001All right, we're uh calling the uh regular meeting of June 9th to order. Um I have a teleconference notice. Trustee Caffrey will be attending via Zoom from 2604 Northeast 70th Street in Seattle, Washington 98115. Pursuant to government code 54953B, that location is a teleconference location accessible to the public for comment. Are there any public comments prior to close session? Hearing none, we will adjourn to close session. Thank you. Uh this is return to regular session at 6:07. Um, I have a teleconference notice that Trustee Caffrey will be attending via Zoom from 2604 Northeast 70 70th Street in Seattle, Washington 98115, pursuant to government code 54953B. That location is a teleconference location accessible to the public for comment. Um, we we had uh her with us in close session. We're we're going to go ahead and
002proceed as they're trying to get her in on this. Um so that uh um that brings us to a flag salute, right? >> Oh, language access. >> Comments. >> Oh, yes. Uh I want to make a call that if if there's people that are interested in putting in public comment cards that please do so in the next five minutes. um >> and language ass access. >> Good evening everyone. This is an announcement that this meeting will have interpretation, Spanish interpretation and ASL interpretation. Gracias. >> All right, if you'll please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> Ready? Begin. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Oh, I have
003report. Is it Is it an email? All right. Tonight in closed session, the board voted five to zero to approve a 5-day unpaid suspension for a classified employee. With that announcement, then we will move into the student board member report. Trustee, student trustee Taft Vasquez, the floor is yours. All right. Good evening, everyone. Thank you. The 2025 2020 school year 2026 school year is coming to an end. The last day of school for most students is tomorrow, which has contributed to a very low stress environment around campuses. Graduation ceremonies will be held at Dos PBlo San Marcos and Sanora High School tomorrow to honor these seniors and congratulate them on the years of hard work they've put into their education. And I believe Dr. Maldonado and board members will be attending some of these graduations
004and shaking hands on stage. Um on top of this, we had our student advisory council uh end of year celebration last Wednesday. The group met at a restaurant downtown for dinner and I was um very thrilled to hear everyone's thoughts on the year and more importantly um really to get to know get to know the students better um through some very thoughtful questions from Dr. Maldonado. Um, next, uh, I also, last Wednesday I had the privilege of beginning the onboarding process for our, um, next year's student board member, Victoria Martinez. She introduced herself at the last meeting. Um so you may have heard that she has some experience as a part of the student advisory council and she is familiar with this role um a good amount but we still went through a lot about
005board meetings um student advisory council meetings all the structure um site visits um the finance committee the conference um earlier in the year and then different tips I had for her um I was really excited for just to kind of um have this conversation with her because that's not an opportunity I had and I felt that I Um I really really hope um or really hoped I I could prepare her. Uh and then lastly um as many of you may know this is my final board meeting representing students as the student trustee for our district. Therefore, I would also like to take this time to give uh a quick quick thank you. When an email entered my inbox with a flyer for this position, I didn't think much of it. I had spent all of
006my high school experience and these deep in advocacy clubs, community service committees, sports team, school pathways, and tough courses that I didn't really know much about what was happening at this level. Still, there was something about getting to combine all aspects of what I cared about and what I worked towards um together that appealed to me enough for me to give a speech in front of my school and be interviewed by the board. I cannot emphasize enough when I say that this position has changed my life. Every late night school visit, student advisory council meeting has taught me so much about leadership and advocacy. Thank you to Mr. Scoido for your mentorship and your clear care to make this an incredibly transformative experience for me. Mr. Banning for your steady leadership and allowing me to
007take bits of your seemingly infinite knowledge. Miss Caffrey for your persistent and relentless advocacy. Miss Munoz for your passion, consistency, and laughs during our Sacramento trip. Dr. Beal for all the great conversations and wisdom within education and outside of it. And Dr. from Monado for creating this opportunity, guiding me through every step, and always being so supportive with every single one of my ideas. And it doesn't end there. Staff members, teachers, community members, your willingness to attend these meetings, sometimes very late into the night, and speak with a true passion for what you care about has left a lasting impact on how I view leadership and change. And for that, I am forever grateful. I'm sad to be leaving this community, but I know it is in good hands. Thank you. All right. Thank you.
008That will bring us to the superintendent report. Dr. Maldonado. >> So appropriate. Um, thank you so much, Carlos, because I want to start by congratulating you on your final meeting. and for your last year of service as our student board member. Carlos has been an impressive and inspirational student board member. Often being the adult in the room and bringing the clarity at times that we may all be missing, but most of all, he kept his role mission at heart, centering the student voice in everything he does. You have taught me so much and you've been one of my best teachers. Please join me because we do have something for him. I'd like to have everybody please join me in wishing Carlos congratulations as he prepares to graduate from San Marcos uh tomorrow and going off
009to Yale University. We're we're so excited about so many people being promoted and graduating this week and this uh today and tomorrow. Um, as Carlos mentioned, we have had the honor of hosting sixth grade promotions over the last few weeks, including now one that's happening right now at Cleveland Elementary School as we speak. Junior high promotions are tomorrow during the afternoon, and we're set to celebrate our seniors tomorrow evening. Some key highlights of the class of 2026 include 1,479 graduate completers, 241 seals of biiteracy, 700 Golden State seal merit diplomas, and 736 CTE pathway completers. So if you know a graduate, please join me in saying congrats. If you're the parent of a graduate, thank you for bringing them whether it's six years till 8th grade or till senior year for sticking with us and
010getting through all those late nights, homework, parent after uh after school programs, clubs, and even maybe report card time meetings, open school uh back to school nights and conferences. We're so proud of you. We thank you for bringing us your best treasure which is your child and we take that so seriously and every one of them has made us proud. Thank you for that. Next I'd like to bring up Mr. Vance and Miss Alvarado to please join me at the podium. uh board members and parents and staff who are here. As you may have read, we have made some key changes to our technology policies, specifically around YouTube and summer iPad usage in the junior high school space. I'm inviting Mr. Vance to come up and give a quick update, followed by Miss Alvado, which
011I'll tell you more about her in a minute. Mr. Vince, >> uh thank you and congratulations, Carlos. Um uh as part of our work with the balanced learning and technology task force, we address we are addressing several of the key actions during the final days of school that have emerged from our ongoing discussions and planning efforts. So, number one, last Friday, we blocked access for junior high school and high school students to several of the non-instructional Google platforms on their iPad, and this included you, uh, YouTube. So, these platforms were already blocked for elementary students on their iPads. Uh and just to let you know that teachers still have access to these resources and instructional videos and uh they are available or can be made available on Canvas and other district supported platforms. Um another
012key thing is on the right side you'll notice it's our I our excuse me our iPad summer plan. So, uh, starting today, our ETSs team actually went out to the junior high schools and started collecting seventh grader iPads. Uh, this is the first time we've actually been doing that. Uh, during the summer, we'll install the ondevice filter uh on all of the junior high school devices. So when the school starts uh we will be able we will be giving these iPads to our junior high school students with the new filter working on the device. The two other items in particular is or they have to do with uh our eighth graders going into ninth grade. Uh they will be taking their iPads home but we will be blocking their iPad. So it's another term is
013known as bricking the iPad. So you can't really use it. So, um what can happen though is if a parent or we have actually a list of students including peak students who are um needing the iPad because they're taking SBCEC classes. So, we're keeping their iPads alive, right? And if a parent also wants to opt in for their child to use the iPad, they can do that. for 9th through 11th graders who are going into 10th and 12th grade. 10, 11, 12, they'll take their iPads home over the summer. And this will be the first time that parents can actually opt out so they can request for us to turn off their iPads. Something that we're doing similar to the eighth grade iPads. So, those are the latest moves that we are currently doing as
014we continue to make changes uh this summer in ETSs. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Vince. I do want to also thank the balanced uh balanced learning tech committee. Yeah. >> Uh the uh all the parents who have been partnering with us to do this work. This could not have been done without some of the ways that they have sent us resources, research, information. Um, I know that we have a a um report later, but some of our teachers have done the same. And um, this is the perfect time for us to be doing this because this will also not interrupt some of the instructional things we were concerned about in May for many of these devices are used for testing. So, thank you to the team at ETSS and Mr. Cooper as well.
015Now, I'd like to bring up Miss Alvarado as we wrap up the year. I know board members, you've asked me to continuously bring updates of math and literacy. I want to highlight I'm asking Miss Alvar to highlight the progress made this year in one of the Ford board priorities which is literacy. Um she's going to share some exciting results on the screener implementation for grades K through 2 grade. Miss Alvado, it is with great pride that I share the student outcomes. Uh this is a new assessment that we administered this year for kinder through 2 grade and it's a universal screener. We introduced this a while ago and I am pleased to share that we have great results starting with kinder at or above benchmark increased or had a a percentage uh points increase by
01623. uh grade one district-wide outer above benchmark increased by 26% and grade two outer above benchmark is 12 percentage points outcomes and also I want you to notice the red which was also decreased if you just look at kinder from 41 to 24% so students were u well below grade level 41% and end of year at 24%. So this is um K2 districtwide. Next we have the um we have McKinley which is a DLI um school and we administered the same test but in Spanish called Lectura. The next slide and uh we did not see the same results but except for second grade in kinder uh there were no um no change there. uh grade one with a total of about 30ome students, eight percentage point growth in second grade did have a significant growth
017uh of 32 percentage points which was significantly higher than any of the other grade levels uh for um McLass. Thank you. That concludes my I do want to acknowledge thanks to the hard work of our teachers who implemented this new assessment and more than anything progress monitored our student learning and student outcomes every step of the way. So thank you to our teachers, our coaches and side principles who supported this process. Thank you. >> Thank you Miss Alvare and I know thanks to you as well for leading this work. Board members, recall this is a screener that the state adopted for all of us to use and it's really been giving us the right kind of information that gets us to make the interventions sooner than later which is why we're able to see the
018growth from middle of the year to end of the year. So my last report for tonight is service pins. Tonight we have the distinct pleasure of honoring a very special group of individuals. This week marks an incredible milestone for our district. It is the 160th year of Santa Barbara Unified. For over a century and a half, our schools have been the heartbeat of this community. But history is not made in years. It is made by people. We are here to present service pins employees who have had 25 or more dedicated years of service to Santa Barbara Unified. To give two, three, or even four decades of your professional life to one mission is a profound statement. It means you didn't just take a job, you chose a calling. You have been the steady hands, the
019familiar faces, and the bedrock of support for generations of Santa Barbara's children. To we have a total of 62 staff members across our district. And tonight, 18 of those incredible individuals are joining us in the room tonight. I'd like to ask all the board members to stand on the floor with me to shake their hands as they get their pin and their certificate. Mr. Beckio will excuse me, Dr. Beckio will join us and call the names out as well. Thank you. Good evening everyone and thanks for being with us. Um we're going to go ahead and start and um I'm going to start with our person who has the most years of service. U this is 45 years. So there's a 45 year pin and I actually went in to look and see if we
020had any in stock and we didn't. So, we had to special order this one for her, which is no problem because she deserves it. Um, I want to invite up Rosa Cavalto, 45 years Washington Elementary. Next, I want to recognize uh Bridget Burke Ganis from Washington Elementary, 30 years. And with health services, 30 years, Liz Christian from Dose PBLO High School. 30 years, Dan Feld House, San Marcos High School, 30 years. Joe Garcia and from Cleveland Elementary School, 30 years, Rachel Gonzalez Harris. Rachel here. Oh, okay. She's at the graduation. um from Monroe Elementary, 30 years, Sher Martin. And also from Monroe Elementary, 30 years, Nancy Morris, Santa Barbara High School, 30 years. Christine Pekki and from fiscal services purchasing Maria Carmen Rodriguez 30 years. There she is. Okay. from human resources department 30 years.
021Esparanza Viegas. Everyone recognizes Espironza. All right. Moving to 25 years of service from Galita Valley Junior High. Mary Ellen Brown. She's Oh my goodness. How did I do that? Yeah. I'm going to jump back. I'm gonna jump back to 30 years. All right. Jumping back to 30 years. Washington Elementary. Heather Volos. Sorry about that. Okay, we'll get we'll get there. All right. Um, it by the way, we are calling off a list of RS even though that was my mistake, Heather. We're calling off a list of RSVPs. So, if if we didn't get that, we're going to um ask at the end for people that are here that didn't get called because I only have the list of RSVPs. Okay. Um so, don't worry if if your name didn't get called in those years. Uh
022let's see. We have back to 25 years. Um no, we're at 25 years. Fine. years. Anna Cervantes. All right, that was this that was my mistake. That's the second one. Third one, I'm off. I'm probably going to get kicked out of here. Okay. Um, next back down to 25 years. Uh, we have 25 years from Lumba Junior High, Shannon Curtis. and also 25 years Lalina Junior High Steven Dugan and Lumbra Junior High 25 years. Patty Flores from Santa Barbara. Early years, 25 years. Maria Lupita Hernandez. And from Lalina Junior High, 25 years, Rebecca Loey. Becca. Okay. And from Adams, an AOK program, 25 years, Christina Perez Versola. And from Santa Barbara High School, 25 years, Serena Rodenus. Okay. Was there anybody Is there anybody here that did not get their name called that believes they
023should have a certificate from us? Because we have a bunch more up here for you. All right. Everyone that RSVP could make it. Yeah. Congratulations everybody and thank you for your service to Santa Barbara Unified. All right, we're all back here. Um, We we're now at the um public comment of non-aggenda items. Um I just have a statement that we read each time before that. Before we begin the public comment portion of tonight's meeting, the board would like to thank everyone who has joined us to share their perspectives. Your voice is a vital part of our district's governance. Under the provisions of the California Brown Act, the board is legally prohibited from engaging in a back and forth dialogue or taking immediate action on items not specifically listed on tonight's agenda. Because of this, we
024will not be responding directly to your comments this evening. However, please know that silence does not mean indifference. We value your input and take your concerns seriously. Following this meeting, the board will work closely with the superintendent and district staff to ensure all comments are reviewed and that appropriate followup follow-up or research is conducted. We ask that you please adhere to our time limits so that everyone has an opportunity to be heard. Thank you for your partnership in supporting our students and our schools. Considering the number of non-aggenda comments tonight, we will limit individual comment time to two minutes per per speaker. At the end of a 20 minute period, which is our time limit, I will ask the board if they would like to extend the time. We may need to go over a
025little bit to get the comments done. To assist in time management, we're also requesting that the next two speakers be in the room and come to the po podium promptly when being called. With that said, again, welcome. And uh Vice President Munoz, will you please call the first three speakers? >> Thank you. Um the first speaker is Iris Sajour and then followed by Leticia Rash and Mateo Gos. Okay. Good evening board. My name is Iris Seor and I'm a student at Dose PBLO and I'm here today to address the district's systemic failure to protect black students. In 2020, this board passed a resolution vowing to respond swiftly to bias and to expand ethnic studies. But but to me, those were empty words. Recently, we reported a staff member treating the n-word as just a fine
026in a swear jar. And while a principal eventually apologized, why did it have to get to that point? administration initially hesitated, called it tricky, and rejected the Black Student Union's offer to help lead the response. Black students do not feel safe here, and I have personally lost friends who moved away because of it. Why? Why have you allowed a culture of hate to grow on your campuses? Furthermore, San Marcos High offers black studies, yet do PBLO does not, directly breaking your 2020 promise. While healing justice was recently instated, pausing our only support system right after we spoke up shows a clear pattern of trying to silence us and every student deserves safety. We demand you uphold your 2020 resolution and actually protect black students. Thank you and we are Black Student Union. >> Thank you.
027>> Hello board. Leticia Rush with HSB. looking forward to our fourth year of partnership with SBUSD. Filled with pride in our efforts of supporting and mentoring black students. Through our initiative, students have had an invaluable experience in in visiting colleges, connecting with peers, and obtaining leadership skills. Whether it be in historically black college affair and expo, black student alliance conference, UCSB and SBC college tours, or outside events, our black students have had in interactions that foster relationships, provided them with platforms um students that that are able to speak their truth, empowering them to express their experiences and their challenges. We created the BSA direct response in because of the antilack physical and cyber bullying in 2021. Our initiatives aim to combat racial injustices and provide a safe and supportive environment for our black students. Sadly,
028racial slurs and derogatory behaviors persist in our campuses, highlighting the highlighting the urgent need for continued action and awareness. Students have reported the n-word being used casually by non-black students despite the strict no tolerance policy. The normalization of racial slurs underscores a lack of empathy and understanding for the impact these words have on black students. Recently, there has been an increase of reports of racial harassment involving the n-word, allowing allowing these derogatory behaviors shows the systemic and cultural problem that this is unique to Santa Barbara where the racism is tolerated and ignored. If we want to see change, it needs to come from the top. We must ensure that all students feel valued, respected, and safe in their educational environment. HSB stands with our black student united and their demands. >> Thank you. >> Okay.
029And after after Matteo will be see Yako Bleti. Okay. Sorry. Um Adella Richie and S Wajobi. Okay. Sorry. >> Hi everyone. Thank you for taking the time to hear from me today. I wanted to speak to you all because I have concerns about the step the schoolboard has taken to restrict services on school administered devices. I recognize that there are issues that come with unrestricted access to YouTube and other Google services. But I encourage you all to think further about the unintended consequences of limiting these services and academic tools for students and how you plan to address the loss of millions of hours of educational videos and other tools to the students who relied on them the most. 60.2% 2% of students in our district are socio-economically disadvantaged. Low-income students often rely solely on school
030administered devices for educational purposes. Restricting access to these academic tools could unintentionally target low-inccome students who depend on these services to further their education. Low-income students deserve the same access to educational resources as any other student. And considering they may not have access to personal devices where they could use YouTube to study for tests like the SAT and ACT, restricting access on school devices puts them at an unfair disadvantage. In fact, I surveyed over 300 students at San Marcos High School to understand how they would be impacted by new policies. Of the 318 students surveyed, 85.5% answered they use YouTube for help on school-related subjects when they need additional support. Students also shared their personal experiences anonymously through the survey. Student 10 of 318 responded, "I'm a foreign exchange student. As a non-native speaker, terms
031in subject chemistry were pretty tricky for me. The ban of Google Translate worries me because I can't imagine not having access to translate when I first arrived. I really depended on it." Student 44 of 318 responded, "I primarily use my school iPad outside of school, so I'm worried without access to Google services, I'll be put at a disadvantage compared to other students when it comes to test prep." It was clear that students were echoing a similar message. If you take away student access to these educational tools, you must find working alternatives for students who currently rely on these fundamental services. I along with representatives from public high schools will be open to working with the board. Let's put students educations first. Thank you. >> Thank you. Yes. And so um and I'm not sure how
032to pronounce your name by >> um sorry. Hello board. My name is Eco Vallette. I'm a junior at Do Pablo High School. Um and I'm the current historian for the DP Black Student Union and I'm going to be the president next year. Since my freshman year, I've heard stories about all the racist actions taken against black students at our school and I have witnessed this harassment firsthand. Our school has a policy stating that they have commitment to diversity and inclusion. These posters are placed all around classrooms and all around cafeterias and just any space where students are around. I find extremely hypocritical that this is happening because black students get constantly harassed and accosted in the halls and in class. Unfortunately, it has not gotten better since my freshman year. Last year, two black students
033at our school were continually called the nword by a white student. And then, when no further action was taken against the white student, monkey noises were made at them as they did nothing but pass through the halls. When they finally got the courage to go to their counselor about it, they were the ones that got in trouble. And as far as they knew, no disciplinary action had been taken towards a student who had perpetrated this harm against them. Students at DP and all over the district have gotten used to being constantly harassed in an environment where the only thing they should be worried about is their homework or test that's coming up. Instead of being worried about missing assignments, black students have to be worried about being harassed for the simple act of their existence.
