001Good evening everyone. Today is September 9th, 2025. Welcome to the San Marino Unified School District Board of Education meeting. Here's our board president, C. Joseph Chang. Good evening. Uh this uh uh September 9, 2025. Um call to the order for tonight open section for regular uh school board meeting at 7:07 p.m. Uh first of all uh there's nothing to report for cross section call to the order. Uh Mr. Song >> present >> Mrs. Lamb >> here. >> Mrs. Mr. Ryan >> here. >> Mrs. Gear >> here. >> Mr. Chen here. Steen board member Mr. Book >> here. >> Thank you. 6A Pledge of Allegiance. I would like to turn it over to Dr. Lena Richtor to introduce our student who is leading us in the pledge of allegiance tonight. >> Thank you, President Chang. Tonight
002we are excited to honor Payton Kim, um the ASB president from Huntington Middle School to lead the board in the salute to the flag and share a little bit about Huntington Middle School. Payton, welcome and thank you for being here. >> Thank you. Good evening everyone. Could you please stand for the pledge of allegiance? Put >> your right hand over your heart. Ready, 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. >> Thank you. You may be seated. >> Good evening, board president Chang, members of the board, members of the executive team, distinguished guests, HMS faculty, and members of the San Marino community. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be
003here. I'm honored. I am Payton Kim, an eighth grader at Huntington Middle School. At HMS, I participate in many of the activities provided and have found all of them to be extremely fun and rewarding. For example, ASB. I have been blessed with the chance to be the ASB president and I have enjoyed all the moments that have gone by such as being able to help incoming sixth graders on their orientation day, leading the school in the pledge of allegiance every day, and helping HMS to become the best school it can be. I also participate in the science Olympia team and find that to be extremely fulfilling and rewarding as I've learned so much more about science and feel that it is a great great opportunity for students looking to have a career. I've also learned
004to play sports at HMS I would have never played before. Our intramural programs have allowed me to participate in volleyball and develop exponentially. HMS has shown me how to become a better teammate and athlete in ways I didn't know before. There are also many exciting opportunities that HMS has to offer. Not only do I find their intramural program wonderful, but being able to play different sports during PE allows students like me to play sports that they may have never considered. HMS also offers a plentiful amount of electives for students of all grades to enjoy. I find the electives amazing because they allow students to try new things and expand their toolbox. I had never thought about singing before, but I spent two years in choir and I enjoyed every part of it. On a related
005note, many of my peers do clubs and hangouts during lunch, which allows students to do what they enjoy and make friends with people with similar interests. I also want to acknowledge web and the web leaders because web is a wonderful chance to be leaders of the school along with ASB at Huntington Middle School. They're also phenomenal teachers and curriculum. We provide a great mathematics curriculum that allows students to advance through the program. This has allowed me to go through the math program at an a pace that better suits me and has led me to enjoy math even more. I've also enjoyed being in the honors English program which has allowed me to dramatically improve my reading and writing. Although the programs help a lot, teachers at HMS provide much help throughout the learning process. All
006the teachers I work with have allowed me to become the best student I could be. They have worked with me to see how I'm doing in class and have had answered my questions promptly. Not only that, but they also make me feel cared for by letting me know how to get better for the next assignment. All of my teachers have also prepared me not only for the next grade, but my entire academic career. At Huntington Middle School, there are also many different activities that we can look forward to. Next week, our eighth graders will be traveling to Pali. In three weeks, our seventh graders will be traveling to El Capitan. And in just a month, our sixth graders will be going out to Kuya Maka for the last of our outdoor education trips. I also
007invite all of you to come to the Hauntington breakfast hosted on October 25th. Thank you all again so much for this opportunity and like to wish you all a good night. Payton, thank you. Thank you very much. What a wonderful job you did. We are so excited to see you as Huntington Middle School's ASB president. What a great role model you are, not only for your class, but for the entire HMS community. And it's so exciting to hear that you have taken advantage of all the opportunities offered at Huntington Middle School in arts, athletics, academics, and activities. um on behalf of the board of education, they would like to present you with a certificate for your participation in tonight's board meeting. If you would come up here and take a picture with the board, they
008would greatly appreciate it. >> Thank you. I believe we have covers. Yes. That's a good point. [Music] I think Everybody introxy. You don't want to use it. >> I was driving home. >> My gosh, she just gets every day. [Laughter] >> My mom was like, she >> Oh, funny. I want to make a very bad service. >> Oh my god. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh 6B approve of agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> So move. >> Second. >> Local. Mr. Song. >> Hi. >> Mrs. Lamb. >> Hi. >> Mrs. Ryan. >> I. >> Mrs. Gia. >> Hi. >> Mr. Chen. I and a student board member Mr. Book >> I motion carried. >> 6C approval of a minutes. Do I have a motion to approve August 26, 2025 regular
009ball meeting minutes? >> So moved >> second Mr. Song. >> Hi. >> Mrs. Lamb >> I >> Mrs. Ryan >> I >> Mrs. Gear >> I except um I'm sorry I think you need to I'm going to abstain. Okay. >> Okay. Um Mr. Gear >> me. >> Yeah. >> Oh I >> Okay. Mr. Chen I and Steven B member book. >> I motion carry. Thank you. Before we go to the public comment uh tonight, I also like to appreciate you know the city council uh Mr. Hunter Chen attend. Uh >> thank you Hunter. >> Yeah, >> thank you >> and also welcome all of the guests uh to attend. >> Thank you. Seven, public comment. The board of education has adopt ball policy 9323B to ensure the public's right to be heard in any matter
010pertaining to the Sanino Unified School District. Person who wish to provide a public comment will have a three option to submit a public comment. First submit through a online form. Did we have any submission via the online form? >> We have no submission. >> No. >> Thank you. Second request to speak during the meeting via the zoom. Mr. Hong, please post the meeting for one minute to collect the public comment. >> One minute starts now. Communications from the audience regarding matters not on the agenda or items in the consent, information, and action sections. Please provide your comments now. If you would like to request to speak during the meeting, please press the raise hand icon to make a request. If you're calling in from home, please dial star9 to make a request or please submit
