5/1/25 Special Meeting of the Governing Board - Year in Review

001But that really gave me the chills and I'm so proud of all of our students that uh participated in that. Um honestly I've I couldn't feel more San Marco strong um in this moment right now. Um, with that I would like to co try to g Yeah, sorry. With that, I would like to call this meeting to order. Today's date is Thursday, May 1st, 2025. This is the special meeting of the governing board of San Marcos Unified School District. Please let the record reflect that all members are present. The San Marcos Unified School District is an innovative and collaborative community providing an unparalleled educational experience through an engaging and supportive environment. All of our students are challenged, inspired, poised, and ready to excel. As you can see, um, with that, we have another surprise. We're

002going to have the Woodland Park 29th Battalion California Cadet Corp. lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. So please rise for the pledge of alle allegiance face. Place your right hand over your heart. Ready to begin. I pledge algiance 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. Please remain standing. Left face forward march. Take your seat. I would again like to thank the Woodland Park 29th Battalion 249th Battalion of California Cadet Corp um for leading us in that pledge of allegiance middle schoolers. You guys that's amazing. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? Any second? Second. So moved by member Carlson, seconded by member Miam to approve the agenda as presented. All those

003in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Communication session. Please note that during a special board meeting, only items listed on the agenda may be addressed to the board. If you wish to address the board, please complete a white request form located in the al cove to the left of the double doors as you enter the boardroom. Please give it to Susie. In accordance with board policy 9323, public comments will be limited to 20 minutes per topic. Each speaker will be allowed a maximum of three minutes to speak except for our union representatives who have five minutes. Members of the board are very limited in their response to statements or questions per the Brown Act. Unless an item has been placed on the published agenda, there shall be no action taken. The board may

004one acknowledge receipt of the information/report and comment. Two, refer to the staff for further study or three refer to the matter for 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 helping us conduct this meeting respectfully. Susie, do we have anyone who would like to speak? There are no speakers. Andy, you're in review. Thank you. Well, good evening everybody. My name is uh Dr. Andy Johnson. I am the superintendent, very proud uh superintendent of our amazing school district here, San Marcos Unified. And I want to welcome everybody, our board and all of our distinguished guests uh to join us for the 20242 year in review celebration. Before I go any further, I don't want to

005forget to say that there are a lot of people who went who've been working very very hard on uh all the details behind this evening. So uh tonight is kind of Oscars night for Amy. So Amy Ventula, our public information officer. Thank you. and my assistant Susie also. And thank you and I don't know where Jennifer is. Where's Jennifer? Jennifer, there Jennifer Machado wave. Hi. Thank you. These guys have been working really really hard for months and months and months on today's event. So, thank you very much. Um, so while this celebration is technically it's a board meeting as you've just uh called us to order, this is intended to be something a little bit different. Um, tonight's the opportunity we take at the end of the school year to show off the amazing and

006incredible work that's happening across our school district. Most of our board meetings are um action items. They are uh business items that come before the board. But tonight is all about our students and our staff. And I think you'll be as excited as I am to celebrate the amazing work um that we're doing. So before we get started though, I do want to acknowledge a few important people who are in the room. I want to start by acknowledging our board members. So our board president Sarah Ahmad, our board vice president Andres Martin, our board clerk Stacy Carlson, and board members Lena Mum and Heidi Heric. So, can we give them a round of applause, please? So, I say this often, you've heard me say this from this microphone many times, but I'm going to say

007it again particularly. I think it's appropriate this evening, that the success of a school district starts right here with these five individuals. Um, uh, and school boards are not all created equal. If you read the papers like I do, then you know that we are in a very, very, very special and privileged, uh, position in this school district. Uh it is the health of this these five right here that helps all of the rest of us do our work. Um it's very very easy for school boards to get distracted on all kinds of different things. Uh but when a five member board of trustees comes together and they are united around our vision, our our portrait of a graduate, our strategic plan and they keep the main thing the main thing that is what allows

008the staff to do all the incredible work uh that you are going to see tonight, our staff, students and families. So, uh, again, thank you to the five of you for your leadership for our district. I also want to say that, um, we're in a pos we are in the third coming to the end of our the third year of our five-year strategic plan. So, we've actually already been having conversations as staff and the leadership about our refresh that'll come in a couple of years and all the steps that we're going to be taking uh for um to get ready for that next refresh and looking at our next five years and it's all super super exciting and that's uh going to be coming to you very soon. I also want to recognize today's May

0091st. It is National School Principal Day. So, we have a number of our principles in the audience. Can I ask them to stand, please? If you're one of our principles. There they are. And I want the I want the board to know they came tonight on their own valition. I didn't even well barely hardly even asked them to come. Uh, and we have some assistant principles in the audience, too, who are helping these guys do the day-to-day work. Where are our APs? Can you guys stand up real quick? Thank you. There you go. Thank you guys. These are the people who actually really run our school. So, thank you very much. Um, I also want to acknowledge uh a couple other SMUD leaders. So, I have a we have PTO's on all of our campuses.

010As you know, I meet with all the PTO leadership once a month uh for our PACME as a parent advisory committee meeting. I am not lying when I tell you it is actually one of my favorite meetings every month. So, we do have some pack members here. Uh, where are my pack members? There a couple of them here. Or former How about former pack? We have some former pack. There we go. There's Liza, Vanessa. We have some other There we go. Come on. There they are. There they are. All right. All right. Wow. All of a sudden, you got shy. We're gonna have to talk about that later. So, thank you to our parents. These are these are folks who um uh volunteer their time uh to serve on our PTO's across uh across the

011school district. Um it's probably a thankless job many much of the time. They don't get paid for it, but they do a lot for events and fundraising and all the things that you're you're aware of. Also want to acknowledge we have some elected officials in the audience this evening. So we have some city council. We are city council members. Would you guys uh stand so we can acknowledge you please? Three of them. I'm gonna have to tell Rebecca, we had a quorum of the city council here tonight. That was awesome. Most we've ever had. Thank you guys so much for taking the time. Um, and our reception this evening was the hopefully you all enjoyed the artwork and the music out there, our band students playing. Um, this is all coordinated by our incredible VAPA

012department. VAPA is visual and performing arts. Uh the video of the students that you watched just a second ago singing was also done. It's an original song written by our VAPA leader uh Matt Armstrong. Matt, where are you? Where is Matt? Oh, Matt didn't make it in. He's running around out there somewhere. Yeah, Matt's running around out there somewhere. But you know how amazing Matt is. And did anybody try the snacks out there with from the culinary kids? Okay. Are our culinary kids out? They're probably cleaning up, too. So, they were amazing. The floral arrangements that you see here were designed by our San Marcos High School floral design students. So, um, and again, another special thanks to our Woodland Park Middle School cadets. They have also left. They probably going doing doing their homework

013tonight. That's good. Um, and our we have a students here. Students and families. Thank you guys for coming. We're going to hear from you guys just a minute. And finally, a real special thanks to our sponsor for this evening, uh, Schools First Credit Union. So, thank you to our our partners here. Um, help us with some of the funding behind these things. Okay, that's enough from um me. I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything that Amy told me to say. Okay, I think we're good. Okay. Um, so for those of you who have not been in school for a little while, right? You're old like me. You're going to see tonight that school has changed and it's changed for the better. And I am so proud. But I was just at the

014Rotary uh the Rotary lunch uh this afternoon and I said that I have had the opportunity in my 31-year career to work as an administrator in four different school districts. That doesn't mean I can't hold down a job. It just means I've had different opportunities. Um and there really is no place like San Marcos. There's no place like San Marcos Unified and the city and all of our partners and Rotary and everybody who comes together to make this an amazing experience for our kids. Super excited to celebrate that with you this evening. So with that, I'm going to invite our deputy superintendent, Dr. Campbell to come up and kick us off. Thank you, Dr. Johnson. Thank you to everyone who is in attendance tonight. It is amazing to be here. It's a wonderful day. As

015Dr. Johnson shared, in San Marcus Unified, we have a big vision for all of our students. Um, it is encapsulated in what you see on the screen here. It is our portrait of a graduate. This portrait was created a few years ago, co-created with our community, and really identifies the skills and the competencies that we want all of our students to embody. Um, and we want them to embody this so that they are able to pursue whatever future they choose, whichever path they choose. It is what we call future ready. As you can imagine, um to get 18,000 plus students to future ready, this transformative vision does not happen overnight. It is an undertaking that requires us to change how our system works and to get us a plan um of how we are going

