2025-11-19 Board Meeting

001Good evening. The November 19th, 2025 meeting of the Sonteo County Board of Education will come to order. As is our practice, this meeting will be recorded. I note that Marco Chavez, Deputy Superintendent, Educational Services Division, is attending on behalf of Superintendent McGee this evening. Hello and thank you. Uh the board provides remote access for members of the public and welcomes community members joining in person and remotely. The board is following the requirement of Assembly Bill AB2449 which enables remote remote participation by board members only under specific circumstances. We use simultaneous interpretation in Spanish for those attending virtually through the end of public comment. Translation will continue further into the meeting if people are utilizing the channel. Thank you to our interpreters Anna Cruz and Kimberly Ldios for joining us remotely. For meeting attendees wishing to

002access the Spanish translation channel on Zoom, please click on the interpretation button on the menu bar. We ask speakers to be mindful of the Spanish interpretation and speak slowly and clearly. Item 1B is the approval of the agenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. There's a motion to approve the agenda made by Trustee O'Neal and a second by Trustee Alvaro. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say no. The motion passes with a vote of 70. And the agenda for tonight's meeting has been approved. Item two is public comment. Guidelines for public comment are available on the SMCE website and in board docs and on the table outside the boardroom in both English and

003in Spanish. For speakers who require Spanish interpretation, our interpreters, Miss Kurus and Miss Larios, will interpret following each speaker's comments. At this time, members of the public may provide comment for topics not included on the approved agenda. The County Board of Education does not act upon any matter that has not been agendaized except under limited circumstances as permitted by the law. It is the policy of the county board to refer matters raised in this forum to the superintendent for investigation and or action where appropriate. Uh WD superintendent Chavez, do we have any comments submitted prior to the meeting for topics not on the approved agenda? We do have a few cards for topics not on the um approved agenda. >> Thank you. Um speakers are invited to make live comment and will have 3 minutes

004to speak. Please keep within the time limits. To make a comment over Zoom, members of the public may use the raise hand feature. Instructions for using this feature are provided as an attachment in the board packet. Um, once your hand is raised, please wait to be acknowledged by Deputy Superintendent Chavez. Uh, Deputy Superintendent Chavez, are there any members of the public attending remotely who wish to make a comment at this time for topics not on the approved agenda? Uh, we have two raised hands. Uh, we'll start with or three. Uh, start with Janice Palazari. Sorry. Oh, >> okay. I just unmuted. Sorry. Um, >> good evening, President Torres, uh, board of trustees, um, and deputy superintendent. Um, I'm going to talk quick because I got the hook last week or two weeks ago. Um, I

005just want to thank I feel like we have a handful of people supporting our programs and I'm going to call them off and then I feel like there is such a huge disconnect with everybody else. Um, and that's all I'm going to say for tonight, but my shout outs are going to go to Natasha who's trying to help me with a donation I got and so we can get some food to our families. I appreciate her and Chris supporting that. Dr. Her menis who is really stepping up to the plate and um even though he did last year too um and freedom is starting to learn our program. Um I'm just talking court community and Nita was doing great and I hear we're saying goodbye to Tammy Ziggler tomorrow because she done her time with

006us. Um, other than that, I'm really trying to be positive and really hope that people can start understanding they have a school program that there should be caring about and supporting even if it's a little throw out of something. [sighs] But I don't feel it and I don't think many of my other members feel it. And that's all I have to say tonight. Thank you. Have a good night. Uh, >> followed by Karen Key. Thank you trustees. I'm Karen Key. Um I'm one of the founding um members of Ocean Light School and um thank you for letting me address you tonight. Last week I attended a meeting organized by the Laguna Salada Education Association or La for short where they had a researcher present her arguments against having a charter school in North Sato. One

007of the points is that the board of the directors of the proposed charter schools does not have employee representation. The the second point she made was that as the board is not appointed and not is appointed and not elected, there is no accountability structure and the board would be free to do as it wishes. I wish to counter those points. Firstly, given that we have not been granted the charter petition as yet, there are no employees in the school and hence there can be no employee representation at present. This is not to say that things can't be changed if the charter position is approved and perhaps u in in the future we may have an employee on the board. Secondly, um the point about accountability, the board of the proposed charter school would be accountable

008to you, the San Mato board of trustees. The charter petition is only for 5 years and we understand that after this time period, we'll have to come back to this board to petition um to make sure that the the charter is renewed. Hence the stakes are higher for the board of the charter school to ensure transparency and accountability to all the families that would attend the charter to ensure that all students are held to the the right standards and the standards are upheld to make sure that the charter is renewed. In fact, this makes the board more accountable than any other boards um of any school districts. Moreover, the board meetings are subjected to the Brown Act and members of the public will be able to question the board and probe them as necessary. So,

009I do not feel that the points raised by the union are valid regarding the proposed oceanlike petition and ask that you take these points in consideration during your deliberation. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, next we have Ivonne Chan. Can you hear me now? >> Yes. >> Thank you. And uh good evening uh President Doris and Honorable San Mateo County Board and Deputy Superintendent Chavez. My name is Ivon Chan and I serve on the Los Angeles County Board of Education. we call it LEO as well as uh on the Association of California County Boards of Education in short ACCBE. [clears throat] So tonight on behalf of ACCBE, I want to sincerely thank you for being a founding member. Your active engagement has guided our work with actually San Mattel's vision in mind. excellence and equity

010in education, every student, every teacher and every school. And we're especially grateful to Trustee Beth Jer whose decades of leadership have shaped who we are. So in just 10 months, 40 county boards have joined. Yeah. Ventura just joined and they are your coastal colleagues. Now we represent 80% of the California students. We promised advocacy, connection, innovation and trustee excellence. And we delivered. We deliver whether is through 12 statewide trainings on strengthening governance to five webinars on innovations such as career tech uh apprenticeship teacher pipeline deep dive on alternative education and reimagining high schools. We on boarded new trustees and student board members with mentorship if needed. And very importantly, we hosted many legislative impact forums. We took positions and several assigned by the governor and thank you trustee love. You we know that we will

011need to focus on the excess property tax sweep. So we managed to do all of that by leveraging resources, maintaining communications, you hear from us every week, and building capacity. So looking ahead, we will continue to learn and train, launch inperson events, expand our resource hub with county specific tools, and as we move into next year, we invite your ideas on how we can best serve you. And thank you for your leadership and your belief in the power of county boards. Working together can and will shape a hopeful future for all students. And have a great board meeting and good night. >> Um I see no more race raised hands. >> Thank you. Members of the public may also provide live comment in person. Deputy Superintendent Chavez, are there any submitted cards for topics not

012on the approved agenda? Yes, we have seven cards. So, we'll start with uh Megan Ellurn, followed by Kathleen BBE. >> Good evening. My name is Megan Ellurn and I am the president of Lagona Salada Education Association which represents the certificated staff of Pacifica School District. I'm here in capacity as a union member to make my public comment in opposition to Oceanlight Charter School. The last 11 months have been a tumultuous time for the Pacifica School District. Since before COVID, we had seen a slow decline of enrollment and the pandemic exacerbated it. Administrators in Pacifica School District had slowly been kicking the can and looking for band-aids. Last year, there was a turning point and there were no more band-aids. And this meant decisions were made that caused much unrest, sadness, and pain. The district administration

013was definitely in a tough situation, and there is no debate that their resolution could have unfolded more smoothly and could have been and should have been dealt with a more in a more responsible way. I had seen talk of Ocean Light floating around online, but it wasn't until I was called to a meeting at the district office that I learned the application was in fact already on your desks. The ball was really rolling. Charter schools are new to me and I needed to do my research. As I did more reading, learning, and understanding, it became more obvious to me that this specific charter proposal did not present a quality application that is best for students or educators. I read through the thousand-page document. Big ideas and big concepts, but not enough to warrant approval as

014a diverse option in the county that is not currently available as justified by the district presentations in October. The main findings I've learned that are different than other charter applications that have been processed in the state include noticing there are no identified employees on the founding board of directors. The board is self-appointing, not elected. There is an inequitable enrollment plan that will prevent their diversity goals. Inaccurate and false data with poor comparisons to unlike charters. The Oceanlight application does not meet the definition of a countywide charter. The approval of the charter school will likely have an adverse impact on all Pacifica students through cuts to staffing, programs, and services, and even potential school closures in Pacifica. Pacifica can barely operate six schools with their finances and certainly not seven. Pacifica needs time to calibrate over

015the collocation and restructuring of last year. I encourage you to vote no in December and reject the application. Thank you. >> Thank you. We have Kathleen BBE uh followed by Joan Weldman. >> Good evening board trustees. Uh Kathleen BBE from CTA here. I'm here to speak on the Ocean Light charter petition that is under your evaluation. As I am the CTA staff person assigned to Pacifica and all the districts that are potentially impacted, I thought a few words might be in order. As I said previously, CTA supports charters and in fact has many charter chapters. But again, CTA does not support this charter as presented. The data in their thousand-page application is at best faulty, at worst deliberately misleading. The presentation by the superintendent at the last meeting clearly emphasized only the glaring misrepresentations, but

016the document is replete with them, which I'm sure you have noticed as you've gone through. Certainly, your staff will find them. But as importantly, and I don't want this lost, is the resulting financial devastation on those districts should this go through. I am, as the members are, acutely aware of the declining enrollment in these districts and the loss of the money that equates to these districts we have to live with every year. People don't see the impacts of this loss on a yearly declining enrollment. They don't because it's everyone makes up they make what they can do. Bootstraps I think is what I heard someone saying. We just managed to get it. Put a band-aid on the Xerox machine and march on. But if the numbers of students Oceanline proposes to draw from Pacifica and

017the other districts, such loss of the money, the federal and state money will be a hemorrhage not just of students but of the community that follows with the students. Let me be clear, the impact on these districts of the loss of the students, their community and their funding will rip these districts apart. These communities will never recover and they will never be the same. And should this charter fail, which is likely given the exclusionary policies that have been already discussed about their potential student demographics, the students reintegration into the wreckage of what's left of the respective districts will be long and painful. You have the ability to weigh the greater public good to the specific interests of a few. I know the gravity of this matter is not wasted on you. Thank you. >> Thank

018you. Uh Joan Wilman followed by Sandy Mills. >> Hi, I'm Joan Weidman. Sorry, my handwriting is not good. Um I am an Oceanlight founding team member. Um, several questions and concerns have been raised about admissions to and enrollment in Oceanlight School. I'd like to address two of those. The admissions process and the high percentage of families from Pacifica. The first one is all are welcome at our school. All students who apply will be accepted based on space available. Ocean Lights plans to grow from 240 students to 450 students within 5 years. If more families are interested than we have projected, it is our intent to expand at a faster rate. We will make room for families as many families families as possible. This not only supports families but also strengthens our financial position. Ocean flight