011a public comment card. There's about 30 seconds left. Right. There are no persons online wishing to speak. >> Okay. Thank you. Third request to speak during the meeting in person via the public comment car. Do we have any submission via the public comment car? >> No. >> Thank you. Okay, last conclude for the public comment tonight. Eight consent section. Do I have a motion to approve the consent section ah through the AE? >> So moved. >> Do I have a a second? >> Second. >> Roll call. Mr. Song >> I. >> Mrs. Sam >> I. >> Mrs. Ryan >> I. >> Mrs. Gear >> I. >> Mr. Chen I and a student member Mr. The book I >> motion carry nine communication section a communication from the board of education we ask each four member
012take a no more than three minutes to share their communication uh Mr. Song first. >> Thank you. Thank you President Chang. So I got a chance to take a master in governance class in the the Pasadena and not Pasadena the Torance Unifi school and one thing I learned from that class is by by talking to other districts we have such a you know they have a lot of problems that they're not unified with the board you know they not really getting along they know they don't have a superintendent and or they have like socioeconomic iss separated out and they have like a performances in the academics and everything. So they sharing all kind of story and they ask me what's my problem and I told them I don't have any problem you know. So I'm
013I I just realized I as you know I'm kind of new to this school board but I start to realize more and more then I start to appreciate like our board members so good you know they always you know unified and always help me to get on board and our leadership is amazing. I know Dinda is not here today but she's always here and executive is strong. I was telling them about our AI that how advanced we are and they kind like a drooling you know drooling and envy on us and you know even the city the relationship right that they I talked to the San Francisco unifi and they have like CD and school board is fighting each other all the time and we don't have any kind of problem. So, I really appreciate
014it and I I want to say thank you to everybody in the school board and executive and even community and hunter and city councils and everybody here. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Next, Miss Salam. >> Thank you. Um I wanted to acknowledge all of the all four schools efforts in the recent um back to school nights. And I know that uh it takes top to bottom everyone's um energy and efforts in order to make it for all four schools a successful night. Um I had the honor of going to the Carver one as a parent and as a board member and that was uh filled with really great high spirits. I heard so much great things about the rest of the school sites and I'm very appreciative of administrators, teachers, staff um for making it
015all possible because these back to school nights really set the tone for parents um giving them expectations for the rest of the academic school year. And the kids are also very although they don't get to attend necessarily, they're also um they get excited knowing that their parents are going to their classroom and visiting the school and meeting their teachers. So, thank you so much for that. >> Thank you. Uh, Mrs. Ryan, >> so I want to um thank the four schools for the a great opening. Um, no, Ben, I I was not able to attend not because of the loss, but because I know um I was I was out of town. So, anyways, um just a great job. uh cabinet, Linda as well and then all the school sites for having a nice opening
016of school. So, thank you very much for all your hard work. >> Uh next, uh Mrs. Gia. >> Um I too attended back to school night. I went to all four um school sites and it I I think I talked about the elementary um two weeks ago, but as far as middle school and high school where I have kids, it's kind of your only opportunity to get inside the classroom all year, you know, as the kids progress through the grades. And um I love just sitting in those desks and seeing what my kids are seeing every day. And I was so impressed with all the teachers and it's so it's it's just amazing how you guys keep it running just like clockwork. All those parents have no idea where they're going. So um thank you
017and I look forward to some of the upcoming events that we're having for the fall and football game on Thursday this week. So thank you. >> Thank you. Uh first of all I like to appreciate you know the uh high school principal and also two assistant principal. So the high school back to school night I was there. uh to me uh this uh the new semester in the beginning or to observe for the high school all of uh activity and the curriculum and to me uh it's been uh two decade uh when the day I I will look for look at the all the senior and see what from from now to the November December you guys is preparing for your college admission. And also I look at the the uh freshman so I see
018them uh just from the middle school. So, so that to me is amazing, you know, you you know the we we are able to uh you know to to serve for the K to2 education institute you know make our kid uh uh to be mature to be the adult and for the next education. So, so thank you. And also I I uh I went to the city of Hov attend for the cancer uh the conference you know the so this time uh they uh introduce about robotic yeah surgery. Yeah. So they talk about the the the history and also how you know the in the medicine they develop for the robotic equipment and uh and right now even they can do the T uh surgery you know but but I I think uh I'm not
019comfort comfortable you know when have a surgery you know stay in the dualati and control for the o at the Chicago. So some the the the audience said if the it they cannot support you know s suddenly you you know the the message is the job how you guys continue to perform for the surgery. Well I think that's it. Uh next uh communication from the student board member. >> Thank you. Over the past few weeks, students across the district have engaged in a wide range of activities that support both academic development and school spirit. At Carver Elementary, students participated in fall picture day, a tradition that helps mark the beginning of the school year and given give families a lasting memory of their child's growth. At Valentine, September began with a focus on safety and
020assessment. On September 5th, third grade students took part in the bike safety rodeo, learning essential skills, including the rules for riding safely in our community. In addition, students grade 1 through 5 completed the I Ready Diagnostic Assessment at Valentine, which provides valuable data to help guide individualized instruction throughout the school year. Similarly, Huntington Middle School began the NWA testing today. Uh at Samino High School, the year started off with a great momentum. The chamber choir held a retreat to help build their musical skills and group cohesion. Back to school nights were successfully held for both Shamron High School and Middle School, offering families a chance to connect their educators and learn more about the academic year ahead. Next, seniors gathered for the senior sunrise on September 5th, marking the beginning of the senior year. The