034And through experience, we have learned to be afraid of speaking up against the people who have harmed us. Do PBLOS is a school that preaches inclusivity for all and constantly promotes the no tolerance they have for hate speech. But when students do speak up about issues on campus, they will try and respond in a way that will make the school look good, not in a way that will positively impact the harm students. That is why we demand that there should be a no a zero tolerance policy against non-black students usage of the nword. And we demand that this hatred be combed by education and proof that the student understands that what they did was wrong because the color of our skin should not be a target placed on her back. Thank you. >> Thank you.
035Okay. So after after Adella will be Seeno and Amina Ahmed and Rich Lashwa. Good evening. My name is Asha Richie and I'm speaking to you all as a graduating senior and former president of the Black Student Union at Santa Barbara High School. We demand that these changes be made for the well-being of students and the community as a whole. Starting with one, there must be a zero tolerance policy for the usage of n-words on campus from all non-black students, regardless of the context, whether it is being used for slang purposes or as a slur. There must also be appropriate action for these crimes against black people. Immediate response and parent notification of both students involved. PI parents and guardians of both students must be informed immediately after the incident is reported and documented. The students
036responsible must complete a reflection assignment or essay explaining why the usage of the n-word and racist behavior is deeply harmful to the black community and the broader school community. Continued or repeated racist behavior should result in stronger disciplinary action, including and up to detention, suspension, removal from extracurricular activities, and further administrative consequences. A percentage of community service hours could be removed. The student would need to complete service hours that directly benefit communities that are impacted by discrimination and promotes cultural understanding and inclusion. Depending on the severity of the incident, a note should also be left on this student's permanent record. Number three, a contextual history behind the n-word and its impact on society as well as the black community must be implemented into all English courses in seventh grade and then continued in English 9.
037This ensures that all students understand the gravity as they begin their time in high school. Four, all curricula must be intertwined with black representation throughout the school year, not just during Black History Month. We are Black Students United. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh my my name is Seno WJ uh Santa Barbara High School former BSU vice president and I'm going to continue Ashayla's BSU demands. Uh number five to follow Black History Month uh Black History Month must be advertised just as uh other cultural awareness months. The celebration of black excellence and history should not feel or be represented as inferior or secondary to other c another culture. Six, reports of antilackness must fully pro uh be fully proceeded and addressed. Seven, teacher training on how to handle hate crimes and other race related issues
038that are not skippable. The current training is not sufficient. The majority of teachers are either not empathetic or completely ignore these issues due to the lack of understanding how to mediate these instances. And lastly, we'd like to hire black teachers and counselors to support and represent students. We are Black Students United. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So, the next speaker is Amina Ahmed. Is she here today? Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm doing good. >> Is it the green button? >> Pardon? >> Yes. And I'm going to call the next um it be Rich Lasha, York Shingle. >> Oh. Oh, sorry. >> Oh, that's okay. Uh Rich Lashwa, York Shingle, and then a virtual comment by Simone Ruscap. >> Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. My name is Amina Ahmed and I work with Healing Justice
039as a Black Student Alliance mentor helping to uplift the local black community and high school students. As a staff member who works with these students closely and hears their lived experiences, I want to reiterate that these are young black students who are wanting to focus on their education without having to endure any antilack sentiments and racist racism. We ask the district to move beyond promises and commit to measurable change that ensures that every black student can learn in an environment where they are safe, respectful, respected, and valued. Thank you. >> Thank you. Excuse me. When adults present the destination of grades and test scores as more important than the journey of learning, kids will always look for the fastest path through AI or other dishonest means. Even the most disengaged student tells us much about
040what we value in the classroom. True learning unites us around common goals. Now, don't get me wrong, test scores are one important measure, but let's be honest, they're an area of education that's increasingly easy to falsify, and dwindling in re relevance to the skills needed to navigate our adult world. If this district wants to see students thrive, investing in what makes them human is the fastest way to hold much of the concerns about AI in check. The crucial reason AI can't take a bow after the final curtain on Hamlet. AI will never know the rush of a standing ovation or seeing people dance to the music you're making or the pride in having your submission win at the art festival. When we give kids these experiences, they gain courage, persistence, confidence, and creativity that lets
041them tackle the unknown in their seemingly unrelated disciplines of science, math, English, and so on. And if there is anything that is most unknown to our kids, it's the future. Yet, California annually hands this district a giant bucket of indefinite free money to specifically foster, bolster, and increase their artistic exposures and pursuits. The proposal of the seventh period of the junior highs next year is a step in the right direction, but it's not a magic bullet. The arts are the most natural inroad to remind students of their cultural heritage. When we invest in the humanities, we end up with better humans. Let's go change the world. >> Thank you. Uh, good evening. I'm York Shingle, president of Santa Barbara Teachers Association. Later tonight, you get to hear the incomparable Kim Tilton present on the State
042of the Union, and she will say everything much better than I could, so I don't need to address that at all. Um, tonight I'm here to support what you've heard from our black students. We need to do better as a district and as a system. We need to stop being reactive to the racism we know exists in the system and start being proactive. We can't wait until the next Cabal Board update to make changes. Tonight, you reheard the suggestion of a common response and education if and when a student uses a racial slur or other hate-based action. We started that work a few years ago with equity leads at each site, but then that work fizzled out. I want to remind you that it was just two years ago when a group of us had
043to work around a district administrator to embed lessons on the in the curriculum to address the harm of the n-word. When we asked the year after about training any new teachers to that curriculum, we were told we couldn't do trainings anymore. The work has been trying to happen at the teacher level. We need it to be systematic and widespread so that our students aren't suffering anymore. Let's start doing it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, after the virtual comment, we will have um Tamara Monte and Roberto Ortega and Charles Claw Claw. Hello. Are you all able to hear me? >> Yes. >> Hi everyone. Um this is Simone. I'm one of the co-founders of Healing Justice. I'm really here um just to repeat that we as Healing Justice, not only do we care,
044support, and love black students, but we believe them. I think it's incredibly incredibly wonderful and amazing for each of them to have shown up here tonight. But as we saw so many other students be celebrated and employees be congratulated on their years of service, black students are having to remind you all to do the jobs that you are paid and elected to do, which is incredibly disappointing and not something that our young people should have to do. I would also say on top of that, these complaints and concerns are things that black students have mentioned for over the past four months. Um Leticia and I from Healing Justice and our staff Jasmine, Faith, Naila, Amina have also brought this up to administrators over the past several months and we cannot see where changes have taken
045place. Conversations are not enough. Students have been very clear about the things that they need. There need to be investigations on why so many reports of bias and use of the nword have not gone investigated, why reports are missing. We need to have more information about why there was a swear jar and why a dollar was being collected when the n-word was being used and why those reports were not actually filed. We need to see that the n-word and not use of the n-word is included in all classes, not just ethnic studies. And we need to see specifically the allegations shared online about DP school teachers and administrators be investigated thoroughly. We know the district knows because we got calls and messages about what was happening at DP, but that was after information was shared
046publicly. We did not see the same response when students kept coming to the board meeting and telling you all directly that how they were being treated was not okay. So, we ask you to actually do your jobs and if you say you care about black students to show us what that means. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening board members. I'm standing here tonight know not only as a teacher but as someone who's deeply frustrated, disappoint disappointed and frankly angry about how our school community continues to be treated. My school community is the Santa Barbara Community Academy. What is happening at our school feels like we're being set up to fail. You may say our school is not closing, but when you continue to strip resources from our campus, what exactly are you are we
047supposed to believe? Because from where we stand, it feels like decisions are being made that are slowly dismantled what little stability our students have. And once again, we're at the end of the school year and our we are losing access to our steam and art teachers. For years, our children have endured constant turnover in special teachers. There has been no continuity of program and no continuity of relationships with the adults who support them. And now, instead of fixing the instability, you are taken away even more. You take from our school to fulfill the needs of others. Let's talk honestly about the optics of that. We serve a population with high needs, socially disadvantaged, and vulnerable students. students who benefit deeply from trusted adults, consistency, and opportunities for creativity and engagement. Yet, the people who build
048these relationships with these students are the very people who are being removed. What message are you sending to children when the adults they trust disappear after year? Because the children are noticing. They ask us, "Why do we always have a new STEM and art teacher every year?" And now we get to answer an even harder question. Why don't we get an art or steam like other schools? I would generally like some of you to come into our campus and answer those questions for them. Look at those students in the eyes and explain why their students get why their school gets less. Explain why their opportunities are negotiable. Because what students are hearing through these decisions is this. You do not matter. Your school comes last. And while these decisions are difficult enough, the lack of
049communication and transparency surround them has been unacceptable. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Roberta Ortega. >> Good evening. I would like to um reiterate and piggyback off of my colleague Tamara Montag's comments about the way that our school has been treated and specifically the lack of transparency uh regarding our staffing and our new um or first we were not going to have an assistant principal and now we are. um has created a climate of distrust and um we have come here already speaking about how that has caused problems and it seems that nobody is really listening because we again are being set up to fail. Um we I understand later tonight you will be appointing a principal for our school. Again, no communication about that. I found out about it on the weekend from a
050parent who happened to look at the board minutes um for tonight. uh you are setting up the new principal also to come into a difficult situation because of how you have set up this whole thing with lack of transparent communication. And on um May 8th, Dr. Maldonado wrote to our staff in a follow-up to the meeting that she had to come back to to clean up the first mishandling of the communication that we will quote, "We will closely monitor enrollment in the fall once we have accounted for all students after the norm enrollment date. By winter, we will be able to make a firm decision on a path forward whether to consolidate the two small elementary schools or create a K8 school or keep a single principal for both schools. Currently, we have one TK
051and one kindergarten. We have been told by the school district that we are not allowed to have a second TK or even start a waiting list to see if there would be enough students to open up a se second TK classroom. So, how are we supposed to try to grow our enrollment if we are not allowed to start a waiting list or have another TK classroom? Why are we being told that we will monitor enrollment and then make a firm decision on a path forward? When we look at the numbers in October, we already know what they are. They're going to be what Dr. Malden already told us because we're not getting any new students. So, together with the staffing issues that Mrs. Montag brought up how our staffing is our staff are being sent
052to other schools. It seems that decisions have already been made about our school or the district is setting us up to fail. So if we are really closely monitoring the enrollment then our school should be given the chance to grow our enrollment or wrap up your comments. I'm wrapping it up right now. If decision has already been made >> by the district then please don't give our school community false hopes >> and about future decisions. be honest and transparent about your plans and don't make our parents and staff waste their time and energy if you have already made decisions about our school. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, the next speaker is Charles. I'm sorry. >> Hold on just a moment. Dr. Maldonado, >> I just want to clarify there is no uh board
053agenda item today to assign a principal to SPCA. I think that the cons the item that may have been misleading was that we had a assignment of a Santa Barbara Junior High School principal. >> That's on that's on our agenda. >> Thank you for um the clarification. >> Hey, the next the next speaker, excuse me, the next speaker is Charles Cow. >> Um I actually asked to comment on F1, not on non-aggendaized comment. So, I'll wait. Thank you. >> Oh, thank you. >> Okay. Um, and that was the last speaker. >> All right. Thank you. Um, thank you for those of you in attendance and your comments tonight. We appreciate your engagement. Um, this brings us to uh board correspondence and comments. We'll give them a moment. All right, Vice President Munoz comments. >> Thank
054you. Um, yes, since the last meeting, um, I attended the DEML U committee meeting along with Dr. bill. Um and also the Lalina reclassification of students um EML students um the retirement celebration which was amazing um just to see how many years were acred by our employees and celebrating them. Um, I also attended the uh AI uh task force and participated in one of the groups. And I did want to also take this moment to announce the um remind folks about the Junth celebration which is coming right up at Plaad in Santa Barbara. The information is at their website uh junthsb.org. Uh thank you. >> Thank you Trusty Escobedo. Thank you. Um, first I just want to say congratulations to Carlos. It has been uh very rewarding to watch you um this year. It's almost
055like you've been doing it for multiple years. And you did something that I have not seen a student school board member do, and that's go to every school site and engage with elementary students, junior high students, other high school students, and really bringing their perspective into this boardroom uh on tough issues. You have weighed in and I think you've swayed the discussion of the school board, which is what your position is intended to do. And I think you've really approached your role on the school board in a way that I think will affect school board members moving forward. Even the idea of having an onboarding is a terrific idea. And so I have no doubt that you're going to bring that same tenacity and care and thoughtfulness to your time at Yale. And I hope
056that one day you are I get to vote for you someday. I hope you run for office and you're running for Senate or governor or something. Um, so I appreciate you. Congratulations. Look forward to seeing you tomorrow at your graduation. Um, I'd also like to just touch on a few things that we heard tonight. And just in saying this is my last year on the school board and so I've been doing a lot of reflecting and in my first year on the school board um I remember the climate assess the racial climate assessment that came to the board and how heavy the discussion was and the things that we read in that report and um there was a lot of momentum and there was a lot of support for the work that we were embarking
057on. And that's not to say that there isn't support for the work now, but I remember in that discussion mentioning that they're going to be lowhanging fruit that we're going to institute the three Rs and we are going to do a lot of education. We introduced the modules. We we did not all of the work was easy, but it was work that we could do quickly. And I remember mentioning three and a half years ago or three years ago that at some point like we have to keep that momentum going and we have to remember that this is something that we are taking on and we're taking on seriously. And it's going to mean that at some point we're going to have to tackle the more systemic portions of antilackness on our school campuses. And
058we have done some of that work in creating cabba which I think um I'm fortunate enough to be on cabba and listen to the discussion and just really listen to the wealth of knowledge and thoughtfulness and diversity of experience that is on that committee and they have solutions and suggestions some of which we heard tonight or at least got to the spirit of what tonight's uh recommendations or requests were from our Black Student union at DP. So, I look forward to those coming to the board for us to discuss and really um take them seriously. really this board as it changes, as it moves forward, as it evolves, even this board now, we have to recommmit and this district needs to recommmit to the promise that we made three and a half years ago and
059even before that when we first decided to even do the racial climate assessment before I was even on the board to do that. It it was the right decision and I commend that board and I commend Dr. from Maldonado and I commend our staff, but it's now time to recommmit to that work and it's time to really not to say we're not taking it seriously, but really think about how we're going to attack the systemic issues. And it's not easy work, it's not quick work, it doesn't happen in one fell swoop, and there is no one silver bullet. But the same way that we came up with our four board priorities, in the same way that we have been clear about early literacy being really important and we saw some great results tonight, we also
060need that same steadfast dedication to this topic as well. And I think we heard many requests like I said or talked about in Cabo that are quite reasonable. I would like for us to engage with our black student alliances and our black student unions to keep them in the fold. Yes, we have students on CABA, but we should be engaging these folks at our high schools and our junior highs as they expand to keep them in the process as we're developing these new tools. We do want we talk about um God, what's the word? Sorry. Um, having curriculum that is similar. What's the >> aligned aligned curriculum across our schools. We also need aligned approaches to responding to situations of antilackness and we'll we'll have this discussion a little bit later. We have new principles.
061We have new teachers. We need this is an ongoing education thing that we need to do. And I do agree that the modules are not enough. That's great for common language. That's great for introducing concepts, but it's not the best at growing someone's capacity to deal with these situations in real time. So, um, I would like for us to continue this conversation. I look forward to having CABA bring their recommendations, but I would also like us to engage our black students and their black student unions and their black student alliances to bring them into the know of what work we are doing and what work we are committing to. So, that's my challenge to the board. Um, and um, yeah, I'll just leave it there. >> Thank you, Trusty Escobedo. I I'd just like to
062say um I think I I suspect there's strong agreement across the the the dis at this point and I would welcome an opportunity uh perhaps at the end of this meeting with the future agenda items so that we can have this discussion when it has been agendaized and and um u and move forward um uh to discuss more tangibly uh the things you that you you just expressed so well. Thank you. >> Thank you. others. Dr. Beal, do you have comments tonight? >> Uh I know uh Trusty Caffrey is online. Do you have comments? >> Yes. Hello. Hi. >> Welcome. >> Thank you very much. And I I think Trusty Banning, you said it perfectly and um Trustee Escobedo that I would love to talk about um exactly what you said during future agenda items.