019school plans to have some combination classes to meet the application requests by grade. This will give us flexibility to match the requests from parents and ensure that we have a student uh toteer ratio near the maximum. However, if there are more requests than spaces available, there will be a lottery using the process outlined in the petition. Based on the grade level of students who have expressed an intent to enroll, we expect to have a lottery for TK and kindergarten levels. There's space we project for all of the 1 through eight uh eighth graders. For the lottery, the provide pro priority is provided the founding team and board members. Only two in this group have very young children. Petition signers also receive priority but only in the first year. Siblings are given priority. This is a

020common practice for all districts so that families can stay together. The second concern has been raised that significant number of Pacifica families who have indicated the intent to enroll in the first year. Many signers of the petition were responding to the reconfiguration of the schools in Pacifica. At the time of gathering signatures, we had minimal outreach to Daily City, San Francisco, San Bruno, and Brisbane. And still, we had 16% of the petition signers who are not Pacific residents. Ocean Light School has an extensive outreach plan to engage families all across northern Sonat County. You've been given a copy of that tonight. Um, we are sharing a summary of the Ocean Lights current and ongoing outreach efforts with the staff to distribute to the board. I'm sorry you have that. Based on our outreach efforts, we

021expect that in the next 5 years, Oceanlight School will reflect the geographic and rich ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of North Sano County. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sandy Mills, followed by Christina Lee. >> Good evening, board members and Deputy Superintendent Chavez. Um, my name is Sandy Mills and I wanted to answer the question of what Ocean Light School could add to the county's environmental education landscape. Our vision states that we envision a world where young people rise to the challenges of their time with creativity, compassion, and courage, ready to lead, innovate, and care for the earth and each other. By using next generation science standards uh for curriculum development along with 10 strands curriculum and seeds to solutions, we will utilize those strengths to build a strong program from the ground up. These programs embrace

022our philosophy of projectbased and experiential learning. We believe that using this as a basis for cross-cultural cross-curricular subjects, students will be engaged in environmental education in a purposeful way while also developing a sense of responsibility and connection to and for their community. We are fortunate to be in an area of the San Francisco Peninsula where the ocean and bay are steps away so that students can conduct field research with local specialists, gaining real life experience in data collection, analysis, records, and problem solving. This research can also lead to students becoming leaders to uh change makers in local areas in a way that will make sure their voices are heard as they grow and mature throughout their academic career. By having environmental education and projectbased learning as one of our pillars, all staff agree from the

023beginning that this is our compass, our end goal. This also means it is integrated into our daily teaching and learning. By embedding these ideas and lessons into everyday curriculum, students will develop a deep understanding of ecosystems, sustainability, and habitat. Their natural curiosity about the world around them will be nurtured as they participate in citizen science projects, field research, and writing, and presenting reports about their findings. Our seventh and eighth graders will be participants in the Sanonteo County Education Programs such as the environmental youth leadership network and summits as part of their solutionary projects and two week electives. We believe that the Sanonteo County Office of Education is on a path to help schools under its jurisdiction to provide the best practices in environmental literacy. Since that is the emphasis in our curriculum, we will take

024advantage of as many of these program offerings the count county has to implement those programs and therefore promote the county's commitment to engaging students in this evolving part of the TK through 8 curriculum. We also envision ourselves as a resource and model school for the county in your endeavors to promote the climate literacy challenge for all schools. Thank you. >> Thank you. uh Christina Lee followed by Jen C. >> Good evening. My name is Christina Lee, mom to a third and sixth grader and Ocean Light board member. Why is Ocean Light, you may be asking yourself, pursuing a countywide charter instead of a district charter. To qualify for a countywide charter, Oceanlight must pass the countywide test, which asks the question, can the student population of a countywide charter be served as well by a

025single district charter? The unequivocal answer is no. Confining Ocean Light to a single district would be a disservice to the families of North Sanonteo County. Ocean Light passes the countywide test because Oceanlight offers regional equity. Half, that is three of the six school districts in North Sonteo County, Brisbane, South San Francisco Unified, and San Bruno Park do not have access to a TK through 8 school. Genuine access to the three TK the three TK to-8 schools in North Sono County is limited. Beayshore Elementary is geographically distant, bordering the Daily City San Francisco border. FDR is limited to those within FDR's neighborhood boundaries. And Cababrilo has an extensive waiting list, and only a few selected in the school lottery will have the true opportunity for a continuous TK to8s education. Further, there is no TK to8

026charter in North Sonteo County, while there are many in the south. Ocean Light passes the countywide test as well because it provides a unique and comprehensive program. Despite claims from school districts that they offer what Oceanlight intends to offer, none have Ocean Light's unique and comprehensive model incorporating environmental stewardship, experiential project-based learning, steam, and family partnership. Districts have highlighted garden programs, class projects, teacher training, and volunteer opportunities. But no district has presented a schoolwide culture where these pillars are interwoven into the curriculum in every classroom. Ocean Light will offer a truly integrated learning environment every day to every student. Ocean Light further passes the countywide test because a school like Ocean Light is in demand. There is a reason why we were able to collect more than 300 signatures with intent to enroll in just

02710 days. You heard all the speakers that supported us at the last public meeting. There is a hunger for a school like Ocean Light. There is a need for a school like Ocean Light. No single district is providing an option even close to Oceanlight in North Sanonteo County because no single district can provide a school like Ocean Light. Ocean Light is intended for and designed to serve students across arbitrary school district boundaries. We are primed and ready to serve families in North Sanonteo County. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Jen Sue uh and our last speaker, Donald Berdett. >> Good evening, trustees. My name is Jen Sue. I'm an Ocean Light board member. Uh I have two comments uh to address concerns on our countywide petition. Um, one of them is outreach, which Joan already

028touched on. So, 16% of the people that signed our petition are outside of Pacifica. Uh, a lot of the concerns keep saying that this should be a Pacifica district charter. However, they have clearly stated that they would not approve it and there are concerns. Um, Ocean Light builds on Ocean Shores legacy, but it's the intent is to serve a broader community beyond Pacifica's border. Um, as you can see from our outreach efforts that we've actually shared with you and we plan to share with the staff, um, we are building on our efforts to reach out to Daily City South San Francisco and hope to have a regional positive regional impact. Um, the second point I wanted to make was about the concerns about ADA. So, most of the other districts have said that there are

029concerns that the funding would impact their district specifically. However, this would be across multiple districts rather than just one. If Ocean Light can be what we hope it to be uh if granted the countywide benefit, students will have value based instruction through collaborative learning, and they'll thrive in a culture of family involvement, especially English learners, special ed, um and neurodeiverse students. Ocean Lights, a beacon of hope. Look, I'm not someone that has a background in education at all. I'm a corporate person actually and I really hope to bring my experience in getting funding and partnerships outside of traditional education. So that's why I'm part of this team and we really consider um approving we consider we hope that you consider approving our charter. Thank you. >> Thank you. And our last card, Donald Bdett. >>

030Good evening. Uh, my name is Don Bdett, Mills High School teacher, father of six, and Ocean Light board member. In the context of our case for countywide benefit, I want to speak frankly about the impact of the decision before you. If Ocean Light is not approved, we have an exceptionally capable and talented team that has worked so hard on this. Look at what we've accomplished in just a matter of months. We are not only capable, we are driven. We will continue our efforts because a no at the county level by this board cannot be appealed. We will start over at the district level, most likely Pacifica. We will then be rejected at the district level by the Pacifica School District as we would at any other district in northern Sanonteo County. They have all made

031it very clear they do not want a charter. We will then appeal to the county. We will be right back here again in as short a time as possible, but we'll be asking for approval for a school that cannot live up to the vision and mission as written in our petition today because it will be confined to a single district, limited to just a select group of families based on their zip code. After rejection at the district level, the legal standard for our approval changes from you may approve our charter to you shall approve our charter based on findings, not discretion. findings we clearly mean. This will lead to much greater ADA impact on a single district. But those who truly lose the most are the families in other districts who will be shut out

032from access to what Oceanlight offers. The equitable thing to do is approve Ocean Light as a countywide charter. But I don't want to focus on the negative. Imagine what we will do if you say yes. Look at what we've done in just a matter of months. Together with you all, we can create a school that serves and reflects the diverse communities in our county. A school that strives for consistent improvement in equity and diversity. We will not become an elite exclusive institution. A school that serves as a hub for collaboration and innovation aligned with countywide goals. Oceanlight is aligned to your strategic plan. We can be the model school for the next generation of learning environments. A school that makes students into rigorous stewards of their environment and leaders inside and outside the classroom where

033students thrive because of their differences. A school that fosters a community of communities, a family of families that makes every student and family feel welcome, supported, and celebrated. that makes teachers feel respected, consulted as experts in their field and as collaborative creators of curriculum and supported by community of families involved in the school at all levels, especially the classroom. A school that's filled with joy. The joy of learning, the joy of teaching, the joy of connecting to the environment, the joy of finding community, the joy of celebrating ourselves and each other, the joy of having a school that feels like home. Oceanlight will be a school that makes you proud. >> We are at time. >> If you say yes, we will make you proud. Please say yes on December 17th. Thank you. >> Thank

034you. I have no additional cards. Thank you. A public comment addressing a specific agenda item will be heard after the board's discussion on the item. If members of the public wish to speak to a specific agenda item, then please use the raise hand feature when the item is announced, or if in person, submit a card in advance of the item. Cards can be found on the table outside the boardroom and given to a staff member when completed. Item 3A is the November 2025 employee of the month, Ann Ton, public communication specialist, office of the superintendent. Will Ann please join me in the middle of the room. >> So each month the board and the superintendent recognize an employee for providing outstanding service. For the month of November 2025, we recognize Ann Ton, public communication specialist,

035office of the superintendent. >> So Ann joined the county office in May of 2017 as the administrative assistant one and was promoted to her current role in October 2017. She has been described as the backbone of all things communication due to her wealth of knowledge and expertise. What Anne doesn't know off the top of her head, she researches in order to find the answer. She is never too busy to be interrupted with questions and over the years has become an excellent and patient trainer and is always available to provide support and responds quickly to phone calls and emails. Everyone can see how busy she is by the amount of work of the amount of work product and tasks she accomplishes throughout the day. All the while maintaining the most pleasant of attitudes and friendliness. and

