SMUHSD Board Meeting - April 16, 2026

001Good afternoon. This is one of the interpreters, Brenda Tamis. I don't see myself on the screen. I don't know if you guys have locked me as an interpreter. Again, my name on the screen should be Brenda [email protected]. >> Mhm. >> I'm not doing it loud enough. We're going to get the meeting started and uh thank you for everybody being here. This is exciting. Um Let me see if we're getting my IT guys in the back. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to call the meeting to order. Today is uh April 16th and it is 7:06 p.m. Thank you everyone for coming in person and also virtually. Roll call. Trustee Griffin. Present. Trustee Andrade Zuniga. Presente. Trustee Land. Present. Trustee Jacobson. Present. >> And I am present. Tonight we have a team from Hannah Interpreting as our Spanish

002interpreters. For those who would like to attend the meeting virtually in Spanish, that option is available. Hannah Interpreting, would you please communicate that for us this evening? Thank you. Muy buenas noches. Gracias por participar con nosotros esta noche en la reunión. Tenemos al equipo de Hannah Interpreting sirviéndonos con el servicio de interpretación. Si usted desea utilizar el servicio de interpretación, por favor vaya al fondo de la pantalla, seleccione el globo terráqueo o los tres puntitos y indique ahí que quiere escuchar en el idioma de su preferencia. Muchas gracias. Thank you very much. Thank you. If you wish to view closed captions of this meeting, please view the meeting on the S- on the SMUHSD Board Meeting YouTube channel. The link to the YouTube channel can be found on our website. You may view the captions

003in 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 the meeting after it has ended. Viewer viewers may request additional combinations by calling 650-558-2201. For our deaf and hard of hearing community, we have a team from Hand Interpreting Services, 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 have the Pledge of Allegiance. Will our student board representatives lead us in the pledge? Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Now, we

004we were I will report out of of actions taken in closed session. In closed session, the board, upon motion of trustee Griffin, and seconded by trustee Andrade Zuniga, moved to postpone the expulsion hearing of case 25-26-26 with a vote of 4 to 0 with one absence. The votes were as follows: trustee Griffin, yes; trustee Andrade Zuniga, yes; trustee Land, absent; trustee Jacobson, yes; trustee Chavez, yes. In closed session, the board, upon motion of trustee Jacobson and trustee Griffin, moved to to postpone the expulsion hearing of case 25-26-32 with a vote of 4 to 0 with one absent. Trustee Griffin, yes; trustee Andrade Zuniga, yes; trustee Land, absent; trustee Jacobson, yes; trustee Chavez, yes. In closed session, the board, upon motion of trustee Andrade Zuniga, and seconded by trustee Griffin, moved to approve the stipulated expulsion

005case 25-26-29 with a vote of 4 to 0 and one absent. The votes were as follows: Trustee Griffin, yes. Trustee Andrade-Zuniga, yes. Trustee Land was absent. Trustee Jacobson, yes. Trustee Chavez, yes. In closed session, the board upon motion of Trustee Andrade-Zuniga and seconded by Trustee Land moved to approve the stipulated expulsion case 25-26-30 with a vote of 5 to 0. The votes were as follows: Trustee Griffin, yes. Trustee Andrade-Zuniga, yes. Trustee Land, yes. Trustee Jacobson, yes. Trustee Chavez, yes. In closed session, the board upon motion of Trustee Land and seconded by Trustee Jacobson moved to approve the stipulated expulsion case 25-26-31 with a vote of 5 to 0. The votes were as follows: Trustee Griffin, yes. Trustee Andrade-Zuniga, yes. Trustee Land, yes. Trustee Jacobson, yes. Trustee Chavez, yes. Next is J, adopt the agenda. The

006Board 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 without a 72-hour public notice. There are If there are Are there any questions from the Board of Trustees or the Superintendent in regards to the agenda? I have a recommendation. >> That's right. I'm sorry, I was going to mention that. It's okay. Okay. I recommend that we move seven, recognition of championship sports teams and our Burlingame High School assistant principal right after this adoption of the agenda prior to regular report. >> Right before K1, that's perfect. Yeah, that's perfect cuz we know we have a large crowd here. A lot of sports teams that we're going to recognize. It's so exciting.

007Okay, so I'll move I'll move to approve those items. Great. With that with that change. Okay. Second. >> Okay, so we have a motion in a second. Okay, all in favor? I. Okay, that passes 5-0 with the amendment to the agenda. Great. Go ahead, please. All right, so this evening under recognition, we're here to celebrate and recognize some of our championship sports teams. We're going to start off this evening with our Capuchino boys wrestling team. They're the Peninsula Athletic League champs for the first time in its program's history. I want to invite and congratulate head boys varsity coach Steve Matiucci. He can introduce the other coaches and wrestlers that have joined him tonight. So why don't you come on come on down. Uh okay. More than I was expecting, but uh Great. Thanks for having

008us here. Um I'll bring up uh let's just come on up. So I'm going to bring up my program that's here um because our boys won the championship, but we are also celebrating something. Uh we first year that we had girls wrestling recognized as a team. >> Right. I had nine girls sign up. I had nine girls finish the season. >> Nice. And uh looks like I will have all nine back next year as well plus a lot more. >> Nice. So uh I will uh You can see we yeah, we got got some pretty good numbers here. I think uh yeah oh, there he is. Look at that. Um so what I'll say about the team is I told them from the first event that we had to do as a team, our first

009weigh-in. Needs to be 100%. The entire team showed up at that thing 7:00 at night right on time. Not a person missed. Told them from that day forward if you act like a champion, you will be a champion. They have done everything as you see showing up again tonight. All I did was send out a couple messages, "Hey guys, be at the school board meeting." And we're here. I would like to recognize uh coach Jake Blackner. Um his son is on the team. He's been a huge help for me. My assistant, coach Jared Oka, who is really doing everything so I can relax and just be the guy I want to be and just yell and never be wrong. [laughter] And then uh our other coach who is not here is actually busy coaching little

010kids. He's got the 6 and 7-year-olds up at El Camino right now for our club. Um as you see, we got our several of our beautiful young ladies on the wrestling team. They're also very, very, very tough. Not as quite as tough as Sam Atayou. You'll see. We'll get there. I do want to recognize uh We'll keep this simple so we got a lot of people here. I will recognize we have two champions here. Uh where's Billy Goff? Billy. Billy Ferrer. 175-lb champion. And uh the heart and soul of our team. Yeah. We lost him due to injury last year and it really hurt our chances of getting to a championship. We were We came up short mainly because we had lost him. And uh our second champion, we had four finalists, our second champion

011is Jesse Chavez Jr. 127-lb champion. And he also took fifth place at CCS, barely missing uh a very close match that would have gotten him to state. Um but we'll get there next year. Um the best part about this team is we only got a couple of seniors. Billy is one of them. And all these kids are still coming back. They're sophomores and juniors. It's going to be a great season for us next year. Thanks for having us. >> All right, congratulations. Yeah. Congratulations, boys and girls. Great. Great. Great. So how we're going to organize cuz we're going to take some photos, right? So what I thought we got a lot of too many people here. So what we would do is once we introduce all these teams, if the teams can go in the

012lobby and we'll do team by team out in the lobby, a big picture. So don't quite leave yet. Um all right. So, next up, San Mateo High School girls wrestling team. They're the the Peninsula Athletic League champs. Their head coach is Isabel Cervantes Cummins is here. And as athletic director Jeff Sheller explains it, wrestling is a family sport. Dad Jason is the boys head coach. Husband Ryan is JV boys coach. Mom Aide works behind the scenes. And I want to invite them up to introduce who's joined um all of us here. So, please come on up and uh Congratulations. Thanks, everybody. Um I'd love to have the ladies come up here as well. Yeah, please. >> Um so, hey, I'm Isabel. We have my dad, coach Jason Cervantes, and my mom, coach Aide Cervantes. Uh

013my husband's also coaching a club practice right now at El Camino, so he couldn't make it today. Um but this is a really cool group of ladies. Um many returning. I don't have any graduating, so it's really exciting to see what's to come for the future here. Um I do want to shout out some of our league champions. We have Izzy Villareal, Rachel Shoemaker, and Ruby Vasquez. Um I'd also love to give an extra shout out to Izzy. She is the first girl in San Mateo wrestling history to qualify for the state championship this year. >> Nine. So, very exciting uh historical season for us. Um and we're excited to see how this program grows. Congratulations. Congratulations. Make sure you have the photos. All right. Last up, we've got our Central Coast Section Division 3

014girls basketball champions, the Mills High School Vikings. I'd like to ask head coach Justin Matsuda to join us and introduce his team. Tell us a little bit about this amazing season. Come on up. They outside or they here? No, Pam's here. Hi Pam. They're coming. Okay. Okay, great. Thank you. Uh thank you guys for for having us tonight. Uh just a special group of kids up here celebrating our our our second CCAC championship in a row and and third in the last four years. A resilient group that came together. We graduated eight kids from last year's team, only returned five. So eight new kids on varsity this year. They just bought in from the start. Kind of an up and down year with injuries. We found our footing at the end of the year and

015made a nice little run. Just super proud of these kids. These seniors to leave on a high note the way they did. Hanging three banners in our gym is awesome. And and now these eight kids coming back are are looking to do it again next year. But super proud of this group. Staying the course, getting better every day, learning, having fun with one another, loving one another, playing together. That's what that's what we try to teach every day. These girls did it and there's a reason why we we hung another banner in that gym. So super proud of these girls and thank you guys for having us. Congratulations. Yeah. Congratulations. Congratulations. And you said Superintendent Booker, the photos are out. >> Yeah, so Mr. Hawkins, I think you're going to do photos out there. We're

016going to keep going here. Yeah, thank you very much. Thank you to all the teams. I really appreciate you. Thank you. He is the new photo person. Yeah. Cuz Laura's out. All right, we have one I'm going to wait till it clears out a little bit and then we have one more recognition before we move to the next agenda item. >> This is a congratulations to all the teams. Yeah. We know you work really hard for this. It's a huge effort. Think we've had this many people in this room before, huh? All right. Okay, this evening I'm really excited to introduce our recommended Burlingame High School Assistant Principal. This is Dr. Chad Slyfe. Chad, come on up to the podium, please. I'll say a few things. Hi Jen, you can there, too. Dr. Chad Slyfe

017is a dedicated educator and student-centered leader with more than 23 years of experience in public education. Born and raised in Riverside, California, he began his career as a Teach for America Corps member and has since served as a teacher, a founding assistant principal of a charter middle school, and an elementary school principal for 7 years. Throughout his career, he has focused on strengthening school communities and improving outcomes for students through MTSS, universal design for learning, restorative practices, and culturally responsive instruction. Currently, Dr. Slyfe works at the San Mateo County Office of Education, where he partners with districts and school leaders to build inclusive, student-centered systems that support both students and staff alike. He is excited to bring his experience and commitment to BHS as its next assistant principal. He's a first-generation college student, a college

018graduate, excuse me, who earned his bachelor's degree from USC, a master's degree from San Francisco State University, and a doctor of education from Vanderbilt University. And outside of his professional work, Chad enjoys fitness and long-distance running. He's completed a half and or full marathon in 43 states so far, and has also served as a personal a certified personal trainer and spin instructor. His spouse and family do their best to keep him along the way. So, Dr. Slyfe, welcome to San Mateo Union High School District and more specifically Burlingame High School. Well, thank you. I know I'm not nearly as exciting as championship sports teams. So, let's just acknowledge that. I also just have to It was so amazing. One of my former elementary kiddos is now a ninth-grader just walked out on one of those

019teams. >> Nice. So, our world is small. Well, good evening. I'm going to try to make this short. Good evening, board. Good evening, Superintendent Booker. Thank you for giving me this honor tonight, and I'm very very excited as Jen knows through many conversations to be one of our newest assistant principals at Burlingame High. Superintendent Booker highlighted a lot of things I was going to say, so I'll make it even shorter. But I just really want to focus on why I am excited to do this role. Um it's really about those moments like right now seeing Melissa when a student feels seen, um supported and pushed to reach what they didn't think was possible. Um and that's why that mission's personal for me. I am a first-generation college graduate coming from a very large family that

020didn't know what college meant. I missed every deadline and didn't have anyone to guide me when I was in high school. And so, that really steered me to where I am now. Um I've played a pivotal role in shaping my path. And I really carry that because so important and powerful that we see what school does and the doors it can open. But we have to help our students open those doors. Um what drew me to Burlingame, not only is it beautiful, uh but the strong sense of community and the shared commitment to both excellence and what really my core value, belonging. I believe Thanks. Go Panthers. Um as highlighted in my little bio, I believe racial relationships are where we begin. But our responsibility is to turn that connection with our students into high

021expectations, meaningful learning, and a real opportunity for every student. I'm grateful to be here. I'm ready to listen, learn, and partner with all of you in supporting the incredible Burlingame High School community. So, thank you for the welcome and go Panthers. >> Yeah. Welcome. And I love to run a good fitness boot camp, so whenever you want it, let me know. That's a challenge. Great. Let's That's all right. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. Superintendent Booker, are we going to go back to uh the regular the regular reports? So, reports superintendent. >> Thank you very much. All right. Uh I I want to start by uh acknowledging and thanking the families that are here tonight. Uh and the many others that are on I I'm presuming online uh to offer their feedback as well and and

022to those that have written to us uh about the relocation of Bay Academy. Uh I've read your emails carefully uh and what stands out the most to me is not just your concern for program change. Uh it's how personal this is for you and your children. Uh you shared stories about students who've worked incredibly hard to build relationships, confidence, independence, and a real sense of belonging. Uh and for many, Burlingame High School is not just a campus, uh it's a place where your child feels known and accepted, uh included, and proud of who they are. And I want you to know that we hear that, I hear that, uh and we respect it, and personally, both as an educator and a parent of two two adult children with significant cognitive and physical disabilities, uh I

023understand that instinct to hold on to what is working, to protect the environments where your child feels safe and successful. Those feelings are real, and they do matter. I also want to acknowledge something that many of you raised, which is communication. It's fair to say that this information did not reach families in the way or at the time you would have preferred. We could have done better, we will do better in how we engage and communicate uh along the way. And at the same time, I want to be honest about that. While earlier communication uh would have helped the process, I understand that for many of you would not have changed how you feel about the decision itself. This is not just about when or how you heard, it's about the impact on your child,

024and I respect that. So, I want to take a moment to be clear about what the change is and and what it's not, especially for those families that might be just tuning in. Uh this is not a closure of Bay Academy. Uh the program isn't going away. This is a relocation uh of students, educators, and services. Students will remain in the Bay Academy program. Their individual education programs will continue to be fully implemented. There's no reduction in services and no impact to free appropriate public education. Just as importantly, the teachers and instructional assistants who know your students will be moving with them, so there's continuity in the relationships that matter most. I want to address something that we've heard directly, which is that this decision was made because of space or enrollment at Burlingame. That's

025not true. It's not. Uh, this decision was made with the intention of strengthening the Bay Academy program for its students. By bringing classes together at Hillsdale and Mills, campuses that already host multiple Bay Academy classrooms. We're striving to create more connected program sites. Each campus will have four classes, which allows for stronger peer connections, more collaboration among staff, and more consistent program experience. It also expands access to coursework aligned with the alternative diploma pathway, giving students more options and greater flexibility in scheduling and a broader range of electives. And at the same time, students will continue to participate in unified PE, community-based learning, and inclusive campus experiences. But I want to say this clearly, none of these programmatic benefits take away from what your children have built where they are today. I I hear that.

