SMFCSD Regular Board Meeting - January 22, 2026

001much. Gracias. >> Okay, you're ready to go. Oh, sorry. We're actually gonna I think we're gonna move the slightly later to allow for one of our guests to arrive. >> Um, so I will call the meeting to order at 5:32. Um, we're going to hold on to 2A for now, but I can do roll call. Um, Trusty Brooks >> here, >> Trusty Kim >> here, >> Proctor >> here, >> and Trusty Hoe >> here, >> and I am here as well. Um, thank you. And can we get an approval of the agenda? >> I'll make a motion to approve the agenda for tonight. >> Second. Um, thank you, Trusty Brooks and Trusty Proctor. All in favor say I. >> I. >> And can I get approval of the minutes? >> I'll make a motion to

002approve the minutes. for >> November 20. >> A second. Um, thank you, Trusty Brooks and Trusty Proctor. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Okay. Um, statements, updates from employee groups. Uh, are we do FMsca first or should we >> uh >> do that? We could do barl first. >> Let's do it. >> And feel free to take up all your minutes. share some personal. All right. Good evening. I'm Jessica Nadi, proud principal of Burell Middle School. Thank you for having us here tonight and thank you board for your work to support student well-being and academic success. It takes a village. I've brought a Burell student, Angel Aaron Zolo, and Burell teacher leader, Miss Becca Codian, with me. And on Tuesday, we welcome some board members to school and district partners to share our

003gratitude for the support we've been given and show off our hard work. We want to share how we listen and elevate student voices to impro inform our programming and prepare students for high school, college, and career. Before Aaron takes over, I wanted to showcase how our relationshipbased attendance improvement plan has resulted in great improvements. Our Latinx attendance has improved by 4% and our Polynesian students percentage has increased by 21%. Led by assistant principal Jennifer Brilhart and a team of attendance champion staff members, we know it's important to utilize the reframe of chronic presentism to highlight our students attendance journeys and share our program attendance champions. We thank um eighth grade student Kenneth Ch Sanchez was with was with us on Tuesday to share his story. He couldn't be here tonight cuz it's his birthday and

004his mom planned something special so we filmed him so you could see and hear about his journey. Here's Kenneth. >> All right, Kenneth, can you tell us a little bit about your attendance journey? >> Yeah, of course. My name is Kenneth Sanchez. I am an eighth grader here at Burell and I'll be speaking a little bit about my attendance journey. I joined the attendance champion program when I was consistently missing school and my attendance really went down. This little card helped me throughout my journey and it's usually set for around 10 school days and it helped me stay consistent and it helped me break larger challenges into small achievable goals that really helped me throughout my journey. It showed me how to stay consistent with things and how to be responsible. But this doesn't just

005approve my attendance. It helped me prepare for what comes next. >> Thanks. >> All right. Please welcome up Aaron Arenzo or Angel Aaron Zolo. >> Thank you so much for having me, Miss Naughty. Um, hello everybody. Good evening. Um, uh, it's nice to see all of you. I'm Angel Erin Zolo, eighth grader at Burell Middle School. And a little bit about my experience at Burell is I've been in the vol or on the volleyball team both years or two years out of the three at BL. Uh, I play three instruments. I'm in the band. Uh, I am in the orchestra and I play guitar outside of school. And a little bit more on that, I was able to I was nominated for the CMEA Honors Orchestra and I got to perform in San Jose State

006University alongside the best youth musicians in the Bay Area. So that was really fun. Um, enough about me. Thank you. Um, so at Bal, we ask our students, family, and staff in many different ways what they want to see at our school. We use this information for continual improvement and access for all students to participate, engage, and thrive. Last year, we learned that our students and families wanted expanded before and after school offerings. So, this year, each morning, our gym is open at 7:35 for Cozy Club. And every Thursday after school, students get to learn new soccer skills with our AISO play partners. Our student surveys helped create our new dance, personal finance, and maker electives and expand our AVID elective offerings this year. Additionally, we're opening an afterchool CC lab for students who haven't

007been able to take this popular elective during the day. Thanks to our student services, TOSA, Miss Gilchrist, who gathered in who gathered student data on after school homework club, we also partnered with Hillsdale to learn about their ETA program. Using that data, we redesigned our academic tutoring program, now called LevelUp, into small groups with a teacher with a teacher mentor run by our new community worker, Miss Le. Each year, we have new clubs based on student interest. Last year, we started a weightlifting club and brought back the garden club, a club that I'm in. And I'm I am interested in helping make world beautiful through gardening. Speaking of outdoors, can I move this up? >> Yeah. >> Okay. I'm sorry. Um, speaking of outdoors, we'll see improvement work going on during Wait, was this from

008the other day? >> Oh, some of it. Well, we do have improvement work going on. >> Should I Should I keep reading? >> Yeah, let's go with Oh, yeah. We have restroom res. >> Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of outdoors, um right now we're they are finishing the first set of restroom renovations and also the upper black top pavement uh project. With the help of our district and community, we look forward to more improvements to the outside and inside of our classrooms in the coming years. >> All right, let's go. >> Okay. Hi, nice to see you all. So recently our site instructional leadership team invited a panel of 12 students to our professional development day. So they had to come into school on their day off and they actually most of them got there before staff

009did at 7:40 in the morning. Um during this time these 12 students spoke courageously and candidly about their experiences in the classroom, noting what helps them be successful as it pertains to discourse and what serves as barriers to their success. Teachers listened with intent to understand, inform future lesson plans, and shift them from being the usual talkers as teachers to listeners as students. Our student panel shared how important it is for teachers to structure learning experiences where they are in small groups and can practice sharing their thinking first. Students also shared how having an environment where teachers ensure it is emotionally safe to take risks is crucial to their success. modeling that making mistakes is okay and part of life are also some other things that help students feel empowered to engage in academic discourse.

010After our student panel, which left teachers with an overwhelming sense of pride for these students and their reflections that they shared, the ILT then had teachers meet in planning teams to tweak upcoming lessons and our current routines to reflect student feedback. The feedback from teachers was overwhelmingly positive. But what's more is that our student panelists were so eager to come back again and some even asked to stay and did stay for our entire professional development day. Um I'd now like to invite Angel back up to share a bit about our upcoming concerts, musical and cultural fair. >> Thank you. Um yes, there are some upcoming Burell events that we hope you could attend. So, we have music concerts next week, Monday through Friday, starting at 6:30 p.m. in our Barnes & Gym. I will be

011performing in our chamber orchestra. Uh, our music program led by department leader Haleen Gratans recently submitted our cal our application for California exemplary schools for excellence in arts education award. Schools selected for the exemplary exemplary arts education award demonstrate broad-based achievement in arts instruction and for advancing the arts for all students. We have expanded our music offerings and work to ensure that all students have access to not only our electives but free music tutoring after school. Then the first week of March is our big drama production of High School Musical at a Samack. Around the same time, we will be debuting the documentary of The Making of Jinx. Jinx was written by Burell alumni together with Burell Drama led by director Miss Goldroth. A film crew made a movie about the experience of this show

012created specifically for middle school students. Stay tuned for the screening dates. Finally, if you like food, music, and dance from all around the world, check out our cultural fair on March 25th starting at 5:30. Thank you for listening, and we hope to see you at one of these upcoming events. Good night. >> I think we were going to have College Park lead the flag salute. Is that right? So, we can go back to item 2 A. Please stand. >> First of all, good evening everyone. Thank you so much for waiting for our students to arrive so they can help um lead the pledge. Um and before we begin, I just want to introduce myself. I my name is Betty Chung. I'm the principal of College Park and I just want to say thank you so

013much for inviting us here today to lead the pledge as well as share some of the highlights of the year. Um I'm going to turn it over to our students to lead this. We have our two student council presidents, our co-presidents here. We have Beia McClowski. Hi >> and we have Natalie. Sorry. Ready? Okay. Are you girls ready? Speak loud and proud. Please put your right hand over your heart. We will now begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. >> This is presentation about our school, College Park. We are so excited to share this with you today. We are the student council presidents. I'm Natalie Tai and my

014name is B Mlaskkey. What's new in our school? We recently moved to Fiesta Gardens. We also got a new principal, Principal Chung. Um, we just want to say thank you to the superintendent and the board and our community for making our move smooth. And as kind of a welcoming activity, we have some highlights that we would like to share. On the first day of school and on the first day of our new campus, we had lion dancers perform to make sure that there was luck and good things throughout this year. During the mid-autumn festival, our whole school made moon cakes to celebrate. We have core value awards at our panda assemblies every month. Our four core values are kindness, curiosity, integrity, and teamwork. Um during uh our UNICEF or or during our Samaritan House toy

015drive in December, we got over 50 donations. On November 14th, College Park went on a Ruby Bridges walk to celebrate Ruby Bridges who helped with equity, equality, and desegregation. On Halloween day, we had a parade to show off everyone's cute and fun costumes and had lots of fun doing so. >> About every month, College Park has spirit days for the whole school. On these days, kids can dress up in the theme of the spirit day. This brings fun in building up the community. Some things that we are looking forward to in the future. In March, the fifth graders are going to go to Mission Springs Outdoor Education where we will go on hikes and learn about the ecosystem and have fun activities. Each year, College Park has a fun fest named Panda Fest. During Panda

016Fest, friends, family, and even people who don't go to College Park can come to have fun, play games, and watch fun performances. Every year, College Park celebrates Chinese New Year by going to San Francisco, and performing in a parade. We have even more spirit days coming up in the rest of the year, such as book character day, vacation day, crazy hair day, and lots more. >> Thank you so much for listening. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um I think next is updates from CSEA. Is that right? Do we have anyone from CSEA here or online? Hi guys, how are you tonight? Um, I am uh good evening uh trustee superintendent OOA executive staff and guests. Uh for those who do not know, my name is Brienne Bishop and I'm here on behalf of the CSEA

017chapter 411, which is the union serving the classified employees of our district. Uh our report is nice and short tonight. Uh last night our members voted to reopen contract negotiations for the 2026 202 27 uh year. We anticipate that uh will become an agenda item for this meeting uh next month and look forward to collaborating with the district negotiation team. Um, we are hopeful for a fair and equitable salary increase for our members as well as an increase in the district contribution towards health and welfare benefits that can be extended to dependent of our unit members. Our members work very hard and deserve to be able to provide health care for their families. Um, thank you for this opportunity to keep you informed on the classified unit members of our district. Have a good night,

018Paul. >> Thank you. Uh name uh update from Smeita. >> Good evening everyone. I'm here tonight on behalf of the educators of SMIA. As we start 2026, I want to focus on what matters most, our students and the community that supports them. Tomorrow marks the start of our annual readathon to support the education foundation, which has granted more than $9 million to support programs like literacy and STEM in our district. We're grateful for this investment in our students and encourage all families to register and participate. If you need help getting started, just ask a teacher. January or Joe. Uh January is school board appreciation month and I want to sincerely thank our board members for their service and dedication to our students and schools. We truly appreciate the time and energy you commit to this

019work. With that being said, I am troubled to see a proposed compensation increase on tonight's agenda. Our employee groups, educators, classified staff, and administrators settled for a three and a half% raise last year after careful negotiations within tight budget constraints. A potentially 400% increase for board member compensation feels deeply inconsistent with the fiscal reality our employees face and the sacrifices they make every day to serve our students. I urge the board to consider pulling this item. Lastly, he's not here, but I wish to congratulate Dr. Rubacaba on his move from the penultimate, one of his favorite words, role in samontail foster city leadership to the top position in Redwood City. Congratulations, Superintendent Rubicaba. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any foundation? Oh, foundation. >> Hi everyone. That was such a great intro. I was

020like, "Oh, maybe I don't even need to do an update." Um, let me just find my notes. Um, in light of board appreciation, I wanted to say that we so appreciated President Tren's liazing with us for the past year plus and she has shown up at all of our volunteering events and just been really present. Brought her kids. Um, just been a really wonderful liazison for us. So, we were really sad to see her go, although she's moving on to bigger things. And we were very excited to welcome Trusty Hoe as our new liaison. She was able to join our board meeting this week. And um we're excited for a partnership and building that with you. Um as was stated, our readathon starts tomorrow. I was very excited to see that College Parks book character

021day is tomorrow to welcome in the readathon. Um, so we are excited. Our this is our 10th annual readathon. So that's a really big deal for us. Um, our district-wide goal is to read 2 million minutes and raise $125,000. And the individual goals are for kids to read 20 minutes a day and raise $30 each. There are really great rewards like pizza and popsicle parties and author assemblies for the two schools that have the highest average reading minutes and the highest percentage participation in fundraising. Um these are we have some really cute designs this year. So these are some of the posters. This is elementary and middle school posters. The kids are all going home with really cute bookmarks um that have been designed. Um and Saturday are our kickoff events. So, we have a

022kickoff event at the Sanonteo Main Library from 11 to 1:00 on Saturday and then the Foster City Library from 2:00 to 4:00. And we'll have a puppet show, which I hear is fun for all ages, not just littles. And we will have a stamp rally, so fun stations. Last year, Diego's kids were like deep in the maker space in Foster City with like cardboard boxes building things. Um, and uh, yeah, it'll just be a really fun time. So if you want to come and encourage your kids and encourage your students to come, we would love to see everyone there. Uh thanks so much. Thank you. Do we have any other reports from committees? No. Nothing. Okay. Um do we have anyone from PTA council? Joe, can you check online if anyone's >> Yes, checking. I

023don't see anyone raising their hand for that. >> Okay, thank you. We'll move on. Um, public statements related to non-aggenda topics. Is there anyone here for that? Nobody in person, it looks like. Joe, can you check online for any raised hands for 3B or sorry, 3C? >> Yes, checking. No raised hands at this time. Okay, moving on. Um, public statements related to agenda items. Persons will be called at the appropriate time when we handle the agenda item. Um, are there any announcements by the board? No. Okay. Superintendent report. All right. Some nights it's somewhat quiet in here, but there are about seven people who mention things that I wanted to talk about. So, thank you all for foreshadowing what I'm going to say. Um, and I'll just start with uh the Ed Foundation. Um, the

024Readathon is an event that every single school participates in. Kids get so excited to earn the rewards that are out there. The two events, I think, um, are examples of the kickoff events are examples of the best kind of partnership we have with our cities. Um because those libraries are so vibrant on these days. There's like it's sort of hard to get in there because of how many Sato Foster City parents and families go in and the kids have a blast and um I really want to tip my hat to both of the libraries of Sonteo and Foster City and both cities really for being partners with us um you know throughout our readathon. And then um every school has an opportunity to participate and at the end of the whole process uh there's a

025big donation that goes to every school and we're really thankful um to our partners who have helped us build these relationships with cities and with um with companies and you know the $9 million number is it's such a you know blessing for the kids in the school district and it's a huge accomplishment uh for the foundation and I want to thank Karina you know you're uh approaching the end of your first year and you've just been an awesome uh leader for the organization and and a big uh part of the reason why things are are going so well and um Yeah. Yeah. And so that's really exciting. I wanted to just talk about that for a second. I wanted to talk about our school visitations that we had this week. Burell was one of the

026schools, but we had other schools as well. We had uh Sunny Bray and and we just had events happening all over the school district, Aottabon. And each time that we do this, we get a series of emails from the people who visit our schools. And um one of my favorite things is to just go through and read through their comments and their reflections. Um especially at Burell, one of the things that they talked about was how much the students really value the restorative work that your school is doing and really were able to articulate that uh this is a school and this is an an initiative that makes me feel heard. And uh they talked about sometimes we have restorative uh issues with other students, but sometimes we have it with the adults who we

027interact with here because we want to have good relationships with the people who are here to help us. And I think it says something about the emotional health of a school when the adults and the students can work with each other and talk to each other. And it doesn't surprise me that you all had the students at your PD day, although you didn't have to. And many schools didn't have students. Just another example of how your school is thinking about what students can contribute and what students can do and you're opening that door cuz so often we stand in the way not because we want to but it's just sort of who we are as as these big schools and these big institutions is we we handle everything and I really want to commend you

028for opening that door to your students because it makes a really big difference. And then I want to talk about a visit that we had this afternoon with Fiesta Gardens leadership. Myself and David Chamblas and Alita Barera Cruz went and visited uh with the principal and the current uh interim assistant principal and talked through EL and talked through um the school's approach to the next five months and our instructional strategies. Uh and then we went out and looked at uh this new uh ball field work that they're doing out there. There was a delay for several months and it's been a real frustration, but it started again on Monday and it's just looking so great already. The kids are peeking through uh you know uh the slats there to see what's happening and they're excited

029about that. Um, but we also had close to 200 kids there after school today in a free after school program and uh all the staff that's there is so positive with the kids and um and it was just really affirming to the work that that we've tried to do which is leads me to my last point which is um about the district-wide attendance figures that we pulled this week and we sent out a message to all of our staff. So I want to start there with our staff members districtwide. Um we pulled a report for every single school uh going three years in reverse and um found that in the district 21 out of 22 campuses have experienced a really significant increase in attendance and schools across the district um have had the numbers similar

030to the number that principal Nadi presented tonight about kids missing a lot of school days. That number is going down as well because both numbers are important. It's important to get 96 97 98% of kids to school every day. But it's also important not to to ignore it when some kids start to miss 8 and 9 and 10 and 15 days cuz that has a really negative impact on their their learning. And we're succeeding at both things. Um and then just a couple of schools I wanted to highlight. uh lead um Abbott, Laurel Park, Sunny Bray, many of our community schools, many schools where we're adopting community school initiatives and and Burell's another one that wants to do that kind of community schools work um those are the schools that are actually seeing the greatest

031increase across the district and it's just something to be really proud of and we'll be sending out a message to all families um because it really is an indicator that the things we're doing that are working for us, we need to continue to do moving forward. and um and it's a celebration point for all of our staff who were the real, as we say at some schools, the real champions of attendance. So, with that, I'll pass it uh back to the board. Thank you. >> Thank you. Yes. Um great visits earlier this week. Um okay, moving on to the proposed consent agenda. Um do we have any requests to pull any items from the consent agenda? from the board. No. Okay. Um, do any members of the public want to pull a consent agenda item?

032>> Not seeing anything. Joe, can we check online? >> Yes. Checking. There are no raised hands. >> Okay, great. I think we're I guess we're ready for a motion then. >> Motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. Uh, thank you, Trustee Kim and Trustee Hoe. Um, all in favor say I. >> I. Okay. Next, we have um presentation of poll results by EMC Research and Team Civics. >> Yes. Um, so thanks to Jessica and Jared and Lauren for joining us tonight. This is a follow-up presentation to you this evening. Uh, we did a poll in 2025. We said we come back again in January and and share some more information with you. So Jessica is going to share with you some of the uh results of the recent polling work that she's done on

033our behalf. So thank you for joining us Jessica and Lauren and Jared. >> Thank you. This is on excellence. Pull up the presentation. All right, thanks for bearing with me here. All right, good evening. U thank you for having me back. Jessica Psky Sanchez with EMC Research. I'll share with you the results of this recent poll of voters in the district and then I'll welcome any comments um from Jared and any questions from the board. Uh so this is a uh tracking survey meaning we did a preliminary survey on behalf of the district uh last year in July and this is a check-in uh to see if there have been any changes over time uh and to measure support for a potential bond measure for the district. So we surveyed likely voters here in the

034district. Uh we conducted the survey just earlier this month. So very fresh data for you tonight. We used mixed mode methodology uh to reach a sample of 600 likely voters in the district. So that incorporates live telephone interviews along with online interviews by email or text invitation. So with an overall sample of plus or minus of 600 interviews, we have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. That's for the overall results. But we also utilized a split sample methodology in order to split respondents in half and half heard one potential bond amount um that mirrors the bond amount we asked about last year, a $498 million bond measure. Uh and then the other half were asked about an alternative amount, a $326 million bond measure. And that allows us to gather

035unbiased feedback at the two possible amounts. Um and so just keep in mind within each of those uh split samples half of the respondents in each the margin of error is a little bit higher plus or minus 5.7 percentage points. And another goal uh for this research was to uh evaluate uh the support among likely June 2026 voters as well as likely November uh 2026 voters. Uh June voters being a subset of November voters. uh they make up the vast majority of our respondents with 500 interviews among likely June voters. So the overall margin of error within that subset plus or minus 4.4 percentage points uh and then within each split sample a little bit higher around six percentage points. Uh so without further ado uh I will share some key findings uh from this

036poll and then some more detailed results. Um we do see that uh while we continue to see a bit of concern among voters about the economic future um we also see a very high level of optimism when it comes to the way things are going in the local community. So very happy voters when we ask how things are going in their city. Uh so uh we also see that these voters continue to broadly understand that there is a need for additional funding for the local schools in their community. When it comes to a bond measure, we initially see support for a measure right near the 55% threshold for passage um at both of the amounts that we tested in this poll. Uh and then we also see very consistent results uh when it comes to

037comparing uh support for the $498 million bond today compared to back in uh July of last year. Uh important to note, we see that younger voters, those who are not homeowners, so renters, and lower propensity voters, um some of the groups that will make make up a larger portion of the electorate in November than in June, they tend to be a little bit more supportive of a measure than their counterparts. And then one other thing uh that we want to point out here is that when voters are presented u with an opposition statement that's centered around costs uh we know costs are a concern. Um we see greater vulnerability um uh for the higher amount that we tested than the lower amount. And so um we think that if a larger amount uh is is