036she juggles her duties with grace and professionalism and never seems flustered no matter how much she has on her plate. Anne was instrumental in driving the launch of the new website, meeting with every team in the office to ensure that the new website met their needs. The amount of work that she devoted to the to training staff on document accessibility and managing the editing of both old and new versions of the website is evidenced by the excellent quality of everything she touches and puts an incredible amount of behind-the-scenes effort into making all the outward- facing SMCE communications and print materials look professional and understandable and cute. That's important to me and it's not on here but I see it. Um, an excels at everything she does and is also one of the nicest people in

037the building. We are proud of our county office staff and are pleased to recognize an for her outstanding work. Congratulations to Ann for being named employee of the month for November 2025. >> Yay. >> Would you like to say a few words? >> Thank you so much. Good evening, Board President Torres, members of the board, and Deputy Superintendent Chavez. Thank you so much for this recognition. as part of my job, I love to highlight the employees of the month, and it's just exciting to once again be uh recognized in this way. Um, I just want to thank you for all the opportunities I've had over those eight plus years to learn and grow and really expand our work and thus our impact across the county. Um, there are great people who do great work within

038the county office of education and I love my job because I get to highlight all of that, right? Um there's been lots of changes over this past year. So this recognition definitely feels, you know, complete like we've gone to the other side of all of those changes and been successful in increasing that impact. Um so I just want to thank you for my family, for my husband Kenny for stepping in when work had to take a priority and for my beautiful daughter Elina who is about to become a big sister uh next year, next April. um for for being her wonderful self and thank you to my team to Will Jimenez our new multime media designer and new executive director Ian Bane May Tran our admin assistant you know through all the different changes you

039know I'm looking forward to the next year and bringing us to the next level thank you I always love to see the floating heads everywhere. Uh, moving on to item 4 A, we have the introduction of Ernesto Lome Rodriguez, supervisor information systems, District Business Services. Uh, Supervisor Lameli. Uh, good evening board. Uh, B uh, board. There we go. Is it better? There we go. Good evening, board president Torres, uh members of the board, and also deputy superintendent Chavez. Uh my name is Ernesto Lamelly Rodriguez, and I am the new supervisor of information systems here at the Sonteo County Office of Education. Uh to give you a little bit of background on myself, uh I've been here at the county office for about uh a little over two years now. I started off as a credentials

040analyst, quickly moved my way up to the senior credentials analyst role and uh now I'm in the uh in the role that sort sort of similar in some ways because I do get to continue supporting uh our school districts but also very different. Um before coming to the uh county office, I was in uh corporate America. I was in tech. Um, and I've always loved uh working with tech and making process improvements and doing things like that. And with this role, because we do have a new system that we're using countywide, it does give me the opportunities to sort of revisit those uh those past skills that I've uh haven't been using uh as much now. Um, but yeah, I'm super excited for the role. I know there's a lot of opportunities for again process

041improvements and I'm looking forward to it. So, thank you for your time. >> Thank you and welcome. Um, so for item 5A, is there a motion to approve the minutes of the October 22nd, 2025 regular board meeting as presented? >> Second. >> Thank you. Um, there is a motion to approve the minutes of the October 22nd, 2025 regular board meeting made by Trusty O'Neal and a second by Trusty Gerard. Is there any further discussion? >> I'd like to recuse myself. I was in prison. >> Okay. Thank you. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say no. Uh any abstensions. >> That's when you say you. [laughter] >> Yes. >> Okay. I have abstain. >> Thank you. Uh the motion passes with a vote of 6 and one abstaining. The minutes

042and the minutes of the October 22nd, 2025 regular board meeting have been approved. Uh for item 5B, is there a motion to approve the minutes of the November 5th, 2025 governance workshop as presented? Is there a second? Thank you. There's a motion to approve the minutes of the November 5th, 2025 governance workshop made by Trusty O'Neal and a second by Trustee Love. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say no. Anyone abstaining? The motion passes with a vote of 70 and the minutes of the November 5th, 2025 governance workshop have been approved. Um item six is the consent agenda. The consent consent agenda is not debatable and requires a unanimous vote for passage. An item may be removed from the consent agenda and placed under

043the regular order of business for separate discussion and action of any member of the board, the superintendent or the public. So requests. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So move. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. There is a motion to approve the consent agenda made by Trustee Gerard and a second by Trustee Alvaro. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed say no. The motion passes with a vote of 70 and the consent agenda has been approved. Um for item 7A, uh Dana Yuni, executive director, district business services and Kevin Baltma, deputy superintendent, business services division will provide a report on the implementation of the enterprise resource planning financial system. Good evening, Board President Torres, members of the board,

044and Deputy Superintendent Chavez. Um kind of excited to actually give this report um because we've been working really hard for now over two years on implementing this new software. Um so we're going to kind of give you just a brief rundown of what happened over that period of time and also um talk about how much we spent of money related to the implementation itself. Um but we are going to talk about what is an ERP system. Um, it's basically an enterprise resource planning software or financial software program. We're going to talk about why we made the change, who was involved, what ultimately happened during the process, how much did it cost, and then where are we going? Um, you can't separate the dollars from the program. We say it often. I thought maybe somebody famous

045said that at one point in time, but um, we can't determine actually who said it, but it still is true. Um you really can't run an educational program unless you know how much u money you have or how many resource how much resources you have to put towards it. Um the ERP system connects our payroll position control keeps all of our data regarding employee management houses the budget relates to purchasing does all of our financial reporting for us. It automates workflows and we added the last two which are kind of add-ons to the system. uh employee leave accounting and employee onboarding. So I did include just if you log into the new system, this is what you see. Uh we thought it was important to actually include a picture of the county because this is

046a countywide software. Sometimes you'll see county offices put themselves in here, but the reality is this is software that's used by every LEA school district across Sonteo County. But ultimately, why did we make the change? uh we were looking for uh more improvements in integration between our employee data and our positions, our assignments and how we budget. We were looking really to reduce operational costs and at the same time we wanted to see some improved functionality um with a new uh system areas of position control. 90% of our school district budgets and very large percentage of our budget uh is in people that we hire to serve students. Um so having a good position control is essential and having good financial control over a budget. Uh we wanted to see uh access to employee data

047more readily available to our employees and we see that through an employee portal where employees can look at their paychecks, their W2s. Um they can update information regarding uh their contact information and the system even has some kind of whatif analysis where you can change potential withholding amounts and see what it does for your net pay. Uh we're also looking for improvement in budget development which can be a very um labor intensive process. So the ability to integrate uh that and hopefully see more efficiency was was a goal. Uh and then a lot of the new systems have automated workflows where you can see approvals of requisitions and purchase orders that go through an automated system of approval that just makes us more efficient and getting things turned around so we can buy things for

048students in classrooms. And ultimately uh we also wanted to see better data security and really looked at a an a cloud-based solution compared to what we had previously where we maintain the servers on an on premises solution. With that I'll turn it over to DA. >> Thank you Kevin. Good evening. Um I get to show you the slide with the faces on it. So this is just uh a few key members who played a part in this project. This is not the entire team. There are many more. Um first is our district business services team, the DBS team. They led the charge working handinhand uh with the frontline implementation team and acting as primary guides throughout this process. Um then we also had the help of the integrated technology services team. um our amazing programmer

049who did the task of moving all the data from the old legacy system to the new system as well as our network team who assisted our districts um connect their district network to the frontline ERP cloud system and um our HR SMCE HR team and the internal business uh services team they're they did the foundational work of setting up all the setup so that each and every employee at SMCE is paid accurately starting their first day in the new system as well as getting our bills paid on time. Um, and our COE's success is attributed to the hard work and dedication of this internal business team and our HR team. And um we uh when we did this planning we put an intentional focus on putting a three level of support for our districts because

050this is a big project and we wanted to make sure that our districts got all the support they needed. So our original plan is like we will have our first level of support from frontline. So who else can better train us and guide us through this process than the makers of the software themselves? And the second level of support by Carlson Consulting. Um the idea is that they can bring their lessons from other implementations and advice us on best practices. And third and most importantly, we had the critical layer of our own SMCE DBS team who were learning the system themselves as well as becoming the primary support for um our districts and partnering them uh day in and day out. and Kevin will cover in a later slide, you know, our best late plans

051didn't go as perfectly as we planned, but we managed to get through the implementation successfully. So, what this pro this uh kind of talks about what happened uh under Kevin's leadership, we kind of realized a need to evaluate whether there's a need to move from our old system um old financial system or not. um this is a change of a large magnitude and this is not something that you want to take on every few years but we were in our old system for about 20 years. So it was kind of time to evaluate whether a change is needed with that. Uh we formed uh we also knew that this is a big change. So we needed to make sure it was a shared decision. So as a committee with the district members as well as

052the county office, uh we did an RFP evaluation, evaluated three members and the team united unanimously voted to go um to change to frontline CERP and um after that we started the project in April 2024. So this is uh the project uh dashboard. So what this is is it's to manage a project uh this bigger scale we wanted to make sure that our stakeholders know our what our status is and this is a weekly project dashboard that the frontline project manager was updating and um at a quick glance we will know if it's green we're all good we are on track whereas if it's yellow then we need to pay some attention and if it's red we are at high risk. So we did we didn't just keep this status board just for ourselves but

053we published it weekly um on our frontline implementation page on our website for our stakeholders and we also updated them on a weekly ba on a monthly basis of the status of project through uh through webinars. This slide kind of gives you um we just wanted to show you the tasks that were assigned in the project plan. Uh, so I just pulled out all the tasks that were assigned to the SMCE team and there were like 411 tasks and they are just not 411. If you multiply it by the 23 districts, that's how many and I always say 23 districts, but we also have to take into account we have the county office um kind of set up as a districts. So if you do that 24, it's almost like 10,000 tasks. And the other

054factor to kind of mention is we have around thousand users if we count the site users in the ERP system. So the change mean meant bringing them along through the journey as well. And this um slide kind of captures the timeline of what happened. uh we uh when we started the project itself, we dedicated to uh training rooms uh that were that were heavily used all throughout the implementation process and we had the support of Phil from um Carson Consulting. Uh he was also um very generous because initially we thought we needed two days of working sessions for our districts but it ended up like Phil had to spend all five days and most of the time late in the night so that our districts needed the support uh could come to him and uh

055one of the most important priorities that we set for this project is to make sure the pay was accurate. We wanted to make sure everybody was paid correctly. With that in mind, the pay compares gross pay compares started in November. Um and we went to the net pay compares and payroll simulations and along the way we also started two minor implementations with the ERP system which is the frontline central product and frontline absence product. We started central in 20 uh February and then absence in March. So all this work was in preparation to our major milestone which is the go live date of July 1 which we did and um just recently October 31st we shut down the access to our legacy system which kind of closed the project that I'll turn it back to

056Kevin. You know, the pictures don't do it justice when the spreadsheet related to the implementation plan was one of the largest spreadsheets I' I've ever seen. It was just those pages and pages of notes related to this project. So, um I don't think we did it justice. We just kind of showed you the one summary little page there. But moving on, listen, we did have a good plan, we thought, in place, right? But, um as the quote says, not all plans work out. And that certainly wasn't true or was true for us. Um what we didn't know was a couple weeks after I think we made our final decision to to move to Frontline um San Francisco uh Unified also chose to move to Frontline ERP and they actually chose the same go live date.

