001Anyone else or >> I'm here. I'm online. >> Oh, great. Okay. Well, I will call the meeting to order. Um, can we all stand for the flag of >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Everyone, um, we'll do roll call. Um, Trusty Proctor here, Trusty Brooks here, Trustee House here, Trusty Kim >> here. >> Hey, and I am here also. Um, can I get a motion for approval of the agenda? >> I'll make a motion to approve tonight's agenda. >> Second. >> Thank you, Trusty Brooks and Trustee Ho. Um, all in favor say I. >> I. >> Okay. Um, statements, public statements related to agenda items. Please limit statements
002to three minutes. I guess we can just do the presentation or however you want to. >> Thank you. Um, thank you. Um, good evening, uh, Superintendent Diego Choa, board of trustees here in San School District and our amazing representatives from our, uh, community schools. Uh, welcome to this evening. Um, I am super excited to share an update on um on our uh community schools initiative and I'm going to do my best to do talking when it's critical, but I'm really here to give voice to our community and the folks who are either planning events for our students and families, but also are benefiting it. So, we brought some student voices so you can hear directly from them. Um, a true community school passion. Um, this is a a quick kind of road Are my slides
003showing up? >> Yeah, they are. They're up there. Okay. >> Should that be? >> Joe, should we have our slides project center stage? >> Okay, let me adjust. >> Thank you. Um, so this is kind of our our road map, our focus goals for today. Um, I'm going to do a quick recap of our community schools, kind of give you a brief history of it. Um, and really, uh, hone in on year two of the implementation. Um, but it's important to see what we built in year one that got us to this point and then, you know, moving forward with, uh, the next year, which is implementation year three. I will go over uh, student voice and how we were able to activate that. Um so I did bring some some some of our students
004who will share their experience. Uh and also um as you know uh we piloted impactor pathway which I shared at our December update. Um and so I'll just kind of give you an update on what more input we were able to gather through that program. Then we'll talk about family workshop partnerships which are really thriving and growing. Um talk a little bit about expanded academic tutoring which was a goal where we left off in December. uh and really celebrate community partnerships which is really kind of the foundation of the success of our uh community school district. Um this timeline uh kind of gives you a global view of where we're at. Um you know we're on implement we're wrapping up implementation year two in 2025 2026. Um and you know over the summer we'll be
005transitioning to implementation year three. Um and these are our five community schools. Fiesta Gardens, Laurel Lead, soon to be Cottage Grove, uh San Mato Park, and Sun. Um on on this slide, um you know, I uh wanted to really start with immense gratitude to our community service specialists. Um I place their pictures and images here because they have really been our culture builders. Um, at our community schools, uh, we have Karina at Fiesta Gardens, uh, Yena who's here in person with us from Laurel, Renee from Leed, soon to be Cottage Grove, uh, we have Mirna at Samato Park, and John who's behind here from Sunny Bray. So, um I just wanted to do a quick pause because I know they've been working relentlessly uh with a lot of heart and and a lot of passion
006um to you know build a lot of the things that I will be uh covering uh during this evening's presentation. Um and so with having built that base of support in year one of implementation, we were really able to move into this current year where we were able to uh add a lot more uh afterchool programming um such as academic tutoring. Uh we brought in learning as well as summit K12. Um and then uh really immersed them um with local organizations. One of the big ones is Samaritan House. Uh we throughout the year we've been connecting our CSS's to the Samaritan House and ensuring that they have all the resources uh uh at their community school for immediate support, right? We're really trying to cut down on like wait time and really being proactive uh
007so that they're ready to to share the the love and support to our families who who might need them. We also um here I kind of highlighted some pieces um below the line here which really are in in both areas, right? We have the PK program um that has really um kind of evolved in like such beautiful ways. Families really uh appreciate uh having this space to learn and grow. Um, but I do want to credit PK um, as a an established program um, for giving them that empowerment and that voice and that agency that they haven't had in years previous. I think last year welcoming PK was an incredible opportunity and it just planted a seed that allowed us to grow this year and so we're really thankful for our PK partners. Um, and
008so I do want uh Ivonne Pon um from PK to coming up here if you don't mind coming join me up here. Yeah. Um and you know uh thank you Ivon for all of your your hard work um and the passion that you provide to our families and organizing the PK parent workshops. Um and he's here to share some words about his experience and like where where we're headed with this. >> Thank you so much Dr. Roberta. Good evening trustes everyone in this room. My name is Ivan Bonce, deputy director of Pik Bay Area and um I want to say thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to serve your community. We are so honored to work with your school district because we have the opportunity to meet the incredible families that you have. You
