001Welcome everyone. I'd like to call this regular meeting of the Santa Barbara County Education Office Board of Education to order. And uh remind everyone that we do have Spanish interpretation available. For those of you that are online, there is an option um that you can readily select. Um I'd like to invite everybody to join me now in our pledge to the allegiance. I pledge obiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Anna. Roll call. Okay. Mrs. Alvarez Flores here. Dr. Armisted not here yet. Mrs. Cardi here. Miss here. Mrs. Frost here. Mrs. Reed here. Mr. Walker. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Anna. At this time, uh, the board is invited to make
002any comments. Anyone have anything to Judy? Um since our last board meeting, we have the Santa Barbara County um board association. Thank you. Annual dinner and it was lovely and I was fortunate as were many of our board members to attend and that was a great evening indeed. Um and we got to see Miss Branch again. Uh and also the Santa Maria Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce um state of education event which some of us were able to attend and madam superintendent presented and it was a really successful event and very well put together. Those slide presentations from each of the district superintendent was very interesting, very informative. Thank you Mrs. Sprouse. Anyone else? A I was able to attend the uh actual agricultural business uh dinner strawberry growers and it's quite an event. They
003held it this year during the actual strawberry festival and it was a little interesting getting into the event but it was quite quite magnificent. There were I believe you said 800 over 800 people attending and the meal was wonderful. the actual presentation of a grower of the year uh is done and then they also honor um a growing company and a grower who partners with the community and I remember it was a Jones family for the uh for the grower of the year. I'm trying to remember who was the partner one. I forgot my little one but wonderful um actual visuals of the whole idea of what is done with the partnership and with the growers. It was just a wonderful event. Thank you. Guy, um I too was at that CSBA dinner um on
004April 16th and heard the fabulous teacher of the year for 2025, Miss Laura Branch speak about her transformational take on science. Many wonderful, wonderful presentations. I also got to attend the um Santa Barbara Education Foundation hope awards where our very own children's creative project was one of the honores um and as everyone I think knows the um CCP is under the opices of the Santa Barbara County Education Office since about 1975 and if you're not familiar with the organization it brings a portfolio of dazzling multicultural visual and performing artists to over 80 schools serving over 80,000 students. students with arts education. Um, and they do a fabulous job. And our founder and executive director for many decades was Kathy Corey. She was at the event, but uh, Kai Ter is now the executive director. She
005leads with vision and values and a lot of enthusiasm. So, that was exciting. I also got to attend in uh, my own community of Carpanderia on April 26. We have the uh community association's award banquet and um we award three finalists for the coveted title of junior carpenter of the year and it's I'm part of the selection committee get to do lots of interviews and it is an exercise in hope and our winner this year was Valyriia Susano who's a first generation collegebound student um fabulous incredible athlete student leader, advocate. She worked for Doss Williams in his office and now she's off to Mallister University to um seek advanced degrees in cognitive psychology sciences and um she's minoring in Latinx studies and she wants to bring a message of hope and help to her community
006with regard to mental health and mental illness. Um so that was great. And the other fun part about that which the committee did not realize her sister had won the same junior carpentry award in 2016 and she was there from her postgrad studies at Duke. So that's that's the community of Carperia. I'm I'm very proud of that. Um are there any other comments? If not, we do have one public comment today. Um Victor McConnell Hi Victor, you have up to five minutes. 3 2 1 go. Good afternoon. My name is Victor McConnell and I served as a computer network technician in SBCO's IT department from November 2023 through April of this year. My work focused on modernizing infrastructure, strengthening support for our educational programs, and advocating for equity, particularly in the north county. I'm speaking
007today because the issues I have witnessed impact areas that are directly under this board's statutory oversight. Areas such as the safety and operation of SPCO run programs, the responsible use of public funds, and the need for transparency and accountability. Your over oversight role is clearly defined under education code 48645.2 2 and board policies such as 6186 0430 9000 and 90005 two of which are are going to be voted on later today. All of which emphasize governance duties for programs like JCCS and special education. It's within this context that I raise the following concerns. In 2021, the Santa Barbara County Civil Grand Jury publicly warned SBCO about cyber security deficiencies specifically with the lack of multiffactor authentication, also known as MFA. This was not theoretical as SPCO handles sensitive student data and financial data across the
008county. A swift and transparent response should have been followed. Yet years later, key upgrades remain unressed or undisclosed, posing risks that go beyond it and into governance. At Kasmalia, a sped site, urgent needs were identified. Connectivity, cameras, access control were all identified as important needs. Our team of frontline staff proposed a scalable industry appropriate solution. The same solution that was later deployed at ECE Main Street. But Kasmalia leadership decided but a Kazmalia leadership delayed the project and allowed consumer grade equipment to be installed and sit unressed for months. Meanwhile, over $90,000 in enterprise switches were approved elsewhere without the involvement of the technicians responsible for the areas that they would be deployed in. I myself only learned that this purchase about this purchase through a public records act request I made while still employed as
009internal inquiries were ignored. This is not just about hardware. It's about how priorities are set and whether student focused frontline knowledge is used. Even more troubling, a recent P response redact details like equipment brands of what was purchased. This approach reflects a posture towards secrecy about basic infrastructure. A stance notably different from neighboring public organizations that share such details of a matter of transparency, public accountability, or even pride. This points to a fundamental disconnect in strategic planning and resource management that the board should find concerning. These patterns point to a disconnect on how resources are managed, decisions are made, and how internal expertise is utilized. And I ask, are we here to protect leadership decisions or are we here to protect the students in the sites that those decisions affect? Are we here to maintain