038something that the district pursues, we recommend looking toward a November election. So with that, I'll share with you some of the uh specific results from the survey and where applicable we'll share how the results today compare with last year's survey. Um so this kind of warm-up question that does not ask specifically about the schools or public education, but really just helps us gauge overall sentiment about the way things are going in their local area. Do you think things are headed in the right direction or off on the wrong track? And you can see on the lefth hand side what we learned last year and then on the right hand side the current poll results. Um they are incredibly similar and overwhelmingly we see voters are optimistic about the way things are going in their city

039in their local community. Um so that's a a happy group of voters. Um however uh we also see a little bit of economic anxiety and that that mirrors what we saw last year when we asked do you do you expect economic conditions in 6 months to be better or worse. Um we now see on the far left side that 58% expect economic conditions to be worse, 16% expect them to be better and 26% about the same. And that is very similar to what we saw um in the poll last year. We also wanted to gauge any recent awareness about the district. So we asked uh two questions that are shown on this slide on the left hand side. Have you heard or seen anything recently about the San Monteo Foster City School District? And if

040you uh if you have, have you heard a lot or a little? And so you can see about one in four, a little more than one in four have heard at least a little bit uh about the district recently. And if they said that they had heard or seen something recently, we asked an open-ended question. What have you seen or heard? So, they could tell us anything um that they had seen or heard. And then we took what they said and we put it into categories. And you can see here um that uh among the things that are mentioned, school improvements uh and a potential ballot measure come up among uh several. We'll also take you through a few other tracking questions. So tracking questions being uh identical to ones we asked in the baseline

041poll last year uh to measure any potent potential changes over time and continue to keep tabs on voter opinion. Um so do you see uh a need for additional funding for the local schools in the San Monteo Foster City School District? Overall uh we continue to see uh that the majority um see a need for additional funding. Um and it compares uh fairly fairly similarly to what we learned in 2025. Um and we also see uh some uh that the among the po small portion of respondents who are uh parents of students currently attending the schools um the perception of need at least a little need has actually increased compared to what we saw um back in 2025. And that's a small subset of our sample. So, we want to keep in mind uh that's

042the margin of error is greater. Um but still nice to see um that there's a greater awareness among that subgroup of the need for additional funding for the local schools. Um here are a couple questions where we ask about voters level of satisfaction with the job the district is doing to provide a quality education as well as the job the district is doing managing public funds. Um what we would uh notice here is that we still see um more positive than negative uh results when it comes to overall satisfaction with these things. Um just a larger portion in the current poll saying um they don't really feel like they have enough information to answer one way or another. Okay. So uh looking at a potential bond measure. Before I share uh the results of this

043tracking poll, I just wanted to do a quick recap of what we learned uh when we did uh similar research last year. Um so on this slide are the results from the the baseline poll from July 2025. On the left hand side you can see the ballot measure that we tested. Um and you can see uh the vote progression over the course of the survey. So this was a $498 million measure that we asked about. Um and you can see the initial uh vote on the far left side. That's uh an unaded uh question. Meaning at that point in time uh we saw initially support was at around uh 57% among likely June voters, 58% among likely November voters. Um then we offered additional information in the survey about some of the projects that would

044be covered under a bond measure and some information about the need for the measure and what the benefits of the measure would be. Then we asked again given what you've heard, would you support or oppose this measure? And then we also offered uh what you might hear from an opponent so that we could understand uh vulnerability. And so what you can see here um is that we saw very close results between the likely November model and the likely June model um and that we were very close to the 55% threshold initially as well as after information. And then we saw some vulnerability to opposition with a drop in support to just below the 55% threshold um once an opposition statement was offered. So, these are uh the ballot questions that we asked about in the

045current poll. And so, you can see on the left hand side among the half uh that heard a $498 million bond measure, uh that would be a $29 per 100,000 of assessed value. And then on the right hand side, uh identical ballot question but with a different amount, $326 million bond corresponding with a $19 per 100,000 of assessed value. Um and so you can see on this slide here we summarize the vote progression um based on whether they heard the larger or the smaller um amount over the course of the survey. Um so you can see on the left hand side uh one thing that's noteworthy is that uh we start off um in the in the same place as we started uh back in July of 2025 right at 57% support. So that's just

046above the 55 uh% threshold um and identical to what we saw last year. So a lot of consistency um and we also see consistent results between uh the likely November overall results and then the likely June subset. Um and then continuing on the left hand side um after information um we see very little change in support um and then we see uh a a fairly significant drop on the left hand side with an opposition statement and that opposition statement in this poll centered around um you know costs cost of living and the cost um burden of a potential measure. And so we do see uh some vulnerability on the right hand side. Looking at the smaller bond option, um you see a somewhat similar pro vote progression over the course of the survey. Um starting

047in a similar place um at 54 or 58 depending on whether it's November or June. A little bit higher support on that um on that sample for the November measure though within the margin of error. Um and you can see that we we uh don't gain very much support with additional information. Um but the drop after opposition is a little bit smaller um a little so we see just greater resilience uh to opposition uh with that smaller amount. Um so want to keep those results in mind. So in these next few slides uh what we did was we put both of those two uh samples together the splits so that we could then break uh our results into demographic subgroups. Um and that gives us a little bit more reliability than looking at the subgroups

048by split sample. Um so we wanted to see which uh subgroups uh were more supportive or less supportive of a a potential measure. On this slide you can see support based on uh their party registration, Democrat, Republican or no party preference or independent. Um certainly uh very robust support among Democrats, lower support at 24% among Republicans and at 49% among independents. Uh and then on the bottom half uh we look at support by vote propensity. And so that uh those three groupings are based on the voters election uh voting history in the last six elections. If they voted in up to three out of the last six elections, we can kind of consider them a newer or less frequent voter. Four to five out of the last six, we call them a frequent voter. And

049if they are perfect voters, they voted in all six out of the last six elections. Um and certainly there's a pattern there, a linear pattern where um lower propensity less frequent voters um are more supportive than more frequent voters. A few more demographic breakdowns here. So you can see uh that uh we see a little bit greater support among uh women than men. Um considerably higher support among younger voters under 50. Um and considerably higher support among those who are nonhomeowners. So again, um reiterating what we said um at the top that groups that are sort of um likely to turn out in greater numbers in November tend to be a little bit more supportive of this measure. One of the things we identified in the baseline survey last year and wanted to uh look

050at again in this current survey um is support among the subset of voters who are also parents of students currently attending the schools. Um, back in 2025, we did note that support for a bond measure um was noticeably uh smaller among th that subset of parents uh than it was among those who are not parents. Um so it was at 52% um in the baseline poll last year. So we wanted to look at that again and we and we're doing that here on the right hand side in the current poll. The subset of our uh sample who are also uh parents of students in the district, it's only 11% of our respondents. So keep in mind that small sample size. Um but very good u and encouraging to see support um not only matching but

051exceeding support among um non-parents u in this current survey. >> Sorry Jessica to interrupt but I did want to point out that staff's done quite a bit of work communicating about this to parents in the intervening time. So it's good to see that reflected in the poll results. So the next few slides have a lot of words on them, but I did want to share with you some of theformational statements that were offered over the course of the survey. Um, and we asked we asked each of these questions uh uh of every respondent. Um, and after each of the statements, we asked on a one to seven scale where one is not at all convincing and seven is very convincing, how would you rate each one as a reason to support uh this potential measure?

052Um and so you can see how uh the results came out for each of these message themes. Um rising to the top when you uh these are ordered based on um the percent rating this as a seven uh the highest level of convincing. Um and so the one that comes out on top this time uh is around um repurposing uh administrative district facilities and land uh for housing. So that helps teachers, school staff and their families afford to live here. So that is a compelling reason to support the measure. Uh we have messages around uh protecting local funding at a time when education funding is generally in jeopardy. The measure would provide locally controlled funding. Uh a third message around safety and improving the safety of schools and students student security. U the age of

053our facilities and the need to make repairs and upgrades to meet upgrades to meet today's standards for safe and up-to-date schools. uh expanding uh career and job training program facilities. Um also a compelling reason to support the measure. And here are the remaining messages, a number of other messages um that we tested u to see uh how voters reacted. We have another item that's around um providing uh workforce housing. Um this one's a little bit less uh convincing overall than the one you saw on the prior slide. Uh we want to emphasize always uh that there will be oversight um and audits and and financial accountability um with this measure highlighting that this uh the district provides some of the best schools in the Bay Area and this is a main reason why uh why

054people want to live here. Um this measure helps uh maintain uh our schools and our community as a top place to live. Uh we also provided information about the cost of the measure to the typical homeowner. Uh knowing that um talking about cost is sometimes not a positive but certainly it is a reasonable average cost. U depending on which which size of bond measure we're talking about. We presented those two uh amounts and asked about those. You can see that's less convincing um as a reason to support the measure than the other questions. And then finally highlighting uh that modern facilities enhance student success. Um so you can see uh all of those are are great things to say but there are a few um standouts that uh you know remind us of the importance

055uh for the vast majority of voters. >> And sorry Jessica if I could just elaborate on that. So the difference between the two housing questions if you compare one of them is about repurposing administrative facilities the other one's about attracting and retaining staff. And we found that people sort of are more interested to hear that you're repurposing existing facilities. I think that probably makes sense for two reasons. One is it sounds like efficiency. You're using your space better. Nobody thinks you need space for administration. They'd like to see you use it for a higher purpose. We all know the truth, but that's a public perception. Um, and it's a good use. The other thing is I think when you talk about housing, there's always concerns about growth and development, and that's a topic on everybody's

056mind in the peninsula and in this area. And so using existing administrative facilities makes it seem to people like, okay, well, you're not changing the character of any neighborhood. So it's interesting that some of those sort of growth and efficiency um uh peripherals around the housing are more important than the sort of attract and retain staff peripheral. So I think that's kind of an interesting takeaway. Um, and the other thing I would say about all these, this slide and the prior slide, um, you're looking at Jessica's bar charts that are five, six, and seven on a scale of seven. And we're going and including the fives to get ourselves close to that 55% of convincing. And I think in other polls that Jessica's done or that, you know, that we've seen together, sometimes the six

057and seven alone is enough to kind of get you closer to that 55. So, you know, we've seen through two polls a little bit just of consistent softness around the urgency, you know, for all of it. And that doesn't mean that there isn't support. Uh there's, you know, strong, you know, kind of majority need for funding, but, you know, everything is is kind of just there's a little bit of a hint of softness around the 55, uh% level, which is what we need. Um, and that's indicated here. even even in our strongest testing concepts in these two slides, we're still kind of, you know, right around that 55. >> Yes, absolutely. Thank you for mentioning that. And also um I wanted to uh share this slide where you can sort of more easily see those

058two different messages about housing um compared to one another. Uh indeed the one that mentions repurposing uh facilities uh is more compelling overall um than the one that uh emphasizes other aspects. Both um both are convincing to a majority. Um and then I also wanted to split out uh this me this message for you based on whether the typical average cost would be 170 versus $260 uh dollars. Um and that's just to share that certainly there is a little bit of cost sensitivity that we're noting here. That takes us to the end. So, happy to answer any uh questions about uh the poll or the questions or um turn it over to Jared. >> Thank you so much. Um do my fellow board trustees have any questions? Um do we have any public com I

059mean we don't have a we can do we'll do public comment. Um, anyone have public comment in the audience? No. Um, Joe, can you check online for public comment? >> Yes. Uh, no. Raise hands at this time. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, any comments by board members. Do you I mean this is the end. Do you want Do you have something to say, Jamie? >> No comment. I think it it makes a lot of sense the way it was presented and the recommendation tracks all the data. I think tracks also what we've heard just out in the community as well. So really appreciate that having that perspective and all the work that you all have done. Um I think we've had conversations about this but also knowing that so many other cities in our area

060and statewide there's going to be a lot of different measures coming in. The concern we originally had with November is that the ballot would be more crowded. And I think I agree with the assessment that a lot of the voters most likely to support us are going to be over represented in that sample that comes forward in November 2026. So I agree with that logic. But I guess have we factored in the noise, the kind of uh ballot fatigue that happens in November and how that might impact us given that we're hovering right on the edge of that approval line? >> Yeah, I mean I I think June was the right plan A, >> right? and it was good to look at. U but there just I think is enough softness in the numbers for

061June particularly and you know really you know primary turnouts are are low and they're and they're pretty consistent in a non-presidential year. They presidential years primaries can fluctuate you know depending on who's on the ballot but in a non-presidential year they really are fairly consistent and they tend to be older, more homeowner um you know fairly conservative. it it's just a trickier group for this proposal and and um you know less likely to have your parents represented for example. So, um, on balance, even considering some of these other issues, you know, we definitely feel like November is a better option. And I will say there's lots and lots of precedent for, you know, we're Californians. We're used to long ballots, right? We see things all the time like this. And so, there's lots of precedent

062for people looking at multiple measures on the same ballot and distinguishing them, right? I understand this one is for this and I'm going to look at that on its own and what is this agency and do I trust them and do I think they need it? Then I'm going to look at this one and I'm going to go through the same uh you know uh exercise. So um that's typically been you know something that California voters do. The final thing I'll say is you know we're using a fairly typical November midterm model here. The last midterm uh you know Trump won midterm in 2018. there was actually a pretty high spike in uh turnout uh particularly among Democratic voters and younger voters. Um and we called it a blue wave election in California and it

063was nationally as well. Um I wasn't sure a year ago that we would have some of the same energy out there, but um the Prop 50 election that uh the governor's redistricting measure gives some strong indication that there may be some of those trends in the air as well. And some of that is not really, I don't think, statistically modeled in here. So, some of that would be an additional bump potentially to the numbers in November. Again, I don't think you're likely to get any of that in June, but the possibility is certainly there in November. >> Yeah, I don't know if this is the item that we're voting on, but I did just want to agree with that. and actually just seeing the bump that we saw in terms of uh our current district

064parents and their approval. And I think to your point, if we have more time to communicate to spread that message even with the crowded ballot, even with all the noise happening, I do think that we have a lot that we can share about both the work happening in the district and the need. And so definitely does make me feel more confident both from the data you presented, but also having more lead time and seeing how much we were able to move the needle in a short amount of time. I definitely think having more time to communicate, reach out to parents, reach out to voters will be very helpful on our end as well. >> I had a question actually I should have asked during the questions but now just thinking about it um since we

065have with this polling two kind of options I mean is there a recommendation like the 498 million 326 million? Yeah, I mean I think it was interesting to look at these numbers and come back and do a tracking poll that that did compare. I don't think the difference is really that dramatic. You can see, as Jessica pointed out a couple times in the survey, there is some evidence of cost sensitivity. We all know that that's a theme in the air right now and and people are feeling it. Um we did not notice right off the bat in the survey, just side by side, that the two tax rates or dollar amounts had significant difference. they did have some start to show some difference when we were presented with opposition statements which you know maybe there's

066opposition or maybe there's just sort of negative news in the atmosphere that could kind of model the same and we saw that the lower dollar amount was more resilient in that case. We also saw when we isolated when Jessica isolated the tax rate really neither amount was sort of anywhere near that that 55%. Um, so I think in terms of these two dollar amounts, again, looking at a November instead of a June environment, I think it's a little bit of a a decision for the administration, for the board, if you want to, you know, nothing in here is at, you know, 70% woohoo, you know, nobody has to work anymore. It's all going to be kind of hard work to get it done. And I think if um uh if you're going to put in

067the hard work and you may want to, you know, pursue that amount, um the data doesn't suggest that the 326 is like especially easier than the 498. I think there it's possible that if we went, you know, all the way down to like a 240 or something and got that tax rate under nine, you know, down to $9, you might see something higher in the but we didn't test it, so I can't say that for sure. And I know that you have significant needs, particularly if you do want to proceed with the housing project. So, I think it's really a little bit of a of a judgment call, but we should all be aware even with more time and even with a more favorable electorate, you know, this is this is going to be a

068lift and we're all going to have to kind of pitch in and do the work. And particularly once it's on the ballot, the district won't be doing, you know, education or anything like that anymore. Um, you know, in contrast, in 2020, the the the polling we had had us starting around 63 64%. So, you know, this is this is, you know, lower and, you know, we do have to we can't take anything for granted. So, I don't think it necessarily suggests the lower amount is automatically easier. I think it's it's all going to be hard. Uh, and we got to do the work. But, um, I think you can decide how much kind of risk appetite that you have here. >> Thank you, Tammy. Thank you so much for the thorough presentation. And I really

069appreciate that, you know, we got to test these different um messages and like it I think it really helps me understand what um people care about in terms of um you know what what changes minds, right? And so I think this is these charts are really um really helpful for for that and I appreciate all of the the work that you have put in. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Okay, the next one is the 2026 facilities master plan. >> Good evening, trustees. Superintendent OOA. I'm Amy Rufo, the executive director of facilities and construction here and uh we're bringing the master plan back to you, the facilities master plan. Uh we presented it in December um and then copies were distributed. Uh we went through the was really combing through the

070estimate um between the last um two meetings. So our immediate priorities have gone up to 524 million. Also the total amount of identified need has gone up as well. Uh we took the feedback that we heard from you especially about the Bayside campus. So um in in the master plan now we have what we call the arrowhead building which is the library and the classrooms the windowless classrooms are the priority but in a non-priority number. So in the overall plan we have tearing down everything except for the new gym and the theater. So um but we're also looking at that similar how we looked at Bowage where the rebuilding of Bowage would take place over three different plans or three different bonds. So it would be um a a slower roll out um to be

071able to rebuild the campus. We also uh went ahead and surveyed our staff at the last PD day and we had them review the priorities that um are in for each site and we received um over 300 respondents all at about 92% support um for the priorities that are in the plan. So really just open um to see if you have any questions. This is for an adoption tonight. So it is um for a vote. But one last thing I'll mention is um seeing how the dollar amount here is 524 uh million is that that aligns with our our immediate priorities about windowless classrooms and modernizing space um but it's not yet an implementation plan. So um later down the road once it's decided or not to go for a bond and a dollar amount

072is selected then we would come up with an implementation plan that would talk about exact orders. If I can pick it up there from you, um, Amy, and thank you. >> Um, one of the key strategies that the board has used over the last several years is just being able to communicate with our stakeholders in a way that's clear, that's transparent, that uh gives people something they can really sink their teeth into. And this plan, which is all online, it's been sent out and it's accessible on our website. Um, it it really is an invitation for members of the public to think about the needs of every school and to see it, to see photographs, to see content. Um, but in in tonight's earlier presentation, you heard a little bit about what happened between June

073and January when the school district started to communicate more directly with parents about um the needs that we had relative to facilities. So to go from 50 I think it was 52% to 63% that's that's a really big increase. And in that report, it's still only about 11%. Because they're using phone sampling methods. It's not necessarily equivalent to the voter population in November, but it's it's a message to us that this kind of public um participation and this kind of public transparency will give stakeholders in the community a real knowledge of why there is so much need and what a potential $498 million bond can help us achieve. And that's sort of to me it's a really important part of connecting this facilities master plan with a potential bond. And and as you can see

074on the board's agenda tonight, it's listed as a discussion item just a proposed type of resolution that we would think through. It's totally connected to this plan which is as you know the result of a year of really hard work and uh only in the last week seeing so many of our educators log into that survey school by school and indicate their strong support and their support at the 92% level essentially at every site across uh the district. That was really powerful to see. So it gives me the message that we're on the right track and then ultimately um part of what is the privilege but also the pressure that the board faces is what to do about all these really important opportunities. But as you know these are big things. These affect uh whole

075school communities. So, um, we feel like what's before the board tonight is a real culmination of a year's worth of internal research and done so in a way that's very easy to digest and invites a conversation that might be a conversation we choose to have for the next 8 months leading to November. >> And that's it. Yeah, let us know if you have any any questions. Um, right. Does does anyone have any clarifying questions? >> Um, thank you so much, Miss Rufo. Um, you know, as I was mentioning last time, you know, every time I look at this, it's like it's extremely thorough. It's wellcrafted. Um, it's easy for lay people to understand because sometimes you say construction stuff and it just goes way over my head. Um, so I think my, you know, my

076first question is, you know, and, um, Superintendent Cho kind of referred to it lightly. I know that, you know, after we received the draft, you know, we gave a little bit of feedback about wanting a little bit more community input, um, in addition to giving it back to the school sites to kind of have them. I was just curious, you know, um, are any of that, you know, how much feedback did we get from that kind of next round? Um, and has that been incorporated in this master plan? So, we did this the reaching out to staff and we pulled them. I mean, they were given the school site presentations back in the fall. Um, and and they were welcome to answer the survey at that point, too. But this last survey was more just

077about staff and how how do you um you see the priorities there. uh we've pushed out communication to say the ma the you know now the you saw the presentations in the fall and the master plan is on the website open with our um email address that we monitor we haven't received any additional feedback yet uh so it would be I guess in the future to do even even more feedback but really what we saw with a lot of the responses from from staff a lot of them were just thank you my room um you know cabinets from 1970s and I've been here 20 years and nothing's happened. Uh, and then some mentioned some like, well, what about flooring or paving? And because they were just looking at that one page, that's still um covered

078by measure t. So, we're still bringing measure t projects, but this was really about outside of what measure t could pay for. Um, we did add in um about more of the green space. So, that's in the text. Um, if you read in there, it's about when we add a new building about how to think about not just plopping it down, but how it affects um the green space and the outdoor um overall environment of the campus. Sure. Mine was still on. Sorry. Um, last meeting or last time we talked about this, I had mentioned or asked about the CTE space in all the middle schools. So, I was just wondering if there's been any update to this. I see um Abbott still has the CT building, but I didn't see anything um specific on