016to get there. This five-year strategic plan, which we call our strategic promise, really is a roadmap for us. Every time we move closer to one of those goals that's outlined in our strategic promise, we are closer to achieving a future ready vision for each and every one of our students. One of the ways we are doing this is by beginning to embed our portrait of a graduate um the skills and the competencies into our core curriculum as well as introducing our students to engage in learning opportunities in the form of career technical education courses. to share more about this. I would like to welcome Nicole Dana and Dr. Christine Corral who is going who will share more about this. Hello. Uh thank you for having me tonight. My name is Dr. Christine Caro and I'm

017the coordinator of career technical education and future readiness for the San Marcos Unified School District. One of the things I'm going to talk to you about tonight is some of our amazing career technical education programs. We actually have over 17 different career pathways that are represented in the programs that we offer at both of our two high schools, including our alternative school and our middle schools. Two of the programs I want to feature most are our um construction program. So, we offer construction program currently at San Marcos High School. This program is is vast. It's actually a pre-apprenticeship program and it allows for students to not only learn about residential construction, but they also can participate in that pre-apprenticeship program that allows them to then have access to a full-fledged apprenticeship program with the Associated

018General Contractor's Union after graduation. So for students who are in this program, they can actually leave our high schools and go directly into career. Another aspect of the program is our dedication to service learning within the construction itself. So we've partnered with uh the warrior project over the last few years and we help build tiny homes for uh wounded warriors or veterans. And so we've been doing that for quite some time. But not only that, this year we also participated in a a large-scale design build day in which a variety of different school districts who also have construction programs came together to build a bunch of homes in a single day. Um I would be lying if I said that San Marcos High wasn't very well represented on that day. We actually built two homes

019instead of just one. Um so we are definitely leading the pack when it comes to um that service learning aspect of our construction program. And the program at San Marcos High also um has a strong representation in competition. So they actually currently um just two weeks ago they participated in the design build competition which is done with schools from all over the state. Uh we did very well there. And then we also participated in Skills USA and one of our students um Nenah actually had a perfect score. So we we're definitely turning out some high quality um construction students. We've also expanded construction to Mission Hills High School and those courses there are actually courses that allow students to get their credits in math as well as CTE credits in construction. And uh that program

020has also now earned a pre-apprenticeship label. We also offer it at Twin Oaks and we're hoping that their pre-apprenticeship comes through in the next week or so. So, we'll soon have pre-apprenticeship offered at all three of our high schools. And then second, I wanted to highlight our criminal justice program. This is a program that um is near and dear to my heart because I think it's really unique. It's actually one of the most popular programs we have at both of our high schools. Uh the classes are packed. We have to turn them away. In fact, we decided to not turn them away and instead offer dual enrollment with uh Palomar College so that our students are getting college credit for taking those classes. So, we've got two incredible teachers um who were actually just nominated

021for and and have won um the Classrooms of the Future Foundation um pathways award for being an incredible um CTE pathway. So, we've got two retired police officers who really know their stuff. Uh the kids are riveted. Um and this year we went for the national recognition for um both of our high schools. Uh we decided to to actually just focus on San Marcos High School this school year. Um and we did uh it's kind of a rigorous um application process. So throughout the whole year we went through the process and then we were awarded national recognition by Lapsson for that program. The other exciting thing is some things that are on the horizon. So, we've got a lot of new courses um and pathways coming to our district. So, we currently do offer 17

022different pathways. Um and at our middle schools, we offer career labs which allow the students to explore different careers um in a in a lot of different ways. But for our high school, we've really gotten very lucky in that we've built um an incredible relationship with CalState San Marcos this year. So, CalState San Marcos is obviously our next door neighbor. Um, but more importantly, they're they're um uh a strong presence here in the San Marcos community. And so, we've been working with them over the course of this year to create um what we call a tethered model, which allows the the college professor to teach alongside our high school teacher and really create this dynamic partnership. Um, we've been very excited by how collaborative and open and willing Cal State San Marcos has been as

023a partner. They're as excited about dual enrollment as we are. Um, not only does it give students college credit for taking these courses, but it also helps them to feel more confident um, in a college setting and we believe it's helping to create that pipeline um, from our high schools directly to the university so that students who want to stay in the San Marcos community and build it up um, can do that through these pathways. So, over the course of the next year. This year we offered um uh a tethered model program in careers in mental health. Um and so those are part of a college um program that will allow students to enter that field. Next year we're going to be offering cyber security over at Mission Hills High School. And then at San

024Marcos High School, we're going to be offering game design. So we've got lots of great opportunities um that that we feel are only growing. Again, it's I attribute that to to CalState San Marco's really uh willingness to to partner with us. So, we're really excited about what's on the horizon for that relationship. And then secondly is another exciting thing that's on the horizon, which is um we were uh one of the school districts that actually uh won the Golden State Pathways um grant. So, there was a a large grant that was offered in the state of California. Um we were one of the very fortunate school districts that earned um that grant. uh we were actually awarded the second highest amount in San Diego County. Um and so one of the um aspects of that

025grant is actually growing fields that are important and valued in the state of California. And so what we're going to be doing with that is creating pathways in environmental engineering over at Mission Hills High School. And we're also going to be expanding our current agriculture pathways um to to new heights. So we currently offer um agricultural pathways at San Marcos High School that focus on animal husbandry. So, animal science, um, vette, um, and then obviously the agricultural, um, courses as well. What we plan to do with this grant and over the course of the next five years is expand fully um, our agriculture programs to include a large-scale crop production farm. So, we have um, land available in the district that we'll be using to create um, a real working farm for our students to

026create um, farm-to-table produce. and our environmental engineering students will be working on this farm to create the drip irrigation, the windmills, the you know all those unique aspects that they'll contribute and then our agricultural students will be actually growing the crops themselves. Um we're hopeful that we can actually also then turn this into a studentled enterprise which allows students to um uh sell their products at market. So maybe maybe you'll be uh coming to a farmers market right here at the district office someday um uh selling our own produce and and ideally we would love to be able to grow enough to actually um bring that produce back to the students in our school and provide them with um healthy vegetables that we grow. We also plan to collaborate with our culinary arts program that

027you saw today um and our other agricultural programs to create a farm-to-table culinary arts program. So, we're really excited about um everything that's on the horizon with with CTE. The the possibilities are endless. I'm very excited about my role. Um so, I hope that you are excited about what's coming next as well. Thank you, Christine. Good evening, board members. It's nice to see you again. My name is Nikki Duron. I'm the director of curriculum and instruction. It's hard to follow that after all of the wonderfulness that is happening, but I do want to share just one more piece of information. Um, as you guys know, Dr. Johnson is part of a North County Superintendent group. This group's sole purpose is to try to seek out what's the next phase of education, what's the what's the

028evolution, revolution, and they're looking for really innovative places to to get that insight from. And they came to us in the spring and as you know, Dr. Foland and his group were blown away with what's happening in San Marcos Unified because of the unique approach that we're taking as we're taking our portrait of a graduate and trying to make it a reality in our classrooms. When you look at our portrait of a graduate, it's really about kids being able to have experiences that they find their strengths and their interest so they can build future plans. When we look at our course offerings, when we look at our instructional program and we line that up against the portrait of a graduate, what we started realizing is that we were really offering just two choices to students.

