SMUHSD Board Meeting - May 21, 2026

001You let me know when you're ready. Ready, okay. This is a meeting of the Sequoia Union High School District Board of Trustees. I'm calling the meeting to order. Today is May 21st and it is 7:01 p.m. I'm going to do roll call. Trustee Griffin? >> Present. >> Trustee Andrade-Zuniga? >> Presente. >> Trustee Land and Trustee Jacobson are both absent today and I am present. Today we have a team from Hannah Interpreting as our Spanish interpreters. For those who would like to attend the meeting virtually in Spanish, that option is available. Hannah Interpreting, would you please communicate that for the for us this evening? Thank you. >> Yes, thank you so much. Uh good evening. In order to provide language access, this meeting will have simultaneous interpretation in English and Spanish. To enable the interpretation of

002you you are using your laptop or desktop, please locate the icon shape like a globe at the bottom of your screen. Click on language interpretation and then select English. If you are on your phone, iPad or similar device, then locate the three-dot menu in the upper right corner of your screen and click on language interpretation and select English. Now in Spanish. or Spanish. Gracias. Thank you. >> Thank you. If you wish to view the closed captions of this meeting, please view the meeting on the SMUHSD Board Meeting YouTube channel. The link to the YouTube channel can be found on our website. You may view the options in English as we live stream our meeting tonight, and you may also view the captions in a variety of other languages if you choose to watch after the

003meeting has ended. Viewers Viewers may request additional accommodations by calling 650-558-2201. For our deaf and hard of hearing community, we have a team from Hand Interpreting and they will be interpreting our meeting this evening. We would like to ask everyone to speak at a clear and reasonable pace for our interpreters. Thank you. Next, we're going to do the Pledge of Allegiance and we're going to ask our wonderful student board representatives to lead us. Thank you. >> Pledge of Allegiance is given by the United States of America. To the Republic which stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Next, I'm going to report out the actions taken in closed session. It's a little bit of a list, so please be patient. I want to read slow for our

004interpreters. In closed session, the board upon motion of Trustee Andrades Zuniga and seconded by Trustee Griffin moved to postpone the expulsion hearing of case 25-26-37 with a vote of 3 to 0 with two absences. In closed session, the board upon motion of Trustee Griffin and seconded by Trustee Andrades Zuniga moved to postpone the stipulated expulsion case 25-26-38 with a vote of 3 to 0 and two absences. In closed session, the board upon motion of Trustee Andrades Zuniga and seconded by Trustee Griffin moved to postpone the expulsion hearing case 25-26-39 with a vote of 3 to 0 with two absences. In closed session, the board upon motion of trustee Andrade Zuniga and seconded by trustee Griffin moved to postpone the expulsion hearing of case 25-26-40 with a vote of 3 to 0 with two absences. In

005closed session, the board upon motion of trustee Griffin seconded by trustee Andrade Zuniga moved to approve the stipulated expulsion case number 25-26-35 with a vote of 3 to 0 with two absences. In addition, we have some other items. These are um inter-district transfers, so I'm going to read one at a time. Student one 25-27-60 Motion by trustee Andrade Zuniga seconded by trustee Griffin, this was approved. This inter-district transfer was approved with a vote of 3 to 2 with two absences. Student number two 26-27-52 Motion by trustee Andrade Zuniga seconded by trustee Griffin with a vote of 3 to 0 with two absences, this was denied. Okay. Student number three 26-27-31 Motion by trustee Andrade Zuniga seconded by trustee Griffin with a vote of 3 to 2 with two absences this was denied. Oh, sorry. Sorry.

006Okay. I'm sorry. They're all 3 to 0, so let me go back to So, the second one was 26-27-52 was denied with a vote of three to two. I'm sorry. Apologize. Thank you. Three was denied with a vote of three to zero with two absences. Student three was denied with a vote of three to zero with two absences. Student three is 26-27-31. Thanks, everybody. Okay, we have I think six more. Let's see. Student four um was approved with a vote of three to zero with two absences. That was motioned by Trustee Andrada Zuniga, seconded by Trustee Griffin. That was a That was approved. 20 Student 26-27-33. Student five, motioned by Trustee Andrada Zuniga, seconded by Trustee Griffin, with a vote of three to zero with two absences. The student was denied. >> It's okay, Trustee

007Chavez. Take your time. >> Okay. Okay. Sorry, everybody. Thank you for your patience. Can we start again with the student six? 26-27-68 with a motion by Trustee Andrada Zuniga, seconded by Trustee Griffin, with a vote of three to zero with two absences. This was denied. Student seven 26-27-35 with a motion by Trustee Andrada Zuniga, seconded by Trustee Griffin, with a vote of three to zero with two absences. This was denied. Student eight eight 26-27-48 with a motion of Trustee by Trustee Andrada Zuniga, seconded by Trustee Griffin, with a vote of three to zero with two absences. This was denied. Student number nine, 26-27-73, with a motion by Trustee Andrades-Zuniga, seconded by Trustee Griffin, with a vote of 3-0 with two absences, this was denied. Student 10, 26-27-77, with a motion by Trustee Andrades-Zuniga, seconded by

008Trustee Griffin, with a vote of 3-0 with two absences, this was denied. And we're on our last one. Student 11, 26-27-66, with a motion by Trustee Andrades-Zuniga, seconded by Trustee Griffin, is passed with a vote of 3-0 with two absences, this was approved. That concludes the 11 students for the inter-district transfers. Thank you everybody for your patience. And we are moving on to adopt the agenda. The Board of Trustees may either adopt the agenda as presented or make a change to the agenda through a motion, a second, and a majority vote. The Brown Act prohibits any additions to the agenda prior to a 72-hour public notice. If there are questions Are there questions or comments from the Board of Trustees with respect to the agenda? No. >> Yes, I I would recommend that we move

009recognition, which is item N, to right after adopt the agenda and prior to regular reports. >> Okay. Okay. >> I'll move to approve the agenda as amended. >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor with the amendment? >> I. Okay, it passes 3-0 with two absences. And that changes to move item nine immediately right now, is that correct? >> Item N. >> N. Item N. >> to move it to right now. >> My number nine was code word for N, sorry. Go ahead. Sorry. >> All right, good evening everybody. Uh we we did that a agenda adjustment cuz uh we want to spend a little bit of time introducing uh Dr. Barnaby Payne as our recommendation for the new principal of Peninsula High School. Dr. Payne has nearly 30 years of experience serving in diverse communities

010as a teacher, administrator, and site principal. Uh he'll bring the instructional leadership, community building skills, and a deep commitment to equity that will serve Peninsula educators, students, and families as well. Most recently, Dr. Payne served as the principal of where he's currently serving as the uh principal of Redwood High School in Larkspur since 2022. He also served as an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco doctoral program in educational leadership in 2023. He's also served in a number of administrative positions including oh, I'm not going to say this correctly, but including principal of Kaohsiung American Middle School uh in Kaohsiung, Taiwan from 2019 to 2022. I apologize for not saying that correctly. Uh principal at Ruth Asawa High School for the Arts in San Francisco Unified School District in 2016 through 2019. Principal at

011Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco Unified from 2009 to 2016. Where he also served as assistant principal from '06 to '09. Assistant principal at Enola Maxwell Middle School in San Francisco Unified from '05 to '06. Dr. Payne's time in the classroom includes roles as a paraprofessional, teacher, and teacher leader educating in humanities, general education, special education, and English language learners in San Francisco Unified from 1994 to 2005. He earned a doctorate in education social justice leadership from East Carolina University. He earned a Master of Arts in Educational Administration from San Francisco State University and a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Oregon. Dr. Payne has a long track record of intentional community building, successful restorative practices, and using student data and community feedback to drive continuous improvement. I'm excited to make

012this recommendation to our board and we really earnestly welcome Barnaby into our community. So, he's with us tonight and I'd love to invite him to the podium to say a few words. Almost. >> Well, there we go. >> There you go. >> Um good evening trustees, very nice to meet you. Student trustees, very nice to meet you as well. Superintendent Booker, uh I'm just extremely humbled and excited for this opportunity to work at Peninsula High School. Um I can't wait to work with the site team that I met through the interview process and the students and um yeah, thank you so much. Go Puma's. >> Thank you. Okay. >> Thank you. I'm back on track here. Okay, so now we are on um the regular reports. >> Yes. >> Uh Superintendent Booker. >> Thank you

013very much. All right, so a number of things, uh this year Memorial Day, I want to start off with this, will be observed on Monday, May 25th. It's a federal holiday and schools will be closed. Memorial Day is a time for our country to pause, remember, and honor the American service members who gave their lives while serving in the United States Armed Forces. The holiday was known was first known as Decoration Day, a day set aside to decorate the graves of soldiers who died during the Civil War. The first national observance took place on May 30th, 1868, with Waterloo, New York, later recognized as one of the communities connected to the to its early history. Over time, the day became known as Memorial Day and expanded to honor those who died in all wars involving