010the status quo or to allow the OR to evolve with frontline staff and student needs as our driving force? This brings me to personnel. Item 16 on today's agenda references SPCO's merit system, which emphasizes fitness and fairness. But merit also applies to retention and utilization. When qualified staff are sidelined, excluded from projects and and see responsibilities outsourced, it leads to stagnation and attrition. This isn't just an HR problem. It is a governance failure. A management audit of the IT department is underway. And while this is welcome, audits do not carry enforcement power. That responsibility falls on leadership and to this board for matters under your jurisdiction. And with that, I urge for the four following actions. One, to request that Superintendent Salceto presents the full IT audit findings in a public report publish published with
011only legally required redactions. Two, adopt standardized transparent IT infrastructure and safety policies across all SPCO operated sites with an emphasis on JCCS and special education. Three, initiate an independent cyber security review separate from the management audit to assess risks, identify gaps, and evaluate alignment with long-standing recommendations such as multiffactor authentication. And finally, ensure that all major tech procurements presented to this board explicitly show how they support student safety, program needs, and the utilization of student focused internal expertise. Ensuring the safety of our students, securing their data, and the stewarding of public funds are central to your governance role, fulfilling SPCO's mission of equity and excellence means facing these systemic issues with urgency, openness, and accountability. I'm leaving a copy of uh this comment as well as some additional information with the board secretary, and I
012appreciate your service and thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. McConnell. All right. It gives me great pleasure to bring forward this next item, the teacher of the year announcement. If you saw the sign at the big show, no, this wasn't it, but it feels like it. Feels like it should be. Susan, would you like to bring Good special afternoon to all of you. Good afternoon and a big thank you to the County Board of Education for making this space to honor our 2026 Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year. I want to say thank you everyone for making arrangements to be here today. Um it's a it's a very special day. I know I woke up with a skip in my step um because of of exactly for this reason. So this afternoon
013I have the very distinct honor of announcing and then introducing our 2026 Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year. And let me let me first however step back and take a moment to share some logistics logistics and information about the award and then also about the ceremony this afternoon. So, talk logistics first. Related to the award, the teacher of the year, our 2025 Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year, who happens to be right here, Laura Branch, um, remains as our Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year through this school year, through the end of June. Each year we announce our teacher of the year and they in May and they serve from July 1st to the next June 30th. Today's announcement of our 2026 teacher of the year allows time for that individual to
014complete all of the necessary required elements to uh send to the California Department of Education for consideration for California's teacher of the year. I want to say a moment to say Laura, thank you. Well, we have the minute to say thank you for serving with such enthusiasm, positivity, optimism, energy. You're just a tremendous ambassador and say thank you so much for for your service. Um, so now related to this afternoon and some logistics and information about today after today's ceremony during which in a few moments we'll invite our and announce our 2026 teacher of the year to be right here um until that person takes the podium. Um but right after that um announcement, we'll hand it over to board president Cardi who will take a board recess. And at that time, we'd love to
015coordinate several photos with the board, the teacher of the of the year, um special guests, and the person that we'll be looking for for that guidance is right there, director of communications Cammy Barnwell. So after the recess, let's look for guidance from Cammy Barnwell to take some photos here. and then um she'll actually direct several of us you to go outside for more photos and I welcome you all to come back and join the board for the rest of the meeting. However, we understand if you have other priorities to attend to. We we we understand. All right. So, so now now to the announcement. Being selected as our county's teacher of the year is of course special. It's so important and comes with significant responsibilities. As a recipient of education's highest honor, this individual is
016asked to be our county's representative for all teachers, to be an ambassador of education, and to amplify the profession of education. Our profession is undeniably vital and impactful and intellectual, physical and emotional and hopeful and joyful. I know our 2026 teacher of the year is up for this responsibility. She was chosen through a rigorous process by a diverse selection committee which included educators, administrators, members of the business community, board president Mary Beth Cardi, and our 2025 teacher of the year, Laura Branch. And so I want to say thank you to the entire selection committee who traveled countywide, far and wide um with uh um conducting interviews and observations to find just the right person for 2026. A big thank you to Stephen Keithley, our director of teacher programs and support and an Flores, your assistant,
017um for leading this process. You do it so well, Steve, and elegantly. We so appreciate your efforts very much. Our 2026 teacher of the year shared that she did not always imagine herself as a teacher. In fact, she calls herself the unlikely teacher and that may be one of her greatest strengths. Our honore has spoken candidly about her early struggles in school. As a young student, she often felt out of step with the classroom and sharing with us, "I loved to learn, but it seemed learning didn't love me." And it wasn't until college that teaching even entered her orbit. And it happened almost by chance. A floor mate invited her to uh volunteer at a local preschool, and she went along with little expectation. But on that day, she recalls, quote, a crack of beaming
018purpose split wide open. She went on to say, "Perhaps my greatest accomplishment in education is willingly committing to a system where I felt I didn't belong. In being one of the academic others, I approached student learning in a different way. I've come to realize that I didn't need learning to come easily in order to teach others. As the unlikely teacher, I can bring a perspective to supporting students in a way that I always needed. Today she teaches first grade, is at the forefront of literacy and reading practices, and is celebrated by her colleagues for her exceptional ability to recognize and embrace the diverse backgrounds and abilities of her students. In her own words, she shared, "I didn't expect to land here, but I often stop and think about how grateful I am that I did."
