SMFCSD Regular Board Meeting - October 23, 2025

001They're straight. Good evening everyone. Um I'm Maggie Trren. I'm the vice president of the board filling in for Leta Brooks who is the president of the board. She's um online but I will be um running the meeting today. So I think um we're calling to the meeting to order at 5:41. I apologize everyone. The traffic was horrendous. Um and so I think we have a flag salute. That's the Do we have someone who's leading that from the audience? >> Students from heights. >> Oh, wonderful. >> If you guys can come up to the podium and lead, >> we weren't ready for the >> Do you want them all up here? The flag. I think we're al to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation

002under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Thank you, Meadow Heights. Um, we'll do a roll call. Trustee Poe >> here. Proctor >> here. >> Trusty Brooks >> here. >> Uh, I am here as well. Uh, Trusty Kim is on his >> I'm online as well. >> Oh, you're here. Okay. I Okay. So, we've got everyone. And can I get a motion for the approval of the agenda? Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Thanks, uh, Trustee Ho for the motion. Trusty Ricks for the Sorry. Yeah, for the second. All in favor say I. >> I. I. >> I. >> Okay. Moving on to item 3A. We have updates from employee groups. Um, SMFCA. Do we have anyone here for that? Guess not. So, um, we'll move on to CSEA. >> Hi, guys.

003How are you tonight? >> Good evening. >> Yeah. Good evening, trustees, superintendent, OshoA, executive staff, and guests. For those who may be attending for the first time tonight, my name is Brienne Bishop and I'm here on behalf of CSEA Chapter 411, which is the union serving the classified staff members of our district. Per usual, I am here on behalf of the CSEA chapter. However, President Aragon has uh asked me to read some very special u personal remarks. She's prepared uh to make note of very special retirement occurring uh this October 30th. Uh these are the words from President Aragon. Uh I do apologize. We do not have a CSEA update tonight. Instead, I'd like to take this time to publicly thank a person who is not only very special to me, but to the CSEA

004as a whole. That person is one of the district's confidential administrative assistants, Suzanne Ronzani. Suzanne has played a huge role in the relationship we have had with the district throughout the years, year after year. She has secured job placement for our members who were uh where there were potential layoffs and is the brain we pick when we need historical knowledge. She's the person I can make eye contact with from across the room and have her know exactly what I'm thinking because she may be thinking the same thing too. Uh, which may or may not be a good thing. Uh, Suzanne is the person who is excited to hear my good news and the person I can seek advice from when I need another perspective. I am going to miss you very much, Suzanne, and I

005wish you nothing but the best in your retirement. Go enjoy those grandb babies. So, one last time, CSCA would like to thank the wizard Ramanzani. And although that concludes the sentiments from President Aragon, I'd also like to convey my deepest thanks and gratitude for all of the hard work Suzanne has done over so many years uh to benefit our members while still advancing the needs and goals and protection of our school district. Um Suzanne, you leave behind very large shoes to fill. I will miss your great sense of humor that made all interactions a joy and I miss all the I will miss all of the delicious dishes you brought to all of our many publics. We admire your work ethic. We feel privileged to have worked with you and are thrilled for this new

006chapter uh where you no longer have to have a work ethic. Sleep in and we wish you all the best. Enjoy. Thank you. That's all I have for tonight. >> Thank you so much. Um I think should we circle back to SMFCA? Is that Are you >> Hi. >> Do you want to come up? >> Greetings uh Superintendent Achoa and distinguished school board members. Thank you so much for your time. My name is Dale Eers and I am the proud principal of Meadow Heights Elementary School. You know, this week we welcomed board visitations and we had an eclectic group with us. We had the superintendent and executive cabinet uh uh parent leaders and student leaders. And during that visit, we had the opportunity to talk about a lot of things. Um, one of the things

007we talked about was uh how libraries are sacred and we really want our library to match um with how wonderful our student body is and we're hoping that the the voters are with us. We also um we had a parent share her story about what it was like for her to be a multilingual learner in school and how she feels um so excited that her son is going to have a different experience at Meadow Heights. We celebrated our data of course because our CASP data was off the charts. We went up 3% in mathematics, 8% in literacy. We uh went up 19% according to CASP in Science and reduced chronic absenteeism by 4% last year. So, we're really excited about that. But as we ended our conversation, one of the student leaders um from Bowage

008Middle School said what really stuck with her was our full inclusion program. She said um when I was in elementary school, not all students were in the same class. And I really wish we had all students in the same class with us. And it made me realize how important student leaders are. And so tonight I invited some fourth grade student leaders to this meeting and they are going to lead you in a song. They are not here to perform for you. They are here to lead you in a song. And so this is the song that's probably unfamiliar to you, but the words will um I I have faith in Joe and the words are going to come up on the screen. And so as you get familiar with the song, I would like you

009to lean in and let these fourth graders lead you. Now, uh fourth graders, will you come on up? Yeah, you got it. We're going to have a semi and I'm going to have a semi here. I'm going to actually have closer to the microphone. Yeah, you got it. Closer. Closer. Closer. Closer. There you go. And then you guys are going to come closer. Perfect. All right. >> And the music should come. The lyrics should come here as well. >> You know them, don't We are all the many trials so different and unique bound together in strength and unity. >> We all make the mosaic of our unity and help the world to live in harmony. We must all do our share. Carry on what we learned here. We can teach our sisters and brothers to

010appreciate ourselves and others. Celebrate diversity. Feel free to be who you want to be. >> You can depend on me. Let's work to build community. We are all many trials so different and unique bound together in strength and unity. >> We all make the mosaic of our community and help the world to live in harmony. >> Teamwork and cooperation. Empathy and communication. Prejudice we won't tolerate. We shall not discriminate. Cate diversity. Feel free to be who you want to be. >> You can depend on me. Let's work to build community. We are all the many childs so different and unique. Now together in strength and unity we all make the mosaic of our community and help the world to live in harmony. >> Cate diversity. Feel free to be who you want to be. >>

011You can depend on me. Let's work to build community. Cate diversity. Feel free to be who you want to be. You can depend on me. Let's work to build community. We are all the many tiles so different and unique bound together and strength and unity to build community. We all make the moa of our community and help the world to live in harmony. work to build community. >> We are the many tiles so different and unique >> bound together in strength and unity. >> We all make the mosaic of our community and help the world to live in harmony. >> And help the world to live in harmony. song here. >> Thank you, Meadow Heights. Do we have an update from Smeita? >> I know like the pressure uh no song tonight maybe on another

012day. Uh good evening everyone. I am here tonight on behalf of the educators of SMIA. October has been a productive month in our classrooms. As we settle into the rhythm of fall, our teachers are deep into the work of assessing student progress and preparing report cards. I know that recent events and changing policies have created fear and anxiety in our community. Many families are wrestling with difficult questions and some may be wondering whether school is still a safe place for their children. Let's be clear. All students are welcome in our schools. Every child deserves to learn, to grow, and to feel safe within our walls. And we, as your children's teachers, are committed to protecting that right. Your children are our children. And we will do everything in our power to ensure they can focus

013on being exactly what they should be. Kids learning, playing, and dreaming about their futures. Now more than ever, we are living our district's vision to empower every student in every school every day to live, lead, and learn with integrity and joy. This vision means standing with one another, protecting every member of our community, and taking action to support our families. Our community is stronger because of its diversity. The different languages spoken in our hallways, the variety of traditions celebrated in our classrooms, the tapestry of cultures represented in our students. These are not just things we tolerate. They are things we celebrate. You belong here. Your children belong here. And our classrooms will continue to be a place where all are welcome. Thank you. >> Um I I know we have a lot of students and

014families here. So if >> you would like to leave, you're always welcome to stay, but if you would like to gracefully exit, you are welcome to do so at this time or anytime. I know where you live. >> Sorry. professional. >> There he is. How are you, buddy? >> Yeah. >> Okay, great. Perfect. Yeah. In the there's there's four speaking. >> Okay. >> Great. >> Do we have any foundation committee or PTA council reports online or in the audience? Joe, is there anyone online? >> I'm checking. No public comments on Zoom at this time. >> Check. Can you hear me? Thanks. Joe, sorry. Can we can't hear you. Can you let us know if there's anyone online for foundation committee or PTA council reports? >> Yes. Can can you hear me now? >> Oh, yes.

015Thank you. >> Okay. Sorry about that. Um, no public comments on Zoom at this time. >> Okay. Um, >> or no, um, PTA council. >> Okay. I'll just do a quick uh, recap, I guess, for the foundation is the meeting was just last night. So, um, we are moving um, we're in the middle of the fall camp annual campaign. Uh, this is the big um, fundraising push for the year. And so um for those of you who have not donated yet and would like to do so um please do so. And um we are also planning the 10th annual readathon. So that's coming up. And then also planning other events like the Harlem Wizards game which I think will be May 3rd. It's the um the first weekend of May. I think that's that's it

016mostly. Um, do any of the other trustees have anything to report from their committees? >> Yes, just wanted to report that the equity task force had our first meeting of the year last week and as part of the work that we're doing in addition to meeting our students and other participants and level setting um we are sending representatives of the task force to every other committee because as we always talk about in our district, equity runs through everything that we do and so strengthening those partnerships, having folks sit on those meetings and vice versa is a big part of what we're trying to move forward for this year. So, I want to thank Janette and the whole team for helping to set that up and we'll have more to report out as we move forward.