014American forces. In 1971, Memorial Day became an official federal holiday observed on the last Monday in May. It's more than just a day off from work or school. It's an opportunity to reflect with gratitude on the sacrifices made by so many others and to recognize the cost of the freedoms we experience today. And just on a personal note, my dad and my stepdad both served uh in the US Army and Navy Navy, respectively. Uh I'm just so honored uh that they served our country. Uh my grandfather did as well. Um so it it means a lot. And my dad's actually um interred over uh in San Bruno off of Sneath Lane there at the national cemetery. So, uh pretty amazing. All right. Graduations. Yesterday, I attended Middle College's graduation ceremony at the College of San

015Mateo. Students, families, and educators were just joyful, filled with pride. Uh uh Trustee Griffin was there as well, gave a great speech. Um Greg Lance, retiring teacher, great speech, got everyone dancing. Uh I was really honored uh to be asked to speak at the ceremony. And my remarks were inspired by the Book of Joy uh by the Dalai Lama and Reverend Desmond Tutu. In my speech, I reminded graduates that people will remember their kindness, integrity, empathy, and humanity as much uh as their accomplishments. And I urged them to carry those values into the next chapter of their lives. Next week, on May 27th, we have the Bridge Academy graduation, which is going to be just so lovely. >> Mhm. >> Followed by Aragon, Burlingame, Hillsdale, Mills, Peninsula, and San Mateo on May 28th. And then

016Capuchino to round it all out on May 29th. Just a reminder for Capuchino families, it's a morning graduation. Morning, that's a change. It's a morning graduation. Uh as always, this is such an exciting time in our district. I applaud our graduates for their hard work, family members for their support, and educators for all they have done to help our students achieve the best possible outcomes. Really an amazing district. Love this time of the year. And I'm really looking forward to graduations. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you, Superintendent Booker. Do we have a report from the District Teachers Association tonight? >> I believe so. Am I promoting or are you promoting? I can do it right here. I got it. I just didn't want to step on your toes. Let's see if I did

017it correctly. Mr. Childress, are you there? >> Trying to be. >> We hear you. >> Oh, you see you hear me. Okay. Uh must be camera problem. Um that's funky. Um well, um that's very strange. Um give give me 10 seconds and let me just >> You got it. >> Oh, gosh. Yeah, I don't see I can't I don't have access to audio or video settings on on Zoom for some reason. >> Huh. Point of order, do you want us to can we >> Yeah, maybe maybe go out of is there is there a student reporter can we go out of order? >> We can go next um next would be I will we'll swing back to catch you in a minute. If that's >> Okay, sounds good. Thank you. >> for the report of

018the CSEA chapter 519. >> Mr. Wolfskill, thank you. >> Nice to see you. >> See. >> Yeah. >> Good. All right. Um good evening President Chavez, school board trustees, Superintendent Booker, cabinet members, and student board representatives. My name is Garrett Wolfskill, president of chapter CSEA chapter 519, and it's my honor to be here tonight. Uh first off, happy classified employee week to all of my classified employees um across the state, not just our district. Um we're almost there. We we're we're this close to another successful productive school year. Um like Superintendent Booker just said, by this time next week we're going to be hosting graduation ceremonies at all of our comprehensive sites. Middle College at CSM CSM held their ceremony yesterday, and Bridge Academy High Bridge, High Adult School, High Smart Center, uh they will

019hold their ceremony on the 27th. CSEA would like to extend our congratulations to all of our graduating students. My bargaining unit has been working hard every single day to provide the best learning environment for Saugus students. Whether that meant safe transportation, healthy food, mental health support, clean and safe facilities, working technology, the list goes on and on and on. CSEA was here for our students before the lights came on, and we're here well after the lights go off, and we always will be. To my brothers and sisters, I'm extremely proud of you and more importantly, I am extremely proud to be one of you. Thank you for your hard work and dedication this past school year. Some of us will get to enjoy a nice, relaxing, quiet summer break while a very large portion of

020our members are going to be doing the back-breaking work over the summer to get our campuses ready for another successful school year. Finally, I would like to address our student board. It takes courage and sacrifice to represent any organization in a professional and respectful manner. Your group is here every meeting and it's been my pleasure to see you all flourish. Your proclamations are always well thought out and quite articulate. I'd like to leave you with this. Hard work does pay off. Dreams do come true. Bad times don't last but the good people do. So please, go forth, continue to be the good people, continue to lead, continue to thrive, continue to succeed, and please continue to be a voice for the voiceless. Um thank you everybody. It was my pleasure to be here this evening

021and I hope you all have a great summer. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Report. Be awesome. Okay, do we have a report from the San Mateo Adult School Teachers Association? >> Not this Not this evening. >> All right, should we circle back and see if Mr. Childress is ready? >> I I I can see my camera on my end but I it doesn't look like you guys can see me. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> Yeah. Um I can go ahead and and move forward with just audio if that's acceptable. >> It is. Yeah, thank you. >> Okay. Um I know that's not protocol but I apologize for that. I'm not I I don't think it's on my end just FYI cuz I can see my image here. Um uh at

022any at any rate, good evening. Uh President Chavez, member of the board. Um very happy to also Okay, there's something >> He just dropped off. >> Okay, something changed, so maybe >> can see you. >> Hey, look at that. Um good evening, President Chavez, members of the board, uh district cabinet. Um as Mr. Booker said and Mr. Wilscam mentioned, um it's we are in the home stretch. We are almost there. Um it's it's a great time of year. Uh it seems like, you know, people always ask uh educators at this time of year. They say, "Boy, I guess things are winding down." And boy, that couldn't be further from the truth. With folks uh gearing up for final exams next week, uh the celebrations of graduation, um you know, saying goodbye to some of our

023folks who are retiring, and really getting ready for um the the respite that we all appreciate for summer summer vacation, but also preparation for the next year. Um I can't uh congratulate the students enough for their hard work over the years. Um and the graduates that will uh be leaving us. Um also want to recognize, of course, all of our educators, our teachers, our administrators, and of course, our classified staff uh who do um do all the work behind the scenes that um uh they don't often get the credit for. Um so, it's a great It's great to be here. Um and it's uh looking forward to um all the celebrations next week. Um look the As you probably know, oh and I uh do want to mention welcome Dr. Payne. Uh looking forward to

024working with you uh as a member of the Peninsula staff. It's a great group there. Um and I look forward to uh meeting you and interacting and hopefully supporting you in every every any way that we can. Um as you know the parties met last week for negotiations. It's a great time to exchange proposals and and understand our positions and intents for the coming year and for the next reopener negotiations. Obviously talking about financials in an excess tax district where we still really see the bottom line until late in the fall is challenging. However, I will just note that um the governor's May revise came out and I had to chuckle because I've read a lot of school services reports and it's not often that you hear a phrase in a in an SSC report

025that says there's a fair amount to like in the governor's final May revision. It's often much more doom and gloom than that. But it has actually some really good news both at the state level and locally for finances. Just when we met last week, the excess valuation growth was projected at 3.9%. That has increased by 8% up to 4.2%, which is higher much higher than it was last year. Few percent few points higher than last year. So we're on track to look pretty good financially in our local district. I will say that despite the really abhorrent issue that we are still the state is still not fully funding Prop 98. There is a fair amount to look forward to in the governor's May revise. I would you know one of the most one of the

026really important things to note is that the per pupil spending for special ed at the state level is going up considerably and the state has finally gotten around to to where we are and thinking that it's really important to provide paid leave for expecting mothers. So the the mandated pregnancy leave is something that we're really looking forward to and I've already spoken with Mr. Hawkins about uh you know creative ways to uh accommodate the the mandate uh while also providing you know still competitive salaries, benefits, and working conditions for our members. Um and lastly, uh I just like to again thank you all for always uh including uh the association and as as thought partners and collaborators. Um it's it's a it this time of year I always kind of reflect and think about um

027what a fortunate uh opportunity we have as an association. Um though we don't always agree 100% of the time, um I can honestly say that this is a pretty strong collaborative relationship that we've had over the years and so I thank you for that. And with that, um good luck and enjoy your summer. >> Thank you. And we welcome our student board reps. We're so happy that you're here. And next is your uh report. Thank you. >> Hi everyone. I'm Alexa and I'm a junior at San Mateo High School. Um I'll start with the student board's report. So, we ended this term with a fun field trip on Tuesday. We went to Hillsdale Mall and did some bowling with Mr. Booker and an escape room. Um I just like to take a moment to thank

028Mr. Huddleston, Ms. Aquino, and Ms. Chalkley for helping so much with the supervision of the student board and just teaching us so much um as the term comes to an end. Um applications for the student board are also out and are due soon. So, I'd highly encourage any student watching who's interested in education and learning about administration, um education policy, or advocacy to look into it. Um we look forward to reading applications and interviewing applicants. At our recent student board council meetings, we also worked together to draft the Juneteenth proclamation that will be presented right now. This proclamation recognizes Juneteenth as a day to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans in Texas on June 19th, 1865, which is more than 2 years after the emancipation proclamation had taken effect. It reflects on the lasting impact