029Do you want to be an honor student or do you want to be a CP student? And when we think about interest and strengths, that's not really grounded. Honors and CP is not really grounded in what people are interested in. So, we started looking at how do we change our instructional program? How do we do things a little bit different? So, we started looking at interestbased core courses. We started looking at integrated CTE courses which you heard Christine speak a little bit about and we really started investing some time into dual enrollment courses especially around Cal State San Marcos. So I just want to list a couple of those courses so you have a general sense of where we're aiming towards. So every single student in our um high schools have to take four years

030of English as these ladies know. And um right now it's an English 9 class that you can take honors or a CP. What we've done with English 9 is we've offered a variety of English 9. So we have an English 9 game design. We have an English nine mental health. We have an English nine um ethnic studies. We have an English 9 that's now going to be a film class. So, we have a variety of ways of how do you engage and get that English credit? So, you can be A throughG, you can go to a four-year college, but it's grounded and the content is grounded in the interest that you're that you're expressing. We've also done that in our um in our math classes. So Christine talked about it just a little bit, but

031what's really unique and what's happening at Mission Hills High School is that we have a construction um geometry class. So students are earning and learning about geometry and algebra 2 through a construction base. That class is blown out of the water there. We need more teachers, Dr. Johnson, to be able to fulfill that. Sorry. But there are so many kids who are interested because it's hands-on real world learning, right? Um, we're also now going to offer a algebra 1 with robotics because we have a lot of kids who are interested in engineering and so to be able to engage in algebra 1 curriculum but through the robotics lens is really fascinating. Um, as you heard our agricultural program with our agricultural biology, chemistry and sustainable agriculture. Um, we have a lot of um, work that's

032happening in our film. We have an amazing film academy at San Marcos High School. So students are able to get world history credit and US history credit and now government credit through a film lens. and what does that look like? And we're also um investing time into our ethnic studies programs. I do want to highlight something that's very cool and unique to San Marcos Unified. Um we have we are the second district in all of California to do a translation and interpretation class. This class is really cool. This class gets students their language as uh their language other than English credit for A throughG, but because we've partnered with Cal State San Marcos, they actually earn a Cal State San Marcos certification for translation. So on their job applications, on their diplomas, they can go

033out and they say, "I am certified by a university to translate and interpret." It's really, really great. Um and then lastly, we have been expanding our ethnic studies. As you guys know, this this course is coming around the corner, not next year, but the following. And we have such a variety of menu of offering for our students. So, however they want to meet their ethnic studies requirement, they can do so through dance or through music or through film. We've even partnered with Cal State San Marcos to offer a ethnic studies dual enrollment course. So, as you know, CalState San Marcos or the UC systems also require an ethnic studies requirement. Our students are now going to have the opportunity to earn both our credit and their credit at the same time. So, there's lots of

034wonderful things happening in our district as we're trying to move our systems to a portrait of a graduate and strategic promise. Thank you guys. Thank you ladies. Um, okay, I'm going to break because that's so awesome. It's so cool. Okay, back to character. So, we have some tremendous work um that is happening. Um it's all part of our portrait of a graduate. It's important for us to remember um with our strategic promise, future ready experiences and opportunities are not just for some of our students but really are for each and every one of our students. I am incredibly proud to say that um our principles, our teachers, our staff really have taken on this mantle of it is for each and every student. So, I'm proud to highlight one of our elementary schools that's working

035really intentionally to welcome and include all students on their campus. So, to share more, please help me welcome the principal of Santao Elementary School, Mr. Gary Pope and Sanlejo Elementary parent volunteer Carly Brennan. Thank you so much for the opportunity to present tonight. This is really is an honor. I've been the principal of Seno for three years and it is an amazing school community. Our staff has been really focused on creating a strong sense of belonging and connection for all students. And this year has been well the last few years has been highly focused on inclusion of our students with disabilities. So, a huge part is that of that change and that development has been partnering with our parent groups. And I've been really happy to partner and um really would love to introduce the

036the the the lead of our parent advocacy group for students with disabilities, Miss Karly Brennan. Thanks so much. I first just want to say I'd like to go back to high school and start all over again. Maybe I could be a farmer, live my dreams. Um first I just want to say thank you so much for being here. Amy, thank you so much for the invitation. I just so excited. My name is Karly Brennan. I'm a mom of two children and three bonus kids all here in San Marcos Unified School District. Gary shared about this time last year, I came to him with just some opportunities and ideas. I have my daughter here who is in seventh grade who had a very neurotypical experience and my son who is a fifth grader in our special

037education classroom. Both great experiences, but they looked very different. So, I came to Gary with just some ideas on how can we make some of our opportunities in school and after school more inclusive. I said, "I'm here. I can help. Put me to work." Um, so what we kind of looked at as looking at incorporating room parents for our special needs classrooms, which was the first time we'd ever done this year, which was awesome. We include um included um art dosins into our special education classrooms, the fun run, and then some afterchool activities like our winter performance, the monster bash, and our upcoming world fair. From that really we just got some parents together who all were like-minded and just wanted to a create a community where we could share share resources, share thoughts, share

038experiences, also you know share some of the burdens. Hey, how can we get more involved in our schools? what can we do from a parent perspective to share our lens and our experience as special needs parents because they are different than neurotypical parents. But from there, you know, with Gary and the support of our amazing administration, our amazing PTO and all of our teachers, our parent student council was born. And from there, it has just grown like wildfire. With the partnership of Lori in the school district, we're looking at bringing our special needs parent council to the entire district because our community, we need each other. We need each other to share ideas. The transition from elementary school to middle school. What does that look like? It would be great to talk to another special

039needs parent who had experienced it and also going to high school. So from there, what we did is we really just started with back to school night. Our PTO set up a booth for us. They brought bubbles to our station to bring every single parent and family to over to understand what we were trying to do here at our school. And really the the feedback has just been absolutely phenomenal. Um from there we started monthly meetups. I will say there's a group of women and we meet once a month religiously. It is a Friday coffee that I will not miss. I've learned so much. we've been able to share so much as a community and really start to bring some of these opportunities back to our kids and back to our communities. Um, you know,

040throughout the school year, we've partnered with administration and PTO to bring access to access and inclusion to all of our events. One, a couple that I just want to highlight briefly. We have a winter per performance, which it is the highlight of the school year. I don't know if you guys like to watch kids sing, but I sure do. And my son loves to perform if you've ever met him. this kid, just give him a microphone or he'll take Gary's just straight out of his hand if he gets the opportunity. But what we were able to do this year with just a conversation with Gary and our PTO is we were able to get an aid to be there that evening so that you know all kids, all parents got to sit down and wait

041for our kids to come up. So my experience this year, my son got got partnered up with his buddy and believe it or not, another kiddo from the fifth grade dressed up and matched him. So he actually had a buddy go up there with him and I got to sit in my seat and wait for my son to come up and perform. It was one of those pinch me moments where you're going we can do this little by little one by one together we can really make a difference. Um from then you know there's just so so so many examples that I could share that what we're doing at CE's that I would love to bring to the entire district today though Gary and I really want to highlight our ability awareness fair. So with

042that Gary I'll pass it back to you. So inclusion is is something that we've always been focused on within our within the special education realm and and it's something that we always there's always pieces of inclusion and what I've realized this year is that it really is a destination. I mean I mean I'm sorry it's a it's a journey not a destination because you can never say that you're just an inclusive school community because you really have to look at all the pieces of your system to make sure that you provided access and inclusion and that's what's been amazing of partnering with our parents is that we're really able to see it through our all of our students eyes to ensure all students are included in our system. So some of the things that we

043have done in in collaboration with really all of our pieces out of our school to ensure that inclusion happens at our school has been to implement just daily inclusive practices like every every general education class has restorative circles, morning meetings and including our students within our specialized programs within those has been an amazing way to connect all students and build empathy and connection across our typical uh neurotypical students as well as our uh neur neurode divergent students. So, that's been amazing. As Carly mentioned, more access and understanding for school events. You know, how can we get upfront parking? How can we uh have a sensory zone? How do how do we inform parents of what to expect when when the event happens? Things like that. We have buddy classes. And one really special thing that

044I wanted to mention, actually, Carly's daughter, Gabby, started this, and that's the fun Friday friends. Gabby came to me three years ago and said, "Hey, I'd love to go push in and and just spend some time in the ESN classes. I'll bring a couple of my buddies with me and let's make it happen." And that really has taken on a life of its own where students just come up with ideas for me and they're bringing me this idea to push in and just they just want an introduction uh uh for to connect each other and then they're off and running and they are just creating these great friendships and that's still going Gabby and you should be really proud that that you created that for our school. The main event this year has been was