057So all that Carlson Consulting uh kind of second level tiered almost got sucked away from us completely. Luckily, they left Phil who was very capable and we really appreciated his work. But that posed a real challenge because San Francisco's big and they took up a lot of additional resources not only from Carlson Consulting but Frontline was then also pulled in that direction. So a real challenge to have the same go live date as our neighbors up north. Um and life happens, right? So, we had some really key employees who um had a baby, um took a different job, um things changed, so we didn't have the same staff for the entire period, and that's just life. Um but luckily, we have some really amazing people that were able to kind of step in. Um we

058did have some really great collaboration um or or the challenge, I should say, was collaboration between business offices and HR offices, which I don't think we really kind of realized originally. Um, we would often get calls of like, hey, this is a real challenge. We're struggling in this area. And it often wasn't about software. It was about the fact that HR departments in a district were having to do a lot of things they had never done before related to setup. And business offices weren't often talking to their HR departments. So sometimes we were kind of as intermediary within a district of just, hey, here's how you have to work together kind of implementing this new system. And it can't be overstated, we're doing an implementation for 24 LEAs um that have different cultures, different bargaining

059unit agreements, different practices. Um and so we were dealing with that from a high level, but it flowed all the way down to every school and every district that we serve in this county. Um finally, we think it was successful. And why do we think it was successful? We have no payroll errors in July, August, September, October. Now, that doesn't mean there wasn't a problem in some districts with a payroll, but it wasn't a systems issue. It was sometimes, hey, we missed um some some in time cards. That would have happened with any system. Um so, there were some of those instances, but it was not the system wasn't calcing incorrectly. We didn't see checks going out for $5,000 more than they should have or people not getting checks at all. Um, so that's the

060first thing. We knew payroll was good. The second thing is, uh, we weren't getting calls. Um, there weren't people calling us panicked that something was wrong and we weren't getting any calls from the news or the press, which we thought was really highly successful. Uh, we also um imported three years of prior year data. So imagine you put in a new system, you lose all of that, you know, as Donnie mentioned, 20 years of data. Well, um I say we Brian Batarina from our office was able to pull that old data and get it effectively in the new system. So day one some trend analysis could be occurring as we started to do budget development. We did see every LEA implement their 2526 original budget um through the new system. And we uh I'll give

061DA a lot of credit about this. We had some real concerns early on about how districts were going to get historical data because that was on our servers and we knew we were going to come off of the old system. Um we were able to work with um a consultant and I say we again da uh worked so that we found a programmer that could create an app for us that could basically access all of that data out of the servers that we have. So, we have full access to all the old data and we're currently continuing to refine that to get better reporting um information out of that old system. Saved a ton of work because districts didn't have to go out and print a bunch of reports or come up with different methodologies

062for saving all those old reports. Um huge win that is kind of one of those quiet wins. Um user training provided across the across the county. Training was going on all the time. Um Marco can attest to this. We had signs of ERP training go this way with signs uh it seemed like every day. Um and we did feed a few people lunch just to keep them here and keep them happy. Um and then we ultimately maintain the the budget and we'll talk about that as well. Um why were we successful? Uh I think one is we had really strong servant leadership in this process and and I'll look to DA is a perfect example of that. We didn't have leaders that were just telling people what to do and then standing back. They were

063involved in the software. They were doing the work themselves. So that when a district called and said, "How do I need to do X?" We had real life responses. Donnie was on the phone all the time with districts and actually solving problems, not just farming it out to other people. Um, and that was across many people here at SMCE that were actually leaders and involved at the same time with the details. Um, we already have a culture of supporting our districts. We already have a department that that supports districts with our old system. So, when I've talked to other county offices of ed who have gone through this, they always talk about having to prop up an entire department, but we already had that and we already had the culture of support. We had a

064realistic timeline. I think um we would all wish we maybe had two or three more months, but we did it in 16 and um and it was realistic. It was hard, but it was realistic. uh we had really effective support from our vendor and our consultants. They really stepped up and did an amazing job for us. We did have strong collaboration within our own district business office and our own HR departments and they could then support districts as we had questions. Um, and we really had some really, I think, great communication that was occurring with superintendents and chief business officials because you can imagine we acknowledged this was going to be hard. And as it got hard and people started to have complaints about how difficult it was, that ultimately went up to CBOS and

065superintendent, but I think because we were communicating and prepping people for it, it didn't derail the process. It was acknowledgement. where do we push in more additional supports? But it didn't cause a problem in that. So, how much did it cost? Uh, we originally budgeted $5.6 million. I did a little summary spreadsheet on the top, but then I included reports out of the new system. Um, and you have two different reports because under the old system, we used re um manager code and now under the new system, we moved to resource code. So you can see that two years of that prior year data are in the one report and then you see another report with the current year data 2526. So the budget 5.6 um actuals um to date are 5 million but then

066we also have incumbrances or purchase order out there for the remaining balance. So we're just under budget at this point in time at $41,750. Um we will adjust our budget second interim um to capture the fact that we have an incumbrance out there at 1.1 million. So we'll adjust that $600,000 in the current year, but we did underspend in 2324. So overall over the three-year period, we're going to be right on budget. And one one comment I need to make about that, the fact that the county office paid for that was one of the things I think that made this successful. I have seen in the in in when eleas choose an ERP system, the high cost of implementation can often get in the way of making a good decision about what system you're going

067to use. So, it was a real gift I think that we were able to step in and pay for that because I think choices were made that were good long-term for countywide financial finances. Um, so it was kind of a real blessing that we were able to do that. So where are we going? Um absence management that uh implementation is going to finish up this month and districts were already using that to some extent. So some of this is kind of refining uh the old system that districts were using absence management with kind of the new ERP and I should have added training training training it. We're going to continue to train people. Um and we need to do more of that. Actually we have to work on our W2 and our 1099 reporting at

068the end of the year. That will be done through the new system. And we're continuing to look at improvements, especially around workflows where somebody gets hired, it actually runs approvals through the entire process of how data gets put into the system all the way down to kicking off somebody getting an email creation in our system through Active Directory and that getting reported back to our human resource department. Uh we want to do budget transfers better and more timely as we're working with our educators. We want to work on our journal entry approvals and documentation of those and budget development. we can always continue to get a little better. We want to talk about centralizing our accounts receivable, the way we actually collect money for the services we provide it because right now it's not centralized.

069Uh and we want to get better financial reports. Um they are somewhat more canned reports than we may have seen in the past, but there are some abil there is some ability um for doing some customization within them. So we want to learn more about that and then continue to get better with the data access out of the old system. So, last slide. Lots of thank yous. I'll go through them quickly. We just start out with our superintendent. Um, having the superintendent be able to lead this countywide, huge benefit. And and Nancy was out there talking to our superintendents and county leaders really kind of paving the way for us. We want to thank you. The reality is you allocated the budget um since 2324 made a huge difference. Uh we do want to acknowledge

070our legacy system, the CEC system. They were extremely professional, have been the entire time. Um helpful and can't say enough about the way they handled the transition, which often isn't easy. Um definitely want to shout out our frontline ERP staff and these ladies names, Carol, Margie, Renee, Jane, Natalie, and Kelsey. They lived with us for 16 months. Um and it wouldn't happen without their expertise. Carlen Consulting, thank them. They stepped in. Definitely Phil. Phil Phil's a favorite in all the districts if you go around. Everybody seems to know him. Um, our DBS team for everything. You I couldn't mention all the things to thank them for, but it was every day doing it all. Our IT team had to move all that data out of the old system. They made sure that the system was

071connected because it's again cloud-based. Our internal business was successful because we're our own LEA and they had to do everything a district was doing. Um, our HR team, they did a lot of heavy lifting and it was different than what they've experienced before and they didn't quit. So happy about that. Um, our officials out there, our chief business officials, our HR leaders, they led the charge out there and even when it was difficult, they were out leading. And then just acknowledging everybody out in these districts, if you're accounts payable clerk, if you're um payroll, you have a full-time job and we were asking you to do this on top of that and that work got done. So just continue to acknowledge that this wouldn't have happened unless somebody was working really hard in a district

072long hours. So we're very thankful for that. So with that, I think the ERP then at this point we feel is kind of done. [laughter] >> Are there any comments or questions from the board at Trusty Alvaro? >> Good gravy. Da, first of all, thank you so much because we know who does the heavy lifting and he just sort of waves his hands. We we know this already. Um, and then is can't doesn't have to take the blame for yourself. That's a great quote from Mr. Hawking there. I did have a question though besides congratulating you and I mean once upon a time I imported a construction company onto a new software platform, a new business software platform which is like you know this much of what you had to do and it was rugged.