063Um so thank you. Uh and I'll just continue my thank yous. I have a number of thank yous today. Um I want to start by really thanking you Carlos for your thoughtful contributions to the board for serving on the finance committee with us. um you really brought a great perspective um and strong student voice to our board. So I really thank you. Thank you very much to Mr. Vance and Mr. Cooper for this fast action on tech safety. I feel we've made so much progress. Um thank you to everyone who served with me on the special education financial advisory committees and tech committees. I appreciate your commitment and I really look forward to working with you again next year, those of you who are coming back. Um, and then I just want to finally say
064congratulations to our graduates and I wish you all the best going forward. >> I only >> Excuse me. >> Yeah, sure. You >> You want to wait? Okay. I I only have a couple of things. I just wanted to say that I had the opportunity to attend the retiree event on May 28th as well. And um what did we count up the number of years the man years? It was some amazing amount. >> I didn't know the >> but but it was just an astounding number that we know about community members giving their lives to this district. And um this is such noble important work and it is so often underappreciated and so often tied up into controversies and bumping heads about what's the right thing to do that um I just want to take
065a chance to say thank you to the retirees to the service credit folks um for being dedicated to uh the most noble work that there is. Um I'm looking forward to attending the San Marcos High School um graduation tomorrow night. It's the only high school that that I've got kind of been working through them and I'm looking forward to that last one. Um, and then I would also say that um when I first got on the board um I was uh hadn't been aware that the the district had added the student trustee and I was so excited to see it. Um and but really wondering what is what what does that look like? And um Carlos, you are you're the next in a succession of successful people that have students that have come up and
066played in this role and every time the bar gets set a little higher. Um I I um respect so much what you have brought um not only here but in the work on the superintendent's advisory council and uh um wanted to say thank you to you and man the the shoes are huge to fill and you know what I think they're going to be filled. I think we're establishing a a a reputation for the excellence and importance of the student voice at the board table. Thank you for your time and service. >> It's 1500 years total. I gave you graduate numbers. >> Okay. All right. >> Um I know we're going to talk about this a little bit later, but I just want to uh also make a comment that and want to make it
067clear. We do not want any student to ever feel unsafe, unwelcome, or unpro unprotected on our campuses. Hearing our black students tonight and telling us about how they are hurting is concerning, and we are taking all of their experiences to heart. I agree with uh Trustee Escoedo that while the district has systems in place to address uh concerns like these and that are meant to repair any harm caused to a student or a staff member. Those systems only work if the people in it are working it. And I know that we need to try to get ahead of that and change up how we're doing it because we are needing to refresh and rethink how that work will be done. I want to make a continued commitment on how we need to all work to
068support our black and African-American students and all our students and when these issues arise we will use those systems of investigation but more importantly support and repair the students who help those in times of need. Thank you. >> Thank you. That will complete the board correspondence. Moves us into section F which is discussion and agenda. The first one, F1, is the Santa Barbara Teachers Association State of the Union report. And I do understand we have one public comment on that before we get to the Oh, after the presentation. That's right. So, uh, we are ready for SBTA State of the Union 2026. >> All right. Good evening. I'll wait for a moment. There we go. Awesome. All right. Well, good evening. Thank you board members and district leadership for having me tonight. My name is
069Kim Tilton and I'm an executive board member for SBTA and I've been a teacher at San Marcos High School for 13 years. Thank you for allowing us to share our insights from the 2026 State of the Union report. Um, so the goal for this evening is that we get to look back and look at 2025. It was an inaugural year, an inaugural effort that wasn't just a survey, but a commitment to an effort of the union and our core belief and responsive leadership that the experience, the expertise, and the insights from teachers would drive our decision-making and our advocacy for our profession. And um tonight we get to do something even more exciting which is to monitor the progress and see if we've made improvement towards the goals that we identified. So last year we
070got to see a whole suite of experiences from teachers. We analyzed that data. We made recommendations. And tonight I invite you to ask questions that only this longitudinal data allows us to ask. So let's see. I learned how to do this last time. Okay, so tonight the presentation and really the power of this moment is because we gave a survey, the same comprehensive survey year-over-year, now we have the ability to reflect on progress. And that's what we're going to be doing tonight. Rather than introducing new ideas or new data or new priorities, we're going to do what the goal was, which is to reflect on how our choices have led to changes for teachers. So, before we dig in, I just want to give you some statistics about our survey. Uh, this year, I'm really
071proud to tell you that 571 educators responded. That's 81% of all educators both in and not in the union. Uh which is up from 67% last year which I think reflects uh how meaningful the survey is and that this work is making a difference that we were able to bring so many more educators into the space. Um 13 out of our 18 sites had 75% of their staff participate and complete the survey. The reason these numbers matter is they tell us it's not just a small group of vocal teachers. The data you're seeing tonight really reflects us as a whole group. And I think that's really important. And the last piece I want us to focus on is last year we saw a similar trend, which is that we have a large percentage of our
072staff that have five years or less of experience. And I want us to hold space for that lens because the years of experience teachers have impact every aspect of their job. Workload, job satisfaction, and also their ability to deliver instruction and provide spaces for students. And so just want to keep that in the back of our mind as we move through um our presentation tonight. So uh this slide may look familiar because it's the exact same slide that was the last slide of our presentation last year. So at the end of the presentation we kind of distilled our feedback into three areas of growth. Um we looked at negotiations which was salary and benefits. We looked at teacher support and professional development. So again, rather than introducing new ideas, I want to just go back
073to the goals that we set tonight and monitor our progress in these spaces. So before we jump into a bunch of data, I do want to touch on a growing issue which is this idea of teacher retention which I know is not a challenge that just our district experiences. But we really need to understand how the demographics of our staff are changing. I would imagine they would actually have a lot of impacts on other folks works too outside of the classroom. So I know these graphs might be a little difficult but basically the highlighted areas luckily we have three years worth of data on this. We have 2324 which is that gold color. We have the teal line which is 2425 and then we have the blue bars which are this year. And what we
074can see is that we have a growing number of what we call early career educators. And we have this bifurcation this hollowing out of the center of the career. And that's concerning for a number of reasons. Uh one of that those is that early educators face a lot of challenges um that we need to consider. But also folks like midcareer that would be me are often our leaders in spaces. And um as we think about how we're going to set up systems, we need to think about the future and what this means for professional development in other spaces. And right now, a Santa Barbara Unified School District student has a one in4 chance of being taught by a teacher that has five or less years of experience. And what data tells us is extreme amount
075of growth happens in our profession in that time period. Um, and so we really need to be thinking about how that's impacting our student outcomes as well and how it's really important that we create uh conditions that don't just attract really quality educators but develop them and retain them so that they can build long-term careers in our district. Um, because if we're going to put all this effort in, we want to hold on to these folks. Um and if this trend continues, uh this suggests we'll experience a continued increase in that in about 5 years we'll see our average years of experience decrease from 13.8 to 11.9 years. So focusing back on last year, I want to talk about negotiations, salary and benefits. So this isn't represented on this particular graph, but we saw huge
076gains. Negotiations were a big deal and the district made big moves and there was a huge change in satisfaction. Before negotiations in 2023, people were expressing really kind of abysmal feelings about job satisfaction and we made huge gains. And so you can see on the how are you feeling about your current salary that those gains are softening but we're still kind of riding the high of that progress. And so my recommendation or our recommendation is that as we move into negotiations next year that we protect and we're proactive about keeping that momentum and making sure that our salaries stay in a pace where people are continuing to feel satisfied. The more interesting space for me is you can see that our feelings about benefits have actually transitioned quite a bit and folks we had an
07711% decrease in people's feelings of satisfaction about benefits. When you contextualize that with just economic factors in the world plus the fact that we weren't able to make any movement on that this year, that data set makes a lot of sense for me. And I'm hoping that district leaders can think ahead and go, okay, we know that benefits is going to be a space where we're going to have to make some movement for folks or otherwise we might see this uh getting more concerning. So ultimately our feedback and our ability to look at change here is to say hey we know that negotiations are coming. Salary and benefits are obviously foundational for retention and we just ask that as we look at budgets going into next year that we prioritize them and just keep keep
078writing the success that we've made and and not dip back into the dark the dark days. Um, and so I really wanted to spend most of tonight's presentation on teacher support. I love that because a lot of teacher support doesn't actually have to cost more money. A lot of the things that affect how we feel supported are anchored in um good decision making and strong leadership. And so last year we looked at workload and unfortunately uh folks are feeling that their work is more unmanageable. But there was an aha moment for me when I thought about the lens of our demographics. If you look at the graph on the right, what you're looking at is how the years of experience impact how you perceive your workload in terms of manageability. Well, if we're increasing the
079amount of early career educators and we know they're more likely to say that their workload is less manageable, it just makes sense that as we have more new teachers, we see a shift in that manageability. And I'm sure Dr. Maldonado for sure remembers those first early years. I mean, I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. like making a PowerPoint slide. It's overwhelming the amount of growth that new teachers have to experience. And so their workload truly is harder for them. You know, if you've been kicking it for 25 years, you've got some skills, you know, and you can handle that workload. And so thinking about this data and thinking about the shift in our workforce, how can leadership make decisions about workload that help teachers? because regardless of whether you're new or not, um on average
080people are spending a lot of time outside of work. So I wanted to show you a little bit data about exactly how much time uh teachers are spending. So to dig into workload, one lens we can look through workload is reported unpaid hours. So we asking like, hey, outside of the contracted day, how many hours of work a week do you do? And it's kind of overwhelming. 71% of folks spend five hours or more outside of their contracted hours. And that's supported by the amount of people saying that their work is unmanageable. It's unmanageable because you can't finish it during the workday. And so you take it home with you. And most of staff cited lesson planning. You could pick more than one. You can see those numbers know obviously add up more than 571.
081So, they were able to select multiple options, but far and away lesson planning uh took up the most time. And that makes sense to me because it's really timeintensive work. And so, what can leaders do to support this? Some ideas I had about that is thinking about protecting spaces where teachers have work time. That means prep time. That means paid collaboration time. Um that means that if you're going to introduce a new curriculum, a new initiative, new expectations for instruction, you have to ask statistic leaders that are doing that like, hey, where's the time for the teachers to digest this, to learn this, to practice this? Every new piece that we add to a teacher's puzzle requires a tremendous amount of front-end work. And the challenge I have for board members and district leaders is
082when we have that new thing, think about the whole picture of time that it would truly take for a teacher to implement that work. Um because lesson planning is going to be a big part of a lot of that. Um so yeah, good news though. Um, I thought the bottom graph from last year, we don't have as many like crazy crazy people out there. The 10 to 15 hours went down a little bit. So, I thought that was good. Um, so there was some improvement, just a little bit, but there was improvement in work outside of contracted hours. So, I wanted to acknowledge that. Uh, so thinking again about teacher support and thinking about working outside of your contracted hours and thinking about lesson planning, we asked teachers and this was in our report last
083year and it's in our report this year. What are your highest areas of need? You know, what do you need to be successful? The reality is that our students needs are getting more diverse every day and we are being asked to address an ever growing set of those needs and the the number one support both years in a row has been support staff. These are people who work directly with students. Think para educators, think psychologists, behavior specialists, family liaison. I know it sounds good to like buy a new curriculum or pick the perfect professional development, but at the end of the day, sometimes you really just need like more humans and you need more resources for children. And so again, this ties back to negotiations because people cost money. But you can take faith in
084that that's a good priority because your teachers are telling you, your educators are telling you like, "Hey, the thing I want more than anything is more support to meet these kiddos needs." And if you're wondering why there's like bands, another piece I want to add is that depending on what your assignment is, your needs are different. And so the different colors represent what type of teacher assignment you have. And so if you really wanted to dig into the report and you wanted to know more, we could piece out for you like maybe there are certain types of positions who need certain types of resources more than others. So I invite the board to look more into that data which we'll provide for you. All right. So started think about workload, started thinking about, you know,
085support staff and then I started thinking about stress. So we have a bunch of questions that are kind of revolving around this teacher experience and support makes sense to me that general workload is the number one, but tied at roughly 21% is student behavior and engagement. I thought workload is kind of covered in our some of our suggestions earlier, but maybe what we also need to be looking at is also making recommendations about student behavior and engagement. And this pie chart is ex basically exactly the same as it was last year. So that really aligns with us monitoring the same data that we were looking at last year. So, I want to transition to talking about student behavior and engagement and why that might be causing stress for teachers and what we can do as
086leaders to make some improvements in that space. Uh, so student behavior, we've got two different pieces here, but I wanted you to think about them together. The first is how often you experience significant classroom management challenges related to student behavior. And we have data from last year and this was super interesting. I want you to note that there's improvement um that monthly the monthly experiences has decreased and you've had a shift into less than monthly but then some of it has moved into weekly into every day. And so that means for some folks things have improved and then for other educators this has gotten more intense. I think one of the more disturbing aspects of the data is there's a significant percentage of teachers about 40% who are experiencing like pretty regular um what we're
087considering significant classroom management related issues. And we know that if the teachers reporting that then the other students in the room are also experiencing disruptions to their learning. And that's why this is also really important to tune into. Every day 18% of educators are experiencing a disruption every day. That means 18% or so of students maybe roughly are experiencing disruption in their learning every day. Um but again I know looking at support and these other lenses that what your assignment is also really impacts these outcomes. So, I wanted you to see I divvied up the data based off of what your assignment is. And there's huge diversity in terms of the educator experience in terms of what this looks like in the rate of um disturbance. So, uh I just that's there for you to
088think about. But, you know, elementary specials, for example, is a space we'd really want to look to first uh because they're obviously having higher rates than other spaces. So the question is what are we going to do about this? Like what can leadership do about management systems? And so I want to continue this line of thinking. Uh it's also related to stress. So why I'm going to try to build my argument for why should we really be looking at systems of management? Not only if we're reporting these disruptions that can affect learning, it's also impacting the amount of stress that teachers are reporting they're feeling. Um, and the good news is we've have made some improvements. If you look on the right, you know, the very frequently was super high last year and that's gone
089down significantly, 12%. However, 52% of educators continue to report feeling very or frequently stressed. We know as educators it's stress is a bit of part of the job, but feeling it um very frequently or frequently is clearly tied to some other aspects of our work. And again, depending on what site, this was same data we looked at last year and it hasn't shifted very much. So, I didn't add last year's that would just have been a crazy graph. there had been stripes everywhere. Um, where you worked super impacted your stress as well, which that also is related to your assignment. Are you an elementary? Are you a secondary? But I will say, I mean, obviously these were anonymized. Uh, but it's also diverse within the same space. So, elementary from one site to another, stress
090was reported very differently. And if we have educators that are having such a diversity of experience, then we know that we have students that are having a diversity of experience. And I think that's why this work is really important. Beyond just helping our educators, we know that it's going to help our students as well. So looking at behavior management because I feel like this reporting of incidences, reporting of stress is linked to behavior management at the site level. Ultimately, it's our site leadership that are responsible for creating systems of management, being consistent, setting clear expectations, and having a plan for basically how the school and classroom should be run. And unfortunately only 6% of educators feel that their site is very effectively managed and this is actually down from last year and this was the
091data that we shared. So this was a an area of growth that we asked for and we're kind of moving the boat a little bit in the wrong direction there. But the good direction is the very ineffective is down. So we've shifted some sites or some folks out of the very ineffective to ineffective, but our very effective also decreased. So maybe it's just zero growth in that. Uh but overall it's still a really really concerning space. And then again below we have it based off of site and you can see that those behavior management systems are very very different. And ultimately what I think the community, what a parent wants to know, what a student wants to know is regardless of where I go to school, what are the expectations for me? What's going to
092happen if I don't meet those expectations? What are the supports for me if I don't meet them? What are the supports for my teachers? The goal is that we can guarantee that the students going to have the same support and the same experience regardless of what school they go to. And unfortunately the data doesn't currently support that. And I love that we can use educator data to help us see that. But also this is explains why on one day you'll meet a teacher who's just thrilled and they love where they work and everything is great and then the next day you'll run into someone and it feels like the world is on fire because that's probably true for both of them at the same time. Um so behavior management at the district level. So last
093year we had this graph and I thought this is a celebratory moment. Um there's a 15% increase in folks sentiment towards the district and its impact on behavior management. And yeah it's still a little tough to look at. You know 55% of people still holding on to negative views about that. But what it does show is that and the challenge here for our district leadership is to ask why this change. What did we do? Did we make some decisions? Did we implement a new system that would have created this sentiment change? And if so, let's dig into that. Um, and we have we can parse this data out in different ways and kind of see where these spaces improve the most. But the piece I want to talk about here is that site level administrators
094they need the support of their leaders to help implement these management systems like they need their own pro professional growth. Turnover in teachers is problematic but turnovers in site admin is also really problematic. So maybe the goal of the district is to ask how can we help support our site admin so that they can create really comprehensive equitable systems of support so that the teachers at their sites can also experience that and then the students can too. So I would invite my ask I guess would be like thinking about what are we doing for our site admin to help them in that space and also to ask like hm where did that 15% come from? Let's kind of lean into that and see if we can keep pushing this in the right direction. And I
095think it's hopeful. You can have like a positive impact. Sometimes it feels like at the district office that you can't impact teachers, but you can and you do. Uh, which I think is honestly a little exciting. Um, and that leads me to kind of a case study. So, our survey included a lot of questions just about the culture of schools, which I first think demonstrates that educators, teachers really care about students and these spaces in our school that we're even collecting the data, which is great. And the purpose of including this slide, so this is looking at hate-based language um over the past two years. So, we ask teachers um when you report racist, bias, sexist, hate-based language or actions, is there followup? And so, to provide some context, a year ago, we got training
096called Speak Up at School, which was brought from a nonprofit organization. Um, and we got it pretty consistently, I remember, at my site, from my admin for a whole year. We had pamphlets. It was a constant conversation. And I think the growth that we experience here in this graph is from that commitment that lasted for that year. And so the first piece I want to note is that when we commit to professional development, it can change outcomes for teachers and students. But I also want to acknowledge that although there was some growth in the space, what we heard tonight and what we know is true is that there's a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done. The truth is it should be every time, 100% of the time that we effectively respond to
097hate-based language. And what our black students express tonight is that they are facing real racism every day still. And the context I want to give you is that this year, a year after that training, which isn't necessarily represented data, I didn't get any training on speak up at school. that PD was picked up and put down. And that's a very common experience across lots of districts. We pick things up and we put things down. But my ask and the union's ask is that when we look at professional development, we need longevity. Longevity is what allows educators to actually change and build over time. Longevity is what guarantees change for students that is needed. I saw a professional development plan. Again, it was just one year roadmap. If we're just always doing one-year road mapaps, we're
098going to end up in the same place every time. And that's what makes educators feel like they're in a constant yo-yo and that every year there's something new. And what we learned tonight is there's some things that are just so important. We can't risk picking up and putting down equity work. we can't risk picking up and putting down um you know anti-racist work. And so I think this data is really important because it shows that PD does matter. Teachers can grow. Teachers can change. Administrators can grow. This is more about administrative response. And so we have to think deeply about our core values and what PD we really want to commit to because one in five educators still report an incident frequency as monthly or more. And it only takes one incident to make a