021cheer team hosted a car wash fundraiser and another performance group drama began their auditions for the fall play. Lastly, in athletics, varsity football celebrated a well- earned victory over South Torrance this past weekend and are now preparing for an important match up against Marina on Thursday. Thank you for your report. Uh because uh uh the Dr. Linda territori has some emergency for uh her family. So she cannot make it tonight. So uh this moment I I like to invite the Dr. uh uh Dr. Richtor uh to to talk about the >> the one of student. Absolutely. Thank you, President Chang. On behalf of Superintendent Dr. Delator, I am pleased to share an exciting announcement about one of our very own high school students. Um, our high school student is not able to be here with
022us tonight, but we wanted to make a point to recognize and celebrate him. Max Zo, a San Marino High School senior, has earned gold medal in the 2025 International Chemistry Olympiad. Presenting team USA, Max won a gold medal and placed 20th in the world in the 57th International Chemistry Olympiad which was held in Dubai. Dubai in the United Arab United Arab Emirates this past summer, July 2025. And just to share a little bit about this event that was held in Dubai, the International Chemistry Olympiad brings together young scientists from around the globe to solve challenges, explore innovation, and celebrate the spirit of discovery. This past year, 354 students from 90 different countries competed. Two comprehensive exams, a five-hour lab practical and a five-hour written theoretical examination were used to rank students to receive medals. Just
023hearing that makes me nervous. Before the world competition, Max took part in an intensive two-week study camp at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he competed with 19 other student finalists to be selected to represent the United States. He earned a spot at the study camp due to an excellent performance on the US National Chemistry Olympiad where he won first place in the Southern California section of the American Chemical Society. A truly outstanding accomplish accomplishment. We would like to congratulate Max Zo on this tremendous achievement. So congratulations to Max. Great job. I'm just glad my daughter passed chemistry. >> Yes. And with that, I would like to turn it over to our assistant superintendent of human resources, Dr. Rose, to share a little bit more information. >> Thank you, Dr. President Chang and board
024of education. On behalf of Dr. Delator, I'm excited to introduce uh our new PIO who is being um very timid and sitting in the corner. Uh Miss Rashelle uh Lbeck Labreck, excuse me. So Relle was over there in the corner, but Michelle is a Pasadena resident, currently serves as a senior communication specialist at the University of Southern California. Uh in that role, she collaborates with creative and project management teams to align communications with strategic planning initiatives supporting faculty and staff across the university. She brings with her a strong background in public education communications. Prior to joining USC, Michelle served as a communications editor and media specialist for the Harlandale Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas, where she oversaw communication plans for more than 20 campuses serving 15,000 plus students. She worked to strengthen connections
025with families in the community, expanded the district's online presence, promoted academic and extracurricular programs, and enhanced the overall reputation of the district. And I believe when you were there, you also they had a bond also, correct? That you worked on. Uh in 2019, Michelle served as communications coordinator for Oak Park Elementary School District, creating and managing content for eight elementary schools, two middle schools, and the district office. She played an important role in community engagement, crisis communication during the CO 19 pandemic, and authored a weekly newsletter focused on equity. Uh her her earlier experience includes serving as multimedia specialist and interim director of communications for community high school district where she produced multimedia content, manage managed social media and website communications, led crisis communication efforts and provided mentorship to her communications staff. So Relle's breadth
026of experience across K12 and higher education coupled with her skills in communication strategy, community engagement, and crisis management makes her exceptionally well suited to serve as our public information officer. And so I am proud to announce her. It's not as impressive as the student before, but it is very impressive. Um, and so I lab join me join me in welcoming Mrs. Roelle Lere uh to our to our district and she will begin uh September 22nd. So welcome. >> Yeah. Thank you for Jason. Uh uh once again on behalf of the board of education Michelle I'd like to welcome you join the San Manino Unified School District. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh next 10 information item 10A major M update. I would like to turn it over to uh Dr. Choy to update the on
027the progress and the current standing of Major M. >> Thank you, President Chang, members of the board, student board member Rowan, and executive team. Since our last update two weeks ago, we've made substantial progress on Measure M projects and reached some key milestones. Earlier today, we kicked off design meetings at San Marino High School and Carver Elementary, marking a significant step forward. At this time, I'd like to invite Mr. CJ Nolan to share some details on our progress and what's ahead. >> Good evening, President Chang, members of the board, district leadership, and community. Um, more than happy to share a quick update on our progress on Measure M. Uh as of now on our phase one projects, we have contracted uh with architectural services for two of our two of our major projects including Carver
028Elementary Schools, TK and Kindergarten new classroom buildings and the San Marino High School CTE medical arts building modernization projects. And tonight we have on the board's agenda for approval the Valentine Elementary School new twostory classroom building as well. As a reminder, these projects were were selected because they were high value escalationprone projects, meaning that if they were scheduled if the schedule were to be delayed, those costs could rise due to inflation. Um, in addition, these these projects add permanent classroom space that will be that we will be able to leverage in future phases for modernization projects in phase two. Um, and most importantly, they meet the district's current programmatic needs and were identified as tier one priorities uh during the facilities advisory committee. Um, as Dr. Troy previously mentioned, we did hold two of our
