SMUHSD Board Meeting - March 10 2026

001Okay, calling the meeting to order. Thank you for coming tonight everyone. Good evening. This is a meeting of the Sanonteo Union High School District Board of Trustees. Today's March 10th and it is 7:10. I'm going to do roll call. Trusty Griffin >> present. >> Trusty Andrade Zuniga >> present. >> Trusty Land >> present. >> Trusty Jacobson >> present. >> And I am present. Tonight we have a team from Hannah Interpreting as our Spanish interpreters. For those who would like to attend the meeting virtually in Spanish, that option is available. Hannah interpreting, would you please communicate this for all of us this evening? Thank you. Thank you. In order to provide language access, this meeting will have simultaneous bidirectional interpretation into English and Spanish. If you're bilingual, you don't have to click anything. But if you're

002not bilingual and you're using your laptop, locate the icon shaped like a globe at the bottom of your screen. Click on language interpretation and then select English. If you're using your phone or an iPad, then locate the three dot menu in one of the corners of your device. Click on language interpretation and then select English. When you speak, do so at a moderate pace because the interpreters will be simultaneously interpreting everything you say. Spanish. Thank you. Thank you very much. If you wish to view closed captions of this meeting, please view the meeting on the SMUHSD board meeting YouTube channel. The link to the YouTube channel can be found on our website. You may also view the captions in English as we live stream our meeting tonight, and you may view the captions in a

003variety of other languages if you choose to watch this meeting after it has ended. Viewers may also request additional accommodations by calling the district at 650-558-2201. For our deaf and heart of hearing community, we have a team from Hannah 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. And now we're going to ask our our wonderful student board representatives to please lead us in a pledge of allegiance. Thank you. >> 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. Reports taken in closed session. I'm sorry. Report of actions taken in closed session.

004In closed session, the board upon motion of trustee Lan and seconded by Trustee Andradi Zuniga move to approve to postpone the expulsion hearing case 25-26-23 with a vote of 5 to zero. Also in closed session, the board upon motion of Trusty Lan and seconded by Trusty Griffin moved to approve to postpone the expulsion hearing of case 25-26-24 with a vote of 5 to zero. The board of trustees may either adopt the agenda as presented or make a change to the agenda through a motion, a second, and a majority vote. The Brown Act prohibits any addition any additions to the agenda without a 72-hour notice for regularly scheduled board meetings. Are there any questions or comments from the board of trustees or the superintendent regarding the agenda? No. Okay. Would somebody like to make a a

005trustee like to make a motion? >> I make a motion to approve the agenda. >> Okay. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Great. So, we have a motion and a second. I'm going to do a roll call vote. >> Trusty Griffin. >> I. >> Trusty Andrada Juna. >> I. >> Trusty Lan. >> I. Trusty Jacobson >> I. And I vote I as well. And our wonderful student board reps. How do you vote? I. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Now we're on to our regular reports. And up first is the report of the superintendent. >> Thank you. Good evening everyone. Uh happy Tuesday night. It's a little different for us, but that's okay. Um I I want to start with our Golden Apple Award winners. Hillsdale High School teacher, district sustainability coordinator, and site

006sustainability coordinator Dave Emanuel was selected as the certificated Golden Apple Award recipient for February, Dave has been with the district for 27 years. Uh, while many, many, many people uh wrote about him and acknowledged him. Principal Jeff Gilbert said, "Dave is a teacher of social studies and a passionate advocate for the environment, but I think that students have been most impacted by the person he is and the person he shows them. Dave cares about ideas, gives his time to others, and is willing to sacrifice for a cause. Students see that and respect Dave for it and are then influenced and impacted by Dave's modeling. He has given so much to this school and community over the past many years. So again, big congratulations for Dave Emanuel. Uh, one of the reasons why we have or

007really the reason why we have a board meeting on a Tuesday night rather than Thursday is that open house will be held at our comprehensive high school sites as well as Peninsula High on Thursday, March 12th. Open house is a great opportunity for parents, guardians, and family members to feel like they are part of our schools and our larger district community. Parent engagement tends to decrease in the 10 teen years. We all know that who have teens or had teens. So, thank you to all of our educators who make open house an opportunity for families to learn more about what their students are experiencing on our campuses and see how they are engaging in learning and extracurricular activities. We each play an important role in helping our parents uh to feel welcome in our schools

008and gain access to all that we have to offer. So, thank you for all that you do to create and support a positive school and district culture. And just to go off script for a second, big thanks to all of our classified staff for how they make our school sites so beautiful and so wonderful. And thank you to all of our certificated staff, teachers, educators, administrators, everybody for all the hard work they do, not only in getting ready for open house, but everything leading up to open house and for shining so brightly uh for us as a school district. So really just a tremendous thank you. Uh this is just a reminder. Um the Sanonteo Union High School District is seeking input via surveys from students, parents, families, educators regarding student cell phone use during

009the school day to help guide the future direction of our district-wide mobile communication device policy. Over the past two years, uh student cell phone use has been an important topic of discussions across the district and also across the state of California. And as you know, in 2024, the state passed AB 3216, the Phone-free Schools Act, which requires all school districts to adopt and update policies limiting or prohibiting students cell phone use by July 1st, 2026. And as we continue refining our district-wide approach, we want to ensure that student, family, and educator perspectives are part of the decision-making process. So we also recognize that cell phones play multiple roles in students lives. They can support communication, safety, and access to information. But at the same time, educators and families have raised concerns about distraction during instructional

010time, social media pressures, academic integrity, and student well-being. So, schools across the state of California and really across the nation are adopting different models from restricting cell phones only during class time to limiting use for the entire school day is what we would call bell-to-bell. Uh, parents should have received their survey in their email on March 25th and March 4th. So, big thanks to all the different people that helped create the survey, push the survey out, all that stuff. We'll find a send a final reminder to our parents on March 12th. uh students and educators are being given the opportunity to take the survey at their sites. Uh but the survey is going to close on March 13th because we need to accumulate all that data, get it to the board, and give the board

011ample time um to review it, ask questions, all those kinds of things. But I want to let the community know that all of that survey data will be publicly available at the March 26th board meeting because that's where we'll be discussing which direction to go for Santo Union High School District. So with that, thank you and look forward to the rest of the board meeting. >> Thank you. I want to echo that and encourage everyone to to take the survey if you haven't done so already. Thank you for that. Okay, the next regular report is um report of the district teachers association. Uh, there is no report this evening from the teachers. >> Okay, thank you. How about CSA chapter 519? >> There's no report this evening. >> Oh, I'm sorry. How about Sano Adult

012School Teachers Association? They're here. Great. Oh, of course. See you right there. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, okay. Uh, good evening, uh, board president, vice president, board members, and superintendent. and thank you for the opportunity to speak. We are here today as representatives of San Mato Adult and Career Education Campus. My name is Marina Craftsova. I'm a student success coordinator. We would like to begin by celebrating an achievements of three incredible members of our community. Please join me in acknowledging the following staff whose outstanding contributions were recognized and awarded at CC Bay section conference in February. JC Toiver received an the excellence in teaching award. JC brings a wonderful blend of clarity, structure, and warmth to our ASL beginning tree and AB GED programs. Known for his professional but yet approachable style, JC creates an

013inviting classrooms where every student feel feels seen, respected, and deeply supported. Tommy Lee received the excellence in support services award certificate uh classified award. Tommy has served San Mato adult and career education with devoted dedication since committing to the care safety and integrity of our campus. as our maintenance operational uh operations lead for over 30 years. Tommy is known for his direct nononsense approach and high standards. Monica Suarez received the excellence in support services uh uh classified award as well. While excelling in her role as office assistant, Monica has taken on expanded responsibilities uh including serving as a wellness coordinator. Monica is always willing to help approach every task with a calm, kind, and reassuring presence and consistently goes above and beyond to support both students and staff. Congratulations, Jaci, Tommy, and Monica. We are

014lucky to have you. Joining us today at the school board meeting are two of our standout student leaders, Leelan Garcia, morning student council president and Mayara deltore, evening student council secretary. In February, uh, five uh, student council officer presented and 22 student ambassadors volunteered tirelessly to prepare for and host the CC bay section conference which more than 10 educators and students attended from all over Bay section. Uh our representatives Lilian and Mayara are here to share the invaluable lessons they learned through this experience and how serving uh for student council prepared them for the national and state conferences in future. >> Thank you Marina. Uh good evening San Mato Union High School District board members. My name is Lilian Valeria Garciao and I'm here today as a student and as a proof that it's never

015too late to find the leader with within yourself. I moved back to California. Well, I'm moving to California three years ago because of my husband's job and this lead me to the San Matilda School where I had been serving as an a student ambassador and as a student council president. This experience has been transformative. While initially joined to get me get back, the role actually helped me reclaim my identity. Back in Mexico, um I studied international relations to help others. But that dream felt distant until now. Serving this community has reneeded my passion and solidified my goal. I will pursue a career in immigration law. After gradation, I have learned that volunteering is a training ground for the soul where I we discover our power to make the difference. As I saw at the CCA

016V conference, adult adult education is about more than diplomas. It's about the fundamental power to transform lives and communities. The story that touched me the most was about a man named Mr. Adulo Gonzalez. He's a Mexican indigenous farmer who is now an English professor, English teacher at Salina Salad School. His story is a powerful testament to resilience. His success proves that our origins do not define our potential, inspiring others to overcome their own obstacles. Looking forward, I believe my experiences had prepared me to present at the upcoming state CCA and national 12 conferences uh to learn and experience other incredible stories such as Mr. Gonzalez and represent our school. And on one personal note, I'm also incredibly excited because my residency is getting closer. So because of that, that legal step will allow me to

017make an even bigger impact in our community throughout also my specialization in immigration law. I want to leave you with this, the opportunity to develop your professional career to advocate for adult education and to improve lives. It begins with you. It begins today. And find the leader between yourself. Get involved. Your story is just beginning and it will be an inspiration to all of us. Thank you so much. Good evening member of the school board and everybody else here tonight. My name is Maya Roxanski Delatori and I'm the evening student council secretaria at SMATS. I want to speak directly to my few students. Voluntary is more than helping at school. It's also a way to give back for everything this school give to us. I say this from my own experience. When I arrived in

018the United States, I was looking for help and I did not have many finance resource. I searched on Google for places where I could study English and that is how I found Sata and career school education. The school welcome me with open arms. There were many volunteers including the volunteers who speak Portuguese who gave me help and support I needed. Now volunteering it's my way to give back a little of that I receive and it's a very rewarding. The student council meets every second month with classes representative discussing school business and encouraging students to be aware of this happen in the community in collaboration with the students embarrasses the student co organized two events for all mornings and evening students giving thanks and Valentine's Day movie events like that are very important skill community. I

019encourage our students to participate at school events and voluntary. When we do that, we grow, build confidence and develop leadership skills for our future. When we invest in your skill community, we are so invest in your own success. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Lilian and Mayara. And I want to finish conclude with our uh union businesses. So solidarity and actions on Wednesday March 4th the hallways and classrooms of SMAS were transformed by powerful display of unity and purpose. Our union action was a resounding success sending a clear unwavering message. Our school is sanctuary. Fear has no place here and we stand firmly with our immigrant community. Highlights of that day. The synchronized poster drop at 10:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. sharp. The campus blossomed with united message and unified front. The invitation to all