045our ability awareness week, our ability awareness fair. You know, that's something that, you know, March is the World Down Syndrome Day. April is autism awareness. And those March, April times are a little busy for us educators. So, it usually comes on really fast. And we, oh, ability awareness is coming up. We got to send something out really quick, you know. So, we really wanted to do something intentional. So last year around this time, our entire special education department, our teachers, our speech pathologists, our school psychologists, all the whole team got together on a full release day. How are we going to make this great and plan it for several months out so that we do this thing right? And they did a phenomenal job. Hats off to our department. I I get to be up

046here as the spokesperson person and kind of take the credit, but really they did all the work. uh and each each took over a portion of the fair. And the goal really is to create a better understanding and awareness for all students about learning differences and really break down the stigma like, hey, we're all just kids. We are all, you know, we all learn a little differently and and and there we kind of use those terms typical or divergent, but really every single child has different learning pathways. And what it really was able to do is teach, you know, we brought in celebrity things and you know, like there's a lot of students that have a a different path and that's okay. And it was really amazing because we did we upfronted we frontloaded all

047the students with lots of instruction. All of our general education teachers jumped on board and taught lessons in their classrooms every day. This week we kicked off the week with a really special video. We have a student in our adult transition program, Michaela, who was at C's. We had a video of her when she was in second grade, uh, using her device and then I interviewed her as as a 19-year-old, very proficient with her device and she just became a star within our school. And so when she came to the fair, she was surrounded by all the kids. And you know it really was able to show that yes we call these you know we call it students with disabilities but really it's special abilities and superpowers to overcome some challenges that not everybody faces

048and students really understood that. So when we had the fair and you have some pictures on here we have our challenge athlete foundation we partnered with we had love on a leash that was really popular because everybody likes to see some dogs and pet some dogs at school. Uh but really all of our special education uh professionals and we and Nixie, our our consortium within North County came as well. So we had adaptive games and tools, communication and assisted technology, self-regulation and sensory vision, braille. We had an amazing partnership with our adult transition program. And so several of those students came, especially a phenomenal student, Sierra, who has her own company. And uh it was really phenomenal. Um, we have students that taught our our our our fifth graders some uh sign language throughout the

049event. And so it was really amazing. Students, all students were able to rotate through and and gain such an appreciation for all students. And as a result, we really are seeing at school now, Mrs. Mloud and I, we walk through campus and our hearts just melt because we just see kids playing, you know, and it's not like we have our students within our specialized programs over here and then all the other kids are playing over here. It is an inclusive community. It's it's students playing. There's authentic friendships that are happening. There's greater acceptance, greater understanding and greater I don't know for every individual kid. you know, we've we had as this as the lessons were going on and and and students were thinking about their thinking and we're going over things like ADHD and we

050have kids going, I I think I got some of that, you know, and and we're like, yeah, that's totally cool. You might uh and so it it it was just amazing. And and what's really cool is that students are taking on that leadership uh portrait of a graduate because I I presented an opportunity for students around April and May or March to give a a flag salute presentation about ability awareness refresh and I needed very little gu they needed very little guidance. They created posters. They gave information. They came up with their speeches and third graders presented on on um empathetic, inclusive practices that everybody should be thinking about at our school. So, it's been really great and I I wanted uh Carly to share again though from a parent perspective about the impact of

051the ability awareness. Yeah, thank you, Gary. I will say the ability awareness fair was wonderful and a special hats off to all teachers in the room. That was the most exhausting day of my life. I'll sit behind my corporate computer for now. But um from a parent perspective, there's so many words and then there's just you you're speechless when you get stopped at the grocery store, at the coffee shop, at a lacrosse game by fifth graders running up to your son to say hello. You're stopped in your tracks. or over spring break when you get a video chat from another fifth grader wanting to have a playd date with your son and they send a video because they know that's the way he communicates best, you're speechless. And it's all because of what our staff,

052our administration, and really the culture here at CES. Our kiddos are the most beautiful gift that we have been given in on this planet. Inclusion is woven into the DNA of our children. Our inclusive culture at Santao Elementary School is literally changing the lives of all of our children. It's changing my life to together we are building a community and we are changing the world for all of our kids. Like Gary said, our third graders, I mean it was a mic drop after they got off the stage because these kiddos got it. I mean, they just understood, hey, you think differently. Oh, I think differently, too. And then let's move on and let's play. It's a mindset that is so refreshing and so beautiful. And gosh, it's so kids. You know, us as parents, sometimes

053we muddy the waters and we make it challenging when at the end of the day, like Gary said, kids just want to be kids. They want to be seen and celebrated for who they are, seen and accepted for their differences. and we're doing that here at C's. I will leave you just with this one line that I've got to celebrate those third graders who hosted our neurodiversity celebration week uh flag salute and they ended they ended the per the performance like this. Just remember we're all kids. So, thank you so much for your time for um gosh for just sharing our experiences. I just want to say one more thing and I just wanted to share one more thing. It's been I'm I'm so happy to share about C's, but it's been really great that

054uh Miss Cummings, our special ed director, has started these coffee chats because we were able to kind of take our show on the road and uh and share with other schools. And I know that other schools are doing amazing things as well. I was so excited to hear about what the middle school and the high schools are doing today at the principal meeting. And it's just such a great thing that we have an a really inclusive movement going on within our district and I think that's really special. So thanks so much amazing inspiring um models of empathy and leadership. Thank you Senjo. Um there is one more speaker I would like to invite up along with her team. Um Gary mentioned alluded to um our students who are resilient um who have determination um and

055really um inspire others. So please help me welcome up Sanlejo Middle School student Eloise Dazroth and members of her instructional team Taylor Thompson, Talia Esman, and Kimberly Caesar Rivera. Good afternoon and thank you guys for inviting us here today. Um, my name is Talia Esman and I am an education specialist at Santa Leo Middle School. In addition to being a case manager, I also co-e sixth and seventh grade math. I'm honored tonight to introduce you to this amazing young lady standing right behind me. She not only holds a very special place, you can come right next to me. She not only holds a very special place on our campus, she holds an even more special place in my heart. Woo, this is going to be a tough one. Goodness. I was first invited to meet

056Eloise when she was a fifth grader at Lacasta Meadows Elementary about to transition to middle school. From our very first meeting, I knew that this student was going to be something special. Eloise is the kind of student educators dream of. Not just because she's self-motivated and eager to excel, because she challenges me daily to be the very best that I can be. Her needs, as you're going to hear about, are unique and constantly evolving, which means I'm constantly having to adapt my way of thinking and my way of teaching so that I can ensure that the curriculum is not just accessible to her, but engaging as well. Supporting Eloise has made me a better educator, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow right alongside with her. That being said, it's

057my honor right now to introduce all of you to this very special human being. Eloise and I like everybody to know that our signature color we're here to represent is pink. What shades of pink, Eloise? Blasted and Bastrol. Our pink girl is going to speak with you. Good afternoon. My name is Elves Dazra and I'm a seventh grader at St. Allejo Middle School. I'm honored to be here to speak with you my journey at San Marcos Unified School District. Before I jump into that, I'd like to tell you a little about myself. I'm a flutist. I love to read. I like shopping. I like being a perfectionist. I love getting straight A's. And I like learning new things. I have a great And at school, my favorite my favorite subject is history. And even though

058I'm very good at math, I prefer skipping that. But even though I love my teacher, Miss Espin, Mr. open. I'm just a normal middle school girl with a great group of besties and we laugh and we get silly way too much. One important part about me that people tend to notice is that I am blind. I have a disease called retinitis pigmentotosa which is also known as RP for short. I only have a little vision in my I I have no vision in my left eye and only a little bit left in my right eye. When from kindergarten to third grade, I had a lot of vision. When I moved back from Virginia to California, I had I had my vision changed a lot because of this. I've been learning to use Braille to read

059and write since I was three years old. and I've been your and I've been learning to travel safely with a white cane since third grade. My journey My journey at San Marco started at the Peacock School, which is also referred to as Coreo Elementary. And even though you weren't supposed to chase the peacocks, I did because I didn't know better. I moved to Virginia because my dad was in the military for a few years and I moved back to California starting the beginning of fourth grade. Being a middle schooler isn't always easy and it's just like winning the flute at first. When I started, it was very hard to get any sound on it, but I kept practicing and it kept me wanting to play even more. It's just the same with my blindness. I've