017>> Great. Thank you. Um, Trusty Ho or Trusty Proctor, Trusty Brooks, anything. >> Okay. Um, one moment. >> If we can circle back for SMA. >> Okay. Um we are going to circle back very quickly for um SMSA report. I think we're >> okay >> you guys are here. >> Okay. >> You guys want to come on up? particularly bad. >> I I spend a lot of time coaching um here in Foster City, AYSO soccer, and I do not uh miss those days of trying to get um from Highlands to Foster City and Los Praos and all those good things, especially right around 5:30. Well, good evening board of trustees, um Superintendent Choah, distinguished guests. Um it's a pleasure to be here tonight to talk about some of the highlights um and things going on

018at Abbott Middle School. Um as you are aware, our school has been on a on a somewhat new journey these past two plus years. And it is really exciting to see and be a part of a school focused on building on the many strengths of our school community while also kind of creating a new vision for our school focused on prioritizing a sense of belonging, student and adult collaboration, community building, and high expectations for all students. Given the nature of today's news in the Bay Area and the tension around uncertainty of immigration enforcement, it is more important than ever that our students and families understand our commitment to providing a safe and engaging and supportive environment for all our students. I would like to personally recognize and share my appreciation for the district's efforts and

019stance in these areas and really recognizing the clear roles our schools play in the relationship uh with our stu with our students and our students families. Abbott is committed to assuring our students feel welcomed, challenged to level up, which is our theme this year, and that they are directly engaged in establishing and creating our school's vision and our school's culture. help me share some of the highlights that make Abbott unique and special. I've asked four of our students to join me tonight to share just briefly their experience, their story, if you will. As our ultimate goal at Abbott is to make certain all students can be their whole selves at school and have opportunities to find their place and thrive and excel. Uh with that, I'm going to introduce uh Dan uh Dana Salazar Delid

020first and then we'll introduce the other four the other three. Hi, I'm Danette Salazar and I'm from I'm an eighth grader at Abbott Middle School. I'm currently in leadership and office state. I joined leadership to help staff and students feel more included given our diverse community. I saw how fun it was when I was a seventh grader and enjoyed the rallies and school spirits that they put together. In leadership, I like teamwork and coordinating events to help build community for our school like the fall festival that we have going on tomorrow. At the fall festival, I volunteer and help promote an inclusive community to build a welcoming fun event for students and family. Another event I like is web day where we welcome new students and families to avoid community before school starts to help

021them feel prepared ready for middle school. We are so proud of our school. >> Thank you. And I'd like to introduce now Sterling Bailey, a sixth grade, the only sixth grader in the group, courageous enough to be here. Hello, my name is Sterling Bailey. I'm a sixth grader. Uh, I was excited to come to Abbott Middle School after attending George Hall Elementary. However, I was a little bit nervous knowing how that was much bigger. Uh, I also think about it how I didn't know everybody and I was taking seven different classes. What helped me feel more comfortable was meeting other students and other seventh and eighth graders at Web Day. My teachers have also made equal sharing spaces where everyone is equal and important. One other strength of our school is our athletic program. I

022play on the sixth grade flag football team which has helped me meet new people and make new friendships. I've I'm really excited to be a part of Abbott Middle School and to represent our school for the flag football team. I look forward to a good year. Thank you. >> Genesis. >> Hi, my name is My name is Hennessy Naseras and I am a eighth grade student at Abbott Middle School. I was born in Honduras and I come to Abbott at six sixth grade. My mom encouraged me to get involved with empowered student voices so I can help other student who are learning English. I even participate in the recent schoolboard partner visit. Abbott has helped me in English learning especially Miss Killy who is here tonight. My goal is to My goal is to pass

023the EL pack and reclassify. I want to be bilingual in English and espanol. So, I'm taking the new Spanish language and culture class. Also, I'm still learning my myo is to use everything at learn at a to become an artist in a fashion. Thank you. Thank you, Genesis. And our last uh student, Marcos Rios, who's also our schoolside council president. >> Okay. >> Hi, my name is Marcus Rios. I'm in 8th grade and I thank the people who made this meeting happen for us to talk about our overall experience in middle school. And I have been involved with the school site council for 2 years now. And this is my first year being involved with another council known as empowering student voices. I sorry I got involved with those two councils because I wanted to

024speak for those who did not have a voice. Before I came at Abbid as a sixth grader, I heard that ABID was an unproductive learning environment and it had a lot of student conflict and learning wasn't as engagement as engaging. During my first day at Abbott, I saw that others had a hard time adjusting to the middle school lifestyle. For me, I had a hard time um knowing which class was which. And after a few after a certain amount of time, everyone got used to think how things run in middle school and students felt more belonging in class. Over time, from what I have observed in the middle school environment, it grew more productive and diverse. And for state testing scores, we went from a red to a yellow in a year, which which shows

025how much students value their education like others. Although we still have Although we still have growth to make, I continue to see our school striving to be better for all students, I feel like our school could improve on promoting mental health resources and communicating about them to other students. Thank you for having me. I'm Reios and good night. Let's give him a round of applause. As you can see, there is much to celebrate with our students. I've come to engage with these four students in very different realms and different really um kind of areas, but they represent some of the themes that we really have tried to build on. student leadership, the program uh support with our athletic program, supporting individual ambition, the value of and importance of multilingualism, and the desire to make an

026impact on others beyond just our own experience. These are the qualities that tie our dynamic and diverse student body together. Each individual student story and educational journey is unique, but our common experience must be clear, coordinated, and cohesive for all students to thrive. This ambition to meet all kids where they are at is also supported by an Abbott staff that is committed to working collectively and collaboratively as well as a classified staff that supports our every step. So, it's been a great start to the year. We're really grateful for the district's leadership. We're excited about the strategic plan and the direction we're going, but we have our own story to tell and we're very excited about that, too. So, thank you very much for this opportunity. Thank you to my students for navigating all the

027way over here to Foster City and for this opportunity to share a little bit about Abbott Middle School. Thank you. >> We are going to depart. I'm sorry. We're not going to share. We have our ELAC meeting tonight which is going on right now as well. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, moving on to see public statements related to non-aggenda topics. I believe we have a speaker Liam Vo. Hello, my name is um Liam Vo. Um I came from Bowage and I am a seventh grader. So, I came here to speak about um I wanted school to start later and not because I'm a lazy bum, but because um I've done some research and I've actually seen that um schools that start later and are less strict um they

028have higher grades, higher GPA because most likely because students are less um less tired in the morning. Like they're able to um wake up, eat breakfast, and they can like actually get ready for school instead of rushing. And in sixth grade, I've had a lot of experience with um complaints. Everyone was like, "Oh, I don't want to wake up so early." Because obviously nobody wants to wake up early. And like every day I come to school and I see like a pile of zombies just walking around and like you know it's not fun to have a pile of zombies in your school. So I'm thinking with later school start times we can boost the um attitude of students, boost grades and in general help all the schools. So thank you. Thank you. Do we have

029any other inerson comments? Joe, can we check online, please? >> Yes, it's checking. No public comments on Zoom at this time. >> Okay, thank you. I apologize that we cannot respond to the non-aggenda item at this time, but we thank you for bringing it to our attention. Um, I will move on to the next agenda item, which is announcements. Does anyone have announcements from the board? talk. Anyone trustee Brooks or Trusty Proctor? >> None from me. >> Okay. Um, superintendent report. >> Yes, I do have a first of all, thank you, Liam, for being here tonight. Um, I got a chance to talk to you briefly before the meeting. It was really fun to get to know you a little bit and I'll be in touch with you um after this meeting. Um but a

030big thank you um to both Abbott Middle School and Meadow Heights um elementary school. I think we forget how um how beautiful it is for kids to um be invited to learn a song and sing it together and really um you know from our vantage point here on the deis and watching the kids. You could just see how excited they were to to sing the song and uh you just imagine the times that they spent with their classmates learning it and and what that means for them. I thought the message was a particularly meaningful message given what's happened um in our region just in the last 24 hours. So I really want to thank Meadow Heights for that. And then uh the principal of Abbott didn't go into it in detail, but he and his

031team at Abbott have helped engineer a total, you know, like the uh every aspect of the school, the safety, the academics, the physical environment at the school. um the approach to diversity and and belonging. Um Abbott is a school on the rise and um I think we all know that. We can all see it. So, congratulations to the Abbott staff and to all the kids that go to Abbott. Keep pushing, keep um leading and we saw four leaders here tonight. Um, I did want to reserve most of my remarks for what the district did today, referencing um, immigration enforcement that's likely to start um, in the Bay Area in a more significant and more pronounced way. And so the team here at the district office that is prepared to respond to immigration enforcement, it really

032includes every administrator that's here at the district office. And so we convened a process where um executive directors and staff here at the district actually went out and spoke in person to every school principal today. Um we think it's important to have face-to-face contact because those principles play a really big role in sharing information with staff and in providing parents and partners with answers. Um and we want to make sure that our principles are really really clear on what the protocol um in dealing with immigration enforcement is and uh what parents can do to protect their families and what kids uh what message kids should be getting um from all of our employees and um we spent some time with our school office staff in those visits as well. Um our um afterchool program providers

033were all part of a meeting this afternoon. Uh that one is virtual because they're at the sites. Um but we went through the same protocols because as you know over 1500 kids are on our campuses every day from 3:00 to 6 p.m. And so we went through similar protocols with all of our afterchool providers. Um we also convened a meeting here at the district office of every staff person who has uh interaction with our with our public and with our community and we went over the protocols again and provided everybody with that update. We talked a lot about the importance of having all of our staff have answers that they could provide uh and trying to avoid a situation where one or more of our team members says, you know, I don't really know about

034this. I don't know what we're doing. We think uh the public getting referred to a website and to an email account and to um a phone number, it's really really important. Um and we also are very fortunate to be in a part of California where we have Sanonteo County taking a real leadership role. Um a press conference was held today at the county office in Redwood City, specifically naming the rapid response hotline that has been set up affirming that in our county none of our county services or uh finances or staff can be associated in assisting immigration enforcement. um and and that makes it a really uh important safety net for all of our families. So um when we engage in our work um as leaders and as educators, we know the sense of safety

035and the sense of belonging, that's always going to be the most the most pressing priority. But right now is also just a time to provide information to families that need it and to route um the many many uh community partners our way so that um when we do this work we do it as part of a coordinated um response and and I really feel that that's in place now. Um the other sort of component is the kind of leadership that we're seeing u from our teachers. I think uh Lisa's remarks tonight um really um don't leave any room for interpretation in terms of how our our educators who are over 600 teachers in our classrooms um who are with our students every single day and what message they're sending um to our students and to

036their families. It's it's basically everything we could hope for. Um, so I think we we have an example in this room, but also in our community that um we're really going to rely on all of us being a part of the solution. Um, and I think as we move forward, we really want the community to know to know that um, in terms of how our our management functions, um, we anticipate daily meetings, check-ins, uh, if and when we see uh, ICE enforcement. We have a very strong system to communicate across the district to be in contact with our county office, with our police departments, with our rapid response lines. Um and we know that um when these incidents take place um our parents can rely on us for clear um up-to-date information uh and and

037always um holding their rights and our responsibility to provide them um the education that they deserve um on a daily basis at all of our 22 sites. So thank you. Um, thank you, Superintendent Oshoa. Um, next item is the proposed consent agenda. Does anyone want to pull any items from the consent agenda? Trusty Proctor or Trusty Brooks? >> No, thanks. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, does anyone from the audience either in person or online want to pull anything? Joe, do we have any? >> No. Raise hands on Zoom at this time. >> Okay. Um, all right, then. Can I get a motion? Item four. >> Uh, motion to approve the proposed consent agenda. >> Second. Uh, thank you, Trustee Ho, for the motion. Trusty Kim for the second. All in favor say I. >>

038I. I. >> I. >> Do we hear? >> I said, >> okay, great. Great. Thank you. Um, we will move on to four. Wait, sorry. I think that was it. That was it. Um, five. Item five. A >> report on school construction. >> Good evening, board of trustees and superintendent OOA. My name is Amy Rufo. I'm the executive director of facilities and construction for the school district and I am happy to share an update with you all on how our construction is going. Okay, this is our fall update. Come on. One second. It's not advancing. Let me try one more time. Okay. Present. I think you're >> I'm at the very end. Thank you for catching that. Here we go. >> Okay, we're in the process of spending both our Measure X and Measure T