009have incredible families who they they're willing to go to the classes. They're willing to go to invest the evenings to learn so they can support your students. Our mission is to provide information, tools and to empower families so that they can support their students to achieve their full potential. This school year we provide two different programs to the five community schools. We provide our family engagement program and also our family leadership program. We have a beautiful graduation ceremony and I want to shout out to all the CSS Janet all the principles Dr. Walcawa the superintendent for all your support to make it this beautiful and a special event. I think also um you trusted were there right? Yes. Thank you. Yes. Thank you so much for being there. So families are really thankful for for
010all these programs and we look forward to continue this partnership for the next school year. >> Thank you so much. Can we give a round of applause? so much. >> Um, another uh program that really uh has continued to flourish um is the partnership that we cherish and have with the Boys and Girls Club um looking for here. >> Not yet. Okay, we'll loop back around with her. I, you know, I wanted her to share some words, but she is a Boys and Girls Club uh site lead, so I'm sure she's wrapping some things up. Um but uh you know this year having had AYSO lead soccer and then BGCP have helped other intramural sports throughout the year like volleyball uh things like that. The kids have really kind of absorbed it and really you
011know enjoyed that aspect. Uh we also have our partner CSM um for arts and music um dance and then rising stars which provides further programming. uh math science provided the the science and computer uh programming for students. And again, all of these programs that you see here, whether it's enrichment um or sports, uh it's the students who were at the forefront of deciding, you know, it's not like we you we brought a program and we got, you know, signed them up. It was the students who were requesting these programs. Uh and so anything that you really see here in terms of enrichment, it's been uh based on student input. Um in year two um uh we continued to hold our site steering committees um and our district steering committee which uh are led by uh
012Miss Janette Ramides who's in the house. She's our principal and special assignment of community schools and multilingual uh team. Um and she has really been able to activate a lot of the parent voice and ensuring that our steering committees are uh target driven, input driven and student focused. Um and so they've been very uh successful and thriving um in you know offering that community school model that um it's not just the model that the California Department of Education provided but it's really the model that we have aspired to provide our community schools which is really driven by families and students and staff members um who together you know come around some agreements on how to uh you know utilize some of the funding and and and ensuring that you know we're tapping into the resources
013that every school community school needs and deserves. Um with all of these steering committees uh there has been a lot of collaboration among our community school specialists which you know I started uh sharing gratitude for their work because as you can see here we have a lot of uh collaborations with the county um in Northern California through the Sanado County Office of Education. This is an image here that we shared on a very you know engaging and successful collaborative. So we don't just uh uh work in silos. We actually go out and and you know come in contact with other community school steering committees and uh other community school you know experts and specialists so that we can gather ideas and figure out how we can improve our practice at our individual community schools. Uh
014we also um are a part of the art which is the regional technical assistance center which is an organization and really a collaboration with uh our regional Bay Area assistants and they really help us kind of problem solve along the way um and and again provides a space to network with others so that you know their goal is that no community school should be working in silos. they should be interacting with one another, you know, collecting best best ideas. Um, uh, and around the topic of, you know, sharing best practices, uh, our community school team, um, was able to actually present at an AXA. EXA stands for association of California school administrators and in our region we held the equity symposium in Santa Clara at the univers Santa Clara University on March 28th and they
015were able to you know have a packed room full of educators and leaders uh who were you know engaging in conversation about the great work that we're doing here. So again, a lot of this is going out into the community and gathering ideas and and you know, being in conversation with with partners. Um actually I along with uh I do want to have um do we have Wendy Lima or you have Wendy? Um, uh, Wendy Lima is, uh, our PTA president in at Smiddale Park, uh, community school, elementary school. Um, and she's also a very highly esteemed member of our steering committee. Um, I actually know Wendy Lima from like four years ago when we were first planting the seeds and just, you know, gathering input on what might be possible. Um and so it's
016very uh inspirational to have her here as we go from year two of implementation to year three. Um, so my name is Wendy Lima. Um, I am a parent at Sato Park. Uh, and I have fourth grade students. Um, Boys and girls. Um so I am excited to share about my positive experience um regarding the benefits of having after school programming. Um both parents and students have benefited tremendously from the programming that that's come out of community schools. Uh in particular soccer and our BGCP program offerings. Uh BGCP has really um allowed and supported a lot of our immigrant origin families and students um you know learn language you know English language and then also just interact with one another and have fun. So, um the programs that the community school uh grant has brought