019and we are grateful that you did too. An educator for 14 years at Monav Vista Elementary School and the reigning teacher of the year for the Hope School District. It is my distinct honor to announce our 2026 Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year, Natalie Wilks. Natalie Thank you so much. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Look at this. This We've got to take this in. Yeah. I can't help but share just a few more words about Natalie, especially since your principal is here and your superintendent and your colleagues, your mother. Yes. Yes. and Allison Haiduk by the way 2015 county teacher of the year right there. So Hans Ron Rans Rinchild your principal at Monav Vista Elementary School shared this about you. Simply put, Natalie is a master teacher in every sense of the word. As
020impressed as I have been with Natalie's teaching, I have been even equally amazed by how she is one of the best systems thinkers with whom I have had the honor to work. That's from your principal, Dr. Anne Huard, superintendent, who of course is here today, um, shared that Natalie, you embody the qualities we value most in educators, dedication, leadership, and a relentless commitment to student success. And I have one more individual that I know would like to come up and make some comments today. I'm going to invite to the podium our board president and on the selection committee, Mary Beth Cardi, and then we'll invite you to the podium. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Here is your plaque, which I can hold for you. It's Oh, sure. Solid bold. Well, it just thrills me
021to welcome you up to the podium and to congratulate you on your 2026 teacher of the year. Um, I was really honored to be a part of the selection committee and I joined Susan in thanking Steve and his team for making that process, as difficult as it is, he manages to make it feel um, effortless. It was really a pleasure and I had to write some things down. I was I walked into your classroom and immediately it's like the air was filled with this electricity but it was also calming. How do you do that? Um it was like sparkly and magical in the room and I was taking copious notes but then I said I don't want to miss a thing. So I had to put those notes down. But um anybody that walks into
022Natalie's classroom would find a group of really happily engaged, eager learners doing perky paste phonics, collaborating, sharing, um doing something called a daily five, which I recommend that we all adopt into our regular practices. Um it's it's an exercise where students have the option to move freely between various activities that build on the phonics lesson that they had just um been moved through. Um it's everything from Play-Doh spell bin where they can tactally experience letters forming words to Lexia where they could do that virtually. um they were making informed choices and they were definitely feeling empowered with their mastery level. Um the room is filled with adaptive elements. There is a place literally for everyone and we were very impressed with a lot of wiggly first graders finding their space. There's even a a corner
023dedicated to self-regulation and um self soothing and we saw students utilize that and watched him take his own level of um wigglies all the way down to um that feeling of zen. Um, in our interview, Natalie displayed utmost humility and constantly was deferring to her accomplishments in terms of the group and team efforts that went behind it. She's clearly a leader. Um, we are just in very good. That was happy. That was hopeful. It was everything that we would hope to see uh in in a classroom with our beloved students. And I congratulate you again. And at this time, would you like to say a few words? I would love to say anything. Thank you for speaking. Well, I'm truly overwhelmed with gratitude right now. And um to Susan Salceto, there you are. And the
024board and the selection committee, thank you for taking this time to honor the teachers in the community. Um, I wrote this down in case I got nervous because you're all so calm and quiet and still and that could be a little overwhelming. Um, they're just yeah, start moving around a little bit. Um, I share this recognition with my dedicated colleagues um, who so generously support me with their wisdom and best practices. One of them sitting right here. I'm also especially appreciative of the comm's department and Steve Keithley for all of their help in the recent weeks. And I also want to support or thank Ann Hubard for her support and my principal Hans Brian's child who provide us with the tools and the training to help our students thrive. Um, thank you all. I look
025forward to continuing this important work with all of you. And of course, I want to thank my mom and my husband. um my husband's on a field trip with his students right now um for reminding me that a moon in all of its seasons is still full and this is a really special moment. So, thank you all for sharing this with me. Beautiful. Thank you. [Laughter] Yes, we'll get back to my notes here. I I love that quote around the full moon. Yeah, very profound. Yeah, very meaningful. So Natalie will um be introduced at our education celebration here in just two weeks where Laura Branch will say some final remarks as the current final farewell tour at SBCO's education. Yes. [Music] Okay. So, right now I will um uh turn the mic over to our
026board president, uh Mrs. Cardi. Um and but with that, how about we all give our 2026 county teacher of the year, a Santa Barbara County resounding. Thank you. We'll now have a 10m minute recess. So, and and thank you so much for uh allowing the space for that ceremony. It was really really special and um can't wait to it's exciting to have so many teachers of the year in our space at the same time. It's like celebrity sightings. Okay, very good. U we did have the board did have before you um four interd district transfer uh uh requests for June and you know that those have been removed from the table. They're no longer happening. Um, having said that, we we are hearing that there may be others coming to the board soon. So, we