079the other middle school. >> So, uh that item is combined depending on the site and a few different of those immediate priority numbers. So when we discussed um the the windowless classrooms that are currently at both still at Bowage even after the tear down of what we're doing, they also exist at Bayside in the library and they exist at Burell which I call the admin library building. So those buildings all fall into windowless classrooms. And so what we're proposing is that when we build that back with windows that we build those specialty spaces. So that could be science. Um music that's music is a big need and also CTE. Uh because Abbott we're not showing they don't have any well they have one or two rooms that don't have windows but so that's why they

080show a standalone CTE. Um and then we would take those existing labs that exist at those other middle schools and turn them back into a standard classroom or maybe a science lab becomes an art room because they have sinks. Um but all of the schools would get um all the middle schools would have a specific um CTE classroom built. And if I can pick it up from there, um, part of what is a really fascinating way to think about how a facilities master plan connects to the school district's community strategic plan, which we're, you know, a little bit over 18 months away from adopting a new community strategic plan, is that um, we can see the very likely outcome happening already where so many of our committee members and so many of our educator ators

081are pointing out how valuable it is for kids to have a connection to a potential career that sparked a curiosity. Didn't necessarily turn into like taking half their classes in one subject area, but it was enough to keep the student feeling inspired about a potential career field. And so we have a potential for a partnership with the Sonteo Union High School District and they have an approved and adopted CTE career pathways plan because their boundaries don't conform to our boundaries as a district. There are some schools in the Sonteo Union High School District that offer programs that to us seem like, oh, that would be so cool. I would think students might really have an interest in that program. but they would have to go to Cappuccino which you know by and large our families

082don't necessarily sign up to go all the way to Berling game or across you know out to towards San Bruno. What this process has the opportunity to do is because the language is embedded in each of of these facility master plan documents. we as a school district and and in any potential uh you know whether it be a general obligation bond or some construction process, we actually have the opportunity to co-design with the students and staff at that school based on interest surveys that align to career pathway programs that exist in this region. So, examples of the kind of pathways that exist throughout the Sanonteo Union High School District are uh things like woodworking and/or construction technology pathways. And we might might have an interest in building a classroom like that just for argument sake

083at Bayside Academy. And there are some really strong indications that a lot of students have an interest in STEM career fields. And then we might decide it has so much interest. Let's build one classroom like that at Abbott and one at Bowage and go through a process where each school and the students at that school and the staff and the community give us their real time feedback. And ultimately what and Amy feel free to chime in here. What we have in this current facilities master plan is the language flexibility to be able to get to that point. And that's been part of of our discussion to this point. And then ultimately with Trustee Proctor's continued and relentless advocacy for CTE programs, I don't see any way that we won't get to that point. But I'll

084pass it over to you. >> Correct. When we looked at the price per square foot for those classrooms and what would be built in those new uh non-windless classrooms, we picked the higher price per square foot that would cover um lab CTE space. Uh so it would come down to programming before we go into actual design, but the the costs are there. They're definitely it's a different cost per square foot than what we consider like a standard English classroom. >> Thank you. And um Superintendent OOA, thanks for um sharing kind of the process. I think um my only like push back on that would be like feeling like it's almost like stereotyping like oh foster city would be interested in STEM so let's put it at Bowitch and like I want to just make sure

085that everybody knows like what are the options and that um that you know if you think beyond what you know there's other opportunities for bringing um you know spaces and classrooms and and courses to communities ities that maybe like don't have access to that. So question um regarding the CTE and the um satellite um uh opportunities at each of the site locations versus the um not versus but in addition to um a um one massive facility that we were able to um visit Matte to identify the or to um look at their program to see if we would be interested in bringing some of those uh developments that they have in their facilities to ours. Do we have any updates on whether we will um consider building one comprehensive facility in addition to the satellite

086locations at each of the facilities that may be specialty in uh certain um certain areas of uh CTE um versus one massive facility where we also um uh bring our students to the to receive their instruction. Um we were able to look at the school and identify the um structure that they have and um understanding that they have a really successful program that we were looking at as a model for this district. Do we have any updates on >> I'll start with um the way the Abbott number was priced out was the thought of more of the MADTE model. Um since that time we've really seen we've added at least most of the schools now have two two sections and we're serving younger kids. Um so we've listed that program in the overall scope. Um

087but it hadn't been finally decided which way. Um but that's why the Abbott project shows up separately thinking it would be that larger model. >> Yeah. I would say career technical education courses and the type of facility needed to to really um put kids in in the space that approximate um what the workplace is like. It has really different costs. So, if you have an arts, media, and entertainment pathway, and there's some great ones out there, uh the tech cost is super high. The software cost, the ongoing cost is really, really high. The facility cost is really low. You need a lot of power. You need some really good uh, you know, tech connections, Wi-Fi, that sort of thing. Um, but it's pretty similar to a large classroom. If you want to do a program

088that really gets close to um a shop environment, the cost really explodes. It goes up a lot because of the uniqueness of the kind of just construction infrastructure, the HVAC, the safety components, the size, the physical equipment. So the initial cost is really really high, but the ongoing cost is you know to some extent it's not very expensive through this process and I would say we're a couple years away. We're get to a place where we go through a really rigorous process to arrive at how much of that kind of investment is the right kind of investment to make at one what we might refer to as sort of the core site and then what is the appropriate amount to expend at all of our middle school sites so that there are career tech facilities

089everywhere. And we take advantage of this opportunity to make a a big investment in one facility that is really substantially um similar to a workplace environment and take advantage of some of the anticipated uh transportation uh plans and strategies we know uh can exist as we get closer to being able to build some of these facilities. So, I think Amy and our team have really taken cues from the board over the last year to make sure that there are examples in these plans that allow for these higher cost classrooms across our middle schools. and we've priced out what it would cost to put together a facility that does have that higher initial construction cost and maybe that lower ongoing um you know continued investment that's required. Um and then I'll just give you a chance

090Amy to add anything you feel like you need to add. >> I think you covered it very well. One final um comment that I wanted to make is um uh as we have been um really um focusing on um supports and tools that um has previously underserved a big amount of our student um population here. Um, I just want to thank you, Superintendent OA, for um uh taking the time to um create that partnership or the potential partnership with the high school to allow our students who are maybe not looking at college as a career path or excuse me, as a pathway for them to be able to um be able to take advantage of the um uh the pathway from middle school to high school and be able to start a career path after

091high school. Um that's very important. Um, and that was one of the um, advocacies that I was really adamant about because when we do not um, address the um, need of a significant population that we're serving uh, to be able to support themselves out of high school, um, it leaves a serious gap in our economy and our uh, community for them to be able to uh, be productive members in in our community. So, I appreciate that. >> Thank you. >> Uh Amy, first off, I just want to say what I always say during these presentation, just hugely appreciate your thoughtfulness, the type time and effort that went into this. Um and it's always just such a blessing to have you in our district, especially as we're planning these monumental steps. I also want to say,

092you know, as a Bayside parent and I had the uh privilege of going back to Bayside as part of our school visits on Tuesday and the universal comment we heard as we went through these classrooms, walked around the facilities is what's happening in the classrooms is amazing. What's happening outside the classrooms is depressing. Um a lot of folks were commenting looks like some of these buildings haven't been updated since before we were born. Um which some of us in the group may be true. Um, and so I think it's just again a good example of highlighting even though we, you know, like to talk about our wins, our successes, all the great work we're doing, there is still a tremendous amount of need. And this whole process of uncovering that and helping to really shine

093a light on it, I think helps to um, >> especially as we're kind of going out to the community for support. My question was actually very much overlapping with what the superintendent and trusty ho already addressed. It was that community feedback angle. um one because I know it was something we flagged last meeting but unfortunately it fell right you know the holidays happened right in between folks were out of school so I know we didn't get as much input as we would have liked it is good to hear that we have some flexibility in the way that this has been designed so that I know even with the existing measures as we've started building things have changed we've found some flexibility we've identified additional needs there's been additional input from the community so that's something

094I would tout but I know it's important not just to have the trust of the community as we're putting together this plan but also as we ask them to be some of our greatest champions going out to the public to talk about their experiences as parents, the needs that they see on campus. I want to make sure we have that kind of trust and alignment. And so I think knowing that you've built in flexibility into this plan allows us then still have these conversations. Um things aren't set in stone. These are very high level, but there will be opportunities to kind of fine-tune aspects of it, especially as you said, implementation and building starts. I did want to clarify for our purposes. Would whatever amount that we vote on for the plan be dollar fordoll

095the amount of the bond >> or can we set the bond amount >> at a lower level or a different amount? Okay. So, we're not bound by today's plan. >> Anything related to the bond? Okay. >> And and part of the reason too with this dollar amount like with our current bond, we've earned over 10 million in interest. there's the state the state money um that we expect to come in. Um so even the last bond was I think our immediate priorities was at 419. We were at 409. Uh so it's and there's a lot there is escalation. There's other contingencies in that number. So it's meant to to be a a bit padded. >> Um so it's unlikely that we would be but in an implementation plan. So we had the immediate priorities plan

096for the for measure T that could get closer to whatever the bond amount might be. And when you talk about flexibility when we hear later about the resolution be described more about the different parts of that resolution and what's listed. >> If I can also just add um Amy to your answer. One of the challenges that public school districts face relative to bond measures is um we're all part of the same conversation statewide. And um we know because we read about school districts that struggle with their bond projects where it's like the famous story of the school district that has the sign up that says home of the future sports stadium and then cost escalations happen and they lose their construction bond manager and then they misspent XYZ dollars doing and it never gets built

097and then that community has a 25 year, you know, we're not going to report any and I think what's really um you know present here in Sonteo Foster City is very predictable and very healthy fiscal governance um construction projects that are in place right now that are being completed on time that are beautiful that the community has trust and has appreciation for what they see and because of the board's communication ation as as a unit and because of the board's and administration's reputation and how we've continued to increase transparency throughout these um processes. this uh you know this report and and our recommendation that the board discuss this and vote to approve this facility's master plan is it's about casting publicly the great need that exists because if you walk Bayside or Parkside or uh

098any number of schools you will see there is great need um and it's a very important first step in what could potentially be a historic November 2026. Um, and I think the the tools that the school district has are really going to work uh to our advantage, but you all know I'm just an optimistic person, so you know, I was going to say something optimistic about it. >> Thank you. Um, >> we're ready for a motion. I'll make a motion to approve the facilities master plan for 20 of 2026. >> Second. >> Thank you, Trustee Proctor and Trusty Kim. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> We'll take a quick five minute break um before the next presentation. Thank you. >> And those are from our kind of nice,

099right? >> They're nice to have. You have a second. >> They're like really good. >> Employee retention is a goal. >> Oh, these are ours. >> So, they have to retain us. >> I know. >> Thank you, Andy. >> One year worth of work. >> I told her all in 15 minute conversation. Seems like a long time ago, huh? >> I know. Hi. Nice to see you. >> Where were you? >> You've been around the block. >> These are some of the worst in the business. >> Oh, is that right? these chairs. >> She had to go. >> You're gonna one of you is going to miss work next week. >> It's got a little cushion. >> Absolutely. >> But as you know, we have tori prioritize our schools. We can't >> we can't spend

100the six grand. >> Listening. >> Well, I appreciate your relentless positivity. >> I'll never be I appreciate that. I'll I'll never approach something in a pessimistic way. I always think you can do it. >> And we can. We have a lot of great people. Yes. and um we have a presentation from Mr. Bos. Thank you. Okay. Good evening board trustees and superintendent. My name is Fran Deost and I am the director for child nutrition services and I'm very pleased to be here with you to give you an update on our program. So uh first I'm going to start with a few numbers um to show the evolution of our program and the message is that we have had a tremendous growth um in the last five years. So I already shared that at um our

101last u meeting in April. Um you can see that in the last five years the lunches that's this is the number of lunches average number of lunches per day increased by 54% and the breakfast of course was multiply by three but it's also because we expanded the breakfast but um that means that we do about 5,000 lunches every day 4,000 more than 4,000 and right now we are reaching the 5,000 breakfast too. So it's really 10,000 meals that leave our kitchen every day and uh with all the after school programs we also ship a lot of snacks um every day. So in terms of numbers it really it's really a big operation and I think you could see that last time. Um this translate in meal partic um student participation. We can say that now

102we feed half the district which is awesome and I hope we are going to feed even more. However um this also comes with some challenges and we will talk about that later in the presentation. So what happened since April? Um so we are continuing to develop our scratch cooking. Um this is just a few examples of the new dishes we introduced uh this school year and just a few comments about that. you would see that they are um coming from different cultures and this is our objectives to really represent the diversity of our uh student uh community and uh also we are trying to have them eat more vegetable. So we are slowly um adding vegetable to our dishes. So beef and broccoli uh for example. So, it's still a rice bowl, but with broccoli.

103We tried the plantains, which may be very I mean, that was really a surprise for the kids because a lot of the kids didn't even know what it was. Um, and um, yeah, the beef chili is something that's accepted more easily because they know. Um, so of course I will talk about the student acceptance a little bit later, but when they see the broccoli in the dishes, they're not always very happy. Uh, okay. So, we also have been working on having a plant-based vegetarian dishes because it has always been the basic for vegetarian is cheese-based um which is not very um diverse and then we have more and more uh dairy allergies also. So, this is really something that we need to address. So tofu is really the go-to protein. Uh we um did the

104tofu tikka masala. They really love the chicken tikka masala. So we say, "Okay, let's try with tofu, the veggie option. Um and we also did once the red lentil doll with rice and nan bread. So, that was more a mixed reaction, but it's also it's really um trying to expose them to new things. And I know that the veggie plant-based thing is really a big thing. Uh for the middle school, other examples. For the middle school, we do different things because the kids are bigger, we have more staff, uh they can cook more um and the numbers are lower also. So uh for the breakfast for example, we are trying to reduce the sugar content in the breakfast. So we cooked the potato, bacon, and eggs frittata that's on the menu for the first time

105this week. uh overnight oats that they um were pretty successful. And for lunch, we do a lot of um sandwiches, wraps that they are very popular. Um and more of the compost salad that are a full meal like the southwest salad that we introduced recently. So, we are still working on other recipes and dishes. So, I'm not going to go through all the list. Um, but what I am trying is also to find um different grains. We have a lot of rice in our dishes. So, we are going to try pearl co couscous for example. That's going to be different. And this will be coupled with harissa beef which is maybe a little bit adventurous but um uh so it will be lasagna is very well known. Harisa beef maybe less and in terms of

106vegetarian um items. So again, chana masala, plant-based um can we are thinking about vegan goulash um bean, chili, verde, tofu, moo, si, which would be fun to do. Uh so this is the leis. So we have we still work with our chef. Um you know, we hired her for two years. Uh we still work with her. So she's working on developing the recipe, training the staff. So we have a whole list. This is just an example. Uh some of them are coming very soon. Um but um this is we are still in the same um strategy is really developing these new recipes, try them. So we usually run them three times and then depending on the feedback of the kids we keep them or we don't or we say okay let's keep them aside and

107maybe we can try again next year because now they are used and also as soon as we can we try also to provide these new dishes to the preschool because we are lucky to have the preschool here. So not everything can be given to them but the idea is really start at the youngest age possible so that they they learn and they see different food and they we can impact their taste. it's harder to change the what a middle schooler is eating, you know, and especially middle schoolers. Um, with the little kids sometimes it's easier and um we have had really success with that. So, we work closely with the preschool uh with Christina and sometimes we even give them some things to sample and what do you think? Would they like that? So we

108also have been really working on that. Okay. So salad bars, we only have salad bars in the elementary school and not all of them. Uh only in the schools where they have compartments where they can do the dishes. But the idea with the salad bars is what we have is you have tomatoes, cucumbers, salad, but it's not very um popular. Kids don't really take a lot. So the idea was what about we put compost salad already with the dressing and things like that. So we started with the Caesar salad and it was a really great great great success. They really loved it. So we do that regularly and they really take it. The roasted chickpeas also and we saw that uh in April they love it. However, the other ones the marinated garbanzos. No. Um

109we we do a bean salad because we have to offer beans once a week. So this is our regulation. So, we haven't found the magic touch for the beans yet. But, uh, we tried the Asian coal slow. It was so so cucumber and tomato salad. Um, carrot slow. Oops, sorry. And corn is kit. Um, they love corn, but cornisk was not that big of a heat either. But but I mean it's also it probably is going to need time. Um it takes time also to help yourself in the salad bar. Sometime they are really in a hurry to go eat and play. So it's it's really a work in progress but we will continue that and try to find the ones they like. Uh so same thing the sides and salad bars we are working

110on um increasing it's really increasing the consumption of vegetables. So I wanted just to take a minute to um kind of reflect about how the students react to the new menus uh after yeah two years two years and a half. So we have had uh increased success in kids willing to try new things especially at the middle school level. So now they kind of get excited. They are used to have three, four, maybe sometimes five new items every month. So they would try they would give us feedback. Of course, elementary it's harder because they are really they are shy. But compared to two years ago, it's it's really getting better. So, I'm really happy about that. Um, as I said, sandwiches very popular, but it's mainly middle school. Although, we do from time to time

111we do sandwiches for elementary kids, and they like them, too. All fresh in our kitchen, so they are good. Um, so some entries a big success, others less. I mean, it's really, but we never really had something that they hate it. It's just that they say, "Well, it's okay." But, um, I spoke about the salad bar participation. Um, each time we try to give them a non sugary item at breakfast, they don't want it. So, we still need to work on that. Um, and of course, as I was saying, when they see the vegetables in the dish, they say, "No, I don't want broccoli. I don't like that." So, the takeaway is it's it's getting better, but it's going to take time. It takes time. kids need to be um to be used to try

112new things and to have this trust that it's going to be at least not bad but because if they had good experience of trying things before um it's yeah it just requires time and I think it's really a constant exposure that we need to continue. So now if we look a little bit at the future in the next three years. So I took three year um I'm going to explain why. So where we are now in terms of percentage of the items that are prepared in our kitchen. So scratch cook or speed scratch cook at the middle school level we are 45%. That means in all the daily offering 45% is made fresh in our kitchen which is I think a good success because it's a lot they have four or five option every day

113so it's a lot of cooking and elementary it's less but it's still 25% and it's less because it's higher numbers of course we have now um big challenges es that are as I was saying earlier linked to the big increase we had in our operation. Um our kitchen is old and um is not really well designed to what we want to do and that we want to because we want to cook and the the flow is not working. I mean it's it's not well considered and um it's at full capacity. Uh we need more storage, cold storage. We need more equipment, but um we have reached the limit of the power we can use. And um there's a big combo refrigerator freezer that's in the middle of the warehouse that um needs major repairs um

114and probably replacement. And we are talking $500,000. So the idea is that's why the construction of a new kitchen was put in the strategic plan um that Amy presented. So my so my three year is okay let's say we are going the bond is going to pass and we are going to have this wonderful new kitchen. So that will be three years. Uh in the meantime um that doesn't mean that we are not going to do anything and wait for the new kitchen. Um what's going to happen is that we are going to stay probably at this 45 middle school and 25 elementary because if we want to go further now we can't with what we have. Um and we also still need to structure and stabilize the team and the processes in the kitchen.