029of slavery and honors the resilience, strength, and contributions of Black Americans throughout our nation's history. The proclamation also reaffirms our district's commitment to equity, inclusion, and creating safe and supportive environments learning environments for all students. It also acknowledges that while progress has been made, there's still important work to do in addressing systematic systemic barriers and ensuring every student feels respected, valued, and empowered to succeed academically, emotionally, and socially. I will now hand it over to Monya. >> Good evening, members of the board. My name is Monya Mishra, and I am a student at San Mateo High School. Over the past months, students across the district have been very busy with both academics and school events. At San Mateo High School, we recently had prom, senior activity day, and senior decision day, which brought students together

030to celebrate the end of the school year and recognize the amazing accomplishments of the class of 2026. We also successfully made it through AP testing season, and I think students across the district, myself included, are very relieved and proud of all the hard work they put in throughout the year. At our recent student board council meetings, we also worked together to draft the LGBTQIA+ Pride Month Proclamation. This proclamation recognizes Pride Month as an opportunity to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community, while also reaffirming the district's commitment to equity, safety, and inclusion for all students and staff. It highlights the importance of creating welcoming and affirming spaces for youth, especially as many students still face discrimination and barriers simply for being who they are. The proclamation also recognizes the success of this year's Pride Prom, which was held

031in April and attended by 188 students with support from more than 20 adult volunteers. Through fundraising efforts that raised over $14,000, the event was made completely free and accessible to all students who wish to attend. Pride Prom continues to be an important of example of an important example of how our district supports students in expressing themselves openly and safely while building community and a sense of belonging. One thing I truly value about our district is its ongoing commitment to ensuring that all students feel seen, respected, and supported regardless of their identity or background. Through events like Pride Prom and proclamations like this one, our district continues to demonstrate that inclusion and equity are a top priority. And that concludes my report. Thank you again for your time and for continuing to make the San Mateo

032Union High School District a welcoming and supportive place for all students. >> Thank you. We're we're so happy that you that you're both here. We always appreciate our student board reps. Thank you. Next, we have our governing board comments. Um Trustee Andronico, would you like to kick us off? >> Sure. >> Thanks. >> Okay, I would like to start with a proclamation that was created by students from Capuchino High School um a few years ago. Our community acknowledges that all all of our campuses lie on the ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone. The Ramaytush are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula whose land was stolen from them and whose native language was lost because of Spanish colonization. As settlers on the stolen land of the Peninsula, we should be alongside the Ramaytush, remembering

033and remembering their ancestors and relatives. We thank the first people, the Ramaytush Shaloni, for taking care of the land we use now for education and activities. Our responsibility of caring for the earth is unique and personal to each of us, but should be rooted in allyship with the Ramaytush Shaloni, so we can work together to protect and preserve the land for future generations. Um I wanted to talk about the Bridge uh student the graduate uh defense projects that I attended today. Um they were amazing. Um but I wanted to bring attention to how important the Bridge school is for the students. Um it is a sense of belonging. It brings a sense of community, and that definitely came through in their projects today. There was one student in particular that just brought everybody to tears

034um because of how impactful her project was. Um she was a student who came to Bridge from another comprehensive site and was not going to graduate. Um and because of all of the support she received at Bridge, she is graduating, and this student works after school, she gets home really late, she's at school bright and early in the morning, gets really good grades, amazing amazing student. Um all of the students were great. I just that student in particular stood out to me, and I was just very um I was just really proud of what our district has to offer students. Um so that was the a really great day, and I want to say thank you to Dr. Showman and all of the students. Uh excuse me, all of the staff that works so hard

035every day to provide not only education and um that type of support, but they wear so many hats. From teaching life skills to providing different services as a community school. Um it definitely shows through, especially in our Panorama Survey and how um how much it shines in terms of all of those things. So, thank you to that school um to the staff and students. Um I also wanted to um talk about the importance of the importance and the impact of the US history curriculum and the ethnic studies curriculum that we provide our students here at this district. Right now, it is extremely important that we are providing accurate information and thoughtful information um education about the history and the impact of different communities in our country. Um unfortunately, we're seeing history repeating itself over and

036over. Um with the shooting at the mosque um in San Diego to different synagogues being attacked to the deportation and the disappearance of folks that um are here to look for a better life as many communities have in the past. Um it's extremely important the impact of what our district provides for students. Um so, I want to say thank you to all of our educators um and all of our administration that support um great curriculum and just um excellent education that we provide. It's It's It's super important. Um with that said, it's also time to vote in the primaries on June 2nd. I hope everyone that can will vote. Um voting is always important, but right now it's even more so. So, please please make your voices heard. That is Voting is one of the

037fundamental rights that we have that have been fought by so many people, blood, sweat, and tears. And I'm not exaggerating when I say blood, sweat, and tears. Um It's It please don't let it be there in vain. Um Our student board reps, thank you so much for everything you've done this school year. Um we've had Every year we have such wonderful students, and um it shows the fruits of the labor of our educators, um of our families, and just of all your hard work. So, thank you very much, and I want to say thank you to Ms. Aquino, to Mr. Huddleston, and to Ms. Chalkley for the support they provide. Um this particular project was so important to our board because we need to hear from all of the students at all of the sites

038equally. So, thank you. Um And you know, with that's And I guess in closing, um it's mental health awareness month, and a lot of the information that we receive constantly, all day, every day, is difficult. It's heavy right now. Um our students that are studying to be journalists and in communications, um we need we need media to continue to be respected. We need our journalists to be encouraged and our students are are learning and they're witnessing what's happening with our free press. And so again, also with the mental health um, of just being bombarded every day with a lot of information that is affecting our citizens. It's um it's important that we we protect our mental health and that we support free uh, free and um, accurate journalism. So, thank you. >> Thanks. >> Thank

039you, Trustee Andrus Trustee Griffin. >> Mhm. Well, I did enjoy the Middle College graduation and I don't always look like I'm happy, but I was I was even appeared happy yesterday. Um you know, it the last time I did it was inside and that's how come I you know, that's probably been a while. Um and I truly enjoyed it and I really enjoyed your speech on joy. You know, it made me reflect and uh um I'm looking forward actually to doing Bridge and I guess you get to eat at Bridge. >> You do. >> Yeah, so and I'm also looking forward to meals and what Peninsula. So, I >> You're making the rounds. >> Yeah, I'm getting getting my money's worth out of that. So, I thank the student board members for your reports. You're

040representing um, all the people that showed up this this this year. >> Yeah. >> And it's fitting that both of you are from San Mateo. So, there's three of us from San Mateo here. So, anyway, that's my report. >> Thank you. Thank you, Trustee Griffin. I love it when you smile. Um I want to um thank our student board reps as well. It's been a really been a great year. Um and I know next year will be um awesome as as well. But, thank you for all your hard work this year. Thank you for contributing. We know you have a heavy class schedule, and you have a lot of extracurricular activities, but we just thank you for your leadership um on the student board council. Um I wanted to mention a couple of things. Um

041I want to echo what Trustee Andrada Zuniga said about voting. It's super important. Get out there and vote. I know they say you as long as you drop it in the mailbox on by June 2nd, but there's actually voting voting boxes in every city, and most cities have multiple voting boxes. You can vote in person, or you can fill out your ballot, drop it in the box. Um our We have one right in front of City Hall at San Bruno. That's pretty convenient. But, every city will have a a mail a drop box. You can drop it off in any city in San Mateo County. Doesn't You don't have to live in that city. You can drop it off. So, Um I want to mention that this past weekend um I was honored to attend

042uh the delegate assembly for school school board association. Uh it was um yeah, a two-day uh conference. Um and I want to thank um Dr. Julia Campki and Superintendent Booker because they always give the trustees homework to do. And some trustees are good about doing it. Um some trustees are not. And one part of the homework is engaging with your leadership, your superintendent, and your um assistant superintendent. And so, my my um policy pillar is in is ensuring achievement for all. So, it was great because I was working alongside I would say about um 50 other trustees from different uh cities up and down California. Um And our questions uh centered around ensuring achievement for all for all students. What are the barriers? What's needed at the local level to ensure achievement for all students?

043What problem do we see with ensuring achievement for all that can be addressed through legislation? So we talked a lot about legislation as well and it was just it was a great time. It was fun and we also it's a lot of work as well, but it was it was great. I love doing that work. Our meeting on Saturday was from 8:30 to 5:30 so it was a a full day. But it was great working along trustees and so we have delegates from every county. So San Mateo County has seven delegates and I'm honored to be one of those. I also wanted to mention that this past Tuesday um I met with I want to say it properly here. The Citizens Oversight Committee or Citizens Bond Oversight Committee and Mr. Hawkins was there and Mr.