029design kickoff meetings for Carver for the Carver and San Marino High School projects. In those meetings, we were able to identify key user groups that we will be coordinating with for feedback over the next several weeks. and we were able to identify uh site priorities and and roles for each of our for each member of the design team. So with our architectural team, our site administration and our district team uh how that feedback will work and how it gets implemented into into the design process. And with that we are underway into our schematic design phase which is the very first phase of the architectural design. Um during that phase, that's where we will really solidify our floor plans and our overall site plans uh for each of these projects. Um especially over at Carver Elementary
030School where we are trying to uh reorganize that campus in such a way to unify the TK and kindergarten programs and we're also trying to address uh parent drop off and pickup concerns as well. Uh furthermore, we've uh solicited other professional services that will be required during design. These include our site survey, underground utility detection, and and our geotechnical services. Um in a as we finish schematic design, we'll be presenting the board with with our finalized uh site our finalized site plans and our building floor plans for each of those respective projects in a future update. And with that, we are moving forward on these high-v value projects and really laying the groundwork for uh our future phases as we continue with uh measure M. And thank you and I'm available for any questions. >>
031Any question and a comment? None. Uh Dr. Cho, you have any to make up? >> Uh not as at this time. We'll bring CJ back up uh for the action item. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh next uh 10B 2025 2026 Sanino High School uh B go presentation. I would like to turn it over to princip principal Dr. W. >> Thank you President Chang, members of the board, cabinet. I'm happy to present San Marino High School's 2526 goals uh and how we intend on meeting the board goals. And I'd also like to say that, you know, I know you guys go through your process every year to create the goals and we actually really appreciated um being able to piggyback off of you and especially some of the slight changes that you've made actually made it
032easier for us, I think, this year to to align our goals to yours. So, I'll start with our safety and wellness goals. Um, we are working with uh the business office to hopefully add some additional cameras in some of the areas where we have some blind spots. We've already added cameras in the last couple of years, which has helped a lot. Um and then uh just uh as you just heard from the previous presentation, we met with our construction partners uh this morning and one of the areas uh that we have been concerned about that's going to be addressed this summer is the remaining security and safety fencing of the areas of the campus that are not secure. Um right now that doesn't affect student safety because we don't use the back side of the
033400 building. But as we are growing and anticipating growing again next year, those are our last remaining class empty classrooms. And so in order to use those, we do need to have a plan to fence off the side of the campus and where the buses enter uh so that our students can come in and out of the 400 building uh without exiting the campus the way they would have to now if we if we were using those rooms during the day. Um, we are continuing to use home room as an ability to speak to our students about uh various issues of safety and behavior. Um, Mrs. Panalora and I did that last year. Uh, the three of us will be doing that this year for just for our freshmen um because they haven't heard our
034our talking yet. But it was very instrumental last year in changing some of the behavior that we had at sporting events from the previous year. We we feel that our students really did have a a much better understanding of what our expectations uh of them are when they're out in the community, especially when they're at away games and they're representing the San Marino name. Um we uh spoke at our last principal meeting that we're going to uh bring back our restorative practices trainer to train our new teachers. So our my new staff will be joining the Huntington uh new staff to be trained in restorative practices. Um and then um one of our areas uh that we are interested in having more conversations with our students about is around the California Healthy Kids Survey um
035so that we can get a better understanding of their feelings about campus safety and belonging on campus. Okay. Fiscal health and sustainability. Um we have been having conversations uh with our uh TAB group uh the various boosters uh our district business office about the future of our athletic transportation funding. Um as you all know we lost the money that we were receiving from the city uh and we are looking at some increases next year due to the new uh structure of our league. Um, and so we are talking about things for next year about, you know, whether we want to do what some other districts in our area do as far as charging a specific amount or asking for a specific amount by sport or whether we would even that out as an equal ask
036for everybody. So, those are ongoing conversations so that we can hopefully find a sustainable way to pay for our transportation needs. Um, part of that is looking at making the new athletic schedule as budget friendly as possible. You've heard me tell you before that that is one of the major drawbacks to the new conference model is that it is more expensive. Um, we are having our first joint meeting with the Pacific League folks um in 10 days I believe and so that the schedule will be one of the main topics of conversation. Um we are continuing to use our various funds outside of our normal instructional budget to leverage as much money as we can. This is the last year of the uh arts and entertainment and instructional materials block grant. Uh and that is
037in fact actually how we are covering uh a decent size portion of that athletic transportation need for this year. Um, so that that helped free up other accounts to keep paying for the things that we want to keep being able to purchase for the remaining part of our curriculum and instructional program. Uh, and then we had our first budget uh, meeting with Dr. Choy and his staff. That is a new thing that Dr. Choy has instituted that we're meeting monthly and it's been very helpful to to help us understand which accounts we can draw from uh that will free up more money to be purchased out of other things like our like our one-time money in our grants, community awareness and understanding. So, you can see that our first budget item there, our first action
038item there involves Relle. Thank you very much cuz we will be working with you uh to do as much PR as possible. Um myself and both of our assistant principles do uh a lot of um social media posting, but I know we can get a wider audience with your help. So, we're looking forward to that. Um San Marino High School is very good about doing appreciation uh items for our staff. So, in addition to the things that I do, like our barbecue that many of you attended, um we do have a really good social club uh that puts on activities to to recognize our teachers. Uh and then of course our PTA does an amazing job with that as well. Um we are looking at revamping our school website uh to make it more friendly.
