 revisions to existing governing board policy not uh board policy 4030 non-discrimination in employment. Dr. Garcia. >> Yes. Board members, the proposed revisions to board policy uh 4030, non-discrimination employment, update and clarify the policy to align with current state and federal law and recent court decisions. The changes

187expand and clarify who is covered by the policy, specify that discrimination may be based on one or more protected characteristics, and incorporate new legal protections. Additional revisions strengthen anti- retaliation provisions, clarify supervision uh reporting responsibilities, and also ensure alignment with current Title 9 complaint procedures. Uh this is also anformational item u and we'll be bringing it back in January for board action. >> Thank you, Dr. Garcia. >> Thank you. >> Right. Closing items. Um organizational matters 13.1. The next regular board meeting will take place on Thursday, January 15, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. in the media center of the North County Regional Education Center, 255 Pico Avenue, San Marcos, California, 92069. Um, adjournment. Do I have a motion? >> You can just You can >> Oh, I can do it. Okay, I'll close it out. I

188think we're all in agreement on that one. This meeting is adjourned. >> There you go. >> What about >> Yes. Do we have Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Yeah, we still have >> um finance financing authority, correct? >> Yes. So, no can if you want. Let's go ahead and move on to that one. All right. Um >> I don't think I have Do I have a script? This one? Yes, I do have a script right here. All right, >> there we go. >> Very good. Have a good evening. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Sorry, we're about to con we're about to convene a second meeting right now. >> Yeah, if you want to hang up. Sorry. Okay. All right. I'll call um the meeting to order. I would

189like to call this meeting to order. Today's date is Thursday, December 11th, 2025. This is a regular meeting of the board of directors of the San Marcos uh schools financing authority. Please let the record reflect that all board members are present with the exception of member Carlson. Uh oh. Yes. Uh do I have a motion to approve the agenda? Move. >> So move >> moved by member Eric. >> Seconded by may member Miam. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Communication sessions. If you wish to address the board, you may fill out a request form located in the al cove to the left of the double doors. As you enter the boardroom, please complete a blue speaker form if the item you wish to speak about is not on the agenda

190and a white se speaker form if the item is on the agenda. Please give it to Susie. Each speaker will be allowed a maximum of three minutes to speak in accordance with the Brown Act unless an item has been placed on the published agenda. There shall be no action taken. The bo the board may one acknowledge receipt of the information report or report and report information slreport and comment. Two refer to staff for further study or three refer the matter to the next agenda. An audio tape recording is made of all open sessions of the financing authority meetings. Susie, do we have any speakers? >> There are no requests to speak. >> Four. That's I was going to ask about that actually for election of San Marcos schools financing authority smfa officers. Aaron, >> the

191San Marcos schools financing authority is a joint powers agency formed for the purpose of assisting the school district in financing school facilities. As a legally required step, each year the authority must hold its annual board of directors meeting to elect officers and to adopt a resolution to complete annual tasks of the joint powers authority. >> 4.1 Election of President for the San Marcos Financing Authority. Do I have a nomination to elect a president? moved by member um Ahmad, seconded by member Miam uh to elect uh Stacy Carlson as president of San Marco Schools Financing Authority. All those in favor say I. Uh any opposed? Motion carries. 4.2 Election of Vice President of S for the San Marcos Schools Financing Authority. Do I have a nomination to elect a vice president? I'll I'll nominate um goodness

192Andreas Martin. I'll second. >> Thank you, member Miam, for the nomination. Moved by member I'm excuse me by member Ahmad. >> Seconded by member uh >> Eric. >> Yes. Uh to elect um Andres Martine as vice president of the San Marcos Schools Financing Authority. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Good. Motion carries. Thank you for that honor again. 4.3 Election of Secretary for the San Marco Schools Financing Authority. Do I have a nomination to elect a secretary? >> I'll nominate Heidi Heric. >> Moved by member Ahmad to nominate uh or uh elect, excuse me, member uh Heric, seconded by member M. Yes. Uh as secretary of the San Marco Schools Financing Authority, all those in favor say I. >> I. I. Uh any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Uh item

193five, consent agenda. Do I have do I have a motion to approve the consent uh agenda for discussion purposes? >> I move to approve. >> Moved by Ahmad, seconded by member Mia, uh Heric, excuse me, uh to approve the consent agenda for discussion purposes. Uh is there any discussion? Very good. Oh, wait. Sorry. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All right. Uh, no. N any opposition, any abstensions? Very good. Motion carries. Uh, item six, closing items. Agend adjournment. All right. This meeting is adjourned at 9:25. Happy holidays.