027thought we would take the time while we had it to really provide a primer, a a very brief introduction on, um, the role of the board for interd district transfer uh, hearing requests. And to do that, um, Dr. Elie Simmons is here with us and she has serves in many different roles. in this case is child welfare and attendance services. Elise and thank you so much for being here and we have some materials for the board as well. Thank you. Hello. Good afternoon board. Thank you. Here you go. You and I see that you also all have um a copy of the slide deck which is great. Okay. the items that are in your folder. We'll look at them at the end of the presentation. Um, and I'll reference them a little bit throughout the
028presentation, but it's something we'll look at at the end, just so you know. Let's jump right in. So, the agenda is we're going to go over the appeal process. I'll spend some time on the responsibilities of the board and then we'll look at those resources that you have um in your folder. And um we'll have a little bit of time at the end for questions and then my sense is if there are further questions um perhaps you can email Dr. Salceto forward them to me and respond and we'll we'll kind of go back and forth. But my hope is that whatever questions are asked that we all get the questions and the answers. So again that idea of just making sure we're all on the same page as much as possible with this process. So
029this um theater district attendance appeals we do have a board policy on it and you'll have that in your folder and it's also we also follow a lot of ed code. There's a lot of uh relevant ed code associated with this process. Um and you'll also have the ed code back packet in your folder. So there's basically two situations that bubble up that will lead to an appeal. Um, one of them is when a district of residents has denied a request for for a release to attend another district. So, a family is, let's say, living in one district. They'd like to go to another district across town and their district of attendance is like, "No, you're going to stay with us." Um, the which is not very often, but that can happen. The one that
030happens the most often um is when a family would like to attend a desired district that is not their home district and that desired district denies their request for the enter district transfer. That is the one that we see most often. Timeline as any good appeal process there's a timeline that we must follow. Um and it is all again we follow our board policy as well as ed code. So what will happen first is there's some requests and some documentations possibly appeals that happen in the home district or the desired district. So there's some things that happen that can go on for months or even just weeks that is between a family making these requests and the the two different districts. upon the final denial at the district level. Um, some districts it goes all
031the way up to their board. Sometimes it just ends at the superintendent or an assistant superintendent. Everybody follows their own administrative regulations and board policies. So upon final denial at the district level, the parent and guardian will then have 30 calendar days to then appeal that denial. Um and I will say that what I have seen that in the district um policies for district denial their policies and admin regulations they'll even point to our appeal oops our appeal process at that final denial so the families are aware I've seen that a lot in their literature. So family decides within that 30 days that they are going to submit an appeal form and documentation and we also have that in your folder there. Once we physically receive that appeal form with documentation, that's when the timeline
032begins. That's the countdown for the 30 calendar days. Um I immediately will contact Dr. Salceto, let the team know that we're we got one. Gotta start we got to start calendaring. I work with Anna this backwards map timeline and I work really closely with my administrative assistant Michelle Sakhart. You get stuck in um with all with the timeline because those matter, timelines matter. Um I spend a couple of days, sometimes just a day just reviewing the appeal form and documentation and I'm looking to make sure that the family has met the guidelines that 30 calendar a day. Um, I'm also looking to see if it's um if maybe there could be some negotiations or some further like, hey, have you tried this? I noticed that you didn't appeal this to the board and it says
033that you can. And so I'm I'm working with the family on that and making sure that the appeal is um a valid appeal. It should move forward. It's a valid appeal. We're going to move forward. That's when I start gathering materials for the hearing. Um, and I know I have about 30 days to to gather them. Actually, we're a lot less than that, honestly, because by the time we get all the materials, we review them. I'll show you what you'll get a little bit in a minute. Um, we have to get printed. So, it's we have a very short turnaround. And I'm gathering these materials from the district as well as the parent and guardian. So, it's a lot of back and forth um and collecting of of information and it's all going to be
034presented to you. You all receive that information. We have our hearing. Um it's e it's typically at a regularly board uh scheduled board meeting and it's either going to be in open or closed session. Um the policy states that it's in open session unless the family requests it to be in closed session. Um, and so I do have that discussion with the family because they always want to know, you know, what's the difference and things like that. But, um, my experience, my limited experience has been they've always been in closed session so far. Um, the county board, you hear the hearing. Um, you deliberate. Um, there's a little bit more details about what happens in the hearing. I'll point that to you when we get to the resources. Um, you deliberate and you make the
035deci makes the decision to deny or grant the appeal. and your decision is final. Um, typically what I've seen, the decision is made at that meeting, but you do have with a calendar time of within school days to make a decision. We go to the next. That's the timeline. Let's talk about this information that you'll receive well in advance so that you can review it. So, we call it the IDT appeal packet. it ends up being sometimes almost a hundred pages. Um, so what you'll receive is an executive summary and I just took screenshots um of some samples. So you'll get an executive summary that comes from me. It's written by me and I go through all of the information just trying to give you what it's like executive summary of the situation, timelines, information,