060chosen to have a positive mindset. Over time, things have gotten easier and probably I've never learned any of these skills if I wasn't blind. During my time at San Marcos Unified School District, I've had an great experience and it wasn't just me alone. I like I I really want to thank my wonder and flexible teachers for not seeing me as different or lesser. I feel like they truly understand me. I also want to thank the people at the district, even those I haven't met, for making a difference for me. And of course, I want to thank my family for always being there for me. If I could leave you with one message today, it would be you are more than you are on the outside. You more than your disability. You are more than your

061biggest challenge. There's there's there's more than on there's so much inside of you that makes you amazing. And without these, the world would be boring because everybody has their own challenges. And and persevere through hard things. and you can reach your goals and be satisfied with life. I want and thank you for letting me speak this afternoon. Thank you. I mean, okay, I don't know how to follow that. Um, hi everyone. My name is Kimberly Caesar Rivera and I'm Eloise's orientation and mobility specialist. Um, what that means is that I work with students ages K through, well, actually ages three through 22, um, who have a visual impairment and I teach them how to move safely and purposely through their environment. Um, so that includes teaching the white cane. Uh, myself and Taylor, who will

062speak after me, we work for the county office of education um, in the North Coastal Consortium for Special Education, NIXIE, um, as I'm sure you guys have heard. Uh so we travel between the 14 school districts providing these services. Um I met Eloise when she came back to San Marcos in fourth grade and at that time as she said she did have a lot more vision and so throughout the years we've been accommodating due to that vision loss. Um I want you all to picture what it's like being a young child and losing your vision. Um oh my gosh. um she has taken it in stride. Um she works so hard to do things that we all take for granted like simply waking up and crossing the street. Um you know, we've had some fun

063lessons, right, where we've learned how to do our hair and our makeup. Um how to go out and purchase the Starbucks that you want. Um so all that to say, I'm incredibly proud of her and I'm incredibly proud to be your teacher. I also don't know how to follow that. As you can see, our whole team is so proud to work with this lovely young lady. Um, as mentioned earlier, I am the teacher of blind and low vision students. Um, working alongside Kimberly here for Nixie. Um, I am her counterpart at Nixie. So, my job is to ensure that Eloise has access to all of her curriculum in non-visual ways. This includes hours upon hours of braille instruction, I can maybe see her rolling her eyes behind me, and technology instruction with Eloise and collaboration

064with her amazing team um at SIMS. And I've had the honor of working with Eloise since she moved back here as her TVI um when she came here in fourth grade. A fun fact though, I started with her as an instructional aid when she was that little um when she was three. So I had the privilege of knowing her as an aid for TVIS before I got my credential. Um so that's a really fun journey to then for her to come back and she was one of my first Braille students and I can truly say that working with this incredible young woman has been the highlight of my career and continuously reminds me that I am in the right field doing the work that I completely love. Eloise inspires me daily with her grit, her

065cander, her unwavering determination to achieve her goals, her obsession with pink, which Miss Esman shares, her kindness, her humor, her patience, and her incredible journey of integrating her visual impairment as a beautiful feature of who she is, a brilliant young woman with dreams, passions, and all that comes with being a middle schooler. Eloise, as I say often, it is my honor to work with you. and we both know I was more terrified of going to middle school than you were. But I am so glad I got to come with you and can't wait for the rest of our journey. I really want to sincerely thank you all of Eloise's teachers for their genuine willingness to collaborate in order to create a learning environment that is accessible to Eloise through touch and sound. You have all

066put up with countless emails from me, requests and suggestions, but it has resulted in such rich adaptations to curriculum and invaluable teachable moments for all of us. The level of care, attentiveness, willingness to learn has set a high bar for what collaboration can look like between the special education staff and the general education teachers and us. I would also like to thank the SMUSD administrative staff and all the special education staff here at the district office, both visible and invisible because we know so much happens behind the scenes for consistently talk taking the time to advocate for our students and design a free, appropriate and meaningful education for our students and for doing so with such student forward heart. It really, really shows. I want to make sure that I point out that everything you've

067heard here is an example of just one team at one school. An amazing collaboration like this happens all over the district with all of our students. And as folks who serve 14 school districts, San Marcos truly does stand out. You guys have an amazing amazing team here at this district. On that note, I would like to invite everyone who has been a part of this amazing team always in any capacity to please stand, including her amazing family, so we can honor you for all of your amazing work. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak today. Um, as you can see, it it takes a village and we just want to honor you and thank you and honor Eloise most of all for all of her amazing hard work. Thank you. It is a

068privilege. It is an honor. It is a joy to be a part of this district um that puts students first. I'm going to walk. So now to share more about creating future ready environments for our students um that they learn, they thrive in that you have seen here, I would like to welcome assistant superintendent of business services Erin Garcia. Good luck, Aaron. Amy, if there's if there's one thing we need to change for next year, Eloise is going to be the closer next year. There's I was prepared. I when I saw the lineup today, I looked at Amy and I said, "Oh no, I'm gonna be crying, aren't I?" Um, and I was, but I pulled it together. So, here we go. Um, thank you, Tiffany. Um, as many of you recall, this past November,

069after the creation and board approval of our SMUSD facilities master plan and thorough review of our facility needs, we set out to place a school bond on the ballot. Because school districts don't receive dedicated facility funding from the state, the local bond funds would allow us to reconstruct several of our very aging schools. And I'm pleased to share that Measure JJ, our school bond, passed with over 55% support from our San Marcus community. Um we are so so grateful um for the community's trust in our district. And now the real work begins. Um, I want to take this opportunity to share a sneak peek of the upcoming construction projects we are beginning thanks in part to the passage of measure JJ. All right. So, first, Woodland Park Middle School will undergo a largescale renovation project.

070If you've been to this campus, you know that it desperately needs better flow. um because decades ago it was converted from an elementary school to a middle school and it has a very clunky footprint um that needs is in desperate need of reconfiguration. Um this project will entail the construction of two brand new twostory con classroom buildings site reconfiguration with a direct path from the front of school to the back of campus. No more weaving in between different buildings all around. um and a complete modernization of existing buildings. With construction beginning this summer, we are thrilled to begin the work to provide a 21st century middle school experience to our students. Knobill Elementary is another campus that will receive a site reconfiguration through a phased approach. The campus will be reconstructed reconstructed to include a

071new bus drop off area, a new multi-purpose room, two brand new buildings to replace 20 portable classrooms, a kindergarten wing, and an academic quad. Another elementary school in our district that has been operating with very old, outdated portables is Paloma Elementary. We know this is a growing area of our community for families and we are excited um that Paloma's old portable units will be replaced with new modern buildings, a new kitchen and multi-purpose room to meet the needs of a growing campus and a modernized modernization of learning environments throughout the school. And as we all know, both of our comprehensive high schools have thriving athletic departments with students engaged in a variety of sports, which is why we have athletic improvements beginning this summer. Improvements at Mission Hills High School are underway and athletic improvements

072at San Marcos High School will begin next summer. Both scopes of work include a variety of improvements, including replacing the stadium's artificial turf and synthetic track, upgrading one practice field from grass to turf, and installing lights at that practice field, and adding beach volleyball courts. Our measure JJ bonds will help us complete these projects and more across the district over the coming years. While you now have insight into our initial bond project scope, at this time I'd like to welcome up someone who worked tirelessly to help make measure JJ a reality. And she can share um and with you another perspective into what this really means for our current and future students in the district. Please help me welcome Measure JJ parent volunteer Vanessa Smith. notes to myself. Waterproof mascara would have been a good

073idea. Good afternoon. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the opportunity to be here with you today. It means a lot to me to share the incredible work this team has put in and I hope that you can feel the dedication and effort behind it. A few short years ago during a parent advisory committee meeting to Corman the executive director of facilities planning and development delivered an inspiring presentation that outlined the facilities master plan and emphasized the future needs of our schools. I have had the honor of serving as a parent volunteer in this school district for several seasons now. But hearing Tova Corman joined by Dr. Johnson speak left me with a powerful conviction that this bond measure much like POBK 11 years ago would be a legacy project, a momentous opportunity for