115This has been um huge change in terms of processes processes um and work even for our staff. So there's still a huge need for training. Um and we really need now to have to find the supervisor for that central kitchen because we have now these two teams. So one team is cooking and the other team is packing and sending to the schools and we still don't have a very smooth flow between these two teams. communication, planning, making sure that things are ready when we are going to pack them. Um, for example, we had issue with the the chili that we are going to serve tomorrow. Um, we needed to it cooks for a long time and then we are limited in the blast chilling capacity we have. So, usually we prep everything two days in

116advance. And we got the chili only at 1:30 today and they leave at 3 and we had to run it because it's it's going tomorrow. So um it's it's really hard to really uh organize the two production schedule actually and without having uh supervising really the kitchen it's hard. is basically I'm there all the time now and Terry so we both do it but it's it's hard to be everywhere. So um I probably will come back soon to ask for renewal of the contract for our chef. So it will either be the same as she's full-time at the kitchen every day or uh she could also be offside develop just the recipes then come uh train the staff and not being always full time. So but this will really depend and when we find the

117supervisor and how it works. So I'm I'm still thinking about it. Uh yes. So uh training and yeah the idea is really the road is to build this recipe database. Um so it's not going to be on the menu the slot more of new item but um a bigger variety because we will be able to change the menu regularly. Okay, that's what I have tonight. So, do you have any questions? >> Do trustees have any questions or the spirit of Sher Watkins perhaps? >> I would love to um uh comment on this and I do have um a couple of questions. I remember um when I brought this uh item to the board uh for uh agendaizing to transition this nutrition program um it was very near and dear to my heart because I am

118professionally in the business and um >> being in this district for as long as I have it's always been um an issue that I have witnessed Um uh I I would say I've witnessed um majority of the kids who I've ever interacted with which I was very active at the site level um was not very receptive to the cuisine that was being served in the schools. So first of all I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. you have really taken the steps to transition this program and I want to say thank you. Um, one of the questions I have is related to the facilities. I know that you're looking to do uh some um reorganization maybe initially until the development hopefully is approved so that we can >> Yes, we're

119going to keep our fingers crossed and knock on this wood. Um, I want to know about the backspace of the facility. Now, there was a an area a storage area that we um uh pal archives. >> Did we ever get that area clear? >> So, we build uh we cleared it and we build a big refrigerator u at the back. Yeah. In that area, >> so it's awesome, but it's already >> full and already at at capacity. So we use now this refrigerator to um to load to store the food that's going to go to the school the following day. So we build all the dollies. I don't know if you remember. And we put everything in that refrigerator and then the drivers in the morning they can load their truck and because we had

120this issue that they were loading the trucks outside and when it was raining that was an issue for the food and the supplies and everything. So now they have all this space in front of the refrigerator where um they build everything. >> Okay. And then they just roll it in the trucks. So it's much better when it rains. >> Nice. >> Yes. So yeah, very happy. Um yeah, thank you for letting us know. Um build this refrigerator. Um now it's okay the refrigerators, but we now it's the free freezer that's too small. >> Got it. Well, thank you very much. Um, I did want to since you brought up the broccoli situation for the little kiddos. >> Yes. >> Been an issue for them. Um, maybe perhaps offer some cheese when it will help them

121help help it go down. So, like they say the medicine go down, you know, give them a little cheese on it. Maybe that can probably help. But I really want to >> try. What I would like to try is the rice cauliflower. >> Yes. Yes. That would be nice. It doesn't really t I mean taste a little bit like rice. So So we have that in our list. Um I I think that would work for the kids. >> Thank you. >> Or rice for your broccoli because now you can have both. So >> I I agree. Yeah. Um um one other thing is I know that you mentioned the um the uh salad bar is offered only at the elementary level. >> Yeah. Because the middle school um they have windows. >> Ah okay. So

122they we can't That's right. That's right. Yeah. So that's not an option there. It seemed like that would be more in line with the middle school because they are the ones who are looking at their figures. >> So it's only at Bayside because Bayside we serve both elementary, you know, and middle schoolers inside. >> Now we we closed the windows because we have a good space. >> Sure. >> There. So now that's the only um middle school that have a a salad bar. So >> well thank you. I have one final comment and um you know I know that we have done trips to the uh facility to um come and look at the operations and kind of see what you guys do over there. >> Um but I think it's time to look at

123um maybe the trustees doing a visit to come and eat because this is incredible. And I'm very happy >> with a great pleasure. >> Yes. >> All right. So maybe that'll be a >> organize that. Yes, >> we'll do. >> Yes. >> And you're welcome to come anytime if you are in the area or in the neighborhood and we will feed you. >> You always have food. >> We always have food. Yes. >> Yes. >> Um thank you for this presentation and I agree the food looks delicious. Um I just had a question on some of the facility needs um and equipment needs. Are there any grants available through the state or >> um well the issue is not the the cost. Yes, there are but um we already have a huge reserve that and

124we are on a spending plan. So the CD asked us to spend that money. So the issue is not spending the money is for example if we want more power to build a freezer um that means that work with PG&E and bring more infrastructure I'm not a technician I mean knows better than I do but uh it's it's going to be a lot of money and take time so I mean we could if the bond doesn't pass and we cannot have this fund then we need to pivot and see okay what are we going to do and um but the grants right now with the reserve we have there's no way we can get any grants >> okay I I just want to because I am looking at the um this plan the central kitchen

125is not listed as immediate priority so I don't I'm just want to make sure that if there is an immediate need that or we have money somewhere whether it's from the bond or a grant or something. Just want to flag that. Thank you. Um thank you so much for the presentation. Um I think we all really remember the tour that we came on, you know, to the uh nutrition services space and I think it was probably my favorite study session because, you know, get to like walk around and see everything. Um, I was just a quick question on slide six when you're talking about like main entre in the works. You know, I noticed that um they primarily commiss uh consist of red meat products. Um, you know, a lot of beef, you know, maybe

126lamb even. Um, and I was just wondering if we could look into swapping some of those out for, you know, things like chicken or turkey. um maybe you know just because I'm you know approaching midage and I'm thinking about my health and you know trying to make good swaps and I was like you know it's probably great to have these patterns already in place even for our kids as well. Um so this is just kind of a a comment really you know um you know if we can find you know ways that we can swap things out for um you know meats that don't increase like heart disease and things that would be great. >> So if you look at the menu right now it's basically chicken. It's a lot of chicken and we don't

127have that much beef. >> Um, so in that list I I really took the ones we are thinking you know in the near future and we have an excess of beef in our freezer. So that's why we also try to use this beef. We have had it for a long time and we are supposed to use it in a certain time frame and we don't want to you know waste the money but >> but we don't have an over you know um beef every day on on the menu. But yeah, but I I agree. I hear what you're saying. But at one point we had chicken chicken every day. So, but yes, >> I agree. Thank you. >> I just want to thank you again for this thorough presentation. This is an agenda item that

128I've also pushed for uh ever since joining the board. My kids have been having school lunches in this district since they became students here. And I've told the story I think last time that right after COVID when we were still in that phase of having very processed foods, taking it home in a bag. I'm someone who grew up in a very food scarce household. And even then looking at what I brought home, I was like, I can in good consciousness give this to my kids because it was so much sugar, um, not very nutrient-dense, very processed. And to see how much that's transformed and part of the reason we wanted to have that meeting in the kitchen, to see how it's done, to see all the new development we've had with this new chef, um,

129and with the scratch cooking and everything. It's just really amazing to see my kids come home now excited to share things they ate or sometimes they go for the safer options, but they've also discovered new foods because of our school lunches. So, it's just been really great to see that, especially, you know, some of us grew up in an era where there was a stigma attached to school lunches and to now see dishes here that are, you know, I'm ashamed to admit better than what I ate this week. >> It's um really great to see that we're able to offer that to our kids. I had two questions. One, and I flagged this last time as well, and we we're talking about rejection. Um my big concern was on the food waste question and so

130I was curious to what extent we able to track that whether it's you know food that kids don't take or they take but then 5 minutes later end up you know tossing in the compost because they don't like so I was curious how we track that and then secondly this question might be more for Diego for Patrick um given the sensitivity out in the public about spending and cost I think it would be helpful to reiterate how the budget works for our school lunches and how it's different than the kind discretionary spending we typically have because again we're very mindful of the fact that there's a lot of sensitivity out there and so I think having that reminder that we can point back to in the future will be helpful to put this in context

131so yes good question about the waste that's always um our concern um right now we I don't have a system to track that it's um it's hard to really measure what they put in the in the trash. That's for sure. Um, however, we have all our production records where every day uh at each kitchen they record how many um serving or each item are offered to the kids, how many are taken and how many are not or that we have to throw away actually. So, we have an idea um of if they take it or not. Now, after if they eat it, after they exit the kitchen, um it's harder to say because it's it's outside the the kitchen and we don't see it. So, when I'm at a site and go and inspect a

132kitchen, I will go and look at the trash cans and see what's in there. But I I know this is something I really would like to have and especially with all the pressure we have to reduce the organic waste and etc. But it's it's hard. >> Can I ask a follow-up question regarding to uh trustes um um information or request for information regarding the waste? Um, do we have a um opportunity when the kids uh um throw away their items? Do they have a compost, a recycle, and a trash option or it all going in the trash? Because I think that will help us if we're able to provide >> a compost option where they can throw their food in one, you know, so that we can kind of see what they're doing. So this

133was started um this year or last year where the schools were given now um all the different sorting u trash. It's really a school responsibility to manage that and train the kids and etc. So yes now it's in place and what we do also is in order to limit the waste again um usually they don't want to take their fruit or their vegetables. So we have um it's kind of a share table um where they can put it in the box and other kids can come and help themselves if they want to and at the end of service we can reuse what's reusable everything that's shelf stable. So all the fruit and everything if they know that they can put it in the box rather than put it in the trash can. I can chime

134in uh Vice President Kim to talk a little bit about um the management, the efficiency, the strategy behind how we operate our food service program. Um first of all, congratulations you and Terry and the team, everybody who serves 10,000 meals a day. It's just a really really wonderful thing that we're doing. Um, and it's one of the parts of the school district where it's a business within an educational institution because um, their uh, ball field changes every day because food costs different almost every day. the cost of items fluctuates and um managing a team of 40 professionals who are all over the district and managing the the physical movement of food that amount of food across the district. It's it's a huge uh chess match. And so something that Fran referenced in her remarks is

135that we have succeeded at serving so many meals I would argue partially as a result of improving our product because we made a very savvy governance decision to hire a professional chef who has been in our kitchen every day for the last two years dreaming up these recipes. And so when we have done that, our reimbursement for those meals has gone up tremendously. We've also had to hire more people and pay more hours and take on much more cost. But what has happened in the years since is our essentially our bank account, our reserve has gone up. So the state looks at districts like ours and says, "You need to do a better job of spending money. You have too much money in the bank." So that's where that's where Fran's remark about we wouldn't

136qualify for a grant. It has to do with how uh our our resource allocation results in, you know, you never want to be too close. You know, you never want to have too little in the bank because then you're not protected in terms of some kind of uh force masure or some kind of really unexpected thing that would happen. But, um, I would argue and and this was something that I'll bring to the board as part of our district's reorganization this spring is bring on that chef full-time again. Hire a kitchen supervisor. One thing that is something we've talked about and this may be the year to choose to move forward on it is to hire staff that works in the nutrition service department that have sustainability as their main responsibility that are out at

137sites facilitating what Fran is referencing which is when you're feeding 350 kids across almost two hours just in the afternoon and then another hour in the morning. It's really important to have adults who are there to have a conversation with you and say, "Oh, I see you just finished your cereal. Let's go go over with me and I'll show you what to do with this." Cuz you can teach students, but you really have to build community with them and grow their knowledge of why it's important to put the plastic where the plastic belongs and the cardboard in a different one and the compost in a different one. Some of our schools are like really good at this and they teach the kids to pour the milk in the bucket and to put the the food

138in this bucket and it's actually really wonderful to see. George Hall is one that's particularly successful. Bears is another one. Foster City is another one. Uh and then the other thing is that half the kids aren't eating our food, so they're bringing their own food. So that's a it's a that's why the question as to like how much is taken is the trash cans. Everyone's using the trash cans. So just measuring what's in the trash can doesn't really get us to that answer. But what we can and probably should consider this year and and as we move forward in our staffing plan, consider some sustainability support that then would rove throughout the different sites and facilitate educational programs for the kids and talk to staff and monitor their behavior between that that I finished my

139food and I'm going to go put it in the waste basket to yes, I'm taking the extra 30 seconds to make sure everything's put way properly and then, you know, see us hitting our sustainability goals and really doing something to educate, not just feed. And I think, you know, the the the sort of progress report that we are getting tonight about the continued growth in the food program. Remember across those 5 years, our district enrollment has dropped by close to a thousand kids. So the percentage eating has gone up even more than what the raw number is stating. Um and when we started retrofitting our kitchen cuz we have put a lot of money into that kitchen. It's not I think Fran's perspective is different now than in 2022 because she's making three times the

140amount of food. So, you know, there's to a certain extent you're sort of you're looking at what you have now and saying, "Oh, man. I need more." >> But you didn't need more four years ago because you were making so much less food. So, you know, it's part of this this sort of process that we're using and and Patrick and and Fran will put together a plan that I'll bring to the board through the reorganization um being able to achieve. And this deliberation is really important because it's giving us cues on where the board would like our efforts relative to really addressing the long long-term facilities needs at that kitchen, looping it into our facilities master plan and then ultimately having some relationship to how kids are actually consuming the food, which as you know

141is going to have an impact on their sort of their focus, their their health. Um, and then we maybe just do something good for the environment while we're at it. >> I make one more one more suggestion. Um, I heard you when you mentioned that um the middle schoolers have less participation in our lunch program than the um elementary school kids >> did. >> Wait, or was it the opposite? One one >> No. Well, I said it's that the elementary kids have um less willing to try. >> Willing to try. Oh, okay. >> And the middle schoolers, but yeah, >> when when the material go out regarding the menus >> Mhm. >> do and I know that parents can be inundated with um a lot of material to read. Um, and I'm wondering if we

142are able to craft sort of like what you have designed here and a menu that goes to the parents so that they can help >> convince the kids that you know our lunch service is this nice and that they can um, you know, and try to get them to push for them to participate in the lunch program because I think with >> the history we have to change that narrative and let them know that look this is what we're doing, you know, picture um you know, reader friendly options for the parents to be able to see, grasp it, and then make decisions to like because honestly, as a parent, >> um I always sent my kids to school with lunch. And it was it it was not really a burden, but I'm sure it can

143be for many who have a you know, very active lifestyle. So, if this is an easier option and it's healthy and it looked this good, if there's a way we can communicate that to the parents, it might be very helpful. >> No, I I totally agree. And our first step um last year was to um have this app where you can go into the menu and you have pictures of the food. So, we have been implementing that. But I get it. I mean, everybody's busy. Um, I try to communicate a lot about the existence of this app. I'm sure that few people know. I know that some parents do use it. Yeah. >> Um and uh we we publish the the menu also on the website and I always put a small um uh what

144is a pen for all the the items that are cooked in um in our central kitchen. But but I agree I can work with Diego um >> director jump out of his chair. >> Yes. videos. >> Yeah, he Yeah, he made a video already in our central kitchen and we are talking about making >> Yeah. And we talked about making another one about really dish development, but yeah, it's a good Yeah, good suggestion. Thank you. >> I just had a few follow-up comments. Um, I did have just a few asks, not doing it to the whole staff, but one, the food waste question is something that I definitely will raise again the next time it comes up. So to the extent that whether or not we're having a sustainability team or others on site just

145keep track of that, I just think it's helpful to know um especially again where we're having decisions about cost spending, whether or not our students are accepting the food. I think it's just an important context and data point to have track of. Um I want to reiterate what Trusty Proctor said. I think this is something that the board is very aligned this movement towards having more scratch cooking to feeding 10,000 meals a day. Um it's all very much in line with what we're trying to do. And so we want to make sure that whatever investments we're making on the facility side, however we have it planned really reflect that same set of priorities and to the extent that it's not in the current version that we voted on today, whether or not we have that

146flexibility within our budget or within our plan to accommodate that I think is something that we would appreciate getting an answer on. Um I also want I actually was had this note to make the same point, but I did want you know Diego and the team to start making some social media content, chef's table. I think the app is one thing, but I think being able to show not just the the food that you showed us here, which I think most parents would be surprised to see what we're serving in our kitchens, but also explaining the philosophy behind the movies that we've made, why we have a chef on site, going towards more nutrient-dense, more scratch cooking, um evolving the image of school lunches from what we had 20 years ago into what we're serving

147to our children now and explaining that approach that we've taken. I think having multiple ways to present that information, whether it's in newsletters, whether it's in, you know, something on our social media, whether it's in the actual app itself, I think is helpful and again a good example of type of progress you've made in district that we should really be highlighting. Um, and then lastly, I think, you know, when we do have this conversation again, that piece you mentioned about your learnings and so specifically, I think the salad bar example was a good one. I remember what it was like as a student waiting in line for school lunch. You're in a rush. You're not going to sit there, pick one wine item, take a little bit of each thing. If you have a pre-prepared

148salad, it will go better. I agree with Trusty Brooks that salad bar might do better in a middle school setting as well, which is something that again down the line as facilities can accommodate. It's a conversation we can have. But having all those learnings and showing how that's incorporated back into what we're doing to take items off the menu, to make decisions about spending, planning, the types of food we're preparing, I think is always helpful to know because as much as we have parents who are going to be very surprised and happy to see the very, you know, fresh foods we're offering, very kind of California menu we have, we know there are others who are going to express concerns about that direction, about being too novel, um, about stretching the boundaries too far. And

149so I think it's very important to show how we're constantly reassessing and evaluating the work that we do. It's not novelty for novelty's sake. It's something that we're intentional about how we're approaching and able to adjust accordingly with the data that we get from both the front end and the back end in terms of what our students like. But also like you said with this idea of expanding their pallet, presenting more fresh foods and expanding beyond, you know, if our kids could pick what they ate every day, they would eat just awful things. And so >> really trying to develop that first one. >> Exactly. developing that education while at the same time being mindful of how we're spending our funds. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Do we h are

150I guess are we done with Okay. Um >> do we have any inerson comments? Joe, can we check online, please? >> Yes, there are no public comments at this time. >> Okay. Thank you. I just want to say a compliment, a shout out because um right before winter break, Fran and her team hosted our nursing team and several parents, community members who have um students with health concerns and showed how they could support their um food accommodations through uh their um work in the kitchen. So whether they're diabetic and needed the carb counts, whether they're um gluten-free and needed a special meal or celiac disease, they gave a wonderful tour. I highly recommend going and seeing all their work. They have scoop sizes so they could show little little children who adore having their meal

151every single day the same as their older siblings do. So really huge shout out to your team. Great tour. parents stepped up and are going to make a chart so every single student in the district who needs an accommodation on the size of the scoop can be shared with everyone. So they're working on that now. So really great. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. I mean I think I've said this before and but I mean it's a job feeding two children so with many opinions on what they will and will not eat from day to day. So, I just really, you know, hats off to you and your team for the work that you put in to like test the recipes and like just keep trying, right? Because I like it is like a

152form of exposure therapy that you have to do to get them to like even try the thing and then maybe like nibble. Like I just remember um you know they would have a a veggie pot sticker in front of them and first they would just look at it and then they would like nibble the corner of the wrapper and then they would eat the wrapper and leave the inards and like now they eat the whole thing, right? But it's like it takes it's like >> such a progression. And so I just really appreciate everything um that you all are doing and it is really cool to see all these different and new and diverse and tasty options. Um so I'm really excited to kind of see um like just spread the good word and um

153let families know about these changes and I'm really excited to see what else um your team does. So, thank you so much. >> You're welcome. Thank you. Okay, we're >> Oh, yeah. We reached that. There's no one there. >> Um, okay. So, I think we'll move on. Thank you. >> Uh, all right. So, next one is education services strategies. >> Yeah. Hi. I'm gonna share my screen. >> Hand it off to Pam and Kenetta. >> Okay. Great. Yeah. >> All right. Uh, good evening, President Trin, board of trustees, and superintendent AOA. Tonight, my colleague Kinetta Cook and I are here to provide you with an update on how we're developing CAST readiness strategies in our system, or some might call it nutrition for the mind. Um, during our previous uh, presentations this year, um, we've

154been looking at trends in uh, the last four years of our CAST data. We see that overall we have a really high percentage of our students who are meeting an exceeding standard even with some slight changes over the years. We also reviewed um our NWEA data which is our interim language arts assessment. Sorry, Joe's giving me a tech thing. Sorry. >> Cam, there's something odd in the um display if >> we're fixing it. We're fixing it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I was all ready. picture with that one. >> That's fine. >> Better. Okay, I'm going to go back in a minute. Um so uh during our previous presentations this year we've been looking at trends from the last four years of CAST data. We've seen that overall we have a high percentage of students

155meeting and exceeding standard even with some slight changes over these four years. Um we've also reviewed together our NWA data which is our interim language arts assessment. um we've been using this for the last two years and we find that it shows pretty similar results to um the CASP and has been a good predictor for that assessment. That being said, um together we also noted that some of our internal assessments do not always match what we see on the CASP. So we might find that um in our interim or internal assessments, we might have a percentage of students in specific student groups that do well internally, but it doesn't show up necessarily on the CASP. Um, additionally, we noted that in past presentations that in Sanonteo Foster City, we do have cohorts of student groups

156that are more stable. So, the numbers stay the same year after year across our system. And we have students uh and student groups that are less stable. So, the numbers adjust. We gave an example um recently around our multilingual learners. So, if students get reclassified, they're not part of the English learner student group data. and that really does affect um the results that we have. But through your guidance, um discussion and direction, we continue to dig into the data. We wanted to review our current strategies and determine what might be missing when we're thinking about CAST readiness. We also wanted to think a lot about how can we fold something into current instruction because we don't want this to necessarily feel just like test prep that sits separate outside of what the students are already

157doing. So, we looked into our strategic plan and we're thinking about what is working to improve ELA cast performance. We know that we have some strategies that strengthen instruction that we've been focusing on the last few years. We have our PATH foundational literacy program. We have our new middle school ELA EL curriculum and teachers have been getting uh professional learning around that the last couple of years. We've also implemented tier 2 intervention in our afterchool programs, summer school. We have an athome literacy um instruction program as well, but we have yet to focus on specifically ELA CASP readiness. So my colleague Kinetta Cook will share a little bit about those strategies. So let's dive into some key actions for this school year really designed to support our students as they take CASP. First in our

158community schools, Laura Lead in Sunnybury in particular will we are in implementing excuse mel as a tier 2 intervention. Teachers can use it as an in-class support or afterchool program is designed to be administered four times a week for 30 minutes in either ELA or math. Also, we're integrating CASS focused interim assessment blocks, also known as IABS, at all of our schools this year. These are short targeted practice sessions that will help students get accustomed to CASS, specifically the format of CASS. We'll focus on six to seven specific IEBS between now and May, right before students start taking CASS. So students will have six to seven opportunities to experience these focused IES before they take CASS. These strategic actions are really designed to create a comprehensive support for our students, helping them to really feel

159confident as they go into the CASS test. Let's take a closer look at which is designed to enhance learning in both ELA and math. The beauty of lies in its ability to provide a castlike experience on Chromebooks. This familiarizes students with the test taking environment on the Chromebook before they actually get to CASP. What's particularly beneficial is the personalized instruction it offers. Each student receives a tailored learning strand focused on skill proficiency. So the skill proficiency is determined by a diagnostic test that they take beforehand. This information from EXL is really real- time data for teachers to have an opportunity to progress monitor and think about the necessary scaffolds based on how students are performing on EXL before students take CASS. The IES are designed to mimic CASS, providing students with a realistic practice environment.