020teachers and staff regardless of union status was met with incredible warmth. This wasn't just a labor action. It was a human actions. Standing in solidarity, we leave you with this quote. Fear has no place at SMC. Thank you for your attention. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank everybody. Thanks. >> Okay. Do we have a report? Um Oh, I see we're here. Well, now we have our report from our wonderful student board members. Thanks. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Katherine Sao and I am a junior at Aragon High School. Aragon has just put on their spring play of Puffs and will soon be putting on their spring music department's pops concert. This year's will be Wizard of Oz. We invite everyone to come and watch our students display their hard work on March 26th and

02127th at the Aragon Theater. As the pops concert is purely rehearsed outside of class time and the entire soundtrack is done by our orchestra, wind ensemble and the roles are played by our choir department. On another note, Aragon is beginning to follow steps in choosing a new principal as our current principal, Dr. Jones, is retiring. Dr. Jones has put in so much work for our school, but we are excited in taking the next step in starting a new chapter of Aragon. During our last student board meeting, we discussed the cell phone policy, which we will read a shortened version of after Joshua says a few words. >> Hello, my name is Joshua Lee and I am a sophomore at Aragon High School. Uh I was also at the last board meeting last month and just

022a few updates about Aragon is that we are holding a new body election this year. Um all the new class are getting their own uh representatives. We also be having the food fair of all the clubs which allow for students to communicate and just learn about different clubs and if they decide to join in the future. Furthermore, the robotics team, the sub team FTC is moving into regional which is pretty exciting. Uh the entirety of the student board last month talked about implementing restrictive policies that and we think that will make it worse for the students in some ways um like distracting them on the main focus of school. But that will be it for thanks. We will now read a summarized version of the cell phone policy that we propose. Dear members of the

023board, we the SMUSD student board met on Wednesday, February 18th, 2026, and discussed the district cell phone policy, including recent pleas from parents and the task force to implement a districtwide bell-to-bell policy for the upcoming school year. We would like to express our unanimous support for adopting a nonbelltobell cell phone policy across the district. After listening to students from multiple campuses, reviewing evidence from implementation sites, and discussing equity and safety imple implications, the student board believes a non-bellto-bell approach paired with consistent humane enforcement better serves our school communities than a strict bell-to-bell ban enforced by devices such as yonder pouches. Uh so we made quite a list of around um the reasons of it for like one is student responsibility and focus. students make their own choice in being distracted by their phones. Yet is

024also this the teacher responsibility to ensure this doesn't become a hindrance of learning. So it's double-sided for regarding the phones. Uh two, the effectiveness of this phone hotels enforcements. So yes is Aragon and I'm sure other schools do have it but at the beginning of class we will put our phones inside and it would make it so that we still see the phone so they don't get any stress about losing their phones but at the same time it won't distract the learnings for the students. Three is that the problem with the yonder project is unintended consequences. Yanders discourage learning through the strict rules and regulations. Um so those who are like less fortunate will have the burden of paying for a replacement if need be and create unequal treatment when even four is equity concerns,

025device access and classroom reality. Students have access to their own personal device which can counter many of the yonder pouches as they have full access to their phones. Um, but there's smartwatches of course. Uh, I'm not sure how that would be implemented with this. Five is the safety emergency access. Without clear contact way of the parents picking up children, uh, they could be stuck at school. I was stuck the other day cuz my phone ran out of battery. Um, so this kind of creates um inconvenience for parents and students if they need to go to some place after school. And six is just cost savings and resource considerations. The money that we use for purchasing and maintaining these yarn pouches could be better put into staff training or just more activities for students to have

026fun at. Uh this will encourage more participation instead of just limiting them instead. And yeah, that would be it. Our recommendations for the phone plan are as follows. Adopt a non-belltobell policy, one focused around short-term restricted phone usage. Consistently enforce the policy and train staff to recognize the benefits of doing so. Include a plan for when students for when phones are allowed, like for calling parents, rather than only enforcing when they're not, to allow students the ability to communicate important information with their families. Prohibit charging students with money when replacements are needed to prevent inequalities within our system. Update the policy as needed based on data such as attendance, and be transparent in doing so to staff, families, and students. In conclusion, the student board council supports a balanced policy that protects instructional time, respects

027student dignity, preserves safety, and avoids unintended. A non-bell-to-bell approach paired with effective enforcement, clear emergency procedures, and a commitment to equity offers the most practical and humane path forward for our district. One such being way being phone hotels, which serve the same purpose as the yonder pouch while allowing greater classroom flexibility and accessibility during an emergency. We appreciate the board's leadership on this important issue and welcome the opportunity to discuss these recommendations further or participate in working groups to help shape the implementation. Sincerely, the SMUSD student board. Thank you. We always have such awesome student board reps. Okay, next is uh governing board comments. So, we will start with um Trusty Griffin. >> Okay. Thank you. I'll try to be brief. I actually have a a serious comment, maybe a not so serious comment. I

028want to recognize uh women's history month and the proclamation that was drafted and presented at our last meeting was really outstanding and it did an excellent job of summarizing the role of women in our our history. Um, women have held key roles in our struggles, movements starting with anti-slavery, civil rights, anti-war, environmental. Um, they've been there and they've held prominent now they hold prominent roles in leadership in our nation and I think they're we're better for it. um being the old guy on the board, I thought about you know there a lot of change and people uh can't really appreciate some of the changes in terms of women's roles and involvement and two areas I have personal knowledge of is construction and accounting and I remember starting as a pup in in the accounting you

029know the uh actually in construction and women's roles were restricted to secretarial, administrative, receptionist. And now you see and you know for and that was for no good reason because now you see project managers, you see executives uh you see leaders in the construction industry um that had been maledominated and I think that's a very positive change. The other thing was the accounting profession and boy there were no women partners in all these big firms and you know and now you look at finance and accounting and business and um women are out there right there coming up leading the charge um doing everything and I I also think about the time where and this is kind of the funny part that uh women could not wear pants suits of all stuff and they couldn't smoke

030at their desk when men could smoke at their desk and the in inequalities for no good reason were just terrible. Um, I think there's always work to to do and we need to continue to make sure that uh we're providing leadership opportunities and that we break those longstanding stereotypes. Uh we've all benefited based on the accomplishments and persistence of women in our our society. So I I re I want to recognize that and um and I was looking at the president when I said that and the vice president she's kind of looking like what? Um so anyway that that's a that's a it's a real real good you know I think that's positive to our society and I think we're better for it. The other thing I came here today and I own a magnet

031and a pouch and I didn't I I I got, you know, I got an email and I turned it over to the administration and the guy, you know, sent me and Greg had to show me how to operate the mag. So, here is the phone pouch. If you guys haven't seen it, I'll pass it around. Well, it's No, it's a competitor >> to the Yonder pouch. And I actually tried to open it. >> And um here's the magnet you need to uh >> and >> maybe we can ask our student reps later because >> they're really they're really good. They're really good with technology. Well, if Greg knows how somebody showed him, >> you know, turn they did >> turn on the other side. See the little hole? Yep. >> Okay. And then >> I

032can do that. Yeah, this is foolproof, right? Well, I'll pass this down. That's the latest thing to do. >> Yeah. Anyway, that's my report. >> Thank you, Trusty Griffin. >> Trusty Andrea Zeno, would you like to go next? >> She's asking, >> can you can I go next? My >> Sure. So, not next. Is that right? Okay. Okay. Trust, would you like to go next? >> Just impressed. Do >> Leia, did you want to go or do you want to go live later? >> She wants to go. Sorry, it's her internet. >> Okay. Um, I just like to say Bob, thank you so much for that for the women's history uh rendition and and you know when Ean Hutton talks people listen you don't always >> I had to >> I was going to say

033you you don't you you use your words wisely and I really appreciate it and I just want to say thank you for your both your presentations. Um I'm going to keep mine short. one, I got to see uh some of our recruitment in action with Brian Williams and Kirk Kirk Black at uh the San Francisco State uh recruitment fair. I was there for Berling game. They were there for Sonteo Union. And I just thought, great job. I'm glad to be there. That was really nice to see them in in action. Um I also today I really want to honor the counselors. Today, our Berlinger Game High School counselors were at my school and just the the quality of what they do and how they present what's happening to get our eighth graders ready for high

034school is quite amazing and it's a great partnership that I'm really lucky to be a part of with with our high school. And I just wanted to honor that today, too. So, thank you. And also, I really appreciate the words from the um our board members, our student board members today. It's nice seeing you again. Nice seeing you. Um, and I really appreciate and value the words that you have to say today. Thank you. >> Thank you, Trusty Land. Not sure if um, Trusty Andrea Zunika, do you have a better connection? Would you like to wait a little a little bit? I want to start with the land acknowledgement. Our community acknowledges that all of our camps, let me back up. Sorry. This was written by students uh, from Cappuccino. a few years ago. Um,

035I'll start over. Our community acknowledges that all of our campuses, the Rome Tush, are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula whose land was stolen from them and whose native language was lost because As settlers on the stolen land of the peninsula, we should be alongside the remaers and relatives. We thank the first people, the Romeous Aloney for for taking care of the land we use now for education and activities. Our responsibility of of caring for the earth is unique and personal to each of us but should be rooted in allyship with the Rome Aloney. so we can work together to protect and preserve the land for future generations. Thank you. Um I a comment about Mr. Emmanuel um the person who received the Golden Bell award. Uh he Mr. Emanuel phenomenal teacher he

036had been such a wonderful teacher for my son. Um I've seen how he interacts and going back to his classroom to do some speaking. Sometimes I see how much the students really resonate with what and he truly builds really strong relationships. So, thank you, Mr. Um I also want to um the student board representatives for their uh letter. They also wrote us um for about the cell phone policies. It was very thoughtful and very thorough. Um it definitely changes some of my thoughts. So I really appreciate um I really >> trust trust I'm sorry. Trusty Andrea um you're you're you're freezing. Do you think maybe if you turn off your camera it won't freeze? We can >> I will. >> Sorry. >> I love to see your beautiful face. I was just thinking if >>

037if the signal's better. >> Thanks everyone for your patience. >> If I let me know if I freeze again on what I'm saying. I'm watching the ASL inter. >> Sorry, I think I'm going to have to pause there. >> Okay. >> Thank you, >> Trusty Jacobson. >> I don't have any comments this evening. >> Oh, that was that's what Bob said last week. I guess next week's my turn because I have something to say for this week. I have a short report out. I wanted to say um I saw on social media that our district uh put a um a I guess not really an advertisement. Put a plug out for all of our school districts. I'm sorry. We have we're one school district. All of our school sites plays and concerts. Uh it was

038all on one post and I I thought that was very great. Um awesome. I thought it was awesome actually. So if you wanted to look at a particular school site, you know, you could drill down into the individual school sites to see when the plays are. But I I wrote them down here if I can read my own writing here. Um, all of our schools are having plays and they're all amazing. And I know two weeks ago I attended with Trusty Jacobson, uh, we attended Lay Miz at Cemeterio High School. Last weekend, Cappuccino performed Mean Girls. Next weekend, Hillsdale High School will be performing Shakespeare and Love. Next weekend, March 13th to the 15th. Bergame High School will be performing Rent for the next two weekends, March 13th to the 15th and March 9 19th

039to the 21st. Mills High School will be performing the Wizard of Oz March 20th to the 22nd. Aragon High School will be performing Puffs March 19th to the 22nd. You guys alluded to that already, so thank you. Cappuccino will be performing their their pops concert on March 19th. And Mills High School will be performing the Viking Velocity next month, April 10th and 11th. And there's probably some that I'm missing. Um, but I I would just say all of our websites um individual school websites will show uh the plays and the performances. And I know when when I walked to my car two weeks ago from the play here at Sonteo, Hi. I I met some people in the parking lot and I asked if they had any students um in in the um performance and

040they didn't. They don't have any students in our district. They came because they saw it advertised and had a great time. I thank them for supporting our school district and our students. And so I just wanted to get them the word out there that go to all of them or as many as you can that our students are so talented, all of our students. Um, okay. I think that's my that's it for my report. I want to thank I want also want to echo what other trustees have said. We're really happy that our student board reps are here and we're really happy that you're you're um advocating for what the student board council um was commenting on the on the phone policies. Hearing from students really helps us make decisions. So, thank you so much.