039bonds. Um we are almost complete with measure X with 94% spent and with measure T um over halfway with um at 68% spent down. Over the summer, we completed the College Park and Fiesta Gardens campus um moves. That was quite a feat at the Fiesta Gardens new campus in North Central. Um the foundations have been poured and actually we now have some walls starting to be stand um stood up there. At measure uh with measure T, we had our third issuance which was $und00 million which was sold in the end of June. During our fall break, we moved into 18 classrooms uh at Baldich Middle School. We will then be opening the library and counseling um buildings shortly after the new year. And then the brand new gym will be opening this spring. Um restroom

040renovations. Um, we're doing quite a feat of of renovating all our restrooms throughout the district. And our first phase is under construction when we have new bathrooms opened at Abbott um at and at Barisford and starting construction at Burell. Here is a nice drone shot of the new academic corps at Faich. So the room, the buildings here in the foreground, these three are the buildings we moved into. um just a few weeks ago. And then the gym here in the background. Some photos again of the gym. And then looking uh down um our main pathway here with the library on our right and the new counseling building on our left, which we'll be able to use just after the first of the year. Fiesta Gardens North. um well north but the new campus but we

041we called it that when we started construction here. This site actually used to be used by the water district and so we had about 20 structures that we weren't quite sure if they were there or not. Um and we found about 18 of them. So since this used to be uh we had to remove these concrete structures before we could get started. Um so those have all been removed and filled and um soil added. And here's the foundation of the classroom wing being poured. Um, and now today, if you drive down Humble, you'll see walls, uh, in the air. Park side, uh, the multi-purpose room is almost complete. Uh, here's a exterior and interior shot. Um, and this will be our our sixth building, our sixth and final NPR that we're building with both measure

042X and measure T funds. Metal Heights. This was our uh fifth multi-purpose room that we opened. Um this was able to open earlier this year and already hosted u many events. Uh but this has been able to transform a very slope site and be able to give a a nice level um playground for the students to use. our turf and paving projects. Um, now we've been moving more towards um the paving aspect, but here at Bearsford, we did not think we could able we were be able to fit a field in um this site because it is on the smaller side, but we've been able to add in a field um replace the material under the playground equipment and um transform um their quad into a nice um place for them to gather and do

043some um outdoor learning. restrooms. Um, not always the most exciting thing to look at, but we're really proud of how we've been able to transform our restrooms that needed a lot of attention into a nice and modern place for our students to use. Project-based learning. Um, at Barisford and Lead, we've been able to uh purchase and install some new furniture. Um we're still um tweaking the things in the classroom with feedback from the teachers, but this is a pilot program um that began um this year, but the furniture arrived during our fall break. Um here are financial reports um with measure X um and measure T. Be happy to take any any questions. Um, we actually just filed our our tax returns um so we can get that $4.3 million there um or the um

044from the federal government, the facility master plan, and that's really what um I've been working on for the last few months. And so we just finished meeting um at all the school sites holding facility master plan meetings. Um, we have a Google survey that's ending tomorrow and as of this afternoon, 483 people have completed the survey. Right now, our estimate of need is just over $1 billion. But as we continue to get more input from school sites and we refine and review the scope, um, that continues to rise, but I estimate having a new estimate by the end of next week. Um our goal is to bring that facility's master plan to you um in December. Um and at that point um the board would then be able to review that master plan and decide

045if um they would like to go or you would like to go forward um with the bond next year. And here's a reminder of where we are in the process. This was something we brought to you um in June looking at a road map of um what are the steps um once we complete a master plan and what it would take um to put a new general obligation bond on the June uh 2026 ballot. All right, uh that concludes the presentation and let me know if you have any questions. Um, Trusty Bxer, Trusty Proctor, do you have any questions? >> Um, I had one question. I was wondering if you could go back to the slide on measure X. It looked like there was maybe $5 million or something that was unallocated. What's the plan

046for that? Sure. Let me go. Um so for for that amount um the plan would be to keep it in um fund 40. So we are showing using in that overall calculation of 16 million of fund 40. So, as we receive more developer fees and um any additional funds, we're spending the most restrictive funds first and then we would be able to save a balance in fund 40. >> Can you explain what fund 40 means? Like what is fund? >> See Patrick, do you mind taking that question? >> That's just our it's a those funds. Um I'm looking for Allison at the DS. um fund 40 is just a capital reserve and that's been accumulated over time uh from different sources and I think Amy what you're saying too is um uh you know how

047those funds were spent on um projects and um so as we're completing them not all those funds were required out of fund 40. So, this is a residual. It's not really you're putting bond dollars back into in into fund 40, but you're just it's an accounting of the funds that were needed from fund 40 to complete the projects. Is that accurate, Amy? What am I saying? >> That That's correct. And we actually just received um about 1.5 million in more developer fees. So, we'll be bringing a developer fee um update soon just to show how much we've received. So that will be being spent on the Fiatista Gardens expansion and then be able to return um some of the fund for money back to that account. Our goal was always to see if we could

048keep um save that for more for a rainy day and use um our more restrictive funds um like the the bond funds and developer fees um up front. >> Okay. Thank you. Trusty Brooks, did you have any questions? >> Okay, I'm not hearing anything. >> No, I'm sorry. I was trying to get to my mute button. Thank you. But no, >> that's okay. Thank you so much. Um I um uh I had a quick question about the uh the meetings that you've been having with the school sites. I'm wondering if you know you obviously have a list of things that you know we as a district have have gone through and noted as needs at the school sites, but I'm wondering if you're seeing any um anything any new ideas or interesting survey feedback for

049or you know input from the meetings that you weren't expecting or that um that we might I don't know that might um be interesting to us. >> Sure. The I actually heard a few times about more all-inclusive playgrounds. So, we've been able to um help the preschool program install an all-inclusive playground at Turbull um with some grant money and really to see how that's transformed their their playyard for children with all different abilities to use that um and just to see how and even the new play equipment there really is like three, five, multiple ways to to play on it. The kids aren't getting as bored as fast. So, um, playground surfacing was on our radar and our playground equipment really has more years of life on it, but just to see and especially looking

050at schools where we have, um, more um, special day classes um, and looking at especially where we have children in wheelchairs um, really looking at developing some new playground equipment. >> Great. Thank you. Do we have any public comment in the audience? >> Joe, can we Are there any raised hands online? >> Sorry, Joe. Are there any raised hands online? >> Checking. No raised hands at the moment. >> Okay, great. I think this is just for us to review. Um, thank you very much. Uh, we Oh. Oh, sorry. Comments. Yeah, go ahead. >> Actually, Amy, I did have one quick, I guess, comment or question, but I with the survey results, it's great to hear that we had almost 500 results come in. I know I've heard directly from some parents and I've directed them

051to surveys as well. One thing that I would be curious to see as we move forward, I guess, on our timeline is specifically, I guess, which sites we're hearing results from. My concern would be that we know there are certain sites that have very active, very engaged parent populations that may be more vocal about their concerns related to the facilities and others where I'd be I would want to make sure that we've gotten that input um and have to be proactive about reaching out to folks if that's the case. So, that's one thing I wanted to flag. But beyond that, I just wanted to say as the photos and everything here demonstrates, as everyone here in the room knows, it's been really great to go side by side to do the ribbon cutings, to see

052the new classrooms about it, to see the students moved in right away. um all the multi-purpose rooms, the playgrounds, everything. I think we just, you know, want to really thank you and your team and all of our partners for the incredible work that they've done to really transform a lot of our campuses. And even as we look ahead to the needs that are still outstanding, it's just incredible to see how far they've come, even just in the many years that I've been a parent in the district and now a trustee. Um just really phenomenal to see these transformations and again excited to see what comes forward with this plan and how we can plan for the next 5 10 years ahead. Sorry. Any comments from Trusty Brooks or Trusty Proctor? >> Um, I had a

053co Oh, go ahead. Trust President Brooks, do you want to go? >> Yes. Thank you. Um, my apologies for not being there this evening. I'm uh battling a really um bad cold right now or flu. Um, but I wanted to say the photos that you shared tonight, Amy, um, are very promising. Um, this to see the furniture that the kids can be, um, comfortable, um, uh, learning and, uh, having what they need to be able to be in a very comfortable environment. And, um, again, visiting these uh, sites and looking at the new development. Um I have to echo with um what uh Trusty Kim uh regarding the the different sites uh just are it's very promising and it's very rewarding to see the results of um what the work we're doing here. Thank you.

054>> Um I also wanted to just thank you um Amy for this presentation and again for all of the work that's been done in our district over the years. Um just looking at the different campuses and like the beautiful how beautiful they look, it just um really makes me wish I was in school again. Um I will say for first of all um I went to for my school site visit or whatever we're calling it now nowadays. Um I went to Barisford and so I know last meeting we had um a comment about the gardens and being removed there and I just want to say that the outdoor space for students to sit out there and learn is beautiful. I know it takes up the space that the gardens were in before. Um, but we

055saw kids outside reading, engaging with each other. Um, we even talked to them and asked like, "Why are you out here? What do you do out here?" And they just said they really like to get some like a little bit more space, some fresh air. This helps them stay focused. And so, um, I think that improvement is I mean, it's amazing to see the kids just like living it. And I know um that school will find another place for gardens. I just know it. So I'm not worried about that. But also going to Bowage and seeing um what a transformation has been made there was also just remarkable. And I think um I'm really excited for the community to see that school. I know the students I mean they it looks like a college campus.

056I can't like I can't um express that enough. Um definitely looks like a middle school that I'd like to be at. I know middle school is a rough time, but that place looks fun and um engaging and really beautiful. So, I can't wait to see the rest of the work that gets done. Um I hope that all of the neighbors of these schools that maybe were inconvenience during some of this um construction sees what a um what a beauty these these campuses are in the communities and um how they're going to be hubs for um community gatherings and and just really um a place for for everyone to enjoy. So, thank you for all of the work. I know that this is um it's not easy, but it looks beautiful. >> Yeah. Thank you, Amy.