039Um I don't think it's been modified in quite a while and uh it's a little cumbersome. So hopefully we'll be working with uh again Michelle on that and and Mah to to make our website a little bit more 21st century. Um and then as you've heard Dr. Delator talk about numerous times um we want to have more opportunities for student voice. Uh Dr. Delator runs the um group of uh students in her uh committee once a month. Um, and I am hoping to piggyback off of that with some of the items that they identified last year that students would like to have more conversations about. So, I'm hoping that we will put together some student voice panels. My previous district uh did that a few times a year. Uh, they were open to the public.
040They It was really amazing to hear high school students be able to directly talk about the issues that are important to them. All right. And uh you can see the largest item here of course falls in line with what most of us would say is the most important function of our school and that's the academic success of our students and the post uh secondary success of our students. So we have a lot of items on here. This is our accredititation year. We just had a faculty meeting this afternoon. Uh, and I have to say I was actually very proud of our teachers. Um, because it can be the tendency of a school to uh, just highlight your strengths and not really look at your areas for growth. And that's a dangerous thing to do when
041you're going through accreditation because when the Was committee comes in, these are people from other schools and they have absolutely no problem pointing out areas of growth. And so it's really good for the schools to be honest about that and get out in front of that so that you can have a good action plan for addressing that. And that's how you get a full six-year accreditation. And our teachers really did a good job of that today. Not only identifying uh a lot of amazing strengths of the school, but also areas that we would like to do better in. Um, of course, we were super happy. Uh this is a testament to this process because two years ago when I started one of my goals was for us to go from the gold uh AP award
042to the platinum AP award and last year we achieved that. So we want to do everything that we can to maintain our platinum status and you heard at the last board meeting Penalora give her AP presentation uh of all the things that we do to support our students in in the college board's AP curriculum. Um, and it's really a testament to her and our counselors and our teachers to the fact that we have gotten to the point where in some of our in some of our curricular areas, we only have one section of nonAP class. Uh, which makes it very difficult for our master schedule. But it's really amazing that we can say that, you know, in world history, for example, that we have nine advanced placement sections and one regular section because our kids
043really do want to challenge themselves in the in the hardest curriculum. Um we are really excited that one of our new teachers this year is going to teach our new anatomy and physiology course as part of medical arts and he will also uh he received training over the summer in the anatomage tables and so he will be using the tables. We don't have to rely on a new PCC professor who may not know the tables very well because we'll have our own uh our own staff member who will be able to do that uh every year. Um we uh are also adding a Saturday seminar and a new internship program through two local physicians uh one in San Marino, one just next door in Arcadia. So we're really excited to start that hopefully in the
044next couple of weeks. We have some logistics issues to get through. We need to uh our students need to get a TB test before that they can do that. But um hopefully we'll get going uh in October for our internships. Um, we are starting a new home room intervention. So, we are about to do the NWEA next week and for any students who possibly score in the bottom bands in the in the uh orange or red bands and need some help in some specific skill areas, uh we are going to have uh some special English and math interventions during the home room time where they can be uh devote their time to using not only which is our program attached to NWEA, but also to get tutoring from the teachers who volunteered to run those
045courses. So, we're excited to have an intervention and that again is one of the things that Wasque always looks for is what interventions are the schools doing for students. Even if it is a very tiny percentage of students like we have in San Marino that aren't scoring in those top bands, we still want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to help those students uh do better each year. uh and they will have an opportunity to test out of that intervention at their next NWA test, which then gives the students a really good incentive to do their best on the test. Um because we know that a lot of times high school students look at some of these exams and don't exactly take them seriously because they may not be on their transcript.