099kid feel safe for I'm sorry unsafe forever. And so we're committed to that work. And I also feel that this is evidence that that work matters. it can make a difference and that we need to commit to being really thoughtful about our PD. And the last piece I want to add is if we use the lens of having more new teachers, you can't have a training and then not have it the next year because some of your staff didn't get it. So thinking about all of the trainings we're doing. If we're rotating through staff, then that means we can't make that growth. And um yeah, so it's all just kind of interconnected. So there's a connection as we saw there to professional development and teacher support and student outcomes and experiences. So the last piece
100we brought forward last year was around professional development. And what we can see from this graph is that essentially we had negative movement on professional development. 55% of educators reported being unsatisfied or very unsatisfied compared to 52% last year. We still have cohorts where none of the educators who received that PD felt very satisfied with it. Um there are some brighter spaces again the elementary general ed which makes a lot of sense to me based off of the report we saw earlier. There's been a lot of commitment to the gened space. Um, and sure enough, there's positive outcomes for it. What we do most, we do best. The things that we're focused on most, we're going to make improvement. Um, but what's concerning here to me is that I feel that there were a number
101of folks in this office that put more effort and thought into professional development, but that did not translate to positive impact. And we have to ask the question, why? How could a bunch of really smart folks, you know, that I've now worked with multiple times, put more effort in and then have the impact be negative? We have to figure out the answer to that question. And so the union and myself are going to propose maybe a reason why. Um the first is that teachers like our students are extremely diverse. We work with different student populations. They're different ages. We have different years of experience. And so all of a sudden, you have this really complex set of teacher learners, right? In professional development, we're learning. And so the challenge is that the district does the
102same thing that they ask us to do, which is recognize the diversity of our needs. And how are we going to go about doing that right now? What we have experienced is maybe an uptick in what we're all calling feedback. That means after the PD happens or after the decisions made, we're asking our educators for feedback. Now, that's an improvement. There was a time where we weren't even being asked for feedback, but a feedback is a process that happens at the end. And our argument is that we're not going to make improvements if we don't put teacher insights in the beginning in the decision-making process before it starts and during the work because there's no way that someone who hasn't worked in a classroom in years and if you did you were a secondary teacher
103for science and now I have to make decisions 15 years later that are going to impact a special education teacher at an elementary school, I fundamentally don't know a lot about that person's job or the challenges that they face. And so I have to actively pursue and partner with that person and spend time with them to understand their experience to make an informed decision that will support them. And that's going to be tough work because we're like a diverse set of cookies over here. That's what all these different colors are. Um the different types of needs that we have based on what our position is. And even within our position, there's different folks needing different things. And we saw this slide last year and I wanted to revisit it again because feedback has been such
104a big piece of the puzzle and it is a space where there has been improvement. Um, specifically when we look at the district, we're seeing an increase in educators saying that they feel that district administrators are incorporating feedback. Now again, obviously the very rarely and rarely are high. there's a lot of improvement that we need to make but clearly there's been some shift and I do feel that's because we've received more like feedback surveys than before for sure and there's been some reference to that feedback when been being given rationale for certain decisions. Um unfortunately the folks who work most closely with us um and the ones that are six times more as likely to incorporate feedback are kind of showing the opposite direction. So site administrators, they work on our campuses. They know us
105the best. The district honestly has to rely on site administrators to give them really good feedback and they're seeing a little bit of a dip in the ability of site administrators to incorporate feedback. So we would like to have there be a focus and a reminder to site administrators that they are really the connection of the pipeline from the classroom to the site admin to the district office. We need to fortify the communication and the collaboration across those three spaces. Um so the feedback there has been improvement but as you can see there's still a lot a lot of room for growth. I mean ultimately we're looking at over 60% of folks feel that even just feedback end of process feedback isn't being incorporated. So I'm not going to read all of these specific action
106items. We decided to go in a different direction this year. Last year, we kind of provided themes of of action for the district, and this year, we decided to write more explicit action items in hopes that maybe that would be more helpful or more useful to our leaders. And so, looking at those three lenses, we did have some specific feedback that we feel like can help. Um, and of course, everyone received a little bit of a longer report that has more information, and we're always available to provide whatever information you'd like. Um, so I'm not going to read that. You guys can go for it. I want to end the presentation now. Uh, Cat Ross, who's an amazing partner in crime, and I have spent a tremendous amount of time looking at this data over
107the last two years. And I've been in this place where I've been thinking about all the issues, you know, what is the root cause? What's like the thing that's driving the friction in the system? and the core action item if we were to summarize all of the pieces that we're looking for ultimately they lead back to the same place which is that we need to increase educator input in the decision making. It's not just about feedback that's never going to solve our problems. Ultimately, we have to shift away from very top-down decisionmaking and towards teacher-led informed leadership. Feedback is oftent times performative. It can be foundational, but if we're doing a performative way where it doesn't actually impact our policies and our priorities, then that's how we're going to end up with folks year after
108year with the same sentiment. So, being really transparent and clearly connecting the dots between the feedback and the input received and then how that's incorporated is really important for our leaders. And ultimately, educators are the ones at the end of the day, our door is the one that opens at 8:30 in the morning. You know, I'm not hanging out at the coffee shop. I'm opening the door. And I have 35 independent human beings that are going to walk into my life. And for the next hour and a half, I am responsible for keeping them safe, educating them about science. uh supporting their growth as a human, their values, their character, monitoring their interactions with each other. It begins and ends with us. And there needs to be a recognition and a trust in our educators
109that we are a reliable primary link to students. to not incorporate us at the heart of the processes means that we're not incorporating students in the heart of those processes. And so use us as your window into their lives. Um I we know a lot about them and we love them and it feels like that if our input isn't at the center and our feedback isn't taken that there's no trust in our expertise and our understanding of students and if we can't have that then I don't think we'll ever have a successive successful collaborative environment across our leadership and our educators. So just finally to appreciate and understand and respond to the diversity of the needs of educators and their experience whether it's their years of experience or their assignment. No two teachers need the
110same thing. So getting creative and pushing ourselves to do the same work we ask teachers to do is really important. And so my final final final final ask, you're almost done with me. Is this the dream of the state of the union is that it would become a cycle that would live on past myself and York and Cat and our current SPTA leadership. It would go beyond our current board, our current superintendent to become this space where there can be transparent communication with the community about how teachers are doing. and we're already you're part of that work. It will be part of Maldonado's legacy and my legacy and Cass legacy. And so the ask is that the board consider creating and establishing basically an annual agendaized space for the teachers uh report every year in
111perpetuity. That way it's not based on an ask. You know what? If in five years from now the board member doesn't like SPTA, that's not a space we want to be in. Because if we can keep this survey going and we can resist the temptation to change it and to change our priorities, which is tempting always for everyone. Um what it will become is not just a snapshot, which was 2025. Not this is the beginning of a story that allows monitoring which is 2026 but it will become a record of where we've come from where we are and hopefully will help us build the tools of continuous improvement that will allow collaboration that just constantly is improving our profession. It's improving student outcomes and improving the relationship between the board and district leadership, holding us,
112the the union accountable for doing the work and also our our community and our leaders. So, think about it, you know, don't have to make any decisions tonight. And I don't know, maybe it's the contract thing. I didn't ask York about this, but it's just a personal ask. So, um, it's a dream. So, anyway, that's it. I'm done. We we do have um public comment before the board comments. Rose, would you trust your >> um Charles Claw? >> Thank you. >> Is that Sorry. Is that the correct amount of time? >> Okay. Thank you all. Um good evening. Uh, thanks for hearing Kim's report. Um, and uh, it's a bummer I have to follow her. Um, uh, I just wanted to say, uh, just to lend some, uh, some anecdata to Kim's data. Um, I'm
113proof of the retention stuff she talked about in the beginning of the presentation. Uh, six days ago, I was recognized during a whole school assembly for being an excellent teacher. I view myself as an excellent teacher. I don't bring this up to brag, though. Getting to the point where I'm at now is a very, very happy accident. I was bad when I started. But people, most of all my students, were very patient with me. And I grew and I got pretty good and I'm still getting better. My story of going from really ineffective to winning that award 6 days ago took a decade. If I'm capable of that kind of growth, anybody is as long as they get the same care and mentorship that I received. And the other thing too is that by a
114lot of measures, this has been a really hard school year for me. I had a major medical procedure. I had a loved one pass away. I took on new roles that ate up a lot of my spare time. But I don't feel that it was an abnormally hard year. Quite the opposite, actually. This is my best year ever. And I feel that way because of the longevity I've had that cleared out so many obstacles for me, just having the experience to do the job. Um, so to whatever extent you're able to do so, please prioritize teacher retention going forward. Um, the other thing that I haven't thought out uh as clearly, but I do feel um like I ought to ask you all is that you can hear the the beginning part of her presentation
115about how like long lesson planning takes? And I know if you like m maybe a standard answer to that from someone who's solutionsoriented is to think to yourself, oh, but can't AI create the lesson plans? Um, and I'm here to tell you AI cannot create the lesson plans. uh let alone implement them, let alone provide students valuable feedback. Um like I said, I need to like think through a more like cogent or eloquent way of saying that. But I just to the extent that that thought crossed your mind, um I just wanted to let you know it's it's worthy of more uh critical thinking and I'll keep showing up to the uh AI task force stuff so that we can think through it together. So thank you all. All right, that'll bring us to board
116questions and comments. We'll start with questions. Any >> Dr. Beal? >> I have a question which should actually end up being a comment. Um, so maybe I'll just start with a question. So, um, great presentation. Thank you. A lot of information. Probably we could talk about this for hours. Um you talked about the diversity for support for professional development for years of experience and so it seems so simple that this is what people need but then it all of a sudden when you say when I need to deliver this it gets more complex and this is where it kind of goes into comments so I'll keep that separate but um have you thought about how we try to address this diversity that not only goes from years of experience to different schools to different environments
117like as a district we're often like we pick a curriculum and we have the general PD for that you know we have our our letters our uh our math curriculum that we're talking about for secondary and obviously there's kind of general but then after all that settles or is it settling in here comes the diversity and so at some point I'll make a comment about it, but I'm I'm just saying it. I'm not asking you actually to answer that question. I think it's a really challenging question to answer and um I know you offered some ideas, but to just understand it is a super challenging question to answer and we I think we need to all work on it together. So, any big ideas? Well, I would offer that the first step to finding a
118solution is gathering the actual information about where folks are at. As far as I know, the union is the only space where we've even like looked at this data and started collecting it. So, I think the first part of the challenge is learning who the staff are and where they are. You know, when we're going to look at how we're going to meet our students needs, we have to identify, well, what are those needs? So, I think what I do know is the first step is that the only way we're going to get to solutions is for our, you know, essentially employers to have a much more resoundingly um knowledgeable understanding of who who their workforce is and what their needs are. And that starts with asking them, you know, ultimately. and and not just
119asking them because they were told to ask them, but starting the journey of going what would it look like to collect the information to truly understand the diversity of our staff and what their needs are. I think that that would be step one. >> Thank you. I agree that that is a good step. >> Other questions from the board? >> Trusty Escobedo. >> All right. So, I'm going to piggyback on that one a bit and maybe ask you a tough question that you don't have to have an answer for right now. Um, but you spoke about front-end input into PD development and I reflect on a visit I did to San Marcos High School and I was talking to a teacher and she said in justest um, you know, we have like 900 teachers and
120it's I get it. It's hard sometimes to meet all the needs because we're all kind of like 900 independent contractors with different wants, different needs. Um, and we chuckled, but there is some truth to that that PE all of our teachers have different needs and and Dr. Bill kind of highlighted points from your presentation about years of service or um what they're teaching whether they're in the elementary space or the in high school space. What does it look like? Have you done any discussion internally with SBTA about what that looks like when we collect the input on the front end and then how what does it look like to use that to design our PD because we know that we're not going to be able to meet everybody's wants and we're probably not going to
121be able to meet everyone's needs either. So, um has there been any discussion about what that could possibly look like? Does it look like a I don't want to say survey, but like a feedback form on the front end to say kind of what are you looking for? >> Yeah. Two thoughts come to mind based off of your comment and your question. The first is yeah, we have 900 like completely individual humans, but I don't like need to know what you're eating for breakfast. If I know that the thing that I care about is that as a district you've picked a core value. For example, let's say that um let's say you pick something like anti-blackness work. This is like a value that we want to do for the next year. Then that really narrows
122a bit about what do I need to know about this person in terms of a learner. It just needs to be within the scope of what would impact them in doing that work where they are with that work if that makes sense. So I think it starts if I were a district person. The first thing I would do was I would work to decide what are the core values that we need to focus on over the next five years, 10 years. That's a long way out, but it also forces them to stay to see if it worked. Um, and then once you've narrowed that scope, then you go, okay, what are the important pieces of information I need to know about my staff that's related to that work that I'm going to do? And all
123of a sudden, the information that you need narrows to, I think, a more manageable space. And then from there, you would create the survey or create the group. uh you know, if you know that there's certain larger groups of folks, then you can be high leverage and say, uh, we're going to have three representatives from secondary science. We're going to have two representatives from specials elementary. You don't have to ask every single person. You can have representatives of that group and you can utilize the union. You know, we have folks that are more involved and would be more aware of what was going on uh across sites, too. And so I would first go what are my core values? What is the professional development? The realm of professional development I we are feeling that we
124need and then what are the questions? What's the information that we need for about our teachers to understand where they are on the learning scale for that type of learning? And then for efficiency maybe I could you could just survey people but if you felt like it was overwhelming you could find ways to get smaller more representative focus groups for that. Um, that was the first thought I had is you don't need to know everything. It's a good one. >> Uh, the work on the front end helps you limit that a little bit. And the second thought I had was, you know, I was in a meeting the other day with uh a person that does professional development and they mentioned they met like in a group and I asked, well, who was in that
125group? And they gave examples like site principles and they gave like tossas, but those people like are not teachers. Can we just like throw one teacher in there? So honestly there's a lot of lowhanging fruit. So you know we can dream of meeting this great diversity but honestly there's like simple steps that will bring us a lot further than we are right now. And so rather than being overwhelmed I would look at you know spaces where there's kind of easier shifts that we know are going to help us better understand and get teacher input. Um because I agree that's like a super overwhelming thing to achieve. So, I would go with some some lowhanging fruit. I think >> Mr. Shingle. >> Oh, yeah. You add >> um I just want to add we have models
126of this in small group instruction in the elementary space of power hour, right? So, if everybody's working on English instruction, I think of that as all right, everybody is working on core instruction, but within that different folks need different things. We have to know what those things are to be able to address them. and we generally group them together so we can fit into a few categories. Doesn't meet exactly everybody's individual need, but we get a larger group of folks when we diversify our instruction that way. >> Thank you. And I want to make sure that I liked what I heard from the the I like everything, but like the first part u the example that you gave was quite appealing to me. And the reason being and I want to make sure that I'm
127going to restate it. so that you can tell me, "Nope, you got that wrong." And um the way I perceive it is we have four board priorities for the district. So like let's say let's take the example that you used about um strategies to address anti-blackness. I would put that under belonging. And so we as like let's say a district or a group that had a diverse selection of people We select belonging and we say that for this year it's going to be combating anti-blackness and that goes to one of the board priorities and then we are soliciting feedback whether it's a few people from different um job classifications or if it is um a survey to all teachers to say on this one subject area where do you need support taking that feedback and
128then designing the PD to meet the themes that we're seeing in that feedback based on someone's position. Is that right? Does that fit? >> I would say that fits. And >> when the decision when the feedback comes in or the summit comes back in, you have some teacher representatives in the space that's going to make the decision about the PD because the logist even just the logistics of when you're going to give it. There's calendars. I mean, having teacher input is really really big. And my understanding is in most spaces it's maybe a site administrator or folks that aren't teachers. So that would be the yes and like throw some teachers in there in the decision making process. >> Do you want me to wait to ask another question? >> Well, let's see where else
129we >> also I'm just like speaking for me too. You know I don't represent 571. >> Did you have a question? I don't think >> Celeste, are you uh are you on? Are you do you have a question? >> Yes, I do have a question. Um, thank you very much for this report. I thought it was incredibly helpful and I particularly liked seeing longitudinal data from year to year. I thought that was very um effective and useful. So I'm going to shift a little bit to behavior your um slides about behavior management. And basically my question is I read or I read and I heard that we need to have more systematic like proactive system for behavior management across our schools. And I'm curious about what approach you think might might be effective. So this
130is just from my personal experience being a parent in Galita. Um but during my time as a parent there, they rolled out PBIS across all elementary schools. And I'm curious, do do teachers in SBTA know have behavioral has behavior improved across schools since um PBS PBIS was rolled out? And um is that something you know one possible solution for Santa Barbara Unified? I know Monroe is one example of PBIS in SP uh SPSD. But so my question is what kind of systematic approaches do you see working here or a small test of change? What might we try here? >> Okay. So first I just want to let everyone I'm talking off the cuff here. So you know don't hold me to being like the representative of all of our amazing educators and York might have
131some better ideas. I don't personally have a strong understanding. I don't know what PB PBIS is as a system of management and I we don't have data as a union on like student behavior and reports of changes over time. I would imagine if you wanted information about that, your only hope would be to go to Aries and look at reports there. That's the only place where I would think that that data is conserved over periods of time. I don't know how tremendously accurate that would be because as we've seen like the reporting of incidents is varies and is very subjective. Um so I think we're asking is what does the union see as a place to start to improve those management systems? If I were going to go about addressing that challenge and I'll let
132York speak to this. Um I would look for spaces the test cases are you have sites that are are are doing better than others. That's what the data suggests. And so I would look to spaces and where you have data that supports that the systems may be stronger and identify those and look at the makeup of the administrators. Look at the systems they put in place and learn from those spaces some lessons and then think about how could we maybe employ some of that on a larger scale. But it looks like York's gonna save me. I was just going to say that same thing in the report that you have. It is all anonymized. Um but we have gotten the information to Dr. Maldonado of sites that are doing um a more comprehensive job. Um
133we didn't want to make that information public because we don't want to compare our schools in that way when it comes to a public view. But internally, I think it is helpful to look for those exemplars. >> Yeah. I also just wanted to state like in support you know there's teacher retention but then there's administrative retention you know just like we in those early years of teaching we just are you know running around with our hair on fire site administrators it's a new position you know I had two administrators this year that were brand new to their jobs and we can only expect so much from folks that are learning on the fly and so that's where we also want to look at how are we going to support, retain, and uh professionally develop our
134site administrators because my experience tells me as a teacher that the reason I love San Marcos so much, a big part of that has been my site admin team. Uh, knowing DARE closely, having that same person there year after year, knowing I can go to them and they're going to help me means a lot. And so having a site administrative team that's effective and supportive, it makes the difference between for a lot of people quitting the profession. I mean, you hear horror stories for folks. And so that would be my second recommendation on top of what York said, looking for spaces of success, but also thinking about how we're going to support our site admin because they really make the difference for us. >> I don't have a specific question. I have thousands of them.