057Um to you and everyone on your team. Everything looks great and I've just been really impressed um at all the sites that that we've seen just going from a pile of dirt to this. So, um, it's really, you know, it takes time and, um, and a lot of effort, but we really appreciate everything that you and your team do to make this happen. >> Well, thank you all for the kind words, and I'll let my team know, but this is what we love to do, to see it go from a sketch on paper to see it built. So, we'll continue bringing these projects to you. Thank you. >> Great. Um, next things we have a human resources report. Okay. Oh, sorry. Um, before we do that, can you do a five minute break? >> Five

058minute break. >> Sorry, Joe. Um, we're going to do a five minute break and we'll be back. >> Okay. Okay, thank you. Okay, you're on. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> All right. Are we ready? Okay. Good evening, Superintendent AOA, board members, and the public. Um, tonight I'm going to give a human resources update on our certificated staff hiring for the 202526 school year. Let's see here. I can get here we go. Next slide. Before I give you information about our hiring, I wanted to ground us in our why. And our recruitment and hiring is driven by our strategic plan so that our students receive a high-quality education in a safe and in supportive environment and so that we can hire a team of strong effective educators who bring varied cultural and linguistic experiences to their work

059for our students. So, we had uh several key strategies for our hiring this year and those include a concerted effort to hire early, prioritizing our community schools, our dual language immersion schools, our Montasauri schools, and our special education department. We continued our partnership with our universities and credential programs. And right now we have 24 student teachers that are currently in our schools throughout our district. And operationally we supported our principles and hiring managers with access to Ed Join which is our online job board and application system. And we also supported our hiring managers with hiring panels. On this slide here, there's uh some data of the last four years of the certificated hiring trends. And these are non-management positions and certificated positions. And you'll see each year um there's less and less amount of certificated

060hires and the reason being is our declining enrollment and also due to our retention rate. So this year we were very proud to welcome 55 new certificated hires and they are in our classrooms as teachers. There are social workers, school psychologists and teachers on special assignment. And the schools that we have about 18 schools where our new teachers are located. And this uh slide here shows you all the different schools where our teachers are at. So recruitment and hiring is half of the equation. The other half is employee retention. So what do we do in order to retain our um certificated staff? And a few of those strategies are our district induction program partnering our brand new teachers with a mentor to support them when they're new to teaching. the support they receive at the

061school sites from their teachers uh their colleagues. We have TOSAs teachers on special assignment that are able to go in the classrooms and they can demonstrate best practices and support the teachers with implementation. We have ongoing professional development throughout the school year. We offer competitive salaries. We have our community partnerships and we also offer an opportunity for growth. Many of our current administrators were teachers in this district and I I really want to emphasize that a successful hiring season is a collaboration and a partnership between our district office staff, our enrollment department, our administrators and human resources. And because we work so closely together um with our communication and our planning, we're able to have a very successful hiring season this year. >> And Stephanie, if I can if I can chime in there. >>

062Yeah. Um, I really want to, um, call out yourself and and John Cosmos and your team because one of the more kind of behind the scenes but really complex um, steps that has to take place in order to have a really strong hiring plan is you have to understand enrollment trends. And those enrollment trends have to relate to the kind of school that uh is shifting and changing. And we can use schools like Fiesta Gardens where we're adding grades. You can use a school uh that is growing uh in the lower grades or has more kids entering in TK and kindergarten. And those enrollment trends are evident to us in about January. But you also have to have really strong systems to communicate with current staff because we have many staff members who request a

063transfer from school A to school B. And you have to do it in a way that's fair to everyone involved. So you have to collect information, organize the information, decide on the information, execute it, all while watching new teacher applications come in. So, I just want to point out how that has improved and what that has meant in terms of teachers staying with us and in terms of our staff having that that really strong continuity. Um because while we went through a process of hiring about 100 people every single year and it was even before the pandemic >> what has slowed down all the way is the number of teachers who leave after a couple of years and we know that when we survey our teachers who stay they tell us I have a strong

064principal I get fast responses from the district office I'm happy with the school I'm at and and all of those things factor into having um what are often behind the scenes workflows that the enrollment department and the human resources department and then many districts they have people in Patrick's position and Blanca's position who just say no to everything and what happens is we have Patrick and Blanca they say they start to say no but then they say okay let's look at the numbers because there is they're always in a risk mitigation uh state of mind and they trust our numbers because they know that each of the last 5 years we've gotten better and better and better and I think this this group of 55 I really also just want to convey you've been looking

065at their pictures actually every picture in this uh PowerPoint is one of our new teachers but these people are some of the best new teachers in the field because we hire early. We're able to interview everybody and select from among a pretty strong group of people and um and it's really all because of Stephanie and and John and the whole team, their leadership and the whole team working towards this goal. >> Thank you. That concludes the HR update uh for certificated hires. I'll turn it back to the board for any comments or questions. >> Thanks. Does anyone have questions? Thank you so much for the presentation, Stephanie. Um, first I wanted to say that, um, in talking to a couple of the, you know, middle school principles and teachers, um, I learned from them that

066it's extra hard to retain our middle school teachers because oftent times they can just move over to one of the local high schools, which is, you know, within the same kind of areas and make more. But we're seeing really good retention numbers, you know, because the teachers been saying like, well, we feel happy and supported and safe. And so, you know, kind of what uh Superintendent Oo was saying earlier about, you know, having a strong principal. They're happy at the school and we're really seeing that. And so, I I wanted to first commend our, you know, district's retention efforts. Um I think when it comes to salary and living in the Bay Area, um to be able to retain, you know, highquality teachers, especially in the middle school, um is a feat in of itself.

067So, first wanted to recognize that. Um I also wanted to ask um you had mentioned um in an earlier slide about you know student teachers and the partnerships with different universities. Super glad and super supportive that we have these university partnerships. Um I'm just curious you know do we have like a sense of percentage of like how many of these student teachers actually become full-time employees with us or you know I just kind of wanted to get a sense. >> Yeah. This year three of the student teachers that were in our schools are now contracted with our district. So, they joined our district. And the nice thing about that is you have principles that are able to visit their classrooms and build a relationship with them and encourage them to apply and hopefully join our

068district. >> Thank you. >> Uh thank you for the presentation, Stephanie, and really great to kind of see the numbers and how things are trending. And obviously, we hear behind the scenes as trustees just how much the operation has improved, how we've been able to get ahead of things. And so really appreciate the very thoughtful approach you and your team have had here. I did have two questions. So one, um, love the employee retention slide. I know especially having gone to induction ceremony last year, um, seeing a lot of the work that we've done to really improve that and I think to the superintendent's point about improving culture and how that's been a major factor, I think is all something very impressive. I was trying to get a sense of if we have any other

069factors that we kind of still need to work on in terms of addressing our attrition rate. I know sometimes, you know, folks prefer leave for all sorts of reasons completely unrelated to what's happening here in the district. But if there are others, whether it's, you know, something out of our control like the cost of living or something within our control, if there's other pieces that we can try to focus on, I guess for the next year or two as priorities for you would be my first question. And then my second in terms of bringing folks in, um, a lingering concern we've heard from folks, especially parents and others, is that when you're dealing with dual immersion programs, Montasuri programs, FED, um, gate programs and others, whether or not every teacher has, you know, 100% of

070the credentials that we would want in that position. And again, this is beyond just our school district. Every school district is struggling to meet that benchmark. But wondering how much closer we are to hitting that mark and what are the major barriers we're seeing. For example, we know there are certain areas we do have a lot of shortages or certain teachers just aren't trained for the specific types of programs that we offer, but how we plan to close those gaps looking ahead. >> So, I can address the second question. In terms of the immersion programs, they need to have what we call a B-clad, a credential so that they are authorized to teach in a bilingual program. And so, the teachers that we hire do have a B-clad. Um and in terms of the Monttoauri,

071if a teacher doesn't come with Montasauri training, we provide that training with them. And so that's an agreement um that we have with a new hire if they need the Montasauri training. >> Does that answer your question? >> It it does. And again, I say this also as a a gate student parent, there have been concerns that the teachers we've had previously have been mid-credential or haven't necessarily been certified for that particular program. And I understand that's a softer certification than what we're talking about with some of our other programs. But that's one question that I just something I'm putting forward not sending you to answer today. Um and then if you can answer the other one as well. >> Okay. Could you repeat the first question please? >> Uh the first question was specifically

072if there's any other factors that we're aware of that are still contributing to attrition that may be a priority to address. I think a lot of the issues that we knew about say 5 years ago, three years ago, we prioritized and in many ways we made tremendous progress. I wanted to see if there were any others that weren't called out on slides that still exist that we wanted to for you or the superintendent. >> Yeah, I there's nothing that comes to mind immediately. Um well, housing help mention we're getting help from the audience here. >> What's that from the audience? We're getting help from the audience. Housing cost of living, right? It's very expensive to live in the area and I think our district is addressing that with our um housing initiative. And I I

073also think we need to be frank with the public and frank with the school board about the fact that for several years right wrapped around the pandemic our middle schools were in crisis. We had all we had the right intention, but we had the wrong plan that first year with mental health support services and with leadership uh you know implementation of of the plans that we had for our schools. And um you know this team and and really the system that supports our middle schools did everything we could but we were basically putting band-aids on our middle schools. I think it was Stephanie, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we hired one new teacher at Abbott this year. >> That's correct. And Abbott has 30 teachers. And on an average between 2016 and

0742023, we hired eight certificated staff for that school. And we all know Abbott's like in having a moment, right? They're doing really, really well. But frankly, so is Burell and so is Bowage and so is Bayside. And when we thought about how to transform our middle school campuses, we said, "We need those restorative practitioners. We need the counseling supports, but we also need academic programs that get the kids excited, and we need to make facilities improvements, and those things have all lined up. What hasn't changed is the unaffordability of housing in San Monteo. And so, you know, we've talked on other agenda items what that could mean for our district. Um but that still remains the number one driver for people leaving the district. Yeah. >> Um do is that um Trusty Brooks, do you

075have any questions? I think Okay, not hearing anything. Um, I don't think I have any questions. Thank you so much. Um, do we have any in-person comments or Joe, can you check for raised hands online? >> Yes, checking. No raised hands at the moment. >> Okay. Do we have any comments other than what's been shared? No. Okay. Thank you so much for your presentation. Um, next we will go to the approval of proposed name change for Lead Elementary School to Cottage Grove. >> Oh, wait. Sorry. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I totally Sorry. >> Yeah, >> I was not looking at the right number. >> Um, sorry. Okay, we will go to review and discussion of student wellness. Thank you. >> Great. Uh, thank you board, superintendent, and public. Um, it is my great honor uh

076to present our next uh speaker, our executive director of student services, Dr. Maret uh Edia, who will provide an update on student wellness. And what a great segue to our attrition conversation right before because this hopefully will give you another window into our success with attrition. >> Good evening, uh, board of trustees, superintendent. My name is, uh, Dr. Margaret Teredia. I'm executive director for student services and tonight I will share a student wellness update. Tonight's agenda is we're going to review our goals for this year, attendance and what we're doing um to support. We're going to look at some data really think again continue our uh updates on restorative justice uh curriculum curriculum partnerships and professional development. Again, uh school culture is a strong system that we're supporting for all of our students and the

077practice of building those connections with our uh families, our staff so that they can thrive. We really want to hear student voices and creating opportunities uh to hear them not just at board meetings but hear them in their schools, in the hallways, and bring their initiatives forward. attendance. We really know uh we've looked at the data and we know that students thrive when they're at school. So really paying some attention to attendance and then continuing our restorative practices. Uh here's a little bit of attendance uh data that we have. So again we are looking at 23 24 and 24 25 data. it. We're looking at reasons why uh students did not miss and we're we're holding fairly closely from one year to the the last year. And if you look at kids who are missing

078one day versus let me just move this here. Sorry. Okay. Did I did I just move I am just having a little bit of a Okay. So just uh our data um pieces here. Oh, hold on one second. There we go. Um so looking at the fifth grade, sixth grade, uh fourth grade, and third grade just uh students data is pretty close to to last year. We do see a little bit of a a dip with our third graders um and fourth graders, but it's not substantial. Here we're looking at middle schools and again holding with our data looks very similar but we are again seeing a trend with seventh and eighth graders dipping slightly actually fifth graders quite a bit there. And then uh why do students uh why has it impacted the attendance?