044Charlie Royce and Ms. Jasmine Andradi. They have they lead such a great team. That's that's our facilities team with the bonds. Specifically with the bond work and we have a great committee, parent volunteers, community volunteers and we we think we're on the cusp of of having two new parent volunteers come on in. So we're we're excited about that. So once again, anybody can come who's interested. It's always an open meeting. We have one at least every quarter. It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of work too, but I think they have they always have great news to report out for all of our school facilities being upgraded. So this summer we're going to have some great up-upgrades. I don't want to steal Mr. Hawkins' thunder, but he'll he'll tell us about some of that

045later on probably. Um the other thing I wanted to mention is I'm excited about the graduations as well. So I know there's a lot going on next week. So I know students are finishing up finals and getting ready for graduation. So take a deep breath everybody. We are in the home stretch as many folks have already mentioned. A lot of work. I want to thank staff, parents, everyone supporting our our amazing students. So that's what I wanted to end on was thanking everybody for all their hard work and now we're coming to the end of the year. It's sad, but it's a it's I always cry at the graduations so it's It's a great time. So thank you everybody for enjoying joining in with me for to congratulate everybody who's graduating. Next, we're going to

046move on to the public comments. If you're joining us in person and wish to make a comment about an agenda item or during the public comment section at the beginning of the agenda for the non-agendaized items, in both cases, please fill out a request to address the board form. It's a blue form we have over there on the cabinet. This form should be given to provided to us before the agenda item begins. If you're joining us virtually, use your raise hand feature on Zoom to be recognized and when you're invited to do so, please have your camera turned on and operational. If your camera is not operational, then we would like to ask you to email the board at board at email the trustees at [email protected]. And please note that comments are limited to 3

047minutes. Uh the board president may increase or decrease the time allowed for public comment depending upon the topic and number of persons wishing to be heard. So, first I will look for in-person comments. First, do we have anybody in person who's wishing to make a comment? Are there any blue cards turned >> We have We have two. >> Oh, we have two. Okay. >> So, I'm going to start with >> Oh. >> Mira Yousuf, if I said that correctly, and I think they're coming up together, but they're going to speak separately, so they each get their 3 minutes, and Hannah Young. But, we'll start with Mira. >> Do they want to speak >> We're going to speak together in like a combined 6 minutes. >> Great. >> Is that okay? >> Go for it. >>

048Okay. What black cards this morning? Good evening, board members and Superintendent Booker. I'm Mira Yousuf. >> And I'm Hannah Young, a junior from San Mateo High School. Today, we're speaking on behalf of Sustainable San Mateo County Youth Advisory Council and the San Mateo Union High School District Sustainability Committee, a group of students, administrators, and teachers who deeply care about making our schools safer and more sustainable. >> We are here today to urge the San Mateo Unified High School District Board of Trustees to end the use of black plastics in the food ware services. Black plastics are made from recycled electronics waste which can contain harmful chemicals like brominated flame retardants and heavy metals consisting of cadmium, lead, nickel, chromium, and mercury. This variety of chemicals leads to health concerns like cancer, endocrine disruption, neurotoxicity, and

049infertility. And according to the executive staff of 49,000 black plastic lunch containers are distributed per school year. And when there are this many containers distributed every year, action has to be taken. These plastics increase the risk increase the student bodies exposure to harmful toxic chemicals which are detrimental to health. Students should not be exposed to these hidden risks at all, especially at schools where health should be put first. When students use black plastic trays or utensils, especially with hot school lunches, these hazardous substances can leach into their food and be ingested. By eliminating black plastics, the Board of Trustees can take a vital proactive step in safeguarding children's developing bodies and ensuring a truly safe environment. As a district, we have the opportunity to be a part of a life-changing impact. >> Since introducing our

050petition to ban black plastics in February, we have created an energized school community with more than 1,000 verified um district students, staff, and community members who have signed our petition in support of this effort. Within the petition, 92% of signers voice strong concerns regarding the health of black plastics with 99% in favor of the transition to recyclable or compostable food containers. This is a powerful message that shows that our school communities thoroughly care about their health and impacts on the environment. >> With interest not only from our local school communities, NBC Bay Area covered our efforts in a live broadcast casted interview included in daily news segments that was viewed by thousands of people. All eyes are on our district. >> In my high school experience, I've seen my fair share of black plastics. Everyday

051during brunch, I'm constantly reminded of the massive amounts of black plastics used in my school alone. Each day during brunch or lunch, I see my friends and peers consuming from these toxic containers while questioning the dangers that plastic black plastics have. It's honestly frightening. >> And growing up, my family was highly conscious of the of the health and environmental risks associated with black plastics. It was something we strictly avoided in our daily lives. And because of this, transitioning to high school came as a shock when I stepped into the cafeteria and realized black plastic trays and utensils were still actively being used. It was unsettling to see a material material known for leaching toxic flame retardants and heavy metals into hot food being distributed to hundreds of students every single day. Witnessing the school district

052use them made me realize how much advocacy is still needed to protect students from unnecessary chemical expo. >> In addition to these health risks, black plastics also significantly contribute to plastic pollution as most recycling facilities are unable to recycle them. This means that a majority of black plastics, if not all, are not recycled, but instead go straight to landfills, contributing to our school's environmental impact. >> We strongly recommend the use of alternatives like compostable fiber-based trays. Most schools partially already use this like the Sequoia, Palo Alto, San and South San Francisco high school district. So, further transition from black plastics to paper-based products would be encouraged. None of the other public high schools in San Mateo County use black plastics. We understand the difficulties in transitioning to a 100% plastic black plastic-free cafeteria, but we

053urge the district to bridge towards fulfilling our sustainability commitment with the alternatives of paper trays used in some cafeterias or other compostable products like from World Centric. We also wanted to thank you for your continued commitment to not only student health, but also sustainability. Last year this district made an important decision by banning the sale of plastic single-use water bottles and in 2021 an important statement was made declaring a climate emergency and pledging to take mean meaningful steps towards sustainability. We urge you to continue to continue to phase out the use of black plastics out of concern for the well-being of students and continue progression towards the district's sustainability commitments. We hope that you consider to establish a pilot program within school cafeterias or the integration of a total black plastic wipeout phase by the

054start of the school year next year. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We want to thank you both for coming. Thank you for your public comments. Are there any further public comment cards? Uh Superintendent Booker? >> No. >> Are there any hands raised on Zoom? >> No? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next is communications to the Board of Trustees. Um I believe it's the second interim. >> Yeah, on May 11th the Board of Trustees received a communication from the County of San Mateo County Office of Education with regard to the 25-26 second interim report and a portion of it reads, "Dear Board President Chavez, the San Mateo County Office of Education has completed its review of San Mateo Union High School District's second interim report for the 25-26 fiscal year pursuant to Ed

055Code 42130. On the basis of our review and analysis, the second interim report approved by the board on March 10th, 2026 appears to reflect adequately the financial and budgetary status of the district and is consistent with the state's criteria and standards. The information and assumptions incorporated in the budget appear reasonable. The district has submitted a positive certification, which means the district has certified Excuse me. that it will meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal year and subsequent two fiscal years. Based on information known at the time of this report, the county superintendent concurs with the district's positive certification. >> Thank you. Any questions from the board? No? Good. Thank you. I know we So we already did the recognition. That was great. We moved that up. Um next we'll do Next we have consent

056agenda. Uh do any trustees wish to point anything from consent? No? Okay. Then I'll entertain a motion. >> So moved. >> Okay. I'll second. Okay. So we have a motion from trustee Grippen, a second from trustee Andrade-Zuniga. All in favor? >> I have to have ask for comment. >> That's true. Oh, wait. Tonight's not my night, huh? Do any public comment for uh consent? >> Not this evening. >> See, I knew it. That's okay. It's good to ask. Okay. So that passes three to zero with two absences, and I would like to ask our student board reps how they vote. >> I. >> Okay. Thank you. Next we have special reports. Superintendent Booker. >> Yes, thank you. And if you could queue up the slide deck. Excuse me. So, as we do each uh at

057the end of each semester, we provide the board and community with an overview of some of the uh outstanding highlights by the district. And when I say by the district, I mean really across the district. If those of you at home or in the audience, please review the board memo because it's lengthy. It is absolutely fantastic with regard to all of the different departments, educators, and and schools and district office across just across the entire district. So this evening, we have a slide deck that I am going to go through very very quickly. Happy to answer any questions at the end, but this just gives a little bit of a flavor to the board memo and all of the different accomplishments this semester. You can take a look at the fall semester accomplishments that we

058presented to the board on the district website. There's a link there for you all. All right, so starting with curriculum instruction and like I said, I'm going to go fast, but not too fast for the interpreters. We talk about the academic data. A lot of what we're going to talk about here in this presentation, we have presented at board meetings. And so we we really try to cover a lot of this information throughout the year. We did some CTE field trips. I know CTE is a hot ticket item for the board. Uh artificial intelligence task force, we just talked about that at a board study session. The AI fellowship, so much professional development. This is I just want to pause here and and just talk about the importance of professional development in a district without

059seriously robust and excellent professional learning, districts come to a halt. We need to keep pushing and pressing and learning and exploring and taking risks and we do a lot of that across the district. Our educators do a lot of that with big support from our professional learning team. So, I'm really grateful for them. Equity Advisory Committee, student equity councils, that as the students talked about the fourth annual Pride Prom, sustainability. This is to the students that were just here. The EV charger project rebates, waste audits, sustainable and climate resilient schools stand out awards. And I know we'll be talking about the black plastics that this was that that was brought up recently. Uh Aaron and I'm going to go to schools. And please understand these are just small little snippets. So much more occurs at