017upon is a lot of parent empowerment workshops that have helped parents navigate and learn a lot more. >> Yes, >> THANK YOU EVERYONE. UM, >> YOU missed something she said which is that the programs help with math and >> Oh, and math as well. Yes. And math as well. Yes, >> that one. >> Yeah, that's he has the hardest job in the world. Every move >> I do and don't do. Yes. >> Just making sure if you're all paying attention. Um so year two um we really um as I shared um in the December update um that we provided uh we were in the midst of working around these three aspects and building them at all of our community schools, our family resource rooms, clothes closets and food pantries. Um the implementation and creation of
018these three was a lot of hard work. Um and so um this has really um you know it really tested us in various ways but allowed us to come together as a community you know uh with the family resource centers. Um each of the sites uh built these with the intent to have like a a kind of a sanctuary space for families to come and ask questions and you know fill out forms and it's open door policy. Uh it is uh these are uh driven by our community service specialists who have you know really pour their hearts into this. Um along with the family resource center, you know, we also built uh sections of these resource centers that are devoted to clothes closets, right? Um to really provide the necessary resources and and and items
019that you know families might might need and any given moment of the year and to do it in a you know with dignity, right, without calling it out or drawing attention to it. Um, you know, it's just, you know, families can go before and after school. It doesn't have to be during school or during hightraic times of the day. Um, and I think what's really helped is having our amazing CSS have relationships with our families. Uh, to have those kind of confidential asks, right, without feeling like I'm less or or, you know, I'm, you know, a sense of embarrassment. We've really, these centers and close calls have really been actually the opposite. they've been kind of uh areas of the school where there's a lot of pride involved because they feel heard, they feel valued,
020they feel validated, and I think that's been uh to to the credit of the principles at our community schools, crediting our community service specialists who have really done a great job in building those relationships around love and care um uh instead of, you know, shame and like fear, right? And so they really done an amazing job. Same thing with our food pantries. um you know we've uh brought in uh collaborations with Kinyatta College uh to really uh bring in some of these items in there as well as Samaritan House and and again I'm just crediting a lot of the work uh that the CSS have done with uh Janette's guidance under Janette's guidance who have really you know you go into these spaces and they were not here just a year ago right and so
021just to see them just become staples at each of the community schools is really really quite impressive. >> Can I ask a question about the community college the the clothing the clothing um because that was one of my initiatives. I want to know um I I know that we are partnering with the Samaritan House and Kinata College um to stock these spaces. Are we um seeing any items received by like for instance other parents, people from the community? >> Yes. Um and in fact I was just at Laurel at the partners lunchon and I think uh Yina was just sharing that across the street you had some local neighbors right who had just brought in. So and and and I think I'm I'm glad you brought that up because um having these uh specific areas
022of our school where you know we're we're clearly collecting resources really inspires others to be like oh there's a need so you let me let me contribute. So the answer is yes. >> Okay. >> It's been really really great. >> Um so just a few visuals here. We have Fiesta Gardens. Um re they've got their resource got their Fernando's Nest clothes closet um partnerships right and each community school um will have a lot of similarities in terms of like the main spaces that they offer. But you know there they also adapt to their unique attributes and needs. So some aspects like in terms of their outreach or uh you know partnerships might might differ but you'll see a lot of similarities uh among uh each community school. Here we have Laurel uh elementary. Um and
023here I wait where's Nelly? Yeah Nelly. I wanted to invite Nelly up who is a grandma, a crossing guard and so much more for the Laurel Community School. isto. >> Um, good afternoon. My name is Nelly Alvarez and I am grandma to one of our students at Laurel uh in fourth grade. I'm also a part of personnel on staff at the school. in diverse manners. For example, offering activities such as sports after school, um soccer and volleyball being two main ones. >> And these opportunities um have really allowed my uh granddaughter to participate, but also really uh find kind of her niche. She's really good at these sports. Uh in addition, my family has received uh assistance uh in the areas of clothing, uh food, uh uh child care, after school, and support even in
024filling out job applications. Uh, Laurel School uh has been really wonderful at communicating with families and students using uh phone calls, uh, text messages, the use of parent square and flyers that are informative to us all. >> Uh as a family, we have felt very satisfied with um the community center uh at the school. Uh as we have always felt very welcomed across the world elementary. So the uh community service specialists uh at our at Laurel has always offered us excellent uh attention um and we have always felt safe and heard. Uh thank you very much for uh everything that you do for our families. Um, here we have Bleed Elementary. Uh, again, soon to be Cottage Grove. There's always a dot dot dot. Um, and again, right, uh, they've got their community wellness center.