073So congratulations My only question is about the cloud. You know, we've seen and just happened again two days ago, I think, that every now and then the cloud hiccups and if everything we have for us and for our districts is on the cloud. What happens if that is a hiccup and people are trying to you know people at the local level are trying to do payroll or you know pay their bills or I mean how do you back up a backup? What's what's the answer to not just relying on the cloud 100%. >> Well there's the reliance certainly we're relying on that system to work and the redundancies that they've built in related to that. So, we are in a trusting kind of relationship there. Related to our um area though, if there's power or

074something local, the improvements that have been made to this building along with the generator would keep the power on so that at least the system could run and connect and that would allow the connection to happen across the county, I believe. So, yes, there's always going to be a risk that something could happen with Frontline and um its servers and the way it has it, but they are currently serving 43 or so of the counties. So, um we're all in it together. >> Yeah. >> So, some safety and numbers, I guess, is probably my best answer. >> So, what happened a couple days ago wasn't that a company equivalent to Frontline went down, it was that the cloud went down. And you know, a lot of things that I don't care much about, gaming platforms,

075Twitter X, whatever he calls himself these days, Dropbox, those those things all were offline for quite some time. And it really affected a few systems and even in Europe, there were some transportation systems that went down. I know that like New Jerseyy's train system was offline. So it wasn't the program they were using and it wasn't the provider. It was it was the cloud that they had things stored on. Now why it didn't affect everybody I don't know. It was some subset. So that's my concern is that you know obviously you don't want to have you know printouts or floppy discs sitting in a drawer or something but what happens if that goes down for I'm not talking about front line. I'm not talking about our systems. We have backup generators, but if that goes

076down, it just means basically everybody has to stop until it comes back up again, right? >> Yeah. I mean, I guess it's reality. It's not like there's anything else you could do. I just was asking if there was something. >> Yeah. And the fact of us maintaining our own servers, there's certainly some cyber risk associated with all of that of maintaining our own patches, doing that work. So we've kind of moved to it's not foolproof but kind of I think standard um is the current current standard is to have a cloud-based system uh with multiple redundancies. So we think this is the right way to go but is there always risk related cy cyber security? Yeah. >> So in terms of multiple redundancies what you what you do not have is on-site servers hosting anything

077>> right? So >> that's correct. >> And and Frontline also doesn't have on-site service hosting. They're they're they're just pumping everything up to the cloud, right? >> Yeah. You know, >> yeah, there is frontline does offer option of either hosted or on prem. So I do know that their preference for all the new customers is hosted. Um but some of their older c like people who have been there for like 20 years 15 years I do know that some counties do have the onrem solution >> but then you've got the security situation again >> correct >> so okay thank you thank you >> trustio >> and first of all I'd like to say thank you it looks like it's an impressive system having gone through several working for banks several conversions I know what a

078pain in the rear it is okay but I do have A question is um there's some issues that all the districts are facing and I was wondering does this system give some flexibility so that a district can forecast like declining enrollment? Can it forecast closing or combining schools, labor negotiations, different scenarios if you put this much in benefits, if you put this much in salary etc. is that you know and even in the case of Ocean Light if this if this many kids from North County go there what is the financial impact to each school district up there? >> Yes. I mean I think there's some improved tools for doing that analysis. There isn't one tool that could tell you like the impact of closing a school per se but you anything financially related. Yes,

079there's tools here and you can take salary schedules and multiply them by a percentage and it can extrapolate costs out that way. Um, getting a 1% cost by bargaining unit is simply one report and you can get that cost. Um, multi-year projections can be built into the system with a lot more detail and noted within the system itself. So all the tools to do the things you described are in my opinion more readily available and easier to use under this system. And the nice thing about it is it really connects um employees, positions, and budgeting all into one. So it's not like you're paying people over here and then budgeting over here. They're actually connected. >> So when we budget, it's based on what that person's going to be paid. that you would be able

080almost cost I know in some of the business I've worked in it was more cost center so you have become more of a cost center centric so that you this is how much a school costs to operate and >> yeah I mean again it's really utilizing full standardized accounting code structure so you know we move to resourcebased versus management based because we think that'll give us more detail like you're talking about districts don't tend to run income income statements by school site, especially if they're unified because typically elementary schools make money and and high schools lose money. So, they don't typically run their income statement or balance sheet by a school site. Um, but it definitely gives you tools that you could run costs by school site um by function code, goal, resource code for

081sure. >> Okay. Thank you. Well, let me follow up. Is that something that we will be able to offer districts or is that an additional cost for a district? >> Nope. All that data is all available in the system. It's just how they set up their chart of accounts and how they want to be able to run their reports, but that's all available to them. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Trusty Love. >> Thank you. Um I just want to congratulate and thank you um both um for all the work. I know it was a lot. executive director Ooni um kind of jumped into that role and has done an amazing job still smiling. Um I also love that um hearing about these kinds of things that the county office is doing to support districts because

082sometimes we hear oh the county office should be helping with it. The county office should be doing these things. And I feel like because of my experience sometimes I'm like actually the county office does do a lot of things and looks for ways to um make things more efficient for districts and I know you always have your eye particularly you on how to to do that and when we have benefit how to spread that around. So I just um keep telling us all about it and we'll share it out. Thank you >> trusty AAS. I also want to congratulate you even though I'm pretty new to, you know, I wasn't here when this was approved, but uh I can say that I am a previous teacher at San Francisco Unified School District. And so one

083thing that I appreciate is that it went live on July 1st and not on a roll of a semester or in December when you're already like have another system and then all of a sudden, you know, you had to Yeah. So I mean every a lot of people know what happened there. So I really appreciated that to see that and also knowing that um SMCO SMCE paid for the system and so helping the districts within the county um that's another thing that stood out for me and also the strong servant leadership that makes a difference. I think when a team or when decisions are made and that's not cohesive it makes it really hard. So, I'm very happy to hear that that happened. So, congratulations. Thank you, >> Trusty Gerard. >> Thank you. Um, I

084just also wanted to say congratulations um because I know uh how nervous you were. [laughter] Um, and especially when you flip the on switch for the whole thing and and to be able to go into something this huge and not have one paycheck being, excuse my language, screwed up is absolutely amazing. And uh I am so proud of all of you for all the work and hours and hours and hours you did. um not only for our county office but for support of all the districts in our county. So, thank you so much both of you and everybody that helped. You had quite a list. Um yes, I want to say thank you for just one getting it done and then all the communication along the way. um you did a really great job of

085just keeping us up to date as things were happening. And so when we finally get to this point, um it's not all entirely new. So it's just amazing. And something that I remember is um when the office had the day of learning, I know everyone was out at Sabra doing their day of learning, but your team stayed behind because there were uh there was work that needed to be done. There were timelines and deadlines that your team were working on. I just appreciate the dedication and and the love that you have for for your team and for for everyone. So, thank you. Um, are there any comments from the public? >> No comments from the public. >> Thank you. There is no action to take on this item. Um, for item 8A, the board will

086receive information on updated superintendent policies. Deputy Superintendent Chavez. >> Yes. Uh, thank you. So this item is coming before you for as an information item. This is exhibit 4319.21-e uh professional standards. Um because it was not previously added to the superintendent policy of the same number. Um it it will be added to the Santo County Board of Education and Superintendent uh school policy page uh the CSBA gamut platform. And just for some context, it's coming before you as a uh as an information item because back in March of 2023, the board uh policy subcommittee, county superintendent, and staff participated in a policy development workshop. And at that point um it was decided that it was important to identify board policies that related specifically to board responsibilities and superintendent policies that also uh related specifically to

087uh the county superintendent's responsibilities. So, so through those processes, um, oh, then around July of that same year, it was brought before the entire board and there was agreement that this was the direction to move forward with. Um, and so as we update um some of these policies, specifically, for example, board policies, they will be brought before the board um for first and second readings and then followed by board approval and a vote. as it relates to superintendent policies. On the other hand, um these will be brought um staff will bring them before the board as information items um so that we're all aware of the policies that are being um placed in in our um in our platform. So for those reasons, we're bringing this one before you as information. So I'll take any

088questions if you have any. Thank you. Any comments or questions from the board? Jesse Benini. >> Thank you. Um I just wanted to um thank um Superintendent Deputy Superintendent Chavez for explaining the the context because I thought that was very important. So I really appreciate you doing that. I don't know if there was any questions that arose because it was just coming as an info item, but we have a lot. So thank you. >> Trusty love. >> This is just more of an observation. There's a lot of things in there and I'm just curious, you don't have to tell me about how you're going to assess um how well you're addressing all of those items. Like is there a system in place? Do you have metrics for all of those things? >> Yes. Um so

089we're working closely with our HR um team to um and they're the that team was actually associate superintendent um uh Moore was the one that brought it forward as u information that they will use in in their processes. Other comments or questions. Um, are there any from the public? None from the public. Thank you. There is no action to take on this item. Um, for item 8B, superintendent comments, uh, Deputy Superintendent Chavez, do you have any comments to share? I do have some highlights that I would like to share in terms of great um, events that we've held here at the county office. And I want to start by um sharing that on Saturday, November 15th, we held the environmental youth leadership summit here at the at in this room and the entire county office

090or the entire building. It was so great to see over 100 youth here in the in the building really working on um developing their their knowledge around environmental literacy um advocating for the environment and really engaging with other e with experts in in that space or in in that area. and it was hosted in partnership with the Peninsula Clean Energy as well as the Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action. Um, and a very special shout out to Julie Hillburn, our director of environmental lit literacy and sustainability and her team who coordinated and made that day happen for for our youth in the county. Um, so wanted to highlight that. I also wanted to highlight the CTE advisory meeting that was h hel held here. Um it was held on the same day that we had our

091governance meeting on November 5th, but some of you I think did get to sneak in and see the the great partnership and the the work that that the county office is doing with our educators, industry leaders, um and partners um to strengthen uh career pathways for our students. Um, and also shout out and a special thanks to Marcela Miranda who's our executive director for college career and community partnerships in that team who helped facilitate and coordinate um that very special event that was well attended. And then finally, I I want to to share the Ruby Bridges walk to school day that um the there were two rallies that were were were held on that day. one north county in South San Francisco and South County in East Poalto. I was able to participate in the

092one in East Poto and um just the one uh to be able to highlight that civil rights moment and the importance of uh Ruby Bridges and the historical context, but also to use that as an opportunity to um share and highlight the importance of safe routes to school. And it's even extra special because it started here in Sonteo County. It started in uh South San Francisco with fifth grade students. And some of you already know the history, but it was just that that extra special. Our communications team um uh created a video of the East Palo Alto rally. Um and so let's watch it. It's only a couple of minutes. Welcome to our fourth annual Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day. It is a reminder of a community committed to action and service [music] of

093community, courage, and justice. >> If you can see the vision, said, "If you can see the vision, >> just at 6 years [music] old, she walked into a classroom and made a difference." >> Her enthusiasm, her support from her family wanting her to go to school. She walked through all of that and left a legacy for us. Ruby Bridges was truly inspirational. And today, it is so important that we continue that legacy, that you're able to walk to school on your own, but more importantly, that you have the resources and the skills and the support that you need to be successful in school. Honoring Ruby Bridges today reminds me of how fortunate all of our students are able to walk down the block to their neighborhood school. >> That's right. >> Where they are surrounded

094by the adults who truly care about them. From our educators, our parents, our elected officials, our police department, we are invested in our students. This is a reminder. This walk is a symbolic walk to ensure that we remain committed as a community to ensure every student feels seen, safe, and inspired. >> You can see the vision. >> Then walk. >> If you can see the vision, >> then walk. >> It was a very special day. Costa was my elementary school. was where I went to kindergarten. So, extra special. Um, I do also want to add that um the Satel County Board of Supervisors highlighted that this event um by on November 18th, they uh with a proclamation uh designating November 14th, 2025 as Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day um throughout Santo County. And um

095a special thanks to uh Teresa Vayas Kelly. She's our coordinator for Save Ross to school. Um, and since 2018 when this when this uh fifth grade classroom started, she's been involved in making this happen and it has grown nationally. So, great thanks to her and the team for for that great work. >> Can I add something? >> Yes. A huge huge thank you to Deputy Superintendent Chavez because uh prior to the event, I did email him with just my concerns of what measures were going to be taken given the ICE raids and this is such a beautiful event um that I didn't want it to be tarnished with anything or anything traumatizing. And he quickly reassured me that um that was taken into account and they had the support that was needed in place to