060each of these schools. Not only that's written in the board memo, but what didn't get to the memo. But some just some highlights. The Sam Mateo Sam Mateo County Youth Arts Fellow, the math club, chamber orchestra. Uh the Association of Bilingual Educators, Visual Arts, collaboration with community colleges. Burlingame High School, the Rita Moreno Awards, the Iron Panthers robotics team. I think we had them here at a board meeting if I remember correctly. Math competitions. Capuchino High School, the the Service Awards, Meeting the Mustangs, 300 students from Parkside and private that included mini rally. I mean, we've talked for years about the importance of ensuring a a really successful bridge from San Bruno School District to Capuchino High School. And I want to give Principal Gomez and his team just such encouragement of the work that

061they're doing. Multicultural Day, and that happens at other high schools, too. We're just highlighting this one here at Capuchino. Hillsdale, Poetry Out Loud, at their graduate profile, empowerment through action. We had a big presentation a couple weeks ago about Empower San Mateo. Their Visual Arts program. Middle College, we just talked about their graduation, but the outreach they've done in preview days. They launched uh their launch your future career fest. Uh the integration between them and College of San Mateo and their environmental club. Mills High School GPAs on the rise. 41 students were recognized at the Glow Up Lunch celebration on the on January 22nd for increasing their GPA in the fall semester. What a fun event. I mean, that's a very cool event to highlight students that are improving their academic tenure. Uh their dance

062program is amazing. Their dragon team is amazing. Peninsula High School, the financial aid workshops, the new audio production class, and their student equity council. San Mateo Adult and Career Education That quilt on the right, one of the seven quilts on display by quilter Christelle Johnson. I went to her presentation. She was amazing to talk about Black History through the design of her quilts. I learned so much at that event. Um but that was tied into their Black History Month event. Their career fair 30 employers and their coalition on adult basic education student ambassador training. What they What we don't have included on this slide deck, and I know it's in the memo, is their their student like leadership team, their student council. That's a new development by Angela Taylor and her team. Really, really fantastic.

063San Mateo High School, our multilingual learners. Look at their completion rate on the ELPAC, just 97.34%. I know that's been a a very big topic of importance by the board since I got here. And we're seeing some really great results. Their music program, their math program just just amazing. Now, we're going to go a little bit more broadly here. Our academic support programs, AVID. We had AVID come and and speak. We did senior standouts. Our ethnic studies program, like trustee Andrade Zuniga mentioned, their professional learning. And then district governance and operations, uh us here at the the the dais. Our cell phones in schools policy, our coast-to-coast uh advice advocacy that was both uh President Chavez and trustee Land. Uh our AXA region five where we uh honored Dr. Julie Kempky and Dr. Sammy Ashourman.

064That was a That was a fantastic event. Um and the two of you, our our student board council. Uh really just amazing what you've all done uh and the the the input you give us and feedback. Um really really really great. And I loved our dinner uh by the way, that dinner we just had. That was very cool and I got a lot of insight there. Our communications department is fantastic. Uh they do so much work uh and and shine just such a great light on so many things going on in the district. Videography to Spanish social media to LinkedIn school pages to this presentation uh to our spotlight on student learning uh magazine and and just so much more. But just to to highlight especially the social media presence, we've really grown in that

065area, the the Spanish Facebook page, all of that. So just really thankful. Uh I can't read that cuz it's blocked, but the annual heart screening event. This is the student health and wellness program. Thank you, Jorge and Nestor. Uh training for educators. Uh this is anaphylaxis emergency response EpiPens. Um seizure emergency response plans. All the things emergency medical emergency preparedness training. All the things that we hope not to have to use, but you know, getting prepared in case we do. Uh employee health and wellness, uh our commute.org employer summit, our first aid training. There's so much more that they do. Please, please, please read the memo. These These teams are incredible. Our human resources team, the administration, you know, one of the things we did differently this year is we facilitated all of uh our

066uh administrator hires, whereas in the past we have done some uh partnership with consultants, but this year uh Dr. Black and his team facilitated all of those hirings. That took a ton of time, but you see the fruit. We're going to go into the summer with a new Peninsula principal, a new Aragon principal, a new Burlingame High School principal. Uh and that's really their work. And then the HR department uh with the difference card and supporting all of our educators with uh the ever-increasing costs of uh health care and the work that it took to um bring the difference card in, uh educate all of our employees, and support them throughout uh has been a great team commitment. Uh classified teacher program, teacher induction program. These are a lot of the things behind the scenes

067that families or students don't realize, but but all serve to strengthen our district. Uh an instructional coaching program. This is the backbone of ensuring that our educators that we have and continue to have well-supported uh amazing educators in our classrooms. It's programs like this. I already talked about uh professional learning, but specifically with regard to our multilingual learner programs. The amount of community-based organizations and the ML intake and college access, you know, I I want to call out our last D- We had our last DELAC meeting of the year earlier this week, and it was amazing. Uh such good input from families. Special education. Uh our educator recognition, our district-wide CPR and AED certification, our unified Special Olympics, uh the support that um we build for our special ed community, I think is uh really

068amazing and I wish when my kids were going to school that we had half of these things. Really, really great. Student services, again one of those behind the scenes, you know, when it comes to enrollment our student services team are those are the first faces often times our family see and they do a great job of welcoming and and getting families involved here. Our gateway collaboration with gateway community schools in the College of San Mateo foster youth partnership. Mental health and wellness and we're going to hear from them tonight. Thanks for hanging out and waiting for me to get through this. I appreciate it. I'm trying to go fast. Strengthening the comprehensive MTSS program, student engagement through innovative outreach and programming and strengthening student voice and we're going to hear a lot about student voice

069tonight during their presentation which I think is just really, really great. Technology and information systems we have there, they are back there behind the screens working their magic but canvas enrollment enterprise system support, cross department collaborations. You know, this is a team that um it's kind of like payroll. People don't really pay attention to it until there's a problem and then there's a problem and then people lose their minds but we've got Jorge and Nestor and Simon Bettis who runs the department and so many others across the district that ensure that our communication systems and all of our technology infrastructure and infrastructure runs smoothly. Capital facilities, our district wide solar program, our EV chargers and and what's really exciting and going to be so much work over the next few summers is the classroom transformation

070project. And so classrooms will look totally different as students come in back to school on in in the fall. We're kicking it off with BHS and Capuchino and then we'll continue there. Transportation, I love our transportation team. They're like the most spirited department across the entire district. Bus driver training program, our bus driver hiring. I mean, what they've done there to to keep that, no pun intended, but to keep it rolling, just really, really good. Fiscal services, again, one of those departments that, you know, unless there's a problem, you don't really hear. But, such strong financial operation and budgeting. District-wide copiers upgrade and renewal, that doesn't sound super like, "Woohoo!" but when those things go down, people lose their minds. So, really, really great there. And then, one of the things I want to call

071out is the work that that entire team has done in just a significant shift to be um a community of care. I've seen the shifts that they have made, led by Mr. Hawkins, in in doing increased and more empathetic outreach to our school systems and all of our our partners in not just being such just a transactional department, but really being supportive. So, I I really appreciate that and want to call that out. Student nutrition, wow, we feed a lot of kids. But, the kitchen remodel, the universal meals, you know, a million meals. That's it's a lot of meals. They they're unsung heroes back there in the kitchen. They do great job. Facilities use, all of the financial accomplishments through the rental and those rentals are not easy. Sometimes people who are renting our facilities

072are a little high maintenance, but they are fantastic and they work so professionally with everybody, and we are a go-to destination for all these different events up and down the peninsula. Operations, the professional development that they've received, their work across the district Um, in in keeping our facilities up and running, just just amazing amazing team. Uh, same with our maintenance, uh, grounds team, electrical team, mechanical team, construction, I mean, we have all the trades in there, plumbing, all of that. Uh, just you just walk around I mean, this is something I really noticed in doing some site visits of other districts and bringing some of our staff along. One of the first things they noticed was like, "Ooh, oof, like our campuses are really kept up." And it's because of, um, these, uh, educators right

073here. Golden Apples, uh, really celebrating, uh, some special individuals across the district, uh, in in their efforts and their work. Uh, and when I say across the district, I really mean across the district, uh, whether it's district office or school sites or various departments. And we do that for both certificated and classified staff. And there we go. Uh, that that's it. Uh, but there's a lot more in the memo, so please take a look. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. >> So encouraging. This this this we we have we always have one in the fall and one in the spring, right? And it's so good to see every single, um, department and every single school highlighted. Um, I want to ask my colleagues if they have any comments or questions. No? No? Thank you.