079So a lot of what we're seeing from the uh California dashboard is that it is illness that students are reporting they're not feeling well. Um so we have issues with you know whether it's dental whether it's medical and then we do see that some students are not getting enough sleep and we did hear a student talk about that. So, there's some some data that supports that as well, as well as students feeling um anxious or or angry. Here's something we really want to celebrate, which is we're looking at our uh student uh attendance, and we're in the 90s. If you look at all of our schools, like I mean, this is really something to celebrate. Uh we're looking at last year's data and this year's data and where where we are currently. Um so just

080given some of the political u anxiety that families might be feeling, we've been holding and creating welcoming school environments for our students. And so we are uh way above uh averages in in the state uh with our attendance here. Here's a little bit of a a dip into chronic absenteeism and um some of our percentages. Again, we took a look at last year 24 25 data and students who are chronically absent and who are they? So, some of our English learners last year 24% uh 22.44% 44% and then students with disabilities at 23.44. I think what's um actually really encouraging is to look at this year. Uh we're seeing currently that we're doing something a little different because we're having our students with disabilities at 17 uh 45% English learners uh and special ed. So

081we are improving in all those areas which is really really great. If you look at this sidebar here of our Native American Pacific Islanders, uh 24 25 data was at 55% uh with some chronic absenteeism to uh 28 right now. That's uh a lot of progress and we want to continue to see that progress. One of uh the initiatives that we have is really reframing chronic absenteeism to chronic presentism. So really changing the the language and how our staff talk about it and what they do. Um we do have uh initiatives throughout all of our campuses which are like who are the attendance champions and what do they do? So, it's really looking at educational equity, talking about how and why students want to come to school consistently and how and what they need. And

082it's building those relationships with caring adults that are positive that engage them in school. And that's the message that we're working with our staff to build those relationships. And it's all about relationships. Uh so really having students talk about it and staff make an effort uh to identify students that might be struggling with attendance and to create a relationship with them so that we're all holding our students as a community. And again the theme that we started and we uh for our professional development was shifting again the language from absenteeism to presentism. having a positive message for our students instead of what are you doing? Why aren't you here? Really thinking about what are students doing that gets them here and and what can we do to celebrate them when they get here. Again, the

083how. So, having um strategic data teams that look at the trends. Uh we're we're doing that uh monthly looking at what are the data trends, who are the students, but then who are your focal students uh that staff are actually pulling under their wing. School culture creating a strong positive message, but also incentives celebrating that kids come here um and u having them choose how they can be celebrated. Data analysis is something that we have to again ongoing uh and then expanding our tier one, tier two and tier three uh services as well as what are the restorative practices that we can do that connect with students feeling safe so that they can be with us here at school. >> School climate is a big factor, right? So we're doing well. We're doing above um

084national average. So with kids feeling connected, these are our students by the way and um you know academic motivation really the caring relationships that they're building but also meaningful participation. Uh we've done some student voice pieces and we had a huge turnout with our students and they're sharing what they want and what they would like to see in their schools but also the perceived school safety. So how do they feel about school? And of course, we also heard some of our students talk about wellness and what does that mean? We also have lower than um uh average national trends on harassment and then kind of mean room rumors and just um students that complain about chronic sadness. Um here is just uh looking at social emotional elementary. We're we're doing really well as far as

085how students are feeling connected and the growth mindset. We're if you can 75 uh% with uh third graders, 78 fourth graders, and 83. And again, this is a a target that we're always looking to increase and how do students feel and how they're working to solve those problems. Middle school again we're with growth mindset again we're in the high 70s for the sixth graders and again middle school is a hard time but we're we're doing fairly well when we look at 71% and 73% for students and then just overall goals it's 87 81 and 81. So again, we we should be celebrating all of this. Our restorative work, we're in our third year. Um we're continuing. We have to be intentional. Uh again, the restorative work that we're doing isn't just here's a, you know,

086a training. It's every day being mindful. uh embracing the practices and then uh continuing to retach and and keep them alive so that students feel it. We have trained folks from our classified staff uh to our you know all of our certificated staff, admin and just continuing to bring new uh hires in with the training and expanding our growth with our implementation teams. just one testimonial just again it's you know our restorative justice chos they help them resolve conflict and they help them to feel uh understood and I think that that's just such a great uh message and it's so empowering that students can can share how grateful they are to be able to have someone to guide them with this um difficult work that's lifelong for them in solving these problems new curriculum that

087we've uh rolled out this year for our social emotional learning is Wayfinder. One of the reasons we uh decided to move into this curriculum is that it is more aligned with middle school um uh core values, but also there is a financial literacy and digital um citizenship that is also part of this and uh students and staff are receiving this uh very well uh utilizing it during advisory and counselors are also pushing in to support this curriculum. uh student services community partners uh so really um connecting with their communities. we've uh supported and led know your right presentations um know uh your rights safety plan workshop which was so um moving and I know some of you attended these uh presentations in these workshops as well as we were really honored to have uh for

088Hispanic Heritage Month to have uh Eduardo Chavez the grandson of Cesar Chavez come in and share with our students and he also shared a documentary on um migrant workers and and the legacy that they have in and the contribution. So, that was really great. Future partnerships that we're going to continue is just parent education, uh wellness events, and of course, we're always working with threat assessments with our our staff and administrators. Our last professional development um was really uh wellreceived. 93.5 uh% of staff reported that they had uh positive feelings towards the restorative work. And we also did a community partner um collaboration with Samaritan House and just like trying to expand the reach of our resources within our community that are not just for our families but also for our staff. And of course,

089we're supporting and guiding the immigrant and um newcomer uh trainings and supports that that are needed, especially during uh the political uh climate that we're currently currently uh in. So that's what I have right now. So uh at this time, I welcome any comments or questions. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh yes, I just had a few quick questions to follow up on. So I did want to ask specifically on the reasons for absences. Um I know obviously illness is the most commonly cited reason. I I don't recall, do we require any documentation? Do you cite that as a reason? >> Yeah. So, if a student is ill, right, and they're out three days, they do need to come in and and bring us a medical slip. Yeah, we do ask for that so that

090we can support the student with homework. And then we can also identify students that are just not attending and might need other wraparound services. >> Got it. Is that the case even if they're only absent for one day? >> Yeah, we still ask. Yeah. I think I'm hearing some mixed feelings from the DAS. Do we not >> say maybe I mean I'm not sure >> it's for extended >> extended >> only for extended. Well, so the reason I ask, and again, there's no way to dig into the data for this information, is because I imagine for a lot of parents, they're not going to go into a lot of details, and they might just say illness as a quick resort because they don't want to site mental health or fear of what's happening in the

091current world as a particular reason that they would say to the school in terms of why they're not attending. So, I was curious if there's any way just based on documentation or lack thereof for us to kind of parse that, but just wanted to flag that issue. And then I did want to ask on some of the I believe it's slide eight the chronic absentee. >> Can I respond to that first comment please Kim? So one of the pieces that uh we are doing with our CSS with our counselors with our admin is really we want to build those relationships with families and we are hearing from families and part of our workshops that they're calling and they're saying I'm not feeling safe. So you know what can you do? Uh and you some of

092you were at those meetings and they're like can you guarantee that you know we'll be safe. We're going to do everything we can but we also want them to feel safe and if that's a reason we are we are talking with staff like we're going to accommodate those families that will be considered an absence um per you know California ed code but we will be working and supporting our families so that every family and every student feels safe in a time that does not feel safe for many of our our uh community. a second. Yeah. >> No, no, I hugely appreciate that comment. Obviously, we saw that in person at Know Your Rights Training and elsewhere. Um, I guess I still do have concerns that that hasn't reached every member of our community despite, I

093think, a very proactive effort that we've done across the board, even working with media and other partners to really get that message out there. But just understanding for a lot of busy parents, this might still be a gap. Um, but yeah, 100% I've seen that firsthand just how much work our district staff, leadership, sites, teachers, everyone have put in to really drive that message home. Um, but also just again as someone who grew up with immigrant parents, they never really said the reason we missed school. They just said they're sick and whatever that reason might have been. And so the only reason I flagged that particular issue, I don't know if there's more comment before I move on. >> Okay. Um, on slide eight for the chronic absenteeism rates and I guess I think on

094one of the later slides as well, are we just comparing the data we have in the fall to a full year set? Are we comparing to I guess the equivalent months from last year? >> No, we're we're just comparing the fall data. Yes. >> So fall to fall. >> Yes. Yes. >> On that slide because I believe I think it was a later slide. >> No, no, I take that back. Uh, trustee, this is year data versus um >> All data. Yes. >> Got it. Okay. I just wanted to clarify that as I'm looking at it. So, over time we'll get a clear sense of how we're stacking up against the prior years. >> Um, and then I did want to ask, >> you mentioned that the Wayfinder program has a I believe it was

095digital citizenship component to it. Can you elaborate on that because that is an issue that I've raised previously and so I'm just curious to see what that covers and what it I guess isn't included as part of that. >> I can u certainly come back and give you more details on that or you know maybe for the wellness but one of the reasons we selected it is it it actually aligns with the high school um with digital citizenship and also with the financial literacy components. Uh so Wayfinder actually started as a high school um uh social emotional learning and so that's why we just thought it actually is going to prepare our students to really understand that. So there's there's a lot of um rich uh lessons within that uh curriculum and I can certainly

096bring you know a list of that um and give you more of an idea of what it is. That would be great and also good to just hear the strategic alignment with the high schools. Yes. So that we know that it will kind of feed into what they're getting at later stage as well. >> I think that's all from my end. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any comments from our trustees online? Okay. Um maybe not in person comments. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Not questions. Sorry. Oh, did we do Yeah. Did we I think we have to do we did questions that we're doing public comment and then we'll do comments. Yeah. Um Joe, is are there any raised hands online? >> No raised hands online. >> Okay. Um any comments? Um Dr. Hardy, I just

097want to say thank you so much for the presentation. Um, I also wanted to, um, you know, recognize on slide 8, I really appreciate that you, um, broke down how how you broke down the chronic absenteeism rates. Um, I really, you know, I think it shows me and hopefully shows people who are looking at this that the A&HPI community is not a monolith. Um and so I really appreciated that breakdown um for you know our community members to understand that um yeah the community is not a monolith and that um needs and uh needs look different in our different communities. So thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any comments from our online trustees? No, I think we're we're good. Um, thank you so much, Dr. Hardia Peltz. And we will now move on to um