096ensure that everyone was safe and able to participate. So, thank you so much. It was a great partnership with local law enforcement and other community organizations. And so, lastly, before I close, um happy birthday um to Deputy Superintendent Baltimore. His birthday is on December 6 and uh board member Edid Aras on December 10th, Felis Complanos. And also, happy Thanksgiving to everybody. Thank you so much. Um, for item 9A, the board will now have a second reading and take action on the new board policy regarding student board members. Deputy Superintendent Chavez, back to you. >> Yes, thank you. So, um, from the first reading, um, we we took the notes and the the feedback that was provided at that meeting, um, and the and we used also the recording, which was very helpful, um, to really

097identify the the feedback that was provided. So, we made those adjustments to the policy um and we provided you with a red line um uh changes and some of the adjustments um and then one clean copy and so it's uh brought forth uh for second reading um and your direction. Thank you. Are there any comments or questions from the board? Is there a motion to approve the policy regarding student board members? >> So move. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh there's a motion to approve the new board policy regarding student board members made by Trusty Gerard and a second by Trustee Love. Is there any further discussion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed say no. The motion passes with a vote of 70 and

098the new board policy regarding student board members has been approved. For item 9B, uh Kevin Baltimore, Deputy Superintendent, Business Services Division, will provide background information on the investment policy, a board policy 3430. Because this is a board policy, the board cannot make changes without a first and second reading. If the board requests changes, then staff will make the appropriate modifications and the item will be brought back for a second reading at which time it would be agendaized as a discuss item. Deputy Superintendent Ba. >> Well, we are presenting uh board policy 3430 regarding investing as it's required to be reviewed annually. Just note the investment objectives that are currently in the policy. Number one is safeguarding of investment principle. two is maintaining sufficient liquidity and three is maximizing returns consistent with the first two objectives.

099Um, also included in the lead sheet was note uh a note of of the return on investment. We're seeing returns um just under 4%. Uh so we've actually seen some some rather nice increases in interest revenue over the last few years. So at this point in time, uh we believe the county treasury is doing a nice job with their investment portfolio and we have no recommendations for changes to the current policy. Thank you. Are there any comments or questions from the board? Trusty O'Neal. >> Thank you, Kevin. Just out of curiosity, I noticed that our only option is the Sonato County investment pool versus the state funds. I just wonder why. Yeah, education code would allow us to to go somewhere else for investment, but um for security purposes more than anything, we continue to

100use the county treasury. So, um we don't have a recommendation to move it somewhere else. Um and again, that's what they do is maintaining government funds. Um with the idea of again hitting our first objective of of maintaining our principle. >> No, I was just curious at all. >> Thank you. I will note a change in the um short-term investments. We've they have been investing in Lif uh which is the local area investment fund for short-term but that if you'll notice in the lead sheet has moved to kind of some California focused short-term investments. A little better return on we're happier with that. >> Other comments or questions? Trusty Alvaro. >> I just had a question. It was very similar to that, but in my memory, we at one point were mandated to use the

101county fund. We had no choice in the matter. >> Yeah, it it's it's not as easy as you think. If you're going to move the money, I think you have to go through a number of steps. Um, and there's also some limitations of what you can invest in. >> Um, because it does have to meet certain um, ratings to invest public money, >> but we're no longer mandated to keep it there. >> No, I think there's provisions that allow you could move it somewhere else. You don't >> we want to, but at one point we had no choice. >> Yeah. And I'm not I would have to do my research on that. >> Mr. Rod remembers that that at one point we were mandated to use the county fund. We had no choice. >> Yeah.

102I I'm you're right on that one. >> Yeah. And that >> it's interesting that that's changed because we had the little Goldman Sachs party once upon a time when we were with the county, you know, and that was just everybody was in the same boat. Literally the same boat. So, okay. Thank you. >> Other comments or questions? Are there any from the public? Thank you. Uh there is no action to take on this item. Um for item 9 C, the board will discuss and act on the formation of an ad hoc board governance work group subcommittee. Deputy Superintendent Chavez. >> Yes, thank you. um at the governance uh convening for the board on November 5th. Um it was um shared and and um communicated to staff to um to put add this to the agenda

103for the formation of the this ad hoc uh governance workg group subcommittee. So bringing it forward for for you to consider. Thank you. Um yes, this was discussed at the last meeting as suggested by our facilitators. Um are there any comments or questions from the board? Um I will add that at the end of the workshop um my suggestion for the subcommittee um would be myself, Trusty Gerard and Trusty Love. um given that um Trusty Gerard and I uh were really able to push this work um or this uh governance and retreats. Um so I would like to continue that work with her. And then my suggestion for Trustee Love was um to also help us give the perspective from the county office side given her experience there um and her experience now as a

104board member. Um but those were just you know my suggestions or preference. Uh, Trusty Benini. >> Oh, I just wanted to um comment that as board president, you know, it's within your purview to make the appointments. Um, but if I don't I agree with that plan, but um I just wanted to make sure that was clear. >> Yes. Um I just wanted to make sure that um it was open to to the board before moving forward. Um so are there any comments or questions from the board? Any from the public? >> None from the public. Thank you. Is there a motion to create an ad hoc board governance workshop subcommittee comprised of myself, Trusty Gerard, and Trusty Love? >> I move. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. There's a motion to

105create an ad hoc board governance workg groupoup subcommittee comprised of myself, Trustee Gerard, and Trustee Love. made by trustee Benini and a second by trustee Alvaro. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say no. Uh the motion passes with the vote of 70 and the formation of an ad hoc board governance workg groupoup subcommittee comprised of myself, trustee Gerard, and trustee love has been approved. Um, for item 90, uh, Marco Chavez, Deputy Superintendent, Educational Services Division, will provide information regarding the board's organizational meeting date and time. Deputy Superintendent Chavez. Yes, this is just communication and we learned that this will have to happen every year just to communicate to the public when the organization um, meeting is taking place. Um, and for this year, the

106organization meeting uh will take place at the special board meeting on Monday, December 15th, um, at 7:00 p.m. Well, the meeting will start at 7 p.m. Are there any comments or questions from the board? Are there any from the public? >> None. >> Thank you. There is no action to take on this item. For item 9E, is there a motion to approve resolution number 25-64 implementing board policy 9250 to compensate Edith Adios for her absence from the October 22nd, 2025 board meeting due to hardship? >> So move. >> Is there a second? Thank you. There's a motion to approve resolution number 25-64 made by Trusty Gerard and a second by trustee Alvaro. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. I all those opposed say no. Any abstensions? >> I

107abstain. >> Thank you. Um the motion passes with the vote of 6 and one abstaining and resolution number 25-64 has been approved. For item 9F, is there a motion to approve resolution number 25-65 implementing board policy 9250 to compensate Susan Alvaro for her absence from the November 5th, 2025 board meeting due to illness? Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> There is a motion to approve resolution number 25-65 made by Trustee Love and a second by Trustee Gerard. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say no. Any abstensions? >> I abstain. >> Thank you. The motion passes with a vote of 6 and one abstaining. And resolution number 25-65 has been approved. For item 9G, when an ad hoc subcommittee meets or a

108representative attends a meeting related to their given assignment, board members may choose to bring a report to the board at this time. Would any board members like to report out? Trusty Leav, >> thank you. I have uh two um on our advocacy subcommittee. I wanted to provide an [clears throat] an update on our work on the funding initiative. So, we uh shared information with Senator Becker's office. Um, and in that report, we decided not to make a specific recommendation as to one of the three items in that report and rather that maybe they um move forward with legislation to study the different options because maybe there were options that we aren't aware of. And um it was clear that people could use more data before making a decision. And uh we have a meeting scheduled

109with the senator on December 1st to um discuss this. We hope to organize a meeting with other counties, particularly Santa Clara County. They're very interested in this as well. Um they want to try to put together their own task force um like Sanonteo County has done. And then we also would like to give an update again to um ACCVE on that initiative. And then the second report I have in is in my capacity as the leazison to the county committee on school district organization. Uh they had a meeting and I attended um we voted for the slate. There was one contested election on that. Um and um I thought it was interesting. this group hasn't met all year and I did ask at the meeting if um they ever kind of proactively meet to think

110about what's going on in the county with boundaries of school districts. Do they still make sense if we look out 20 years, 30 years, does it still make sense? You know, like have the demographer come in or something? And uh the response was no, it's really just a reactive body. But I think that's a missed opportunity. you have all these people appointed elected to this role and then they don't meet all year long and they could be kind of doing some brainstorming and thinking and not necessarily having to take big action. So, um that was just one of my observations but I was there and then I left after >> Thank you. Um any comments or questions for Trusty Lip? Any other report outs? Trusty Benini. >> Um I am reporting out for the gateway

111subcommittee. Um I want to the board to be aware that the gateway subcommittee um convene meetings on uh November 12th and 13th and 18th. Um the reason that we convened the meetings were because we becaa were because we became aware of some information that seemed relevant to our committee work which before I share the information I'm just going to read the stanza from the um resolution that formed our committee so that we're all on the same page as to what our purpose is and what we're doing. So, um when when this uh committee was formed in August of uh 2023, um one of the purposes was that the board expressed a priority to continue to serve students at Gateway um as a school of our board. The second was um to include um the high

112school and unified districts in the continuing process and discussions concerning any future proposed changes to the gateway program. And third, it was um for our board to be included in any continuing process and discussions concerning any future proposed changes for gateways program and in the broader community stakeholder engagement on this matter. So um so that's a continuing um purpose of this committee. Um the resolution does go on to say that when we're you know done having this you know these these convenings uh we will submit a final report to the board. So we're not quite there yet. Um so the first thing that came to our attention uh that was related to our committee work was actually um a question that came up in um the workforce housing committee which has the same exact members

113as the gateway committee. So it's um trusty Gerard um trusty Torres and myself. And so we were told in that committee meeting um about a facilities master plan. Um I've s then realized that there were some statements about facilities master plan in the connections um that come out. Um but facilities are by um definition an area that is related to board and and the county office and the county superintendent. And so we were surprised by that. Um and so we asked about it and um so we we understand now that there that is happening. So the request I think of our committee is that um it was for the the housing committee um that we get more information on that and what's going on on with that. Um so then um we came the reason