074Thank you again, Superintendent Booker. That was amazing. Very proud of our district. I think we have one more another special report, and that's the mental health update. Student voices, looking forward to that as well. Thank you. Thank you for coming. >> Okay, there we go. Thank you for having us. Um, we're always excited to come and share all of the wonderful things the team is up to. Um, but before we get started, I want wanted to have, uh, Joanne and Jasmine introduce themselves. They'll be speaking with, um, with me this evening. >> Hi, I'm Joanne Michaels. I'm a licensed clinical social worker. I've been in the field for over 20 years now and 9 and 1/2 with the district. I'm also a resident of San Bruno. >> Hello, I'm Dessie Cadigan. I'm your tobacco use

075prevention education mental health therapist. It's a really long title. And I have been here 8 years and um I'm really happy to be here today with all of you. Thank you. >> And I'm April Torres. I am the director of mental health programs. Um I started here when I was 10 years old, so this is my 20th year. Just letting you all know. And 10 of those years have been with the mental health and wellness program, proud to say. And before that, San Mateo High School. So, I bleed orange still. Um so, we're going to go ahead and get started. Um I'm going to hope I do this correctly. Is it the green button? Oh, there we go. Okay. And I will be referring to notes because I uh want to make sure I capture

076everything uh that we want to say this evening. So, I wanted to start with building connections through trust and inspiration. Superintendent Randall Booker gave us this book, Trust and Inspire, to district leadership, um challenging us to really um think differently about uh trusted relationships and the impact those have on students. Um so, this was this was an this this was an excellent read. It really uh got Joanne and I thinking as we were building out tonight's presentation. Um and it just reinforced uh that we know that adults students turn to each and every day are often um are more than often are our most impactful leaders in the district. Um and that could be our a wellness or a school counselor checking in with a student who had maybe a difficult morning. It could be

077that campus supervisor that notices the student sitting alone. It could be that teacher who creates a classroom where students feel safe enough to ask questions and for help. Trust and inspire a the the trust and inspire approach um these everyday moments be become the foundation for connection, for belonging, and for help. At the heart of this work is helping students begin to see their own worth and potential some sometimes before they can fully see it in themselves. Okay. For For us, trust and inspire is how students experience our schools every day. It's a student feeling safe enough to ask for help, use their voice, and or connect with a trusted adult before reaching crisis. Our work focuses on relationships before compliance and creating spaces where students feel seen, valued, and connected. Some of the words

078that um I was hearing over here when you guys spoke. And this happens through a multitude multitude of ways. It could be our multilingual learner students finding belonging through newcomer groups or support from our ML social workers. Our special education students receiving integrated mental health support through IEP services in collaboration with our school psychologists? It could be our students that are being identified earlier through our multi-tiered systems of support, allowing proactive outreach before concerns escalate. When Bark or Stop It alerts identify concerns related to bullying, self-harm, threats, or emotional distress, students and families are connected quickly to trusted adults and support systems. And lastly, through Parent Connect and family partnerships, families begin to feel connected to schools, not just when there's a problem, but as part of a caring community. One of the most important

079things we are certain of, without a doubt, that connection itself is the intervention. For some students, support begins in the wellness center or in a school counselor's office. For others, it begins through B Street Boxing. It begins with Dungeons and Dragons Club, newcomer groups, peer support, coaching, Parent Connect, or simply by one trusted adult who constantly shows up for them. These spaces create belonging, reduce stigma, and often become the bridge to support before a student ever reaches crisis. And ultimately, the best way to understand the impact of this work is through the voices of our students themselves. >> I think my favorite thing is probably the people and like the connections you make here. Um, I talk a lot to Ms. Sammy like about anything and everything. They always have a like welcoming environment. Like

080I feel like it's so easy to just walk in here without feeling that like pressure of like, "Oh my gosh, like what are they going to think?" And what are they going to say to me? Like it's just chill. >> One of the things that I enjoy the most about the work in the classroom is we get to reach students from a preventative mental health care standpoint. I love the work here in the classroom at Aragon. It's such a beautiful space that complements what we do in the wellness center from that that individual or one-on-one standpoint. >> One thing I like about coming here is how coming here doesn't feel like a chore. Like when I come here, I'm coming to have fun and working out. Like I got I got both of I like

081it's really easy to make friends with you. >> My favorite part of wellness team is they are kind and and always willing to support us. >> A lot of my friends like to come when they're having a hard time and and I just know it feels like a really safe space for them to talk to other people and just relax. They have some table events from time at lunch and we'll be outside and they give out kind of like stickers or stress balls that people can use or fidgets and I really like that because it really is something that a lot of students utilize and I think it's a great way to connect with them and also make sure that students know that we have a wellness center here and that we have people who

082are there for them when they need them. >> I want to take a moment to thank Bella Gardner. She's our program assistant for mental health and wellness and she is simply amazing. She's just a bright light and she clearly has skills. She put this together and putting this together meant that she went to each of our school sites. She talked to students. She took pictures. It's mental health awareness month, so we had a lot of events. She was out there taking pictures and just talking to the students. So, we really appreciated that and the work that she put into this. So, thank you Bella. I hope you're watching. Another She might be in classes right now. Another important way we put trust and inspire into action is through restorative and supportive pathways and help students

083remain connected and engaged in school. Jessamy is going to share more about the work and the impact it's having for students across our district. >> So, I I wanted to thank uh the students who entered our program this year for trusting us with their stories of trauma and inspiring us with their stories of triumph. And I've heard a a of those this week. Um and I have to say one of the things that didn't make it in the video was Mills doing karaoke at lunch is like one of the best things I've ever seen in my life. So, some other highlights from the Tobacco Use Prevention Education and Alternative to Suspension Program, we received 319 referrals, uh avoiding 258 days of suspension, which is my highest of highlights every year. Our non-disciplinary student parent staff

084referrals were also substantial with 31 non-disciplinary referrals, meaning that the student, the parent, or staff member supported the student asking for help. As a result of the reputation of the work that we do at SMASHED, we were requested as the spotlight at the Tupe Professional Learning Network for the state of California CDE's to Tupe program. We represented our brand of alternative to suspension, or as I like to call it a time to support. We were We look at mistakes, problems, trouble as an opportunity, a celebration, if you will, as a port of entry to connect, consult, walk through beautiful problems together, emphasizing how we continue to value ourselves and each other when mistakes happen. Our presentation Keep Calm and Keep Talking Invitations to Substance Use Support at SMASHED shared our systems of organizing our alternative

085to suspension program, including referral forms, consent forms, managing student referrals with nine sites, multiple interventions, multiple languages. We also presented on supporting students with substance use invitations to safe spaces, on creating these essential safe spaces where students are able to share their authentic lived experience in a non-judgmental supportive environment. ATS groups where students self-refer for additional support. They asked to stay. We also received non-disciplinary alternative to suspension referrals this year, which was a compliment. I was also invited to speak for the second year in a row at the seventh annual Stanford Cannabis and Drug Awareness and Prevention Conference on a panel for best practices for clinicians. In terms of student voice for our programs after attending the vape awareness prevention education group, the substance use support group, or brief intervention, which are individual sessions, 44

086reported no longer 44% reported no longer using substances. 35% reported cutting back. 8% reported using them the same as when they started the program. They also said what they liked about the program, I could actually talk about my substance use, it helped me a lot. They were honest and made it a safe space. The snacks. Kirk watches me get the snacks together very diligently for every group. And just the overall program. Communicating how I actually use substances, I could tell the truth. I liked how respectful it was. I liked how we learned the history of weed. I liked how we watched videos. They had food and drink and the people are nice and it gave me some insight on what I'm doing to my body. Each year, I promise to remind us that our students

087and ourselves are not The problem is the problem. The person is not the problem. Symptoms come from systems, not people. My intention, our intention, I imagine, is to thicken the thread of our students, our children's preferred ways of being. Each touchpoint we have with our students is an opportunity to strengthen their gifts, talents, knowledge, and their multitude of strengths unique and communal. Thank you again for the opportunity to do this work and I love it more and more each day. It has been an honor and a blessing to witness our student stories of triumph and build community with our students, our families, and supportive staff again this year. Thank you. >> I loved your faces um lighting up watching the video and that's why we do our work. That's our purpose, our North Star. So,

088we're really here today to honor and amplify your choices and voices because the power of trust and inspiring um helps you all unlock what's already there. You use your voices to tell your own stories. You build connection and belonging. You grow access across academic, emotional, and social dimensions and as students, you began to see your own potential not as a future possibility but as something real in the present. So, our future looking ahead, our direction is consistent with trusted inspire. We expand student voice and leadership to unlock their potential, strengthen restorative and early intervention pathways to build both trust and repair when trust is broken because we see ruptures as opportunities for renewal. We build sustainable systems of care so students can focus on what matters most, their own growth and their own accomplishments. We

089deepen equity-centered practices so every student is seen, valued, and able to thrive. We strengthen family and community partnerships to extend trust beyond our schools and we grow our internship pipeline for the next generation of educators. We'd like to thank you for allowing us to come here and share just a little bit. I think like Randall said, just a little snippet, right? We could we could be here all night. Um but we'd like to thank all of you for allowing us to do this work um and everybody in this district that allows us to do this work. From the teachers, from the administrators, but most importantly from the students and the families. Um we have an amazing team and that team is only as good as it's larger whole piece larger holes. Is that Is that

090it? I don't know. It's after 8:00. So um just thank you very much for the opportunity. We appreciate it. >> Thank you so much for the presentation. This is so important. I think I can speak for I'm not I'm not going to speak for all of you. I'm going to let everybody have um their time to comment, but I wanted to say that I don't think there's anybody on this board that doesn't think mental mental health and wellness is important. So I want to thank Thank you for your presentation and all the work that went into this. And also, all the work that's done on the school sites. I know like like you mentioned, this is just a snippet. I've visited um several mental health um wellness um what's it called? Centers. See, it's after