036things like that. You also receive interd district transfer appeal documentation. So there's a sample of like all the possible documents that the appealant has provided. So you can see there a long list of different things ranging from their own interd district attendance appeal um original form all the way to a petition of support which we've gotten before. You also receive all of the school district documentation. And again, there's a bulleted sample list of ones that we've received in the past. Um, email correspondence, their own documentation of anything related to this of the appeal. There's a small section where I include all of the back and forth and notifications that comes from me to the appealant and to the district. And you'll will always get the California an updated California ed code packet which you also
037have in your resource. So when I say something's like this is 100 pages, the EDC code packet itself is like five or six and actually no it's a lot more pages than that but it's a whole bunch of different pages. So you have that as your reference and then you will we end it with our own board policy um at the end. So you will receive this I IDT appeal packet at least seven days in advance of the hearing so you have time to review annotate be able to know what what it's about before you are in involved in the hearing. So let's shift to the responsibility of the board and I took a lot of this out of the board policy. Um couple things that generally when you're making a decision, these are some
038principles that are outlined in our board policy. Um we ordinarily expect students to attend the school in their district of residents. Um any disputes over interdist transfers may be resolved by the governing boards of the involved districts. Again, we're hoping that that has been exhausted before it comes to us. And the county board of education will only overturn a local school board's or district's decision under exceptional circumstances. And then if we go to the next bullet, it's the reason why that you may overturn it. You also are reviewing um to determine whether the districts complied with the ED code and their own district board policies in handing the transfer request. So, you're looking at policy, adherence to policy and due process, and you're looking at um these other exceptional or extraordinary circumstances, which we'll talk
039about in a moment. So, you are an appealent body. Again, you're reviewing the case to determine if the district's policy was followed and applied consistently. And you're also looking to see that the district's decision is supported by substantial evidence. you will not conduct the appeal of hearing in denovo. That means is you're not hearing it for the first time or hearing it all over again. Um if there is new information that gets presented at during the hearing um you can remand it back to the district because then the district would say wait I didn't know that and it might change the decision that they had originally made. So you can remand it back to the district. So here are these exceptions that are outlined in our board policy and they go much more in detail
040in the board policy. You have that again in front in your packet. But these are the five um extraordinary situations. Um so you might find that there's a substantial danger to a student's health or safety. Um and that again always come with backed up evidence, substantial documentation around if this is the situation that is that they are saying is happening. um a severe hardship to parents or guardians substantially I'm going to go over this one greater than an inconvenience because these are some factors again outlined in our board policy that you're not going to consider and that parental preference or logistical inconvenience is not something that could lead to a severe hardship and that includes like employment and driving and transportation and after school and again looking at the board policy it's an area that
041I encourage you to read because it has outlined some examples in there. Um, a policy change. Sometimes boards change their policy and it might impact a student that's been enrolled in a district for a certain period of time. So, just looking at those changes and how it could impact a family um, and their request. Financial impact. This one usually comes again with a substantial evidence that's supporting what is the financial impact exactly. And then overcrowding and educational impact, excuse me. Um again uh much more evidence here of citing what does that actually what does that really mean in numbers and in money. So said it was brief and fast. Here we go. Let's look at resources. Um in your folder I also linked these in this. I didn't know if this was going to be
042shared electronically or not. So, in your folder, you're going to find a couple of re four resources. First, the appeal guide itself. Um, and that on the left, thank you. This is linked in Spanish and in English. Actually, on the left is the appeal guide and the appeal form. These are both linked on our website um in Spanish and in English where where families can access them. And the appeal guide is what supports families in throughout the appeal process. I also call myself I'm the human version of the appeal guide for families. So if they I'm I support them. I I'm a steward for them as well as the district who's gone through it maybe for the first time as well. Um the appeal guide um follows along with our board policy and ed code
043and again walks the families through the whole process. But it might also be helpful for you to look at because it talks about what happens during the hearings and things like that. The appeal form itself, this is what needs to be filled out that kickstarts that timeline. And then there's also documentation attached to it and you can see the different questions that families are being asked to respond to that again help help me get a sense of what is this appeal about. Then on the right hand side is our favorite board policies and ed code. So these are these are what guide our work and our um our processes and our decisions. And so you have both of those there for you for your reference as well. That ends the presentation. You have any question?