026We understand that this change represents a real sense of loss. That's why you're all here. Uh, for some students and families, and it's important that we acknowledge that honestly. Our responsibility now is to move forward in a way that is thoughtful and supportive, and that means giving students opportunities to visit campuses, meet peers, and begin to build familiarity before the transition. And it means maintaining continuity with trusted staff, and continuing to listen to families and support students individually through this process. And I also want to acknowledge something about tonight's meeting that's that's tough. I know that for many of you, there's a desire for a back-and-forth conversation to ask questions and get immediate responses. But because this is a public board meeting governed by the Brown Act, we're not able to engage in that kind

027of dialogue during public comment tonight. Please don't take my silence or the board's silence as disinterest or that we're not listening. It's not how it works. >> [clears throat] >> Simply a limitation of the setting. So, we're committed to continuing these conversations outside of tonight through meetings or phone calls, direct outreach so that we can hear your concerns and respond more fully. Your voice does matter. Uh all of the emails that I've received, the back and forth, uh the short ones, the long ones, all all of those uh I have shared with the board. Uh and they're shaping how we approach this transition uh moving forward. We're not going to all agree on this decision, I know that. I'm not here to convince you of it. Uh but, I want to assure you that the

028care, dignity, and sense of belonging for your children across the district remain at the center of our work. So, I do appreciate you being here. Uh I am going to listen, uh [snorts] take a lot of notes, and I'll continue to advocate really strongly for your students like I have my own. Um so, I appreciate the opportunity to speak. Thank you, trustee uh trustee Travis. Thank you. Okay, next is a report of the teachers district uh teachers uh district teachers association. If they're online, I don't believe they'll have a report. Okay, Cindy. Okay, thank you. How about CSEA chapter 519? They don't have a report. Okay, Cindy. Um how about Saugus Adult Teachers Association? Yes. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Aquino. You're you're My apologies on behalf of Miss Garcia. Thank you. You

029can turn on your camera and begin, Miss Garcia. Thank you. Oh. Good evening. Sorry about that. Um Good evening, Board President, Vice President, Board Members, and Superintendent. We appreciate the opportunity to be here. And as always, we are super excited to represent the San Mateo Adult Incarcerated Education Campus tonight and share community updates. I am Lynette Garcia. I'm the AFT 4861 San Mateo Union Vice President. This is Advocating April. Our focus tonight is for our students uh at the San Mateo Adult Incarcerated Education Campus. Our students aren't just learning, they are leading. We're building community through advocacy and action. So, that is our theme for this evening and for the rest of this month. Um as you might remember, we hosted the CCAAE District Meeting at the San Mateo Adult School. And we are putting

030our students on the national leadership advocacy level. SMAY students are stepping into the national stage, proving that their voices have power far beyond the local level. Co-Op Students as Leader Summit. We have two student council members fresh off of their March Board Meeting presentations, representing SMAY at the national level. National Student Ambassador Program, which we have, is one of the best programs in adult education in California. I'm just going to say that cuz I like it. Um by joining this program, these leaders are now part of a nationwide network sharing their personal stories and educational journeys with peers and educators from across the country. We will be participating in Led Day representing the San Mateo Adult Consortium. Led Day in Sacramento is next week. Student Council officers, I believe we have five. We have two

031staff members and our director will lead uh will be heading to the state capital. What does this do? This provides students with first-hand civic engagement teaching them how to collaborate with policy makers to benefit adult education. It also provides professional development and peer mentorship. We don't just attend conferences, we lead them. For the upcoming CCAE state conference, three student council officers will serve as presenters at the end of April. This builds public speaking confidence and establishes the SMACE students as subject matter experts in student leadership. We are currently in process for registration. It is Advid. You can always tell because parking is not so great. The role of our registration uh ambassadors By assisting new students with registration, current students act as the face. This peer-to-peer support reduces anxiety for incoming newcomers, right? It's scary.

032Many of them are coming from other countries. They're here for the first time and it builds an immediate sense of partnership. Strengthening the campus community. Our internal events are designed to bridge gaps between levels and cultures. SMACE spirit days. These days foster fun, unified campus identity reminding students and the staff that they are part of a shared mission. We uh upcoming we have a transition potluck by combining high and low advance and high intermediate classes at a local park. We will be creating a mentorship pipeline. Welcoming students get a glimpse of their future curriculum. Promoted students maintain social balance and celebrate their progress. Cultural exchange encouraging students to share dishes from their home cultures turns a meal into a lesson in global diversity building deep mutual respect. What are the benefits of this collaborative model?

033It empowers the students. Students see themselves as advocates who can influence state and national policy. That's really what Led Day is all about. Social capital networking at conferences like COABE and CCAE opens doors to future opportunities. Retention social events like the potluck it creates a stickiness. The Sam Mateo Adult School is not just about education it is education and community building. Making students feel valued and more likely to complete their programs. Soft skills serving as ambassadors or presenters builds the power skill of communication leadership organization that many employers crave. Education is the foundation but partnership is the mortar. When our students move from classroom to state capital they aren't just learners. They are the most effective champions for the future of adult education. Standing in solidarity we leave you with this quote failure is truly

034the road to success. Be willing to step in as fail really is forward action invokes or inspires learning. Thank you very much from myself. Have a good evening. Thank you Miss Garcia. Yes great. Next we have reports from our student board representatives and welcome and we're really happy you're here with us. Hi, thank you. Um, hello everyone. My name is Zoe Center and I'm a sophomore at Burlingame High School. Go Panthers. I'm a part of the school's mock trial, the school's Model UN, as well as being president of the speech and debate club at Burlingame High School. For Model UN, I'm helping host P-MUN 3 at Burlingame High, which is essentially Burlingame's own Model UN conference that we're hosting on campus, which is really fun. And um, I'm a part of the school's robotics team

035and we have scored positions at World Championship, which is also very fun because this is for the second time in a row. Uh, to commemorate our musical theater program, the students have just finished with Rent, which was a very lovely production and I went to go see it. The advanced video productions created advertisements based on of the musical, which were broadcasted school-wide on BTV, our school's news program. Going further into what Burlingame High School has accomplished this year, there was an implementation of a project called STACKS, where students are meant to stack their um, lunch trays into the system to reduce plastic waste and it's helped better our school environment as well as physically how our school looks. The peer tutoring program, for which I tutor for, has gained a new librarian who authorizes both

036the tutors and tutees and ensures that everything is running smoothly. Benefiting the mental health of our students was Media Free Week, which was hosted by NAMI and supported, which was National um, Association of Mental Health and it's a club at Burlingame High School as well. And students were handing out free slime to students who came and acknowledged their favorite activity to do outside and students were encouraged to be off their cell phones for the week. Staying straying away from solely academics and extracurricular activities, Burlingame High School has announced that the theme for prom will be Hollywood and the dance will be a fun and engaging time for students to interact and bond with one another. I'm going to pass it on to my other student board member, Alexa. Thanks, Zoe. Hi, everyone. My name is

037Alexa. I'm a junior and I'm one of the representatives from San Mateo High School. Um at San Mateo, I'm a peer tutor and and involved in several clubs like Sage X, which is Science Accelerating Growth and Engagement, um the Bible Study Club and Crochet Clubs. Um I'm also personally passionate about sharing resources and creating media, so I have my own podcast where I interview professionals in different careers so that high schoolers who don't know what they want to do in college or for their career can watch and explore. Um going back to what we're doing at the student board meeting, which was recently, um we talked about the Classroom Transformation Project for Mr. Royce who I believe I saw earlier. Um we learned about the design and how it will be implemented over the summer.

038We also discussed plans for the student board next year. Um I personally joined because I want to pursue a career in education and I wanted to learn a little bit more about the administration and we definitely have we've learned about things like the Brown Act. Um so, I'd highly encourage students here or students watching to look into it um if they want experience in that. And yeah, I'm so excited for um future student board members to become more involved. Um for update for San Mateo, um San Mateo and other schools in the district are in the middle of CASP testing. San Mateo also had prom on Saturday. There was huge turnout. Um other are going on, the Bearcat Drama program is performing Darling, I'm Home over the weekend and there's also a student art show

039next Friday. Um there are no proclamations for this meeting, but a few of the upcoming ones are education educator appreciation month and AAPI Heritage Month. Thank you. Thank you both for reporting out. It's awesome. You guys are awesome. Next we have our governing board comments. Um Is the um Griffin, would you like to go first? No report. No report, okay. All right. Trustee Anna Gonzales Zuniga? Yes, for the sake of time I will read a portion of the land acknowledgement. We thank the first people, the care of the land we use now for education and activities. Our responsibility of caring the of the earth for the earth, excuse me, 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

040preserve the land for future generations. Um I just want to give a couple of announcements. Um the Kent and Garfield Awards, um which are awards for different programs throughout the school district, or excuse me, throughout the county, are happening on May 8th at the Crown Plaza. So for uh trustees and folks that are interested in joining, please uh go on you can go on to our website uh at the San Mateo County School Board Association. Um and then also we are I'm glad that there's a lot of families here that are involved in special education because we are looking for families to get involved in the SELPA. The SELPA is really important because it talks about the local uh control plan for special education across the San Mateo County schools through the Office of Education.

041And so we need your voices. Um we need folks to be involved and um give us your experiences and your expertise in what you know in your own experience. So, that's it. Thank you. Thank you. Trustee Land? Real quick, I am exhausted because I just got off a plane from Washington D.C. Uh, literally an hour ago. Um, I just want to say we I was there to do lobbying for a coast to coast, which is our school boards association, uh, and Axia, which is the administrators association, advocating for such things as fully funding IDEA, and it's something we need to do and uh, I just want to say Dr. Superintendent Booker, thank you for your stuff. I gave the car charts and everything to the people that were supposed to be there. Yeah. Okay. Thank

042you. Trustee Jacobson? Uh, yes, but just very briefly, I was able to attend the um, first round interviews for the new principal for Aragon High School last week. Uh, it was a um, very positive process and um, it was great to see that we had many qualified candidates that um, that we're looking forward to advancing with this process and also for the Burlingame principal as well. I attended the Equity Advisory Council meeting last week and that was our last meeting of the year. Um, and also our AI Task Force meeting this week on Tuesday night. Um, and we are making great progress in preparing for our study session coming up in May and preparing uh, recommendations for AI AI policy for next school year. And that's all. Thanks. >> Uh, I'll keep this brief. I'm

043going to echo what uh, Trustee Land said. I Uh, we were both at the same um, California School Board Association conference. My plane was delayed also, so we're we might look a little tired, but but we're not. I mean, actually we are tired, but we're fighting through it because this is an important meeting. It's important for us to be here. Um, so real briefly I'm just going to say that we Greg and I Trustee Lana and I were part of a a group from San Mateo County. Actually, let me step back. We're we're part of a group from all California Trustees. So, there were a few hundred, about 250 Trustees were there, but we were part of a smaller group advocating for San Mateo County. Um, with our San Mateo County Trustees we were advocating

044for um as Greg mentioned um funding uh for IDEA. We also advocated for protecting student online safety. We advocated for support to to support responsible AI in education. And we advocated to strengthen career technical education. Um, so I know that we have a lot more to say, but given the number of public comments we have, we want to keep our comments short. So, thank you. That's my report out. Um and we're going to go on to the public comments. If you are in person and wish to make a comment about an agenda item or during the public comment section at the begin beginning of the agenda, please fill out a request to address the board form and submit it to the secretary. This form should be given to the secretary before the agenda item begins.