041Okay, next um public comments. If you are joining us in person and wish to make a comment about an agenda item or during the public comment section of the beginning of the agenda, please fill out a request to address the board form and submit it to the submit it to the secretary. This is for the non-aggendaized items and also the agendaized items. This form should be given to the secretary before the agenda item begins. If you are joining us virtually, use the raised hand feature on Zoom to be recognized. When invited to do so, your camera must be on before you are called upon to make a public comment. We will call on you to begin your comment once we have promoted you into the meeting. If your camera is not operational, please email your

042comments to the board of trustees at bardsmuhsd.org. Please note that comments are limited to three minutes. The board president may increase or decrease the time allowed for public comment depending upon the topic and the number of persons wishing to be heard. Miss Aino, are there any in-person comments tonight? >> Heard nothing. >> No. Okay. Uh any on Zoom? >> No. >> Okay. All right. Well, quiet night. Well, I look forward to um the rest of the agenda because we have a guest speaker here. Um Oh, actually that's later. Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself because I saw you in the audience. Um, we're going to have communications to the board of trustees from Superintendent Booker and you're not a guest speaker. You you're one of our main speakers. >> No, it's okay. So, uh, [clears

043throat] rather than reading the the student board representative to letter to the trustees since you provided a summary, I just want to point out that the full letter is is there attached to the agenda for the public so we can move on. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. I'm laughing at myself because I was on the wrong page. I know we I'm looking forward to one of our presentations. Um, are there any recognitions tonight? I don't see any on here. So, we'll move to consent agenda. Do any trustees wish to pull an item from the consent for discussion or questions? All right. Hearing none. Is there is there >> make a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Second. Okay. So, we have a motion from Greg and a second from Trusty Land and

044a second from Trust Trusty Griffin. And I'll go in roll call order vote. Um, Trusty Griffin, >> I. >> Trusty Andrea Zuniga, >> hi. >> Trusty Lan, >> I. >> Trusty Jacobson, >> I. >> And I vote I as well. And our student board reps, what do you vote? >> I. >> Okay, great. Thank you. So, this passes five to zero. Now, we have the special appear uh appearances. Special reports and appearances. So, I'll let uh Superintendent Booker introduce. Thank you very much. So with a lot of teamwork, uh I'm excited to um introduce Dr. Kempky and Mr. Sim Simmons Mashuse from the county office uh to provide the board, the district, our community with a career technical education or CTE program uh update. This is our third update uh over the last couple of

045years. Um and we're going to talk about pathways, dual enrollment, and graduation requirement considerations. This is not a we're not asking for a decision tonight or we're not recommending any um specific changes. Uh really just updating the community as to what we're doing, what's out there in the world, and some things we're thinking about and we want you to think about as we enter into next school year. So with that, I'm going to hand it off to Dr. Kempkkey. >> All right. Good evening. Um we're excited to be talking about career technical education. And um we've done this actually a few times over the last couple years. So I think this is our third presentation. Um each year we've presented tonight's a little bit more than just an overview of our program. I think we're

046trying to dig into um more of the details of our program and prompt some questions and discussions around where we should go next. We have some ideas for where we are going next. And um as Mr. Booker, Superintendent Booker mentioned we have a wonderful guest here tonight um collaborating with a Sam Sanonteo County Office of Ed is here to present some um larger contexts in the state and the county in terms of career technical education. So um really we're going to go into depth around our current programming and some ideas that we have about future programming and um also as we mentioned having some discussion around that. So you can go to the next slide. So there's no decision here, but we are going to do kind of some focused get some focused fe feedback

047from you all. Um Chris is here to give us some state and county context around um where the labor trends are. And then we're going to talk about how our current approach to CTE and dual enrollment um intersect with a college and career indicator as well as how does that play out into how many students complete a pathway versus how many may um take one class of CTE. And um we're also going to talk about that implication. So, how can potential CTE pathways and elective related graduation requirements change um some of the trends that we are seeing in our data? And then um Mr. Simmons is going to go into some depth around where students who is participating in the programs and um some you know I think exciting news about what we're planning at

048a few of our schools. So again, um the goal tonight is kind of some guidance, some discussion, but there's not a decision to be made as of yet. Um with that, I'm going to pass it off to Chris, who's going to give us some county perspective. Got to orientate. Appreciate that everybody's got their own setup. Uh good evening, board president Chavez, board of trustees, superintendent Booker. Uh pleasure to be here this evening and being able to partner with Dr. Kempy and Brian in regards to really looking at your CTE programming. Um, today I have the opportunity to be able to share with you a few things that are going on within the state, more specifically the region. Uh, CTE is one of those pieces that as you're building, you really want to be in a

049region focus because this looks very different as you could imagine with what the job allocations will look like in Fresno versus what it may look like in the Bay Area. With that, I'll kind of move forward with a few pieces just to anchor us to this evening. So when you take a look and and a lot of times uh language is interchangeable uh and I really want to pull this forward because CTE programs and I know you've heard a few pieces around it but a reminder they are very different than RO programs. Uh when you look at a at a technical skill being done within an RO program it's very different than a CTE program. So when you're looking at a CTE program you're looking at some other factors uh and that's really around the

050employability. So applied knowledge, your students are using science, math, English, they're using those with critical care and thinking in addition to their effective relationships. So what are those collaborative functions? They need the communication skills they need, not just a technical skill skill to be able to provide um an opportunity for a student to learn a specific trade. So they are very different in nature. What you're really looking at up there is an introductory course, a concentrator course, and a capstone. So when we refer to pathways, you need at least two of those. U most folks start within an introductory and a and a concentrator. You can do a concentrator and a capstone. Why this would be important or something that you guys would kind of look at. This is what is triggering whether it's a

051pathway completer. Why does that matter? A couple of things. It may help with the depth of a student's knowledge and staying within a pathway. It also helps financially. So depending on the circumstances of the district and what you're trying to invest in, these do uh offer what we refer to as a higher ranking or rubric, uh when you apply for state grants. So when you're applying for state grants, the state- es especially within strong workforce as well for your community colleges, they're going to be looking for you to have completers. Um that really is what they're they're looking for for the fa financial piece. Within CTE, you have 15 industry sectors. Um, I will be the first to say this is why the region information makes sense. You, it is not suggested that you do

052all 15. Um, but you really take a look at what are the things that are going to hit home for your current district and what that might look like. With that, I'm going to bring some information to you directly from um our regional folks. So, there are high priority sectors within those high priority sectors. You can see them up there. Uh, so I won't be labor reading each piece of that, but I do want to call some things forward um because they have a secondary piece. So these are the pieces that generally you're also going to see a lot of the federal or state grants around. There's a need within the workplace. These align to what the area is looking for. So things that when you're moving into programming, these are going to be attractive

053pieces to take a look at. And I'm also going to show you the job market and where that is lining up. uh what I will call forward is in taking a look at some of your pathways already these would align. So when you take a look at health careers, that's the highest priority there is. There's 14% you guys are currently running a biotech health science. So that is an indicator that you're running one that is already being called for by the state. That is high priority. In addition, I know that you guys are working within engineering and architecture. that fits two areas up there depending on what the product is, but may fit your advanced mark uh manufacturing up there, but it also may fit your energy, construction, and utilities. So, again, you're seeing some

054thematic pieces where when you're reviewing your own data, take a look at what these priorities look like, and with CTE, they do evolve over time. Um, you could imagine what careers looked like 15 years ago, 20 years ago, versus what they're currently looking for. Um, a couple of other things to highlight for you guys. Uh number four on that list up there with 4% that is your computer science piece. So the information and communication technologies um in addition to your other priority retail, hospitality and tourism that would fit your culinary arts one. So that's kind of how the pathways are in sectors of what's happening for you all. Um what I am excited to also report in just looking at this data and also the data that you guys have and uh Brian will have

055an opportunity to go a little further into it I believe but you know five out of the six major pathways that I looked at um within your scope of what you're currently doing they are aligned to the high priorities um or other priority sectors. So that is incredible. I will say that we don't necessarily see that uh across the board in other districts. So that is something to leverage and something to be proud of. A couple of other pieces in terms of the labor industry market. Uh so we do get information and I I will preempt the question already. How do you know the data in 2028? I do not know the data in 2028. So what they do is they use trend data to depict what those other couple of years are. So within

056that first column you can see up there those are the industry sectors that are being called for um within the Bay Area consortium. So those are your community colleges, mid peninsula, uh north, south, east bay. So uh essentially within driving range or movability for our kids as well as adults. What you're looking for to the right hand side of that is a few different things. And again, keep in mind these do change over time, but the annual openings. So are you providing things that students actually could move into um and that actually have viable options within our community? You'll also see the percentage of total annual job openings. And then to the right hand side, the living wage. And this was always debatable, right? Uh but when you take a look at what the living

057wage is or what it's produced, that is 34.2 is what they're looking for for living wage. When you read this map, a couple of things to to take a look at. So we'll take health for instance. You can see a high number within health of openings in addition to matching up those greens. across the board. Think about your dashboard. Very similar in nature. When you get greens on both sides, very strong an indicator that there may be some energy that you want to spend there. There are also some interesting ones that are growing. So from COVID, what we found on the backside is there was a depletion in retail, hospitality, and tourism within the Bay Area. You could imagine why. A lot of the businesses closed down. Now you're seeing the resurgence. So those first

058two columns are growing larger. Just because the other two are in red does not necessarily mean you may want to make the decision to say could we rethink what that looks like. And the reason why is because you do actually have access to a substantial amount of jobs at 22%. So it may not be a one income family. There may be some need to to look at something else within the family or household. Um but that's not necessarily an indicator. So you're really looking at factors on both sides of that to provide the best opportunities for your kids uh to be able to move forward. The other trend that you'll see is that business entrepreneurship up there 25% so folks are very much so looking into what do they need to do to actually be

059able to self-employ what are the skills needed in relationship to that and is there a market for it to the right hand side that transition of the beginning wage has turned white. That is what you want to see because it indicates that there's going to probably be a green coming into it next. Um, and the hourly you'll see the beginning wage versus what the median range is of typically what will happen in those job functions. Past that point, you have job openings across the Bay Area. Uh, so I did put a little script up there. I know it's hidden up there for you, but this is our community colleges. Thank you. Uh, that was actually pleasant. Thank you. Couple of pieces. This is from our California community colleges chancellor's office. what they do is they

060actually track and monitor where our students are going into in terms of the the job markets afterwards. There are three different versions of this graph. So what I've provided to you tonight is an all skill. So when you see that marked as all skill, it means that students coming out of high school without any additional certification, they can immediately go into these job markets and this is where the job openings are. A second piece would be a middle skill. Now, I'm drawing attention to middle middle skill in general because that's when a student actually leaves high school and they're in between the process of potentially going to college, but there's a certification. So, if you were to elevate potentially or look at what your certifications might look like, it could be a food handler certificate,