074our community to come together, roll up our sleeves, and make a meaningful difference. Last spring, after the board placed the school bond measure on the November 2024 ballot, I joined friends Hillary Dro and Robert Redfield in the committee for better, safer schools. One of my key responsibilities was to inform the Samaros community about Measure JJ, rally support for it, and recruit volunteers for the campaign. Soon enough though, my living room became a bustling campaign headquarters filled with Measure JJ yard signs, while my dining room overflowed with boxes and door hangers. On September the 14, we officially kicked off our campaign with the first of many precinct walks. The event was buzzing with energy featuring school administrators, the night regimen drum line and countless volunteers. There is a palpable enthusiasm as everyone shared a genuine sense

075of purpose, united toward a common goal. What stands out in my memory from that morning besides the entire SNUSD transportation department that was present is the sea of yellow measure JJ t-shirt worn by our committee members for the very first time. Those t-shirt were creatively designed by a wonderful parents in our community perfectly capturing the grassroots spirit of this campaign. Gener enthusiasm around measure JJ was vital and we saved every chance to discuss it with anyone willing to listen. I struck up conversations with neighbors who welcome me into their homes, sitting on porches, and even while working in their front yards or waiting in line at the local coffee shops. We discussed the lasting impact that maj could have on our schools and the broader community. On an early morning, I met a parent in

076our community for coffee. He explained how measure JJ and the potential renovations at some school sites would benefit his small window cleaning business. Despite the tax implications, he was unwavering in his support. Driven by the simple truth that his children attended those various schools and it was the right thing to do. A friend shared a touching moment with me about her young daughter's visit to the newly remodeled Richland Elementary. After seeing the vibrant colorful walls at Richland, her young daughter expressed that her own school felt gray and sad in comparison. A local donut shop owner offered to display flyers in their window if I could spare a few of our measure JJ buttons, which they would proudly wear throughout the campaign. The success of this campaign was primary driven by the strong commitment to our

077school community shared by everyone who joined our team. Dr. Andy Johnson, Aaron Garcia, Tova Corman, Amy Ventualo, Mike Sawyer, Susie Boon, Stacy Carlson, Jamie Chamberlain, Hillary Dro, and Robert Redfield stood as a heart and pillars of this initiative. From July to November, this incredible team came together and worked. Over 500 yard signs and thousands of door hangers were organized in preparation for the precinct walks. Early weekend mornings were synonymous with distributing yard signs throughout San Marcos. Millers were meticulously edited, ensuring that verbs, adjectives and comm were precisely chosen to convey our message in a positive way. Flyers and signup were used to recruit volunteers while weekly team meeting kept our committee members informed and on track with their tasks. Along with friends and volunteers who joined us, we canvased through hilly neighborhoods, distributing door hangers,

078and connecting with the community. Despite busy weekends filled with sports, band competitions, wedding and work travel, our sign on signwaving Tuesdays at major intersections in San Marcos, we gathered school principles and district staff and our team waving those bright yellow signs hoping to inspire a few honks along the way. This team showed up each day with remarkable commitment to our school community, embodying and wavering leadership, grace, and a touch of humor. Their education continues to inspire me to this day. I am deeply humbled to have been a part of such a legacy project in our community and forever grateful to this team for imparting valuable lessons in leadership and service. I want to leave you with a powerful thought from the inspiring Dr. Marian Wright Edelman who wrote, "You really can change the world if

079you care enough." Now, what a powerful reminder that our compassion and commitment can make a meaningful difference. Thank you. Thank Thank you, Vanessa, very much. Um, we're getting here to the to the home stretch. Uh, and I just want to highlight that we do these future ready facilities. We do all this future ready um instructional programs for our students. And I you've often heard me say that um I love that in our district we don't uh education doesn't happen to our students, but it happens with our students. And that's why four years ago I created the Superintendent Student Advisory Council. This is a group that I meet with every month. It started as just seniors, maybe it was just juniors and seniors, then we brought in some sophomores and I think we have even some

080freshmen in there as well. Um they meet with me once a month. I get feedback from them. Uh one of the things that I love the most about this group is um it is led this year by Sydney Cork and Trinity Moon who are here to my left. And I love that well I've told the story before, but my first year I uh formed the group. I was doing all the agendas. I had a little book on student leadership. I thought we'd do a little book study. Did not fly at all. It was terrible. Um towards the end of that first year, two of our students, uh I believe it was Nikita and Keybe said to me, um you know, Dr. Johnson, would it be okay? Could we help with some of the agendas for

081next year? And I said, would you guys want to just want to run this group? And they're like, could we? And it has gotten it's it's the thousand times better now than it ever was when I was leading it. So, um and the other thing I love about these guys, we we've talked about all kinds of things, and you're going to hear from them in just a second. We've talked this year about cell phones. We've talked about mental health. We've talked about career readiness. All kinds of things. Um and when I ask them from for input, they are not shy about telling me the truth. Um so, uh you know, it could be it's not would not be um uh uncommon, I suppose, for students to show up at the district office and come upstairs

082and meet in this conference room with the superintendent and be very I ask them what they think and they they tell me. So, uh and it's always very very helpful. So, please help me welcome uh Sydney Cork and Trinity Moon. Hi everybody. I'm Trinity and I'm your Mission Hill student board representative. I'm Sydney and I'm the San Marcos High board representative. So like um Mr. Nelson had brought up earlier, we have discussed so many amazing topics with so many amazing students which some of them are in the crowd right now that are on our advisory council. Um, and I just wanted to share with you a few of the topics that we brought up this year because I think that they're really important for our students and our school on campus. So, the first thing

083that we kind of discussed this year, um, is our portrait of a graduate. As you know, it's been really integrated within our schools. And we got a chance to talk with our council and our students and just share about how we saw it happening on our campuses and ways that we thought it could be improved within um, our classrooms and just within our staff members and our students. So, the first thing we talked about was empathy and relationships. So, as you know, empathy is a pillar in the portrait of a graduate. So, a lot of our students shared that um a way that they thought that empathy could be improved within our campus is just by creating stronger relationships with students and with peers alike. So, that student teacher connection is something that has come

084up so many times throughout this year within the council because I mean it plays into so many different parts of our curriculum whether students are learning, whether they're having a good relationship with their teachers, with their staff members, with their students. Empathy is just a huge part of our campus. Um, and something another part of that was that creating the supporting like the classrooms and the joining clubs and just being like kind of a community, making school more of a place where you feel more like a family and less kind of just like, oh, we go to school together, I see you within the hallways kind of thing. Um, another pillar that we talked about was adaptability. So something that they came up with adjusting to new challenges in class. Whether that be creating ideas

085in the curriculum where you're having to work more on solving problems and adapting to different solutions instead of just the straightforward like they hand you a packet and there's a couple like pre-written questions. And we thought that was only like hap like wasn't helping our adaptability. And then another thing was just engaging with new people and embracing change. So, as hard as it has been for me and hard as it has been for other people, sometimes when it comes to like seating charts, you don't always get to sit with your friends, but I found that it's like really helped just getting to know new people because you create that connection and you learn to like adapt to your surroundings and adapt to the people around you. The next thing that we talked about was leadership,

086which is a huge huge part of all of our high school campuses and I think it's something that is really like built on the foundation of school is just the leadership, the leaders on our campus or the staff or students. So leadership, it was just kind of like a well-rounded, we wanted to be advocates for one another to be able to speak up for the students that didn't necessarily have that voice and their own like change to do it. And another thing that it's kind of like a leading into another thing was uh a topic that was brought up last year with by Mr. Johnson um and our advisory council was something called the invisible student. So it's exactly what it sounds like. It's the students on our campus that aren't necessarily involved in sports

087or music or clubs. There's the students that haven't had the chance to put themselves out there, not necessarily because they don't want to, but just because they haven't had the resources to. So, something that as an advisory board we wanted to address was just like the journey of transforming our school um to becoming like for our students. So, something that we came up with was leadership through small actions. whether that be um putting involved students with uninvolved students and kind of getting them to get to know each other and letting them just create that connection or just um smaller gestures like saying hi to each other on campus and just letting them know that they feel like they're welcome and that they have a part on our campus. Another thing which is really cool um