045If you are joining us virtually, use the raise hand feature on Zoom to be recognized. When invited to do so, your camera must be on when you are called upon to make a public comment. We will call on call on you to begin your comment once we have promoted you into the meeting. If your camera is not operational, please email your comments to the Board of Trustees at [email protected]. Please note that comments are limited to 3 minutes. 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, I I will say that we have 16 public comments. So, if we can stay um on within we need to stay within the time frame or less. Um we're not going to

046be accepting any more after these 16. Um Ms. Aquino, do we have any more blue cards? No, okay. And we I I also would like to see if we can get a count of raised hands on Zoom. There are two. There are two. Okay. Um so those on Zoom could please raise your hand now because because we want to we want to like draw a line here. Is it still just two? And two. >> Okay. Okay, great. And I have the names. Okay, perfect. Okay, so we're going to go with some in-person comments and we'll I think we should mix in the online comments. I I really appreciate that when Trustee Andrazuni get to that as well. When there's a lot of comments, I I would like to mix that in. So, let's go with

047a in-person comment first. Michael Jared. Thank you so much. It's great to be here. Uh my name is Mike Jared. Um and I'm here this evening regarding the decision to split Bay Academy and move it out of Burlingame High School. Um my concern is about the process. Uh families were not in uh informed of a proposal. They were informed of what appeared to be a finalized decision affecting their student placement for next year, communicated privately before this meeting. Based on my review, I was not able to find the specific action where it was publicly discussed and open for meaningful comment before families were notified. The Brown Act requires public input before conclusions are reached and not after. So, my question is simple. At what meeting did deliberation occur prior to this decision being made? If

048that did not occur, then this raises serious concerns about whether the required process was followed and whether the affected families may have grounds to seek further review. I would strongly encourage the district to pause during this um bring this forward through the proper public process and ensure that the community has a meaningful opportunity to weigh in before moving forward. Thank you for your comment. Jen Parker. Hello. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you guys. My name is Jen Parker. My husband Vic and I and our four children are residents of Hillsborough. Our youngest Lou is 16, has severe epilepsy and an intellectual disability. He's a freshman at Burlingame High School enrolled in the Bay Academy. And importantly, when I left tonight in this class of 29 shirt, he said, "Mommy, isn't that mine?" The

049district notified us verbally on April 1st that they were closing Bay Academy at Burlingame High, dividing the cohort of 25 students up and sending them to either Hillsdale or Mills for the 26-27 school year. The director of special education superintendent maintained this has been a thoughtful and considered decision and the move will better enable them to deliver in the alternate diploma. But nothing about how this process has been handled reveals thoughtfulness, due process, or good faith. Nearly 2 weeks after verbal notification, the district provided written notice. They claim they didn't owe us written notice because while a change of place, this is not a change of services. This is not true. This move, the disruption, deregulation, loss of decade-long friendships, and community belonging will inherently change services for Lou and his classmates, impact their social

050emotional health, and cost them meaningful learning and progress toward their towards their IEP goals. But the superintendent, the district's email is just language and positioning, trying to make the move seem student-centric and claiming the program's designed and in place, and it's not. While this will be the focus of our legal fight for Lou's right to his community and place at Burlingame High, we're here today to pose a larger question. What kind of community are we? Are we a community that values difference as countless efforts in our schools seem to suggest year after year or are we a community that's comfortable sending a message that if you have special needs or a disability, you are not as entitled to your home community as your typically developing peers. We presume the two Bay Academy classrooms once empty

051after eliminating our students will be used for Burlingame's lengthy wait list of Gen Ed students. This is discrimination, establishes [clears throat] differential treatment, and is of particular interest to our legal counsel. The message is clear. The district has decided that typically developing kids are more deserving of their community school, while it's fine to leave students with special needs community less. We respectfully ask that you intervene on this decision the same way you would if a move of this magnitude was being considered for students in general education. Our students and families are due more discussion, more specific descriptions of services, and more time to explore and consider alternatives. The lateness of this notice has made the whole situation untenable for families and left us little option. Please, we beg you to pause this move and give

052it the careful exploration it deserves. Issue a stay for the next school year so you can review the decision-making process, engage the stakeholders in meaningful conversation, and fully audit the plan we know you're being told is in place. Please, pause before ripping our son and his classmates from their belonging at Burlingame High in the name of a program that is not at all ready for delivery. Thank you for your comments. Julia Ott. Um, hello. My name is Julia Ott and I am a junior at Burlingame High School. I want to start by saying that Bay needs to stay at BHS. You've claimed that this relocation is supposed to be supportive of these students and give them more opportunities or some other justification, but I feel that the best opportunities are already here at Burlingame. Our

053school is the way it is because of its diversity of students. The Bay Academy kids make Burlingame special and they belong at BHS just like I do and just like any other student does. Seeing them leave would be a terrible loss to BHS as a whole. Not only are they our classmates, they are our friends. Specifically, I've come to know one kid named Donovan. He eats lunch with my friends and me every single day. He talks to us about Frozen and Zootopia and asks us about the songs that we like and the movies that we love. We engage with him and talk to him like we would anyone else. Seeing and talking to Donovan has become a regular part of our school day and it would become heartbreaking to see him leave just to make

054more space for other students that are considered more mainstream and easier to teach. I even share a birthday with him and we get got to celebrate in January on that day together at school surrounded by not my, but our friends. Bay Academy students are part of the fabric of BHS and part of what makes our school great. By moving these kids out of Burlingame, it's not just affecting them, but affecting all the students that go to our school. We know them and they know us and Bay Academy kids belong at BHS. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Good evening. My name's Emily Simon and I'm a junior at Burlingame High School as well. This year, my service club, Keep It Kind, has had the privilege of working with Bay Academy. Several Tuesdays in a

055month, we go to Mr. Doug's Bay Academy classroom and we spend time with Bay Academy students. In in his classroom, we play games. Some favorites are charades and bingo. We engage in meaningful conversation to promote conversational skill abilities as well as do fun crafts to celebrate different holidays. Like, for Valentine's Day, we made Valentine's Day cards together to promote inclusion. Before I knew it, these visits quickly felt like quickly stopped feeling like volunteering. I found myself looking forward to every Tuesday in the week, knowing I'd be spending time with such funny, genuine people who always make me laugh, impress me constantly, and who I've truly connected with. Whether it's completing Star Wars puzzles with Marcus and Rosie, through a game of Oh, sorry. Or laughing through a game of Jenga with Carter and Leo, I

056forget that I'm supposed to be there to help. It just feels like spending time with friends. I'm also lucky enough to have Bay Academy students in my Foods and Nutrition class. And seeing them there, learning, engaging, being part of the community in the classroom makes something very clear. These students belong at Burlingame. Burlingame High School is their home and school as much as it's mine. Bay Academy doesn't just support its students. It strengthens our community, it creates friendships, breaks down barriers, and it shows students like me what inclusion truly is. Bay Academy is something a program that is so meaningful to not just the families in it, but the students of our whole entire school and our community. Before this year, I didn't know much about Bay Academy, but now that I do, I can't

057imagine Burlingame High School without it. Thank you. Uh President Chavez had to step out, so I will call the next speaker, Marcy Uecker. Uker. Yeah, doesn't really roll off the tongue. Um uh thanks for listening tonight and for supporting all these amazing individuals and our kids. Uh my son is 25 now, and he is a proud Panther graduate of Burlingame High School before it was Bay Academy and continued on to the adult program which were highlights in his life and ours as well. I'm very emotional after these girls were speaking. Um and it really speaks to what one of the things I was going to say is the richness that my son received after being in private schools sequestered from typical peers because the school system had failed him in elementary and middle school. So

058to join Burlingame High School where his older brother was and he knew all his friends it was miraculous for my son August. It was something he looked forward to and really couldn't believe and neither could we. And the kids that embraced him would have shared the same things that the girls did tonight. How it enriched and created a win-win situation for a world to accept people of inclusion. I certainly didn't have that growing up. We talked about kids in a school down the hallway and we knew nothing nothing was shared. We were not educated. They were not included. And to go forth and have a son that with special needs looking back on that completely broke my heart. And the reason I bring that up is it's just about inclusion and including and how the

059world rest of the world needs to meet us halfway. Those of us with special needs children. And it starts at this level. It starts well before but I can't stress it enough the community that my son had and to walk downtown Burlingame Avenue. I mean we all know what a special thing this is for all students and I have to emphasize that it's even more unique and special for our students with special needs. All the the merchants know. Even my son now when he goes down there they all know who he is. And I know that our tribe feels the same way and to pull it out of Burlingame High School this unique opportunity we have to be downtown to be at the same high school with their siblings and their neighbors and their community.

060It's one of the most meaningful things my son has ever had in his education and I can't imagine his peers not having the same. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your comments. Mr. Piano, can we promote one of the online comments? Thank you. I'm going to promote Joy, and I apologize if I mess your last name, Schmuley. You can turn on your camera and begin. Uh good evening, President Chavez, Superintendent Booker, and members of the board. My name is Joy Schmuley, and I am the parent of a current sophomore at Hillsdale High School. Serve on the PTSO board, and I'm a mostly proud alumna of this school. I apologize I'm not there in person, but I committed to helping with set construction for night moves, and I'm currently in a hallway to get consistent

061Wi-Fi or stairwell. Let me begin to say I think the world of Principal Gilbert. He is a respected administrator who I believe genuinely cares about the students and families. I'm here to speak about the email sent out to families on Friday, March 27th. The gut punch was devastating. The subject line, dehumanizing message, and the content fell short fell short. This was not just a message. Death to Israel is anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, a hate crime, and a threat to Jewish and Israeli students. Nowhere in the email were those words used. Why not call it what it is? Why not clearly affirm to Jewish and Israeli students that they matter? If this had targeted another group, I believe terms like racist or phobic would have been used directly, but not for our Jewish and Israeli community. In this

062case, I believe the concern that that specific others may be upset that we, as a community, religious group, and ethnicity ethnicity, are being support are being supported and defended took precedence over supporting a vulnerable group of Jewish and Israeli students. I reached out immediately to Mr. Gilbert and Superintendent Booker. Mr. Gilbert responded within an hour even as his spring break began and continued to respond promptly to follow-ups to follow-ups, excuse me. I appreciate that and I stated such. At the bottom of Mr. Gilbert's first response, he closed saying he assumed Superintendent Booker would weigh in. However, Superintendent Booker, I have not received a response and tomorrow will be 3 weeks. Members of our community were told that there would be a follow-up email to the Hills families. Mr. Gilbert confirmed that at our PTSA meeting

063just this Monday. It's been nearly 3 weeks without that follow-up. In his email, Mr. Gilbert does a struggle with word choice and that he has rights or education lawyer. Understood, but the district does have legal counsel. Why was this not identified as a hate incident? Families should not have to wonder whether something as this serious was recognized and handled appropriately. From the FBI, a hate crime is a traditional offense that involves murder, arson, or vandalism motivated in whole or in part by bias against a victim's actual protected characteristics including race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity. Some parents, including myself, reported this incident to the police because the original communication did not reflect the seriousness of what what occurred. Mr. Gilbert did in a follow-up and shared with another parent our reading.

064We should not have to ask whether law enforcement was involved. I also want to highlight in this opportunity the Jewish club met the Monday they returned right past Passover. That was a moment for visible support from administration, even one staff member showing up would have mattered. My son had another anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist, now on my last paragraph, incident prior to this year. I do not want him to face another. I want to know my child will be safe and supported. I want my child, who is a very active and visible member of Hillsdale, to be able to be openly and proudly Jewish. Anything less is unacceptable. And when I raise concerns about my child's safety, I want to know that I will be responded to by all parties. And I thank you for your time. Thank

065you for your comment. Thank you. Mr. Aquino, did you mention that there's one additional online? Maybe you could Could you please promote them? I'll promote Mike Swire. Thank you. Thank you. You can turn on your camera, Mr. Swire. Oops. There we go. How's that? You may begin. Okay. Yeah, thank you so much, uh, members of the board for your service to the community. My name is Mike Swire. Uh, I live in San Mateo and, um, uh, Bearcat parent. Um, I wanted to, uh, call in tonight, uh, to, uh, rehash something I started about 3 years ago where, uh, was asking the for the board's help to make it safe for kids to walk and bike to school, uh, at San Mateo High School. And unfortunately, uh, my efforts back then fell on deaf ears and

066we've had another tragedy. So, just 2 weeks ago, I'm sure you saw it, it was the lead story on every news channel in the area. A family of three and a uh, a father and 8-year-old boy and another family member were hit right in front of the district office building while in the crosswalk by a pickup truck driver who I believe was 19 years old. The father was put in the ICU. The 8-year-old boy suffered two cracks to his skull. Um, thankfully, they're on their road to recovery, but the community has poured out and basically told the city council that this is not acceptable. Uh, I'm calling tonight and this is especially frustrating because again, 3 years ago, I asked for the board's and the district's support to make Delaware safer, uh, for people in

067the community. I told you back then that my daughter had said several times that her friends have been hit while crossing the street. And yet when I asked the district, um, to make improvements to prevent such tragedies. I was told that we'll have to think about it because that might slow down traffic coming into and out of the school. Um well, this has happened again and I'm asking the district once again to do something instead of prioritizing kids driving to school, prioritize the safety especially for those who walk and bike. Uh it's currently not safe in the North Central neighborhood uh to walk and bike to school. There's a high number of kids and families there that are not wealthy enough to own cars and thus their lives are at risk when we don't put

068the make our streets safe. We have too many teen drivers driving to school. Teen drivers are four times as more likely to kill other people than older drivers. We shouldn't be encouraging kids uh with uh subsidized parking and such on campus. We should be encouraging kids to walk and bike and make it safe for us for them to do so. I've seen the district and the city's spend a lot of time on e-bike regulation, a problem that hasn't been quantified and largely does not result in death or serious injury to others. I'm asking the district instead to prioritize uh the true danger which is teenage drivers hitting and injuring people on our streets. This was a 19-year-old driver. We had a 19-year-old driver kill a boy on the sidewalk in Burlingame a few months ago

069and another 19-year-old driver um recently killed somebody with a lifted pickup truck in Santa Clara County. Please uh write to the city council and work with them to make San Mateo High School and the adjacent streets safer. Thanks so much. Thank you, Mr. Swire. And we're going to go back to in-person comments. Lonnie, I pro- I apologize if I mispronounce anyone's name. Lonnie Fritz. I am Lonnie Fritz. I um was a founder of Trumpet Behavioral Health who works with the school district um for many years. I'm also one of the co-founders of the Council for Autism Service Providers. So, I this community is especially important to me. I have three children who have gone to um the San Mateo schools. Two graduated recently from San Mateo High School. So, um I'm just here to speak