135So the the the issue that we're going to look at here is that you've created and and presented us with very rich data, and I thank you very much for it. It's it's every every slide had me scratching my head and thinking about it. And that's that's where we want to be. And we want to be in a place where we can have the dialogue about what that looks like. Um, one of the I'm I'm going to shift to comments at this point. Um, I'm just going to make my sole comment and then um we'll work out how much more time we need to spend here today. Um the one of the biggest challenges in this work is balancing the what you talked about um in in one of the slides, the need for autonomy
136for particular admin and sites to address the needs of the C students they are um supporting and to balance that with the idea of district-wide coherence and and alignment and curriculum. There is no right and wrong on this. there's a whole scale that it needs to come to and you presented us with a lot of data that that um um and and the part that we haven't even seen that really gives opportunity for further dialogue on how to make those things work. And I appreciate the uh approach that you're taking in terms of looking at the at the incremental changes in data and trying to find where things are shining and where they they aren't and making good out of it. And um I I for one want to just say thank you to all
137of you in the in the teachers union that have taken the time to put this together and think about it and analyze it, put it in an appealing and understandable form for us. So that that's my comment. Thank you for for bringing this to us and I hope that it continues to lead to ongoing dialogue so that we can start to do some of what the suggestions are figuring out where that next step and that first uh the next processes that will be. Um I'll close with a quote that I can't really remember all of but I think you'll get the the gist of. I I heard it just the other day when someone was talking about long-term planning and they said, "Too often we think about five-year plans when sometimes we should be thinking
138about planting the seed that grows to be the tree that we don't ever get to sit under the shade of that. There's everything from what we can do right now to what we can visualize as an ideal state sometime in the future and this kind of data and dialogue helps us lead in that direction. Thank you for it." Other comments? >> Yes, that's a hard comment to follow and it's well very well put. Um I appreciate, you know, so many hours that were put into this in-depth um presentation about what the teachers are, you know, experiencing, what is needed, um managing behavior for example, and the stress level, etc., etc., etc. Um, I really look forward to being able to discuss this like we have been doing um more at length so that we could
139see how the board could support our teachers. Um, e excellent work. I mean, my goodness, you know, this is um just truly impressive. Um, so thank you. Thank you to all that were involved and all that completed the survey on top of everything else they do. Are there other comments? Um, well, let let's keep it to the to a reasonable time. We've we spent about an hour so far and we have other things that are going to me. This has been an invitation for further dialogue. So, let's just um kind of close things off here with the last comments. Thank you. >> So, I'll start off my comment with yes, I would like to see another year of the state of the union and it's been very educational and I feel that this is a
140good forum. There's some forums where we need to go into more detail, but this is a good form to get a snapshot and to start thinking and and I and my other comment will be a little bit about professional development. So, I get to choose my own. Um, my profession is a little more self-directed. I'm held accountable either by liability or who wants to come see me. So, I'm very driven to really improve the areas in which I need individual improvement. So, it'd be an interesting question to ask. Can we set up professional development where there is that diversity of choice? And we are going into a technological age. In fact, all of my professional de development is online. It used to be week-long conferences and I would be brain dead by the end. But
141now I just do it when I want to and it's been great for me. So I think there needs to be progression in professional development just because of technology and because people have individual needs. And something that I've discussed with Superintendent Maldonado is you really touch on with your diversity of needs. A big question I've been asking myself, we have a finance committee, we talk about the LCAP, we talk about student outcomes, we talk about teacher needs, we talk about our budget, and all of these things are interrelated. And one of the things I've been discussing with her is some sort of asynchronous workg group that really is constantly discussing what this district needs, what is happening at the schools. I don't want to have a bunch of meetings where people are sitting in a
142room, but I want to have a place where important things are being said and people are responding to that and it is a living whether it's a document, it's in the cloud or whatever where it is a continuous system of change and diverse groups get to give feedback and people can think about the feedback. It's not a once every two week meeting. It's not a once a a month meeting. It's a document that lives and I feel that if we could figure that out um it is something that could be useful and maybe very modern. So I'll just put that out there. >> Mr. Mr. >> I will just say thank you for the presentation. Thank you for all of the hard work. Um it's pretty comprehensive. We got shared a longer version of uh
143what was in the documents today. Um I also want to thank you. I'm make the same comment I made last year is this is an easy opportunity to just dunk on the district and just try and um paint a picture of all the things that we're doing wrong. What I really appreciate about the first presentation and then this one is that there are actionable items that you all are bringing to the table and with data that's really hardy. Um, so I am supportive of this being an item that comes back to the board every year with the hope that it maintains this type of approach where it is focused on actionable things that we can collaborate on that we can do. I'm particularly fond of the idea around PD. I think we tried something different
144this year and it sounds like it didn't land, but I actually like that we tried something different. Um, so getting hearing you like spell out what does input on the front end sound like was really important to tease out and I hope it continues to get that conversation continues to go because sometimes I feel like we miss each other like we're trying to make PD better and we we really tried we thought we were hitting the points that um you all expressed last year but maybe we didn't and So hearing that like what specifically does that look like to you all was really helpful today because I think it gave me a whole new um appreciation for what input looks like on the front end for you all. It's not just a survey. I heard
145some really good pieces about even just the decision- making and who's involved in that decision- making. Um, I think we're hearing a common theme about alignment when it comes to student behavior and consistency and supporting our site leaders. I think that's a theme that we're going to continue to focus on and it is something that is certainly important as we talk about addressing our four priorities. One of those centering on belonging. So, um, thank you again. This is a continued conversation. I would like for our union partners to be involved in the conversation about the process for input and decision- making into PD looking towards next year. And I'm looking to our union partners to hopefully join us in that. So, thank you. >> Trustee T Vasquez. >> Thank you, Miss Silton, for the presentation.
146really appreciate it. Um, all right. I just want to make a comment on a couple of things that you mentioned earlier in your presentation. Um, couple of aspects specifically um, you know, having those early a lot of earlier career teachers. Um, personally, I've had um, a lot of experience with, you know, and I know many students have with early career teachers. Um, you know, having a class, you take it and then has it ups and downs. you come back a few years later, someone else is telling you about a completely different structure, right? And and um way that things work. Um and of course that's just that's natural feedback um on lessons um you know time to establish a process. also with you know teachers who are stressed and overworked um and you know therefore
147aren't able to offer things like you know just when I you know off the top of my head like support for um AP tests outside of school stuff like that which is so critical um and beneficial to students. Um, and so what that kind of makes me it makes me think of this idea of like how of extra effort and like how teachers obviously want to make the extra effort to um to you know benefit the students but then um maybe aren't able to, right? And so the question then is how do we create an environment where that can happen? Um and obviously the answer to that question isn't in you know um isn't in the students isn't in any you know higher up staff members it's in the teachers right they can obviously answer
148the question to you know how can we create that environment and so um yeah I've you know personally I've um had I I really like you know this input over feedback I've you know my best this is just my experience But I my best I think improvements in this role have come from realizing that I'm not doing it myself but instead taking the students and you know incorporating what they're saying into what I'm saying. And so um that as a you know representation or analogy for um the teachers um speaking up for themselves um and giving input on on this district level stuff. So that's that's my comment. Thank you. All right. Thank you. >> Oh, Celeste, final comment. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, so I think that this has been an extremely helpful
149presentation and um, as Trusty Escobedo said, teachers really brought us some actionable insights. And um, Trusty Banning, you also made me think of a quote from Bill Gates. Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in 10 years. So to me, the one thing that we're missing here is some goals. So like so I understand we have longitudinal data on several areas, but what what are we aiming for next year? And then how do we know if we've succeeded or or what we need to change? So could we perhaps develop around student behavior a metric that allows us, you know, a a goal for next year or a goal for the next three years. It it goes in our belonging category. How how do we see that
150behavior is improving and what are we actually trying to achieve? Because if we don't actually have a goal, we may be tracking data but but nothing ever happens. So um yeah that's my big takeaway from this report is like where the board really I think needs to take this report a and go a step forward is developing a couple of goals around things. So similarly with uh PD what what do we want PD to look like next year in the next two years and when we get feedback back do we want it to be 10% better and then and then how do we how do we ensure we move in the right direction. So, so that is my my takeaway from this and it kind of relates to our board study session which is coming
151up on the board's role um how how do we drive progress in the district. So, when we hear reports like this, when we hear about um antilackness incidents, it's one thing to see the data, but it's another thing to actually have a goal and then um have accountability to move towards those goals. So that so that's my uh my comment kind of connecting to our next steps which is the board study session. >> Thank you. With that I think we'll we'll wrap up and take a 10-minute break. We will be back with item F2 which is the math implementation update. >> Thank you everyone. >> All right we're back. um that we are on to our next report which is the math implementation update. Uh Dr. Maldonado, will you want to introduce? >> Yes, Dr.
152Hugh um will be giving this report and as you know board members this is excuse me this is a holdover from our last meeting and we'll touch on the topic of implementation of the new math curriculum and our partnership with West Ed. Dr. Hugh thought it was green. There we go. Good evening and thank you. Okay, there we go. Uh, tonight I'm here to present on our math implementation update for our secondary schools and I'm joined with uh I'm joined by Janet Hollister, our math instructional support specialist. So, this is our leadership road map. This is a graphic that you are familiar with. I've highlighted it in a red box. There are the areas that tonight's presentation covers as part of our implementation journey for amplified Desmos math. These are the guiding principles that are
153embedded within our planning for math implementation. So starting of course with our content standards for mathematics and the mathematical teaching practices, we also have a Santa Barbara unified math vision that was developed in collaboration with teachers administrators and district administrators several years ago. The things to focus on there are that we are designing math instruction for highquality teaching that produces mathematically literate students with emphasis on student centered and assetbased instruction. So we want to focus on math learning routines. We want to focus on students doing the thinking in the math classroom and then our instructional framework which was rolled out this year. So, with that much of an introduction, I'm going to turn it over to Miss Hollister to talk a little bit more about what math looks like in our classrooms. >> All right.
154I just wanted to share a little bit um with you about what a a lesson in math class looks like this day, this um these days. Uh and really thinking about um the intentional use of technology because we know we've heard a lot about that um in other board meetings. Um, and so with Amplified Desmos Math, it starts lessons or units with interactive online online lessons that create puzzles and challenges and things that are kind of curious that kids are exploring ideas and and on this example, they're exploring the idea of equivalence. What does it mean for things to balance? Um, from that conceptual understanding, the online puzzling, they move into connecting representations. when you look at these puzzles, how does that match with sort of the standard algebraic notation that um we're more familiar
155with and then moving from online practice to the paper. And so we have a blended learning program in that they the students have actual workbooks that they can use um and they also have access to the materials online. And so it is a blended um approach and so everything that is online is also in the workbooks and that's a teacher's choice as to how they're delivering lessons. Um um the amplified Desmos math is a problembased learning approach. And so as I was describing um it starts with students exploring ideas and um looking at interesting and curious questions maybe like a science class might start with something that piques kids interest and then they do some problem solving on their own. Then the lecture and the pulling it all together comes towards the end of the
156lesson with the synthesis and making sure that the the notes are all formalized at the end and then ending with that practice. Um so it looks a little bit different than the traditional approach of here's the problem, solve it. Now do the problem the way that I've been doing it. Um we have been taking a slow and steady approach. Um our junior high school team is in their third year of implementation. They're getting sort of into this routine. Um we're providing them continued training and coaching. Um the math one team completed their first year this year and so first years um it's more awareness and mechanical and how does this teachers edition work. Um and our math 2 and our math three teams will be launching next year. So the implementation of math is a
157journey and nobody gets it right the first time. Our teachers are learning new materials. They're learning a new way of teaching and flipping the classroom as you saw in the previous slide uh from Miss Hollister. So, we expect that to do it really well and get to the point where we have routines and proficiency and how our teachers are going about in this problem- based teaching uh instructional model for math, it's going to take a few years to get there, but every year we're learning and improving how we go about that process. So, this year our implementation journey has taken us on a bit of a path. uh you'll see there some of the work that we've covered, we've talked about a little bit over the course of our presentations through our student outcomes reports
158for example and I want to point out that in the middle of that one of the pieces that we found really important was to check in with our teachers to see how things are going. So we have structures in place with our PLC leads. We have a math leadership team. We were checking in with our site administrators about how their teams and their teachers were feeling. We also went out and did a listening tour for math one, which was the new implementation this year because we were hearing from our math one teachers that there were a lot of frustrations and and anxiety and stress in how they were implementing the curriculum because in a block schedule they were moving very quickly and so they felt like they were really struggling to keep up. So that
159was an important moment for us to go out and listen to our math one teachers to hear what they were struggling with and that actually did lead to a lot of changes in how we went about spring semester. So we did a little bit of a turn there at around the January time frame as we went into spring and did some different types of uh learning and support with our teams that was really focused on what the needs of individual site PLC teams were looking for. And then in the spring, we really ramped up our Wested work, which I'll talk about in a little bit. And that is where we also got to see into the classroom what it was, what the experience of our implementation was like for both our students and for our
160teachers. Some of the realities that came out as we were going through the school year is that we know because our junior highs were further along in the implementation process, the implementation journey, they were moving faster and they were stronger as PLC's as they were going into year two. And so we saw them start to do more um consistent PLC meetings. We saw them doing more data analysis. We saw them trying different things with small groupoup instruction because they felt comfortable enough with the curriculum. Moving a little bit slower because it was year one was our math one team and so we did some work to really make sure that we were hearing from them what they were struggling with and to try and put some additional supports in place that met their needs. And
161then some bright spots that I do want to point out is some targeted collaborations and supports across school sites. So, our special education math one teachers got together and started to do some collaboration and and planning for both their intervention classes as well as their co-taught classes. We also saw Santa Barbara Junior High and Lumbre come together to do some language routine practices. And our math 2 teachers took the advice and suggestions of the math one team uh and we worked with them to co-develop an implementation plan for next year. So that was really empowering the teachers to take charge of what that learning and roll out would be for next year. So these are again some of the adjustments we we made along the way. Moving from focusing on compliance, did you do this?