061it could be things that are attached to their pathways, right? But by doing that, you've already moved a student in between by giving them an additional option, which makes them a middle skill. Uh from a national perspective, there's about 56% of our jobs in the market nationally that are middle skill positions. Only 46% uh of Americans are able to fit that skill base right now. So you are seeing a gap of growth potentially in there. Uh so when you're looking at programming, looking at where your next steps maybe could be an opportunity for you all. And then from a perspective of districts and countywide, this is a countywide uh glance as to what the pathway completers are. What's really incredible about this is uh your last pathway which did not make that priority list is

062sitting right in front of you at 28.7%. So what it is saying is this is student voice. This is student care. This is something that's driving students to continue to go back and take courses. That's a positive because when you see the number of completers across the county, that means that there is an attraction, a drive in, something that is speaking to our kids in that area. Um, this graph really does represent across the board what our completers rate has been. These are triggered by Calpads. They're looking for those two course indicators of depth in an area. Um, and with that, I am going to be passing it back to Dr. Kempky, I believe. >> Yeah, thank you Chris for that information. Um, one of the things that we wanted to just make sure is

063clear about our CTE programming is that we are really unique as a district that we require all students to take one CTE course. Um, that is one of our graduation requirements. It's not one of the state's requirements that every student take it. Um, so that is one that we've decided as a district above. I think it was probably 12 years ago or so. Um, and what that means is that nearly all of our students, close to 95% take a CTE course. Um, however, that does mean that we're emphasizing this exposure. We're emphasizing students to take one class rather than maybe um having the second class, that pathway completion. So, it's kind of that analogy of, you know, a mile wide, an inch deep um type of thing that we have as a program, which isn't

064um necessarily a bad thing. I think it's a decision that we've talked about some um and we do still have some pathway completion and as Chris mentioned, it's in areas our pathway completion is actually in the in the pathways that we offer are in the areas that are in high demand in the county and the state. Um you can go to the next slide. So, just to be clear, and Brian's going to delve into this data a little bit more clearly, that currently about five to 10% of our students um at each school complete a full pathway. And usually we're saying a full pathway is usually two classes. So, you heard earlier that it was an introductory and a uh cons um concentrator. That's what most of our completion pathway completion looks like. Um and

065it is one of the questions that we want to kind of have as part of the discussion is you know do we want to continue the emphasis on participation the emphasis on all of our students having the opportunity take opportunity to take at least one CTE class or are we hoping to see a higher percentage take a full pathway and that will have other implications on whether or not we can offer the full exposure to all students and so that's one of the things as we look more at the data to kind of continue as um we go through the presentation. So now I'm going to hand it back over to Mr. Simmons who's going to go into the data. >> Good evening everybody. Nice to see you all again. Um so yeah, just a

066quick um quick reminder about our programs, right? So we've talked about these before. I just want to quickly say and and Chris just uh referenced these as well that we've got these five um pathways across the district growing a new one, right, in business that's not there yet, but that is coming. And that basically in a perfect world you wanted to have an intro course and a concentrator course. Um and that as as Dr. Kempkkey just said I think that um you know and and I think our again our program is about awareness currently really for the most part as opposed to depth. Um the this is just a quick reminder. We've sort of shown you data like this before last year uh kind of on the same track. This is the class of 2025.

067Um, and essentially not that different from the previous year around each of our different pathways and the extent to which you see completion. Some of the things to note here are kind of what students did at the different grade levels and then across the kind. So the on the on the right hand side of this chart are the are our our uh special populations as we call them, the multilingual learner, students socially disadvantaged and students with IEPs. And you see really low levels of of completion there. Um so in many ways those students are not not being as served as we not being served as well as we'd like in these particular programs. Um in addition uh then this is then this is our the sort of similar chart but this is related to race

068and ethnicity and you sort of see the distribution. Again you've got ones and twos and threes there in terms of the number of students right in a few instances it's like you know 8 to 10 but very few um students um across the board uh completing pathways. Again, these are com these are students who've gone through at least two years of a particular course pathway. And so that's right. So we're sort of trying to figure out well how do we we're giving access to almost all students to one class. The question is how do we get from here to a place where we've got more more depth um for students. um you know some areas of programmatic strength I wanted to just call out and I think this is sort of in reference to this

069is sort of in line with with what Chris was talking about that we you know we really have have tried to focus our programs and and our and and the new programs that we've that these emergent programs in healthcare and business really are informed by both student interests um so we because we didn't have those programs we haven't been able to say there's there's high student interest yet with the exception of biotech but we're we know that students we've done a number of surveys of students and there's real interest in business I mean it's kind of remarkable that we haven't actually had business a business program in the district um in the time that I've been here at least I don't know how long I mean Dr. black might be the person who might know

070for the longest we've been longest tenur member of the leadership team here uh and I don't remember there being business in the district in a long time so it's great to have new programs in business I think that um you know it's it's going to provide and again business is almost all the other sectors as well right because the business is in one of those other topics right um so you know I think the other key thing and this is again is just making sure sort of reinforcing what um Chris indicated um we really are trying to kind of create these connections for students and this depth that and that a big part of the new sort of version of CTE is a lot of what's called work-based learning right and so this is not

071just learning the content in a classroom but it's actually going out and doing internships doing job shadows going to to businesses those are difficult to to so you have to create a relationship nurture that relationship build a relationship get enough spots in that place to actually have more than one student go and participate in that right our biotech program for example at one point I think the high water mark was like 25 students doing a summer internship, but we're now at like 15 to 15 to 20 students a summer partly because there's a lot of reasons why, but it's just become more and more difficult to get work-based learning experiences. And I want to just call out that that's a really critical part of the program and why you want this depth over breadth experience

072for students and valorizing that um that that element of the program which is definitely being reinforced now. And so some of the examples of that are also like the career technical student organizations. That's another way that students get access to work-based learning experiences by going to conferences that that are studentrun conferences and things like that. So, we've actually had a number of students doing that in the last in the last couple of years. Just wanted to call out one new one last time. The new pathways um are being funded by our um well, actually jump to this slide. Uh by by this new program called the Golden State Pathway Program. Um so, we uh are part of a group of districts across the state. There's about a $50 million bucket of money that uh they're

073going to be aortioning for implementation grants that we're basically going to get. We assume we just a question of how much um because once all the districts apply uh in this in this latest round, we'll all sort of get some some cut of that $50 million um to support. So the point being, you know, we'll get short-term funding to invest in these new pathways. And these are where the pathways the specifics of where those pathways are going to be at each of the school sites, right? So it's cappuccino is the place where we have the lowest number of offerings. So, we're adding two pathways there. Challenging though, right? Because it's you're expanding in a place that's got, you know, declining enrollment and other ton of challenges, but we but we've also got some opportunities, we

074think, for students who are not taking a class currently. So, we think there's some real opportunities there. And then we're also adding classes uh at San Mo uh and Mills. And I think the other key thing here is that is we're we're really trying to target historically underserved students, especially in these two pathways because these are these are the they're the green pathways that Chris described up there, right? We want students in those green pathways, right, to the extent possible. Um, and that's why we we also selected those particular pathways. Um, so, you know, in order to for this all to work well, um, we need to really try to, you know, continue to to build on what students um, have access to. So, um, they really have got to we've got to make sure

075that, you know, that students have space in their schedules, that they have clear information about the pathways available to them and opportunities to begin exploring those options early in their high school experience. One of the things we've begun to attach to our CTE programs are college counseling classes that um, students are essentially like an exposure experience for students so that they actually do that before they have to make the choice about what class they go into. Because often, especially for historically underserved students who have less cultural capital, they'll be confronted by a counselor like, "Okay, what classes do you want to select?" And it's like, "Well, I don't know what which." And so giving them a course, actually a two two semester course where they're getting college credit, so they're also getting enrolled in the

076community college, but they're really getting exposed to their options. Like there there's actually an element of that of those courses that's called my 10-year plan. And so kids create a plan. We have some students in the district who have who've had a 10-year plan for many years, like in Udero, they might have had a plan at their in their from their parents. Um, and we have other students who haven't had a 10-year plan. And so, we know that we've got to equalize that playing field so that the choices are really genuine and authentic for students. And students aren't just taking the class that, you know, is the class of least resistance for them or the class of least resort for them. And so, that's a piece of of the puzzle that and that's going to

077require also some significant outreach to families. And we so we've started some of that work this fall, this sorry, this this winter uh in our in our course selection opportunities with families. We've been reaching out in our new healthcare and and business pathways to really help families understand why they might want to go into this because it might be a little daunting for some families to think about their students doing that. So that outreach piece is going to be critical and it's one of the things that the DAC tells us every year is that they want more information earlier about what their opportunities are for their students, right? So it's something we're really trying to to speak to. Um I think and so the so the last slide here is really just um you know

078basically some questions that we want to prompt for you all. Oh, sorry. I meant to say one last quick thing by in this last one. Th this this and this point here, the fourth point there is really important that the state, you know, they're setting us up with resources to get started. And in some ways, it feels a little coey to me. Like it feels a little bit like we're having a co uh Back to the Future experience here where we got a lot of money to do something and then it's like, oh, but it's onetime resources. And so that's the tough that's that's the that's the spot that makes it this challenging for us is we're absolutely committed to investing in these with the resources we can you know beg borrow and steal from

079the state. I think we all have to be very clear though that we currently do not have funding after year three of this grant. So 2029 we do not have funding and we've got to continue to in if we want to continue these these programs we've got to invest in them as it we'll have to figure out how to invest in them and what and what that looks like. Um, and so I think it's important for us to just all be on the same page that there's essentially going to be a step down plan for these particular positions, right, as we start them because we know we've got three years of runway. And so that's just something we're going to have to take on. I think Superintendent may say more about this in a minute,

080but um, sorry if I stole your thunder there, Superintendent Booker. And so the last question, you know, at this point, we we really want to shift from from presenting uh to hearing from you all. Uh, one question we're considering is what outcomes we most want for our CTE and elective programs to produce our graduates, right? Like what do we want to produce at the end of the day in terms of student readiness, right? Uh, for example, some districts like ours focus primarily on ensuring every student experiences at least one career connected course. Others emphasize deeper pathway completion where students engage in a sequence of courses uh in in a in a in a house, even an academy. Um and increasingly districts are also focusing on how CT connects students as I said before to post-secary

081um opportunities as well as a lot of work-based learning. So the question for you all is you know how can we ensure that all students have meaningful opportunities to explore high potential career pathways while they spend their time with us and what do we what do we incentivize by our requirements to get them there? >> That's it. Okay. I just I I want to jump in if I may. Um, just a couple of things to highlight. So, first, thank you to the county office. Thanks, Chris. Thank you for presenting at the recent Sono County School Boards Association. Sorry, you can repeat it. But I do want to say thanks uh because it was really that presentation that prompted a few board members to talk to me to talk back to you and have this partnership

082and all that. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I do want to call out competing interests and and this is some of the crux of of what we face in in speaking with principles, district leadership. I think we share a common vision, a common goal that we want students to have pathway passion. We want them to have a passion for deeper learning. That's the ideal. I I think we've kind of as a group, as a leadership group, come to terms with that's what we want. Um, but that concept or that ideal of pathway passion can sometimes butt up against reality. It can butt up against uh college admissions practices or perceived requirements, uh, a UCA throughg requirements. Do you take that third year of world language or you don't? Um elective choices. So