070on in support of these families and you're all in positions of leadership. Leadership is about making choices. Sometimes choices are tough and there contingencies you have to think through. I would just encourage you to listen to the comments and include the families that are impacted by these choices that you're making to ensure that that you can come to some problem-solving that is collaborative, that maybe everyone can agree we've made the right choice. These families, many of the families that my companies have worked with and that my community works with, they have to fight for everything that they get and maybe it's an opportunity to not have a be a fight. Maybe it's an opportunity to have it just be a collaborative conversation. So, I would just encourage you to reopen the debate about this and

071listen to what they have to say and come to a collaborative decision about what you're going to do. Thank you for your comment. Jenna Arbanas? Hi, thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Jenna Arbanas. I'm a Hillsborough resident and taxpayer and the mother of a rising freshman who will go to BHS who also has an disability. I want to start with Burlingame High School's stated vision, building a connected, engaged, and caring community. And their mission, which is that Burlingame High School will nurture a collaborative and responsive learning environment that supports all students in their in developing the social and emotional and critical thinking skills necessary to meet their academic and personal goals. So, the announcement of the closure of Bay Academy in the in the way in which it was communicated to

072families is in direct opposition to BHS's vision and mission. This action is not reflective of a caring community. This action is certainly not reflective of a collaborative and responsive environment and that supports all students. In fact, I understand that the Bay Academy teachers nor the principal were included in this decision. So, the district made this decision in isolation without considering the school's perspective, their mission, the students' perspective, the families and the children affected. And this is not just my opinion. This it's shared by BHS alumni, current students and and parents and I'll read just a couple of quotes. One from a recent grad class of '25 BHS. "Being involved in the Bay Academy community at Burlingame was one of the most meaningful and impactful aspects of my high school experience and displacing or moving these

073students from their home school feels deeply discriminatory." Another BHS alumni class of '95 wrote, "Inclusive classrooms are where students grow into empathetic, understanding individuals by learning alongside their peers with different abilities. Removing Bay Academy removes those daily opportunities for connection, kindness, and growth for all students." And as a former Burlingame High School student, she urges you to reconsider the decision. And finally, Kelsey Armstrong, a mother of a current ninth, 11th, and 12th grade at BHS. She says, "Her kids are devastated to hear about the news about Bay Academy. These are their classmates and friends and she notes that this would never happen to gen ed kids. This decision is not consistent with the values of BHS and the values we want our kids to exemplify. So, what you hear in these stories and more than

07450 letters that Superintendent has and we have a booklet to hand out to you. My son can take them over. Um, [snorts] they're included from teachers, occupational therapists, speech therapists, medical doctors, former educators, all taxpayers in this district. And this is a move is not reflective of the values of BHS and it's not reflective of the values of these community. And I have yet to hear from one parent or community member that supports this. So, I asked the board to please fulfill your responsibilities when it comes to this decision. The role of the board as stated on the website is that it's to ensure that the school districts are responsive to the values, beliefs, and priorities of this community. And that you fulfill this fulfill this role specifically by performing a set of five responsibilities,

075two of which are providing community leadership as advocates for children and ensuring accountability. So, please, I'm asking you to take responsibility and reverse this decision that appears to have only been made by two employees in your district. Um and and and this decision is in direct opposition again to these community values as you can see from the people who came here. So, please, let's engage in a decision-making process that's thoughtful um and give it the time that it deserves and at least as much care as we've been given to a school field trip and and and you know, championship sports which are on your agenda tonight. This hasn't even been on an agenda. So, please, I implore you to look at this more closely. Thank you. >> Thank you for coming. Jameson Trevs Do we

076have a Jameson Trevs? And I apologize if I mispronounced the names. Hello, my name is Jameson Oh, hold on. Hello, my name is Jameson Trevs. And I'm a junior at BHS and Bay Academy. I am here tonight to say please don't take away my classroom home at BHS. I love my teachers and my aides and my school community. The two big classes may be small. And there are not many of us, but we do matter. I want to have my senior year at BHS and get oh, graduate with my old diploma as a panther. Thank you. Thank you. Jameson, you did great. And next is Nina um Berkowitz? I'm sorry. Oh, I'm You know what? I'm sorry. It's okay. Berkowitz. >> More important than my name is Zane, who's my son, a ninth grader at

077BHS. The tagline we and the rest of the community keep hearing over and over, the reason Superintendent Booker and Dr. Rochelle Hooks claim that uprooting our children from their school is to strengthen and expand the program to better support students. Don't be fooled. There is no supporting data to back this up. The Bay Academy families have been taking notes from 4-1 on. April 1st was the day that we received the phone call. We've been gathering information from different angles. Poorly run IEP meetings, poorly crafted letter poorly crafted form letters, a few thoughtful emails, phone calls, meetings, and our visits at the proposed site school sites, Hillsdale and Mills. We have a few points to make. It is very obvious to us that the reasoning the special ed administration is giving for the move is not

078to more effectively teach the new alternative diploma curriculum as they've been unable to provide to provide any data or details behind that. Taken from the many discussions we have all been having, the teacher sentiment is to continue on as usual, the move not being necessary at all. The teacher sentiment also seems to be that teaching to the alt diploma doesn't warrant this move. They would still be able to effectively teach to the alt diploma without such a a destructive change to our students. The host schools teacher were teachers were just as surprised and as blindsided as we were. The parents They had no The teachers had no prior knowledge that our students would be moving over to their schools. Those who work with the students most closely, the teachers, therapists, families, were and continue to

079be the least in the know. No one was consulted for any input. No thorough planning or consulting was done prior to the phone calls received on April 1st over spring break. Carelessly and casually notifying us that Bay Academy will no longer be offered at BHS and that in the fall our kids would not be returning to their school. Following the very shocking phone call, there has been a plethora of erroneous and careless information given to us parents. Continued incorrect school assignments requiring us to give incorrect information to our vulnerable kids more than once. Wrong tour times provided by Dr. Hooks causing us to show up at the new school sites where the staff was unprepared and surprised to see us. Dr. Hooks favorite quote, she herself said, "Those who mind don't matter and those who

080matter don't mind." That and her lack of common sense on proper communication of a major change are very telling. Sending the message that is we the special ed parents and families do not matter, that we are not important. We are still searching for the metrics to support the decision to remove our children from their school. Please tell me on what planet does this not warrant a board meeting with the community involvement and input? An earlier discussion, input from the BHS Bay Academy teachers and therapists, a heads up to the family with enough time to clear think clearly about and make good decisions about the future of our children's high school education. This was a hasty decision made behind closed doors with only weeks of school left impacting a very important community of students, teachers, aides,

081therapists, and parents that neither Superintendent Booker or Dr. Hook has spent any time with. Thank you for your time. Um the next speaker is Kim Tramel. I'm not sure if I'm mis- if I'm misspelling that. I'm mispronouncing that. Sorry. >> It's okay, Kim Tramel. Um and I'm a mom of a recent graduate of Burlingame High School who suffered a traumatic brain injury and actually enjoyed 4 years of outstanding service from Burlingame. I'm here tonight to represent Cindy Sibley who's a local um therapist. And her comments are as follows, that she's deeply concerned about the proposed closure of Bay Academy at BHS. My three children are all recent graduates of BHS and the Bay Academy has been an essential and valued part of that school community. As a licensed therapist and school counselor with over 20

082years of experience working with children and learning differences, I want to speak directly about the human cost of this decision. For students with disabilities, stability is not a preference. It is a clinical necessity. Research consistently shows that abrupt transitions disrupt the sense of safety and predictability that these students depend on for emotional regulation and learning. When a child with developmental or learning differences is forced to leave a familiar environment, familiar faces, and established routines, the resulting anxiety and grief can set back progress that took years to achieve. These are not abstract concerns. These are the realities I have witnessed repeatedly in my clinical work. The Bay Academy at BHS has provided far more than academic instruction. It has given these students a genuine sense of belonging within a larger school community. That belonging, feeling known,

083included, and valued alongside their neurotypical peers is itself therapeutic. It builds self-esteem, social confidence, and resilience in ways that nothing else can replicate. To dismantle this now, mid-journey for many of these students, is to remove the ground beneath their feet at a moment when they're most vulnerable. Forcing these students to transfer to a new school means rebuilding trust with new teachers, new therapists, new aides, new peers, and a process that can take months or even years. For students on the autism spectrum or those with significant anxiety or attachment difficulties, such a transition may trigger regression in behavior, communication, and independence. The therapeutic relationships already in place at BHS are not easily or quickly replaced. BHS has the institutional knowledge, the experienced staff, and the established community relationships to continue supporting these students through their high

084school years. Closing the Bay Academy does not only move a program, it uproots lives. I urge you to please rethink this decision and seek meaningful input from the families, therapists, and educators who know these students best. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Ben Sakal I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing that. Sakal It's Sakal. It's Sakal. Sakal. My name is Ben Sakal. I'm a junior at Burlingame High School. I am the founder and president of the Bay Buddies Club, which directly partners with Bay Academy at Burlingame High School. We meet once a week, eat lunch, and connect the community between the general education and special education communities at Burlingame. And some of these kids are people I've known for years, especially since middle school, such as Lou, who has been mentioned earlier. Um I'm also an

085assistant coach for the Challenger baseball team, which is run through Hillsborough Little League and includes many of the kids at the Burlingame Bay Academy. So, I know these kids very deeply and personally, and some of the bonds I have with them are the strongest friendships that I know. Um these kids are vital part of the Burlingame community, and it's really important that we get to see them every day. They inspire us with how they overcome their obstacles every day, and they bring so much joy to all the people around them. As someone who has had to change schools multiple times, I know how difficult it is to build relationships and meet new people and make new friends. And for these kids with um with cognitive differences, it is exponentially more different or difficult for them

086and they don't deserve that. These people at Burlingame are not only members of Bay Academy but are Burlingame students. Um I urge you to reconsider your decision and let Bay Academy remain part of the Burlingame High School community. Thank you, Ben. Jonny, I don't know if I should try to pronounce this. Jonny Sch Schlamp? Okay, Schlamp. Schlamp. Got Thank you. Hi. Um I'd like to ask about the process used to make the decision to close Bay Academy at BHS. I noticed that tonight's agenda includes the resurfacing of tennis courts at BHS. Yet the closure of an entire special education school, a decision that will dramatically impact children with learning differences and their families, was made with no board meetings, no public discussion, and no parental input. What justifies that disparity? I mean, tennis courts versus

087the education of children? How does that decision align with our district's commitment to transparency and inclusion? And I'd also like to add that I'm a mother of two teenagers who are better kids because they've they've grown up alongside Zane, Lou, Justin, and a handful of other kids with special needs. Taking this program out of BHS removes the ability for all the children there to grow by experiencing life alongside these very special kids. So, don't mistake yourself and think that this change will only negatively impact the kids at Bay Academy. It negatively impacts the entire student body at BHS and you don't have to do this. Thank you. Sherry Jonich? Oh, Jerry. Oh, Sherry. It's okay. I'm sorry. I know who I am. Um, >> [laughter] >> I'm Sherry Jonich and I'm here to um start

088by reading a note that my daughter sent. Um, my name is Lucy Jonich and I was a part of BHS's class of 2025. The Bay Academy at BHS had a much more significant impact on my four years at Burlingame than many could imagine. One of my best friends since middle school was able to have a meaningful high school experience because of Bay Academy and felt fully integrated with general education students, which is extremely important for both those students and for myself. I discovered my passion for working with special education students through the time I was able to spend with them at Burlingame. I was a member of the Best Buddies Club all four years and served as treasurer during my senior year. In addition, I was part of the first group of mentors for the

089inclusive PE program that was introduced to my senior year. Both of these experiences would not have been possible without Bay Academy and to think that I might never have met these individuals is truly gut-wrenching. I wrote my college essay about my friend and how his autism is a superpower that helped him become well-known and appreciated on Burlingame's campus. This essay took me very far and I am now an intended special education major at the University of Georgia. These students changed my life and defined my career path. And removing this program from them is simply discriminatory, wrong, and deeply upsetting. They deserve a safe space at Burlingame just as much as any other general education student and this decision does not reflect that. So, uh, thank you for listening to my daughter's words. What she described

090isn't abstract, it's the real lived impact of Bay Academy on this campus. It shapes not just the students in the program, but the students around them and it shapes who they become. She learned every single day what inclusion looks like, what patience requires, and what humanity asks of us. That is the kind of education we say we value. If this decision ultimately comes down to money, as so many decisions do, what exactly are we measuring? If we're talking about bodies in seats, about enrollment numbers, and funding formulas, then why wasn't growing this program part of the conversation? There are students and parents who would choose to transfer to this school specifically because of what this program represents and all of the benefits that have been described tonight. And if each student represents a certain level

091of funding, then why is a student in Bay Academy valued any less than any other student on this campus? Because what's at stake here isn't just a program, it's a statement about who belongs. When you remove a program like this, you don't just transfer resources or students around, you remove visibility, connection, and daily opportunities for empathy and understanding. You narrow the definition of community. And once that's gone, it's not easily rebuilt. I urge you to reconsider, not just for the students in Bay Academy, but for every student who deserves [clears throat] an education that reflects the real world, diverse, inclusive, and deeply human. Thank you. Sher- Sheri Jarrett. Hi, my name is Sheri Jarrett, and I'm the parent of a senior at BHS, not in the academy, but this is personal for all of us