162Are you using these materials to really looking at what are we trying to achieve here? But for both our students and our teachers and reframing our implementation to one of integrity. Are we meeting our goals, our instructional goals, our learning goals? uh from large group professional learning which we found was not working for a variety of reasons. We went to site coaching days where our site PLC teams had an opportunity to tell us what they needed, what they were struggling with and wanted to see from our ADM trainers and our ISS uh who then provided support in a in a day that looked kind of like a Japanese learning study or lesson study day. So they had an opportunity to see some modeling, try some things out and then work together and plan a future
163lesson. And then we know again that our progress is moving differently as students as our as we are moving forward with math one uh into the high school space. And so really slowing down and listening to the concerns and questions that our teams were uh were raising allowed us through those listening meth through those listening meetings to understand the context and make some changes to how we were going about our implementation for this spring. One of the other pieces that has really been helpful this spring has been our west partnership. So as part of that work which is is at no cost to the district we are creating a measurement system for improvement. This is a slide that you have seen before and we want to point out here that there are two types of
164measurement that we're looking at. The measurement for improvement which is what today's presentation is focused on which really looks at the implementation process and then the measurement for accountability which is more what you would see in a student outcomes report looking at sumitative data. So, as part of our measurements for improvement, we're really looking at what is what is working, what's hitting on the ground that's impacting students in the classroom, those learning experiences and for our teachers. So, this is another way of seeing that slide. What I want to point out here is that you will see that there is learning at every level. Our students are learning, our teachers are learning, our site leaders and district leaders are learning as well. And as we are doing that, we're collecting feedback and we're measuring we're
165using data to collect uh to measure that that impact of th that learning on the different pieces of our implementation plan. This is a few pieces of the data that we have in our student experience slice is what they call it because again we're just taking a little snapshot of the implementation journey. What does this look like for students? What does this look like for teachers? I know this is a little bit hard to read. Uh, one of the things I want to point out, if you can't see the actual words and you just look at the colors, the orange is on top and that's our junior high and then on the left for students and then the blue is our high school students. We would expect our junior high students to report slightly more
166favorable results because our junior high program is uh further along in the implementation journey. And so that is what we see there. Uh but one of the other things I do want to point out is our high schools are not far behind and that our students are reporting that they see they recognize that our teachers their teachers are expecting them to do the thinking in the math classes and they are expecting them to understand the why not just solve the problem or repeat the formula. So that's great. It really works toward our our vision for mathematically literate students that they are understanding the why they're doing the the thinking in the classroom. For our teachers, we know we can see in the data that they are understanding or they have confidence in their ability to
167teach students at grade level. Uh one of the areas that we are looking at and that is an area for us to focus on as we move into next year is that our teachers are reporting less confidence in meeting the needs in teaching students who are not at grade level or from our target student populations. So our students with disabilities or our emergent multilingual learners. So that is certainly work that we are continuing to do and to think about as we move into our implementation plan for next year particularly as it comes to professional learning. So this is just a summary of the four themes that came out of that experience data both for our students and for our teachers. Again these are pieces where we are focused on learning at all levels. So, not
168only our students are learning, but as part of this implementation journey, we're really thinking about how do we make sure that our teachers are doing the learning that they need in order to internalize the materials, internalize the content, have time to process all of that and think about what it's going to look like in their classrooms and then implement it. And then what do our site leaders need in order to support that work for their teachers and really help them grow and give feedback as well. This is a summary of our implementation timeline. So you can see there with year one we started with our junior highs and we're now moving into an area of ongoing support and monitoring for our junior high teams. And then year two was this year with our junior high
169compaction which is junior high so math 8 and ma and math one as well as our high school math one team. So, as they move into math, as they move into year two of implementation, we know that there's still going to be needs for ongoing uh professional learning and support. And then we are moving forward with math three with our year three launch, which will be our math twos and threes. So, math 2, as I shared earlier, really took uh charge of their own implementation plan. So they met, they talked through some of the possibilities, listened to the feedback from junior high and math one and designed a timeline for implementation. Math 3 is a little uh behind that process, but we have started some conversations with them and we expect that they will go
170on a similar journey of coming together and designing their implementation plan as we move into as we move into year three launch for them. And then here's a summary of our planning for next year. So again, making sure that we are thinking about what the learning needs are of our staff at all levels of the organization. uh making sure that we have evidence-based practices both in our PLC's at the site level as well as at the district level to collect feedback and data on how our implementation is going. Not only in terms of the student outcomes that are coming out of the test data and our CAST data, but also in terms of what students are reporting that they experience in the classroom and uh what our teachers are reporting that they are trying in
171the classroom and then experiencing through professional learning and then again monitoring that student progress. One of the pieces that we're really looking forward to next year is that will be our first year of a full cycle of measurement system with West that we will be implementing from the very beginning of the school year all the way throughout. So we are excited to see that uh collaboration with Wested continue to grow and having a full cycle of implementation means that we will have a combination of formative and summitive data, qualitative and quantitative data. So we are um excited to see what that will bring us uh as we move into next year. And so with that I will end and ask questions. >> Right. I don't believe we have public comment on this. No. No. Um
172so we'll move right to board questions. >> Trusty Beal. Thank you for that comprehensive presentation. Um, so as you mentioned, this is an implementation. We're going through the process. Um, so I know that board members have received letters from math teachers from the beginning of the year and throughout the year. And um the West Ed collaboration is very interesting to me because if I understand the process correctly, it is about looking at the process, not going right to the outcome and saying we're we're gunning for this outcome, how do we make the process very effective so that ultimately we do do get to a good outcome or an improving outcome. So I'm curious with this discussion that may have changed over the course of the year from math one teachers and the collaboration with Wested
173there's been questions about the block system about co-seated classrooms. Um are you able to talk about what sort of changes or insights have come from the this this evaluation throughout the year? What is the difference in math one that may happen at the at the high schools mainly? um because I think that's where we were hearing more from. I don't know if we can talk about this in this space, but yeah, I'm I'm curious about that. >> I can provide a little bit of insight. Uh so, as part of the Westside conversations, collecting that process data, the um there is some perception data as well around kind of where our teachers feel like they are with understanding the curriculum. Um there have been questions that are raised about the block schedule. There have also been
174questions that are raised about the pacing. Um, and some of that has to do with block schedule and some of it does not. To be perfectly honest, we've had block schedule before we had amplified Desmos math and there were some of those same conversations as well. Uh, one of the things that uh we do know is that again first year implementation is never perfect. There is always room for growth. There's always room for tweaking. And so we are collecting that feedback. Our math one team met twice or three times this year to look at the pacing to make some adjustments. Individual site PLC's made adjustments in the moment as they were going through the course of the year. And they will continue to do that into next year. And with each tweak of the pacing
175guide, with each tweak of, you know, what lessons or parts of lessons are they taking out or or kind of uh consolidating together, they're making choices that they know might have implement implement implications. That's the word. Thank you. U for the next lesson or the next unit or the next year's course. But those are some of the things that they are looking at now as they kind of finish out the year and as they are planning for next year. So, it's a work in progress. As we continue to go through, they're going to be continuing to monitor all of that. We've been taking notes on where everyone is. Uh, according to like here's what the pacing says and here's when they actually hit that unit or that assessment so that we can help monitor that
176and then help kind of bring everyone together to make some decisions. >> Thank you. I mean, I think my question is a little bit more granular than that. So we did hear earlier a conversation in which we talked about teacher feedback that people are actually with the students telling us what about the system is working and what is not working and I know that there has been a discussion even before this year about um some students needing year-long math or maybe all students would benefit from year-long math continuous math. So I guess my question really is is a year has gone by obviously this is the beginning of the implementation there's more advanced classes but are are we already getting data that the system should be tweaked because it's not that this is the block
177system and here is the curriculum they have to fit together that there is a interaction between those two and maybe our system doesn't accommodate learning in a way that works for students and for teachers to teach. Are have there been any insights on whether we do need to have more continuous classes? Is co-seing diverse students in a math class maybe more amendable in other classes but in math classes is that less successful? Are there any insights where we should be thinking about the system that we have in place? >> Thank you for clarifying. uh there have been a number of conversations about some of those very topics uh at the site level and a little bit at the district level. Uh so a couple of examples in uh we do have extended time we have
178about I think two sections of extended time for math one at every school site and that team has come together to talk about how they are going about using that extra time having a full stretched out over the course of a full year math one curriculum could allow for more pre-teaching or skill building or curricul or do you just go much slower the whole time. And there have been different approaches that each of our teachers and each of our teams have tried. And so they've met a couple of times to try and tease out, well, what do you do? What do you do? What's working? What's not working? And we are actually in the process of starting to gather that data. Grades are due at the end of this week. Tomorrow's the last day of
179school. And so we expect that we will have more comprehensive data about how our math one extended time uh has gone this year to help us make some recommendations and decisions about what we want it to look like next year. So this year was a little bit of an experimentation. Each of our teams took slightly different paths and some had to do some tweaking along the way depending on their students. Um but that is work that both Janet and Dr. Curry have been part of to make sure that our teachers are feeling supported and are working on that. Some other areas that we have seen uh those conversations around um the implementation or the pacing or whatnot have been with the collaborations with our co-taught classes. So special education teachers and math one teachers coming
180together and working on some of the like the design of those classes. Do you have an intervention class before the student takes the math one class or do you do it at the same time? I think uh San Marcos is making some plans to do things a little differently next year so they're planning something else. And those are all pieces that have come out of the data and the feedback from teachers and then thinking about what would work best for their students. >> That actually answers my question. Thank you. And and once again, it's about the system. It's really not about just looking at the outcome and saying why why is that not happening? And what I'm hearing from you and this is going to go into comment but that's all I have for comments
181today for the subject is that that we are looking at the different things that are happening and saying can those different things happen in other schools or is there an inherent difference in the school and we keep that. I would say one of the comments I did hear was that in at least in one school the more senior teachers get to teach the more senior classes which sounds backwards to me because the math one classes I think are more challenging and so I would maybe as a principal say you know what a couple senior teachers need to teach the more challenging classes with diverse students and so I would love for the system to really speak to what the challenges are and so the west ed collaboration the constant conversation you know however it happens
182It's about the system and so thank you for answering that. >> Thank you. >> Other questions? >> No. >> Trusty Caffrey. >> Thank you. I have two quick questions. One to just add to Trusty Beiel's question. Well, first of all, I just want to say thank you for a wonderful presentation. Um, I heard so many fantastic and exciting things. I really appreciated that. Um, oh, the level of collaboration with both both teachers and West Ed. It sounds like a great process. So, I have two quick questions. One, um, adding to Trusty Beal's question on scheduling. I'm curious um whether I know we went through the secondary scheduling academy, but whether there is any intel or information we got through that specifically on math and support classes for math in addition to to feedback from teachers
183and principles. Trusty Caffrey, do you mind repeating the question? >> Yes. Yes. Sorry. So, this is to add to Trusty Bale's question on U math scheduling because the board has heard a lot about it and I I'm curious in addition to feedback from teachers and principles whether we also have intel from the secondary scheduling academy that we went through on um on math support and math scheduling. you know, when when districts have blocked schedules like ours, h how does that work? >> Yeah. So, part of last year's um professional learning for our teams and we had um junior high team and we had a high school team uh participate in that scheduling academy. part of the work uh of what they learned was really around I think you're speaking of the intervention space was around
184knowing that there is no one schedule that actually works better but making sure that there is time a consistent time that's carved out for intervention. So there wasn't specific guidance to say block schedule works better, seven period day works better, six period day. It was really understanding the value and the commitment to needing an intervention that is consistent. And so that was one reason why we really doubled down on the math one extended time because we knew that that had been a a commitment and we wanted to keep that consistent over the year. And then to really look at how the curriculum could be implemented differently in an extended time, having more time to um be able to work with the curriculum and go deeper into some of the interventions and supports and potentially even
185the use of during that time because in the um block schedule or the more compressed time um there isn't always as much room to do the skill building that might be needed on top of the amplified Desmos implementation. So there wasn't a a a specific learning in the master schedule academy reg uh regarding intervention other than we need a consistent time um to be doing that. >> I see. Thank you. Thank you. And that's very helpful. And then my one other question was basically um Oh, I took a note on this. Okay. So I think it's wonderful that Weststead is helping us with the full cycle with with the measurement system of our implementation. I'm curious if we are also thinking about how we apply that to um intervention classes, support classes, other um subjects
186in our LCAP. Uh so that's my question. >> Absolutely. Uh so the West Ed implementation um the West Ed partnership is specific to math but many of the pieces that we are putting into place can be can include other content areas other than math. So of course when it comes to the surveys that we're creating those are very specific to a math classroom but they could very easily you know take out the word math and insert science or insert English uh and we would uh be able to move in those directions as well. One of the other things that's key to our measurement or our measurement system that we are building with West Ed, however, is that it is specific to our goals and our vision for our math program and what high quality math
187instruction and learning looks like. And so there would need to be if we wanted to move in the direction of having a similar measurement system for our literacy and ELA work and for our science and social studies work, we would need to think about what is that vision? what are our goals for each of those content areas and then build that out and then put that back together a little bit into something that's comprehensive so that it would go across content areas. But some of those pieces that would still continue to be in place and consistent would be looking at student data, looking at teacher data, both qualitative and quantitative. A lot of the work with the measurement system is focused on what's happening in a PLC. And so that would be work that certainly
188translates across content areas as well as and along with the teacher learning and the site administrator and district leader learning. >> I do want to add um one more piece to that as Dr. Hugh shared consistent with our goals. One thing we will have with this full measurement system is we have we'll have baseline data. So we will create goals based on that current data and then track it over the measurement system throughout the year. So much like the LCAP starts with baseline data and we track that uh our measurement system will do that and we could potentially feed some of that data into the LCAP eventually um when it's redone in a year. So we can use that as a measurement for that. >> Thank you very much. I I just want to add
189from a teacher level the reports that we're getting from Weststead, you saw district data. There's also site data, but it also goes down to teacher data or courses within a school. And so, um, when Miss Caffrey asked about the intervention program, you can look at math one extended time and you can look and see what students are saying. And some of the questions are very interesting about whether your peers see yourself see you as being a competent mathematician or and so we can see it by sight, we can see it by courses, teachers can see it by period. It's always interesting to compare period one and three. Even though it's the same course, they're very you get very different outcomes. And also we are getting information by um our priority groups which are um EMLs,
190students with IEPs and I believe socioeconomically disadvantaged students and seeing how those students are answering what their experience is like in math class. And you can we can see some of the differences and the experiences that different subgroups are having as they report out their experience in math. And so the reports are very robust. We are very lucky to have the data team that we have with Wested and for all levels of our system. I just wanted to make sure it goes all the way down to the teacher level. >> All right. Well, thank you for the the the presentation and the information or any closing comments or questions from the board >> here. Hearing none, we will move on to the next item, which is um we're going to to move some things around
191the fiscal report. So, the fiscal update is scheduled next, but we're going to bump that a bit and move directly to the public hearing on the LCAP, followed by public hearing on the adopted budget. >> If I can start to introduce these um we're moving these because these are three connected fiscal items. Two of them require public hearing by state law, the LCAP, and the proposed budget. The third is a report out from the finance committee with M which Mr. Tesky will come up and speak to. I want to be clear up front that no board vote is being taken on any of these items tonight. The budget adoption vote happens June 23rd. Tonight is your opportunity and the community's opportunity to hear the full picture and ask questions. The thread running through all these
192all three of these is the same which which should answer the question are we investing our community's money where we say it matters most. So with that we'll start with Mr. Vance followed by Mr. Tedeski and then uh we'll move to the report uh from the fiscal committee. Thank you. >> Good evening. I bring to you our 2627 LCAP draft. I do say draft because it's not the final uh LCAP that will be brought to you at the next board meeting. I'm working closely with Santa Barbara County Education Office and we go through and we make sure everything is compliant within uh all the documents with the LCAP as well as this opportunity that opens up the public hearing to allow the public to provide recommendations or feedback of any type. Um, and just as
193a reminder, this LCAP is our roadmap for our unduplicated students for next year. And it also gives us the reason why we're doing this. So, open up for a public hearing. We have no comment cards on this. >> Oh, G1. >> I think we do. >> Oh, yes. I'm sorry. We do one on this one. This is >> Yes. And we'll need a translator. an interpreter. I'm sorry. >> Yes. >> So, it will be um Edilia Morales. Good evening Board members and superintendent. My name is Velia Morales and since we are discussing the LCAP tonight, I want to focus directly on the community engagement data. In the recent surveys, engagement was explicitly tracked as.3 in one and point4 in another. The data is there. Yet, the district's actual practice tells a completely different story. This
194failure to genuinely engage is a pattern with realworld consequences across our schools. First of all, safety. Because of a lack of true engagement, African-American families recently had to stand here to tell you their children do not feel safe in our schools. Second point, teachers. SPTA data confirms our educators feel completely dismissed and unaligned with the district's top-down decisions. Community Third point, imposition at SPCA, the most flagrant contradiction to these LCAP metrics is happening right now at SPCA where an AP is being assigned by completely overriding parents input directly breaking the promise that we would have a vote. Boys, if the LCAP is a real accountability, tool and not just a checklist. You cannot ignore this when you when your own surveys highlight engagement as.3 and point4 but administrative decisions are forced upon SPCA against prior
195promises. The system is failing its own metrics. We demand that the district honor its LCAP commitments, halt the unilateral decisions at SPCA, and start authentically listening to the people you serve. >> Muchas gracias. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Gracias. And that concludes the public comment. >> All right. >> Any comments or discussion from the board? >> We'll close public hearing on this item and move to item G2, the public hearing on the 2026-27 adopted bud budget. >> Okay. Good evening. Um, I know we're at a non-eing and learning part of the budget or part of the evening, but I think this is an important piece as it's all linked together and related. Um, this evening we're having a public hearing on the draft of our proposed budget for next year. Um, and
196then what has been provided to the public so far is the um prescribed uh sachs uh schedules for every fund. That kind of gives an idea of of the budget, where we're going to end this year, and what the budget for next year looks like. I just wanted to highlight a few things. Um, we are in our draft budget proposing to cut the deficit in half from over 20 million uh for this year down to less than 10 by 9.7. And I do want to mention this budget does include um the negotiated settlements with CSEA and SBTA. Um, we didn't have uh management and confidential done yet, but and and so that will be um added back in. Um, and uh, let's see, it includes some of the provisions from the May revise of the
197budget, the low-risk items that we're pretty sure will be in there. Um, and I do want to highlight that uh, the reserve level with the special revenue fund 17 uh, is projected uh, to be about 6.12 at year end. And the budget next year also includes the 1.7 million for the seventh period day the following year is assigned in the general fund. So those were some of the highlights. Uh I did provide a summary schedule on top of the sack schedules because I know those schedules are a little ownorous to read. Uh but there is a lot of good detail in there. Um so with that I'd be happy to take any questions or comments or we have the public hearing. Okay. Are there comments from the public hearing? None. Anything from the board? Trusty
198be >> I appreciate the explanation of the May revise and and the different sort of aspects in the budget that we are managing right LCAP and all that other stuff. I think when I was reading I know that this is a hearing and I know that the final budget will be presented to us with changes I think at the end of this month, >> right? and with much more detail and narrative and and analysis >> and I I'm looking forward to that. I think when I was reading that document um there was a talk about how the state is increasing funds but I if I understand things correctly does take me years that some of those increases actually don't apply to us because we are we are community funded. So, I think some clarity because
199if you read that document, you're like, "Oh, we're getting more money for this and more money for that, but we actually aren't as a district." You know, other schools that are ADA based are getting more of that money. So, I think maybe a little bit when you do that explanation because when I read I'm like, "Oh, we're getting a whole bunch more money." No, we're not. So, >> no, we are getting some. I I think in the state budget there's an increased investment in special education which is which is historic um from what they've done in the past but so there are bits and I will identify those >> yeah because it's a hot topic and I want there to be as much clarity and transparency because that is really >> yeah state cola doesn't
200>> yeah exactly come to >> us okay thank you >> sir >> trusty esco >> thank you for this um when you say the 1.7 for seventh period is earmarked in the general fund. That means that it does not show up in these reserve numbers. Is that correct? >> That is correct. It's assigned so it's not assumed to be available unrestricted dollars. >> Great. Thank you. >> Sure. >> Anything else? >> Right. We'll declare the public hearing closed and >> Oh, I I actually I apologize. >> Oh, I'm sorry, >> Caffrey. >> Thank you. >> I'm not looking in your direction. >> I'm slow. I'm slow on the um video so I apologize. Um thank you. So my quick question, thank you very much for putting this together. Um so we are approving the budget
201on June 23rd. Is that right? So this is the public hearing, >> correct? >> So my question really is I understand that um this is legally required. I but I don't see a clear understanding of how we're actually spending our money. So, it's not laid out in a way that is so clear to me. I see based on the budget assumptions, we're using the LCAP to guide our spending decisions. At the same time, I think it would be very helpful to know how are we spending the rest of our budget in a format that is more useful. So like when I think about my personal budget, how much am I spending on restaurants? How much am I spending on groceries? How much am I, you know, and when I look at this budget, it doesn't
202connect to the teaching and learning piece so clearly for me. >> So my question is at at June 23rd, will we see more a report that is um clearer in that way? >> Right. So there will be some some of that. It's just there's the budget book becomes very long with if if I try to include all of the different programs and all of the different spending that we have. I think it's picking out some of the bigger chunks and reporting it that way. And so I think as we go into the cycle for next year, maybe there's more conversation prior to now into the decision-making process, which is kind of leading to our next agenda item with finance committee. that's kind of how that should go. And and and so those ideas and concepts
203and things we're funding, things we're not funding. Um those conversations happen over the last three months. Um as opposed to just having SAC schedules in an evening um before the board meeting. And it wasn't too long ago where I don't even think we had this public hearing wasn't part of the required budget adoption process. it was bring the budget at a meeting and approve it. And so part of that will be to build um a process that allows for more detailed information. And so the challenge is in producing a budget book, how do I keep it from being 500 pages long and providing the necessary information for kind of what you're looking for? I think I have a good idea, but I think some of those detailed conversations would probably be best in the finance
204committee and then kind of summarized for for budget adoption. >> Okay, so that definitely makes sense to me. I guess a question I have because basically this budget doesn't tell us what has changed from last year. Like how are we spending differently than last year? So could you could you tell? Yeah, >> the summary sheet, >> the blue column lists where we are this year, our estimated how we're going to end this year, and all of the SAC schedules list how we're going to end this year compared to how we're budgeting for next year. So, there's essentially two years. I don't know if you're looking for something beyond that. >> I guess what I mean when I say is it doesn't show us how we're spending differently in terms of how things affect students and
205our programming. You see what I mean? So, um, like are we making different investments? Are we making the same investments? Um, I I think an overall picture would be helpful, >> right? >> And I perhaps that's not possible off the top of >> No, not tonight. not off the top of my head, but I think I hear what you're saying and finding a way to better report some of the major funding ideas that uh the the programs that we're going to be funding and things and how do I get some of those pieces to you as far as being able to make choices. But I think understanding the the board's role in approving the budget in its entirety is kind of what that historically has always been. And then conversations throughout the year become procedural
206about okay as we talk about like for instance letters training that was a conversation at a different board meeting that wasn't about budget but the board was clear about providing letters training and so we included in the budget. So there's a lot of other conversations that lead to the development of the budget, but I think what you're saying is somehow with the budget document show all those things. >> Yes. Yes. And I understand that's a longer conversation with the finance committee. I just feel like it's worth discussing also um a little bit with the whole board. And then the last question I have is for here's one more example, dismissal periods. Um, I I'd like to understand how we are budgeting around dismissal periods. Are we are we offering students a full course load right
207now? Because my understanding is that students are being asked to opt out of dismissal periods already like in September, but that to me seems too late in terms of budgeting for um the the classes that students need to take next year, >> right? Yeah. So we budget according to staffing levels provided by HR through conversations with leadership and cabinet. So those aren't necessarily budget decisions as they are kind of programmatic decisions that we work with HR. Here's the staffing for next year. Here's how many positions we need. Assuming that what you're talking about is incorporated into determining how many staff we need. So, it's not really the budget decision as much as it is a a staffing decision or a policy decision that then we would reflect in the budget. >> Does that make sense?