098the superintendent services section. >> All right, this is >> Thank you, Dr. Eda. Uh, this is fun. This is our third review of the proposed name change um from Lead Elementary School to Cottage Grove Elementary School. Um as discussed at our prior two schoolboard meetings, let me just jump to it here. Um the board received uh two presentations from staff recommending the name change to Cottage Grove Elementary uh reflecting strong community input. um identifying and recognizing that the school recently became a community school itself and it actually aligns with the Cottage Grove neighborhood. Uh students and staff um having participated in the process through surveys, classroom voting and parent engagement um indicated a preference for this name change. And uh during our last two presentations to the board, we did have um remarks from our

099school principal um and also just a a pretty rich conversation amongst all of us about where this is coming from and the need for it and uh and the desire for it. And so with that, we do have our principal available to answer any questions if the board had any questions. um but um to take it back to the board for discussion and um administration does recommend approval of the name change from Lead Elementary School to Cottage Grove Elementary School in 2026 2027 questions. Okay. Um any questions for our trustees online? No in person comments. J, can we check for online raised hands? >> Yes, checking. No raised hands at the moment. >> Okay. Um, any comments? >> Any comments? Do you have a comments? >> I just have a quick comment. Um, I had

100received some feedback prior to this meeting um, from a parent who I guess questioned the rationale for the name change. And I know in prior meetings I've raised questions about it as well. But I did want to say that I'm I'm very much 100% in favor of this name change. And I think I really drove home to community members that I've spoken to that unlike other districts which I think have received rightful criticism for focusing on brand and not on substance. The story behind LEA lead and soon to be Cottage Grove is the polar opposite and we've all seen that firsthand. The fact that from the ground up, especially with Principal Deah Hunt, but also the whole team on site, the district leadership and everyone else, the way that we've invested so much into really

101transforming everything about that, but also bringing the community in to be part of that conversation. This is a very different situation than I think others that have been high-profile, have been criticized um in media and elsewhere. And that's a point that I made to the folks that I've spoken with. And so this is something that I'm very in favor of our board approving. Um appreciate all of the background, all the outreach, all of the work that's gone into this process, how it's really been bottom up in terms of how it's been driven. This is not something coming down from the district, but something that's really coming up from our site, from our parents, from our students. And so really just amazing to see how this process has moved forward and would urge our board to

102vote in favor. >> Okay. Um any further comments from trustees? Okay. Well, I will take a motion at this time. >> Motion to approve the proposed name change for Lead Elementary School to Cottage Grove Elementary School. >> Second. Um, thank you Trusty Ho for the motion. Trusty Hume for the second. All in favor say I. I. >> I. >> Okay, great. Next item is the third the monthly update on community strategic plan process. >> All right, this is fun for me. Joe, if you can assist me and have the presentation uh put up for the public and for the board and and for our in-person audience as well. Um big update for the board tonight and for the community um relative to the community strategic plan process. Um right off the bat, the photographs, the

103text, the uh content is showing the richness of the attendance at our meeting. Uh the photograph on the agenda page um is is uh I think it was principal Rogers who said um we had or maybe it was Amy Amy Rufo actually who said we opened up Meadow Heights and we had lots of meetings there and she didn't say they were all on the same day when we had the ribbon cutting, the student meeting and the community meeting. Um but a really really big group of folks came out landing on some shared goals between the district and the Bayad fund. Those being developing a community vision, uh putting together a community strategic plan, creating down the line uh a scorecard or a way to measure our progress towards the strategic plan, and then implementing and

104following through on instructional projects that align with um the direction that we want to take the school district. On the next slide, there's a um basically a couple of banners that run AC across the screen. And what you're going to notice from there is it's we're at the very beginning, folks. So, that's um that feels a little bit daunting, but it's also very reassuring to know that we have time to put this process in place. Um right now is part of the visioning process and we're going to talk about what those events have been. um the kickoff events which I mentioned in my earlier remarks, the development of the vision design team and then the implementation of the community vision survey. So if we can jump two slides ahead and get to our admin launch

105in August of 2025. Some of our uh board members were actually present for the admin launch. So thank you for those that were able to make it. Um but during that time we devoted uh 50% of uh the space to discuss and push ourselves to think about the the community strategic plan and what our uh leaders um identified as what we would aspire for our students in the future. um this short list um that we ultimately arrived at. Our schools would be pretty amazing places if we thought about how to build change makers about community builders. Just think about that one like concept like not just I'm part of a community but I want to build a community. If you listen to our teenagers here tonight, that's that's what's sort of already starting to percolate

106among our teenagers. And uh one of the the outputs from the admin launch was that every school principal actually developed their own uh student council um at every single school in the district, which we're really really proud of. And um for those of you on executive cabinet and for any trustee who has spoken to a principal about that specifically this year, our our folks are really inspired by that. Um and I think they're probably to some extent wondering why it took this long or reflecting on oh I wish I had done this last year type of thing. Um because of the richness of the feedback you get from kids. On the next slide, we talk about the student visioning process. And the student visioning process um their their remarks and their engagement was really special

107because we brought together kids from so many different schools. We had um all of our middle school serving uh campuses represented and what they really wanted us to hear from them is for us to plan for and be systemic about inclusivity. um for us to prioritize mental health and um to think about how to connect their education with their future so that school doesn't just seem like an endless stream of assignments and quizzes and tests. I think it was one of our ESV students who said it would be really nice if I didn't have five tests all on the same day at some point here in the future. Um, and I think when we got them into these groups to build their vision for the future, what we saw was kids designing classrooms where they're

108allowed to make choices and where they're challenged to express their opinions and to make decisions. Um, and that's certainly um a strategy and and a potential pathway for us moving down the line. On the next slide, um we we do a summary of what the vision design team offers to the district. Um we met in here for our first meeting um uh earlier this month. Uh the vision design team is composed of close altogether close to about 20 staff members and the team has about 40 um on the team. So when you factor in the 25 students and parents and the four community partners, you know, you're looking at a very very diverse group of of folks who don't all work for the school district. And that's very different from our last strategic plan where

109we had 30 staff members and two community members that were present. Um so what we're we're seeing even from our very initial um engagement with the vision design team is a um a non-hierarchical very flat um uh culture among the group where uh myself and uh Kenetta Cook who's our executive director of middle schools and uh Pam Bartfield who's our executive Ive, director of of elementary schools uh curriculum and instruction where where the folks with the hierarchical positions don't take up all the time and aren't cued to speak on everything where we do a lot more listening than we have in the past. Um, and we really like that part of the change because it's it's delivering on something our families and and staff have asked for, which is if you're going to engage us,

110we really want you to listen to us. We don't want to go to meetings where we just get talked at. Um, in that vein, we put out a community survey and we've had uh over,300 respondents. We're still accepting uh survey responses. That's on the next slide. And um we we uh because we're working with the Bayad fund which has a different funding model from the district uh they wanted to do a prize for the school that had the highest percentage of respondents and the winner was Turbo. they had the the greatest number of parent responses, which is kind of cool actually if you think about, you know, and that that's actually somewhat kind of typical in that like when their kids are just joining school, they're like paying they haven't got beat down by all

111the emails, but uh they, you know, they're what is it? They got an espresso. It was some sort of coffee related thing for the office. So, they're very happy. And then all the other schools say, "Oh, that's not fair. they're not a K6 or, you know, they're not they're not an elementary school. Um, but they also have the highest percentage of of Spanish speaking parents, which we thought was a real fun component of it. And then all the kids that responded. Um, what it's led to is um an idea that came through the vision design team and and certainly kids have talked to us about which is what does the future of school look like? And it's the imagine school campaign. So, what we're doing is we're taking a group of about 40 kids to

112Design Tech High School, which is just over in the other side of town, and we're taking them to Parkside Monastery um as our first two visits. In a few weeks, we'll take some of those students and some new students to um schools in Certino and schools across the Bay. um not necessarily to suggest or to argue that those schools are the type of instructional programs we should adopt, but more so to challenge the students to see something being done differently. Because one of the greatest impediments to transformation is our own schema around the way things work. You see things, we go, it has to be this way. It's been this way. So when you think about middle schoolers, they're kind of like experts in public school. They started in preschool and you know we put

113four walls and put a bunch of furniture in there and we just keep it going year after year. Um so we're really excited to take the kids to these two schools where they'll be challenged to see education happening in a different way. And then we have our our colleagues from the Bayad Fund assisting with a student um debrief and facilitation process and it's all related to this idea of the imagine school campaign. Um there is going to be a really fun essay and potentially art contest related to Imagine School. Uh we want to get kids thinking about the future of their educational programs and designing for it and um writing about it and thinking about it. Um, and that will actually be announced to our students. Um, and they'll be invited to submit um, their

114entries between the months of December and the second week in January. Um, and and we actually plan to use that content with our vision design team. Um, but before that happens, um, we have a working group meeting on December 10th. Um, if you recall the first working group meeting that was held at Meadow Heights and we had close to 200 in attendance. So, part of what our community strategic plan is built on is we talked about a number of 10,000 touch points. When we add it all up, we want to have 10,000 in-person visitors, visits to school sites, survey responses. The ED fund, the Bay ad fund and the new teacher project are holding um focus group meetings right now. I think they started last week. They're happening all over the district. They're coordinating with

115with uh stakeholders like teachers, staff members, students, parents, and they're sitting in these, you know, to some extent kind of small settings with 8 to 12 people. And they're just saying, "Tell us about your school. Tell us about your dreams. Tell us what you think is working, what what is missing." Um, and we want that to all add up to 10,000. So, the visioning working group that comes and and meets um on December 10th is going to be challenged and invited to take a look at the work that the vision design team because remember they're two different groups. The VDT is is 40 uh members and the visioning working group. It can be probably actually even more than 200 and we anticipate somewhere closer to 300. Uh, and then when we get that group together,

116we open up the conversation, we give updates about where we're at, and then their feedback actually gets routed back into the vision design team to really deliver on that on that promise that when we call meetings and when we invite you, we utilize your feedback in this process. Um, so similar to last month and the the month before that, tonight's presentation is really an opportunity to provide transparency to our educators, to our families, to our larger community to give them a window into a very complex process that we um believe in and that we think is going to be um highly related to the transformation that um will lead this district into the future. starting in August of 2027. So, with that, I'll pass it back over to the board for any questions or comments.