092because of the closeness of our community. The closure of Bay Academy at Burlingame High School impacts us all. You've said this is just a change of placement, but for our students, those classrooms are more than a space. They are a home base, a place of safety, routine, and belonging. That took the work of many to build and create, including parents, teachers, and students not in the academy. Families were informed with little notice, no opportunity for input, and no explanation of why at the time. That alone has broken trust. So, I want to ask a very important question for the students and the families. What is the district's plan for those two dedicated Bay Academy classrooms that have become a home once our students are gone? Because of those spaces because of those spaces could support

093our children so well, we deserve to understand why they're being taken away and what they will be used for instead of Bay Academy. We urge you to reconsider. Thank you. Next speaker is Maggie Chen. Good evening. My name is Maggie Chen. I am a parent of a sophomore currently in the Bay Academy. Um I wanted to share a little bit about my daughter's journey. The transition to high school is a big one. You all know that. It's hard for every student, and it was very difficult for my child. So, we spent the first year just getting used to the campus, learning the program, meeting the kids on the campus, and after that first year, we finally started to settle in. We found opportunities this year where she could give out programs during um rent. She

094joined cooking where she gets to go and be a part with the kids, and the kids say hi to her, she says hi back and they love it. And a few weeks ago we saw Ben in downtown San Mateo and he came right up to her and she's like, "Hi." And I was like, "Who is this kid?" And she was like, "That's my friend." And so like these are the things that we are losing when you're moving this program. But I also want to talk about how it was communicated to parents and Superintendent Booker talked about, "Yeah, we didn't do a good job." No, you did a terrible job. We received a phone call saying, "Guess what? Rosie's going to Hillsdale with Mr. Mejia." Okay. And when I asked for an email follow-up, I said,

095"Just kidding. Because of the numbers, she's going to go to Mills." Where is my daughter going to school next year? I do not know. When Dr. Hooks sent an email saying, "Let's go tour the schools." I said, "Well, okay. Let's see. Maybe it's not too bad." So I go to Mills. She is not there. She told us the wrong time. When I go to Hillsdale, I show up on time and she's like she doesn't show up for 15 minutes. So how am I supposed to trust this woman with my child? It's really hard to trust a program when there has been no information. Maybe this could be richer, but we won't know because there's been no information. What does it look like? Is my special education teacher supposed to now learn every student's IEP across

096not his class, but every other class if he is supposed to be teaching multiple classes? There's been very little information and I think that very little this has not been thought about at all to the detail that it needs to be thought out. And what I want to close with is even in 2 years after my daughter graduates, I want you to stop and think. When you think about what is the best school for kids with special needs who are going to be deeply embedded in this community, what is the campus that has the most access to public transportation? That is embedded in a community with the community center, the library, Burlingame Avenue. The obvious answer is Burlingame. So, instead of closing the program at Burlingame, really you should think about we should be expanding

097the program at Burlingame. Thank you for your comments. And our last speaker is Grace Leong. Thank you. Hello. Thank you for the opportunity. President Chavez, you were quoted in today's paper saying Mr. Booker felt this move was necessary for the district. Uh many times you've said the reason was to enhance programming by being at campuses with multiple Bay Academy teachers, strengthening program coherence, allowing greater access to alternative diploma courses, and access to services for students. Wow. Have BHS Bay students not had good access to the alt diploma and access to services? Have they been failing the classes? Have teachers been given poor performance reviews? Families had no idea there was a dire problem here to fix. We were asked nicely many times to comment on cell phone policy and new principal selection for BHS, but

098never asked any input about our child's entire school program needing to be uprooted. Truthfully, through my past 2 weeks of due diligence, much of which I wormed out of teachers who were very reluctant to speak and get in trouble, uh but they work daily with these kids, and they are the ones teaching the curriculum. There is no data, no evidence, no detailed explanation of either a problem of failing instruction at BHS Bay Academy, or the ways in which this move will actually execute on these vague statements of enhanced programming. What metrics demonstrate the ability of Mills and Hills down to successfully deliver the curriculum that BHS Bank cannot? Is there some staff student ratio required? A detailed rotation of students or staff plans necessary to share the course load across four teachers, etc. and etc.?

099If there was such an enhanced program plan, wouldn't the staff I talked to be so excited and well informed about all the improvements this move would make? In fact, they were just as surprised and blindsided by the sudden news as parents and they had no idea how the move would change their day-to-day teaching when I asked and pressed. We have received no data, no details, no evidence of analyses and assessments such a major decision would obviously necessitate. Without answers, we can only assume this is an empty party line that there has been no actual assessment done that concludes this move is necessary. Without answers, we're left to assume a likely unspoken reason of cost-cutting probably and then our small student population with our tiny visibility was seen as easy to move around without giving the

100respect or consideration of a reasonable of reasonable thought put input and communication type process. I still really want to believe that our common goal is helping our marginalized special ed students thrive and be fully included, truly belonging in this community, but that can only happen when all of us work together with open dialogue and collaboration. I still have dwindling but tiny hope that we will get the answers that we deserve, that this district takes real action to mend this broken trust. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Okay. Thank you, everybody. We're going to continue our meeting. Thank you, everybody, for your comments. We read all the emails and I want to thank every each and every person here and especially the students who came um to to comment. We're going to move move forward

101with our agenda. There are no communications to the board. Um the next item is the consent agenda. Do any of the trustees wish to pull an item from consent for discussion? Okay. I move to approve the consent agenda. Do I have a second? Second. Okay, but I actually have a motion and a second. Uh um all in favor? Aye. >> Aye. Okay, so that passes five to zero. How did the student board reps vote on the consent agenda? Aye. Aye. Okay, thank you. Okay, special reports and appearances. Superintendent Booker. Yeah, this evening uh we have representatives from Empower San Mateo to provide an update. If you remember back, this is a program uh across multiple school sites of ours um born from empowerment through action. And I've asked our uh team trying to see who

102might be here. They're outside. Okay, why don't we wait a moment till we can bring them in. I didn't know who should have songs in it, but I just It's all right. >> [clears throat] >> It's the board members know Ooh. I heard that. We'll scan it and I'll send it >> Thank you. You keep that. We'll scan it and send it to you. Yes. I mean, you already have all these, but I can still have the scans anyways. Let me know when you want to But now it feels good in here. I'm I'm just observing. >> We're so You guys taking a little break before we get started? Okay. Sorry, I was just Also, I'm sorry for a minute cuz they have two air gun humans who want to go get recaffeinated since it's

1038:30. Sorry. And the rest of our team's making their way through the sea. Can I have a clicker you guys want to I'll click. I know I've been Yeah, I'm sorry. I Me too. Let me know when you're ready. We're I think we're we're ready. I know they're we're getting together. Are we Board, are we ready for them to start the presentation? Yes, yeah. Yeah, please go go ahead. Yeah. Okay. So, let's resume. Um so, this evening I have Rachel Lauderdale, Brett Stevenson, Ed Canda, and others, I think, uh here uh to talk a little bit about uh pretty incredible program in Power San Mateo that the um that this team brought forward last year, the board adopted as a pilot, uh and I've asked them to come back and give an update after about

10412 months of our work. So, with that, I'm going to hand it off to Ms. Lauderdale. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you so much for having us again. I know it's already a long night. So, we really appreciate you appreciate you taking the time to hear about how Empower San Mateo is going. Um we are so excited to share updates about the Empower San Mateo initiative. And we're incredibly thankful to the district and the board's support. And we have some new members of our team here to share our expansion. And it's only impossible possible because of the district's support, student support, and professional development discretionary block grant. So, thank you so much. I can do it. Um in the in Empower Me Through Action, we uphold the district's uh vision that every student graduates and every

105student thrives. And the district's equity vision that all students will learn in a safe, inclusive, and equitable environment that validates, respects, and honors their unique backgrounds, interests, and identities. ETA's mission is to make sure that when we say every student, that we really mean it and put it into action by focusing our love, attention, and resources on our students who are most marginalized by our school systems, who are often othered in our communities, and those who struggle to feel a sense of belonging. We believe that our work must go past the four walls of our classroom and last longer than the four years they spend in our district. We have partnered with our feeder middle schools to expand the love and support we offer because we believe that the earlier we start, the more likely

106we are to create lasting relationships that help students build their self-confidence, self-worth, and academic success. I want to thank you again. I know uh Trustee Griffin, we talked about it last time. We were going to do that we're going to try to implement this anyway, but this investment allowed us to go across not only our school district, but into the middle schools. Um so, that investment, I mean, we feel like this is prevention. You're investing ahead of time. We're finding out who these students are sooner, and these are the students who have traditionally struggled in school. They're the ones that our student services will have a hard time getting them enrolled, so we're engaging them early. We're in the middle schools talking to those students and families, encouraging them to avoid that valuable time that

107is lost so that they are more prepared and ready for the first day of school. Um, so these students as uh we have our four high schools, uh and they're going to speak about it today, and we have our three middle schools, which is Bayside Middle School, Abbott Middle School, which we've had a partnership, and uh we're just now starting at Burrell. Um, next slide, please. >> [clears throat] >> And then, uh thinking about the ways, just to reiterate, we talked about these um opportunities of ways to engage with our students. We start off with the the main one is having a mentor and having groups. So, they would meet three times uh a month, and we're doing that in the middle schools in the eighth grade. Um, Abbott's actually starting in the I don't

108want to steal their thunder, but they're working with even younger students. Um, so having a mentor, meeting three times a month. Um, we have academic supports. Not only do we have an after-school program with tutors that you all have invested supporting our tutors that are in there, both student and adults. We have um we at each grading period, we track their grades, and we even engage in a conversation with our students each uh 6 weeks to look at those grades, and celebrate the wins, and talk about how do we overcome the challenges. Another one is the enrichment. So, if you look up there, the different enrichment um with soccer, um cosmetology. At Hillsdale, we have a CRC Cafe, and we're looking to build those at the high schools the other high schools also. Um we

109also have career in college where we're supporting students with developing their uh plans for college. Um in addition to the bridge to bridge, we're uh meeting with our students. Um when it comes to the career this year, we have we're building our internships so that we have a better um building those opportunities for those students so they are supported and are exposed to opportunities out there which better prepare them for their goals and maybe even motivate them in school. Um and then of course peace pantry, community closet. A lot of you have come and visited. Some of you helped deliver um to our families. Um this is just the whole uh we see the whole student and support them in different ways. And if you go to the next slide, when we look at how

110many opportunities where we both informal and formal, we have a connection with those students already in the middle school. And so as a counselor waiting till the first day of school to find out who are going to have all these needs is a challenge. We'd rather know it sooner. And so since we're in the middle schools and we know about them and then we develop relationship over 5 years, possibly 7 years with our student, we really can build trust and meet their needs. So you've all heard a lot about the work that we've done um and heard our story before, but we want to highlight the growth that we've made in this year and where we are headed in the next 5 years. ETA began in 2018 with a district innovation grant, 60 students and

11112 adults. In July of 2024, we became became a 501c3 nonprofit. Last year, we ended the year with around 220 students at Hillsdale and a new promise of expansion with the district's commitment of a million dollars over 2 years. We began this year with creating an established board and with the hopes that we would start eighth grade groups in some of the middle schools. We're proud to report that we are ahead of schedule in our plans by expanding to Aragon, Bridge Academy, San Mateo, Abbott, Borel, and Bayside middle schools. Because of the love, dedication, and commitment of the incredible adults in our district and partner district, we have exceeded our expectations in the first year of the Empower San Mateo initiative. We currently have 459 students and 56 staff members in our district and San

112Mateo Foster City. As we continue to grow in San Mateo and in Foster City, we aim to serve over 1,000 students who are furthest from opportunity and who need extra love and support to reach their dreams. In the first year of our expansion, like I said, we've added 33 mentor groups with over 250 students at six additional sites. We've added 11 enrichment activities between Hillsdale and Bridge Academy, like boxing, cosmetology, career exploration, and self-defense. Our Peace Pantry has added families from Abbott and San Mateo to serve weekly groceries, pantry staples, and essential items to over 160 families in our community. With your continued or with the plans to create additional Second Harvest distribution sites in the district that support both our high school and middle school students. With your continued support, we look forward to

113expanding all the programs ETA offers across each of our Empower San Mateo school sites. In the last year, we have proven that ETA can help students be connected to school and staff and help them be successful, but this did not happen overnight. It has taken many years to get our program at Hillsdale to this point. Our students won't feel a feel a sense of a belonging instantly. For some of them, it happens in a few weeks. For some of them, it takes 4 to 5 years to feel that sense of belonging. We are building the foundation at each of the school sites to see lasting, prolonged progress and success. In 2025, 100% of our ETA students graduated from high school. 84% of students reported feeling more confident, and 93% of our students reported having a

114trusted adult on campus who they feel comfortable going to to for support. Most recently, we've added 250 students to ETA across seven school sites. And there's no one better to describe the growth and success of launching ETA across San Mateo and Foster City than hearing from her incredible new group group leaders, administrators, and site leads. I'm going to introduce the first high school and then the first middle school, but I'm going to have ask all of my amazing humans to introduce themselves. You know me, I don't need to introduce myself introduce myself for the hundredth time, but I want to make sure you know who they are. Um but first I'd like to invite up our Aragon site lead, Alejandra Chiver, and our group leader, Rachel Leota, to share about the growth at Aragon. Yay.