208>> I guess my I guess my question um is that basically we must my understanding is that with dismissal periods we basically have to get students to opt out. I I mean I'm sorry to opt out of dismissal periods. Is that right? >> As much as I would love to help you with that, that is not so much a Conrad question as it is maybe Dr. Beckio, he's coming up to the podium here. Maybe he can help with that. >> Thank you. >> The um the board, not this board, um a different board many many many years ago um anyways has established graduation requirements for high school students. um we allocate more um opportunities for credits than we do grad requirements. We know the um habits of high school students and what they are going
209to take above either at grad requirements or above that and we make a um allocation to the sites based on that need. If a student who otherwise has a dismissal decides that they want to have a course, then we would be able to offer that course because we do have seats in courses all across our master schedule. But students will not come to take additional classes in the numbers that you're thinking because juniors and seniors uh well particularly seniors they are done with grad requirements and do not need any more units and they have other things that they're doing in the community that are not um part of the school. Does that does that help? So, I mean this idea that if we offered 320 units, which would be a full schedule, um students would
210not want that. All students would not want that. >> So, I guess my question is that um I can I can follow maybe with this offline and then we can bring it up at the next budget discussion. I think that might be clear. I could Yeah, thank you. or at the next finance committee meeting. But >> I I do think we have wandered off topic from the budget public hearing at this point. Not to um not to make less of of this important topic or discussion but I think that we need to >> I related because dismissal periods has to do with staffing which has to do with >> right so procedurally staffing comes from HR and we budget according to the staffing levels provided by HR. >> Dr. deal. >> So I'm starting to
211understand something and all this. So as you mentioned this hearing is a new thing. So it was kind of >> it's not I mean >> well it is in the sense that here we are >> in the last 10 years. >> Well so normally I think when we're presented with the sachs data we do get an explanation and then some you know we're often voting on the budget. So if it's a public hearing meaning this data is available to the public it says that they can review the sax data they are I have trouble making >> head nor tales of the sachs data right and so I would like to think via the finance committee via what we do what you're saying is we already made these decisions we already decide to invest in letters
212we've already decided what we're going to do with LCAP and this is the form and we just move forward and there will be some adjustments when we we do vote on the final budget it. I guess it gets confusing to me and also other people where we're like here's this 75page document. What does it mean? >> Even though we voted on things. So I think some supporting documentation that accompanies it. I know we're not asking for you to do more work, but maybe this is a living document that as we make decisions, it accompanies it and it's just a short explanation based upon decisions already made. >> This is our budget. So that's >> right. Yeah. Keep in mind the budget is the culmination of many decisions made throughout the year and it's not all
213the decisions are made at the adoption of the budget. >> Sure. >> All right. That said, I think we'll wrap this topic, close the public hearing, and um we're going to move the fiscal report >> from uh the third report to at this point. So, you're on again. Well, we No, we've moved it from it was it's been >> gonna move me down even more. >> No, no, no. >> okay. Okay. So, um and I'll try to keep it from being too long, but I did want to come back um to the board uh with an update on kind of where we are with finance committee. A couple board meetings ago, um, Trusty Escobedo had kind of tasked me with coming up with, um, two different lists and kind of going to the committee and
214what does the committee think the focus of the committee is and then what do I think the focus of the committee is. And so what's attached to the agenda item there um, are two different versions of the list. And I will say though they're worded differently, they are very similar in in their goals. I think when I went to the um to the committee and um we all kind of worked together to come up with these um I think the big the big push was deficit reduction um kind of like trustee Caffrey had mentioned where's the money being spent you know how do we get more um more information to them for that optimizing revenues um long-term strategic planning and uh starting to get some monthly budget reporting is is a reasonable request and then
215how I kind of rewarded um some of that are kind of more general and I tried to get the committee to think of a time maybe we don't have a deficit maybe we have a a real good reserve what should we be doing as a finance committee and I think they're they're kind of um similar um but I've added one that's really important to me um so first of all strategic alignment with district educational goals is critical I think that's kind of what we want. >> Can we move this up on the screen? >> Thank you. Um, multi-year fiscal sustainability, which involves reducing the deficit now, but also projecting out to eliminate deficits in the future. Um, and for me, the big one is transparency and public trust. And I think um kind of I
216think the teachers even had something in their presentation about maintaining this finance committee and kind of so we can be so everybody can be well informed. And so that's kind of where we landed. uh mine are tend to be a little more um general um but I think still hit the points home and I'm just wondering um from that if there are any questions or comments on this before I kind of or I can just move on to um an update on kind of how things have been going >> trusty esco >> yeah thank you for putting this together I think this is really helpful for us and I agree with you when I look at the two sets of um goals much there's a lot of overlap. Mhm. >> I think there's one front
217that comes from the committee that I am less keen on and that's receiving monthly budget to actual that type of granular level of reporting is ownorous and sometimes really difficult because of the way that things hit the budget >> at at what time like you make the purchase and >> right >> or you get the materials and sometimes it takes a little while for it to hit the actual ledgers. Um, I'm not sure how helpful that is for the goals that we're trying to accomplish. >> And some of those reports, I mean, just for the general fund, can be sliced and diced 500 different ways by function, by goal, by object, by management, by school site. There's a lot of different ways to slice it. So, I think picking areas to look at is where
218I'm trying to get um to with the committee. But I think it does get granular because then it becomes from those reports. Well, what's that? What's that? What's that? And then going back and having to run more reports to justify this and that and and I don't know that that's what the committee is for. But >> I I agree with that. And that takes me to my next point. I watched at the finance committee meetings and I've seen a trend happen and it's very good discussion by the way I don't want to dismiss the discussion the discussion is good a lot of great perspectives provided but I see a trend where um we're all curious we're all in this and we have lots of questions and the budget is a big topic and you can
219go to your point in many different directions and you can also you can code these things in many different ways and it depending on how you code it one year compared to the next year, it makes an line item look like it's completely out of whack, >> right? >> Um I would like and I I'm sharing perspective and I'm hoping that we can give general like consensus about our perspective of the finance committee. I think it's far more helpful for you as the finance professional to pick the topics that you think would be most helpful to have feedback from the committee. So, I could imagine you're developing ne the next budget, not the one that we're working on now, the next budget, and you're trying to see how you can close that $9 million that
220we have to get to an even budget to rightsize this budget. and you're going to be considering all different kinds of things. I imagine that's a topic that you would want to take to the finance committee to say, "Hey, here are the types of cuts that we're looking at. >> What are your thoughts?" Like, "Here's here are some of the consequences of this. Here's some of the consequences. Here are some of the considerations. Here's what I'm thinking." And then you get their feedback. That is far more productive than the trend that I'm seeing of we get curious and we say, "We want to know what's over there in that line item." And then you do a bunch of work and the committee might not even spend that much time discussing it >> or not find
221it helpful how it was >> correct >> prepared. Yeah. No. >> So, so when I think about your time and your team's time for me looking forward about how can we get the biggest bang for our buck and have the most effective finance committee. I think it has to be steered by you finding the opportunities where you need feedback from the finance committee and to me you have proven that you are definitely open to feedback and you want the feedback. So that is something that is >> I think for me encouraging and I have that trust in you >> and I would like to hear from my fellow board members about that type of proposal going into next year's approach to the finance committee. Dr. Beal. >> So, um I also have been watching the
222finance committee meetings and yes, sometimes it it's almost like our meetings we're all talking about, you know, things on the side and I agree with um board member Escobedo that it would be probably very productive to be tasked with yes, you know, we have to cut what are our options, you know, where do you see that? And led by your expertise. The other thought I had in watching these meetings is um I feel like um the focus sometimes seems very forensic like let's look at this little thing and then they everybody looks at and they're like oh now we understand that part. So it's like educational educational and I'm sort of like wow we're at meeting number nine or 10 a year has gone by and you know what what is the advice to the
223board and I know with this presentation these are the goals you said I think that's excellent. Um, one of the things I thought watching it is is I also go to the LCAP meetings and there's always about a million budget questions. And the interesting thing about the LCAP is it is a microcosm of our budget. And I think if we were going to task ourselves with transparency, taking on the whole budget is too big. But something that might be helpful, and Steve could maybe opine on this, is how can we make the LCAP budget more transparent? we're about to go into another cycle and this could be useful for everybody involved. And so maybe taking on smaller chunks of certain budgetary items, not to look to see what's going right or what's going wrong, but
224just understanding that part of the budget very very clearly. And that can be a service to more than just us as board members, but to the LCAP committee and stuff like that. So that's a thought I've had about it. >> Yeah, I would agree. I mean, there's $25 million in the LCAP. the ELCAP and even provided for the public hearing. There's an expenditure list based on goal and action of what's in those goals and actions. And so going through that in in in good detail, I'm open to that. That that's what I thought really um was the direction we would go, you know, with the FI. We spent some time. We're still looking at general administration, but that's, you know, 6% of the budget. I think there's always pieces and pockets of things to look
225at in different places, but really focusing the efforts that the community is interested in, that teachers are interested in hearing more because that transparency piece, getting people to know, you know, where the things are. And so I think even though we're finishing the budget process now, I think bringing that, you know, here's where it is and and here's kind of where we're going forward from. It's kind of our starting our starting point to work with because I think the finance committee has kind of veered toward we need to fix the district and I think we need to fix things and here's how you should do it. And so I'm trying to navigate my way through that. I don't know. I think Celeste has a question or a comment. >> Yes. Um, so one thing I
226would say serving on the finance committee is that I think the finance committee has said we would like to have subgroups where we can actually work on topics in depth. The one and a half hours is not sufficient. And for example, the AI committee, they have subgroups where they work on specific topics. And I would actually disagree on both reporting and understanding the entire budget. like schoolboard partners. We've talked in the past like about potentially working with them. They have a model policy on financial reporting and basically they say financial report should be presented um should present the district's actual financial performance versus budget and it should be reported to the board on a routine basis. A budget variance report should be reported to the finance committee on a monthly basis and to the full
227board on a quarterly basis etc. So basically there are standards of financial reporting that are are very typical that are out there. And I think it does not actually require that much work on the part of the um finance staff once it is set up. And one thing about the members of the finance committee is that I think we have specialists who have who have read many financial reports and might have guidance on what our financial reporting could look like. So, so I think one major issue on the finance committee and the reason we've been pulled in so many directions is that we have not been able to really spend good time on these different subjects to make progress and that an hour and a half is just not sufficient. And and to me as
228someone who is tasked with um you know like we are tasked with the fiduciary duty of knowing where all of our spending is going only knowing our LCAP spending in a laundry list is not enough. Like we should know how we are spending across all of our schools. What is our equity index? How is it based? You know um what are CTE programs? So that's why I I think like those those five items were selected by the finance committee and I think that um Mr. Tesky's synthesis is very good that our educational program and our our financial um spending plan need to be aligned. But really we need to be making educational decisions knowing the financial repercussions. And I think right now one issue we have as a district is that we are not we're
229not we're making educational decisions without understanding their cost effectiveness or you know the the entire budget picture. So that um like the Mr. Tesky is really integral to to how our entire district is run but we can't just make educational decisions without knowing their financial implications. So, so what I would say about the finance committee is like it has taken time to hit our groove and I think that the committee members what I've heard from them is that they would like to spend more time really being able to delve and and make some progress for example on GNA expenses like there's been analysis that our GNA expenses have increased substantially but but I think we haven't seen like a large um a plan a plan to re to remedy that. Um and and so that
230has been one frustration on the finance committee and yes it is a small portion of the budget but but the issue is like tone at the top. How do we how do we show that we are spending all of our money as effectively as possible and that we look at GNA first which is farthest from classrooms. >> I'm I'm going to bring us back in. We we have begun board conversation before taking public comments. There are two public comments on this and I'd like to get back to that. So, um >> I'll step aside. >> Um Mr. Rivas and Elaine Rice, >> let me just pause for >> um just point of order for uh you gave us the recommendations, but you paused us and asked for questions, but did you have something else as
231part of your presentation that you were going to bring to the board in this item because you had said there was other report outs from the committee? So, I think we sort of just kind of lost our way a little bit. >> Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. >> I mean at I do have as far as the fiscal update or more conversation on budget. >> The whole item was called the fiscal update. So can you just finish that part and then is that okay with Mr. President? >> I just wanted to um >> present to the board the uh the budget development assumptions document and it it's it's kind of the first move the first attempt to kind of get to what um Trusty Caffrey is kind of looking for. where it's like, well, what's going
232into the budget? Um, like what are the dollars associated with it? So, I put together this budget development um assumptions document that I'm not going to go through right now, but I want do want to point out um the key sections and this will be a growing living document and I'll add more to it because maybe this is where what uh Trusty Caffrey is looking for as opposed to it being in the budget book itself. And so I did want to highlight, you know, here's where, you know, I talk about the general assumptions, the governor's budget and how that's going to impact our budget. Enrollment is a key factor. Um, where our reserves are, whether we have a sur, you know, results of operations surplus, what's in our expenditures, like how am I projecting property
233taxes? We're using 4 and a.5% in growth. Um I put in there I did put the schedule of LCAP in there and without having the final numbers because it wasn't done yet. But I think um this document is really where a lot of some of that detail should live. I've also given it to the finance committee but we didn't get to it in that meeting hopefully. Um but I think it was attached. I don't know how many of them looked at it. I hope they all did but um it's a lot there. But so this is kind of how I'm going to separate the document that you will get later this month for approval by providing the details and this will grow with each budget. I'll add the afterchool program. I'll add special education. I'll
234add more and more to it so that this becomes the budget development tool as we get as we are in April and May and starting to make those decisions of what's gone in the budget that this can be made public and provided to the board gone over in and uh in finance committee. So I I don't know if there's any questions or comments about that. Thank you. >> Questions or comments? >> Oh, sorry. >> Okay, that's the end of my report. >> All right. So then let's do our public comment. Maybe I need governance training. >> No, I I for sure do. >> So, we do have public comment from uh Ken Rivas and Elaine Rice. >> Good evening, school board trustees, Dr. Hild de Maldonado. The uh cabinet to my right. Good evening. Um
235so um I'm a member of the uh finance committees and oh but let me say this I know that you some of you have said that you board members said that you uh viewed the video of the meeting. So uh I'm sure you're looking at through your lens and this is a perspective through my lens. Okay. So we can agree to disagree at some point. Uh so uh like I said, I'm a member of the finance committee and was absent on June 2nd. Although I was in attendance uh when the five focus areas were established on May 12th. It is important and uh give some structure for us to follow the resolution adopted um of the finance committee. However, I reviewed the video of that meeting and it left me with concerns about the conversations
236and narrative that took place. It became clear to me we have about a third of the finance committee members who feel that staffing needs to be cut particularly classified staff and I'll tell you why I say that in a minute. Uh these are thoughts and recommendations some of the members of the finance have been speaking of. I say this again through the conversations in last couple meetings. Here are some excer excerpts from the conversation which can be viewed on YouTube the school site and you can draw your own conclusions or opinion. uh a member said uh in accounts payable if you're doing paper paperbased writing checks it takes five people but if you automate that uh it only takes uh one well I disagree with this comment because first of all more than a year
237ago there were only three and a half people and one was laid off about a year ago so currently we have only two and a half people uh uh again uh there was some other comment that says we need to get all this staff time eliminated we have so much staff and technology. Uh and then they went on to uh another area of their conversation. Um somebody said the cut that hurt the hardest was the teachers cuz now we have staff that are running programs without teachers. I'm you know and again I'm not sure uh what she was referring to. Um but it didn't sit well with me. uh when rift not and I'm just going to tell you when rift notice have been given the last 2 three years classified employees have more than
238than their share of the layoffs reduction in time and a reduction in months that they work it hurt everyone it hurt everyone hard and uh that were affected by the rifts um somebody else said if we go back to budget assumptions I feel like the number one one is investing in classrooms first so I don't see that as a budget assumption so we have someone speaking up to one group of people and everybody else, well, you know, you should be part of the assumption. Uh, we need teachers to run programs. Where else can we figure out where we can save money? Well, you see where I'm leading. Um, so um I think we need to invest in our uh students first, which classified staff play a direct and indirect role in supporting their successes. I
239appreciate committee member York Shingle who shared a different view. He talked about uh um when all this talk kind of targeting was going on your comment an increase in deficiency I don't think is uh necessarily has to be a reduction in people uh so he spoke out of that area uh and I thank him for that he's not here right now but I I thank him and then again like uh I also appreciate um uh Mr. banning because uh he spoke outside the box. He took a peek outside the box and and shared with us that you know at some point we may need to consider closing a school could be you know it might be um if we're looking at everything every possible way. Uh so what the conversations I've heard about when I
240saw that video it's it's misguiding it's shortsighted and it's just wrong. It does not follow the focus points. when the focus focus points becomes eliminating classified staff to fix the budget. Well, you know, we need to look at everything and everyone or no one. Okay. Uh everyone counts or nobody counts. Many classified staff have children in our district and if there is an exodus out of Santa Barbara with these people are getting cut, it will further create a decline in our student enrollment. Thank you for listening me today. Thank you. Do we have the the other commenter here? >> Yes. Um Elaine Elaine Rice. >> Thanks for waiting patiently. All right. Um good evening board president, trustee, superintendent, and members of the community that might still possibly be here. Um on behalf of CSEA and