117>> Any questions from online trustees? No. Uh, in person comment. Um Joe, can you check for raised hands online? >> Yes, checking. There are no raised hands. >> Okay. Um any comments from trustees? >> Um first want to say thank you superintendent Choa for the presentation. Um I really, you know, when I saw slide six, you know, what we aspire for our students. Um I I loved it. It made me almost like emotional as I was reading each bullet point. You know, it's what every parent wants for their kid, what every teacher wants for their students. Um, and it's something that the world so desperately needs today. Um, so it was very, um, yeah, it was just so inspirational and, um, and really, you know, I've said this before, but I really appreciate how, you

118know, every step of this community strategic plan is just done with intention, um, thoughtfulness. I love even just like the little details like, hey, like dinner and child care is provided, right? When we say that we want every voice in the room, it's so important to make sure that we're removing these barriers, right? so that every family from every background can attend and their voices be heard. And so, um, yeah, just am so supportive of this. I just want to echo Trusty Ho's comments and I think um Vice President Tren and I had the opportunity to attend one of the kickoffs, I believe the administrative one, but at that kickoff we still saw this handwritten notes that students had written as part of their visioning series and seeing them talking about leveraging AI, talking about

119challenging themselves and the level of thoughtfulness again that I could have never done at that age. But to see the the kind of comments that they came through and the kind of ownership they took over the process and many of the students return for the evening session um to speak in person about a lot of those pieces. Just seeing our community members and our parents come through all of our principles there. So many of our teachers and students themselves all very actively engaging in this process of shaping what the future of our district might look like. It just again just a tremendous inspiring example of everything that's going right in our district and just very excited to see what comes forward and always grateful to our district leadership the Bayet fund and all of our

120partners for making something like this possible. >> Um any comments from our online trustees? No. Um thank you. Yeah, thank you for the presentation. Um there was so I was at the um Ed Foundation meeting last night and one of the one of the members of the Ed Foundation raised this idea of also um you know um it's great that we have 10,000 touch points, right? And I think, you know, we had um some of our middle schoolers here who who step up to um who step up to the plate in terms of wanting to be leaders and putting themselves out there and and taking initiative. And what one of the the Ed Foundation members or the people in the meeting was was also reminding us was, you know, we those are like front of

121the class kids, right? And we we should also check in and make sure that we are taking feedback from the back of the class kids and the middle of the class kids, right? And um just really all of all of the kids who, you know, maybe even more so the the kids who have feedback um for how things could be better and how we can make it um a better learning environment and a better um place for all of our students. Not just the ones who um put their hands up for student council or um empowering student voices, but those who might be a little checked out and like might need to might us need us to hear from them about what we can do better cuz you know we I think as school leaders

122um we have a lot of us have always loved school or we've always like been you know excited to like, you know, go to Staples and get our notebooks and binders for the year. Um, and like pick out our mechanical pencils and all that. So, um, and so I think, you know, not everyone's like that. And I just want to make sure that we are, um, talking to kids from like all different backgrounds, all different mindsets, and all different um, kind of orientations towards school. And I'm thinking back to our visit to MadTech, I think it was, and and how a lot of the kids who were there and really thrive at MADTE are like at their comprehensive middle school aren't, you know, they they aren't doing as well and and they don't find it

123as engaging and they don't um, you know, they're not as happy. And so let's talk to like all of the kids, right? And and see what we're missing. Yeah. >> Yeah. Let me um chime in. I went with UDMAT Tech. And as much as I left inspired by what I saw there, I did feel badly about the fact that kids go back to a school that isn't responsive to their needs. >> Yeah. >> So they've solved the problem 50%. Right. they're like super engaged, but the principal and staff at MAD Tech says this kid gets in a lot of trouble back at their school because they're disengaged and because they're not the the school isn't meeting their needs. >> So, taking the good from it and thinking about how to turn that into a system

124that works for all students. Um, one of the first things that we did years ago, um, and Tatiana facilitated this process was we picked 10 families from North Central Sonteo and, um, I took them to dinner and just said, I just I've never met you, but I'm new here, and so, let's just have this conversation. And many of those 10 families I remain in close contact with because we met multiple times over the course of my first year. me just wanting to hear from somebody who wasn't a PTA president or wasn't on the ed foundation or wasn't on the equity task force and their feedback was invaluable. So actually this year I met with 12 students from Abbott Middle School kind of almost in the identical way where I provided Tatiana and others with lists

125of numbers and said call these families and say hey would you ever go to dinner with the superintendent and find out uh what he has to say. Um and so we have another meeting. So essentially we'll be meeting every nine weeks with these students really aimed at getting to that question of how can I have a student who isn't an associated student body leader join this process. And so we have um similar groups that we're forming at Bayside Burell and Bowic. Um and the way we did it was actually using attendance data. We we looked specifically for kids who missed 5 days or more of school as a way to open up access because as you know >> the kids who have volunteered and raised their hands for the VDT and the vision working group,

126we send that email to everyone in the district. So like arguably every single kid has access, but we know some kids who may be having a not ideal experience might not raise their hand. Um, and then you know when you bring together a group of 12 kids who don't know each other and aren't really sure how it all came together, they actually form a a cohort themselves of saying, "Oh, I had that same experience cuz we talk about their their school experience." Um, and one of the one of the goals we have is to be able to pull a handful of kids from each of those small um, cohorts at our middle schools and get them looped into the visioning working group focus groups and really bring them together and elevate their voices as well

127so that we can um, I think it was actually Trustee Proctor a couple years ago who asked a very similar question relative to um, the empowering student voices and I I don't know if you picked up on it but one of our students in ESV V is a student who said I came to Abbott in sixth grade and I came from Honduras but she's on ESV and it's uh to some extent related to the type of questions that Trusty Proctor asked two years ago and the type of questions you're asking now because as you as a governance team >> your um your interest your curiosity your um your focus is always going to have a relative impact on how the administration thinks about shaping and how we can make course corrections. Um so thank you

128for pointing that out because it it for us it it's absolutely a priority to not have voices that are all the most highly involved um student voices. >> Thank you. Other comments then we will move on to the uh board policy and administrative regulation updates. >> The last uh time we reviewed this was 60 days ago and I was all nervous and I was all flustered. But tonight we actually have an expert here. Uh she's legal counsel with Atkinson Anderson Lawyer RDE and Roma. Her name is Jacqueline Hang. I'm going to pass it over to Stephanie for any remarks that you have or just pass it on uh to Jackie. But I think we're just Oh, there you are, Jackie. Hi, Jackie. >> Hi. >> But Stephanie, I want to give you a chance to

129make any remarks you'd like and then pass it over to Jackie. >> Good evening. So, um, our HR department has been working closely, um, with Jackie so that we can provide, um, our what we call our red line or our draft, um, board policies and administrative regulations. And then we also have a final draft. And Jackie is here this evening to talk through what some of those redline documents are to explain process and also to answer any questions you may have regarding the board policies and the administrative regulations. >> All right. Well, thank you Stephanie. Um and good evening board trustees, uh superintendent ooa. My name is Jackie Hang, legal counsel for the district. And um before I start my presentation, I just want to take this opportunity to say um I did get a

130chance to meet Trustee Kim and Trusty Hoe at a really wonderful community event a few weeks ago. And so it's really nice to um see you both again here today. Um as Stephanie shared, I'm here today to um share the process by which district staff and legal counsel work together to review and update the district's board policies and administrative regulations. Um, the board agenda includes both the draft versions with all the proposed revisions as well as a clean copy of all the policies. Um, and I'd like to briefly walk you through some of those proposed revisions to those board policies and administrative regulations. So to help clarify some of the I guess beautiful mess if we if we call it that um to see that that you see in these draft versions. You will notice

131that the drafts include language in striketh through black font and that reflects language that district staff eliminated consistent with the updates made by CSBA in its June revise. Um, the red font reflects language that district staff added, also consistent with CSBA updates. And finally, the yellow highlights reflect revisions made by me, legal counsel that are not only consistent with the CSBA updates, but also includes recommendations based on updates in the law during the 2024 legislative session. Um, as well as a few other general best practices. And so before I turn it back to the board for any questions and comments, I want to address a couple concerns or requests that were shared by this board during the August meeting when these policy revisions were first introduced. Specifically, I believe it was Trustee Hoe who shared

132a concern about confidentiality language being removed um from administrative regulation uh 5145.7, which is a sexual harassment policy for for students. And um I want to thank Trusty Hoe for raising that very important concern. And I know the district staff will agree with me when I say that it is very critical that the district maintains confidentiality in these particular matters. Um and ensures that the that the complainants are are provided with a safe and supportive educational environment while they're going through this process of investigating and resolving um these uh these complaints. So while that confidentiality language was removed from AR 5145.7, it is reflected in other related policies um specifically the uniform complaint procedure which is your board policy 1312.3. And the rationale for for putting that language in the UCP is that when sexual

133harassment allegations involving students do not meet the threshold requirement for Title 9 to apply, those allegations are redirected to the uniform complaint procedure, meaning that the district will investigate and resolve those allegations under that specific complaint procedure. Similarly, non-title 9 sexual harassment complaints between employees are redirected to the process set forth in board policy and administrative regulation 4030, which is your non-discrimination in employment uh policy. And so, while that policy is not uh up for review at this time, I did confirm that the confidentiality language is present in there um as well. And so, uh, this process is, of course, consistent with the federal Title 9 regulations as well as other state laws, um, regarding complaints of unlawful, uh, discrimination. So, um, uh, I I I wanted to make sure to address that point, Trustee

134Hoe, um, because I agree with you that that confidentiality provision is reflected in the district's policies and and it surely is in the complaint procedures um that that are um, on your website. Lastly, uh revisions were also made to address trustee Kim's request to adjust some of the mandatory language to discretionary uh language where it is appropriate. And so for example, if you look at board policy 7310, um which is your your naming of facilities policy, some of the shall lang verbiage has been removed and modified to provide the district uh or to provide the board with its discretionary authority related to the naming of district schools and other facilities. Um so those were the kind of the the primary concerns and requests that I wanted to address from the August meeting. And so with

135that, I will turn it back to the board um for any comments and questions, >> questions, questions. Uh thank you so much for the explanation and the work going through these and really appreciate reflecting the comments that we made in our prior review. Um especially with board policy 7310. I did want to ask one question on board policy 1260 which relates to the Ed Foundation. One of the lines that was added says student director information may be released when appropriate. That just struck me as a little vague um in terms of process or approval and in terms of what would be required. I wasn't sure if there's some other language that you might suggest there whether it's with the consent of the superintendent following our policies and procedures or some other piece but I guess

136when appropriate struck me as very ambiguous. >> Yes. Um, thank you for that question, Trusty Kim. Um, student directory information is um is specifically outlined in the district's uh policies related to pupil records. And so directory information which is generally um names, the school that the student attended, uh the dates that the student attended um the the school that is not considered under FURPA laws um that is not considered confidential pupil information. instead that is kind of the general information that FURPA refers to and the education code refers to as directory information. And so so long as um the parent does not opt out of sharing that discret that that directory information um by law it is acceptable for the for the district to to disclose that type of information. And so the language that

137I believe you know when appropriate it is really dependent on whether or not the the parent has opted out of of of sharing uh directory information. Otherwise all other um confidential people information is of course maintained confidentiality or confidentially and only released um by law such as you know if there's a court order or subpoena or something of that nature. >> Got it. That's super helpful. Um, I don't know if it would make sense to then I guess put parental consent in place of the when appropriate or I guess if they had opted out, but that explanation definitely does help. I wasn't sure if director information in this context referred to contact information or anything else is protected, but with that explanation, I think it makes more sense. >> Any questions from online trustees? No.