115Yay. Woohoo. Hi. Good evening. I'm Alejandra Chiver. I am the Aragon ETA site lead, and I am also an ETA group mentor. We had a slow rollout at Aragon, but by November we were running two groups and added three additional groups by the end of that month. Once we got the momentum going, we launched two additional groups in January, and our final group was added in mid-February. We are currently running eight ETA groups at Aragon, which consists of 99 students. Of the 99 students, 47 identify specific Islander or Polynesian, 45% as Latino or Latina, 11% as black or African American, 2% Asian. However, amongst that group, about 12% it might be a little bit higher of those students identify as being two or more races. Um the groups are facilitated by seven Aragon staff members,

116five certificated and two classified. Additionally, our Pacific Islander and Polynesian boys group has a partnership with San Mateo Police Activities League. We are really excited to see how our students will continue to grow in their confidence, improve in their grades, and advocate for themselves. We also look forward to having our groups up and running from the beginning of the school year next year. And I have personally loved seeing the students figure out their superpowers. That's one of the things I think a lot of our students didn't even realize that they could start looking for superpowers within themselves at the beginning of these groups. And now I can't wait to see how they will share their superpowers with the world. Um now I will pass it to my friend and colleague Rachel Leota to share about

117changes and improvements we've observed at Aragon. Thank you very much. Hi everyone. My name is Rachel Leota. Um I'm currently running the girls program with the Pacific Islanders and Polynesian group. And I've been very fortunate to work with them. And this semester I've worked with making a safe space for them for them to be able to be seen, for them to grow their confidence. And I've been very blessed with them to see them increase their confidence. And also work for their cultural aspects and have them learn how to intertwine that and actually grow their academic skills, their social skills, and make them see that they're more than just what they are academically on grades. And have them incorporate that with their teachers. So they have been able to even in better engaged with their classes,

118have more improvement in self-advocacy, and work with their teachers. So that's definitely something I've seen improved. And they've have been able to work with using their social skills as far as using calmer decision-making. So that's very big with our Polynesian community group. Um so I'm been very um grateful to see that with our challenging students. But I just wanted to share that and hopefully we've been able to work with them and continue with that next year and for the years to come. So that's it. Very very grateful for that. So thank you so much. You. We'll pass it to Sure. We'll pass it now to our Bridge Academy. Hi, good night. My name is Anna Rubio and I'm uh the Bridge to Bridge coordinator, uh ETA coordinator at Bridge. Um I also have two groups,

119um uh ETA groups. So, at Bridge Academy, support ETA support groups are essential given the unique and complex needs of our student population. Those groups provide not only academic assistance, but also consistent guidance and mentorship throughout the students' educational journeys. It is important to highlight that most Bridge students live here without their parents, making them especially vulnerable and in need of trusted adult support. This lack of guidance extends beyond academics to critical life decisions. In this context, ETA groups offer a vital connection to a trusted adult on campus, someone who serves not only as a group leader, but also as a reliable mentor. ETA groups also play a central role in supporting and integration of newcomers and transfer students throughout the school year. Because Bridge Academy welcomes the students continuously, these groups are key to

120easing transitions by helping the students navigate both the school expectation and the cultural context of their new environment. These groups help ease the stress of a starting school in an an un- unfamiliar environment, where the students must quickly adapt to a new educational system, while also navigating how to feel included in a new social setting. Ultimately, this support system enables the students to progress toward their primary goal, graduation, which is, in a sense, the shared purpose of our entire educational community. As you can see in the slide, we have six group currently running. Uh 98% are Latinos and 2% Portuguese. Um we have also several enrichment groups running as well as Rachel said before. Um we have an increase in a student engagement, a student leadership, attendance, and social emotional um regulation and skill set.

121And uh the most excited about continuing to build a relationship with community partners and giving our students access to opportunities that may not have otherwise. Thank you very much. Yay. Hello. Uh my name's Chrissy. My name's Christina. And uh I am with San Mateo. I also um help at Hillsdale with the enrichment activities for ETA and also help with Peace Pantry at Hillsdale. Um so kind of have my fingers in lots of spots, which has been really cool to be able to see like all of the pieces of ETA. Um it's been great. At San Mateo, uh we have four groups. We started at the beginning of the year in September. Um two of those groups are happening in the SSC class or from that SSC class, and two of them are happening during tutorial.

122Um we have about six on-site staff who are leading those groups, and I'm one of those people, but we have the teach uh one of the teachers, the SSC teacher, uh athletic director, the dean, um and some classified staff as well. Um the students are very engaged and are making meaningful connections with each other and with other staff. Um key support personnel. So, for example, the dean, she'll call students I was in there one time, she was calling students in to her office, and they'd come in, and they're like, "Yes." And then she's like, "I just wanted to tell you we're so excited that you're in our group, and have a great break." This is right before winter break. And they were like, "Oh, okay. Thank you." You [laughter] know, and just the smiles and

123like the encouragement that they got from that was really neat. They have a really great community in the in each of our groups. Um as as the staff, we're really excited about continuing to provide a dedicated safe space and community for our students um with each other and with us as adults. Really empowering the students to take risks and start to thrive in ways that they might not have believed that they could prior to this. Um and we're really excited about how prepared we feel about being able to support next year's students because we already are getting to know them from the middle school groups. So, thank you so much. I know class for everybody. You guys, we have the best team ever. It's just so exciting. Um and so we're going to transition to

124hearing from our middle schools and I'm just hap- so incredibly happy to announce a familiar face to most of you from our Abbott team. Um Paul and Diane are here to share about ETA at Abbott. Diane has been a fierce leader at Abbott really uh getting to where we need to be at Aragon with the eighth graders and now sixth graders and they're going to speak to that. Um but Paul also has a really unique perspective as a former high school principal in in this district and now a middle school principal in San Mateo-Foster City. Um and so I'm so excited for you to hear about both of them. Um I cannot leave without saying that Abbott was the first middle school to to adopt ETA and open this up this opportunity up to students.

125So, you're really going to see the difference between three years with us and one year with us. So, please give it up for them. Yay! It's a very nice introduction. Thank you for that. Um you know, after 10 years of trying to avoid following Hillsdale um and Principal Gilbert as the principal of Mills High School, um I decided if you can't beat them, join them. Uh so, anyway, well, good evening. It's been four years since I've last been in front of this board and it's a pleasure to be here again. We were presenting the Burlingame gymnasium 4 years ago, which I hear is beautiful and I look forward to seeing it. Um, so I just want to first off thank you for for inviting us and having us part of this uh, presentation. Um, over

126the last several years we've been working really closely with the ETA and the the um, the culture keepers and we're really grateful for the partnership because it's absol- it's been absolutely uh, influential and a significant part of our school community. I think the California Healthy Kids Survey was referenced earlier and we've seen continued growth in the survey of our results, which is part of our school program. But to work really intentionally with identified students who we um, see leadership potential, academic capacity and that is not being tapped. And working with ETA, working with the culture keeper, working with the Abbott mentors has been absolutely instrumental. I'm here with Diane Hafoka who who really um, has been our point person. Diane, come on up here. Um, I'm looking for her. I want to make sure she's

127still back there. I am your leader. Where are you? Um, Diane has been really at the point and she's going to talk a little bit about the slide and then I'll come back and close. Okay, well good evening everyone. So, ETA app entered Abbott's ca- campus when it was a time when our students didn't really feel invested in their school experience at all. Um, there was a sense of that something was missing. A need for a connection, belonging, a shared purpose and someone that they could trust. ETA began a few with a few dedicated Abbott staff members um, and through the mentoring of Abbott's admin and with Hillsdale's tremendous mentoring and guiding us, it steadily grew. And what started small has expanded to something meaningful and lasting. Now fully embedded in our school community and

128culture, like our kids are like, are we having ETA today? Are we having ETA today? Like it's phenomenal to hear. Um, this year we took a really important step by including our sixth grade students. This is something that was kind of unheard of and we were just we just leaped in. We were like let's get our feet wet and we'll figure it out as we go. By starting earlier we're building a stronger foundation and opening doors to something powerful. Imagine what's possible when students are part of ETA for a full seven years instead of just four. I'm thinking some big picture right here. The impact and the continuity could shape a dynamic future for the students. ETA also aligns naturally with our restorative practices that our district adopted and it reinforces the values of connection,

129accountability, and community giving students the tools and space to build relationships and grow together. As we look ahead ETA is more than a program. It represents our commitment to our students to feel seen, supported, and empowered. Thank you, Diane. Everybody loves their elementary school and then they're very excited to get to high school. And so we want to kind of slow that roll and you know, having worked in the high school for 16 years and and we can become somewhat insular. Like we've got to solve our own problems and and I've said to staffs for years, well, we can't change the middle school so let's focus on what we have control over. One of the really positive things about this relationship has been the contingency that that Diane spoke to. Seeing alumni Abbott alumni come

130back and talk to students differently than an adult can. But I thought one of the things that was really impactful you can see my notes today. I have a lot of things that I continue want to say about ETA. But I I spoke to a couple classified staff members who are leading groups and a couple of certificated staff. And what was really fascinating is is the focus obviously is on kids and the community and the culture we're trying to set. But what was really interesting was one of the teachers talked about how their relationship has really grown with students and the vulnerability that they've allowed themselves to kind of connect with kids and the impact they've had. Our office staff talked specifically about her own growth as someone who advises students, who's interacting with kids

131all the time, and the relationships that it has um kind of really created and bonded, especially for our sixth grade students. We're getting emails from parents, excuse me, emails from teachers around, you know, academic um expectations in class. And that has completely shifted with many of our students. Um we know the work starts early and I'm incredibly grateful for ETA's support, Hillsdale support for us. Um as you probably know, we were struggling a few years back and I think we've really seen uh an incredible growth. One of the things I've always noticed, I've been in education for 30 plus years, is you see these kids with all sorts of potential and I've had to talk to parents over the years to say, "Hey, good qualities sometimes have just have to be managed. They can lead

132to stubbornness and strength of character." Those things can be really, once they're harnessed, incredibly impactful pieces and I saw for years kids with incredible leadership, incredible capacity not finding their way. So I I'm incredibly grateful for the district support for the program, to work with Hillsdale and the ETA team. Uh I feel incredibly grateful because we see it as an instrumental part of our program and the growth we want to make. So, thank you very much for your support and thank you to ETA. So, our second middle school and the last to come on board this year was at Bur- or is at Burrell Middle School. Um we are proud to say we have three groups with 28 students. Um 75% of which are Hispanic or Latino or in 25% non-Hispanic Latino, so a lot

133of other things. Um our group leaders at the school sites include administrators, counselors, and a school community worker, um and two adults from Aragon who I think walk every week down to about I know it's not it's a nice walk um down to Burrell to lead group um that's one wellness counselor and academic counselor from Aragon. Those groups were launched in February um and last week, if that's last week, right team? Kind of that is that so hard to believe? Um we had middle schoolers from Burrell and Abbott come to all three of our high schools um for a visit. Um it this is I couldn't can't go again without saying this is all because of Jessica Nadi at Burrell who wishes she could be here, but her incredible leadership has brought ETH to their

134school campus. I've been working with Bayside. Um they regret not being able to make it. It's a very small school and the counselor I've been working with, Stephen Chang, outstanding. He's been on top of it, very responsive. Uh Maria Dimate, also the the two of them working together. We're working um we do have three uh two boys groups, one girls group. Um they already have uh community circles, and so that's already in their classroom, so it was very easy. We started doing a little PD. Here's what circles are like, and they're like, "Hey, we we're we're down for it." So, it was an easy sell on what we were doing, but then it gave them another opportunity. Um they're even looking forward to how can we When are you When do you want our feedback

135for next year? And so they're excited about next year. Um it's just gaining traction since we've only met uh for groups maybe six times. Unfortunately, they weren't able to make it to the high school visits because of logistics um and also liability, and so they didn't have the same relationships that Abbott has, so uh and they had a lot of kids that were excited, so we're going to make it up to those kids. Um but they're excited. They're They want to be at our high schools, and the the team that they would have there that you see in that picture, those are two social science teachers. You have Atosa and you have a counselor and they are down for it. So, they're looking to grow and they're going to seek out other people at their

136site. Again, they want to give feedback. I told them that they didn't have the culture keepers that get that they're um they're next year they'll have ninth graders who can come back and talk about what ETA is at Hillsdale to the new eighth graders and we didn't have that. We didn't have an established relationship. We didn't have the other high school to have leaders cuz we have San Mateo who's partnering with them as group leaders. So, they see the potential of it and they're excited about next year. All right, good evening. I'm going to shorten my remarks. I can tell it's been a long night. So, I'm going to I'm going to shorten my remarks here. Brett Stephenson, Dean of Students, Co-Executive Director of Empowerment Through Action. Beyond our schools, we believe this Empower San

137Mateo initiative aligns the shared values of our broader San Mateo and Foster City communities because we know that coherent and intentional care for all of our young people and families moves us closer to what Father Greg Boyle calls us all to imagine a circle of compassion with nobody left standing on the outside. This level of support requires sustained action and an unwavering commitment to ensure continued access to opportunity. To date, and I hope you all can appreciate your commitment to this. I want to thank the board, Superintendent Booker, for your commitment to this program. We're here a year later because of your support. So, thank you to all of you. We also want to make sure that we thank the Verderia Foundation, the Bohannon family, uh determined members of our Hillsdale community and our empowerment

138through action nonprofit for helping us raise close to $3 million just to get to this point. Uh next slide, please. So, what's next? What's what's year two? So, if year one of Empower San Mateo was focused on developing our Empower San Mateo teams that you heard from tonight at our high schools and middle schools, year two has to focus on long-term sustainability for this initiative. Through a public-private partnership from the leaders and doers in our local community, we are launching an Empower San Mateo Founder's Circle. And we need the early adopters to walk with us on this next leg of this journey. We need the time, talent, and treasures of the business owners, alumni, large corporations, labor and trades, community organizers, neighbors, foundations, and civic leaders. And we're respectfully asking for Superintendent Booker, we hope

139you say yes, uh and two, uh SMUHSD Board of Trustees to join our Founder's Circle in the months ahead. And potentially reaching out and inviting two members of uh the Board of Trustees from the San Mateo-Foster City School District to also join. Because this has to be a strength in numbers approach that can create coherent and lasting change for students and families right here in San Mateo and Foster City. Thank you. I know it's been a long night for listening to our story. Thank you. Well, let me let me just say thanks, number one. Number two, I don't the energy was a little low when you started, so I don't think I gave you the greatest intro of all time. So, I'm sorry about that. I am really Thank you. I I'm really proud of

140the work. I'm proud of the next steps. Um I want to thank our middle school partners uh tons for their work, their efforts. Um this is changing the trajectory in in lives of students. I really appreciated what Paul talked about in the sense of, you know, we can as a high school district sit here and go, well, we can't control what's going on in the middle schools. Let's just focus on us. And I think that myopic approach hurts kids. So, I appreciate jumping in, the partnership, and it's hard work, and um and I love the next steps of the founder circle and and bringing more voices to the table, and you know, we had talked about this the other day, not just board members, but could you know, could there be city council members, city

141administrators, so you know, people who make big decisions across our city, and then expanding beyond that throughout our county county to understand um the importance of building relationships with students and and how that does change their trajectory. So, um I do ask the board to help us knock on those doors and and lean on your relationships uh across other trustees and city council members and multi-faith agencies and who whomever wants to jump in and change the lives of students. Um yeah, thanks for putting that slide back up. That that is a big next step. It does take resources, um but resources always follow inspiration. It's It's first about inspiring people uh about this work. You You all inspired me last year to push this forward, and I know we can do the same thing with

142other members of our broader community. So, I really appreciate it. Count me in. Yeah, I'm going to ask the board if if there's any questions or comments. Except comments. I mean, amazing. Yes. Like usual, I super support this, and um I would love to um see how I can help a little bit more. Um I would love for you all to come and do a presentation to our school board association. Mhm. Um because there might be other trustees in other places that could be potential supports as well. And then once we get our new superintendent of the schools, we can, you know, connect that way as well. So, yeah, let's talk. Um County schools. Just be real clear about that. No, state. No, I'm a San Mateo County superintendent. Who is elected. Yeah, elected. Yes.