114um that was before and so we were we were it was shared that we would get more information. So I didn't follow up on that and I didn't report out um at that time. There hasn't been a meeting since but um then subsequently uh we became aware that there would be information shared about gateway in another forum. So if I might ask trusty Gerard to potentially share that or would you like me to um to uh share it? Do you want to talk about that? the meeting >> about the meeting on Thursday. >> The meeting that you attended um in planning for the Monday meeting for ACCBE. >> Yes. Um I attended uh one of the I'm on the ACCBE planning committee and I attended uh our meeting and in that meeting we uh were

115discussing the upcoming events and one of the upcoming events was deep deep dive into court and community schools and the president of ACCBE said to me, "Oh um and are you really excited decided that um your county office is opening >> middle college >> a middle college. And I was like, "No, I don't know anything about it." And she said, "Well, they're you're closing your community school and opening a middle college." And I was to say the least speech speechless because I knew nothing about any of it. And so I said, um, where did you get this information? And she said, well, from, um, one of the presenters that will be presenting on, uh, Monday night. And she will be presenting this information. And so, um, needless to say, I started, um, sending text messages

116and making phone calls trying to find out exactly what was going on. And, um, and in fact, we are not closing Gateway and we are not in the process of opening a middle college right now. Um but it was presented Monday night that we were and that it also I was very upset because it also used our county office logo. So, um I just we really wanted everyone to be aware because there was a very large group of people that evening, including uh two of our other board members um that were listening to all of this and you may be getting questions on on how how we're doing on it. Um, and I also wanted the other board members to know that um, that was incorrect information, but because of the Brown Act, we needed

117to bring it to the board meeting tonight. >> Thank you for sharing that, Trusty Gerard. And then I just I just wanted to just to close, I wanted to bring us back to the purpose of the committee. Um, the fact that there are there are meetings as we now know from, you know, uh connections uh that there are facilities master plan meetings going on. So we need to as a board I think our request as a committee but hopefully it's a request of the board is that we might have some information presented on that soon and that if there is any discussion whether or not it's a formal plan but any discussions about gateway that we're included because both of those items were complete shocks to us and as I already read the purpose of

118the committee um we're it doesn't seem to be aligned. though I I have concerns and so my general um feeling is that if something happens in a committee context if I'm not on the committee I'd like to know about it and so um so we're sharing it with the board for that purpose. So thank you. >> Thank you. Are there any comments or questions from the board? >> Yes. >> Is it appropriate to share that the facilities master plan uh agenda item will be on the December 15th agenda? So that's coming. >> Thank you. Other questions or comments? Any other report outs? Are there any comments from the public? No comments from the public. Thank you. There is no action to take on this item. Um for item 9H, the board will discuss topics for

119future board agendas. Would any board members like to discuss agenda ideas? >> Yes, Trusty Bunny. Um, in light of our um, passage of the uh, student board member policy, I would love to see an agenda item um, as soon as it's feasible. I'm guessing not until after the first of the year, but um where we could uh have a better context of um timing, how we might roll out this information, uh whether or not we might still be able to have um a board liaison from the youth commission and then start our process as well. Um that's my request. >> Thank you. Just >> I actually had a question about that as well. Well, I'm not sure if it's the right place, but since it's been up um discussed, typically we would have a youth

120liaison sitting with us by now. And I was just curious what the status of that process is. >> Yes. >> Well, it's the purpose of the request because we paused because we were approving the policy. So my request is also for the timeline like when we could engage >> and and we used to go together right sometimes to their meetings where they sort of share what their opportunities are at the youth commission. So I hope somebody might have wanted to but I don't know if they've made their their decisions yet and they're all maybe full. >> Okay. I didn't know I missed that we had paused because I just assumed it that process was somehow going on and any day now we'd get an announcement. Okay. it was positive >> and this was discussed in

121our agenda setting meeting right before this meeting. So, Deputy Superintendent Chavez, if you want to add to that. >> Yes. Now that the policy has been adopted, I I think developing a timeline uh both for um communicating to our GA gateway students um as well as to the um uh the commission, the youth commission and and obviously fleshing out the pro the process for the board engagement in that. Oh, and can I just clarify? And and it's all court and community, not just gateway. >> Say that again. >> All court and community, not just >> Yes, I'm sorry. Yes, >> that's okay. >> Uh, thank you. Any other future board agenda topics? >> Okay, there is no action to take on this item. Um, for item 9, I board members will comment. Uh, Trustee Alvaro.

122>> Thank you. Um, I want to just start out by congratulating Anton. I I remember when she first came on board and uh im almost immediately got promoted for for good reason. Um, she just is an extraordinary person to work with and I've, you know, seen her out in the community going to events and showing up and taking pictures and and she's just always so engaged with what is happening that she's just an asset. So, I was really wanted to congratulate her. Um, on October 21st, and I didn't report this at the last meeting because we it was late, but on October 21st, I had been invited. I went down to Pescadero to the school district to meet with um M Superintendent Michelle Ross had invited me to meet with the county design consultants from

123Sonteo County, not from us. Um and the business services director uh Erica Hayes for Landanda Pescadero and all and uh some people from Calire because they were going through they're going through a design process which is getting close to rolling out to the public. Um they're going to build a new CalFire station which is desperately needed down there and they're building it on the Honda Pescadero Unified School District property. So, it's going to be actually right on the same property as the high school and there and the district office which is right behind the high school high school middle school I should say because that's there that now too. So, that was pretty exciting. Um, the old CalFire station, anybody who's ever driven into Pescadero from Highway One has passed it and it looks like

124a old funky garage where they keep the trucks and that's what it is. But this new one is going to have um what needs to happen down there, including like a lot of emergency generators and zero uh water, zero irrigation u landscaping that is also fireproof. And so it's I was pretty excited and I was really glad to be down there and to be able to just ask a few questions about what what they were doing. Um, and then on the 30th, which was just last week, two weeks ago, I've lost track. Sorry. You get sick and all of a sudden it's like I don't know what day it is anymore. Um, I was able to visit the early childhood programs, of which there are like two or three, and also Gateway and Hillrest. Dr.

125Jimenez was our host, and um, Jesse Benini and President Torres were there, too. So, it was nice to go around and and see what was going on and talk to some of the students. The students at Gateway had made a wonderful uh Day of the Dead altar, remembrance altar, which is traditional for Day of the Dead um for lots of family. They also had some some people up there from the arts and but they also had some friends including a a former classmate who had recently who has recently died and the the young man who was in charge of the altar uh took us over there to show us his work and that was it was really nice to see that. So I was glad to be able to do that and thank you to

126um Dr. Jimenez for dragging us around and making sure we saw what we needed to see. And by the way, oh, I should say the new mural on the outside school wall. If you've been up to Hillrest, you know that there's a a big oval in the middle, which is where the the athletic fields are. And then on the far side of the oval are where the units are, where the kids live. And then on this side of the oval is where the classrooms are. And so if you stand on the oval and you face the classrooms, there is a mural that is what 30 40 feet long at least. It's the whole it's the whole wall of the of the school and it's amazing. It is just amazing. Um so I just wanted to

127mention that. >> Thank you Trusty Adios. Well, I want to start first of all to say that um I'm very thankful to be part of this board. Um because on October 22nd when I couldn't attend because of an family emergency, I have received support from our deputy superintendent and some board members. And it just feels that this is work that is not done just as someone who comes and is part of 107 but it just really felt like um you know our personal lives do so many times interfere with our commitments and what we want to do for others and there's times when we need others to support us. So I want to start with that. Thank you very much. Um I also have that on November 5th when we attended the board retreat I

128felt really excited to the discussion of the possibilities that this board you know can move forward to. A lot of the conferences that I attended, it was a constant um you know unity between board members, superintendent, the team and I think today we heard from um um you know the presentation and how important uh servant uh leadership is. So I also feel that continuing with those board retreats and more discussions that we can have outside you know when we have these board meetings are very important. Um on November 14, I attended the SMCSB happy hour in Sonteo. So that was another opportunity to see um I felt that some of the discussions by being there uh were about school board members and the advocacy that they do around the county and those are opportunities. So

129I really invite you that the next happy hour maybe you can attend if possible any of those because those are the times when other discussions come up right then sometimes what's in the agenda you can talk about other topics but just hearing and listening from other um school board members around um Sato County I just felt it was an important even though it sounds happy hour like you're just going there to you know uh socialize but part of the socialization I think it was part of uh also having some conversations about what's h happening around. So I I appreciated that opportunity. And then November 17 ACCV um I'm still the Corin community schools deep dive with the youth advisory board panel. I just question myself, why can't we have that here? Can we have a

130panel of our cord and community school students? You know, I would really like to hear not just us visiting them, right? but inviting them somehow engaging them. Um I mean I took like three pages of notes but uh some of the things that came up for me um was uh the facilitator Joe said an antidote to trauma is agency options and choice. So really making them be feel part of it. Um you know some of the the the panelists the the students well previous students themselves uh from the youth board advisory um came up with nothing about us which is in other areas like you know special education but nothing without us not no decisions made without us nothing about us without us right so it's true like how are we making here decisions and

131we go through a lot of uh you know the policies and all of that but we're not hearing their voices right and I think as a governance board for court and community schools we need to hear their voices what do they need where they're at because like they said in many other comments it's not just the academics it's also what they're going through in their lives and wanting to have mentorship and wanting to hear from um what are the choices that they can have where they are right is this second opportunity, how do we support them? So, I I'm just very um thankful for that presentation and proud to to see that um you know um our vice president is so involved and that uh three of us were there. I think it was a

132good representation. So, I really appreciated that and and continue to look forward to more more information like that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Aty Benini. Okay. Um, so let's see. Well, um, it was already mentioned I was, um, lucky to be able to go visit, uh, Gateway and Hillrest on Monday, October 27th, and then actually again because we had a scheduled another scheduled visit on Thursday. Um, and so that was really great. Um, there was already some Trusty Alvaro shared some of the experiences and and it was really nice. We got to hear from a couple of the students and talk to staff and it was um it was they were both really lovely visits. Um the other thing uh let's see I also attended the the ACCBE meetings the deep dive number two and

133three um those were you know last couple weeks and they were both really informative and as trusty I guess mentioned it was really impactful to hear from the students. Um and so that was great. Um I let's see. Um I guess you know SMCSBA I just I'll give a couple of shoutouts. Yes, we've had um a great committee who's planning some of our um networking events which is wonderful and we had the gathering last Friday which Trusty Aras mentioned. Um and then uh we did move hopefully everybody knew we moved the meeting from this week until um December 8th and it's here at 6:30. That's the next meeting. Um, and we will have a legislative update from CSBA. So, that will be that'll be great. And then, um, lastly, I just wanted to note, um,

134there was sort of a a a common theme in some things that I've been attending, which it's really great to see. But one one other thing was the Coalition for Safe Schools and Communities, the leadership breakfast. Um they one of the segments there were many wonderful things shared but one of the segments um was about the grants for the United for youth and um one of the things I took away from that was a focus on um educator wellness and so it seemed like a lot of the grants were focused yes on students but yes on educators as well and so that piece and then I also um was able to attend a really amazing and uh informative CDE uh California Department of Education webinar on the 13th and that was the sole focus was

135caring for educators. So that is coming up. And then again when we were in the deep dive number three and we were hearing directly from the youth, they were actually raising up their teachers and their um support staff and saying, "Please care for them. Please take care of them. Please keep them with us. We need continuity. We need them to be uh here." And so, um, I just keep hearing that. So, it's it's it's on the the radar right now and I'm it's important. So, I hope that, um, we continue to hear that and and do it and actually, you know, walk the walk. Um, I think that's it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Trusty Love. >> Uh, thank you. Um, I have to also say it was wonderful to see um, Anton recognized here.