044Yeah. Yes. Well, it could be many different things. I would say every single appeal is different. Did I didn't hear the question. Oh, the question was so we had potentially four appeals that were going to you were going to hear. Um and then what makes them go away and so it really depends on the appeal itself. There is they're all very different. In the case of the four, it was um three siblings, three siblings and another family. So although it sounded like a lot, it was a family that had um and then another family. Um and in that situation, we were able to work with the we worked with the district and the district worked with the families and figured out a solution that made sense for all of the parties. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. That's
045the human appeal guide. Yes. I have a question. Um going through a few of these um these interd district transfers, the idea of like the logistical and inconvenience is not a reason to change the appeal uh the um ruling and it has to be the health or safety hardship etc etc. And I this is I'm just throwing this out there. At what point will a logistical inconvenience flip and become one of those items that would be considered a reason to actually um o overrule and accept the transfer? Well, I think that is the that's your deliberation. Yeah, that's that's for you to decide. Um I'm hearing a need for a rubric or something. No, I I I really and I'll let Austin if he wants to answer anything, but I think that's you're that's where
046you come into play. Yeah, that's that's exactly what I would say. And also I wouldn't want to give examples because then inevitably you get that exact situation that would come down, you know, the pipe next. So um so yeah, there is a ton of discretion in the education code given to this body to decide these appeals and the the policy is there because this board and past boards have decided that we needed a little bit more guard rails so that we're making consistent decisions. So um so but sometimes we get these gray area cases. So that's a blessing and a curse for you all. Is it clear when um as to why a district will say no or a school will say no when we get the information? Yes. Yes. They it it is definitely
047clear. Sometimes there is a lot of clarity and a lot of details and sometimes there may not be. Um, and so again, it's like you'll see differences, but you'll always will know the like general reason and those reasons be based on a student's behavior. Really depends on how their board policy is written. Okay? So often you'll see board policies and admin regulations related to interd district resist transfers. Um, and you'll see that behavior is a common one. Attendance is another one. Again, not every district has that in their policy. And is there a need for there to be consistency in decision- making for um these districts or these schools? Um what am I trying to say? Well, you've let one child in and you didn't another. I mean, is is that part of the play
048at all either or? So, I think that's where there is a thing where have they been consistently applied? So you that is something where you are looking to make sure that they are being consistently applied to all students that in that district. So it does it could come into play. Okay. Thank you. I just read in the paper that the Orchet School District has changed their district boundaries for some of their schools. So um that will go to the Orchet board. It's not going outside of their district. And I would hope that they would have some consistency and some plan for dealing with that. But if your expertise is asked for, that might be an area where we could avoid having them go any further, maybe having been through quite a few of these inner
049district appeals, I can tell you that they're they're never easy. They can be emotional. um you have in many cases a parent trying to represent the best interests of their children. They're over wrought um and your heart wants to respond and that's why it's really important that we have basically circumscribed to the extent that we can understanding of what our ability is. It's we're not listening to to cases denovo. These have been vetted. In most cases, um there's a board a school board action, but in some cases it's an administrative action. Um and sometimes that matters that doesn't. But with respect to um our ability to ask for further u evidence, we can ask a school district to demonstrate why overcrowding applies in this case. So, we have the ability to ask those questions and
050get that information. Um, it's it's I think it's wonderful when we we come to an agreement, we have an understanding of the family that's in front of us and and how it feels to them and let and reflect back what what our ability to do to um in what way we can respond fairly and in compliance. So just understanding that, you know, we're not rubber stamping and you're not um it's not an exercising futility. There have been cases where there was a reason to uh hold. So um just wanted to kind of put that out there, too. It's a lot of it is a head and heart kind of combo, but um we can't just throw everything up in the air because that mother just she cried. I mean, we got to do it. So,
051it's beyond the scope of just an emotional reaction and got to be grounded in in those true hardship cases. But mother and father, father. Um, so it sounds like the entire appeal process could be 60 plus days. So we do there is flexibility with that calendaring. Um so yeah let me answer that question. So yes it could um in the sense that they have 30 days from when they get the denial to then submit it to me and then we spend 30 days. Now, we there is flexibility within our 30 days to um there's actually two different caveats if um there's a five-day extension and then there's actually another extension that that our superintendent can extend any timeline for a reasonable reason. Um, sorry I for reasonable reason for but um and so in in
052theory there is some flexibility for us again if it's grounded in especially if there's some calendaring issues and things like that but it could take up 30 days. It's sometimes a little shorter and it could go a little bit longer than that. I'm thinking in certainly in terms of if it's remanded to the district that would have to like the talk and I think the other piece that kind of got to answer legal counsel is a part of the hearing they're there um I'm not sure if this is related or not. Um the term school of choice, how does that fit into those if at all? Well, there are there are districts of schools of choice and districts that have relationships with each other, but al and also within their designated schools of choice. So
053that again where we have to refer to their policies, those are outlined in a different board policy and a different AR. they have um everyone's a little bit different about what they say and what they're accept willing to accept or not accept when it comes to interd district transfers. That's where again we I I go to their district website and pull out their policies to look at all of those things and when in doubt I go to Bridget. Yeah. One more quick question about financial impact. Does that is that the financial impact for um the family or the district or or the school or both? It's typically for the district. Okay. In that case. Um and usually you'll see especially when it comes to a lot of our districts in the southern part of county