025Uh, their clothes closet. They call it a care closet, which I actually love how they removed the word there to dig de stigmatize it a little. Um they've got their pantry, their partnerships, outreach, uh because you know, communication is a huge part of a successful community school. Um here we have some at the park elementary which again, you know, they've got their resource room, their panther pantry, you know, and closet, uh outreach strategies and partnerships. Uh and last we have Sunny Bra Elementary again right they've got the resource room those and closet pantry their partnerships um uh you know they also have their project read public library partnership that they that they offer uh and their outreach uh kind of strategies to ensure communication goes out to all families and students on a timely manner.
026Um, for this slide, I did have a couple of uh student speakers, Roger Diaz, um, and Alandra Salasad. If you want to come up to the front, >> you want to share your name and grade level and school you go to? >> Yeah. Good afternoon. My name is Roger Diaz. Um, I'm the student president at Sunny Elementary and I'm in fifth grade. >> Hi, my name is Alandreas Gonzalez. I'm in fifth grade and I'm 11 years old and I'm the secretary of Sunny. >> Nice. Wow. So, we've got some leaders in the house here. >> So, Roger and Alra, talk to us about, you know, your community school at Sunny Break. Um, talk to us about some of the activities that you are a part of after school. So I was a part of soccer
027this year and last year and that opportunity just gave me the chance to grow in that sport and my the student community service specialist like really helped us and they made us never give up and they gave everyone a chance to be part of that um soccer team and they were very inclusive. I'm also part of Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula. They helped me a lot with my homework when I needed it like and they push you to your limits and they get you motivated to do your work. And they also have activities like they call it playworks and mind works. And they they offer sports, they have clubs, they have activities to like get your mind and they have like core values and it's just great. So, right now I'm in a
028program and it's called Blaz Gross Club and it's really good because it helps you with your homework and the staff there is really nice and also earlier in like January and March I was in volleyball and it gave me the opportunity to connect with others and also learn like different ways of playing it And also right now I'm in ukulele and it's giving me an opportunity to learn to make different songs and music with others. >> Anything else you'd like to share? >> Yeah, just that Sunny Grape is just a great school. They're very inclusive. The community is great and they have tons of different activities to get you learning. For example, in lunch, sometimes on like Thursdays for fourth and fifth graders, they let you go into our multi-purpose building. And there's different games
029here like Twister Uno. And it's just a fun way because we usually don't get the field on on Thursdays and Tuesdays and all that. So, it's just a way to like play and have fun. And then also the staff, the teachers, they're just great. It's a great community overall. The teachers help you. You need any problem. you have any problems, they help you. The the principal machine is great as well, Miss Miriam, Miss Shina. And if you have any problems emotionally or with anyone, you can talk to our um I forgot. But but yeah, overall it's just a great school. I wish I could stay longer at it. I've been here six years and it's like been great six years of my life. >> Anything else to add? >> Awesome. Well, let's give these TWO
030YEARS. I'm sure you're our superintendent who would appreciate always iron. >> Thank you so much. >> Um so, uh these are, you know, kind of three of the many things that our CSS's and our community schools are are working on, um as we prepare for next year. Obviously sports and PK and all those things are kind of moving over into next year. Uh but they're are also uh you know reviewing input data from students and and the community around enrichment activities right uh we are continuing right our family uh workshop partnerships uh PK is one um but we also have an upcoming partnership with our local uh uh high school um and so more details will come from that partnership it's really exciting I know Jana and I have been working really hard at you
031know getting an MOU assembled and things like that. So, a lot more will come from that. Um, and obviously expanding academic tutoring, um, which is an area that not just staff are are wanting to, but students as well. So, >> yes, Boy and Girl Club is here. Yes. Come on up if you want. Yes. Um, so um, so want to introduce yourself? >> Yeah. Good evening everybody. Um I'm Andrea Ages, the regional director for Boys and Girls Club. Um but more specifically for Sonteo. Um I'm kind of like the overseeing of the four sites that we're at. We serve Yeah. So I'm I'm helping all the site leaders and people at those schools. >> Thank you, Andrew. >> Yeah. So, um, he's one of our partners at one at our sites and represents BGCP as