136Um, I actually hired her and worked with her for several years. um you'd be hardressed to find a more committed um positive, dedicated, and productive person anywhere. So, it was nice to see her recognized and her lovely family. Um uh we addressed that question. Um I also um liked the program on the deep dive on Corin Community Schools. I thought it was great to hear from the former students. I wondered if we allow students to be on the panels that interview for teachers and administrators. I wasn't sure, but uh they did have some interesting ideas. There was also another um ACCBE program on the Brown Act, which was excellent um I thought and they'll have that information put on their website. So, they're doing a lot of really um important work for both new board

137members and refreshers and I'm finding it very um valuable. Um, I also, um, attended the AI workg group in Sacramento at the end of October. It was our second meeting. Um, not quite the visionary workshop session that I thought it would be. It was more sort of what can CDE do to support districts was sort of what was going to come out of that, which is totally fine, but it wasn't like how are we going to transform education, which I was kind of hoping it would have some elements of that. Um and um just wanted to commend Sanonteo County School Boards Association. They are doing an excellent job this year. It's just really a quite a transformation. The advocacy subcommittee is working and doing things. The dinner meetings are happening. The happy hours and lunches

138and so I just you know commend our two colleagues here who are working on that. Um and this finally I attended a two plus two meeting for San Carlos. That's like a city council meeting with the school board. found that really useful because it kind of um I had been involved with those in the past. Um and these two work well together in San Carlos, but San the city of St. Carlos is working on a whole development plan for recreation and all these things. And the school board's not involved at all. The school district really and you'd think with land use and serving the same that that would be kind of a unified approach and it really is not. I don't think. Um, so anyway, it's just I think those are useful meetings to go

139to and kind of just pointing things out like that. That's it. Thanks. >> Thank you, Trusty O'Neal. >> This a lot of this was from my day job, but I attended the Sanato County Veterans Lunch and I met the oldest veteran in Sonteo County. He is 102 and he actually was in Okinawa in World War II and his son-in-law was in the Navy and was in the Gulf of Kin when that that incident happened that started this the Vietnam War. So it was just kind of interesting to see that bit of history because I am a history buff. Um, I attended the the CTE advisory meeting we had here and then I'm also on the monthly CTE meeting that they have via Zoom. I was also invited and I did um send Beverly the Jefferson

140high schools um CTE had their first advisory meeting in um last week I think it was and that was interesting just looking at it from instead of a countywide perspective the individual district and some of the challenges and some of the requests from the district of the county CTE And I do see that they're lip both sides are listening to the other which is good to hear. Um attended the Farm Bureau dinner which was always kind of fun in that every single thing there served is growing in Sonatail County. The fish is caught and that is a hundred million dollar industry here in Sontel County. And what's interesting is there is an opportunity going to be coming up for um an egg distribution center with robotics and everything else that we could maybe try to

141integrate in into our curriculum. And then I also did attend a meeting and it was um um Bart Pant. He's head of the buildings and trades council and he talked about unions union activities and the challenges the unions are facing here in Sano County. So >> thank you uh Vice President Gerard. >> Yes. Um thank you very much. Um it's been a a busy last few weeks and I do want to comment on our uh board retreat that we had um on the 5th. Um I was uh very pleased with our facilitators um that we had and we had Dr. David Patterson the last time and he also participated this time but also uh introduced us to Deborah Moss who will um more than likely be facilitating any further retreats we have. And I really

142thought that um they really brought out a lot of things that were thoughtprovoking and things that we really need to think about as a well functioning board. And I think that all of all of these retreats um are so helpful and really open up lines of communication that I think are really really important. So I I just uh did want to say that. Um, I also was able to um uh tour Gateway and um also Hillrest on October 27th. And I have to uh also agree with Trustee Alvaro, that mural is unbelievable. Um it is just beautiful and they did it and it's just um it's breathtaking and uh they should be so proud and I where it is I think is perfect because everyone on that campus can see it. Um so it it

143is um very very nice. Plus, it was um a very good visit. And one of the things we did do at Gateway was we we did talk to some of the students and we said to them, "What do you want? What can we do? What can we do to help you?" And it was interesting because one of the things that a couple of the students brought up was they want access to apprenticeship programs that um they can work with after school um learn a trade and earn some money as well. And that goes a lot with CTE. Um and so uh we really want to uh look into that and and push that. And there were um two students in that class that already have their own businesses on the site outside of school which

144um you know they should really really be proud really be proud and we let them know they should. So >> to you. >> Okay. So anyway, it was it was a great visit and uh and [snorts] intermingling and talking to the students was the highlight of the whole thing quite frankly. Um I also attended the safety breakfast and um that was very interesting and especially the part about electric bicycles and the difference between those and um actually a motorcycle which a lot of people think are still the electric bicycles and having been almost run down several times by one or the other. Um I was very interested in that presentation. What the difference is and the shocking part was that the committee had visited several middle schools in our county and were had taken pictures

145of these bikes parked. These are middle school students. And if it isn't an electric bicycle, you have to have um a driver's license and it has to be insured and registered. And over half of those bikes were not electric bicycles. They were the motorbikes. And so it was very eyeopening. And I I would be willing to guess a lot of parents don't know the difference either. And they're buying their kids these that go up to 60 miles an hour, by the way. So, um it's kind of it was scary to me. I I thought it was um very eye opening. I also attended um well, as most of you know, I'm very very active in ACCBE and planning committee is one of the things I'm on. So, we're planning um events constantly for our uh

146state county board members and I did attend our Brown Act presentation which was excellent and uh I I even learned some things and I always say it doesn't matter what it is, I always learn something new and I did in that and then our deep dives um for Corton Community Schools have been exceptional. And um I agree. I would I would love to have a panel of our students that we could talk to and they could more importantly talk to us um and let them know um what uh they would like. And one of the things that I pulled out of that um presentation when the students were speaking was almost every single one of them said how important it was for them to have either a mentor or a relationship with one of their

147teachers because that is really what pulled them through. And I think that this hit home to me because I know last year for our community school um we were rotating teachers all over the place and there was not that kind of continuity and they were very very specific that they needed that continuity. They needed to come to school and know that that teacher was going to be there for them. So, I thought that was really important. So, and I agree with everyone and Tom is very special and I love seeing her because she's always smiling. So, you can't help but let her take your picture even if you don't want to [laughter] because she's so cute. So, anyway, thank you very much. >> Thank you, Justin O'Neal. I apologize, but I wanted to bring is

148one of the CTE curriculums at the Jefferson High School District is the newspaper and it was a 20page I got one of a 20page newspaper and on the front page is their story of going to our outdoor ed program and the leader teacher the leader training program and they were reminiscing about when they went there in fifth grade. So, I just thought that was kind of a cool CTE program I brought here. And then the other thing is in reference to Susan Alvaro um mentioned is because of the firehouse there, the high the the Pescadero High School is actually going to be hooked up to running water. That was a school in that's now signed up to the aquaver in Pescadero. And the kids will still have won't need bottled water handed to them anymore.

149They'll be able to drink the water. >> Wonderful. >> Thank you so much. >> Sorry. Yes. >> Would it be okay if I excuse myself? I need to pick up my daughter at US. >> Okay. Yes, that's fine. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Um, yes. I also attended the coalition of safe schools and communities something breakfast. I know it was a long title um but um I learned a lot. Also the ebike and e motorcycles was very eye opening to me but um a lot of great work being done in the community by a lot of amazing organizations and people. Um and that same day we were also able to head over to our current community schools. So it was great to visit the Anne Campbell Center and and hang out with the littles. They

150did lose me because I did go to the carpet. I did go to the tables and and interact with the kiddos. Um and they had to drag me out, but um yes, but they love me. So, um I could stay there all day. Um and then heading over to Gateway, it was great seeing the students because they remembered us from last year and they're like, "Oh, I know you." I was like, "Yeah." Um, so they were able to engage in uh conversations with us and they just feel more comfortable o opening up to us or just even letting us observe what they're working on. Um, and then also at Hillrest, beautiful mural. Um, great representation of just like culture, hope, and and community. And um, we got to see uh some of one of their

151new teachers in action. I think she was on week three. Um but it looked like she had been there for years. She had great classroom management, great rapport with the students and all the students were engaged. Um they were working, they were all doing different things, but they were all on task. Um and they also wanted to talk to all of us, which was great. Um and just hearing their perspective. And then we were I was able to go twice, so that was a huge blessing. Um, and then we also had our retreat and I wanted to thank our facilitators for just doing a phenomenal job. Thank you to Jennifer Pererna for for feeding us and for organizing everything. Um, you always do an amazing job of make taking care of us. So, thank you.

152And then Ian Bane and Marco Chavez doing a great job of um all the work of organizing that um for us. So, thank you. And then I also was able to um facilitate a panel of superintendent for the chamber leadership program. They had their workforce education day. Um and so I had a panel with superintendent um Baker and superintendent uh Crystal Leech. Um so it was a great conversation, a great time with um all of the folks. I'm also a graduate of that program and I it just does so many amazing things. Um and then I was also here Saturday for the environmental youth leadership summit. Um I was on a panel um for one of the groups and it was so interactive. Uh there was so many kids here on a Saturday despite the

153rain and they were all engaged all wanting to learn which was beautiful. So well organized and um it was great to see two of my former students um that I taught. Um, I had taught them for 5 years from fourth grade until 8ighth grade and they're on their senior year. Um, and like just a few weeks ago I was looking at their personal essays for college. So, it was um, great to see them and just a great program that was put together and pretty sure I'm missing something, but that's all I have for now. Um, the next regular meeting will be a special meeting on Monday, December 15th, uh, 2025 at 700 p.m. And then item 10 is the adjournment. The next meeting will be our special meeting that I just mentioned. So, thank you.