083we find um pathway passion can often butt up against other electives. Um it can also butt up against student desire of not taking seven periods or six periods or five periods. Right? So that's a competing interest in the sense of oh I I would senior year four periods. That's awesome. Um and then we have competing interests as a leadership team and I think as a governance team around where are we going to prioritize our finances. This is something as as Brian and others have already laid out. We are going to have to get our priorities straight as well because as these grants come in they go away. Uh and I don't want to set us up once again for a step down. I don't want to create cool pathways and cool electives only to see

084us sitting back at this dis three years from now going those things got to go uh the money's gone. So we over the next three years are going to have to have some as I call them crunchy conversations around what are our financial priorities what do we want to and it's funny because I use this language Dr. Black and I were meeting with Aragon students talking about what they want to see in the next principal and at their school. And one of the questions I asked them is at Aragon High School, what do you want to preserve and protect? And I had them write letters to their future principal that we'll deliver to whoever the future principal is around what they want to preserve and protect at Aragon High School. We are going to have

085to do the same thing. What do we want to preserve and protect? And as a governance team, that's like the worst job because it means we're not preserving or protecting something else and there's never enough finances. So this is why we're having these series of conversations around CTE so that we have a pretty long runway not only working here at the dis but working closely with our educators, our bargaining groups, um our outside agencies. Brian also talked about how challenging it's been to find outside agencies that will work with minors, right? So, when they are minors, we're finding that a lot of outside organizations are like under 18, our insurance won't allow that or the liability is too great. Not that our students are bad or anything, our students are awesome, but just the liability

086in itself. So, we've got these competing interests that are like tangled into this ball of yarn. And so part of tonight is starting to like how do we kind of untangle that ball of yarn and get our priorities straight so that we can build the kind of CTE program that we and I don't mean just us at the dis but we as a collective community 1061 what we want for our students and I appreciate the kind words of Chris we're this is not to say we're not doing things right like we've got a lot of shining stars to point to and we are a district that, you know, has adopted this model of continuous improvement. We want to be better and so we're going to continue to work hard to make CTE better, but we

087need this kind of conversation. So, I appreciate all the work from our team and and partnership, and we want to answer questions. We want to hear what you have to say, what your thoughts are that's going to shape kind of how we move. So, I'll stop there. >> Thank you. Um, I know the trustees will have a lot to say because we're very passionate about CTE and I wanted to thank Brian and Chris for your presentation and uh and Julia Kempkkey as well. Um, I did want to mention what uh, Superintendent Booker said. Um, that we were so fortunate, Chris, to have you come to our uh, I don't know if it was the last month or the month before. I think it was last month to our Santo County School Association meeting in the

088evening and uh, um, Trusty Jacobson and myself, we're very fortunate to be there and we spent the whole evening, it was almost two hours, a two-hour discussion with trustees um, regarding CTE and that's because that was our only topic that evening. I know we don't have I'm looking at my board members because they're going to throw something at me. I know we don't have two hours to spend on this one topic. So, we'll but we'll definitely get our questions or comments out. So, would any trustees like to um ask some questions or comments? Thank you. There you go. >> You know, I want to thank you for the presentation. Not that you haven't been thanked enough already. You know, I um um boy, this goes way back. I can't apparently I can't tell a story

089that doesn't go way back. I want to understand the role of work experience because there used to be work experience and when I had an office in Samale I actually you know had students come in to the accounting office and learn to file and and you know and learn you know how do you do basic accounting or how do you sort records and stuff and I haven't heard the term work experience you know because I was looking at the the intro and you know and the uh concentrator and I'm like well you know if you're if you kind of get somebody tells you about it and then you study it well it'd be really nice if you could do it apparently if you're under 18 you can't do it you can't be places but I

090think that's one of the components here that really delivers a hands-on you know like oh this is what what we're studying big because you know the application really can either you know make you really want to go to it or make you want to run run away from it. So is there room for work experience? Do we still have work >> there? We still have it at Peninsula. We have a section of it at Peninsula. Um I I think it it ran into some trouble. Dr. Black reference him again maybe. I think it had a moment back in the day where it it got a little sidetracked uh and I think it ended. There's also some there's some pretty significant rules and regulations around how work experience can happen. That's a piece of what so

091it requires a credentialed teacher. It requires training for that teacher on the ins and outs because you're essentially validating that this place is a safe place for a student to be. You're also just confir confirming that this is actually like that they're learning something from this job at In-N-Out or whatever it is that they that they've got. So I think it's it's it's really an opportunity to um there's an opportunity for it. It's part of the workbased learning continuum that that that exists. We've done less of it because it's just not been a priority for us. Um, we've been really focused on this on these courses that we have, but it absolutely could and can and should be part of our workbased learning continuum that we're really trying to build out with this with these

092new pathways in particular. I Yeah, I just want to add there was a new law that was passed that required some workplaces um to have fingerprinting done for everybody basically and that there's that often times will have workplaces will then say you know we just we don't want to deal with this and they'll decline to have um placements for that reason. I don't I don't remember when that law passed, but it was fairly recently. And that has really put a damper on the ability to place students is that requirement. >> Yeah. Just to to follow up on that, there's about 43 different pieces of legislation right now on CTE with K12. Um so this is definitely a changing landscape for sure. Um to to honor that with with Dr. Kempy, there was a piece that

093that passed that required no longer just if Brian is the mentor of this was he required to have fingerprints, but the entire agency. So, you could imagine what that did for folks um that were in different agencies. And when you think about the agencies or the industries that we run, not everybody in that setting is going to have clear fingerprints. um between that and the insurance push on that bill, there is legislation currently sitting in space that has not passed or um been defeated yet that may repeal that. So they may go back to a time period where they're able to offer it just with the the mentor or the person that they're reporting to. So in your case, they're going in, they're working with an accountant, they're working directly with one individual. Um those

094disclosures aren't there yet. I think they'll probably come with paperwork that will indicate from that agency, you know, yes, they're only going to be with that person. Here's the teacher that will be checking in with them. But, um, again, just an unknown at this point, but it is making it more challenging for districts. >> You know, I thought and there was there was a minimal amount of due diligence that you know that the instructor I mean it was not today because um, you know, it was a whole different time. But the interesting thing I was trying to put an intern, you know, an intern an internship with a college on the peninsula and it was it was it was impossible because you know the guy had his own computer and you can only my company

095because of data security you can only use approved company computers with the right software and you can't you know you have to keep work totally separate from your personal stuff And we do have, you know, like some of the stuff you have to have background checks and fingerprints. So there is there is difficulties. I think we're doing it to oursel in some cases. Uh but you know that's you know this is sort of secondguing a deal. The other comment just quickly I looked at the list of jobs. I'm thinking to myself, okay, how does AI shuffle the deck? because you know this, you know, we don't even really know where, you know, where the jobs are going to be once we figure out, you know, the the whole implication of AI and how we're going

096to build a job market. I mean, it's going to be different. I'll just quickly add I think you you're right and I think that's why this notion of flexibility for students allows us a level of kind of nimleness that I think will because we're not going to change programs per se but but a student should have some ability to kind of change from this path to this path potentially like more sort of flexibility and right now we sort of make you take one of these and one of these and one of these and one of these and it's not as productive for students and so I think that flexibility may allow them some degree of yeah nimleness around what what things they pursue because yes, we're currently I don't know that we were able to

097make future ready students yet, right? Like we just don't know what all the details are. >> Thank you. Anybody else? >> Trusty Jacobson. >> Yes. Thank you. Um Chris, thank you so much for coming and thank you to the uh the leaders that uh listened to our request. So [laughter] this was a wonderful presentation. Um and I I do want to um celebrate uh the new pathways that we are adopting in the sectors that are you know a good choice. Um, as far as your comment about AI and futurep proofing, I think that health care and business are actually really good choices for that reason because a lot of health care um, you know, hands-on health care that's going to still be in demand and business you can go so many different directions with that.

098So, I think that's a good choice too. Um, a few questions. Um it's my understanding that colleges more and more want to see uh a depth of you know expertise. Um and so it seems to me that having pathway completion would be a win-win in terms of our college readiness and our career readiness. Can you speak to that? >> No, go ahead. I'll follow up. >> No worries. Um, right. No, I think you're absolutely right that I think they those those that concept is absolutely there. I mean, I have two sons who are musicians. They went to school of the arts in the city. They got into very good prestigious colleges, right? So, I think that it helped them a lot to focus on something, right? It wasn't necessarily I mean, they were musicians, right?

099So, and one of them actually got a a degree in music. Uh, and so he's no longer doing music, but the point being that because you have to do something to do a job. So I think the point is that that there are that that that is absolutely like students who who demonstrate sort of focus that in many ways the well-rounded picture that we that I learned about as a kid like be well-rounded be a little of this and do a little of those things and be 15 clubs and all that stuff is really not as helpful. It's why actually the CTE programs and this connection to CTSOs is so important, the career technical student organizations because it provides them with essentially a club that then that's also connected to their to their coursework, right?

100So it's it all kind of feeds on itself and so you also learn about the networking and connections that are part of life. Um and so and and advancing in your career. So I think I would just say that I think that that each of the pieces of the contemporary CTE program actually are really smart and really honestly as relevant to four-year collegegoers as they are to you know students who may not be interested in that in the short run. So to follow up on that relevancy versus requirement and this goes back we've talked about this quite a bit but admissions officers and the admissions I want to say game but uh process uh sends mixed me messages as well. Right. So this is another competing interest between focus. So to your point, they want

101focus, but they also want to see academic rigor, AP, AP, AP, AP, depending on where you want to go to school. So it really depends on what you want to do post secondary. Um, and oftentimes what we feel as a high school district is the tail, which is the admissions office wagging the dog. Uh, we've been challenged by that for decades. Um, and I think what we're talking about here is trying to take a little bit of the control back around what we think is better for our students. Is focus better for our students? Is pathway completion or the the depth better for our students? And we have to recognize that as I'm sitting across from two students here that they're sitting here and they may be thinking, "Oh, that's great, but uh if I

102want to go to Berkeley, I need to have not only four years of world language, but four years of math and very high science." And how many AP classes are offered at Aragon? Well, I have to take that many because if I don't, then it's counted against me, right? So, there's that competing interest that's really, really challenging. Yeah, thank you for that answer. Um, uh, let's see. I had another question. Uh, Chris, when you presented to us, you talked about how your attendance data increased dramatically when you introduced some CTE programming. Could you share that with us? >> Little things learning your guys' system here still. Um, certainly. Hey, so we we saw a couple of trends. Uh keep in mind ours are at promise students. Uh so a little bit of a different environment

103in terms of what we we may be serving versus a larger LEA. Um in terms of attendance rates, uh what we were tracking and monitoring was um when students are in CTE courses, do they attend school more fluently? Um so we saw an increase of over 10% uh in less than a year and a half time. So, if you've ever tried to move attendance, this is always the piece of like you may get 1%, you may get 2%. To get 10% in a year and a half is just uncalled for. Um, not uncalled for in a bad way. It's a it's a very positive thing for us. Um, but what we found was that was motivating students. They wanted to be able to come um and learn in a different way. So I I think

104if I were to kind of pose the question, you know, as your CTE programs are serving at promise students in addition to um as superintendent, you know, Booker pointed out, students that may have some higher aspirations are moving to um you know, four-year universities, out of state universities, those may look different. Um which is also an area to kind of I'll p pull apart the yarn in terms of what that looks like. And maybe it looks different uh depending on the student population that you're trying to serve. But um it does increase attendance that has been uh what I've experienced in two other districts that I've worked in in comprehensive high school districts as well as uh the county office with at promise students including GPA boost. But um yes, I think there's value there

105and I think you have to be able to match it with what the student interest is in order to get uh the best opportunity there. >> Can you share with us which industries uh you focused on? >> Yes. Um and actually that were >> these were designed >> high demand. >> Sure. These were actually designed in partnership with uh your superintendent and Dr. Kempy as well. So this was part of our learning opportunities with reimagining gateway initially. Um and it was talking about what do we want this to look like and what opportunities might students not have had before they leave comprehensive schools. So uh this was something that as we kind of looked through it, what can we do differently? Um and when you're in an alternative setting, you have several things that you

106can do differently, but one of those things were the courses that we were going to run. So we did launch patient care, um which is in that health sector that you're looking at. Uh we run it underneath sports medic. Uh we are also running business entrepreneurship. Um one and two similar grant we ran through Golden State pathways to be able to to secure those. So we do now have completers which is something that is new to us as well. um percentage rates to give you an idea of GPA. Um we're really receiving students that may not have been able to have all of their needs serviced um elsewhere and moved GPA from 42% pass rate within algebra to 98% pass rate within algebra um because you're allowed to use business math within that entrepreneurship course.