032a whole, but also has been very instrumental in a lot of the planning that we do around ensuring that our students are able to access some of the after school programming that Boys and Girls Club offers to to our students in a variety of different contexts and and enrichment program. So, thank you. Yeah. Yeah, that's Thank you. Thank you. Um and so uh here kind of looping back around impactor pathway which was our input uh program um that we used and we piloted at three of our community schools uh Laurel uh lead soon to be Cottage Grove and then Sunny Bray. Um in December when I provided an update uh we had just uh wrapped up phase one which was uh stu the student pilot um where we collected the voices of fourth and fifth
033grade students um and uh they made all these recommendations that were kind of uh the trends around what they were uh sharing. Um and then uh since then we've been able to complete phase two uh which is uh an expansion of for more student voices. Uh we actually uh across phases one and two we were able to collect 954 voices um from students across these three community schools uh third through fifth grade. Um we also uh implemented phase three um which included staff and family voices to kind of round out the input. Um our community school steering committees are in the process of uh analyzing. They're in the process of kind of making sense of the data uh as they pull out recommendations and and and you know bring that into year three planning which
034is just ongoing. Um so it's really exciting um stuff. We have our representative uh uh Danny from from Impactor Pathway back here. So, you know, any questions come up, you're welcome to to ask away. Um these are the family workshop partnerships uh that I mentioned earlier. We've got our Summit Public Library partnership which again offers another opportunity for our families uh to engage right in workshops in growth in empowerment in you know learning how to navigate the not just our school system but like our community and and and society at large. We've got our PK um as you know we're entering into year three of a partnership with PK. Uh we also have school-based um uh parent uh workshops uh that are put on locally at the sites uh through a collaboration with principal and
035uh the community service specialists uh and so on. And then this next upcoming one which we're really excited uh is the Summit Adult and Career Education um at our local uh Union High School District in Summit. uh they will also be offering yet another opportunity for our families to engage in some meaningful uh workshops. So, you know, we're we'll be sure to kind of provide details uh on how that that initiative goes and and how parents respond to it. Um we were uh again one of the the things that we we have here for uh academic tutoring our summit K12 um which uh the planning is ongoing in terms of you know how many spots we're going to get in. I think the steering committees are still uh working out the the data on that
036and how many students uh you know summit K12 will serve. Uh we will also uh we're coming out of the pilot with so next year it will be the full program. Um and our steering committees are already um you know they've they've landed on 50 students uh per community school. Um and and what's great is that uh you know it's the teachers leading small groups small group instruction uh through the academic tutoring program. Um and the ratio is like a you know it it can go as high as 15 to one. Um but you know 10 to one 11 to1 is kind of like the sweet uh ratio that we aspire to have. So so it increases its impact and it's both in language arts and math. Um so we're really excited for this. This
037is something that um uh came up in a lot of the input data um when we were surveying our multistakeholders in year one of implementation and immediately our steering committees were able to uh collaborate with the district, myself and um other members in education services and student services to provide uh these specific uh vetted programs uh uh to to meet that need. Um uh again these are uh a lot of just you know I'm sure we missed a few partnerships there. I we try to capture as many as possible. Um but you know again our community school the strength of our community school really depends on our community partnerships. And so, uh, this slide here is a homage to our various community partnerships that have stepped up, continue to step up, um, and are just,
038you know, coming forth, uh, in collaborating, locking arms with our community school staff, you know, parents, uh, and students. Um, a week ago, as we mentioned earlier, we had our community partner, uh, kind of breakfast, uh, celebration, and it was really a really nice opportunity to to have them all in the room. um they don't often get to break bread together as different partners. You usually you know end up having to problem solve facilities or sharing space and and this was really an opportunity to showcase how we do community schools which is you know building bridges and you know building partnerships and bringing them all together so that we all know that we're going down the same road together right down the same path. Um so this was you know again um want to thank