046But we want to make sure that they are actually giving us real results so that we can help the ones who need the help and that we don't try giving uh an extra assignment to students who don't need the help. Um we are working with PTSA to create a futures career speaker series for juniors and seniors. This came out of some asks from parents uh and from some members of the board the last couple of years about us doing something similar to Huntington's career day. Um in our conversations with PTSA uh we were a little afraid of doing the exact same thing that Huntington does because the kids just had it in 8th grade and we didn't want to give a repeat. So um uh I spent some time actually talking to Mr. Chang about
047this last week. Uh, and I think we have some exciting people that we can bring in to focus on some very specific 21st century careers and we're going to do that for our juniors and our seniors. Um, and hopefully get that started this year. Um, the San Marino Foundation, the schools foundation has asked us to piggyback with them and helping to advertise uh some of the their local internships and jobs. So, we're going to work with Katherine Oliviveres this year on how we can help support them for that. Um, we are going to be investigating what our next uh uh area of um courses might be as we grow in enrollment. So, this year we added academic teachers. Next year, we're probably going to add a few more in the in the areas that we
048didn't, but as our enrollment has gone up so much now, we're going to have to look at adding another academic or sorry, elective teacher as well. So, it will be uh a great process of talking with our community, surveying our students and parents to see what of the other CTE areas that our students might be the most highly interested in as we look to add uh another elective area and pathway to the school uh beginning either next year or the year after. Uh and then um we are besides the NWA we haven't done it's been a couple of years since we've done the CASP interim assessment and we are going to ask our 11th graders to and our teachers 11th grade teachers to do that this year so that we have another area uh of
049data to use as we prepare our students for this year's uh CASP and CAST exams. And then finally, I think I've talked about this before, but we have just now started our new community service option. So, uh, beginning with this year's ninth graders, they will either be able to do the traditional, uh, option with a slight increase in hours or they can have a decrease in hours and do an option that puts all of their hours into one project that has to be pre-approved by me in advance. and that we have started doing that in our attempt to give students some of the activities that college recruiters have been telling us they're looking for in their essays that have been missing um from many San Marino High School students essays. Uh, and I know I've
050talked about that a a lot of times, but um I can tell you that in talking to parents, including even just a couple weeks ago that have uh gone out and hired their own personal college uh counselors. Um, sometimes they get some really bad advice from some of these people and they tell their kids to write their essays basically talking about their resumes and what uh how good their grades are. Um, and that's on their transcript and that's on their college application. In the essays, the colleges are looking for dynamic things, things that make you make that college say, "Why should we want to take you in our university? What are you going to add uh to us?" And those are the things they're looking for in the essays. And so so I'm hoping that
051we can give our students more outside experiences that they can talk about uh and give some of these colleges a reason to say we're going to take that San Marino High School student over the Lockinata student um because they had this really unique experience and they were able to really talk about it really well in their essays. And I believe that concludes my report. >> Yes, since it's not forwarding >> any question or comment. I have a question. Thank you so much. Um, it's a lot of work ahead for for this next year. Um, could you go over the new hires and which sections you added or if they're replacement um and how many there were? >> Absolutely. So, we hired two new science teachers. So, one was a direct replacement of Miss Chubik. So,
052we have a teacher teaching chemistry uh in replacement of her sections. although she was teaching the AP sections and those have gone to Miss Park. So we have an experienced teacher teaching the AP uh sections of AP chemistry. Um and then because of growth enrollment we added another uh science teacher and that teacher is teaching uh chemistry, biology and the one class of anatomy and physiology. Okay. So that was it for science. And then we have a brand new uh music director because uh our previous band director moved on to a different district. So we have a new band director. Um we have a new um Thank you. new we have one new math teacher and that was purely from growth. We didn't lose any math teacher. So we have a new math teacher teaching
053algebra sections. Um and who else am I missing? >> Sped and >> thank you. Okay. So, uh, special education was a replacement for a retirement that is, uh, teaching our mild and moderate students. Um, and then EL is really exciting because that we we were able to hire Dr. Kaban who is also the district's new TOSA for EL. So, she's teaching and this is because she really wanted to do this. We had some other options. Um, but we were really lucky. She really believes that in order to be an effective TOSSA that you also still have to have a connection to the classroom. And so she's teaching two periods for us, the two morning classes and then she goes over to work for Dr. Richtor. And so she's developed instantly a credibility with the rest
054of our English department and and so that she can start working with them on on making some changes to the curriculum that will benefit our EL students. >> Any any more question? You know, you know the first page that you said restor restorative practice. Yes. I think can you kind of tell me what those are like? >> Absolutely. >> So, um, San Marino Unified has had a trainer, Miss Karen Younger. Uh, she has come over the last several years and I actually I actually knew her from Glendo where she had done restorative practices training as well. So, when teachers get restorative practice training, um there there's a couple of different avenues for restorative practices. And I should also say that Dr. Hill, that was her actual job for LUSD um last year. So, I think
055she's going to be a valuable resource for the district as well. Um but one of the things that restorative practices training does is it helps our teachers learn to create classroom community. Um one of the most common things that you will hear for restorative practices is doing circles. Um it's a great way uh even if you just spend five minutes each classroom period and we're lucky our classroom periods are long so our teachers have plenty of time to allow students to sit in a circle when when the physically able to uh and just be able to talk on variety of subjects and make connections with their peers and with the teacher. And most of the research will tell you that in schools and classrooms where there are strong connections based on doing these restorative practices