107So we did file for A throughG status in the portal to make sure that we were able to do that. Um in addition to science, we saw the same. So that is a lab science for us. The students get credit for it. Um also similar results. So moving from about 46% there um to around 97%. So we're seeing pass rates that are higher with with students that may struggle in um traditional settings. What I think is also promising is just the ability that districts have um when a student re-enters back to their districts. We are seeing districts be very open with their counselors which I find amazing to be able to get them back into pathways or an additional piece. So if it's touching a chord and it's doing something that has belonging uh you

108know the counselors have been incredible at the districts of being able to get our students back into programs. >> That's excellent. I think that that data is really um stunning and something that we should uh consider as we're thinking about this. Um, one last question for the team. Are I believe it's called the MC3 course at Aragon. Where does that course fall in the CTE pathway landscape >> in engineering? It's in the engineering pathway at Aragon. >> Okay. >> I will say that actually our program is sports medicine. The one that we're dealing on at CAP will be a sports medicine class. So, just know it's the same. >> That's what it sounded like. That's what it sounds like. >> You've approved the course already, the course of study. So, >> yes, I know. So,

109[laughter] you know, I I think that we're moving in the right direction. I'm encouraged. >> Yeah. It's interesting because yeah, a lot of kids, a lot of students are really interested in sports medicine, right? Kinesiology, all that sort of stuff. So, >> yeah, absolutely. Will those students be involved in um our own athletic events. >> So, that's one of the goals, the vision of the teachers is that they would actually because there's lots of programs like this now where kids become trainers, high school trainers. Yeah. that they become the because we have an army of trainers and training needs across the district with our expansive sports program. So, yeah. >> Would that be considered >> based learning? Exactly. Okay. Excellent. >> And they would be fingerprinted. [laughter] >> I love it. >> Yeah. No, it's

110a it's perfect. And you know, we've talked a lot about the district office and the district in general has lots of jobs, right? And so there's lots of opportunities potentially for us to even be a place that some students participate in internships internally where we don't have to do all this. you know, we've already been fingerprinted. >> Excellent. Well, it it sounds to me that um gunning for more of the pathway completion and the the workbased learning is something that I would like to prioritize. >> Can I ask a question real quick? >> So, one of the slides, and this is not an easy answer, so just do the best you can on this one. One of the slides that we produced showed, and I'm going off memory here, 95% of our students take a

111CTE course. That's due to the graduation requirement, >> but then only 25% or something like that >> hit that second year, >> 10%. Thank you. Sorry, I'm going off memory. Second second course. >> Why only 10%. >> What are what do we think the factors are around why only 10%? This is a great question. I I echo that question. Is it a system issue? >> It's because the first level course is so impacted by all the students that need to take it for a graduation requirement. So, >> so we have a lot of seniors that wait. >> We have a lot of seniors that wait, you know, they may not be able to fit it in their ninth grade year. Um and so then most of the teachers are not necessarily able to offer the

112second level class because of >> they're so is so impacted. So all of the students taking it >> and some of them if they're taking it that late it's what we are making some assumptions about is that it's not their top priority. It's not the thing that they're most Yeah. >> Yeah. So what would it look like? This is a question for the team. What would it look like to for us to change or adjust in order to get students taking these courses earlier? What changes would have to make in terms of well some of the biggest competition for some of the students that don't end up taking a CTE like an official CTE classes are our VAPA students. So they're the students that are in four years of drama, four years of orchestra or

113band. We saw the statistic. >> Yeah. That was the biggest pie part of the pie. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And so those students don't end up taking and some of them if they're able to fit it in later on, maybe that's when they will. And then if they're not, then they will go to their principal and say, you know, can I count this as a CTE? And we allow them to. So there's a lot of students that what would help them prioritize it for their freshman year. I think again they're making decisions based on what colleges are asking of them. So you want to take foreign language, you want to take um you need to take your English, your math, your social science, and so forth. So you're really left with um not many choices

114in your freshman year. And we don't, you know, you don't necessarily need to take it in your freshman year, even your 10th grade year. um there's still if you're a band student or um a student that is taking some other elective that you're really interested in, you're not going to have room again. So that's part of I think the push and that's one of the questions that we've talked about internally is that would we rather allow some of those students to follow their passion and those you know Brian's you know personal example of the music student who that's what they're really passionate about and that's oftentimes the students that choose not to take a CTE at all or they're waiting till their 10th their um 12th grade year to do it. Um so we could

115say you know we could use these two example or these two um experiments I guess at Mills and Cappuccino we have some high interest pathways that we know students are interested in. Does that um help increase the number of students taking it earlier on? And that could be a way to It's hard to model it because we know some students um and this goes back to the whole question about um what do we do when we run out of the money for the grants >> because we can only add so many of these classes. And that's one of the things too is that if you need to take the class for graduation, we only have so much staffing and that teacher's time is going to be with the students that need to take it for

116graduation. >> I'll just I'll just say just quickly add so special populations also have like a unique situation as well, right? So many of them are in some kind of support class. It could be AVID, it could be community literacy and action. So that that knocks a class off, right? Then you add the other ones and you're out like you're out of you're out of choices. Now I will say the seven period day is something I think we as a collective probably have to revisit as well like who take because the seventh period day is not really being taken trai principally by the students for whom it was created. It was designed for our historically underserved students to be able to have a seventh class so they so they could have those extra classes. It's

117mostly being taken by high performers now. That's what we know in terms of course taking norms across the district. >> That may be another board study session another time. But I think that it the point being that I think there are these like so I think for one population of students that's the issue what Julia described and then I think there is also for our MLS and our our students who have needs they're impacted by their by the other things we we we've created to support them and so the consequence is they're often like not in these things that might actually compel them to be interested in these courses because we've sort of put them in this other thing. Some of that is by law. So, right, CLA is a requirement, right? >> With those

118students is they all do end up taking a CTE class. >> That's the irony of it all. >> Students, they may in their ninth and tth grade year not have the room in their schedule, but they do end up taking a CTE class maybe in their 11th or 12th grade year. So, >> and as a consequence, then that crowds out other kids >> because they're the ones who put who've put it off until they got to the senior year or whatever. So, >> so we are offering just a lot of the introductory classes because all of our students are taking them and that's really the the crux of the issue. Um, and it's not and I think the wisdom of the board when they made the decision is it's not necessarily a bad one either

119because we are exposing students to a lot of interesting content. I think those are still very popular classes even if we're only taking one class. It just doesn't mean that we have as many completers I think as we would like to see. >> Well, can I add one final dynamic and then I'll then we'll be done with the piling on. >> The last dynamic that you need to understand I think as a board is the teacher part of this story. So, one of the reasons we have such high completion rates in in arts, media, entertainment is because digital media actually fills both buckets. >> Yeah. >> Right. So, they essentially get to play on both sides of the fence. Well, not all the courses actually do that, right? So, if you're a four-year musician or

120you're a music teacher, so we literally have music teachers right now who are interested in getting their CTE credential. I'm not sure their hearts in the CTE part of it, but it's because it could meet the it could meet the requirement, right? And we've got CTE teachers who want to get visual performing arts credentials or want their courses to be deemed visual performing arts. So, there just understand that there's like a teacher part of this story that's important to understand because electives are a little they're competitive, right? It's at the end of the day it is kids select those classes. They don't have to take this one. They can take this one or this one or this one. So I just think it's important to also understand there's a stu there's different student population dynam

121elements of this dynamic. Then there's the teacher part of it and they we want them to be able to have good strong programs that have you know multiple courses and and really have depth. And so we that's the these are all the things we're sort of wrestling with as a group. Sorry I didn't mean to cut you off. So, um, thank you. So, um, I came in with this with one vision and I had 10 points I wanted to do and then I listened to everybody in the room and I've changed my mind. So, I've got to listen now. I I loved the fact that I really rethought what I heard, but this is what I heard. you know, is there a way, you know, because listening to Chris and talking about and thank you

122Chris for, you know, one thing my one point was, you know, I have not seen job market uh data in a long time like this. Excellent. And it's nice to see you in person and not on Zoom. So, and now I know why we canceled the meeting. All right. So, thank you. Um, but going back to what you were saying about trying to fit more things in a box, that really prompted my thinking because if you connect it with what Chris was saying where attendance has really improved for certain students who are at promise. Yes. Who need help who need a shift who are might be multilingual learners. How can we get a class that is multilingual learner based or connected or have certain expect standards within it like a designated integrated EL within a

123CTE program like that to help promote that so it matches two boxes like that. So that's one thing I was like, "Oh my god, you got to think about that because that could help our students of promise and at promise because you're meeting the multilingual or underserved populations." That's something that I thought might be really unique is what the academic components can be tied to the CTE in the different areas because I think all those areas are amazing and I'm glad we're doing it. Um, my next point is when you think about expanding, I mean, I I originally was going to say I think the exploration's great because I see the success of it. Yes, everybody 90% take it, but only 10% go in the depth. I think if we start really looking at our

124app promise underserved even considering like at Peninsula, what can we do with CTE there? How can we piggyback on some of the things that we may want to expand? So I guess that was my first thought is really re my my revelation here was from you guys listening to all of you saying hey we need to do kind of go in more into depth and I thought okay maybe we do that's maybe where we put our money for the first for the three years and say how do we do capstone how do we hit our underserved population more how do we offer it earlier I really I remember talking about this at two you know the previous meetings >> where it's like what they're waiting till senior year how we've got to come up with

125a solution to be able to get it in freshman sophomore year and if we can't then we can't get them to do a capstone. We can't get them to that deeper inter in inter you know internship um then so and and just along those lines I was worried about how can we do those expansions and internships that you talked about? How can we do apprenticeships into trades? You know, these are things that I was thinking like work experience that that that Bob was talking about. These are I mean, I think for us in our wealthy district that we are, I'm not going to say that we're super super wealthy, but we have the opportunity that other districts do not have where we can offer opportunities and give access. And I think that to me is

126the bottom line here because when I first got on this board, we started talking about middle college and we started talking about different pathways and you know and even with COVID who wants to continue online, who wants to do different ways and I remember Peter Hanley who was on this board for a long time kept promoting we need more options. We need more options for kids to take and I think this presentation just bears it all out. This we really need to explore and figure out a way to make it happen because I hear what Randall I hear what Superintendent Brooker is saying. We're going to have to pick a lane at some point. We're also going to have, you know, we're going to have to figure out where our money is going to go

127and we're we're not going to have all that money. So, we have to pick a lane. But I think what we need to do is with this grant explore what we can explore the depth, explore options to get students in the freshman's and sophomore years to be able to look and explore it and and try new things, you know, and allow them that freedom. So counselors either through counselors or through requirements or through, you know, some way to make that happen because then they can go into the three years if they want if they want. And I think that's the the idea is that opportunity. So I think I covered all my points. No, I'm trying to really get into make sure that I'm doing all of the the opportunities. I also really thought the

128CTSOs, the organizations and the clubs are something how can we support as well because that sounds like a unique opportunity to get them to pursue things further than just the exploration course, you know, and I think that's going to be important. So, I really thank you guys for a great all of you for a great pro, you know, presentation. It was very in-depth. It was it it's very thoughtful. It makes me think and my head hurts now at this point. So, um but I think we really need to expend our energy into exploring the depth and trying to get the kids to do a little bit more and giving them the opportunities in the early freshman sophomore years. I didn't originally think that, by the way. [laughter] All right. Thank you. >> Cool. Thank you.