039all of our community partnerships because without them we cannot do all this work. Um also uh soon to end this these slides with an enormous celebration. Um this year uh we submitted for the 2026 Kent Awards uh under the community schools. Uh and the Satell County Schoolboards Association runs this kind of competition every year to highlight high impact programming that are innovative but also replicable. That's kind of the the idea, right? so that other districts can implement these you know best strategies and practices. Uh and on May 8th uh Satis School District went up to the stage and you know we were awarded the 2026 Kent award for community school. So that is you all myself you know we we went up there as reps but it's the folks right behind me who deserve that
040award. It's it's not us at all. So, um, just know that your work is being highlighted and celebrated, um, across our county. Um, and, uh, this plaque here will be placed somewhere around here, but it's yours, not not ours. Um, and then I'll end really quickly with a video that we put together. >> What if schools were more than a place students attend? What if they were the heart of a thriving community? >> Community schools in San Monteo Foster City bring together students, families, educators, and community partners to provide integrated supports, expanded learning opportunities, and enhance family and community engagement while sharing leadership, ensuring every student is supported academically, socially, and emotionally. There are four pillars of community schools. First pillar, integrated student supports in our district. Community schools address barriers outside the classroom like
041health care, nutrition, and housing so students can focus on learning. Schools partner with medical, dental, and mental health providers and offer services like food pantries, clothing closets, and afterchool care at no cost to families. Second pillar, expanded learning. From afterchool programs to providing resources, students have more time to learn, explore, and grow. This includes tutoring, project-based learning, and enrichment like sports, arts, and clubs, which help build confidence, engagement, and real world skills. Third pillar, family and community engagement. Families are partners and leaders in decision-making. Schools foster belonging through multiple methods of communicating, workshops, and leadership opportunities, creating a true neighborhood hub. And our fourth pillar, collaborative leadership. Our district and site steering committees work together to make decisions that reflect local needs, ensuring there is voice from our students, families, and educators at the table.
042When students feel they belong, they show up. When they show up, they succeed. That's the power of our San Mato Foster City School District community schools. Join us because when schools thrive, our whole community rises. With that, I open it up to for comments and questions. I just want to say that you know from the beginning when you um start took on this project um just envisioning it was one thing but to see it come to light is truly incredible to see all the resources and the supports for our families and our students is incredible and I just want to thank you and all of the team behind you because like you said it's not really him it's the team and thank you all for making this such a special place um a welcoming place
043for many students who are in need families. Thank you. >> Um I'll just kind of echo that. Um thank you to everybody. Um my favorite thing is to hear from students and what I heard from our students here um is that they love where they go to school. They feel that they are included and welcomed and valued that they have opportunities to play sports and and get tutoring and be and just really feel part of their school community. So much so that um some don't even want to leave school. So um um I just really want to thank everyone for this. I think every student deserves opportunity to feel safe and welcome at their schools and to hear from kids that that's the experience that they're having just means that um we're doing the right
044thing. And I I do think um with all of our community partnerships, we're all stronger together. And so just really appreciate what everybody's doing to um to make this experience so great for kids. >> Figgy back on the feeloods. Um, you know, I think, you know, sometimes when I'm reading the news and I'm seeing like what's happening in our nation, I feel really like sad. And, you know, I see, you know, resources and services being cut, you know, in populations that need it the most. And every time we, you know, gather and we hear about the work that's being done in these in your community schools, it just it's for me it's the antidote, right, of like everything that's happening. And it's just it's so healing. Um, and it it makes me feel hope again.