054is they're community funded. Um and so they might that's you'll see financial as a reason for why they are denying it. We've also seen a potentially a district that wouldn't release a student for for financial reasons as well. I don't think that came to fruition, but that was another um sort of initiated there. So, it's typically it's all what I've seen district. Yeah. So, sorry, one more. Uh can you remind me? So when a student comes out of district into the new district, does the money follow that kit? No. Yeah. Okay. What? What did I say? Then I was going to say district. Yeah. Sorry. Yes. It will depend on how the district is funded. So if I'm a community funded district, I'm not receiving revenue based on ADA or average daily attendance. It's property
055taxes. So if a district is I know basic aid and I know okay so basic aid it would there is no money that would be generated by that student and a LCFF or what used to be called revenue limit you would generate ADA. So you would receive money for that student because it's based on attendance. Okay. So it'll depend income district. Correct. And I'm revenue limit. You get money for that child. Okay. So you might want to take in interd district transfers. If I'm a basic aid district, I do not receive additional funding for that student. And if that student is coming from a basic a revenue, I still get if I'm coming from basic. Yeah. It it doesn't matter where you're coming from. It matters how the district itself that's receiving the student is
056funded. Does that make sense? Anyone else have anything for Dr. Simmons? Thank you so much. You're welcome. If you have additional questions, you can communicate with Dr. Salceto and communicate with me. Thank you. Great. Moving on, we have our superintendence report. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. I have several additional comments outside of the report. So, let me stop on the report and see if there's any questions first from the board on anything that I submitted so far. Okay, J. Not a question but a comment like now that we've had some of the division reports and their activity the structuring of your superintendent report following that structure is very helpful and highlighting what the each area has done um and then of course summarizing with your social agenda um is I I like that
057very much. appreciate that. Thank you. Appreciate that feedback. So, I'll um so May, the month of May has many celebrations. Uh teacher appreciation week, classified appreciation week, many many appreciations um within it. And um in celebration I wanted to say thank you uh for uh contributing to the Imodinari square coming up for Imodinari which we have beautiful chalk art behind us and we'll likely have more from this um this year's event. So we together um SBCA leadership um uh uh board members who've contributed will have a 12 by 12 foot square a beautiful square at make sure to share that image with you afterwards. So we have shared it with the uh we will be sharing with our employees that that square is in honor of our employees here at SBCO. So thank you very
058much for that. Also want to talk about some events. Um the big show Mary uh President Cardi was talking about the big show. You may have seen the signs in the auditorium. Um you're welcome to attend after the board meeting. It it officially starts at 5:30, but I know that they'd love for you to walk through and see the beautiful artwork uh woodwork from the students. These are students from the Santa Barbara Unified School District and um Trade Art is the nonprofit that's putting this forward. Um and Frank Skipper, by the way, who um he and Leslie, his wife, are the ones who are behind this. Frank sponsors each year a Melvin Marvin Career Technical Education Award at our education celebration. So they're all connected and so that is uh happening this afternoon. So on
059your way out um please do stop by. Another event of course we've talked about the education celebration. Several of you have RSVP that's in two weeks May 22nd but I also wanted to put on your radar something for October. We know that you are busy busy people. So, we want to make sure that you have the date. Now, we honor um and recognize uh incredible educators at our salute to teachers um uh event at the Music Academy of the West in Monaceto. And that date is Saturday, October 25th. Saturday, October 25th. It's um start time is around 5:30, I want to say 5:00. So, I wanted to give you the date now so you could hold it on your calendar. So October 25th, next category I wanted to share with you are in the category
060of awards. So um last Friday night the Tri County San Louis Bispo Ventur and Santa Barbara got together and celebrated the Association of California School Administrators award. There were uh many many incredible awards given out that um evening. I want to share two uh with the board. First, the Eric Frost Memorial Award. Yes. And they Yes. And I will say it's a Judy Frost award, too, because Eric and Judy are a team. And um the individual who received the Eric Frost Memorial Award is Leslie Wagenellar from Orchet. She's the um executive director of technology and education. It was a wonderful tribute to Eric and Judy. Um, I was thinking about you the whole time and uh really well-deserved award. The second award that I wanted to share with you was a leadership matters award. The
061one award um for the uh Tri County's area went to Ellen Barker, our associate. Yay. Yay. Yes. Yes. It was really really um welldeserved. Exciting. I um since we're talking about awards, I also want to share that um the ARCOM's team and uh so Cammy Barnwwell and Delaney and Isabelle attended the California School Public P public relations association's CALSA event and they received a statewide award for comm's um production this time in uh the area of school safety and awareness. So Cammy, congratulations. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was earlier this year and I saved it for this awards presentation. Um, and I I want to say uh share with you some changes within districts in our organization that you may already know about, but um uh Buen Union School District has selected its uh new superintendent
062to to begin July 1st. So, Dr. Randy Haggard is retiring at the end of the school year. Adam Bailey is coming on board. Dr. Adam Bailey. He's currently a principal at Carter High School in Rialto Unified School District in the San Bernardino County. Very rigorous uh process and they selected Dr. Bailey and we're very excited to welcome him into the county. Our special education local plan area Sulpa uh Dr. Ray Abula who has presented to the board before um he is retiring at the end of this year. And incoming is Dr. Stacy McGrath Smith. She's a SLA director now right now at Powe. She's got a a long uh history in special education um and supporting inclusive practices uh and we're really excited to have her. Um and I shared with the board, but I