129Thank you. I want to see I know Trusty Andrea Zuniga is back on with her camera. She was listening the entire time. I'm not sure if you're able to um connect with us now. Trust. >> Yeah, I'm I have a bunch of questions. I'm just scared that my internet's going to get unstable again. I will email everything I have, but excellent presentation. I echo what my colleagues have said. This is super important. So, thank you very much. >> Can I make one more comment? Okay. I just coming back to what Trusty Land was saying, I think and and what you all were saying about how kids are taking this senior year as a as a check the box. If we have limited resources and we need to prioritize those resources and we want to prioritize

130granting greater access to certain student populations like you were saying that that have an impacted schedule and things like that. Um I don't think it makes sense to prioritize seniors to check the box. I think it makes sense to prioritize the other ones. Um, especially students who are like they've got their A to G, they're going to college, and they're just taking a class to check the box. >> Thanks for that. I was going to make a comment similar to that. Um, I I think um I agree with what everybody's I'm glad everybody's really engaged in this conversation and I know Chris, I asked a lot of questions last time, so I have all my questions answered at the association meeting. Sorry, but I wanted to mention and echo off a couple of um comments

131that my colleagues here have said that opp the opportunities and flexibilities and something that students are interested in. Um just like Chris, you had mentioned attendance goes up increases. So I I think one of my daughters was in the same situation you just mentioned, Trusty Jacobson, where she was a senior and she needed to she I think she took hospitality a semester of hospitality or culinary arts that's what it was right at the cappuccino. So if it was two semesters is that is that considered a full pathway or does it need to be two years? >> Two years. >> Oh yeah. So that's but I think she did that to check the box but knowing that that's not her pathway that she's going. So again having that flexibility of are we taking this course to

132check the box but I think what's equally if not more important is to have courses that students want the depth and then they can take it of course starting their freshman year or sophomore year and that way they can have the two years and have depth. Now, I have one daughter different from your path of your sons. They're musicians, right? Or they went to a musician school. Um she's gonna she's going to get a bachelor's in nursing uh next year. So, that when she attended Cappuccino, I don't think that Cappuccino had any um health sciences, right, for CTE pathways, but maybe they do this year or next year. >> We're starting in the fall, right? So, I'm sure that that daughter also uh took the course needed uh to check the box for CTE, but

133maybe having it earlier, maybe that it helps students identify what they're really interested in, right? Um so, I just agree. I just want to say I agree with what a lot of folks are saying and I really want to thank you guys for your presentation. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Brian. Thank you, Julia. It's great. There's a lot of great information here. Um I think it's it's great. So, does anybody else have any any more comments? Can we ask our board members? >> Thank you. >> Have any comments? >> I don't have any comments. >> I don't either. >> Thanks. Have you heard from any of your um your friends at school about certain CT classes that they're interested in or are they excited about some of the ones that they're are coming on campus

134soon? Uh, Aragon just recently introduced their advanced interior design and intro to interior design which I took last year and I thought that that was a really interesting course. So introduced the arts as a CTE more other than just like photography and stuff. >> That's great. That's great. >> Okay. >> There was like a dual Roman course as intro to kinesiology intro to business. I was interested in that. So I'm going to roll that next year. But people that took that they said it opened their eyes to world and then they're going to take that as a career in college. Eight. Great. So, that's a great example right there. Okay. Great. Thank you. Thanks, Trusty Jacobson. I was thinking about asking our student board reps and then it slipped my mind. Well, thank you. Um,

135thank you again for your presentation. If there any more any other comments, questions? Thank you. Thank you both. >> Thank you. >> CT. >> Okay. >> Next is construction. I don't think we have anything for construction. We have division of human resources personnel consent agenda. Yes, we have we have the personnel actions and the uh anou with the uh teachers association that provided a partial layoff for one of our psychologist so we didn't have to do a full layoff and that's on consent for approval. >> I make a motion to approve the con person the HR consent agenda. >> Second. >> Okay. So, we have a motion and we have a second. So, I'll do roll call vote. Trusty Griffin >> public comment. >> Sorry. Thanks. Are there any? I can look at SH there

136in both in person and also online. No public comment. Okay. We'll start again with the um roll call vote. Trusty Griffin. >> Trustee Zuniga >> I. >> Trusty L >> I. >> Trusty Jacobson >> I. And I vote I the m the motion passes five to zero. Okay. Next we have Let's see here. I got twisted around here. Sorry. >> The approval of the memorandum of understanding between I get item number two. >> Personnel actions addendum. >> Oh, you're right. >> S1. >> I told you I got out of order here. I'm so sorry. Okay. Division of human resources personal personnel actions addendum. >> Addendum for approval. There's no special recognitions on it. >> I make a motion to approve the personnel actions addendum. >> Second. >> I second. >> Okay. Okay. So, we have

137a motion and we have a second. So, are there any comments or questions from the public? No. >> Fair enough. >> Okay. Then, um I'll do a roll call vote. Trusty Griffin >> I. >> Trusty Andrade Zuniga >> I. >> Trusty Land >> I. >> Trusty Jacobson >> I. >> And I vote I. That motion passes 5 to zero. Okay. Now we have the number two approval of the memorandum of understanding. >> Yes. with the CSEA regarding a job share at Berlingame High School where we'll have two people share a job. Uh in order to do that with the union, we'd have to come to we had to come to an agreement and that's what thisou is. >> Are there any uh public uh hands raised? >> There are none. >> Okay. Do any trustees

138have any questions? >> No. Okay. Is there uh anybody care to make a motion? >> I so moved. >> Second. >> A second. >> Second. Okay. Okay, we have a motion in a second and we'll do a roll call vote. Sorry, I heard something about recording. Uh, Trusty Griffin >> I. >> Trusty Andradi Zuniga >> I. >> Trusty Land >> I. >> Trusty Jacobson >> I. >> And I vote I as well. So that's uh motion passes five to zero. Okay. Division of student services. I see we have none. Division of instructional services. I see we have none. Division of Business Services. One of our favorite uh folks, Mr. Yansancy Hopkins. >> Oh, here we go. >> All right. Thank you very much. Um, as we pull up, uh, the presentation, um, I would be

139remiss uh, without thanking my team, two of which are here tonight. um while Vanessa um Christina in my office um we are truly blessed to have such a wonderful team. Um I've noted it many times before, but uh they do 99% of the work and I get to come up and uh talk to you guys. So um it works out for me. Um hopefully it works out for them as well. But uh they're just they're terrific and so I want to say thank you to them. Um as well we're at the second interim report. So as a reminder second interim second interim really is the place in the year where we start to turn our focus from the current fiscal year 25 26 and we really start to focus uh on the 26 27 year.

140A lot of time I'll say, you know, this is the time where I start spending 51% of my time thinking about next year's budget and only 49% of my time, you know, thinking about the current year budget and closing out the year. Uh so tonight we'll go over some key themes and takeaways uh from the budget. Uh we'll look at the budget calendar and discuss significant changes uh since the budget adoption and first interim. Uh we'll talk about the budget assumptions that we used uh in second interim. Uh we'll go over just a summary of the second interim financial report. We'll look at a multi-year pro um projection which is important given that I'll be asking the board to approve a positive certification which notes that we can meet our financial obligations in those future

141years. Um we'll talk about the certification of second interim uh and then we'll talk about future considerations or as I note what keeps the NCI up at night. In terms of key themes and takeaways, um I think it's really important to note uh and mostly because of the good work by this board uh and the supportive nature of our community that this district is in a strong financial position to face the challenges that that we have uh ahead of us. Uh, as always, given that we are communityf funded district, we need to focus uh our uh our time looking at our local property taxes as that's the primary driver of our revenue growth. Um, but it's also important to look at the state economy um and the state's budget deficit and uh what impacts that

142could uh have moving forward. not as much this year. Um probably in 2627 but potentially in 2728 uh or if anything happens in the AI market to the stock market. Um we also given the very large increases we've seen over the last few years. We continue to focus and look uh at our health and welfare uh rates and our contributions for those. Uh we look at our enrollment trends uh which we the board approved capacities uh recently and uh given uh some of the changing geopolitical environment um and those potential impacts on school funding especially because of uh the things happening in the Middle East right now and their potential impact on the overall economy and potentially schools specifically. Overall in the budget calendar, we are at second interim, which means we're a little bit

143past halfway through our year. Uh second interim captures all financial activity through J uh January 31st. Um and uh would be is required to be adopted prior to March 15th and that's where we are at March 10th. In terms of significant changes uh since first interim um property taxes, we don't have any significant changes uh from first interim. In terms of staffing, uh uh our health and welfare uh uh budget is based on the 2026 cap which was approved uh in our agreements with uh our labor partners uh as well as actual enrollment which actually saw a little bit of savings uh due some due to some changes uh in open enrollment this year which um was reflected at the end of January. uh staffing is based on actual uh employee placement and uh any

144vacancies. Uh one thing to note uh our special education department um derived savings of about $1.2 million over our projected uh budget for this year. Uh and a lot of that uh work is around placements um in non-public schools and residential placements. Uh just to note though, those those things do fluctuate uh from year to year. So, uh, kudos to the special ed department, but we still have to, uh, watch that. Uh, we also made, uh, an investment, uh, towards food insecurity. Uh, the total ended up being just under $300,000. Um, and, uh, kudos to our facility use department. Uh, they continue to, uh, thrive and we increased our revenue projection for that department by about $200,000. I won't go over every um item on uh this, but just to hit >> interject, go back

145one slide. I I just want to praise that. That is such a big deal. The special education savings of 1.2 million in contracted services. That is huge. And just big thanks to Michelle, the special ed team, business services, really everyone who contributed, all of our special education educators. Uh, and what it really means is it it it means we brought students back into our district, which is the least restrictive environment. I mean, it's good not just from a budget point of view, but your budget always tells a story. >> Yep. >> Right. And the story that that one right there is saying, the story about the food insecurity, the story about the facilities use, the story about the staffing and the health and welfare, and that that that means positive uh union relations and negotiations

146and bargaining. So, I I guess what I'm I know the board knows this. This is more so for the community that a budget always tells a story. And while they're just kind of bullets here that we're going fast over, each one of them is unbelievably positive just in themselves, but together it's it's just really incredible. So, huge thanks to everyone involved there. Sorry, I just needed to point that out. >> No, I I echo your thoughts, Superintendent Booker. Uh so just a couple of items uh to focus on. Um our assessed valuation we have a 3 and a half% uh projection in the outy years. Um we've hit that the last several years but we continue to monitor that. Um, also I think it's important to note as you look at the multi-year projection that