045and just thank you for all of the incredible work that you do each and every day um for students, for their families, and it's just it's so moving. Thank you. >> Trustee Kim, do you have anything to add? >> I'll just echo the comments of my fellow trustees. You know, I've said multiple times now how much pride I take in the community schools, the work that we do to all of our students, family members, partners who came out to speak today, share their stories. I think again going from that planning implementation listening tour to now seeing how it's directly impacting the lives of so many of our students, parents, family members and others has just been really tremendous to see and I think again as uh Trusty Ho and others have said just a huge
046point of pride for us and a chance to really show community coming together in a way that's very necessary especially now. I did have a question and that's specifically on you know I'm especially grateful to Dr. Rubakaba for his leadership from the beginning for the listening and the work that he did for all the partners he brought in and knowing as he said before there are so many other folks involved in this effort and it's not a oneperson effort at the same time he has been very central to this and we will not be having him you know much longer and so I did want to ask whether it's a superintendent or the team as a whole what we have in place to really prepare for such a tremendous transition given how central Dr. Rubaba
047has been to the success of the school so far and really bringing forth all these partners, team members and others to bear. >> Yeah. Well, I'll tell you um thank you so much for your positive words. Um I will say that um I think one of the great accomplishments of the community school initiative is that um it doesn't lean on any one person or two people. Um I think we've been able to generate a lot of uh not just buy in but like actual um you know folks want to be a part of this right and and and they've really have felt uh empowered to to take this on um our you know I'm sure our student services department the folks who have been a huge part of this uh you know they continue on
048a lot of this work uh happens at the site level uh you know the steering committee uh work is you know represents one of the huge pillars of the community school initiative and um I feel very comfortable that um you know that engine will continue right um and that even the steering committees right if they have new folks you know new voices entered you know that change process just continues. We also um made a decision about a year ago to um invite Jana um our coordinator um to really take a more central role in working with all the site steering committees and the site um leaders and um in a couple of weeks we'll announce um for the board's consideration a replacement for Dr. because he's moving on to Redwood City. Um, which ironically I
049don't I don't know if a lot of people know, but we actually spent time visiting the community schools at Redwood City School District um to inspire us to embark on this work and um so you know, you'll you'll go from one district implementing community schools to a different district schools. Um and that person that that replaces Dr. um with the board's approval, that person will have time to on board with um with Dr. Wakava and with Jana and continue this work forward. The other really exciting thing is that it looks like there's a really strong likelihood in this upcoming state budget for education that there's going to be new additional money for community schools. And we have a list of schools that we are going to apply for and have already applied for which includes
050Abbott, Bayside, Meadow Heights, Barisburg, and a variety of other schools. And it's very likely that we'll be sitting here in a year with eight or nine schools um receiving these this funding and a really good game plan for how to do it. Well, >> thank you. >> Um Thanks, uh, Trusty Kim. Um, I mean, I think it's just really amazing what these teams have accomplished at the at the different campuses and I'm really, you know, I'm really excited to hear that we may be able to expand the program. Um, you know, as many people know, my kids attend Sunny Bray and um, we've seen firsthand like the just the transformation of um, having of what having after school care at the school um, has done for the community. Um, it just is a game changer
051and you know, not having to worry about transportation. um kids feeling already safe and comfortable with the space that's built for them that they spend um their school day in. I think it's just, you know, we when we talk about supports for families and how that translates into um success for kids, not just academic success, but also like feeling happy and um supported at their school. I think it's just incredible, right? and and I talk a lot about how this is all a team like a group project. It's such a it's such a big project and it's not um it's something that we none of us could do as one person like we all have a part to play and um I'm just really grateful for everyone who has you know from the very beginning
052the the parents who came to those meetings that you ran at all the schools that I attended you know even before I joined the board and just like seeing families there that we never saw on campus for any other reason or because they're busy. Like they have they have work, they have to take care of their kids, they're um they're just very busy. And so I think just seeing so many people come out for those meetings that started this whole process um really kind of drove home the point that this is for everyone, right? And when we all when we take care of um the families and we take care of the students, like that's when we give them the tools that they need to succeed because you can't it's like if you're worried about
053having food or having clothes or, you know, filling out forms like that's time and energy that you're not putting into like thriving. And so I'm just really really grateful um to see all of this happen. and I can't wait to expand this to other schools if we can. >> I have an additional question that I wanted to ask. Um, you know, just kind of seeing that list of community partnerships like how did we find them or did they find us? Like how do we, you know, identify additional or new partnerships as well? >> Absolutely. It was um a combination of things, right? one was existing partnerships that were just really willing and ready to grow and expand in their support and outreach to us. Uh and then there were some that were established as new