056that you have fewer uh issues of discipline that you have higher academic success because students feel connected to their school to their teacher to their classroom and they want to do better. And so uh all the rest of San Marino teachers had been had already gone through the training but this will be for our new teachers and Huntington's new teachers. Uh, and I I should add the second part of that is what's called restorative justice. And so if you do have a student who misbehaves, um, then what restorative justice says is that it's it's one thing to just punish a student or or suspend them, which we obviously try not to do anyway, but what do you do when they come back? And so it's called restorative because you're supposed to restore the balance in
057the classroom. So when that student returns, they need to be made to feel like they're back in part of the community again. They've served their whatever their punishment is, but now how do we get them back in the community so that those kinds of problems don't happen again? So that's part of the training also. >> Yes. >> Do we have a time frame for the the fencing? >> For the what >> the fence? >> Um so I No, we don't. But it but from what I heard this morning, I'm I'm thinking that this is going to happen over the summer this of this summer because we are planning most likely on using the out outside buildings but or the outside classrooms of that building. However, depending on the timeline of the modernization of the building
058itself, then we may be looking at displacing the teachers that are in that building anyway. So, >> uh Dr. So, you have an idea how much the budget provided? >> Well, um that particular um need uh is incorporated as part of the design process when we're working with the high school. Uh we're looking at the modernization of the building, but along uh within that project, we're also looking at fencing. So, and security, >> you want to add CJ uh some context to >> that. Um with it happening this summer, we're likely to just be GSA approval by by this summer. So, that will happen this summer, but it will be part of the public. There are some other >> Yeah, I was probably over overly optimistic because I didn't take into account that we're going
059to actually start the work on the building itself. So, >> any more question? >> Yeah. So, I believe that we don't have AP physics yet, right? >> Uh, we don't. So, for a variety of reasons, long before I came to this district, that there was a decision to teach physics at the honors level instead of the AP level. Uh, and many of you know that our honors physics teacher is Scott Barton, who is a fantastic teacher, and he's our science department chair, and he feels very strongly about that. But I can also tell you that Mr. Barton has been openly talking about that he only he's doesn't have a whole lot of time left before he retires. and we have made the decision that when it comes time to replace the teacher for that position
060that we are going to offer AP physics. >> Okay, >> more question if not uh thank you for Dr. Wolf. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh next 11 action item A certification of signature. I would like to turn it over to Dr. CH to present the certification of a signature. >> Thank you, President Chang, members of the board. Item 11 A is requesting authorization for assistant principles Emily Hill and Samantha Paris to sign school site contracts up to $5,000 and approve ASB warrants. It is recommended that the board of education approve the certification of signatures as presented. >> So move. >> Second. >> No call. M >> I miss >> I. Mrs. Ryan >> I, >> Mrs. Gia, >> I, >> Mr. Chen, I, and a steel board member book. >> Hi, motion carry. 11B
061approval of architectural service agreement between the Sanino Unified School District and the West Group design for the Valentine Elementary School new twostory classroom building project. Dr. Choy, >> thank you again, President Chang, members of the board, student board member Rowan Burke, and executive team. As part of measure M, uh the district has identified the Valentine Elementary School new two-story classroom building project as a phase one priority to address enrollment growth and classroom needs. Tonight, the staff recommends approval of an architectural services agreement with Westgroup Designs to begin the design process. Again, uh Mr. CJ Nolan will share the background and the rationale for this recommendation. >> Good evening, President Chang, members of the board. uh Westgroup Westgroup Design's proposal for this project uh is not only the lowest cost to the district, but it also
062provides exceptional value um in terms of synergy between our two two elementary schools. Uh having the same architect really involved with designing those standards um for those classroom spaces will really unify both of the campuses in terms of their facilities. And for that reason, we uh I also want to include that their their proposal was approximately $60,000 less than the the other two the two next proposals, sorry. Um where they offered a 5% discount beyond the Office of Public School Constructions uh sliding scale. without the uh 5% discount I believe then the total was 1,285,000 so about 60,000 >> any question we have to approve >> how many additional how much additional space is the second floor adding >> uh sec I believe the building is around 34,000 square feet. So just roughly cutting it
063in half, I would say 17,000. And this we're in a really high level of design. So that will change as we move through that process. >> Is that they have a uh elevator, right? >> Yes. Elevator. More question. Okay. None. Uh, is there a motion to approve the architectural service agreement between the San Manino Unifi School District and the West Group design for the Valentine Elementary School new twostory classroom building project? >> Move to approve. >> Any second? >> Second. >> Roll call. Mr. Song >> I. >> Mrs. Lamb. >> I. >> Mrs. Ryan. >> I. >> Mrs. Gear. >> Hi. >> Mr. Chen. I and a student board member Mr. Book motion carry 11 CN audit actual uh financial report fiscal year 2024 to 2025. Uh Dr. Choing. >> Thank you President Chang, members
064of the board, student board member Burke and executive team. Item 11 C is an action item for the 2425 unodudited actuals financial report. This report is a significant financial milestone for every district because it gives us the first clear picture of how the year closed out. Let me start by first explaining what the report represents. Each year when we close the books on June 30th, school districts must prepare what's called an unodudited actuals. It's essentially our year-end financial report. We send it to the county office of education and run it through the state's financial system for accuracy and compliance. During this process, our accounting team goes through every detail, making transfers where needed, reviewing accounts, ensuring expenses are charged to the right programs and funding sources. I do want to pause and recognize the person