160A few examples of some of the focused IABS that teachers will be able to select from are ones that focus on inference andformational text as well as research involving analyzing and integrating information. These are areas that stand out when we analyze data in the past as areas where students can really benefit from having practice and having a chance for teachers to really unpack these test items and really explain these test items. So, what's unique about these IABS is their flexibility. Teachers can administer it as an interactive lesson where students engage directly with their teacher as they go through each of the test items or they could be administered as a traditional test and then after the results are given to the teacher then they can go back and retach and use that information to inform

161their instruction. So, it's this kind of adaptability that really ensures that we are tailoring the learning experience to best support our student needs. Our CAST readiness for next school year, our 20 26 27 school year will include continuing the EL tier 2 intervention for community schools, the ones I named before, and also expanding it to other community schools. We will continue the ELA IES for all of our schools and in addition to that we'll hold similar practice sessions for our math focused IABS. The goal here is to continue to build conceptual understanding and reinforce math skills. So folding in those math focused IABS in 2627. Lastly, before we take your questions and ask for board direction, we wanted to share that we plan to celebrate our students hard work um as they take these um

162IEBS, these new assessments by hosting school rallies to recognize their performance and growth. It's crucial that they know that we see the hard work that they are doing and that we acknowledge their efforts and it really goes to helping students um bolster their confidence and motivating them to really do their personal best on these assessments. So together with these actions um is part of a really comprehensive plan to really ensure that we are not only as Pam talked about before preparing our kids but really making sure they're ready for these assessments. So with that we conclude our presentation and we welcome the board guidance and feedback regarding the allocation of resources instructional time for proposed actions. Um thank you so much for the presentation. Um, you know, I know in the past when we've given

163feedback about like, oh, like, you know, in addition to learning, we want to make sure that students feel prepared when they're sitting down for like the CASP and that the CASP would actually reflect, you know, what's actually happening. And so, I really appreciate hearing about like using systems like that mirror the CASP for students um, you know, but of course providing that live feedback to teachers. So, I was really that's really great to hear. So, thank you for that. Um, I think for me, um, one of the questions I had on slide six about like, you know, you're saying about the community schools, um, the in-class program, Beyond the Bell, things like that. Um, I was wondering what grade levels are those targeting? Is it all all grades or, you know, I've heard a little

164bit of feedback from some of our community schools that they really appreciate the push for literacy that they've been seeing in the early grades um, and that it kind of trickles off a little bit um, in the upper elementary grade. So I kind of wanted to get a little bit of clarity on on where where that was happening. >> Yeah. Um a lot of the um work around the CASP reading is in particular around the mostly focused on upper elementary grades because we do a lot of the foundational work in the um K2 grade. So in the elementary schools um that's mostly focused on third through fifth. >> Thank you so much. comments. >> No, just questions, Jean. >> Okay. Uh, okay. No, I don't guess we don't have any questions. Um, any in-person questions?

165Nope. Um, Joe, can we check online for a public comment? >> Certainly. Uh, no public comments at this time. >> Okay, thank you. We will now move to comments. >> Sorry, the board sees me actively, you know, shaking, ready to give comments. Um, I first I just want to really thank the staff for taking so much of discussion and board guidance from our previous sessions and incorporating it into this strategy, into this presentation. um a lot of the issues that we had focused on I think in previous discussions about how some of our internal assessments didn't align well with CASP um about some of the kind of smaller steps that we can take to address what we saw as kind of a a lack of significant improvement in our test scores and I think we've

166all reiterated this previously you know a lot of us have a background working in education spaces we understand that the CASP or any type of test like this is not perfect it's an inherently flawed metric towards measuring student learning and engagement um it's not meant to be a single source of truth. At the same time, we know for so many of our communities, our parents and others, it does become this kind of shorthand way to assess whether or not all these investments and celebrations and innovative changes we do on literacy and math are translating into real world outcomes. And so finding these ways to supplement our existing program, not teach to a test, not completely overhaul our approach, but to find programs like and IB and these small interventions, strengthening familiarity, getting students used to

167taking exams on a Chromebook. And those little adjustments I think will reflect well. And I think also just the last point on the slide there, having rallies and recognition of student performance and growth given that achievement is one of our three pillars um and one of our focuses as a district just having that kind of focus, that kind of culture of excellence being built in on top of all the amazing work we're doing obviously on equity and wellness and other priorities for us I think really reflects um I think we'll have very positive outcomes not just this year but years moving forward but also helps address a lot of concerns that many of the trustees have heard from our own communities about as we're doing these things, we don't talk about it as much. It's

168not necessarily something we put in our newsletters or press press releases, but obviously for every educator, seeing this type of improvement and growth is very front and center. Um, but a lot of times we tend to focus on some of the other amazing work that we're doing at district, which makes sense. Um, but just having all this put together in one presentation, I think helps go a long way toward showing the kinds of some programs we've already had in place, but adjustments that we've made. And again, I'm very eager to see how this translates over the next few years into our actual not just CASP scores, but across the board seeing what other metrics we can see in terms of our improvements. So, just thank you again to the staff for taking such a thoughtful

169balanced approach to addressing a lot of the concerns that we collectively raised in our previous discussions. And just really great to see how that's translated into very actionable, smart steps towards addressing some of those gaps that we called out. anything else? >> Thank you so much for this presentation. I also agree um that I appreciate that we're you know in integrating some of these um c you know just like the practice test so that the kids know what it looks like. I know it can be hard to show up because even if you know the material if the format is unfamiliar it can be challenging to demonstrate your knowledge. And so, um, I just want to say thank you very much to the team for putting all of this in place and, um, making sure

170that that kids have the support that they need. So, I think with that, we are, um, are ready to move on to the next item. Thank you. Uh, student services. Do we Oh, online. Okay. Hello there. >> Hey, there you are. this right now. Right. Good evening everyone. I'm Amanda Driscoll joined this evening with Christina Haley and we're honored to be here tonight to share a brief school preschool update. Um, tonight we will be highlighting the growth of the preschool program, how that growth has been supported through sustainable funding and how we are strengthening our inclusive early learning systems um to support our families, students, and staff. And to begin, we'd really like to ground us in why this expansion really matters and how it aligns with our district priorities. All right. The district's preschool

171expansion has been guided by our strategic plan because we were so privileged to be a part of it the last time that we wrote one and intentional district actions to ensure that access to highquality preschool is no longer a privilege but a promise in the Sanontale Foster City School District. This work intentionally centers families and communities who historically have not had access to free kindergarten opportunities. By expanding preschool across multiple sites, including title one schools, the district has taken deliberate steps to reduce barriers, increase equity, and create learning environments where all children and families feel welcomed, valued, and supported from the very start of their educational journey. We are currently at 13 sites and we have 30 classrooms across the district. As a result of this intentional approach, we have seen significant and sustained enrollment

172growth. Let's take a look at that growth. Uh this chart really illustrates that journey we've been on since 2021. Um over the last several years we've increased from 164 students to nearly 600 students. Um this steady and intentional growth really reflects our strong family demand um as well as the district's commitment to expanding access to early learning opportunities in ways that are both equitable and sustainable. Last week we wrapped up our lotterybased priority enrollment for feebased program and our um currently in continuing to enroll for this year as well as next year in our California state preschool program will continue enrolling through summer. Um, importantly, I I think something important to note is um this growth in enrollment has been very intentional and it's been matched with funding and infrastructure necessary to uh sustain the

173high a high quality program and also build inclusive programming for our students and families and staff. um and ensure that our expansion is not just about numbers but about the long-term impact and educational excellence. As enrollment has increased, the California State Preschool Program expansion funding has also grown. When I first came on board, we were receiving $3 million and we reached $6.8 million last year and $7.4 million this year. These funds support CSVP staffing, professional learning, instructional materials, and student and family supports, ensuring that our expansion is not just larger in scale, but also high in quality. In addition to the CSP funding, the district has leveraged targeted grant funding to strengthen inclusion across the preschool programs. So along with our CSVP funding, um the district was also awarded the inclusive early education expansion program

174grant or EEP. Um the purpose of EE is to increase access to inclusive inclusive early education classrooms um for students with dis severe disabilities. Um and from on this graph you can see from 2021 to 2024 we were part of E 1.0 you know, with the county office of education. >> And then, um, in 2023, we applied as an LEA and we were awarded, um, just under $900,000, um, to support um, building access or increasing access um, from 2024 to 2027. These funds are allocated toward um, facility improvements, professional development, and adaptive equipment. again, all with this goal of increasing access. Um, this past fall in 2025, we completed the inclusive playground here featured on this slide, um, here at Turbo Child Development Center, which is the largest um, preschool site in the district. Sorry,

175it has the most preschool classrooms on one specific site to be exact. Um, and we look forward next year to expanding inclusive play spaces at an additional preschool site next year. Um, while also continuing to invest in the professional development for our staff. Um, these investments are really directly supporting the comprehensive systems that we're building and have in place for our staff, our families, and our students. Our preschool model emphasizes comprehensive layered support. Staff engage in coaching, professional development, and professional learning communities. Families access around wraparound supports through community partnerships, and mental health consultation. Students benefit from tiered supports grounded in universal design for learning, ensuring access and participation for all learners. And all of this work is anchored in a shared commitment to inclusion and kindergarten readiness. Uh inclusion is truly embedded in in

176every aspect of our our preschool program here. And uh by focusing on access, participation, social emotional development, um we're preparing our students not only for kindergarten, but for long-term success. And we're really looking forward to continuing this expansion and all the positive growth in preschool that is to come across the district. Um, and we'd love to close with a brief note of appreciation. >> Thank you again for your time this evening and for your continued support of early learning in our district. We are proud of the progress made and grateful for the board's partnership as we move this work forward. Investing in our preschool program and his investment in the future of our students, our families, and our community. And we appreciate the opportunity to continue continue building that foundation together. And at this time,

177we'd love to open it up for comments and questions. Yeah. Hi guys. Thank you for that presentation. Um I am really pleased to see the the growth um in this program particularly since when I started the board it was um the numbers were so small now they're they're quite large and same with the funding. So thanks for sharing that data. Um, I was just curious if you happen to have on you, and I didn't ask this question ahead of time, um, how many students pay for preschool versus don't pay in this district? >> Good question. Twothirds of our program is the California State Preschool Program. So, families are not paying. And a third of our program is feebased side where families do pay. Uh, within some of our feebased classrooms, we also have California State

178preschool programs. of uh students that are in the program. We are still getting funding from the state. So, we consider that as part of the payment. It's just not the exact same um rate that we that the families are paying. >> Great. Thank you for that. And then um my other question, I think I've I've asked something kind of similar in the past, but um are there students on a waiting list? Are we capturing are we including everybody that wants to be in preschool? >> What's up with that? >> We have waiting lists. So, we definitely have waiting list. The lottery is alive and kicking. We are just um kind of getting through that right now. And I think I was hearing some of our classes already have 30 families on the waiting list. So,

179it's a wonderful thing that we can kind of grow our program. something that is happening just so that you're aware of is with TK being offered to off students. What happens is as soon as families are u what they're doing is putting themselves let's say in our lottery and holding a spot and then if they get into TK they'll take their TK spot that will open up and then we can go down the list. So what happened last year was we were able to get through so many more families because so many of them went off to TK. So, in a bit of a way, it's kind of a great situation to have where we have these lists that we can bring in um students and and students from across the district who are wanting

180to be in our programs on this just another comment to make on the CSP side of the house. Um obviously our priority is com, you know, our priority for all enrollment is is fulfilling or filling our classrooms, right? Um we we currently have around seven spaces in the the CSP classrooms across the district. So there are still spaces to be filled and we were discussing should we change the number on the slide. This is two weeks ago. We enrolled four more students this week. Um but there there are not lengthy weight lists for the CSP classrooms. However, note like there are sites for example Laurel has two CSP classrooms 44 students total. those classrooms are full. Some we offer other school sites, classrooms that are available to families that are coming in to enroll their

181children in preschool. Um, and sometimes families opt to start, you know, at Turbull and move to Laurel when there's a space. Um, and sometimes they choose to stay on be on a wait list for Laurel should a spot become available. So, just want to clarify that part. >> Okay. Okay. And then are we still keeping separate classrooms of like feebased versus like at the same school sites or >> um school sitewise we have like for instance here at Turble we have our Spanish immersion class is a fee based class but we also have our CSP students in it. So as much as we can, we have a mix of students who are CSBP or feebased um just to ensure that we really have diversity in all of our classes. Um some of them have a

182very long waiting list and others we're so grateful to have the number of classes we have for CSP. So there are a lot more op options. families that are still wanting a placement now are getting in and then we have families that are also choosing to be ready to go in August. Um, so it feels like a really great example and maybe one day you would get a chance to come visit is our Foster City class has a mix of all the students because we also have students that have IEPs and students that have SAI, meaning they have goals that they're working on um in the classroom. So they're part of our, you know, sped um offers a class and so we are the ones that are are giving them that space. So we have

183these classes that are this beautiful diversity of all the students that are in our district and I would love for you to be able to come visit one day to see kind of what we're doing to be able to include everybody um in the classroom. So, Foster City and George Hall, um they're both um the English part, like when we have a student, let's say that we have an IEP for and they're needing to be in a classroom for inclusion and they're learning in English. We're trying to get them into one of our classes where there's English spoken, but then we have many students who will have an IEP, let's say for speech and language, and they're speaking in Spanish. We have many options for them. So, we really look at the situation. when we

184really figure out what is best for our students and then we place them that way and we have options. That's the beautiful thing. We have options and we're using all of our spaces. >> That's great. Thank you so much. And I definitely will come visit. So, thank you for the invitation. And Trusty Proctor, I want there's a connection that you and I have that goes back to 21 where what was actually happening in 19 and 20 is we had really separate programs like we we had presentations being given to the board at the time which at the time Allison was on the board um and staff was telling the board we can't mix kids, we can't mix programs. Um, it was actually one of the like I would say one of the big equity fights

185we had dating back to them because staff were actually being paid different amounts to do the same work acim work in room five because they were in the non feebased and the other was in the feebased. So, I don't know. I I feel like I just don't want to let this conversation happen and not mention that because we're really really really far down the road. >> Um, and the other thing is the the current availability is is connected to strategic decisions this board made to build classrooms all over the district in neighborhoods that need them where they didn't exist before. So I would love to have ever zero pe kids waiting on the wait list but 44 is a great start and dot dot dot a lot of students who are even in the program

186now will enter TK and kinder in July and there are kids who are on the wait list because they're two and a half and and so kids qualify earlier so sort of the amount of time that they can be on the wait list increases but the speed at which we facilitate students going from prek to TK or kinder and then enrolling a new student. This window is really short and we can always be better but um yeah, I just wanted to go down memory lane. >> Yes. >> Can I add on to that? Um I so I love the mix class um opportunity for our kiddos. Um, but I do have a question. Well, I don't know if it's a question, maybe comment or maybe something. I guess we can figure out whether it need

187to be um answered as a question. But when the uh teachers who are um so amazing in um facilitating the class with uh this mixed group of kids who um have um in you have some instructors who have um obviously certain credential who are trained specifically to care for um a certain demographic of kids. But if they are um if they are in a mixed group and the teacher let's say doesn't have a uh special education credential, how are we compensating these teachers for doing the same job and interacting and um educating these children who have the special needs and are in these mixed classes. >> That's such a great question. in our so in our general education preschool classroom when you can think of it like an elementary school site where you have a

188resource specialist who supports students um who are in general education classrooms um work towards meeting their IEP goals. Um we too have um ed specialists in prek who provide that support not only for the student but work closely with the um general education teaching team. So that's a teacher and two parent educators in the classroom. We offer professional development so that we can ensure that our teachers are ready to be able to teach all students. That has been something that we promised coming into this. As we grow as a program and as we expect that we are going to have all students, we are going to make sure that we're giving you professional development. And that has been such a change. practicing what it is that we're learning in that professional development and then doing

189it in the classroom is exactly what has just changed the trajectory of these classes in this last three years that we've been here. Um it's really beautiful to watch how experienced preschool teachers are. They've been doing their jobs for a long time. They're very knowledgeable about this age group. So coming in and teaching them inclusion and teaching them how to work with all students, that's something that we can teach into because they already have so much experience and years of service behind them of working with preschoolers. So I feel like it's been a really wonderful opportunity for all to come together and learn from each other. The pictures that you saw of our professional development is exactly we have a hundred staff members that we have that are at these professional learning opportunities. We're doing

190this once a month. We're giving them the time um and the support that they need to teach any student that comes in their doors and it really makes all the difference. And we're also very fortunate. We have to say we have a teacher, we have two paras in the classroom. So, if you have a class size of 24 students, you have three adults in the classroom. That makes a very big difference. They're working really well as a team and they're having time every day to work together and learn together and um kind of be the team that they need to be asks, get the support from the ed specialists. There's a lot of learning going on every day. >> We we made these changes in our district pretty quickly, right? Um, and I think it

191it's important to note that we're building the infrastructure as as the the classrooms are opening, right? And um and so that means being thoughtful and really collaborative with our staff in in saying what's working, what isn't, where do we need supports. One of the pieces to the infrastructure that we built early on was um bringing in an inclusion TOSA who staff on the gened side of the house. So she now she used to work for in um special education within preschool and now she um supports all gened teachers across the preschool program along with the ed specialists that I mentioned earlier. Um is is it perfect? Absolutely not. We're we're not we are constantly making adjustments, constantly collaborating with our staff to say, "All right, what what is next? Where where are these areas where

192we're feeling like we need a little bit more support? um and how can we make that happen? >> Thank you. I'm very pleased to see the um PD integrated um so that the teachers who are not um uh certified in these areas are getting the training that they need because they are interacting with the students. Thank you. Um, I guess that question would be directed to superintendent whether or not we have found a way to compensate them for doing the work of a um fully um uh a a teacher who was fully credentialed to uh teach a special education student and one who is not technically credentialed but they are getting the training. How do we bump them so that they are being fairly compensated for the same work that's being performed? >> Well, part

193of it is how we design the access that kids have from the very beginning of joining the school district. So, um and and we have this in place at six of our elementary schools and where it starts is in our preschool program. So, um, a very traditional model is to find children with with, um, specific needs and assign those children to classrooms and provide support in those special classrooms outside of typical classrooms. And that has a very negative effect on students making progress towards their age appropriate and grade appropriate goals. There is a ton of research in the field but also in this district illustrating the extent to which that kind of approach that separates students from their general education program has an effect of making students fall further behind. So what Amanda alluded to

194and Christina talked about in in the presentation is that this program starts from the place of saying access is a promise that begins in in preschool. So, um, part of the developmental gap between a child who's at a three-year-old verbal expression level and a child who may be at a one-year-old or one and a halfyear-old verbal expression level is that's a very achievable difference in um, age equivalency, one and a half years. What happens in school districts that separate kids and have all the students with special needs in a separate um classroom starting in K in preschool is that statistically they fall further behind the older they get and the ability to catch them up becomes harder and it's less frequent the older kids get. So, I think when we chose to adopt this program

195and go with the district-wide um initially it was a pilot at George Hall and uh Meadow Heights and now it's grown to six schools and our special ed dire executive director presented on this a couple months back is we're getting closer and closer to the place where guaranteed access is a promise that we're making to students in the And so the compensation is equivalent across general ed teachers and teachers with students with special needs because the teaching is happening in the same setting. It's not happening in a diff if in a different setting. So there isn't more compensation. Um, and having said that, I think as a general rule, compensating our staff members is a huge priority for me, for this board. Over time, it's been um, as you know, just a main issue for

196us, but the starting point is access in the core curriculum and the pay is really the same whether it's across services being provided in a general education class or in a special education class. But as Amanda pointed out, just to conclude, we also have special education teacher support that goes into the classroom and provides it to the students in their general education classroom. So that's really the sort of the closest that I can come to it and ultimately I would leave it to the board to you know have any kind of discussion or um set any sort of um expectations regarding um you know just getting deeper into this question of compensation and um and credentiing and and uh the settings that we open up for all of our students. >> Um thank you so

197much for the presentation. Um, I was curious and you know, we're still I feel like our preschool program is still like in its kind of baby phases. Um, but I would love to see, you know, as the years go on, you know, if we can get data on how many of these kids are progressing on to TK with us to kindergarten, um, you know, what did the retention rate look like as the years go on? um and to have that data be disagregated by like you know the CSP or the feebased just so we can kind of get a sense like you know who are we capturing and who's staying with us who's not um I think that would be really great um as the program continues and if we could start collecting that data

198that would be great >> not a problem >> um I just want to echo the praise for the expansions that we've done not just the number of students serve but to the geographic accessibility that we've expanded and just seeing the kind of growth, seeing the need. And also many of us know just how much that early childhood investment um compounds over time and as superintendent said, just as it can have a negative impact, you know, it can have a tremendous positive impact and positive return. And so being able to address that major equity gap in the way that we have, I think is probably one of the greatest accomplishments that we're going to be able to highlight long term for our district. Um I wanted to echo I think trustee proctor's point and trustes hope

199point about data. So this is not for today, but for the next time we have this conversation. I would be curious to know not just our overall weight list um retention but also to the extent that to what extent are families getting their first or second choice you know there are some who specifically are looking to get into specific programs um because of the special u either magnet or other aspects that offer others you know I wouldn't want to see a lot of families essentially getting sent to a site that's 30 minutes away in the morning because their local site was full and so as we're looking ahead obviously we have certain constraints just because of how these feed into our existing schools and infrastructure, we can't dramatically overhaul that. But I think having that