054partnerships, right? Um you know, I'm thinking AYSO was new, right, to to our district. We hadn't partnered with them before. Um but we were we made a very deep analysis on like you know where we're at in Sanado and you know what are some local organizations one of the ones that we tapped into heavily this year as an example Samaritan House right um it's always been there and you know a lot of our sites do lean on Samaritan House and they have historically but what changed this time is that we expanded and went deeper with the support that we lean on with Samaritan so much so that you during our professional development day. We actually took a bus and brought in a lot of our me mental health uh professionals counselors and then we had
055a a subsequent uh day where our CSS's went there as well. Um and it was like a tour a very a guided tour they were provided resources you know made those relationships but again it's all based on uh needs and assets assessment. So based on what needs were coming up at each of the sites, um then you know we didn't take no for answers. We didn't limit ourselves. We went out to to bring in the supports that that we know they our community schools needed and that parents were sharing with us. And so um one thing led to another and then also in the first year we also had the community schools come together and collaborate with one another through professional development days. And that added another layer of networking. Um so that you know
056we desiloed the community schools. Um and that again brought in many more organizations. And you know these organizations often would would call my office and say hey I heard you guys are all doing the community school initiative. You know you know we're at Samato Park but I heard you have a need and five others. We're ready. like you know and so you know making those you know call backs and making those connections and meeting folks in person really also helped um and just a lot of it is the power of hearing what families need um and taking that a step forward >> Christian if I can add um the year before we started implement we went through about a 30-day period of contacting every district in San Monteo County and asking them who they work
057with >> to create a master list. And then using our grant application, we sent written correspondence to every service provider saying, "We're this big school district in Sanonteo County. We anticipate doing this program at five schools. This is kind of what we're looking for. If you're interested in working with us, please contact Christian, myself, Jana, and a few others." And we got a lot of feedback and some uh potential partners just said,"We're not interested in that. That doesn't really work for us." We explained what our economic limitations were. Um and then we said, "If you want to make the proposal to us, it should kind of look like this. It should explain this information." And I think you remember that first year we produced a a menu, >> a tool, a toolkit that we gave
058to every school. But that took about 30 days. Yeah, >> it was, you know, not some partners weren't used to communicating that way. They wanted to just can I drive over there and tell you all about it? It's like, no, we kind of needed writing. We were trying to explain to them that he and I weren't really going to make the decisions, >> right? >> But we needed to gather information so that the steering committees had something they could really hold on to. And we didn't want it to be the, you know, wild wild west where it was like, >> well, my cousin's girlfriend is a >> program for this. And because that >> we did get a couple >> my older brother is an awesome soccer player. They are >> and and actually one
059of the things that mattered most was what was their what were their values about how and some like some partners said we're about getting like a very small group of kids super good at some you know like on the sports side like we're about training kids for division one. Well, that's, you know, we want, as one of our students that everyone's welcome, like everyone can play that to us, we're like, it has to be built into it. So, we did a little bit of that sorting out, too. Um, and then I think that's still true today. Now, I think we get a lot more calls in. We're not having to call quite as many people because they know we're doing >> I have one additional question um just to put it out in the universe
060because I know that you're going to be leaving soon. Can you identify two areas in the program that if you had your magic wand and what you know what what's the wish list of an area that you would like to have more support in that we you can see needing more? >> Um I would say um and there's obviously an infinite things that you can right um dreaming is always a nice thing to do. Um I would definitely say and and we're doing this already um is um pulling more student voice into the process right um because we have found every time that a student that a program came in because like student voice it's always been successful like you know kids they absorb it they enjoy it you know we're not um I'm sure
061the CSS can speak to this like when when it's the students who have brought who have solicited this idea or program, you know, they're not having a hard time filling spots, right? It's just so that aspect is is really huge. Um I think another area that I think we should probably look at um and again true of any community school is the parent empowerment process, right? Um I think um you know we and this is part of the reason why we added many other parent workshops on there. um because every family comes with their own story, comes with their own kind of need and passion and and ideas and and so I think offering a more variety for families to you know work on whether maybe a need for a family might be you know
062working on job finding or or or building a skill set so that they can find a better job right maybe another family they're they're they're fine with their career choice or what you know with with that aspect and maybe they want to learn English, right? And so I think adding more variety for our parents uh is in terms of workshops uh is really I think key um because when we pay attention to families and help empower them, the kids come more prepared the next morning. There's just like this transfer uh this you know this dynamic that happens where uh you know if parent is not stressed and they feel valued at school well the kid too right the student too. And so I think that's definitely another area I would keep honing in on and
063we are that's really a lot what we've been doing. >> Um I guess I'll I'll see if anyone in the audience has questions or comments. >> Yeah. Okay. Um Joe, can we check online for public comment? >> Yes. Checking. There are no no raised hands at the moment. Um, well, might be a good one. Um, so all right. Well, I guess that's it. Um, I'll take a motion for adjournment. >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> Thank you, Trusty Brooks and Trustee O. Okay. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Um, we're turned at 62030. Thank you. Thanks everyone.