088is like the peer support systems. So, something that we created over at Mission Hills and we want to implement all the other high schools has been our peer-to-peer um counseling program. So, it's it's in the works. It's a new program. I'm on the advisory board for it. And I think it's really cool because it's just a way for students to get to like share what they're going through, not necessarily with an adult, but with someone of their age, someone they feel comfortable talking with, um and letting them get the help that they need without putting them in an uncomfortable position. So, we felt that that would really help bring a lot of their students out of their shell and become more integrated on our campus. And then the last thing we addressed was AI and

089phones. So, that's been a big thing on our campus was the phone policy and AI. And I I won't sugarcoat it. I mean, I use AI in school. I don't cheat with it, but I use AI in school for a lot of stuff. I use my phone in school. Um, and like as hard as it sounds, like it's just it's something that we've grown up with and it's something that we kind of have to like learn to adapt to. So something that our council came up with was using AI as an educational tool. So whether that be teachers teaching students how to use AI like in an educational way instead of in like a cheating way and just to get by. Um, using AI for like college for college apps and for tutoring and for

090writing support. I know I have a little AI program that I use to kind of simulate my college apps and everything like that. It's been really helpful. Um, and then just going back to like the teachers, teaching students to use AI in an ethical way because I mean we say this all the time, students will find a way around everything. Um, and so if we teach them to use it in a way that's helpful towards them, but also in a way that isn't harmful towards them, we believe that that will kind of help enhance AI learning in just a healthier way at school. And then the last thing that we addressed was our phone policy. So, it's been back and forth between our students. I mean, I've seen some people take it pretty well and

091other students have shared that they don't like it at all. And I think that while we can't focus on the students that necessarily don't agree with it, I think we can just focus on making it like a well-rounded kind of policy. So something some things that came up like frequently in our council was just the phones being um like allowed to be used at teacher discretion. So whether that be when you're finished with something in class and you know you have nothing else to do using your phone or I'm in both ASB and ceramics and so there's certain classes where I need to be able to use my phone but like certain things in the phone policy kind of create that blockage. But that's something we're working on and I think it's improving in a

092positive way. Um and then I'm just going to pass it to Sydney. All righty. I'm going to touch on the Let's Face It Together mental health awareness campaign. We've been talking about this for the last two meetings and we're really really excited about what we could possibly do with it. So, for those who don't know, I'm going to read like the little slogan like what it is pretty much. So, the Let's Face It Together is a mental health awareness campaign supported by the San Marcos Unified School District and the city of San Marcos. The campaign aims to help youth, youth, and teens get support from the district to address mental health challenges. This program will act as a bridge for students, parents, teachers, and administrators by connecting students in need with appropriate services to improve

093their mental health and quality of life. So, um, we found out that over 13,000 communications occurred and 92 appointments were made. That's amazing. But I think that we can improve that and get a lot more communications done with more outreach in this campaign. So what we really want to do is increase the visibility of posters, news programs, and social media. We really discuss the um comfort and stigma around mental health and like talking about it and especially the males. The there's a mental health stigma with males. So, we really want to address that and help them feel more comfortable talking with counselors, parents, and peers. So, um Trinity brought up the Mission Hills peer-to-peer counseling program. Our students even brought up this program before they even knew about the um program that's going into action

094in Mission Hills. So, we really want to see if we could implement that implement that at all of the high schools, but we're just going to pilot it at Mission Hills and see how it goes. a lot of students didn't really have a relationship with their counselors and we kind of want um and they don't really feel comfortable talking with a counselor if they don't really have a relationship with them. So, we really wanted to um push the idea of like regular check-ins and we know that they're busy, but we think that the idea of regular check-ins with counselors may help with um mental health. So, at our this was all discussed at the first meeting, but here is the second meeting. So, we wanted to really engage the students. So, we kind of um

095had like brainstorming about what we could do to um kind of get this mission across. So, um a couple of students brought up a short film about mental health. And for those of you who don't know, um San Marcos just did the every 15 minutes uh short film. And that's just about drunk driving and um just drinking and driving and DUIs. So, they wanted to kind of put that into the same effect with mental health. We're still in the brainstorming aspects of that one. Um, but we also thought about social media challenges. So, maybe incorporating or putting a spin on the ice bucket challenge with the USC Speak Your Mind. Um, we also brought up the Twin Oaks. Um, sorry, they talked about Wellness Wednesdays and how amazing that their mental health program is and

096we really wanted to jump on that as well. They also talked about peer-led initiatives and how that can create stronger connections um kind of going forward with the um the mission hills peer-to-peer counseling. Um we also talked about ex enhance accessibility and comfort. So we want counseling to be more accessible to students and have those reoccurring meetings. We wanted to integrate mental health support into the cla into class schedules and curriculum. And we also brought up the idea of like hope squad and I believe that's at middle schools and how amazing that is and how maybe we can incorporate that at the high schools. And we really just wanted to foster a safe space for um that could enable feedback. So we just want physical physical or online spaces for open discussions about mental health

097and regular feedback loops that could include surveys or check-ins to improve the campaign based on what works. That's all we've talked about before. We still have one more meeting that is um May 20th. Yes. Um and I just wanted to like kind of congratulate the members. So if you were have attended a board meeting or not a board meeting but an advisory council meeting, please stand up. I want to clap for you guys because you have done such a great job this year. All righty. Thank you. Thank you guys. I just la last thing I want to say about that is that these kids come on their Tuesday late start day. So while all their peers are I don't know what they're doing, they're sleeping in or whatever, these kids get up early and they

098come down to the deal for these meetings. And I also wanted to say that um we do have all three high schools represented. For a couple of years, uh Gar Phillips, the principal at Twin Oaks High, and I were working hard to get a couple people. This year, Twin Oaks was kind of in the house. uh and and we've learned the other kids have learned a ton from your students. So, thank you very much. It's it's really really awesome. Okay. Uh two more speakers left and then we're going to wrap it up. Um every kid has their own journey in this district as you have heard. So, I want to bring up uh Christy Frius to talk a little bit about uh some unique ways that student engagement is taking place throughout our district. Good

099evening. I'm here tonight to share how our district is working collaboratively with community partners to increase support in the areas of student safety and wellness. Uh this work is grounded in the belief that fostering a safe supportive environment for all student is not the job of any one organization but it is a shared responsibility across the community and together we are making meaningful strides. One key initiative is the violence prevention task force which our district proudly spearheaded. The task force brought together representatives from the city council, city manager's office, sheriff's department, fire department, district office, school sites, univers, and the district attorney's office. The task force has been a valuable space for partners to come together, share insights, and deepen their understanding of what's happening across our community. Members have engaged in honest discussions around

100key concerns, including youth engagement, mental health, and community safety, and have started identifying potential solutions. Everyone at the table brings a shared passion for supporting youth, but like many groups, we face challenges around time and resources. Still, the commitment is there and the relationships built through this task force are laying a strong foundation for more actionoriented work in the near future. Another example of partnership and action is the Rise Above program led by the San Diego Sheriff's Department. This is a nocost 8-week program designed for youth ages 9 to 12 and includes a strong family component with parents or guardians attending each session alongside their children. Rise Above FO is focused on helping young people overcome challenges through empowerment and connection. The program combines mentorship, pairing students with positive role models with education on conflict

101resolution, leadership, and career planning. It also includes a community service element, encouraging youth to engage in positive activities that build both skills and a sense of belonging. It's a powerful example of how law enforcement and schools can partner in a proactive and supportive way. At the school site level, Raises and Mariposa at Mission Hills High School stands out as a powerful example of what can happen when we truly listen to student voice and invest in the right kind of support. Spearheaded by a dedicated school counselor and school psychologist with support from graduate level interns, the program was created in response to a clear need for a safe, culturally affirming space where students could build community, explore identity, and feel supported. The results speak for themselves. a 44% decrease in suspensions of students involved, a 27%

102increase in students reporting they feel safe at school, and a 16% increase in students believing that they can make a positive or make positive choices for their future. The district office has been has been proud to support and sustain this effort, helping the program grow from a site-based initiative into a model of what's possible when we create spaces where students feel seen, heard, and valued. These are just a few example of how our district and our community partners are working side by side to ensure every student is seen, supported, and safe. Whether it's through large-scale initiatives like the violence prevention task force, targeted programs like Rise Above, or site-based groups like Raisus and Mariposa, the goal is the same, to connect with every student and create a network of care around them. We know that