200data point would be helpful for us for long-term planning. Um, right now we're kind of building the plane as we fly it, but as we kind of hit that point of stability and start thinking about next steps, I do think seeing not just the overall weight list across the district, but for individual programs will be helpful planning data for us. And so we'd love to see that moving forward. But again, hugely appreciate the tremendous work you've done. Um, and just to see just the picture as a professional development, the increase in access is just really great to see. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, do we have any um public comments in person? No. Joe, can you check online, please? >> I'm checking no public comments at this time. >> Okay. Any further comments? I

201think we're probably good. Um, thank you so much for the presentation. It's always such a joy to visit preschool classrooms and um I'm lucky that I we have one on our my kids campus so I get to see them running around every morning just so excited to go to school. They're just so happy. And um so I want to say thank you to you and all of the preschool staff for making such a warm and welcoming and fun environment for these kids to learn. And I just, you know, and I also want to highlight like not just the benefit to the child, but to the family as a whole, right? Like the amount of um stress that's taken off their plate knowing that their child has a great place to spend their day, a safe

202place where meals are provided. um the staff are so professional and just so um so experienced and it's just amazing the um the program that you two have built in such a short time. So um immense gratitude to both of you and your team. >> Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Have a good evening. >> Have a good evening. Um, next we have uh some superintendent services and board items. Superintendent Oawa. All right. Thank you, President Tren. Uh, item 8A is a preview of a potential resolution regarding the ordering of an election for the purpose of approving a general obligation bond. That is the longest agenda item of the night. um and and I can't take credit for it. What I will say and and as you can tell we have um

203a guest here who's going to talk to us about this item. What I can say is that for us it's important to um communicate in a way that gives the message to all of our families and all of our neighbors and and all of our electeds that says this is what is is on our plate. this is what we're thinking about. This is what we might choose to do. Um and I really hope that in the weeks to come, you all take that opportunity to um engage in those conversations with parents who text you, parents who email you, elected officials who are in your circles to really talk about this. Um because you know choosing to go for for a bond measure it's it's one of the you know biggest decisions that a board can

204make um based on the work that we've done for the last year to deliver these reports to the board and to deliver these products to the community. We think we're getting closer and closer to making that decision. Um, and what's before the board tonight is a draft and a sample of a type of resolution that could go before the board, but it wouldn't for, you know, xyz number of dates. Um, and and ultimately, we want people talking about this. We want our principles talking to their teachers and communities about it. And we have, um, you know, we have some ideas on how we'll spread the word about this item and, uh, what might come from an item like this. Um, and with that, I'll hand it over to our guest who's going to introduce himself

205and and, uh, talk us through this. >> Thank you so much, uh, Superintendent Choa, members of the board. It's a pleasure to be with you this evening. My name is Nick Huer from Stradling Yaka Carlson Roth, the district's bond council. And I'll just sort of summarize the provisions of the resolution um, for you. As you know, Superintendent AO mentioned, this is sort of a sample of a draft resolution. Um it would if approved by the board at a later date, it would you know order a bond measure election and direct the registar voters of San Monteo County to submit a question to your voters um whether bonds should be issued for the purposes and the projects described in the measure. The resolution is broken down into three sections. The first uh is pages one through

206four. Um the first nine whereas clauses that are included in this sample resolution are you know sort of the political table setters of where the district finds itself um and why the district is calling for a bond election. It describes the facility master plan process that was approved this evening. The rest of the whereas clauses, you know, recite the legal requirements of proposition 39. Section one on beginning on page two would identify the principal amount of bonds that could be sold. Section two would identify the election date. Section three recites all the Proposition 39 requirements, including the accountability provisions of establishing the citizens bond oversight committee and conducting annual performance and financial audits for as long as bond proceeds are being spent on projects. And the rest of the first section contains all the statutory

207requirements for a valid election order and the direction to the registar and county officials to consolidate the election with all other elections being held on that date. Exhibit A is the 75word ballot question. So the full ballot proposition is contains two parts. It's the 75word ballot question and it's the bond project list. So taking the, you know, the ballot question first, this is what voters vote yes or no on. It, you know, is legally required to be a single sentence ending in a question mark. It has to contain the name of the district, the purpose of the measure, the amount of bonds, the maximum interest rate, um the tax rate, the annual revenues to be collected, the duration of the tax. It has to recite the accountability measures and it also has to contain the

208phrase shall the measure be adopted. So all those legal requirements, you know, add up to about half of the 75 words. So that means there's not a lot of room for >> to build in and it's meant to be really a summary of the entire measure which is contained in exhibit B which is the full ballot proposition. So Proposition 39 one of the requirements um you know when voters decided to lower the voter threshold from the 2/3 supermajority to 55%. One of the stipulations was that, you know, voters have to be apprised with more detail of the types of projects to be undertaken. So that's what's in exhibit B. This is the bond project list. And this is going to be reproduced in the voter pamphlet just like it is in the resolution, including all

209the, you know, the bulleted points, the bolding. It'll it'll be just presented just the way that the board approves it. Unlike the 75word statement, there's no word count here. So, you know, if words, you know, get added to the section, that's perfectly fine. You know, you'll notice that there's, you know, we sort of organize it under two umbrellas. Um, you know, repair, basic health and safety improvements. And the and then the second one is 21st century learning, classroom renovation, and modernization. And there's, you know, bullet points under each um with sort of outcomes expressed. So that's sort of to help the district align itself with the priorities expressed by the voters in the survey that was presented earlier this evening. Then there's a long paragraph of additional projects that are authorized. You know, courts have

210held that, you know, the the, you know, public agencies, school districts are are supposed to describe projects by type. So that, you know, an oversight committee or auditor could properly evaluate it, which is, so this is the way that this project list is organized is by type. But if you wanted to add a list of your school sites, um, you can do that, too. Um but the projects are sort of described in a general sense and you know all the projects have a equal legal stature whether or not they're bolded in a bullet point whether it's in the long paragraph they're they're all they all contain the proper authorization to undertake the project. Um so that's sort of a brief summary of the the resolution and the the text of the measure. I'm happy to

211answer any questions you might have um you know about this resolution or in general about um you know the ballot proposition and I would recommend um first of all thank you for the presentation that you know while we have um you know the expertise here that we ask those questions about the resolution but that we also engage in a really robust conversation about you know what we're talking about here and really I want to invite the board to you know take this time to signal what you're thinking about this what you know what you make of the facilities master plan this potential uh type of resolution because ultimately I'll take cues from the board to figure out with bond council and with our construction team what a timeline would be for us to potentially come

212back with a more firm resolution and you know initiate a series of of communications out to the community about um let's say for instance we decide to agendaize something formal with an exact number with the project list. I'm going to be taking cues from your conversation tonight to really start that work. Um because it once I once we have that that general board direction, there's a lot of work that goes into having something that looks final and not something that looks draft. So, thank you. If you can uh stick with us for a few minutes and the board can ask their questions, maybe the public might have some questions and then from there the board can continue on and having this conversation. Um I was actually wondering if Trustee Proctor um in particular since she

213was the only person here I think when we underwent our last bond um process like whether there were any learnings from that process that we could incorporate this time around or if are there like best practices for boards um as they consider or um you know prior to actually voting um in terms I guess I'm just looking for like since I've never done this before like looking for some guidance um on successful sort of best practices that we can um be aware of in terms of like how you know how would we help this um like bond passage be successful? Like are there things that we as a board can do to >> Sure. So I can speak a little bit about um you know maybe the legal side of of what I think you're

214asking. You know so there's a a general prohibition of using public funds to advocate for you know the passage of a bond measure. So district staff and administrators are constrained during normal working hours and in using public assets um you know in in the advocacy effort. The district can provide you know information to the public um that's sort of fair and impartial about the you know potential you know the need for the bond and and what would happen if the bond passed and what would happen if the bond didn't pass. But, you know, those laws are, you know, you know, pretty um strictly enforced. So, you don't want to get too close to the line. But, you know, but I would say that the district administrators are more constrained than board members are because you

215aren't employees of the district. So, while you know, district officials can't take time off of a a workday to go volunteer for a campaign, you know, if the board decides they want to place a measure on the ballot, you know, you can go to the civic organizations, um, you know, discuss the need for the bond in a way that's sort of less constrained than, you know, the district officials might be during the workday. Um I will share some learnings and I think the the main benefit we have right now is time. Um especially if we're talking about November. Um when we did measure T, we had like zero time. Right Patrick? We were had to move at lightning speed. >> Talking about Alison. >> Yeah, we had to move at lightning speed and it was

216and I so I think with this um we have the opportunity to share it with our fellow elected officials and our community members and come back and tell each other what we're hearing. um you know like how they're they're taking this and if there's anything that that they have in terms of feedback and how they feel about it would be great because I know we we have the the survey that um the other group did and we've talked to teachers and school staff about um about this stuff but I think hearing directly from us and and and sharing like why we support this and why we need this I think would be we have time to do that. So I would say that So I had a question. I think over the course of the

217meeting tonight you've heard a lot of discussion or concern from our end about preserving flexibility but at the same time under these requirements there are certain statutory you know pieces we have to hit. We can't be vague or overly broad about some of our characterizations. So one point I think for the superintendent but also with bond council moving forward is trying to ensure that the language that we are putting in front of voters that ultimately binding on us um allows for a certain degree of flexibility again within the scope of reason um for some of these projects we've considered to the extent that it doesn't already to the we should have those conversations to make sure that's incorporated. That was one and I think I did you touched on this already but I was going

218to ask for clarification on >> the role of trustees in this process. I understand the very strict limitations especially on any of our employees but I guess moving forward I would be curious typically we run a lot of our you know legal questions through the superintendent or board president and through our council. I'm not sure if there is a best practice given that we've done this a few times in terms of how to confirm that any role trustees take um with that effort is proper and in accordance with the kind of policies we've set out. >> Absolutely. and I'll be providing the district with a memo regarding, you know, campaign conduct um that can be used as a reference and I'm always available to answer questions that come up. Um you know, I would say,

219you know, as a general rule, you know, at board meetings, you know, you you can't sit on the dis and say, you know, vote for measure X because you're sort of using public resources to advocate for the measure. But you could you know as a report to you know the board summarize you know the activities that you've been undertaking in the effort and sort of act as a sort of you know board reporter. So I attended XYZ event and you know I can tell you that I see enthusiasm in the community about X Y and Z. You know that's a fine thing to do. where you're reporting your experience as a board member, but you just don't want to cross the line into the advocacy realm. Um, you know, if you um also if you

220congregate together um at a particular event, you also have to sort of be aware of the Brown Act considerations. Um so you know that's something to always keep in mind as a board member um that if a majority is you know discussing um matters that were that were within the jurisdiction of the the board you know that's a it's a meeting for Brown Act purposes. So that's another sort of word of caution but I'll be providing the district with a a memo outlining all of these and those are the sort of the main points for board members but you're a lot less constrained. And then I also I I do want to sort of touch on I think your point about you know the specificity requirement of proposition 39. So th this ballot measure as

221drafted um you know provides the broadest possible flexibility under the law. Um, you know, the standard that I have drafted this to is the Foothhill DNA via Emer case, which is the only appellet court decision interpreting bond um measures. And it was, you know, your neighbors to the south. There was a lawsuit in 2006 right after the election um from a taxpayer organization alleging that, you know, the Braum project list failed the specificity requirements of Prop 39. The appellet court rejected that argument and said, you know, voters approve the types of projects. They don't need to know the particular roof that needs repair or replacement. It's enough to say repair or replace roofs. And if there has to be some flexibility built into bond programs that last 10 plus years um for changes in circumstances,

222changes in law to to reflect, you know, accessibility requirements that might may come up, you know, as the bond program is implemented. So this ballot measure and the one that will be be brought to in front of you if you do decide to move forward will contain that broad flexibility allowed under that Foothill Dianza case. >> That's great to have that context. And I did want to ask since there's been some discussion about pushing this back to November in terms of our timeline to comply with all of our requirements. When would we have to adopt the board resolution by assuming that is the plan that we decide to move forward with? >> So the legal requirement is deliver the resolution to the county 88 days before the election. So, if it's a November election, it's

223the first it'll be the first Friday in August. I think it's August 7th. >> But we we talked earlier about that timeline, too, Trusty Kim. And um if we don't have a board meeting in July and we have our board meeting in the latter part of August, we talk about doing this in June. So, that's what we talked about bringing back to you time frame wise. >> Sounds good. Um, I had a just a question and this is probably to the district. Um, would it be possible to just take our um, what do you call these immediate priorities and just make sure that they fit into all these categories that we're not like missing a a bullet point or something just so we're not limited on projects we can do? >> Absolutely. We can work

224on on a project. >> Thank you. We and Trusty Proctor, we we've been having those conversations in that context to make sure they do fall into that, but we'll make sure we revisit again, too. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Y >> Glad you're already thinking of it. >> We also um because the the work is so essential to the district's long-term success. You know, Patrick is a is one of the best in the field and Amy is one of the best. um in California, but none of us are doing what we think is best. We're we really rely on experts in the field and our bond council just does an incredible job, but we also have really strong support from EMC and and team civics and others who are assisting us through this whole just

225as you can tell, it's a lot of different pots that are boiling. Um, we think that the timing that we're using now where we're forecasting this conversation in a very public way, it's really going to allow schoolboard members to take the next 30 to 60 days to really get connected with people in your networks and and in the community. Our communications team is going to continue to educate our parents. as you saw uh earlier tonight, that work is is underway and it's producing results. But also, it gives us time to really um get closer to what we think is the right is the correct ballot language because as you heard earlier tonight, there is a pretty big difference between 498 and three some odd. Um and and that's a conversation we're going to need to

226have because the project list on one allows us to do a lot and the project list on the other constrains us. And so probably the five of you will have some you will each land somewhere on that continuum of what number and what risk factor and what um approach you think we can take. But these next 30 to 60 days are are a really great opportunity for each of you to hear from your constituency so that you feel really solid when we come back in February and March and say this is what we think we should do and and allow each schoolboard member at that time to show us the way that we're going to go. >> Um I have a you know kind of a light-hearted question. Maybe it's more appropriate for the district.

227But um in that long project list that I saw, it said construct or upgrade aquatic facilities. Do we have a pool? >> Not at this time. >> We might want to build a spa. So >> thanks. I was like, did I miss that somewhere? or you know upgrades >> pond water feature >> any Oh, do we do we Okay, just quick public comment. Anyone? No. Joe, any online public comments? >> No public comments online. >> Okay. Uh any comments? Further comments? No. Thank you so much for your time and appreciate working with you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, next item. >> All right. Item 8B. Uh, we have our chief of staff, Lisa Joseph, that is online. Joseph, you can promote her and and she'll join us in just a minute. Um, I promise

228to speak very little about this. We've had some really fun meetings, some really great work just in the last couple of days. Um, I do want to um give the board an update. We have invitations out to teachers in the school district. And we're going to take 20 teachers to go and visit two really innovative schools uh in the region that are doing some very student-led um project-based learning uh social justice aligned and really interestingly schools that are integrating um work internships into the experiences that kids are having in their typical school experience. Um and and that's going to be a really great opportunity February 10th and 11th. Um we'll have tons of comms that come out of that. Um but Lisa's here to talk a little bit about what we've done over the last

229few meetings. And with that, I'll pass it over to you, Lisa. >> Thank you, Superintendent OOA. And good evening, board of trustees. I'm really excited to share a quick update on our community strategic planning process and have some artifacts to share with you from some of our recent meetings. So I think that uh will be fun for us. Um so first I just kind of want to ground us in where we are in this journey of the community strategic plan. Um so we kicked off in the fall. Um September 3rd was our big party at Meadow Heights. Um and at that time we also invited folks to join the vision design team which is a team of actually it's grown a little bit. It's about 55 um parents, students, staff and administrators who are help

230or this monthly meetings to help draft our vision. So that all was happening in the fall and then in the winterfall we've been spending this time in our learn phase in that second column there where our partners from TNTP put together a community insight report kind of giving us a sense of the current state of the district. We had um our imagined school field trip to Design Tech High School and Parkside Monastery for students. And then we had our community meeting on December 10th, which we spoke about at the last board meeting um where we had families kind of look at all this research that we've done and say, "Okay, these are the hopes and dreams that our district has. How do we put this into a vision? How do we start thinking about what

231that looks like?" Um, and in December, and this closed very just recently, was the Imagine School project where we invited fourth through 8th grade students, u, classified staff and certificated staff to reimagine school and submit projects. There was, I've just finished reviewing all of them. Um, and there were some really awesome submissions of people just thinking about how we can make our schools feel and be like home for our students um, and for our staff. And so I'm really excited to share some more insights from those in the coming weeks. Um, but you know, our vision design team has been really antsy because they're like, "All right, we've learned all this stuff. Now we're ready to start writing our vision." So that's kind of the point where we are right now where we're shifting our

232focus from gathering input on what the vision could be to actually drafting the vision with all those insights. Um, so in this spring time period, we're going to be drafting the vision. Um, at the next community meeting on March 18th, we're going to be showing the community the first draft of our vision for the learner experience and gather input on that initial draft. And for this vision over the next few months, there's going to be a lot of iterating um with the broad community and with the vision design team to help create a truly communityowned vision. Um, as you'll see that we'll have at the end uh of this timeline here. Um, so I want to take a moment to kind of put you into the lens of a vision design team member and walk

233you through one of our agendas kind of to give you a sense of what we do as a group. So we start off with some welcome and connection. We cater a nice dinner. We have those parents, students, teachers all kind of mingling. And at this point, everyone has met each other and know each other. Some several of them went to the Lindsay trip together. So we've all been on field trips. We've gone and visited classrooms at Bayside and um gone to different schools. So, this is honestly a group that's gotten to know each other and is working well. Um at our last meeting, the students actually put together a little team builder activity, which was are you smarter than a eighth grader Jeopardy? Um which was quite uh harrowing for myself, I would say. I

234don't there's a lot I've forgotten since 8th grade. Um and then we always start our meetings grounding in our purpose. Um at in the September kickoff event, we had established these partnership commitments with the community. And we always start with that with some of the statements that the participants at the September 3rd kickoff established around trusting this process, trusting the input of our community to drive this work. And then we spent several like 20 minutes just reviewing the all the information, all the input that we've gotten from our community and then looking at some of the research that our partners at TNTP have put together as well. Thinking about the more most important paths towards educational equity for students. All of that to kind of ground our thinking as we started drafting the vision. Um

235so the last portion was we spent like 45 minutes just working as a group on what the vision what our vision could look like at the school at the classroom school at district and community level might look like um before we close out. So I wanted to show you um a couple of highlights from that work and we we're starting with the vision for the learner experience. That's some of what we're showing here. Um, so you'll see on the left hand side some of the poster boards that we were working on. We did a gallery walk where folks could write stars on the statements that they liked the most. And so I highlighted a few here. One is to celebrate achievement and community in the classroom. And superintendent, I know that this was from a

236parent who you had a conversation with afterward. She was actually kind feeling kind of shy in the moment to share her thinking that she's like, I know this may seem basic, but that's what I really want for my child. And I think this was a moment where we're like, no, that's not basic. That is very important. And this is the kind of feedback that we need. This is the kind of direction that we needed for our vision. Um, next one is all students feel challenged to excel, experience joyful, balanced, calm, and a sense of belonging. And I was thinking about this one a lot as Amy was sharing about the facilities master plan um and all the the things that are being done to create our make facilities that help establish this sense of calm

237and belonging for our students where they don't feel like they're in a um a windowless uh prison from uh the 70s. Um this was from another uh a parent poster. I'll just read the English here. staff that is better prepared and trained to work with diverse communities and their needs. Build confidence in families and students to feel welcome that their voices are heard and represented. And I think we saw a little bit of that at the start of this meeting with the the students from College Park and from Burell getting a chance to speak up here. There are nuggets of this happening in our district already and we just want to make it universal at the community level. having opportunities to be exposed to professional careers. Um we've talked a little bit in this meeting

238about the CTE facilities and um the desire for the honestly the very strong desire that students have. A lot of the imagine school projects that I saw were about CTE and middle school students having a a strong desire for more of that. And finally at the district level um professional development that centers the student experience and five key factors. This is in reference to u one of TNTP's um research papers. So all students have access to the five factors for social mobility and I'm recalling what uh Miss Codenne from Boral shared at the start of this where they had staff in where they invited staff to their professional development. That is what centering and professional development on the student experience can look like. Um and I was really glad to hear that example is happening

239in our district. And finally, working from a preventative approach instead of reactionary to support students holistically. Um, so these are just a couple a few snippets of the work that the vision design team has been doing after we've collected all this feedback from our community. And um, we are ready in our next meeting to continue this work and really narrow the vision to something that represents this community and can live on um, as we continue this work. Um, so I'll open up to any questions from here. Thank you. Do we have any board questions? No. Okay. Um, any public comments? No. Uh, Joe, can you check online? >> Yes. No public comments on Zoom at this time. >> Okay. Thank you. Then we have some comments. Um, thank you so much for the presentation, Miss

240Joseph. Um, I've been actually I just wanted to share that I've been noticing a pretty significant uptick in conversation about the strategic plan from like families, community members, you know, people working at schools and it's just really great because it feels like there's a lot of buzz happening and, you know, I get a lot of really good deep questions and, you know, it's been really encouraging for me and also, you know, makes me see that people are so invested and excited about what's going on. um and that they're really engaged in the process. Um so just wanted to say, you know, thank you again for really prioritizing giving, you know, people across a huge cross-section of voice. Um you know, they're really you can really feel it um in the community. >> Glad to hear