0918:00. When I When I typically when I go to attend back to school night or open house, I will wander my way to the wellness center and I always try to thank everybody who's working in there. Sometimes there's one person because folks are scattered around campus and and in the hallway talking to talking with parents um and it's awesome and I just love love the wellness centers and the outreach there to help our students. So I want to thank you and I want to open up for board comments. Questions? >> Yeah, um I just want to say thank you. Um, you know, you uh Ms. Torres, you said early on that you know, you support students and you support um just like a a list of people, but you've all also supported us. Um, I

092know when I've had some crisis in my own family or in my community, um you've always given me great referrals. So, thank you. I I really appreciate that that you're open to all of us. Um I also want to say how delicately the mental health staff treat certain situations and that what the students are going through. Like I've I've witnessed that and I've heard from students. I've heard from parents tell me how just how compassionate and how um supportive um it has been for their students and or for the student and uh it's I think that is where the trust is built. Um I've also seen just the passion of the staff and how like in everyday what they do whenever we run into them at different events or things like that. They're always just

093like raving about their work and what they're doing and even if it's a complaint, it's the passion though behind what they do because they are not you know, just complaining to complain. It's because they want something to change to benefit the students and their families. So, um I respect that. Um and just your presentation today just like the tone of your voices um the calming of it um that just shows just like what how in tune you are with yourselves and with just what it means. It's just like your demeanor. Um it it does have an impact. Um my question is what do you do for your mental health? And how do you take care of yourselves? Cuz you're caring a lot. >> It's after 8:00 and I we could probably go on and on

094about that. But what I what I will say is um this team of over 30 really checks in with each other. >> Yeah. >> And and that's really important and I think that's one of the the biggest things that we can all do for each other here. Yeah. >> Well, thank you. >> It's a great question. That's a good question. >> Thank you for the report. There days I could use you all day, every day. You know, the things that I was really impressed with, I mean, it's your caring, but the uh those that that statistic on the substance uh use, eliminating it or reducing it, that's that's really powerful. I mean, you know, you know, there's all kind of ways people try to programs and they aren't nearly as effective as, you know, and

095I guess maybe your nurturing or your caring or so many things that you're doing. Um there's a phrase I think you used it I think what the superintendent knows one of the things the district really stands for is a safe, non-judgmental space. I can't read my notes here and uh a respectful space. I think that really is positive. That is really something that will will you know, will will kind of take the barriers down. So, I make people when they kind of get you know, what am I going to do? Well, they put up the the shields, the force field, you know, and and then that will kind of okay, we'll bring those down. I think these are good people and their hearts are in the right place. But I I appreciate your report and

096I appreciate everything you're doing for the district. >> Thank you, I'm one of our student board reps. >> Yeah, I'd love to comment as well. First of all, thank you so much for all that you do. It's amazing to see this. I really appreciate the the message and the values, especially as mental health is a prominent and increasing issue. Also, especially during May, mental health awareness month. Um Yeah, I had a few things I wanted to say. First of all, yes, the resources are amazing. We were Moni and I were smiling because two of our friends from the student board who attend Mills were sharing about the wellness resources there, which is amazing to see that the resources are great all across the district, not just at San Mateo. And I'll echo what Trustee Griffin

097said about the um believe it was the substance and drug abuse. Those stats are really amazing. Um but also I wanted to share a little bit of the students' perspective. I think like I said, wellness resources are amazing, but I think it's also stretched kind of thin. Um especially at San Mateo. Um Ms. Torres pointed out it's it's nice when you have an off day or something happens and a staff or a staff or faculty member checks in with you and I think that that is amazing, but I'm not sure how often that really is the case. The few times where I've had to go to the wellness center, I think a few times I have gotten the support I needed. Um but a few times I haven't been able to and it's not the

098counselors are amazing. I think it's just so hard because mental health is such a such a big issue and there's like there are a lot of resources, but sometimes it's stretched a little bit thin and I just wanted to share that. But thank you again for all that you do. >> But see, that perspective is so important cuz we don't see that. Like I'm not in school, you are. And so, for you to let us know all of this is important. This is why your presence here is so important. So, thank you for your comments. Thank you. >> I want to uh say and I think I speak for all of us, thank you. Um we appreciate that feedback and we know that that is true. Um there's only a there's four, right? And there's

099um about 1,600 plus um of you all beautiful young people. Um and the center at San Mateo because things are all used up space, it would probably be helpful if we had a bigger space, too, to have people be able to at least be there and just take 15-20 minutes, right? And then be able to go back to class. So, we hear that. >> Yes, I'd absolutely support a bigger space for that. >> So, we have to knock down some walls, Mr. Hawkins? >> Uh yeah, I just wanted to continue what Alexa was saying. I absolutely agree. The wellness center, especially at San Mateo, is so incredible. I know my peers take full advantage of the amazing counselors and all the resources that are available. Um one aspect that I would like to point out

100is the aspect of like trust. So, a lot of friends or just peers I have talked with, um their only barrier to going to wellness, to talking to counselors, is that they're afraid of being vulnerable in a school environment. It's not something that they're used to. Um so, I was just wondering, are there any measures in place to increase trust within counselors in the wellness center? And what can we what can we look forward to in the future regarding that? >> I'll start, but anybody can um I think trust is built, right? Um it's hard to come in the first time, but I also know that um because they're there every day, there is trust being built, right? It's like I see them every day. If I go outside and see my therapist, I might

101only see them once every 2 weeks, but I know Miss Ms. de Guzman's there every day, right? I might not be able to get into see her every day, but I also know my friends are meeting with her. Um so, I think building building trust comes with um time and commitment um on both ends. But, I would love to hear ideas that you have. You asked the question, but I would love to hear ideas. >> Yeah, for sure. So, I think that the wellness counselors, they do do their like maybe twice a year like their presentations um contributing like what resources they have and kind of educating, but those presentations are usually like mixed in with a whole lot of other information about the school because it's usually at the beginning of the semesters, I

102believe. Um so, I was thinking maybe we could do something where just the wellness counselors come in and chat with students. Um obviously, I don't have very like much specifics down, but just a way for them to like connect with students. So, in my middle school, which is not a part of this district, but the wellness counselors would come in twice a semester and talk to each individual student just asking them a couple questions about how their day's going, introducing themselves, and like what they like to do kind of like very casual. Um and I think that would do wonders at least in high school. I know there are a far a higher number of high school students, so it'd be kind of hard, but maybe something like that something super casual and just kind

103of getting to know like almost like a peer. That could do wonders. Yeah. >> Did they do that like in the classroom? So, like let's say there's 20 25 students. They would just kind of walk around and talk there. >> would they would pull each student out for I think it was measures of maybe 3 minutes and they would ask roughly three questions. So like what emoji have you been using recently or what class have you been liking how are your friends doing stuff like that and then they would also answer those questions. So it was like a two-way street. So you would feel like you were chatting with a peer rather than someone who is superior to you. >> Good feedback to take to the team. I like that. >> But yeah, I think

104you guys are doing a great job though all things considered so. >> Thank you. >> Okay, no other comments. I want to thank you again for coming presenting to the board. Um, such an amazing group and your work is obviously super important. We all feel that way. We're going to knock down some some of those walls to make larger wellness centers. Uh, Mr. Hawkins. Thanks. That's a Saturday project. >> We have the facilities master plan coming this fall. So maybe there'll be some information regarding that. >> We'll bring our hammers. Thank you again for coming and thank you for waiting for the end of the meeting here. Thanks. Thank you. Okay, I see we have none there's no items on construction yet. So nothing for construction tonight. Um, uh, division of human resources uh, Dr.

105Black. >> Yes, we have the HR consent agenda. On that we have the personal actions for MOUs with the CSEA that cover the summer the modified summer work schedule terms for working from home the catastrophic leave open enrollment and athletic PE supervision. There are also two MOUs with higher learning institutions and then two agreements with American Fidelity uh, who will assist the district in uh, staying in compliance with the Affordable Care Act requirements. We recommend approval of those items. >> Thank you. Are there any questions from any trustees? No questions? Are there Are there any public comments? In person or online? Doctor, I mean, Superintendent Booker, no? >> I'll move adoption. >> None. >> Okay. >> I'll second. >> Okay, so we have a motion from Trustee Griffin and a second from Trustee Andrada-Seniga. All

106in favor? >> Aye. >> Okay, that passes three to zero with two absent. Thank you. Next, there's Division of Human Resources, Dr. Black. >> The first item is personnel actions addendum. We have two recognitions. Tuan Tommy Ly, operations maintenance employee lead at the adult school is retiring on July 10th after 35 years and 6 months in the district. Then Julian Martinez, Spanish teacher at Burlingame High School, also is retiring on May 29th after 23 years in the district. >> Thank you. Are there any questions from the board? No? Any questions online? No? Okay. Is there a motion? >> Move adoption. >> I'll second. >> Okay, we have a motion from Trustee Griffin and a second from Trustee Andrada-Seniga. All in favor? >> Aye. Okay, that passes three to zero with two absent. Okay, second item.