138Okay. I don't think I have any questions. Um >> if I could if I could add uh as a process um to one of the things that's that I think is a really strong practice of the board is that we um follow a multiple meeting sort of threshold. So, the nice thing for tonight is we've posted these publicly. We've had this discussion. We've been able to ask questions. Um, I was impressed by um, Jackie's the thoroughess of her explanation as to how to interpret and how to read those draft policies. But in reality, we have 30 days and we're going to come back in 30 days and we might find something over that uh stretch of time that that makes us say, let's look a little bit more closely at at XYZ um policy and

139then um with the board's direction, we would bring this back to your regular November meeting for appro for a recommendation of approval and then actually starting in uh December, the team will get the second batch of policies and we'll do this all over again January to March and we'll just basically repeat that process each time. Um and then ultimately it's it's as with any board policy it's always at the board's discretion. >> Thank you for that clarification. Um sorry. Uh okay. So let's I guess inerson comment. No. Um Joe, can you check for raised hands? >> Yes, checking. There are no raised hands. >> Okay. Any any comments? >> Um thank you so much, Miss Hang for the presentation. Well, not presentation, but for explaining this and um when I saw that this was um

140on the you know board agenda, I was like copy and paste from my last you know my last series of questions. So I really appreciate your proactive um approach and answering my question. Um I also wanted to just make a general comment. I was really glad to see in board policy 1312.3 um some of the improvements in the in the document including things like um you know you know adding different um and I'm not a lawyer so I don't know the right terms but you know adding um you know different kind of contingencies like false pregnancy, child birth, termination of pregnancy, you know sex stereotypes. I just I thought it was so much more inclusive of different journeys and struggles that individuals face. Um so I thought that was really these are just really wonderful

141ads. Um, also, you know, kind of this the the part that includes things like school athletic team names, mascots or nicknames, you know, like the clearly NFL and other, you know, uh, you know, university and, you know, national teams struggle with this. So, um, I was really glad to see um, movements in these areas. >> Yeah, I just wanted to thank our team for going through this. again as an attorney very much appreciate the level of detail and especially Jackie for your help and oversight. Um the highlighted comments and all the additions I thought were really great even just from the last time we took a look at these and just having your expertise on these is very helpful for us as we try to bring all of our policies up to compliance. And so

142appreciate all the effort that all of our staff um outside council and others have done to really improve these to reflect not just the latest statutory rules and legislation but also just the values that we've always spoken about. And so really great to see the step forward. I did want to ask if we have clarity in terms of, you know, I know we prioritize the sexual harassment policies and some other pieces. Do we know what I guess the next batch of prioritized policies will be or is that still being discussed? >> We can bring that to the board and got it. We have a short list that we have and then what we can do actually is just is present um sort of we have a multiple year um calendar because as we're updating these

143actually CSB is sending new ones that then fall into the queue. So it looks kind of like an 18month calendar that we can share before. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, I really appreciate seeing the different three different kinds of red lining on here. Um, because I think it is helpful to know which of these are coming from CSBA or, you know, or from your office. So, you know, and and just seeing that it's a different um highlighting uh or like the different marking I think helps us understand like why might why things might be in there the way that they are. So, um and I appreciate that it looks like um there's some effort also to make it like more straightforward I think to to understand. Uh so, I appreciate all of

144those efforts. I know that it can be a slog sometimes to do these and so I I appreciate all of your your time and energy spent on this. >> You're welcome. Of course. >> I also just want to remark um as you know we record these meetings. Anybody on this board, anybody in the public can go to any school board in the peninsula. The process that we just went through really only happened because of the remarks made by the members on this board. As I've talked about at multiple other meetings, it's a very rigorous board. You all don't just show up to the meeting. You are really doing a lot of analysis and a lot of um critique, self critique. So the policies that are before the board, they're as you all pointed out, they

145lead more directly. They're more specific. They're more attentive to the needs of the community. Um and and probably nine out of 10 throughout the state, it's taking the policy and putting it in place. It's taking the policy and adopting it. Um and and I think the partnership between the school board, the administration and and really having, you know, some of the best legal um folks out there in education and Jackie certainly part of that that that group and AAL are facilitating this for us and delivering on it uh in a way that really increases transparency um and gives the school board ultimately a better product. It's a benefit to to the entire school. Thank you. Um, this is since this is we're just reviewing I think that's moving on to the next one. Um, do

146we have any board member requests for future agenda items? Um, any of our online trustees? No. I guess we're letting you off easy today. So, but I'm sure we'll be in touch. >> Um, okay. Uh, board member statements. >> Um, first I wanted to thank the um principles, faculty, and staff at Abbott, Awood, Laurel, Barisford, and Meadow Heights for hosting the school board partner visitations this week. Um, I think it's honestly one of my favorite things that I get to do. Um, because I really get a sense of what makes each school unique. Um, I also wanted to say that, you know, it's one thing when we get to like go to a ribbon cutting and see like a brand new facility that was built, you know, from Measure X or Measure T, but, you

147know, and see it brand new, but, you know, it's a whole other thing to actually see it being enjoyed and utilized by the kids. Um, and so that's always been so I I I love these partner visitations. I think it's just really cool to see kids using this space that was designed for them and their needs. Um, we've me made a lot of comments about this tonight. Um, so I kind of just wanted to reiterate, you know, I think so many people in our community, including myself, you know, we feel frightened and unsettled with threats of federal ice aids and then like removal of those threats and like we don't know what tomorrow will look like, what it'll bring. Um, but I just wanted to reiterate and state that our district is committing to is

148committed to keeping our kids safe. Um, and I just really wanted to recognize the work, the proactive work that our district has done. Um, you know, and letting families know their rights. Um, working with, you know, just hearing about the work that's done with each and every school site and leader and, you know, the the staff at at the front desks just to prepare everyone for this tumultuous time. Um, and so, um, just as we had mentioned before, I wanted to just have this be a pitch that, you know, if our community members haven't done so already, please add the Sanonteo County rapid response hotline to your cell phones. Like, I added it to my phone. Um, 203-664472. Um, and so have it at the ready so that, you know, we can look out for

149our neighbors. Um, and I, you know, and stand in defense of our community. Um, I was listening to the lyrics of the the song that the Meadow Heights kids were singing and I saw a couple of us get emotional and like, you know, but you know, I really wanted to reate that phrase that they, you know, repeat it over and over again. We all make the mosaic of our community. And so, I really wanted to reiterate that and say that we're all in this together. >> Thank you, Trusty Hoe. Um, first I wanted to start by thanking Girl Scout Troop 61742 for inviting David Jambas and I to come out to Ottabon Elementary. Uh, the Girl Scout Troop or alumni of Ottabon came together to plant and create a community garden. And so we were

150honored to be out there to see the work that they've done. And I think as I highlighted earlier as well, you know, it's one thing to see the leadership from our district, from our educators and others, but to see the way our community and our students come together to beautify their campus to contribute to the work that we're doing. Um, and similar to Trusty Proctor's earlier comments about Barisford and some of the changes, even as we are implementing these changes, having the community step forward, have their own voice, have their own vision, and then to build that out themselves is really amazing. So, it was great to be there and always inspired by what students are able to do um, just through their own leadership and drive. And so, great to see that firsthand. I

151also did want to thank district leadership again for the study session we had earlier this month on artificial intelligence and how that might look in our district. That's a topic that's coming up constantly in the news in my conversations with other educators and other districts and even in the students comments themselves in the visioning workshops. And so understanding that we have this reality that's a big part of what our future will look like while at the same time having very strong concerns about doing it in a way that's responsible in a way that's safe in a way that actually builds the muscles that we want to train in our students instead of replacing thought with prompts. And so I really appreciate the kind of thoughtful way that was addressed, not only incorporating the latest research

152and best practices, but also comments that our board has made about relaying concerns from parents about screen time usage and tech usage in our classrooms. And so it's not an easy conversation. It's one that's changing by the day, but I really appreciated the level of preparedness and thought that went into it and look forward to the continuing that conversation. And I know I received many comments from community folks on both sides of the debate, but they were mindful of the fact or really appreciated the fact that we approached it in such a very responsible, slow, and steady way because to be blunt, there are other districts in California and elsewhere that have taken an overly aggressive or overly fearful approach and both versions have backfired. And so the fact that we hear being very close

153to technology but also understanding the risks and want to do it the right way, I just appreciate how that roll out is going and definitely want to see that continue. And then most importantly, I do I do want to comment on the shadow that's hanging over all of us here today. Right before we met today, um the superintendent's message went out to our entire district talking about confirming the reports about immigration enforcement. um reminding folks about the rapid response, supporting others, and our commitment to making sure that our schools are safe spaces, having the Meadow Heights students here, singing the song about the mosaic, talking about celebrating diversity and differences in an era where that's becoming harder to do and it's being demonized and politicized in a way that I know none of us here

154really agree with. Um to have our SMIA president here reiterating very strongly the support that our educators have for these policies, for making sure that our campuses are safe. Many of us were at the know your right sessions. We saw directly from our community, from our law enforcement partners, from our community partners, from our other elected officials constantly reiterating the desire to create the safe space and we've commented on it here from the dis. Um hearing that the leadership went face to face to every principal in our district to relay both the resources and our commitment to protecting our students, our staff, our educators, and everyone else, I think is just the only way we can really respond to the crisis that we're seeing across this country. And I would just remind folks regardless of

155their own politics, regardless of their own belief about issues of immigration or the border, we're talking about K through8 students here in our district, we're talking about students that have nothing to do with this. And even this morning, I received comments from several parents from other districts and from nearby areas who were afraid to go to school today, who didn't want to be picked up, who didn't want to take that chance, who might have said that they were feeling sick or ill. And so the only way we can counter the news, the images, the kinds of threats that are coming from the very top of our nation's political leadership is showing that we as a community, we as a school district, we as educators and people who believe in this work that we're doing are

156coming together in a very visible and vocal way to push back against that to prioritize safety first. And again, commend everything the district has done. I don't know that there's anything we could have done better. But at the same time, every day we're challenging ourselves to be out there as champions, as ambassadors, as voices to reassure everyone that the values we put forth are not just something we put in a press release on our website, but something that we live out in everything that we do here. >> Um, any comments from online trustees or statements I should say? >> No. Okay. Um yeah, I mean I I agree with with what um both Trustee Ho and Trusty Kim have talked about and I just want to say thank you to all of our um our

157educators and staff members all across the district who make uh school a safe space every day. I know that um and not just today and not just this year, but over the many many years for however many years that they've they've been with us. Um and I can just see, you know, having kids in in our district and um just seeing the way that having knowing that someone at school, a grown-up at school cares about them and will listen to them and will try to help them. I think that that is, you know, regardless of what um a a student or their family is facing, I think just knowing that they have people who care about them is huge. Um and I think that that's not always it's, you know, some something we shouldn't take

158for granted. So I do I just really want to commend everyone who is part of that um part of that effort. And I think yeah, that's that's it from me. Um, we have future meeting dates. Um, the next meeting date is a study session on November 13th on school climate and then a regular board meeting on November 20th. Um, okay. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Um, thank you Trusty Kim for the motion and trustee for the second. All in favor say I. I >> I motion carries.