065who plays a critical role in this work, our director of accounting, Miss Susanna Barber. uh she prepared this report and brought her expertise in navigating the many programs, compliance requirements, and technical details that go into it. Uh Mrs. Barber's diligence ensures that we maximize every scent available to this district, and I want to thank you for her leadership and hard work. So, looking at the actuals themselves, I'm pleased to share that the district continues to demonstrate strong and healthy fiscal practices. We have been careful and deliberate in our budget planning and consistently prioritized using restricted funds before tapping into unrestricted resources. And by doing so, we not only stay in compliance with the program rules, but also protect our general fund as much as possible. You'll notice in the report that the district did engage
066in deficit spending. Uh it's important to clarify that this deficit spending was in restricted funds. Deficit spending can sound negative, but in both it is both necessary and positive in this case. Specific programs provide funding that carries over from one year to the next, but those funds have expiration dates. So, if we don't spend them, we risk losing them. A good example of this was the learning recovery emergency block grant as well as the arts, music, and instructional materials discretionary block grant. Both programs required us to spend down prior year revenues and we did so successfully. That means that we put every available dollar to work for our students and use exactly what those funds were intended for. The news is very positive when we look at the district's ending fund balance. We meet the
067state's required 3% reserve for economic uncertainties and reserves. Um and the reserve the committed balances um have specific purposes. Specifically, those commitments include about 900,000 for board goals, $2 million set aside for positions and salary adjustments, $ 1.5 million for textbooks, 1 million for program innovations, and 3.5 million for fiscal stabilization. These healthy reserves consist of committed fund balances guided by the board's direction, ensuring that the resources are responsibly planned and allocated to areas of highest priority. That said, every financial report is also a learning tool. It tells us where we are strong and where we can improve. One area we continue to watch closely is carryovers. When funds are carried year-over-year, resources may not reach students as quickly as they should. I meet monthly with Miss Barber and each of our school's leadership team
068to improve this. These meetings are opportunities to review their budgets in detail and identify ways to put these dollars uh to use during the year rather than holding them over. It is a proactive step already helping us to use resources more strategically. Other areas of improvement are supplies, equipment, and deferred maintenance. This past year, actual spending in these categories came in below what we had budgeted. That tells us that we have opportunities to fine-tune our planning so that dollars align more closely with actual needs and are put to work as intended. In summary, this year's unudited actuals tell a very positive story. Our district is on solid financial ground. We are carefully managing our resources and we are spending down restricted funds as intended while we're maintaining reserves that reflect stability in the board's priorities.
069At the same time, we are actively identifying ways to improve how dollars flow, ensuring that funds reach our students and classrooms promptly and effectively. Looking ahead, I will return in December to present our first interim report, which provides a snapshot of our budget activity from July 1st through October 31st. That report will give us a first real look of how the current year is shaping up compared to what we had originally planned. And of course, our external auditors will review the unodudited actuals and return later in the year to present the audited financial statements. So, at this time, it is recommended that the board of education approve the 2024-25 unodudited actuals as presented. >> Any question, comment? Um I do see that on the transfers there's zero from the county office, zero from any other
070um districts, JPA. So um I know last meeting we approved a resolution to um give authority for you to do these transfers and so I was just wondering since it is zero if you could give us a little history on when that actually even happened last. Yeah, I think you're referring to trans. >> Yes, trans. >> Right. So, a trans is short for tax and revenue anticipation note. Uh, and it is really trans are um a financial tool. It's an instrument to help and allow districts to uh engage in short-term borrowing. So, uh, in the event that a public entity such as the school district, uh, doesn't have the necessary cash flow, uh, but anticipates revenues, whether it's coming in from taxes or other revenues, it's short-term borrowing. >> And in our case, um, we're
071very fortunate, especially in the last four or five years, we actually never had to, um, participate in a TR. Um however in past years uh we have uh utilized that tool for short-term borrowing. Um so if that's any reflection of our financial stability and our financial state are we monitor our cash flow very closely. Uh there are certain months of the year that we monitor more closely than other months because we anticipate that uh funding coming from the state whether it's property tax or other revenues that we have sufficient cash flow. we have to have make sure that we have sufficient cash to make payroll and to pay the bills. Uh so uh in response to your question um uh yes uh we are prepared uh to utilize a financial tool like trans if we
072need it but it has been I think the last time we used it was in 2020 so we have not used the trans since. >> Great. Any more question? Okay. Uh if none uh is is there a motion to approve the 2024 to 25 audit actual financial report? >> Move to approve. >> Any second? >> Second. >> A roll call. Mr. Song >> I. >> Mrs. Sam. >> Mrs. Mr. Ryan >> I >> Mrs. Gia >> I >> Mr. Chen I and Steven Bo member Mr. Book >> I >> motion carry uh next is a board superintendent discussion item since Dr. territory not here but I I I would like to uh confirm from is p member uh general you want to talk about when is the proposed the join uh meeting with the city
073council >> October 7 >> is everyone >> October 7 >> you you have a time >> approximately 5:00 it has time exactly hasn't been confirmed. >> That's the Tuesday, right? >> Correct. Tuesday. >> Yeah. So, actually that's the >> regular >> day, but except probably earlier stuff. I'm fine. Right. >> You can you can >> Where was the location proposed to be? >> I believe at the city center. Oh, great. Working on logistics right now. Okay. So, everyone can attend, huh? >> Is dinner provided? >> Yeah. >> Is dinner served? Just kidding. >> Okay. And then the uh how about the CSVA? Do you have the date? >> Uh CSVA is in Sacramento this year, December 2nd through the 5th. Okay. So, look at the your schedule. Yeah. And uh let Jennifer know. Okay. Uh
074with that look like uh tonight everyone can go home earlier. Okay. >> Thank you. >> So, can I have a motion to adjourn? >> Motion to journ. Second. >> Okay.