063just wanted to make sure that you you knew that uh for sure and were able to see her right here, Mari Gonzalez, who's announced that after next school year, she and her family are moving to the state of Washington. Um really excited for Mari and her family. Thankfully we have her for another year. Um but we did um uh share that Gina Brham who is an assistant superintendent um in Guadalupe uh Union School District now will be joining us July 1st as associate superintendent of human resources. Gina was with us before. She worked um with uh under Ellen in curriculum instruction as a director. Uh Gina is just it's she's going to be wonderful. Fortunately, we'll have Mari here for another year uh working with with me supporting the HR division. Um lots of work
064that Mari will do for the one year in terms of compliance and policy support and legal legal support as well. So, um Mari, thankfully we have you for a while longer. Um and we're excited about Gina as well. And um yeah, it's really exciting. So, I you know, when you go through all this, you you worry, did I miss something? So, I just say, I hope I didn't miss anything. I hope I got it all. Um, but with that, I'll turn it back over to you. Thank you very much, Susan. These reports are great and they're so fun to look back on, too. So, we'll um entertain a vote for the consent agenda. And again, the items on the consent agenda are the same each time. the minutes of our last meeting in April, registration
065of credentials and certification documents, including temporary county certificates, the acceptance of donations, and a declaration of surplus. So move and second. Very good. All in favor? I opposed. The motion carries. Thank you. Our next item is an action item. Uh this comes from the board policy uh committee. We we met last month and reviewed five board policies. Several of them, three in fact are brand new to us. Um and then the other two had a need to be revised with some different information. The independent study program supplies to students in JCCS only. Uh the role of the board which is great. It's uh the spectrum of responsibility so that the board understands what those are. And then the governance standards um that's about implementing those very uh expectations and duties and the new one um
066is the conduct and duties of the president. Um apparently it's not a monarchy and queen news to me. And then the legal protections and that's protections against liability in cases where it applies and doesn't. So we've read, we've adopted, you can read more about it. Do I have a motion to approve? I make a motion, Rita. Thank you. A second and a question from you. It's just a on independent study programs page seventh. Independent Study Programs page seven, the fourth paragraph from the top. It says the parent guardian signature. It doesn't say caregiver and I think it includes caregiver. I know it's a net. I just had to say something. independent city on the marked copy. I was I was speaking from the marked up copy. I see it right here. And if you look
067down on um see the other part in caregiver Judy when you're when you're mentioning caregiver you're saying it's different from the marked copy through the items? No, I um or you're questioning the fact that it doesn't include I'm questioning the fact that on the marked up copy it doesn't include caregiver. There's another section I believe that it defines what a caregiver is or am I hallucinating on that? Yeah. Are you talking about where it said the parent signature? Yes. Yeah. And I'm the reason I'm I'm also wondering because I'm not sure that we outline caregiver. I have to go back and look at it. Caregiver to me feels a little less defined as official authority to engage with an independent study agreement where I saw caregiver. Yeah. If there's something I'm missing, I I would
068need to Okay. I will look for that. Thank you. Thank you. Anna just said that she saw sees it on page six. I can you first? Oh, here it is. Oh, for the above paragraph caregiver means that person who hasn't met the requirements of the family. Oh, yeah. It's in the red part. Mhm. That's why it made a a impression on me because it was one of the things we added on page six that caregiver means a person and then right on the top of page seven we don't list it but then I don't know that it needs to be Judy can I contract with you as an editor clearly caught me on a good day that makes sense Okay, I see that. It's interesting because we do not say it anywhere else in the
069policy and so it was a it's a CSBA thing and so I'm just wondering if if there is a desire by the board to go back through the policy and add caregiver in where it says parent guardian or if the question was more like what what would be the desire of the like you think that you lined it out for a reason. So potentially the reason is guardian implies authority. Correct. Caregiver does not. Correct. I could be a caregiver and not have the authority or or whatever. But that might be defined in the family code. Right. So it's it's related to that one paragraph. And I guess my question back to the board is is there a desire to relook at the policy by including language where it references parent guardian throughout the policy to
070relook at that and add or caregiver or is it simply a question because there are multiple places within the policy that are parent guardian is referenced. So just for direction, is it something you want that to be relooked at um and possibly included or was it or do you are you fine with it as is? I will throw that back to you. Um because on page six it is specifically added and even defined as per family. I would ask if an issue came forward to you and there was a caregiver, would we say, "Oh, well that's okay because of this statement." In other words, does it need does the entire policy need to be changed, added, you know, caregiver for that or does this defining on page six cover it for our purposes? And and
071I guess I this is hitting a nerve with me because so many of my friends who are grandparents and whatever are caregiving now for their kids and it just that's always a touchy subject. Well, in this specific paragraph on on five and the top of six is related to students with disabilities specifically. So it is calling that group out versus um and in response to caregiver. So as I look at that a little bit more carefully that is what that paragraph is directly referring to. So then my question would be is that intended to be only referring to that paragraph and if so correct based on ed code right super. I'm sorry I No, that's a great question. Yeah, very good. that made me go back and relook at it. So, I I'm like, let
072me look at that again. Thank you very much for your patience. Thanks for working it through. Right. Well, we have a a motion and a second. All in favor? Any oppose? Extension. Thank you, Judy. Your eagle eye. Um and I I want to thank the committee so much. You know, we've got hundreds of policies yet we didn't have one on the duties and role of the president or the role of the board and I applaud them for even in lie of having a slew of policies including those. Thank you. It was really nice to really read. Yeah, we're like oh okay. So that's what we're supposed to do. Glad I hadn't read it before I was the president. We're slowly moving toward Yeah. adoptation of all the CSBA rulings and we'll just continue to bring
073board policies forward in tranches and um thank you. So our next item is the personnel report which is there for your information attached to your packet. No action required. And at this time we are going to call for a closed session. So, um, we'll just need our board and Dean Taus legal, etc. Thank you.