143County office of education. County office of education. Good point, Superintendent Booker. Yes. Oh, well. Having a night, aren't we? But but of the schools. Uh-huh. Yeah, throughout the county. Um yes, so let's you know, we'll see how we can work together. Thank you for everything you do. And like uh Superintendent Booker said like this changes the tra- trajectory of students' lives. So, super super. Trustee Land? I just love the fact that you quoted Greg Father Greg Boyle. He's one of my heroes. I taught in East LA and met him many years ago. And just to see this energy. Yeah. I get excited every time I see you guys because unfortunately, I can't get to see you enough because of the my job and I can't get out there fast enough, but keep growing, keep expanding.

144There's other schools, Burlingame. And then >> [laughter] >> other middle schools, too, BIS. I mean you know, because this is truly a special program that I think could be modeled across the country. I mean this is something that I think is so genuinely unique and wonderful that it is something that we need to take on the road beyond us eventually. Not yet, but >> [laughter] >> because I think the growth is really critical. However, I can help, you know, with electeds, um county supervisors. Those are some people who have access to things that might need to connect with this. You know, and I'd love to help with that. Um so, I think those are some ideas of how we can expand and how we can help. So, I'm in 100%. >> Yeah. Thank you. Thank

145you. Mr. Trustee Griffin. I said Mr. >> Well, you know, that um I remember when we approved this and we were saying, "Well, where's the money going to come from?" and all the other you know, and I I'm really happy. This This program has really turned out to be a big success. And you know, you look at those outcomes. Yeah. You know, that was just like, "Okay, this is like what you know, that's what we're talking about." and um I really and I'm to see two school districts actually cooperate, not that we don't cooperate, but to see that, you know, that there's programs that are impacting uh the you know, the other districts and and and it's translating through Yeah. you know, from the the elementaries to to high schools and creating culture that goes

146back, you know, brings back the people to tell the you know, the students. I think that's just it's really great. Um I don't know what I could do. I mean, I I've just like I don't have a lot of money and nobody listens to me, so I mean, I'll I'm willing to uh to try to do something. Do you um do you have adult volunteers that are just helping? We We had over 200 adult volunteers in 2025 kind of walked through our doors and support the work. I had an employee about a hundred years ago who was a retired Genentech. Um Okay, yeah, and and I was surprised. Number one, I'm surprised she retired. She's so much younger than me, but she said she was working with the program and we got got into this

147great nonprofit. >> chair of our nonprofit. Yeah. >> Wow, that's great. >> incredible. Kelly's there. Yeah. He's delivering and he's Oh, yeah. mentor too with our mentor program for our interns. So we got a lot of people from good people from Genentech. Mhm. Right. I This is incredible. I I This is so incredible. I I I thought I was going crazy. I I thought I saw a page where it showed It could have been in the appendix cuz I did look ahead a little bit about the 501c3. Yeah. Okay, because where I work for my day job, um contributions are matched by the company. So, and sometimes it's tripled. So, I'll I'll find that. So, I got to make sure I enter that in. But, I I I echo what uh everyone has already said

148and also what Trustee Lanset about other schools, maybe Cappuccino. Um so, just we got to get the word out because I think we have some connections where where we can um help with that. >> Absolutely. And the tax ID number is on the the contact slide. And if you have any questions about it, just let us know. >> I knew I saw it somewhere. Yeah. >> going crazy. We we we attended a conference and we we flew back today and we're on East Coast time. So, it's it's it's 12:15 a.m. our, you know, for both of us. But, no, no. So, >> with us. No, this is so This I'm I'm already fired up again. So, I'm ready to go for another couple hours. So, yeah, I'm re-energized. We could stay here for a couple

149more hours. I think you have to. I'm really sorry. Yeah. Um Anybody else have any Thank you for all the hard work. This is really This is We could stay talking for another hour, but I know they don't they don't want me to do that. Mr. Jacobson. >> Well, you guys all know that I'm a fan and very supportive of the program. I wish I could do more. Um I tried to get, you know, I came to your meeting at recruiting volunteers for the internships and I reached out to everyone I could think of in my church who I thought would be like maybe plug-and-play, like already has fingerprints and whatnot. But, it might not have worked out this time, but I'm going to keep recruiting and um Yeah, great great work. I'm impressed. I'm

150I'm a fan. Keep it up. Thank you. Thank you. We're sorry, but that's a very rigorous volunteer process, as you all know. Yeah. But, thank you for reaching out. Thank you for your time tonight. >> Thank you so much. >> And and and and and I do see the I do see the >> Yeah. You know where to find me. >> Yeah. That's right. That's right. Thank you everybody. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. You're giving up your night. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Good to see you, Principal Belder. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> Hey. We have another special report and appearance. Our second one. Presentation of the Measure O and L Citizens Oversight Committee from a very special friend. All right. >> the committee. Ms. Erica Lyons. That's going to

151be hard to I'm sorry. I I I think that I should have let Mr. Hawkins do the intro. No, no, no. That Please go ahead. As a honorary member of the committee, President Chavez, but we have two [clears throat] wonderful folks here, Charlie Royce, our director of facilities and construction, and on any other day it would be a big deal if Charlie was here, but because of our other guest, he's, you know, not even worth looking at right now. But we have Erica Lyons, a member of our Citizens Oversight Committee. Yes. And someone always willing to jump on construction equipment and get the job done. So, with that, I will turn it over to Ms. Lyons as she has our 2024-2025 um uh Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Mrs. Sorry. Um I know. I've met your

152husband. >> title. Um but yeah, to present our 2024-2025 COC annual report. Okay, thank you. How do you follow that presentation? I'm was sleeping and now I'm inspired. So, thank you all very much for welcoming me back another year. I got to say working with Yancy, Charlie, and of course Jasmine, and anybody else that supports them is just a joy. I mean, it is just we have way too much fun in our meetings. And as a former parent in the district, I'm still out there marketing for you guys with the younger kids saying, "Don't send your kids to private school. Save the money for college. Wait till you see your campuses." Because it's amazing. And then to hear the other things that are going on, it's like there's not Can we invent an eighth day

153and a 36-hour day because I'd love to volunteer with them, too. It's It's incredible. So, um thank you for welcoming me here. I It's like for behalf of the Citizens Oversight Committee. Let me just refresh you if any of you don't know um what our role is. We um our most important responsibility is to make sure that your tax dollars or our tax dollars are spent um correctly and in accordance with what we voters have approved. Uh we review the financial data. Makes my head hurt, but you know, hey, we got to do it. Um we accept the financial performance and the audit report. That one's a little bit easier to digest. But the most the most fun meeting of the year is when we get to cruise around and see what we've done. So,

154we do site visits. Um usually they're aligned with my birthday, so I bring cupcakes. It's way fun. So, we have to make fun of it a little bit and make light of it cuz I'm I'm just beyond impressed with what we are doing. So, coming from a very large district in Southern California, I'm I'm just I'm such a snob when it comes to us. So, I'm just so impressed all the time. Um the other thing that we do is we review change orders as well as create and distribute the annual report which you guys get and I have to say if just a little side note um Yancy and Charlie and Jasmine just make our job so easy peasy. I mean they we there's if there's ever a question there's usually a 10-minute rabbit hole

155we go down with everything and I learned 10 million new things every every meeting we have that I didn't know before. So, I'm here tonight to present our annual report for measure O and measure L um and you guys all have a copy. Super happy to present to present it. So, it gives you a summary of our activities financial summaries and project updates other information and committee deemed important for the community to have. Um we also have our annual financial report and the performance audit report. So, and as usual there's nothing nothing report. It's it's all seamless as we would expect from these two gentlemen and Jasmine and anybody else that that supports them. So, thank you all very much for having me and I thank you thank you for this opportunity every year. Thank

156you thank you. Thank you so much for giving me your time. Yeah. And I I wanted to put to give a big shout out as I usually do for this committee because they're very dedicated. They scrutinize the numbers. They ask questions and these two gentlemen right here always have the answer and they always explain everything. Um and and we we do have a lot of fun going on the site visits to see all the progress cuz you see the numbers. You see what's spent on all the projects um district wide at the different school sites and then we take little field trips um and go on the school bus and then we look at all the improvements and the the status of the project. So, are Are any uh from the any tr- any of

157the trustees? Any questions on the reports? How do you make it fun? All those numbers. >> [laughter] >> I have kicks married everything by now. President Chavez, this is an action item. >> Yeah, right. Trustee Griffin has a question. No, I was just going to recognize the hard work and the effort because that's that is a a real you know, while it's fun, it can be tedious when reading reports and stuff. And I did look and there was only one project listed on there that was over budget. It was just barely over budget, so That's right. This group has done well. It's a good case. If there are no Thank you. Trustee Griffin, if there are no further comments or questions, would a trustee care to make a motion? >> I move. Second. Okay, so

158we have a motion and a second. All in favor? I. I. Okay, that passes um 5 to 0. Thank you. >> Thank you, guys. Thank you very much and the entire team. Thank you. Okay, there's nothing for construction. And we have a division of human services personnel consent agenda, Dr. Black. Yeah, thank you. We have the personnel actions and the approval of a content lead job description revision that increases the stipend from 8,000 to 12,000 to um sync up with the other leads lead job descriptions. Okay. Are there any questions or would a trustee care to make a motion? I move. Second. All in favor? I. I. And sent passes 5 to 0. President Chavez. Yes. I am going to be leaving. I am not feeling well and I have to be on my game

159tomorrow. So I Okay, thank you. Trustee Land, I apologize. Trustee Land, you don't look well either. How's that? That's not good. That's not good. >> Take Take care of yourself. >> I better get to sleep now. >> Thank you, Trustee Land. Thank you. Um don't forget to um to ask for public comment. Okay. >> Madam Chair Madam President, I mean you know, cuz Thank you. Thank you, Griffin. for once reminded not to run through these items. I don't know who made that, so. Okay, thank you. Thank you for that reminder. Sure. Um Mr. Aquino, are there any hands raised for public comment? There are none. Then okay, thank you. Thank you everybody. That's okay. Okay. That's a consent we did. Okay, division of human resources, Dr. Black. Yes, the first item is a personnel action

160personnel actions addendum. We have two recognitions. One is Linda Blinkley. She is retiring effective at the end of the year. She's an instructional assistant two at Mills High School and has been with the district for 28 years and 7 months. Also, Richard So, school bus driver, is retiring effective at the end of the year. And he's been with the district for 11 years and 2 months. I recommend approval of the personnel action addendum. Okay. Are there any questions? There are none. No public comments, okay? I move to approve the addendum. I'll second. Okay, so we have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Okay, that passes 4 to 0 with one absent. Okay. Second item. >> the approval of administrative contract for Chad Slife, the gentleman that was introduced earlier. And I need

161to read the compensation terms. Okay. Before we approve it, Chad Slife, assistant principal, Burlingame High School. Salary $194,764. 214 work days. Health and welfare benefits up to $45,916.70. Transportation and cell phone reimbursements of $275 per month and various subscriptions and memberships and reimbursements that are approved as district expenses. I recommend approval of the contract. Okay. Are there any questions? Are there any public comments? There are none. No hands raised. Okay. So if there are no questions from the board, I'll entertain a motion. I'll move it. I'll move it. Oh, I'll second it. >> Okay. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Mr. Griffin motioned and trust and trustee Andrades and you got second it. All in favor? I. I. So that passes 4 to 0 with one absent. Okay, the third item? Yes, the

162third and the fourth item are informational items leading up to the public hearing which is the fifth item. Okay. Uh so the third item is the district's reopener contract with our teachers association. Okay. It's a reopener so we're limited as to articles. We've chosen to open three and one is hours of employment. And in that we're proposing to require a course syllabus for each class at the beginning of the year or semester. And then we have salary and health and welfare benefits. And along with health and welfare benefits, we propose to add a commuter benefit match for those who pay into the computer I mean the commuter benefit program. Okay, thank you. That was for item three. >> information. Mhm. Information for also item number three. That was three and then information for item number

163four is the district's teachers association reopener contract proposal. They've opened three items as well. Salary, health and welfare benefits, and department chairs. And then they have an added message or note that says they recommend or they would like to review the recommendations from the joint committees we have and determine if MOUs should also go in the contract. Okay, thank you. Okay, I'm going to open the public hearing. Oh, I'm sorry. No, okay. Yes, thank you. >> Okay, I'll open the public hearing for the San Mateo Union High School District Successor Contract Proposal for 2026 to 2027. Okay, Mr. Aquino, are there any public comments? >> There are none. None? Okay, then I will close the public hearing. Okay, item number six. Okay, thank you. Number six would be the approval of the district's reopener contract

164proposal with the district's teachers association that was reviewed in item three. Okay, are there any questions or comments from the board? Okay, then I would entertain a motion. I'll move adoption. Second. Okay, so we have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. >> Aye. Okay, that passes. President Chavez, who was the second? We hear. Trust you, Andrew Rodriguez. And it passes four to zero with one absent. I catch up. Okay, item number seven. >> Right. Yep, number seven is the approval of the of agreement with TAD Health. And TAD Health is a service that will help us with Medi-Cal Medi-Cal billing. Uh with this agreement, they will provide us with electronic health record software that will allow for Medi-Cal reimbursement, billing services, and data integration across our school sites. The software satisfies the

165compliance requirements and and data safety requirements and will um centralize multi-payer billing for the different positions we have that will be submitting uh claims for services. Okay, thank you. Any questions from the public? No. the any questions from the board? No. And And a question? Got a question on there they get uh they get a percentage [clears throat] of the build item build amounts. Yes. Yes, 10%. Is that standard for the industry? From what I understand, it's less than you know our Yeah, it's standard. Yeah, seems like a lot. Yeah, it does. >> [laughter] >> Absolutely. So And we need to approve for this, right? Okay, if there are no questions, um entertain a motion. So move. Okay, second. Second. Okay, second. Okay, so we have a motion and a second. All in favor? I.