103no single strategy or agency can do this work alone, and it takes a village. I'm proud to say that our village is stepping up. Thank you for your time and thank you to the partners that are especially here tonight. I would ask if you were part of the violence prevention task force if you could please stand and be acknowledged. Thank you. As we will all continue to invest in the success and the well-being of our students. Thank you. Thank you, Christie. Uh, as you can see, and I'm sure you you already know, engaging students in creative out of the box ways takes an engaged and creative staff, which we have here, where our staff here in this district is second to none. So, with that, I'm going to ask Dr. Joel Garcia, assistant superintendent of

104human resources, to come up and talk a little bit about our amazing uh SMU staff. Good evening board members and community members. I'm so excited to be with you this evening to share about our amazing staff here in San Marcos Unified. We are grateful that we have such a dedicated group of professionals and seek to recognize and celebrate their work throughout the year. At the end of each year, we celebrate employees by awarding an employee uh from each school and department as a certificate employee of the year and classified employee of the year. Then from those honores, we select four district employees of the year. This year, I'm proud to share with you that our four district employees of the year are Jamie Laura, teacher from Korea Elementary School, Chris Coughlin, teacher at Mission Hills

105High School. And so those are both of our certificated teachers of the year for the current school year. Our classified employee of the year is Alice Row, who's an instructional aid at the adult transition program or ATP. And our administrator of the year is Peggy Sapata, who is a special education coordinator, also who supports the adult transitions program. We look forward to recognizing these employees at our annual employee recognition event, which takes place next week. And of course, you're all invited to attend. Let's give them a round of applause, please. With a district as large as ours, it truly takes a team that is unified to serve the 19,000 students and their families each day and to support along the way the over 3,300 fellow staff members from crossing guards to bus drivers to in

106information technology and finance professionals, groundskeepers, instructional aids, nurses, and of course, teachers, principals, counselors, and so many other talented professionals and I want to thank this opportunity to thank all of them for their service to our community. Absolutely. Another unique way of celebrating our staff is that for the second year in a row, we intentionally set out uh to spotlight our staff who work behind the scenes. these classified employees who have jobs that do not require a teaching credential and yet have really important work um that they do on a daily basis. And so um they're shadowed by our superintendent, our board members, our district leaders to get a day in the life glimpse of the important roles that we have here throughout SMUSD. This is called our ACE or appreciating classified employee job shadow

107day. And while I could tell you a little bit about it, I'd prefer to share this video with you so that you can see it for yourself. A stands for appreciating classified employees, a program to help um administrators to appreciate what classified employees are doing. So it includes child nutrition service, bus drivers, library media techs like we are here today. It's an opportunity for school districts and district uh supervisors and managers to shadow classified employees across all kinds of different classifications throughout the school district. We did it last year in collaboration with CSEA and it was a great success. So much so that we decided that we wanted to do it on a yearly basis. This is one of my favorite days of the year. This is a classified employee shadowing day where we get

108to get our comfortable clothes on and go work alongside some of our amazing classified staff all around the district. Everybody is out and about today feeling what life is like walking into the classified by shoes. I think it builds perspective for our executive cabinet team, other managers throughout the school district on the work, the important work that classified employees do throughout our school district. Classified employees have such a variety of jobs that they do throughout the school district. Today I'm shadowing Carla who's an instructional assistant here at San Marcos Middle School. So there really is such a wide breath of work that our classified employees do to support the school district and to support our students. It takes a whole team to run a district this big and particularly at San Marcos High School, a

109school this large. Uh so we often talk about our teachers. I mean they're very much front and center and lots of interaction, but we don't often take the time to really honor and acknowledge all the folks who are working behind the scenes to make this whole thing happen. So today I'm working with a custodian. We have our office staff. We have our KOC staff. so many people who are working really, really hard every single day to make school possible for our kids. It's a great opportunity for our employees to feel appreciated to have the administrators come out and really get their hands on and see what they're doing. It's one thing to just see what they're doing, but once they come out and actually do the work, I think there's a really a lot more

110appreciation for what the classified employees are doing. And I know that the classified employees really appreciate uh having someone understand what they're doing. We are on the campuses frequently, but that's usually checking in, going to visit classrooms and saying hello or whatever. I think is a there's a difference between doing that and actually spending an hour or two in the shoes of our classified employees. And I think they really appreciate us getting that kind of on the ground real life experience of what their day is like on a day-to-day basis. People loved it. They really felt special. They felt that the people that had come out, the administrators really were able to appreciate the the work that they do and get a greater understanding of what it's like to do the actual job that they're

111doing. They have a great experience in the school district days like today where they feel engaged and they feel connected. Then that builds that builds that sense of connection with them and then hopefully longterm then we're supporting them in the current roles and potentially in growth professionally. We are a team. we make this happen together. If there's going to be anything excellent we're ever going to produce for our kids, we're going to do it together. So, this has been a joint effort, let's make it happen every year. I started as a classified employee actually about over 20 years ago and and it was something that all I needed to do was come in and see the work and just I was completely hooked and then over time I wanted to continue growing professionally. So, I

112went back to school and I got my teaching credential. But I started as a classified employee many years ago. We appreciate our classified employees. Uh we always have days like yesterday and days like today where we have board members where we have the superintendent, executive, cabinet team members and other managers going in working alongside our classified employees in all these various roles only builds on that appreciation that was already there. We thank them every day for the good work that they do with our students and our staff throughout our school district. We're hoping that we'll continue to do this because it was such a well-received um program last year and everyone seems to love it from administrators to the classified employees. So, I think it's just a great program all the way around. So, that

113video is actually from last year's event. I'm happy to share that we are doing the event this year. We're looking forward to it. Um it is on May 13th and 14th and I know we have a few of our board members that have already signed up and expressed interest in participating. So thank you very much for for your support with that event. I want to thank once again our incredible staff who show up daily to serve our students, families, and community. Everyone's work that you saw this evening is reflective of the good work that happens either on the front lines or behind the scenes to support everything that you've seen. And I think it's safe to say that on behalf of our governance board, on behalf of our executive cabinet team, really appreciate everyone's support

114in those endeavors. At this time, at this time, excuse me, I'd like to welcome back our superintendent, Dr. Johnson. Thank you. And just before we wrap up, I also want to acknowledge our two association presidents who are here this evening, uh, Ron Tacket and Dale Patennick of the classified employees and teachers. Thank you guys for being here. Thank you for your partnership. Um, and yeah, we're it's it's an annual thing now, right? It's it was in the video, so it has to be annual. Um, thank you very much. I hope that, uh, thank you again for everybody for coming. Uh, thank you to our board for your ongoing leadership, and I hope everybody's walking away today with, uh, just a renewed sense of just the amazing work that's happening in this district. We, it's I

115feel blessed every single day to come in here, um, and do this work alongside all of you and for our amazing students and our families and everybody else. And I with that I'll turn it over back to our board president uh Ahmad. I just want to finish by saying we started this meeting with a song about being San Marco strong. Am I on? Yeah. Okay. Um which made all of our hearts sing. Eloise is a perfect example of how amazing and strong our kids are. And her story definitely brought tears of pride and just amazement to all of our eyes. Our student reps always leave me in awe. and we're very well informed. And I also wanted to recognize the support that Elo Eloise and all of the students at SMUSD receive from our counselor,

116our aids, our teachers, our staff, our principles, our parents like Carly and her family, our faculty, our community, our city, and even our own students helping students. we all come together to make our students and our community that much stronger. So I thank you and I hope you all walk away with a recognition of how strong SMUSD students and communities is actually is and of all the amazing things that we're working on from our exciting new interestbased classes to our partnerships with colleges to schools renovations and so much more. We're just going to get stronger from here and we are that much stronger together. So, thank you. Thank you Andy and your entire team and the SMUSD SMUSD team for a great evening. Um, I'm so proud of each and every single one of you.

117Thank you. With that, the next regular board meeting will take place next week on Thursday, June 12. No, no, no, not next week. It's May, right? May 8th, 2025. That's right. 2025 at 6:30 p.m. in the media center of North County Regional Educational Center, 255 Pico Avenue, San Marcos, California, 926 92069. And with that, this meeting is now adjourned.