241that. >> I just want to echo Trusty Hoe's comments. Um, I think Sam I' I've heard so much praise for the way that we've been so intentional in our outreach and our inclusivity and the way that we've given ownership to a lot of parents, students, um, and others and empower them to be a part of this process. And having that kind of input and feedback has always been important to the district. But the way that you all have approached it in such a systematic, methodical, extensive, expansive way, I think has gotten us has helped to build a lot of the trust that we're hoping to build. um when we share on social media when folks would be a part of it. I echo what Trusty Ho said. There's been so much more commentary just in

242passing from parents who are very are noticing the kinds of efforts that you've made. And so again, so much of the information that you bring to us at these board meetings with these updates validates the kinds of approaches and investments that we've made, but also helps to shape our direction moving forward with this next phase of the strategic plan. So just incredibly grateful for the work that you all are doing. um for all the other parents, students, uh faculty, teachers, all the volunteers that we have who are part of this process. I think it's going to really transform the way we approach moving forward and it's going to be something that's very centered on the actual needs, experiences and vision that we pull from all these discussions. So very grateful again for all the work

243that you're doing. >> Thank you. >> Okay, I think that's it. Thank you so much for um leading this um this process. I am just so impressed by how many touch points we have been able to gather and I really look forward to seeing what the draft looks like. And if I can add just a couple of things. Uh we didn't discuss it tonight, but uh Lisa and I spent time looking at one submission that really just man we we sat for a minute and just reflected on this um employee in the district who um pulled a group of students together to film a video their submission for the Imagine School project. And the message was basically let kids lead like let us make decisions, let us be involved, let us do things. And they

244gave examples of what happens at their school and it was so powerful. We're excited. I think at our February report to the board, you'll see perhaps that video and others like it. Um because what we didn't anticipate when we developed the pro the project was how many different people in our community would latch on to it. And that might have something to do trustee ho or sorry clerico ho with what you're hearing is people are actually engaging in this process and and that that's been part of the design. The other thing is that aside from making this trip out uh to visit Washington Elementary and the Met High School, we're also making very specific attempts to get face to face with more parents. So, we have special uh parent engagements coming up at Sunny and

245at Beach Park. And we're scheduling visits to schools in other parts of our community. We felt like it would be a good idea to start with one school in Foster City and one school in Sonteo and then build our program from there where the goal is to try to meet with 50 parents from that school and talk about this process and engage with them in this process because we know it's really normal for our parents to be engaged with their principles and their teachers. President Tren, you've sent me photographs from time to time of the events that are held at Sunny Brand. It's like a packed house. It's 150, 200 people. And we want that same energy around this community strategic plan. It's going to be about a month or two down the road. But

246what this board will do is really important in taking you know the collective work of 30 40 people who meet in this room once a month to develop this language because you all have the responsibility of seeing our work and pushing it even further. And the board 5 years ago did that when they saw the strategic plan recommendations we made and said we shouldn't do this unless we include prek as a specific call out in each of the goals. And the strategic plan committee didn't have that in the original language. And that's one of your privileges and one of your responsibilities is to see what we do and push us because I think everyone on this community strategic plan vision design team is I think we're all sort of like curious how you all are

247going to take it once we start to really form it and bring it to you. But I think we also want to know where you want us to go with it and how to push it to um another place. And I think that's one of the really cool things about being a school board member is you have that that ability to take um the district uh and and help us get to a place that we know we need to be 5 and 10 years down the line and and we think the product we're going to give you is going to be really good, but your feedback and your leadership at that time is going to be really really important. So, just wanted to say that kind of, you know, give that some time for people

248to hear that and then um just pass it back over to the board for any other questions or any other comments. >> Okay, I think we're good. Um, thank you for those comments. Um, I'm actually going to call for a brief five minute break um before we come back to the next item. >> Thank you. chocolate. >> No, like hot. They're kind of gummy, >> but they're not They're not gummy. Uh, superintendent ooa. >> All right, we're back. Item 8 C is comprehensive trustee compensation and benefits review and this is under education code 35120 and AB1390 implementation um verified ADA threshold findings and board action. Um Joe, if you have the item up on your screen, if you can just project on the ADA report. This is the district's P1 ADA report. Um it's we

249posted it day before yesterday. Um, and so, you know, it's not an easy report to kind of make heads or tails out of, but our district's ADA is 9,200 essentially, and there's the details all there, so anybody um who would like to uh can go there. So, basically from the superintendent's perspective, one of the the the realities of this item is that this item is created and submitted by Trusty Brooks. So, I can't speak to the specificities of the language in the item and you're able to go online and see the item, the rationale behind the item. Uh, so I won't speak to that. What I can do is remark to the board that in the proposed language in the resolution that's part of this item, there is a specific reference to a $2,000 board

250compensation that doesn't conform to the district's ADA. So, I would really want to caution the board because it's it doesn't comply with the law in that reference, that proposed language. Having said that, my recommendation was not to agendaize this item. And so I want to just be transparent about that. Um, I'm available for any questions you might have, but that's my presentation for this item. And with that, I'll pass it over to the board for discussion and deliberation. >> Um, thank you, Superintendent OOA. Um, do you have any questions? >> I have a qu one quick question. Um, what's the current stipen for the board at this time? >> I believe the current stipen for the board is $400. >> Okay, thank you. Are we just doing questions? >> Sorry, superintendent. point of clarification. I

251speaking for myself, I was surprised to see this item on our agenda and it sounds like you're saying that it wasn't put on the agenda through our standard process. Can you elaborate a bit on how it ended up on our agenda for this evening? What I can share with the board is that um I had a conversation prior to the posting of the agenda which is Friday afternoon of last week and the agenda language and the agenda content was provided by Trustee Brooks and at that time we had a conversation about placing it on this agenda. I recommended that it not be placed on the agenda. Um and at the same time um one of the sort of considerations I took into account was the importance of just facilitating this kind of discussion and transparency.

252What would be more uh typical would be for me to have a conversation with the board president in this case president Tren and work On the staff side, the staff work on a report andor backup documentation and bring it to the board for discussion and that didn't take place in this case. So I think there and ultimately you all will discuss this and and you know have your opportunity to speak on it but to me the language in AB1390 is very clear which is that uh there is new compensation tiers that did increase but it doesn't come with a requirement that it be increased and those tiers are predicate ated on a district's ADA, in which case our we're in a situation where our enrollment exceeds 10,000, but our ADA does not exceed 10,000. And

253that's an important distinction because there are different compensation tiers, one being at 2,000 and one being at 1,200. So those tears and that difference is part of the conversation. But the other important part of the conversation is what our routines are and what our practices are and what considerations we take to choose to agendaize item at a time that we recommend or consider um preferential. And that's something ultimately that in this case we agendaize the item. and now we're here. So, the discussion is ultimately happening now. >> And just to clarify, all of the language that's in the agenda was not provided by staff or by the board president. It was provided by trustee and we are being asked to vote on this tonight. >> The item was written in in that way and um

254the and you're correct. the the content was not created by staff or President Tren. My recommendation is that you not take this action, but ultimately part of the the governance responsibility is to agendaize items that are under the board's authority. This item is under the board's authority and it's totally relevant and pertinent to the board's work. how we agendaized it for this meeting, as I mentioned earlier, did not conform to our typical procedures to do so. And my advisement to the board is that this not be agendaized at this time. And my current advice to the board is that the language, namely the the uh establishment of a $2,000 monthly compensation not be voted on and certainly not be approved because it doesn't comply with the law. So that's one of the sort of from

255my perspective, the uniqueness of this item is that it contains language that my recommendation to this board is that it doesn't conform to AB1390, so you shouldn't approve it. But nonetheless, it's posted and it warrants discussion. >> Do you have questions? >> Um, first I want to clarify for the record that this item is actually reagendized. This item was agendaized um earlier in 25 at the beginning um of my presidency. The only update in this um language is the new uh law that passed um regarding the um AB 1390. So that's the only update in the reagendized information that was tabled until a future date um because there was an agreement that there were um a step that was going to take place and then we were going to hear this item. So just for

256clarification, this item has already been agendaized. In fact, I've attempted to agendaize um how we as a district um consider uh increase benefits and just the overall trustee compensation and how um um how uh process processes are um implemented. And there's been a great deal of resistance including the ignoring of agendaizing the items so that we can visit the issues that exist um regarding the ADA in this information that um has been submitted has uh been verified and um should have been presented um before tonight because I actually looked in the agenda um I think yesterday and the uh document that's attached attach was not attached. Um so I have not had time to um look at it to um uh determine the information that it include. Um but also um in this uh information

257it does indicate that uh if the information is not verifiable at this meeting that we do not take action until it is verified. And then that would require the board to go back and um get the information necessary to make an informed decision on how we move forward with the um law that has been passed um effective I think it was October of 25. It's clear there's no ambiguity. Um there is a um criteria that is clearly established and um since that has not been identified and or uh produced here this evening, I also recommend that the item if we're if we feel as a group is not um does not give us the um the information necessary to make an informed decision ision that we are um allowed the opportunity to determine the correct

258information that we are supposed to make this decision on. So that's regarding the AB12 and the stipened um portion of it that has recently been um updated by law um the AB12. But the other part is regarding the um benefits and the structure and how the process and implementation um has been uh also like I said re uh agendaized that is currently be being reagendized. So um I would honestly say that because uh the district just uh attached this information that I have not had an opportunity to look at. I also am uninformed. So to make a decision based on information that is not present um and or allow the trustees to do uh their due diligence and research and or um require the staff to provide what is necessary which I also requested in

259here that they provide this information and it appears that it has not been. So um I can take I mean you know maybe you guys can advise on how we should move forward. >> Question. >> Um okay. Um >> have one question. >> Yes. >> So I understand this may be a returning agenda item. I was just curious where the language of the resolution and the other information came from if you're able to disclose because it wasn't drafted by our team or by our council and so I wasn't clear I guess where this was all pulled from. So um the information that um I received is from the department who oversee the um statutories that are in place who have verified >> the information and they have provided this information verbiage. >> What what department

260is this? >> Um I can provide you that information. I don't have it right in front of me right now because I've been dealing with a lot of things. So I can provide you that information. >> Okay. Um and they also have um verified clearly that the this information that I have submitted is um appropriate. And as far as the um the um trying to say here the document that you named it just kind of went past me. Um >> the resolution. Thank you. the resolution um language is something that um is necessary um because there has been such a significant issue with even getting this information to the board. So the implementation and the variations at and as to which the district has um engaged or interacted uh differently with different standards uh for

261each um uh trustee in terms of how uh whether benefits are offered compensate there's there's a there's a a big disconnect here. So in order to um create a systematic um procedure that is in place for the district and for trustees to be able to depend on uh not just for this board that's sit here but also for any future uh board members who join. They have clearly outlined uh information where the district um personnel whether it's current or any in the future are not able to blur the lines and create um a different standard or a different pathway that uh are um in place for uh each uh board member. >> Sorry, Trusty Brooks. Just to clarify, are you saying that currently our trustees are receiving different compensation, different benefits from each other is

262your understanding? >> Yes, >> superintendent. >> I don't even know who's who's receiving them. I'm not saying that anyone is rece because I don't know who who are receiving them, but I do know that there's been a different um offering of the type of benefits that um trustees get. I know that the information uh is not in a standard format that makes it um uh make the information reader friendly and available like all other district staff when district staff is hired in any capacity whether they're with a union or if they are an administrative staff has clear guidelines, directions, contracts s of their employment and what's included in that. And I do know that there has been a difference in what has been offered to us as a board because um if well I can

263say that if it's if if you and there's no way of knowing unless the documentation is produced. But if the uh four of you have been uh offered something different than what I've been offered, that's a problem. right there. And I know that that's the case. Uh and I'm saying that because um there has been clear email communication that has outlined uh very detailed information about benefits that were offered to me. But I know that if you guys came on at a later date, then perhaps um maybe the three of you did not, but maybe Allison did at some point because she's been here a long time. But nonetheless, the um the uh information regarding records have been requested and it's been ignored to identify what's actually happening here. >> Would the superintendent or staff

264care to comment? >> I would. I think one of the sort of conversations we should have here, but also be cognizant of what our board policy is regarding issues p pertaining to complaints against the district andor accusations that might sort of fall into a category of being specific to an individual or a department. Um, I just want to say that out loud because I think we're getting close to that and I want to warn us to keep it about what this item is cuz everything that was just shared is not what is in this item. And so I'm going to sort of back away from getting too into the personal statements that were made when trustees join the board. We have an apparatus of emails, invitations, meetings, offers, and we have very talented staff in

265this district, and they implement what we have. I have no knowledge whatsoever that any disperate treatment has been offered to one person over another. I would be shocked. Although I'll admit that I've been shocked before, but I would be shocked if we had any desperate treatment offered to any one uh school board member over another. So, I am concerned that that that accusation was raised. Um, and I'll follow up outside of this meeting to sort of pursue that. And I do want to address a couple of remarks that were made that I think are important to uh discuss. The first is that uh Trustee Brooks is describing this as reagendizing an item. So I want to be really clear that at no point in time has this item been agendaized for the board. There was

266discussion, internal discussion a year ago to consider an item similar to this, although it was a different item. And that item was pulled at trustee at that time President Book's request. So the decision not to agendaize the item was one made by President Brooks, not staff. At any time between now and the end of this year, anytime in the future, the school district has a policy regarding agendaizing items for board meetings. And I want to encourage the board to read that policy and follow that policy because one of the responsibilities that we have as staff is to advise the board regarding matters under your jurisdiction. So we're always going to do that and sometimes you'll say thank you and other times you'll say that doesn't sound right or I disagree with that or I want

267to discuss this sooner than you think we should and we're happy to do that. So at any time that the board would choose to agendaize an item such as this, we would be happy to create reports and documentation, we would consult legal counsel, have them create anou for us or a resolution, etc., etc. Uh, and because it is relevant to board policy, we would encourage you to go through the same 60-day process to make any change to board policy because that's what you do with every other policy. And our recommendation would be to implement a similar type of process here. Um but but it's really really important to talk about the fact that at no point in time has this been agendaized or tabled. It hasn't actually been part of the discussion. That's what some

268of the public reaction and some of the surprise that this item is posted in this way because it hasn't been part of our public transparent deliberations. So, I just wanted to make those material statements because it's important that we um you know speak to one another but also have an opportunity to you know state from our perspective what we believe to be the case. And then ultimately if the board has more questions, we're happy to answer them, but also want to give the board an opportunity to discuss and um deliberate on what's before you. >> Thank you. >> So um just to correct the record um there was uh this item specifically on the agenda uh regarding trustee benefits um at the time which included um trustee compensation. Um in fact um it was tabled

269pending AG opinion because there were some conflicts or disagreements in the language and what was being um uh what the the verbiage and the information it was at conflict. So there this item was agendaized. It was tabled pending the clarification of the information that was in disagreement. So it was absolutely agendaized. The only update in this information that has been presented tonight is the law that has passed this October 2025. So yes, because it is now reaggendized, it does have the updated language and information as it relates to AB 1390. Um, so clearly this information has been agendaized. No, it has not made it to the point of discussion. However, it was tabled pending information that never came to fruition. So as a result now um since the item that we were looking to have

270uh clarification on did not take place and this law has now uh passed is why this item has been reaggendized with updates. Um and that's related to the agendaizing of the item. Um if there are any um excuse me not if there are any if the um district has well at the request that I have um um requested each year since being here. How do we consider um these this information or the standardizing and the clear um direction of what trustees are um their on boarding um information should outline. I requested a handbook to understand and learn the processes of the district which wasn't provided until 2024. And so that's a problem because every employee who is hired in the district receive a handbook of information as it relates to their job specifically. And that

271information includes whether they're with a union step and upgrades, the time that um they're allowed to um increase certain jobs or um uh Trusty Brooks, I I apologize for interrupting. I I feel that we're getting a little bit far a field um and so I just want to make sure there are no other additional board comments before we move to discussion. I don't think we're at comments yet. I think we're still in questions. >> Right. That's what I'm asking is are there additional questions that are directly related to the language in here? >> Yes. So, um, these, um, questions that I will be, um, asking, Madame President, um, are I'm requesting for record clarity regarding the district's implementation of trustee uh, health benefits under board bylaw 9250, which is publicly posted as adopted. My questions

272are narrow. uh board bylaw 9250 compliance legal authority and written procedures. My first question is uh can the staff confirm board bylaw 9250 is adopted and is the district's controlling policy for trustee health benefits? Yes or no? our district um policies regarding trustee compensation and benefits are adopted and approved by the board. That's correct. >> Are those uh board bylaw 9250 as adopted? I don't have a device in front of me and I uh Patrick if you have it in front of you you're welcome to um pull it up and you know we can um put together a response but um our our our policies are approved by this board. They're public. I just don't have the device in front of me now to to site it. I I mean I wonder whether some of

273these questions are also more legal questions that are not that are more properly handled by council if necessary. And so I don't >> well these are board bylaw um that are public facing. I understand, but you're you're asking a question about whether something is the controlling like bylaw, which or what is the controlling policy, which is um to me potentially a legal question. Um because obviously our district has a lot of policies that are in play at any given point and it just depends on the situation. So maybe you can just read all of your questions and then we can decide whether or like I don't know I guess depending on what the what the questions are then >> we can >> well these are questions that as a trustee and uh a trustee for

274the district and the district they must have these answers. There's no ambiguity of bylaws. There's no ambiguity of eco. >> Okay. There's no ambiguity of who. >> Okay, maybe you can just read the questions. >> Okay. >> 9250. Got it. >> Okay. So, the question specifically is, can staff confirm board bylaw 9250 is adopted? And is the district controlling policy for trustee health benefits? That's a yes or a no that I'm looking for. and the district will respond in writing to this question. We're at this time. Yeah. >> Yeah. At this time, I won't >> sure >> provide a response, but the district will put together a response relative to the question 9250. >> That's just a yes or no answer because that is how as policy. Yeah. >> Can I just make one comment

275just and happy to hear these answers, but um if you're able to provide them ahead of the meeting, then at least we could hear the answers all together. You know, like now we're going to have to wait. You know what I mean? Like um you could ask them before like next time before the meeting so that they they're prepared with answers so that we could all hear the answers together. So if I mean this is future but >> sure sure yeah actually so is it possible to request that the board is provided and I would actually prefer this >> the information that is submitted um or answered as it relates to this is submitted to the entire board forformational um purposes until we come back to board to have a discussion. So um they can

276have the information necessary in order to make informed decisions. So I will read off the questions. Um so we already have the first one which is confirming that it's adopted in controlling policy for trustee health benefits and um the second question is can staff confirm board bylaw 9250 states verbatim the district shall pay $425 as reimbursement. No, this is related to what's >> No, I understand trusty books. I mean, the the board policy that's published on on the website is is what it is. So, I don't know that it's >> I need the confirmation because it's important for the record and it need to be done in open session. So I would like the information provided and then we can have a >> I have board policy 9250 open now. >> What you appear to

277be reading is directly from board policy which is available online. It was adopted in November of 2019. So that would be the time that it would be adopted. Um, and I I don't other than to say this is where it is and it's approved by the Sanato Foster City School District board. I can't go into any more detail than that. >> That's fine because it's just on it's just confirming what's on the >> It does say the district shall pay 425. >> It also and it also clarifies the district's opinion or their interpretation of what it says. So that's important. Um, so, um, I mean you can answer it now or you can answer it later, but the question is, uh, does the U board bylaw 9250 state the district shall pay $425 as a

278reimbursement for costs of approved health plans that have been paid by board members? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, does the district currently reimburse trustees $425 for cost of approved health plans paid by trustees? >> Yes or no? >> I I I won't respond to that in in the context of this meeting because I I'm not personally involved in reimbursements that take place to the board. And I think this is potentially something for us to reset and have a conversation about what what we are doing during this item and what this item is about to my based on my understanding of this item that isn't an appropriate question relative to this item. But >> I I would agree with that because you know is welcome to >> No, it's not listed. It's related to benefits is

279the wordenefit to health and welfare benefits. So that is that's part of the >> and I need clarification on this information. So it is relevant and it is allowable here. Um >> there's no I'm sorry to interrupt Trusty Brooks. There's no >> the word benefits a appears a few times but the entirety of the language has to do with >> ADA and the stipen. So I don't feel that it is within >> in my opinion I concur with what you're expressing. We appear to be >> having a discussion that the public wasn't aware we were going to have which is a Brown Act violation and I want to caution the board from continuing on on this particular discussion point because if we are going to discuss this and I wouldn't necessarily make an argument that

280it's appropriate to do so. I think the individual uh remuneration of each board member is but this is just my personal opinion. I would have to you know go through a different process to arrive at giving a recommendation to the board on on what to agendaize relative to these questions and this isn't what this item is about so we shouldn't be talking about it. So any item related to um benefits which are on the agenda tonight for discussion we have the right to ask questions answer them >> that's not the way that the item agenda item was written and so we are bound by what's on the agenda. No I understand that >> not to ask questions. I don't believe that this that the questions you are currently asking are within the scope of the

281item. And so I I think that we should actually if there is if you have other questions that are related directly to the written language of the item, we can ask those and have followup by staff. Um otherwise I don't believe that it's appropriate and I would just move forward with asking for public comment and discussion and or >> there's still questions related to benefits which is on the agenda that I would like to ask and open session so that they can be answered >> depending on the ex depending on the exact question. I I will determine whether I believe it's appropriate or not to continue with the disc discussion because as superintendent ooa explained we I do not want to engage in a discussion that would violate the brown act. >> Fine. So remember