166>> I. Okay, so four to zero and one absent. Okay, item number nine. And this is related, so this is approval of a MOU between the county office and the district for the um children and youth behavior health initiative that will be part of the things that were the services that we're billing for and it's a grant that could be up to the amount of 260 269,000 plus. And it it's the purpose is to expand equitable access to mental health supports and build a sustainable system aligned with the priorities of the grant. Okay, thank you. Are there any public comment hands raised? >> none. Okay, any questions from the board? Any motions? Um I'll make a motion. Okay. I'll second. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? I. >> I.

167Okay, passes four to zero with one absent. Okay, item number 10. Okay, this is an MOU with our California School Employees Association. This is regarding the reduction in force. The rules the regulations for reductions in force or layoffs are pretty stringent and so in order to kind of alleviate the strictness of it, we have we we entered into an agreement that will the with the result being one of our IAs won't have to bump into another position. They'll be able to stay Capuchino High School. And so that's the MOU. Mhm. Is there We had a question that We're on number 10 right now, right? I'm on 10. >> nine. We're on nine. We're on nine. Okay, good. Okay. Thanks. Okay. I was off by one number. Got it. There. I fixed it. Sorry. No problem.

168So, that's what it is. This MOU will keep the employee at Capuchino instead of having her a po- potentially work in two schools. Two sites. Okay. Thank you. Any public hands raised? There were none. Okay, no public comment. Okay, any questions or comments from the board? No, if no discussion, I move to approve the MOU. Thank you. Second. Second. Okay. So, we have a motion and and a second. Um all in favor? Aye. Aye. So, that Now, this is number nine passing four to zero with one absent. Thank you, Trustee Griffin, for keeping me on track here. Okay, I'm on number 10? Number 10 is um so, this is a job description for the transportation grant writer. You may recall that the board approved an MOU for the $3,300 going back. Now, this is a

169job description, so we'll have this going forward. And we recommend approval. Okay. Any or none? No public comment. Okay. I move to approve the job description. Okay. Do we have a second? >> Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay, so four to zero and one absent. Okay, I'm on number 11? All of our comprehensive high schools um received a six-year term with a three-year um some type of three-year visit. Next year is the three-year mark. Uh this is a job description for a mid-cycle coordinator for each of our sites. Thank you, Dr. Black. Any public comments? None. Okay. Any If there's no questions, I a motion. I'll move. Second. >> Second, okay. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? All right, so it passes

1704 to 0 with one absent. And item number 12. >> Number 12. Uh for many years the district has offered a summer bridge program and that's a bridge to high school math and it serves anywhere from 100 usually 100 between 100 and 150 students. And they this would be a job description for a coordinator of that program that will provide a $3,000 stipend. No public comments. Okay, thank you, Mr. Aquino. If there are no questions from the board, entertain a motion. I move to approve that position. Okay. I second that. So it's So we have a motion and a second and all in favor? All right, so it passes 4 to 0 with one absent. Wow, that was a lot. Thank you, Dr. Black. Um so we have nothing for division of student services, we

171have division of instructional services. Dr. Kempke. Yes, this is the proposed updates to board policy and administrative regulation 6141.2, recognition of religious beliefs and customs. And these revisions are based on the recent United States Supreme Court ruling Mahmoud versus Taylor and are intended to align our district policy and administrative practice with current legal guidance while maintaining our commitment to objective standard-based instruction respect for diverse religious beliefs, customs. Um the updates also clarify that when required by law, parents and guardians may request that their student be opted out of specific instruction on the basis of religious belief. Um if opt out is approved, the student may be provided an alternative assignment of similar educational value. Um the AR outlines information that must be included in the the opt-out. We followed the CSBA recommended language there and

172provides a process for district review, mostly just to take it out of the teacher's hand. We don't anticipate a lot of opt-outs at the high school level and we'll consult with legal just because it is a fairly new Supreme Court law with no real precedent. Um so we're recommending that you review it this evening and then it would go on to consent on the next board meeting. >> Okay, thanks. Thank you, Dr. Kemp. Okay. Are there any hands raised for public comment, Ms. No? No. Are there any questions from the board? Yes, I have a question. Uh how would these opt-outs um requests what specific information? I see there's one, two, and three um information that you would be asking the parents to provide and it seems to me that numbers two and three um

173where the parents would have to discuss the specific religious beliefs, customs, or practices with which the specific instructional content substantially interferes. And three, how the specific instructional content substantially interferes. Et cetera. It It seems like the that's overly burdensome on behalf of the parent and it's not clear what criteria the district would use to judge whether or not to grant the opt-out. So can you clarify that, please? Sure. I mean, I think part of it is that we don't have any precedent for it, so we would just like some information. I think when we have a parent that wants to opt out and they have a lot of questions about how to do it, we would just accept an email with some simple language probably saying we want to opt our child We do need

174to know what they're opting out of, so and specifically where it interferes because there could be if um a family's opting out of particular part of a novel, we'd probably want to know what part of their religious beliefs are making them feel uncomfortable with it because it would probably support us in supporting that students going forward as well. Um and it's one of the reasons for that Supreme Court case is it's around if it interferes with religious beliefs. Um Yeah, uh and to the point of what criteria you're going to use about whether or not to grant the opt-out. I would imagine if an opt-out comes to us, we would allow students to mostly just be opted out. Like I don't think that there's going to be like a a long debate on whether or

175not that substantially interferes or those types of things. I think part of it is that we just want to make sure that we're documenting when it does happen and understanding um if we're getting a lot about particular curriculum, I think it's something that we'd want to be aware of. Mhm. Um we have not received any as of yet and I don't anticipate that we'd receive a lot, but um I think one of the things we'd want to do just because it is such a new law and such a new process is just be able to document it, but I don't anticipate that we're going to spend a lot of time going back and forth with a family around whether or not it really interferes with religious beliefs. I don't think I think to your point

176like that wouldn't feel that would feel burdensome. So, yeah. Thank you. Item three is I mean, I kind of drilling down and uh it is kind of a difficult uh hill to climb. The question I have also has to do with the superintendent or his designee. I may work with district legal counsel to evaluate this. Um there might be an occasion where the legal counsel might not know anything or we might need to have uh you know, I hate to say a subject matter expert, but somebody who actually either practices that or is familiar with it who might not be legal counsel unless we always will use legal counsel. Give us guidance on that. I can follow you. Yeah, um Can I say something in between? Sorry, real quick. I think part of the problem

177with a lot of these um these decisions are that they don't come with any guidance. And so then school districts are going to have Yeah. figure out what to do at that point, you know, so it's great that the Supreme Court is deciding all these things, but then what happens Yeah. when we have to create policy? Um I'm glad that they you know, that you followed CSBA. Um but even then it's like what are what are they going to guide us to do? So, sorry again. No, all all agree. Yes, to all of it. Um I I mean, I've said this to a few of you in our one-on-one conversations, but what will likely happen is somewhere across the country some superintendent or some school board will say no to a request. And then a

178family will sue and then that legal proceeding, however it's adjudicated, will become case law. And then districts will figure out kind of how to do this. >> So, I'll just be pretty open. Uh this is somewhat like we have a policy in our collective bargaining agreement about employees requesting religious holiday. It's up to 2 days, I think, uh for for religious purposes. Uh they have to tell us that. I I'm in no position to challenge uh contest or argue. Um I I similarly uh this will be the same. I'll want to know um we'll want to document see, you know, what's happening. I'm sure I will want to consult with legal. Maybe legal will say, "Oh, yeah, we're experiencing that across the the county." Um it's so it's a little bit of what's happening out

179there, but I don't see us I don't see me um saying, "Sorry." I think the bigger challenge will be when we approve these what is the comparable assignment or comparable instruction? That is going to be the real challenge because if you're opting out of Romeo and Juliet I don't know how to provide you necessarily a comparable uh piece of literature like that, you know, let's say especially if it's a unit plan for 4 weeks and you want to be out of class for 4 weeks on that particular assignment. That's where all the That's To me, that's where the challenge is lie, not in the approving or not approving. Sure. Right. I don't know if these These aren't great answers for you. I don't have specifics. We will consult with legal counsel and I am likely

180to say yes to 99.9999% >> [laughter] >> of requests that come in until I have some case law to lean on. Well, you know, the the issue with that case law is in today's world, you try it, you decide it, you appeal it and you take it up the ladder and you get on the calendar, you know, for the Supreme Court and it's like 4 years later and whoever whoever asked for it they're graduated and they're gone. I mean, it's just you know, we're stuck with something. And we're all struggling across the county with the superintendents. We've talked about this. Uh it's it it's a countywide struggle. The The only thing other thing I'd mention about documenting the opt-out requests is that we've talked about this extensively with teachers and so they are aware that

181this is something that students can do. And they have some of the same concern that Superintendent Booker kind of referenced of like what if a student opts out of a huge apart of my class? >> Yes. And the amount of time that it will take me to do an alternative assignment. And so that's one of the reasons that we really want to understand why families are so that we can prepare alternative assignments for particular units or projects in a collaborative way, so one teacher's not with that burden necessarily. And I think that's some of the reason to have a little bit more information, but I think also it is because it's also new. But Yeah, thank you. Yeah, one last question. Um What direction are you giving teachers about giving advanced notice to parents about

182the syllabus and what course content will be what their students will be exposed to during the year. It's the advanced notice that I'm I'm interested in understanding. Yes, so we have talked to and it's actually been an ongoing practice where teachers who are covering kind of mature mature content um you know there themes that might be triggering or graphic in nature, we usually have some kind of content warning that's in the syllabus so that the students will get that syllabus within the the first week of school. And we've been guiding teachers because it's good practice for them and protective to them as well to have parents sign the syllabus. Um also we do share that our English teachers should have the novels that they're teaching on the syllabus and indicate if there are parts of

183those novels that may have um intense scenes. Um some of this might not even be based on religion. Some of it might be based on um, past trauma and they don't want their students to be exposed to some of that. So, we've um, had that as kind of an ongoing practice for many years that teachers should have some kind of indication there. Um, we've also asked when they know they're coming up on that unit that they should give the parents even a heads-up even, you know, cuz the syllabus will come out and then 4 months later you're covering the topic that it's a good idea to let parents know if you are going to start a novel that or a project or a topic that might be um, intense in one way or another whether

184or not it's for religious reasons or other reasons that just covering more mature content. Um, so and then the parents should sign that syllabus as what we've guided people to do so that we know parents are reading those um, content warnings. Um, and I, you know, I do think it's part of our negotiations is to talk further about that to have more specific language around what's in the syllabus. Yep. Thank you so much. I just really appreciate that and um, you know, in my experience with teachers that has been the practice and I don't know if it's hit or miss at other sites or whatever, but uh, I I think that's really important and I'm very appreciative of it as a parent and any you know, opt-outs or alternatives that I have requested have been

185granted. So, I just want to put that out there that I think our district is accommodating on this on this and I hope it continues and is strengthened. And um, there's no action on this because it'll go on consent next board meeting. Is that correct? >> Yep. Okay. All right, thank you. Uh, Division of Business Services, there is none and Board Operations, Superintendent Booker. I'm going to hand it off to Mr. Hawkins. Is that all right? Absolutely. >> Yeah, thank you. Uh this item is just a clarification. Uh the board action um at the earlier meeting was correct. Uh it was a 2 and 1/2% increase uh in line with the other employee units uh for the district uh as well as the $83.33 per month. The total uh was incorrect. It was taken from

186a board policy that had not been updated uh for the annual increases. Um so, this is just a clarification to the public uh to note the total. Uh there's no action tonight. But, I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions from the board? For the clarification? No. And I don't think there's any hands raised on Zoom. Okay, thank you. Um lastly is um item W, future board agenda items. Um what was requested from previous meeting is as listed here, special education study session, and we have that already agendized, I think. Um we're already uh calendarized. Um and then AI. Are there any other items? Mhm. None? Okay. All right. Now, let's let's see what time is it. Sorry. It's It's almost Okay. Okay, so we will adjourn the meeting now at 9:46 p.m.