107>> The second item is the updated Peninsula Principal job description. The last revisions to this job description were made in 2015. There are There is not too many revisions, but the The main ones include changing the evaluator to the superintendent as the evaluator of the position. Moving the summer school principal duties up in the essential functions list. Clarifying responsibilities under the current district departmental structures cuz they've changed since 2015. And then changing the name of the attendance and welfare department to student services. Those are the the major revisions. >> Okay, thank you. Are there any questions from the board? Any online comments? No any questions? No hands raised, okay. Would a trustee care to make a motion? >> I'll move I'll move to approve that. >> Second. >> Okay, trustee Andrada-Zuniga motioned and trustee Griffin

108seconded. All in favor? >> I. Okay, that passes 3 to 0 with two absences. Two absent, I'm sorry. And then item number three. >> Yes, the next two items are contracts that I'll have to read the compensation terms. Uh the third item is the two contracts for uh partial contracts for administrator designee positions. The first one is Michelle Fichera. Sorry, I lost it. Okay, Michelle Fichera, administrator designee at Peninsula High School. A salary of $40,184 based on an annualized salary of $209,740. dollars. She'll have 41 work days prorated based on a 214 work day calendar. The second one is Samia Showman, administrator designee at Middle College. Salary $50,342 dollars based on an annualized salary of $231,784. She'll have 48 work days prorated on a um based on a 221 work day calendar. Each of these

109administrator designees will receive health benefits prorated up to an annualized amount of $45,917. Transportation and cell phone reimbursements of $275 per month and various subscriptions and memberships and district approved reimbursements. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Any questions from the board? Any questions from the online public? >> Uh Superintendent Booker? >> None. >> Okay. >> I I move to approve that people's contracts. >> Second. >> Okay, so we have a motion from Trustee Andradi-Zuniga and a second from Trustee Agrippina. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay, I. I'm sorry. So that passes three to zero with two absent. Thank you. Item number four? >> Yes, the next one is a contract for Barnaby Payne that you met earlier today as the principal of Peninsula High School for the 26-27 school year. The salary will be $224,000.

110I'm sorry, $224,534. Uh 221 work days. Health benefits are to $45,917. dollars. Transportation and cell phone reimbursements of $275 per month. And various subscriptions, memberships, and reimbursements for district approved expenses. >> Recommend approval of the contract. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments from the board? Any hands raised online? >> None. >> Okay. Do we have a motion? >> I'll move. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. Trustee Griffin motioned and Trustee Andradi-Zuniga seconded. All in favor? >> I. That passes three to zero with two absent. And I believe Dr. Black on number five. >> Yes, the next three items are job descriptions. The The fifth item, the first one is the uh we recommend approval of a district AVID coordinator job description. This position will be transitioned from a stipend role to a point two FTE

111position upon approval. The recommendation accounts for the changes in the job duties. Some of those will be supporting district-wide avid programming, facilitating avid council meetings, coordinating professional development for avid teachers, recruit uh support recruitment for the avid summer institutes, collaborating with site teams to strengthen MTSS alignment, and overseeing avid tutor training, as well as coordinating student college uh visits. Uh college field trips or visits. >> Okay, thank you. Any questions from the board? Any online hands raised? >> No. >> Okay, thank you for that confirmation. Okay, do we have a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Okay, so we have a motion from trustee Andrade-Zuniga, second from trustee Griffin. All in favor? >> Aye. So that passes three to zero with two absent, and we're on number six. >> That's a

112job description for the district's ethnic studies coordinator. The ethnic studies coordinator is recommended as another transition position from a stipend role to a point two FTE position. Uh the coordinator will manage the curriculum material requests, support ethnic studies um teachers in organizing instructional materials, support their professional development, and oversee student surveys, among other job tasks. >> Thank you. Any questions from the board? Any questions online? Um any hands raised? No? >> No. >> Okay, thank you for that confirmation. Okay, uh is there a motion motion? >> Move to approve. >> Oh. >> Second. >> Okay. That's great. You guys are eager. So a motion from trustee Griffin, seconded by trustee Andrade-Zuniga. All in favor? >> Aye. So that passes three to zero with two absent. I'm sorry, yeah, three to zero with two absent. Now

113we're on item number seven. >> Yes, the last job description is a self and social empowerment teacher lead job description. Uh the self-and-social-emotional teacher lead will support the district's 16 sections of self-and-social-emotional previously uh called guided studies, but we have 16 sections of self-and-social-emotional uh classes and um this position will facilitate the district-wide collaborations convenings that they have three times a year, lead professional development sessions uh various times in the year, support implementation of common curriculum and assessments across the 16 sections, and align instructional practices to uh coordinate with the academic support systems. >> Thank you. Any questions from the board? Any online uh hands raised? >> None. >> Thank you. Um okay, is there a motion? >> I move to approve. Okay. >> Second. >> Okay, we have a motion from Trustee Andrades-Zuniga, a

114second from Trustee Griffin. All in favor? >> Aye. So, that passes three to zero with two absent. And let's give a round of applause to Dr. Black for all that reading. Thank you so much. I feel like I read a lot coming out of closed session, but I think that you you got the award for today. Um okay, next is um division of student services. I see we have none. Uh division of instructional services, none. And division of of business services, Mr. Hawkins, let's see if you have a some speeches for us. >> Uh hopefully uh a relatively quick item tonight. Um I want to start by saying I don't know if I love that uh the DTA president seems to know as much or more than I do about the uh governor's May revise,

115but I'll try to give him a run for his money. Uh so, at the each year the governor proposes his budget uh for the next year in January. In May, he revises that budget uh proposal based upon up updated economic uh and budget information known as the May revise. There's really four main areas, takeaways that I would note from this year's May revise, um of which Mr. Childress named the most, but uh the first with I'll start with the bad and then I'll go into the good. Uh the bad is the governor is continuing to fail to appropriate the entirety of the Prop 98 guarantee. Um uh a little under to the tune of a little under $4 billion dollars. Um this is at least a violation of the spirit of Proposition 98 and potentially

116uh and likely um the letter of the law as well. Um number two, I'll go into the the positive items uh for our state uh funded district uh partners that uh around the state and in the county, uh there was an added on COLA, so an amount added on above and beyond the COLA, um which we're very happy for our state funded uh partners. Uh number three, uh getting on to things that would impact San Mateo Union High School District, uh there is a significant increase uh in the AB 602 funding uh proposed. Um those go through uh the SELPAs, so this will impact districts differently, um but we're working with the County Office of Ed to see uh what impact that will have uh and we're hoping uh obviously positive on that. Um and

117the the fourth is the proposal and the likelihood of one-time funding uh related to the student services and professional development block grant. Uh this will depend uh very uh heavily on how that funding is proposed to be allocated. Uh our hope is that it will be allocated on a per student fund funding basis, but the the state has varied amongst the last couple of years on how they've done that going between unduplicated pupil count ADA as well as LCF F calculations for that. So if you're watching that one in the state, look for per student funding would be the best way that would be allocated for us. The next steps on this the governor will be working with the assembly and the Senate and we hope to have a budget around June 15th, but as

118I noted earlier, they have found the loophole in the June 15th or don't get paid legislation by passing a placeholder budget by June 15th and then finalizing, but they have been finalizing by the end of June or the first few days in July. So more information to come at potentially the June 25th meeting if we have information if not our first meeting in August on the budget. So with that I'm happy to open it up to questions. >> Thank you Mr. Hawkins. Any questions from the board? >> I just have a comment. This is why it's important to vote. >> Yes. >> Because we're going into voting for governor. >> Yep. >> And you know, it's really important that we vote for a governor that has public education in mind. Um positively. So again why

119it's so important. Thank you. >> It's just an action item. >> No action beside you. Just informational. >> And no hands raised or comments. >> you for that. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Hawkins. Um board operations Dr. Black. >> Uh, these are the um, legislative updates. These are just for information and discussion and would be put on consent. They're all um, from the legislature. This is the second part of the February updates. >> Thank you. Any questions from the board? Any questions? If there's no questions, then we'll we'll move to consent for the next meeting. >> Do our students have any >> No, that's true. >> Yeah. >> No questions. >> Same here, no questions. Okay. >> Thank you. Well, here's our favorite, uh, one of our favorite topics. >>

120me can I just interrupt to say, there is a portion in here that would be good for you both to read on >> At home work now. >> on freedom of speech and expression as it applies to students. >> There was a lot of There was a lot >> about that. So, maybe not tonight cuz you probably haven't had a chance, really good chance to dig in, but I want to encourage you and the rest of the student board council to look at updated policy 5145.2 and its corresponding administrative regulation. It absolutely impacts in a good way, I would say, freedom of speech and expression. So, something to take a look at. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, so one of our favorite topics is, uh, future board agenda items. I know we have a

121requested board item from the previous meeting, but are there any additional board items that, um, we would like >> We're packed, actually, yeah. >> We're good. >> But we love to meet every Thursday, so we'll keep doing that for a while. That's true, the three of us are here. Now, the other the other two trustees, they have something going on tonight, but they actually informed us, so um, we do miss them, but we'll see them next Thursday. Um, okay. So, if there's nothing else, we will adjourn.