282we have agreed to just read the questions and then staff will provide the question the answer to the questions. So, >> but if the questions do not relate to the the the agenda item as written, then I do have a problem with like directing staff to answer those questions. That's my that's my stance. >> Well, we do have um trustee benefits on here. So how do we how do we arrive? >> But not but as I said it's mentioned very briefly but it it it says this item provides a comprehensive review of trustee benefits and stipens but does not actually do so. >> Comprehensive. So comprehensive is what I'm actually asking questions to get clarification of. >> I disagree based on the language that was provided. You can disagree but it comprehens I am going

283to ask you to hold your questions for now on this item. Um you were welcome to send them to Superintendent OOA and myself um to determine whether they are are relevant to this specific board item. But I'm gonna I'm gonna move on to public comment at this time. They are because there the questions have been asked and I have answers in writing and I'm addressing what my agenda item is presented here this evening and it includes the information that has been presented to me. >> Trusty Brooks >> the questions that I've >> respectfully respectfully I am going to run this meeting in the way that I believe is in the best interest of the district. That's fine. I still have the question. Where are we now? >> I understand that for now we are going

284to hold and we are going to go to public comment if there is any and then we will go from there. >> Okay. So tell me on the record, what is your recommendation for clarifying how to give me the process and how to get clarification in an open session where we have all trustees where there's relevant information to all of us that are related to board laws, excuse me, uh bylaws, >> um ed code and uh statute and jurisdiction. How do we where what's the process in doing that? Because I followed the process for the last three years. >> I suggest that you email me and Superintendent OOA or we can have a meeting to review what the questions are to determine whether it is appropriate to have them in reviewed in open session at

285a later date. for now that the the current item that is on the agenda um I'm seeing these questions and comments going in a different direction than I believe is is appropriate and so I'm going to >> but these are clarifying questions. >> I understand but I've already made I've made my position clear and I don't want to go into it again. So I'm going to >> for the record how do we move I need a clear path. >> I've already explained that trust what that's going to entail. I would appreciate that. >> I've already explained >> actually you've been in >> trusty Brooks. I'm going to move on. Um, is there any public comment in the room? >> No. >> So, no clear way. >> Thank you. Um, Joe, can we look online for

286public comment, please? >> Yes. No public comments on Zoom. >> Okay. Thank you. Are there trustee comments? I have some comments and I'll I'll speak to this and kind of get to my point as best I can. Um I think I wasn't going to share this, but I think for transparency just because the question's been asked. I do not take the stipen. I don't take any benefit health benefits from the district because I don't need them. But I do want to say that I do think it's important to have qualified, diverse perspectives on this school board and I I believe in elections and I believe in getting as many qualified people on this board as possible. And one of my concerns has been if somebody is not running for election or applying for an open

287seat because they can't afford it, they can't afford to take time off of work. they can't afford child care to come to all the meetings, then I think that's a problem. And so I do believe that this is a topic we need to discuss. Um, you know, I think um I I mean I just I think I'm fortunate because I can be here whenever I need to. I have a job that allows me to be here, but there are so many voices that we're missing that maybe this compensation is a roadblock for some people. So, I I I I I'm grateful that the that the state has this increase allow allowed and I do want to make sure that we discuss it at some point. I also think um in my career, I've never been

288allowed to give myself a raise and and so I think like voting on this tonight wouldn't be appropriate because we're essentially giving ourselves a raise. We haven't given any like there hasn't been enough time to run this up and down the flag pole and make sure that the community is aware, make sure that all of our partners and unions have had a say in this. And then also thinking I mean um Lisa talked earlier tonight about just um staff increases that we've given and this is a big increase. um although not the dollar amount may not be huge, the increase is. And I think from um just being empathetic about what we've been able to offer our teachers and our our our certificated and classified staff and and administrative um administrators, I think we need

289to take that into account. But I in in in um not in theory, but like in practice, I do believe that this is something we need to pay attention to and really think about um and have conversations about. So, I don't think this is a um something to vote on tonight, but I do think it's something we need to talk about and discuss. >> Um I wanted to echo Trusty Proctor's um sentiments. I think for me um very similarly, I you know, and I've mentioned this before, but I would love to see more socioeconomic diversity on our board. Um so if you know raising a stipen would make you know a position like this financially possible for for someone um I think that's I would be very open to discussing. Um I was just kind

290of you know checking out numbers earlier like you know what I make how many hours we spend. I was like this wouldn't like the our stipen wouldn't even cover half of the cost of child care for the things that we do in one month. Um so I think that would be I think that's a discussion. Um, I think another, you know, comment I'd like to make is, you know, for me the timing of this item also, um, is a little bit not ideal. Um, I think, you know, we've been talking all night about trying to, you know, see if we can pass a bond. You know, we are just launching into negotiations with our employer groups. Um, you know, and our district and really all of California is really, um, we're hitting an an enrollment

291cliff. And so, you know, hearing and seeing the report that our voters are experiencing economic anxiety, right? They're softening on satisfaction on how well we're doing, the district is doing its job. I don't think this is the appropriate time to ask for a raise. Um, so if we were to bring this topic back, um, I would like to see it, um, be done many, many months later, um, after negotiations are settled. Um otherwise, you know, I think it's um a message to our really hardworking, certificated and classified staff that we're putting ourselves before them. >> Thank you for those comments and I actually would agree um with your um comments, both of trustes comments about timing. However, um just to um clarify the record, um it has been attempted to be brought to the board

292several times and has been ignored. So, just know that over the past 3 years, I've specifically requested the due process of the increase that could have taken place. Just like the other um certificated and classified employees who receive their increases each year, each year I brought it to be addressed and um uh and considered each year and it's been ignored. So, I understand now may be um a uh maybe not the best time because negotiations are happening, but so many has happened in between the time there's been requests and they've been ignored. And not to mention in the history of the board, um there hasn't been one increase, not one. So, it's always been >> right because the same level. >> Yeah. And that is because the state has not increased its limits for 40

293years. >> But there's bylaw that indicates that it can still happen and it's only an instep increase such as what is in place for unions and so forth. It's allowable. This is besides the new law that has just passed. >> Okay. So then I think we need to keep our comments specific to this item. Trusty Kim, do you have a comment? So I I have a few comments. I I do want to start by echoing I think what uh Trusty Proctor and Trusty Ho were trying to say and we actually have personal experience with this. Um when we had the vacancy in trustee area 3, uh several of us went out to the community, spoke with parents, spoke with community leaders, spoke with others who we thought would be exceptional representatives on this board and

294we kept hearing the same concerns not just about the stipen but about the heavy lift that being a schoolboard member or serving in this capacity requires and that it wasn't commiserate with I guess either the satisfaction or benefit that they would receive for it. And so part of the rationale for AB1 1390 when it was passed is that the role of schoolboard trustees has evolved significantly over the last several decades. But also there is a crisis across our state of being unable to recruit the types of individuals that we think would be amazing in this role. The types of perspectives, walks of life, the type of diverse viewpoints that we don't have just on our board but also a lot of school boards. It was created to address that crisis. And so I do think

295it makes sense to have this conversation at some point down the line, especially as we think about the future of a board. As Trusty Proctor stated, we have a board now where this may not be a material consideration, but in the future, we want to make sure the door remains open so that those who serve are compensated for the time to stay away. We believe it's important to compensate our teachers and staff and everyone else who works in public life and in our schools. Um, having said that, as I said at the start, I was very surprised to see this item on the agenda. Um, to come up the way that it did, to come up with very little context, to see the agenda item the way it was written. I appreciate now having more

296context about why it came through this way. We just had a meeting about governance. This strikes me as a concern. I think the fact that we were having a debate here that potentially might have violated the Brown Act and that we weren't able to end that immediately is very concerning for me especially again having just gone over governance. Um I agree with what the other trustees said. If we are going to have this conversation I do want to have it the right way with council with community input with enough time to actually engage on these types of points. I know CCSB and other organizations are rolling out their guidance as we speak and so to the extent that we can do this in a thoughtful and responsible way that's one consideration I would put out.

297So, I would suggest not just tableabling this item. I was also really struck by the tone of this particular agenda item and the accusatory language that is riddled throughout this. It is very unlike anything we put together. Again, the reason I asked about where this was sourced from is it doesn't seem like anything the council would draft unless they were inactive litigation against the board. And so, I'm I wouldn't even suggest we table this item. I would suggest we start over from the beginning and address this the way many of our neighboring districts have. And then lastly, that the point that I think Trusty Hill made on timing, this seems wildly out of touch with the conversation we've had all evening about the need for alignment, the need to go out to the public to

298be able to build on the trust that we've spent years cultivating with the public in terms of our stewardship, in terms of our priorities, in terms of our vision for the future of our district. This flies in the face of all those types of efforts that we've had. It didn't come from the board. It didn't come up in a responsible way. And again, all of us seem to share the view that people who serve in public life deserve to be compensated for their time. And frankly, none of us this the benefit the statement we receive now or even an increase would barely cover the cost of our time to be here tonight. It's that's not the point. The point is that we want to make sure the door remains open for others who serve in

299our positions. But everything about the way this was rolled out feels wildly out of touch with the kind of culture that we've tried to build as a district with the priorities that we publicly set forth. Um the fact that our Smeita president came to our meeting to specifically call out this agenda item the way that she did um is not how we would ever normally approach an issue like this. And so I'm just very troubled by that entire approach. I do have a motion that I want to suggest, but President Tren, I'd like you to share your comments first. >> I think everything that I would have said has already been shared. So, I'm happy to take a motion if you have one. >> My s my suggested motion would be that we not even

300table. I just I just dropped this item. I am open to having a discussion on AB390 and other related concerns. My suggestion to the board would be that that presentation and again not a vote just a presentation to get the conversation started should happen after November. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Okay. Motion passes for Is that >> No, I'm sorry. Sorry, I needed cl I was going to ask for clarification. You said the discussion until November >> discussion and any future vote I would recommend having after November of this year. >> Okay. Um >> also because it will impact our trustees who were in that position at that time and so I believe they should also have a voice whether it's current board or

301looks different from a current board. I don't believe it's appropriate to have this conversation before as we're trying to present a united front on our bond measure and have these conversations that are very sensitive. As we've heard repeatedly tonight, we are on the razor's edge of being able to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars that would benefit generations of our students for years to come. I don't believe we should jeopardize that trust or that effort with a conversation like this one at this time. >> So, how do we um do that? And this has been requested for several years. How do we take that into consideration? >> There's a motion and there have been four yeses, but is your >> I'm asking for your yes or no vote on this motion. >> Um I'm

302sorry. I'm going to I'm going to vote no on it just because it it should be prior to. >> So um >> I understood. So the motion passes 4 one. Um and we will now move on to board um item number nine, board member requests for future agenda items. Anyone have any Okay. Um >> agendise. I'll give you one second here because I do have an item that I want to agendize. Give me one second. Um, I would like to uh request um uh governance issue underlying the um looming matter that was tabled. Um, I wanted to clarify um in public that um this item uh was not a directction to staff but to come to the board for clarification of what um the directions would be in terms of deliverables and um uh timeline

303and um specific information related to uh what our expectations are in terms of this item that was tabled and still under uh board's uh jurisdiction to uh reagendize or excuse me to um keep controlling authority over the item to be um uh presented to staff in a direction that the board wanted to um present to the district for direction. >> Okay. Do we have any other requests? No. Okay, thank you. Um, future meeting dates. Oh, sorry, I skipped one. Um, board member statements. Do we have any board member statements? >> Um, even though he's not here today, um, I wanted to formally um, take a moment to congratulate Dr. Christian Rubukaba on his um, recent appointment as the new superintendent of the Redwood City School District last night. Um, you know, I know he'll listen

304to this, so I'll just say it. Um, it's been inspiring to watch Dr. Robukaba positively change the lives of our students and our families and our community. Um, we will miss him dearly. Um, but I'm excited to watch him change lives in Redwood City. >> I just want to share with the board about 20 foster city staff members, parents, colleagues of his went to their board meeting last night. Really, really sweet the whole scene there. So, you know, gave that feeling that, you know, this is a community and they're proud of him and they're happy for him and in a few years he'll have a bunch of white hair. >> He won't be the young, you know, energetic guy that you know, oh, how are you? >> But, uh, echoed and I just wanted you

305to know our district, you know, represented very well. Um I also wanted to um thank the principles, faculty and staff at Ottabon, Bayside, Burell, Samato Park, and Sunny um for hosting our schoolboard partner visitations earlier this week. Um this time I got to visit Samonteo Park. Um and so for people who haven't been there before, um just driving into Park, right, you're surrounded by these multi-million dollar homes. um the part of Sato that like borders Hillsboro and then when you know you get on your tour of Sato Park, you very quickly see that park is a title one school with with title one needs. And so for me it was really um jarring, right? Like one side of Clark Drive is like a $4 million mansion and the other side of Clark Drive is a

306school that maintains a food and clothing pantry for its students and its families. Um, the reason why I bring this, you know, up is because I was really struck by the stark contrast. Um, and it was really uncomfortable. Um, and I share this not to disparage, but really to highlight the truth of Sanonteo. Um, this is really a truth across the Bay Area and the truth of public education. Um, inequity feels uncomfortable because it is uncomfortable. Um, and it should continue making us feel uncomfortable until we've done everything we can to set our kids um on an educational path that so that the kids at Park can see the mansions, right, that they walk by every single day and know that it could be theirs in the future. >> Um, any other board member statements?

307>> Yeah, I have a few. Um, I also wanted to congratulate Dr. Rubaba. Um, I'm very proud of him. I hope that he gets to continue to go on vacations because I know that's something he loves to do, but it seems like he's probably gonna be busy, but hopefully balance. Yeah. Um, I always love hearing about his trips. Um, okay. So, I also wanted to um thank everyone at Sunny for having me. What day was that? Tuesday. Tuesday. Yeah, this is a weird week with the holiday. um just loved going into the classrooms and um you know every classroom we went to, whatever grade they were, they could be little kindergarteners, they could be fourth graders, whatever they were, everyone was so quiet and doing like doing their work and just like participating. And I

308have to share that um one of the classrooms we went into, they were doing like a cahoot um like I don't know trivia kind of game and they were answering the questions and I was like and then I realized none of them were making a sound. they were just like and then they do the next question. So, they were just so well behaved and I was just so proud of them for being um just so good. Um so, yay, thanks to that. And then um also wanted to thank the district. Uh I was I just love the videos on social media about the students talking about something good that happened at school. Um I shared it in our Foster City Together page cuz sometimes it's not always positive and I think everybody needed a nice

309little boost. So, everyone loved it. So, that was great. Um, so more of that, please. Um, love hearing directly from students. So, um, also wanted to, this may come as a shock to you all, but I am going to be judging a spelling bee tomorrow at Bowage Middle School. So, if anyone's available, >> that's a big one. >> I mean, this is middle school level. This is 2:30 Bowage tomorrow. Anyone who wants to come. And um lastly, on a more serious note, um just based on our last conversation, um it sounds to me like there's some concerns that are not being heard from Trusty Brooks. And I just want to make sure that there's that, you know, she feels supported and if there's something a conversation that needs to happen between President Trin and Trusty

310Brooks and Superintendent OOA that that happens and that we do allow each other to have space to talk about things that um concern us. We can't always talk publicly. Uh we can't always talk, right? Like we can't talk at all. So, um so, you know, just want to make sure that um you know, Trusty Brooks, that I support you and um whether or not we agree on topics is is is something completely different, but I do value your opinion, your perspective, and your voice. And um and just thank you for like being brave. >> Thank you. Um my comment is obviously congratulations to Dr. Rubakaba. I wish you well on your new journey and I want to thank you for all the work that you have done for our district. You have put a dent

311in this place and I want to say thank you. You have transformed the lives of many of our children for years to come and I wish you well on your new journey um in your new role. and I just want to say congratulations. Um, and I want to say thank you to the board for being here to listen and I appreciate your support. Um, and I just want to say that hopefully we can get to a place where we can have a conversation. It's been a request since I've been on the board to have a conversation with the board. So, I just want to say thank you all for the work that you do and the staff as well. Thank you. I have a few comments to get through, some of which will overlap with

312the comments my fellow trustees have made. Uh, first I wanted to thank the Bayside Academy team for hosting me on Tuesday. Um, as a Bayside parent, um, it's always just great to be able to go to my child's school to see how things are going there to be with the principal. I also wanted to congratulate Megan Merch, the new assistant principal of Bayside Elementary. We just voted on her earlier this evening. Um, Foster City Mayor Arasel is with us along with a lot of our community partners. And as I mentioned, the comments we kept getting is just so much respect and recognition of the the work that our teachers are doing to walk into these classrooms to see the kind of ways they're able to manage everything from middle schoolers to first graders getting them

313to be engaged. um the way the methods of our teaching have evolved over time. We just kept getting comments over and over from the folks in that room just amazed at the kind of quality training and ability of our teachers and just it's a great reminder of the incredible work they do every day that doesn't always you know end up in a recording or on a dis but is the most transformative work that we do here in our district. So again very grateful for that and a chance to see that personally. As another thank you to our teachers um I want to thank the California Teachers Association and the Golden Gate Service Center Council. Um they invited me to be a speaker at the Dennis Kelly Memorial Legislative uh breakfast that happened last weekend. I

314was honored to share stage with Attorney General Rob Bont, our Congressman Kevin Mullen, um, and a lot of other city and local leaders who were there to meet directly with our teachers and a lot of education leaders um, throughout the Bay Area to talk about a lot of challenges we're dealing with both on the local level, but also all the crises we're seeing at the federal level, the fear, the funding, and how all of that impacts our students and doing everything we can to continue to move our students education forward even in these very troubling times. And so I felt very empowered to be in a room with so many other educators and passionate public servants who are fighting to protect our children and the future of our children. Um I also want to join

315my fellow colleagues in congratulating Dr. Rubakaba. I will admit I send an angry text to a friend of mine on the Redwood City uh school board. Um but I I mentioned in that that they made the right choice. I mentioned that he has been transformative. I've praised him so many times in my comments from the DAS. have seen his dedication, his heart, his talent. Um, how much he's poured himself into every single role he's had in our district. They are very lucky to have him. At least he won't be far away. Um, and so I I told that trustee that he owes me lunch or something down the line, but that I am very confident they made the right choice. And I'm very excited to see what the future of Edward City School District looks

316like. Um, and also just a great testament to our district that several administrators have moved on to fill superintendent roles throughout the Bay Area. It just shows the kind of talent that we brought together as a superintendent commented about earlier and how we're providing that experience that training and you know sharing kind of our vision and being able to spread that out to other neighboring districts I think is a great testament to the work that we're doing here. I also wanted to congratulate our former Santo Foster city trustee uh who moved on to the board of supervisors and just made history as the first Latina president of the Santo County Board of Supervisors, our supervisor Noelia Cororso. I think Trusty Proctor, you were at her swearing in. Um, so just again a great example of

317the types of trustee that we have had a transformative impact on the board that we want to recruit in the future and doing what we can to, you know, get the next Newellia to come up through our ranks would be great. Um, and then two last comments. I think when the superintendent was speaking earlier about sustainability, I just want to point out my daughters have both volunteered for their green teams on their respective campuses. And I think not only does it address the issues we were talking about about sorting and food waste, but it's training our kids and our students to be stewards and to understand those policies. I get corrected many times at home. I'm ashamed to admit that that particular plastic can't be recycled. And so again, not part of our core curriculum,

318but just part of the transformative work we're doing here, empowering students to take on more of their responsibility, take that ownership, and to help guide not just the fellow students, but adults in terms of the proper way to move forward. And that makes me a little bit more optimistic about the future of our planet as a whole. And then lastly, um, echoing what Trusty Proctor said, you know, this is school board appreciation month. Obviously feels self- serving for me to point that out, but I have been working in different roles to recruit qualified candidates to run for public office for close to 20 years now, especially candidates with diverse backgrounds from communities that aren't typically represented on the dis. And again, not just for our board here, but for all those who watch this in

319the future, I just have a tremendous round of respect for those people who put themselves forward. And while we may disagree, I think for the most part, our board has been consistent in our vision, in our focus, putting our students first, putting our teachers front and center, doing everything we can to protect not just our schools, but public education as a whole. And so, I have a tremendous amount of respect and grace for all of us who choose to step into this role. Um and just honored to be a part of that cohort. >> Um yes. Um >> no I cannot top all of those things. So I will just say thank you to Burell that hosted u my partner or board partner visit. And then I've seen the Burell team like three times this

320week cuz I was also there as a parent um for Burell like the student info night which is I can't believe that I will have a middle schooler next year. But um it was really cool actually. Um there was a Sunny Bray student who spoke at our board meeting on community schools. I think her name is Moreni. Um, and she she spoke last night and she's only been learning English for 15 months. It was incredible. Like, she was so good. She was such a good speaker in both English and Spanish. And I think it was really inspiring for the kids to um to see her, especially our multilingual learner students to see her. and she did tell them to eat her their veggies. So, which I don't know if they're going to totally listen to

321that, but um anyway, I just um I just feel really grateful that um we have schools that lift up students and encourage them to to be like fulfill their biggest potential. And um yeah, I'm just really excited and I just love kind of getting to talk to students so much this week and hear from them and hear their experience and just see the level of energy and um excitement they have for their learning. So um yeah, and of course uh congratulations to Dr. Ribble Cabba and um we'll miss him very much, but he is needed and I can't wait to see what he does. So um thanks everyone. I will now move on to future meeting dates which are listed um math K through8 adoption on next February on the 12th and our regular board

322meeting on the 26th. Um public comments on closed session items. Do we have anyone not in the audience? Do we have anyone online, Joe? >> Nothing online, President Trin. >> Okay, thank you. U we will now recess to close session. Thank you. All in favor say I. I. I. Okay. The meeting is adjourned at 11:09. Thank you.