147one very large assumption which is not in there um is uh our negotiations with our labor partners. So as we get um going in that uh and as we get closer towards hopefully an agreement with them, we will include those costs in our multi- in our budgets and multi-year projections. Uh but as we haven't uh moved forward in those negotiations yet, we have not included that in the out years. Um in terms of the second interim, um we've improved slightly um primarily uh due to those savings uh that we discussed in special education um from uh first interim. Uh we do note a large excess in expenses over revenues. Uh it's important to note that that is all on the restricted side of the budget and that's uh spendown of restricted uh fund balances. Uh

148at the end of the year I don't expect that we will have spent down all of those restricted balances. So I think we will be closer uh to balanced and when you look at the unrestricted side which we will look at in just a second uh it'll note that uh that we do have a balanced budget um in this year and in the out years. Uh here is the multi-year projection and it is uh broken down between unrestricted and restricted. Uh I always note uh really to focus on the unrestricted side of the budget. Uh and as you can see we have a balanced budget in the current year and the outy years. Um noting that we haven't included uh any salary increases in the outy years. So uh that will change as we get

149closer on that. Um just two items that I do want to note in the outy years. Um you'll see that our property tax revenue you said Yansancy you said you used a three and a half% uh projection in the outy years. We did um but it's not quite 3 and a.5% and that's because of a recent settlement with the county of um San Mateo and the company Janentech. It was a very large settlement of their property taxes. uh and settlements of this kind um are spread across all taxing agencies in the county. And so we will see a reduction in our secured property tax for one year of about $1.2 million related to that settlement. We're approximately 5% of the taxing base of the uh of the county. And so it's about a $20 million

150settlement with Janentech. Our share of that is about $1.2 million. Um the second, and this is more uh what I would call inside baseball, um but something I haven't really brought up at the board level, um I think um Trusty Griffin might be the only one who really cares about it. Um but a few years ago, um the state started requiring that um that we book the fair market value adjustment uh to our cash in county. Um, and this is a it's really just an accounting entry um given that um the school district uh and the county hold their investments primarily to maturity. Um but as interest rates rise and fall that creates an accounting entry and a gain or loss year-over-year. Um those will net out to zero. Um but they do sometimes impact

151uh the end of the year. Um we've primarily uh it's it's it's evened out in the end and so it hasn't had a big impact yeartoear. Uh but in case it does when we do the fair market um calculation at the end of this year. If it does have an impact I will note that in our unodudited actuals. >> Where would we see that? um you would see that um as a um as a positive or negative uh fair market value is that would that be in local? >> Yeah, it would be in local revenue. So it would be kind of >> um it would be kind of you know buried in there and so if that is an if that is an impact this year uh I'll be sure to identify it at un

152audited actuals and let the board know um of that. All right. In terms of certification, AB1200 requires that um at budget adoption and uh at first and second interim uh that the district uh make a recommendation of its certification, a positive certification means that the district believes that it can meet its financial obligations for the current and two subsequent years. Uh and so at this point uh staff um uh is recommending a positive certification uh for the second interim financial. All right, that being said, future consideration, what keeps the NCI up at night? Uh always monitoring uh property tax growth. Um we're at 3.4% in the most recent AV calculator as of this morning. Um phase out of one term of one-time funding. Um we've already done a lot of work in terms of the

153step down related to that. Um uh but we just talked about another uh one-time funding element in terms of CTE funding. So the state has moved more and more towards one-time funding uh and so just continuing uh to move forward with that uh negotiations. I noted there's no increases in the multi-year projections and that will be likely along with our property tax growth. The two largest changes uh in our multi-year projections as we move forward. Um we continue to monitor state uh mandated pension rates. They have stabilized over the last couple of years. Um uh still significantly higher, you know, more than two times what they were in 20134, but at least they've been stable. So uh we continue to hope that they'll at least stay stable. Um we continue to monitor enrollment. Uh we

154look relatively flat um over the next five years. Um, we'll monitor interest rates, um, special education needs and costs as we just noted tonight. Um, and then federal education funding. We got good news on our federal education funding. um both related to uh the the general fund and probably more importantly around the adult education fund where uh the 12% of their funding which uh had been scheduled to be cut uh has been um approved and uh passed for uh 2627 which is a is a big deal for that program. With that being said, I'm happy to open it up to questions um from trustees. >> Thank you. Y Mr. Griffin, you want to go first? >> Yeah. What happened to the million dollars um that we had set aside for the contra account? Did we

155use it up or is it still hidden? >> Uh it's still sitting in fund 40 and it's available >> um uh potentially for use. Miss Castano um knew you were going to answer ask that question. Well, I thought we had that so that we wouldn't take a hit to the How does the mechanics of that work that uh uh in terms of the taking a hit for rebates? I thought that was why we had it. >> Yeah. So, uh as we get closer to the budget adoption, um we will find the exact amount of what we expect. We only have estimates right now um there. Um and then we will double check the policy in terms of whether we need to do that at budget adoption or whether we do it when we get the

156final numbers uh from the county in August. So um uh and the contra account as trusty Griffin noted um is an account that was set up well before my time by some smart uh board members. Um, but this was to set aside some money um outside of the general fund in order to support situations potentially like this Janentech settlement um where we saw a one-time uh decrease uh in uh secured property taxes. So, uh Trusty Griffin, we will we will definitely be looking that and giving a recommendation um as of budget adoption. We just wanted to reflect that you know as soon as we knew that you know the settlement had been finalized we wanted to reflect that um you know in the financial statements uh but we will uh we'll get it settled um

157prior to budget adoption >> you know on the question on the budget assumptions and I was sitting here I'm sure everybody thinks I was fearishly texting somebody or your calculator >> we know we know that's your calculator >> when you load up the budget assumptions questions. Um, are you really dealing with position control to get your salaries and benefits or uh because there's a dip in the second year 26 27. >> Yeah. So, uh, a couple of things. Uh, we did have a one-time payment uh, in this year uh, of approximately $1,000 per employee. So, that's artificially um, raising um, that we also have the step down um, that was approved by the board. So those positions have been taken out of the budget. Um and so that 2526 you can argue is a little

158bit artificially high. So when you move into 2627 you do include uh the uh the stepping column the potential movement. Uh I will say that um but to your point um we have a new accounting system as uh required by the county office of education who uh moved uh from a financial 2000 to frontline uh ERP. Um and uh we you know we've we we used financial 2000 for a long time and we had you know great faith in the exact numbers moving out in terms of stepping column. Uh we've used a percentage uh in uh this uh year in both out years um which is going to be generally correct. Um uh but that is is one limitation of the system uh that we're not able to get literally the exact data um for

159actual step and column movement. We're having to use a percentage. >> You know that my final comments a and thank you. I mean that's your you know it makes sense now because really I was trying to figure out why 2728 looks so skewed but you know you just nailed it. you know the stuff that you know I hate it hate to tie international politics into the welfare of the school district but if you know it's like the hipbones connected to the elbow bone the neck bone and the you know the ham bone uh because if you look at the property taxes uh you know if that war if the un if the uneasiness or the unsettled whatever you know the the the conflicts continue in the Middle East, it's going to impact energy. It's going

160to impact uh you know the stocks, >> gas prices. >> Well, yeah, because the crude oil, the stocks, >> you know, the you know, the whole game. So, I mean, the longer you know, if we get stuck in the mud, the longer it goes, the more at risk our economy is, the more at risk our uh our district's health is. >> Yeah. No, I I definitely agree, Trusty Griffin. So thank you. >> Thank you Trusty Lamb. >> Just one question. What in the multi-year projections, what are the reserves for each one each year? >> I want to give you the exact I know I I want to give you the exact number. Um, so I I will I will include that in in our next uh weekly, but it it will be, as you can

161note, it sees uh I believe a $2 million excess of revenues uh over so that's a little under a 1% increase for uh and then likely given the excess in um you know it would probably be a 2% increase there. Um but noting that we have not included uh our uh the raises uh to our union partners. So I see it being much closer to be absolutely >> send me an email. I want to know the multi-year projection reserve percentages for our final balances on the last three year and we added that to the budget but I I don't think we added to our interim. So we'll add it to our interim slide in the multi-year projections. Um or if it fell off I apologize. No, I I like I said, I I can follow

162through with all of what you put through put forth and I get it and I see the final balances are are healthy. I just want to know what the final reserve, you know, what our reserve rate is and are we meeting our expectations of what the board reserve is and if it's how much higher is from that. >> Okay. >> Yeah, thanks. >> Absolutely. uh you're still looking at under 20% um in the the second outy year and closer to about 17% but I'll get you the exact numbers >> which is totally fine >> which is above the board but policy >> yeah correct >> um I I have a quick question um and first of all thank you for the presentation and thank thank your entire staff I know some of them are sitting

163out there in that watching the meeting uh joining in in case we have questions um I wanted to to echo what Superintendent Booker said earlier about the significant changes that slide. Um I think that's great about special ed savings of $1.2 million, facilities use revenue increase of $200,000. Um I know there's some other costs that offset that a little bit like the food and security contribution of $285,000, but for the most part if we have the a savings of say for example the $1.2 $2 million. Does that is that going to just naturally get funneled through as savings and then our um reserve would go up by that amount? What have we saved that? >> Yeah. So that savings that $1.2 million in savings would equate to approximately a half a percent uh overall on

164that. But yeah, it would it would fall to the bottom line. So if you look at we were at first interim we were looking at pretty much uh a balanced budget pretty much exactly even you on our unrestricted side that has shown up to a little less than a percent uh in terms of at second interim. So uh almost all positive news uh since first interim in terms of uh budget >> and the only you know you know additional expenditure was something that was approved uh uh through uh the budget. So >> I think we might have a real time update there maybe. Um, yes, but I I as with anything I I would I would like to I very much appreciate it, but I'd like to double check the number before uh sending it

165to the board. So, uh, no, I but I'm sure I'm sure it's a good number, but uh, >> they're awesome. >> We'll do a double check. Spot on. And then, Trusty Jacobson, do you have any questions or comments? No. Okay. And I know Trusty Andrada Zuniga, um, she's having some connection issues and I know she has some questions. She's going to email them, but I don't know if you unless you want to try. Trusty Andrea, it's totally up to you. She She will have some questions and she'll email you. Unless she tries right now. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I'm just scared that it's going to freeze. >> I'm going to email you what I have, but I'm sorry tonight for the internet, I guess. >> Okay. Thank you. Other student board reps, do you have

166any questions about the finances? Second interim finances here. >> No. Okay. >> Me either. >> Okay. Let me see. Are we voting on this to >> Yes. Of course we are. We always vote on everything numbers. >> Make a motion to approve the second interim. >> Okay. >> Second that. Okay. So, we have a motion in a second. And I'll do roll call vote. Trusty Griffin. >> I. >> Trusty Andrade Zeniga. >> I. >> Trusty Land >> I. >> Trusty Jacobson. >> I. >> And I vote I as well. So that's five to zero. and student board representatives, how do you vote? >> I Okay, very good. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Nancy. Thank you to your entire team. >> Absolutely. >> And we're going to find out later about that live update, I'm sure.

167Um board operations, we don't have any tonight. The last item on our agenda is future board agenda items. And this is where uh any trustee can come forward with a an item that they would like to see in a future board meeting that we currently don't already have agendaized. any new item that we want to see? I know CTE was one of them. So, that was really great. We uh Chris and Brian were here tonight. Okay. None. All right. Well, hearing none for um future board items, we will adjourn. It is 9.