241the classified professionals of Santa Barbara Unified School District, I want to address a comment that was made at the last board meeting. Trustee Celeste Caffrey publicly asked the director of ETSs and COO how much of the district budget ETS takes up and estimated that it must be about $10 million followed by the suggestion that maybe we should just cut that during a budget crisis. Comments like these are deeply concerning to classified staff. They create fear, damage morale, and further so distrust among employees who are already overworked and underpaid and stretched beyond capacity. The continued public narrative suggesting that classified staff should be the primary focus of budget reductions is harmful. We understand that the district is facing significant financial challenges and our members care deeply about the long-term stability of our schools. However, it is
242discouraging to continually hear comments that frame classified employees as expendable or imply that eliminating classified positions is a is the solution to the district's financial problems. Schoolboard members hold positions of public trust. The role of a school board is to govern responsibly in accordance with state and federal law, oversee district finances thoughtfully, set policy, ensure accountability, and support the success of all students and employees. Public comments that usually that casually suggest eliminating entire departments or groups of employees undermine that responsibility and negatively impact the people who keep this district functioning every day. Classified staff have already absorbed significant impacts from budget reductions over the years. Positions have been eliminated and that work has not disappeared. It has simply been pushed into onto remaining employees. Many classified staff already report routinely missing breaks and lunches because
243workloads have become unmanageable. At the same time, pathways for advancement and growth within the district have steadily diminished. Despite this, classified professionals continue showing up every day for students. We support students with disabilities maintain technology systems, keep campuses clean and operational, assist in classrooms and offices, prepare meals, and ensure schools function safely and efficiently. These are not optional services. They are essential functions that directly support student learning and school operations. It is also important to be honest about where district spending exists. Classified salaries are not the primary driver of the district's budget challenges. The largest areas of salary spending continue to come from certificated and management salaries. While management compensation continues to increase year after year, even during a fiscal crisis. Meanwhile, many classified employees are struggling simply to survive in Santa Barbara County. In
244a recent survey, nearly half of the classified staff reported working one or more additional jobs outside of Santa Barbara Unified in order to afford basic living expenses. These are hardworking employees who already feel undervalued and despite the district repeatedly saying stating that all employees matter and that every staff member contributes to student success. If the district truly believes these values, then budget conversations must reflect them. Discussions about financial challenges should be thoughtful, transparent, and solutionoriented, not centered on repeated public suggestions to cut classified staff who are already born have already borne much of the burden. Classified employees deserve respect, honesty, and meaningful inclusion in these conversations. And we are not the cause of this budget crisis. We should not continue to be treated as though we are expendable. Thank you. >> Thank you. So I
245think that that in the presentation and the comments what we see is that that there continues to be very different approaches or expectations about what the committee's purpose and function is. Uh and I would break it down on on the guidelines of a portion of the committee that believes that their job is to solve the district's budget problems. And the second part is the second approach is to offer communication with our dedicated and competent staff to say what can how can we be the best um the best support for making the right decisions. I think it's one of the uh one of the issues of governance in general and committee whether it's committee or board that that the the difference of oversight and support as opposed to operations and actually wanting to have more control
246over the work that is really the work of the staff. This is the challenge that I see from the current committee and and I'm not sure um how the you know the sheet with three priorities were worth four or a 700 page a 500page booklet versus a 300page booklet. um what how things look. I um I just want to say that that I'm watching a finance staff that is working to balance our budget and implement the cuts that we need to to deal with the deficit. Um and I think it's a highly competent group and I worry that the the committee is creating more work and more time for them rather than helping um create solutions. >> Yes. I just want to say that I 100% agree with that perspective and certainly value our um
247classified staff and not you know to cut to cut classified staff or to um not consider them as highly as others. Um certainly not in agreement with that. I mean there's you know everything from this custodian to the office staff is just as valuable in taking serving the needs of our students. I agree with you, Bill. >> Okay, >> Trusty Esco. >> Yeah. Uh, Mr. Rivas, I don't know that you and I disagree all that much. I think I remember that discussion during the finance committee when I was re-watching it. And I think I totally agree with you, Mr. Banning, is what is the role of the finance committee? They're not there to administer the budget. They're not there. They're there to provide input and feedback. And when I look at look at that discussion
248for example, that is a very contentious we don't need infighting. It shouldn't be a feel like the hunger games. It should be I would imagine our finance professionals picking the most effective topics for feedback and input. And I use the one the one example which I think is a useful one because we're going to have to have those discussions about how do we close that $9 million gap. Um that is the most productive use in my opinion of this finance committee. And again it's for feedback and input. They should not be doing the work of our finance professionals. That's why we hired finance professionals. I brought this point up in the past. We have more CPAs working for us at this school district than any school district that the our auditor could think of and
249they work with school districts all across California. So I have a high degree of confidence in our staff. That's not to say that our finance staff in a silo should be answering all the questions about how we close that $9 million or how we build our reserves or how we um structure our budget, how we code things like the the GNA conversation. I remember there was a a differentiation in cost because some things were coded differently from one year to the next. It wasn't about us skyrocketing uh missspending or prioritizing differently. It was that things were coded. This is how budgets work. And so when I hear comments, and I don't mean any disrespect at all, um but when I hear comments like, "Oh, it won't be that much work." I manage budgets practically every
250day in the like $12 million range. We're talking about a $256 million budget. And that comment doesn't isn't true for a $12 million budget. How can I ever expect it to be true for a $256 million budget that carries far more restrictions and far more reporting than what I'm dealing with? So in actuality when I hear like monthly reporting and then quarterly and then on top of our current budget cycle it it doesn't pass the smell test. So when I think about what is the most effective use of our staff's time for this board but also the finance committee it's having someone like Conrad directing the work presenting the opportunities for feedback. And it's exactly that feedback. They take that feedback and they either bring it to the board or they take it back to
251the budget process. I think that's the way that we need to move forward and this board needs to be clear about its direction whether it's the majority of the board or the whole board clear about what our expectations of this group are because those meetings were hard to watch sometimes because of how how granular it got, but it also felt not productive. So I would like us to at least whether it's tonight or sometime in the near future, I'm hoping it's tonight to give some general consensus about what our expectations are. Those are mine >> comments question for >> I do want to add that in in in in the last meeting um I believe it was York had mentioned well Conrad let's ask the board what we can take off your plate so you
252can do this and I kind of took that home thinking everything on my plate is pretty important for what we're doing here. So I I don't know and I really have to look at how much time going forward if we're going to get very granular it becomes more and more time you know to to address questions on why that variance exists or what transactions make up that item. I want to provide this committee kind of as you you had said with the right information for us to do the right work. When we first started, I tried with let's look at transportation or let's look at how how we um do staffing and was kind of told that that wasn't useful or getting deep into the second interim. I spent too much time on second. So,
253it's just like I feel like some of the directions I've gone in, I'm not always going to be right on what I think is best, but I'm going to keep trying. I'm going to keep trying to get them what they need. >> Trusty Munoz, >> basically. I mean, I tend to be, you know, to the point, you know, and stuff. And and we chose you to be our finance director. I mean, I there's not much else that I could say really. I mean, I'm in agreement with um certainly with President Banning and with um Trustee Escoed, >> other Celeste, Trusty Caffrey. >> Yes. >> Thank you. And I apologize if my if what I said made it seem like I do not value classified employees. I think on ETSs specifically, what I was referring to
254was also that we have a one-on-one iPad program that is hugely hugely expensive and are we are we looking at every single possible option when when we look at how our expenses have expanded over years. So, so I apologize if that came off in a negative way. So, what I would say is that yes, Conrad is our finance director. I think yet again, we have an opportunity in our July meeting on board governance to talk, you know, we previously voted about working with schoolboard partners. We're bringing it up again. I believe we voted at our last meeting, right, to to bring up the contract like it was a three-2 vote, right? They have worked with many finance committees. Finance committees are not a new, you know, new idea. How do you structure a finance committee
255in a way that it's productive? I think the idea of of a finance committee having way more standardized reports makes total sense. like I came on this board two years ago and I still do not have a clear idea of how we're spending our money. I mean and and I think that the finance committee has asked to help on reporting for things like that or on variance for example. Very typical for organizations of our size to to have the board and the finance committee to have variance reports on a monthly and quarterly basis. So, so basically I I just feel like our role as an oversight body is helped by the finance committee. We need to know we I understand that Mr. Teddeski is very confident, but that doesn't mean that that we are in
256the dark in terms of how we are spending $256 million on what programs, what schools. You know, I just think that we are are far away from a level of clarity that is required for both the board and the public. And so that is the ultimate goal of the finance committee. and and what the finance committee would like is to to be able to have a more more ability to to dive into these subjects as opposed to rush through these one and a half hour meetings and not be able to produce the results that we would like. So I mean that that is that is my take >> trusty be. So I think the the question of asking what do we want the finance committee to do um the conversation that's happening is is that
257um I think on one hand there's like we must take a deep dive into the finances and I think what we are understanding and even board member Caffrey is talking about subgroups so we're all of a sudden talking about a lot of time a lot of energy to dive into the budget and I think that yes you know in a very basic sense I would like to have the budget really be crystal clear from the top to the bottom. But the amount of work that it's going to take to get there doesn't serve the board right now. So my thought is is we start the finance committee with some very simple tasks as board member Escabedo said as we need to make budget cuts in what areas can we start looking at to reach those
258budget cuts. Can we do a deep dive? It could take forever. Maybe we can really do some simple of we did that with the next to last set of riffs when we changed our bus routes, right? We saved some money. We're able to to fund some things that we didn't think we could fund. So, I think there are iterations of this committee and as they gain more knowledge and expertise, they can get deeper. um to some degree the committee issuing reports starts to sound to me that they are doing what the finance department does and I'm wondering a little bit about that crossover. So and then I would comment we are making uh we are going to discuss governance. We have not adopted who that is and what that's going to be. So I think
259we're getting a little ahead of ourselves talking about how finance committee might look through governance before we make that decision. But I would like to task the these are not simple things we're tasking the finance but they're relatively simple. So I think starting there and getting that feedback from our finance committee is a good way to start and then to to go deeper into things is where we could end up later. Trusty Essco, you said you were hoping to get to some level of clarity tonight. It's 10:15. There's four action items and a consent item. >> I'm hearing clarity, I think, from >> four of us. >> Yeah. >> So, I think that for me, my question would be, is that enough clarity for Dr. Maldonado and Mr. Teski that you have four members that
260essentially agree on the how the finance committee should work moving forward. >> I'm going to try to re restate what I've heard. What I'm hearing from the four board members is you're looking for the finance committee to work on issues that will assist Mr. Teski in his decision making as he works to develop the budget which we've heard tonight is largely driven by programmatic decisions. So it's goes hand in hand including enough to maybe even looking at what we can cut because we still have a deficit to deal with and those are two very simple asks that would be driven by do Mr. Tedeski using the people in the committee as a sounding board of sorts with representation from a variety of stakeholders whom we serve and I I think that's very clear to me
261and I can work with Mr. Teddeski to look at uh seasonality of the budget development work over the ye the year because there's the fall there's a bit of the mid win early winter mid-inter work that gets us into actual making decisions about budgets leading up to March 15th May 15th and so on. So if that I'm here I'm seeing some nods if I have captured that correctly and I know that I'm being recorded we will take that and Mr. Teddeski and I will re uh issue something to the finance committee at their next meeting to let them know that going forward this will be the direction. I also want to acknowledge some of the comments about the fact that we want to make sure that we value every employee in our conversations and that
262we ensure that uh we take into account all people are valued and that will be something that I will ask Mr. Teski to uphold in these meetings because I think it's important for us as representatives of the district or officers of the district to make sure we hold up that value. Did I capture that correctly? If I can just head nods. >> I I think we're good. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate the comments tonight. And that will bring us to our action agenda. Item H1 is the Santa Barbara Unified Instructional Continuity Plan. Good evening. I'm sharing with you the newly developed Santa Barbara Unified instructional continuity plan in compliance with ED code and it provides us a roadmap to ensure that our students have access to instruction in the event of an emergency. So
263this plan was developed in collaboration with uh district site administrators, IT staff, teachers um through our instructional council, parents and student advisory groups. and we bring this plan forward for your formal consideration and approval this evening um to officially integrate in our district's comprehensive school safety plan. >> Oh, there's no public comments. >> No comments. Are there comments or questions from the board? Okay. Uh do I have a motion? I move to approve the instructional continuity plan for 2026. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. Any other student advisory vote? >> All right. Any other further comment? >> Okay. Uh, all in favor? You have to do >> call. Okay. All right. Um, >> trusty Caffrey. >> Hi. >> Trusty Munoz, >> Trusty Beal, >> Trusty Escobedo, and I for me. Motion passes unanimously. Next is
264the employment agreement for assistant superintendent of student and family services. And this will be presented by >> Thank you. Ready to go. Board President Banning. Good evening. Um I'm bringing forward the contract for Maryanne Hugh um for approval um by the board per government code 45953. It's this is a summary of the recommended compensation. Annual salary $217,29.13 at range 28 step one of certificated management salary schedule plus masters and doctoral stipen and any certificated management cola and the standard fringe benefits provided to 12-month certificated management employees including medical dental vision and sick leave. And with that I will turn it over to you board president. All right. I want to take a moment to to point out that that I I believe that that we have either for a long time been um out of
265order with what the um parliamentary procedure has been around voting. Um what I understand that we should be doing is seeking first a motion and then a second prior to questions or comments and then coming back to a vote. No, it doesn't have to be that way. Okay, then let's just keep doing it what the way we're doing it. Do we have questions or comments? >> No. All right. Uh, student advisory vote. >> I need a motion. >> Oh, hi. He said hi. He said hi. >> I'll move to approve the employee agreement assistant superintendent for student and family services. >> Okay. Second. >> Moved and seconded. All right. Now, student advisory vote. >> I Okay. And we'll do roll call. Um, Trusty Escobedo, >> I. >> Trusty Beal. >> Hi. >> Trustee Munoz. >>
266Hi. >> Trusty Caffrey. >> Hi. >> And I from me. Motion carries. The next item H3 is a declaration of Oh, yes. Yes. Bravo. I agree. All right. Declaration of Ne for fully qualified educators resolution 426 resolution 38. Um you want to tell us a bit about that? >> This is a annual um declaration of need. It is an anticipated it's our way of anticipating some of the needs that may present themselves with respect to credentiing. Uh this does require that the board approve on an action agenda. There's a resolution attached, but this allows us to then if we hire someone from out of state that that needs time to get the B-clad, we can still hire them, have them in our classroom, and they they get the B-clad. There's some examples in the documentation
267I gave you, but this is um an opera anticipated operational needs um action, right? And this is an annual document that we do. All right. Any questions, comments? Do I have a motion? I move to approve as an action item the declaration of need for fully qualified educators for the 2627 school year and approval of resolution 2025-2638. >> Is there a second? >> I second. >> Moved and seconded. Um student advisory vote >> I. >> Trusty Esco. >> I. >> Trusty Beal. >> Trusty Munoz. >> Hi. >> Trusty Caffrey. >> Hi. and I for me. That will bring us to H4. I want to make sure that we're Let's see. We got five minutes. Let's go. >> Um purchase and sale agreement. San Sims. Do we purchase and sale agreement for San Simeon Tatum Track
268affordable Workforce Housing? I think there's going to be questions on this. >> So, I would like to point out that we have 5 minutes to 10:30. Um, is there a move uh a recommendation for extending the meeting >> briefly? >> Yes. >> And by a specific amount? >> No, just to be safe. >> Can only do it once. >> Let's do until 11. >> Okay. We'll we'll say until 11. >> Before that, but >> yeah, with an expectation of finishing by >> 10 >> 201. >> All right. Okay. Let's come back to the purchase and sale agreement. San Sime Simeon Tatum Track affordable Workforce Housing. >> All right. Thank you. I'm kind of sad this is happening so late because it is very momentous. It is. >> Um tonight the board has a chance to
269do something the district has been working toward for years. You're going to be voting on whether to bring affordable workforce housing to our community for the people who teach and work in our schools. We all know the cost of living in our area is one of the hardest challenges facing public education. Our teachers, classified staff, and other employees deserve to live in the community they serve, and this is opening a door for that. Um, okay, I was going to go back to 1965, but I won't tell the whole history of the parcel, but um, what the the documents that are in front of you tonight would do, it the district would be buying back um, a 3.65 65 acre piece of the original site um that we uh conveyed to Red Tale back in 2021
270with the sale closing in 2025 um for 7.4 million. Red tale will finance the whole price. No money will leave the district at closing. We simultaneously will be executing a ground lease for that parcel for 99 years to the affordable affordable developer. The de developer will build an 106 unit project. All of the units will be income restricted at or below 80% of area median income. 97 units will have a priority for district employees with secondary priorities for other area school district and authorized charter school employees and qualifying nonprofits. Eight units will be reserved for veterans and one will be a manager unit. The housing authority of the county of Santa Barbara will serve as the property manager and the district will own the land throughout the 99-year term. And then 99 years from now,
271the buildings will revert um to the district. And so the district in 99 years will have some buildings. Um and the deal is really one of a kind. Ordinarily, when a public agency develops workforce housing like this, it has to pass a bond, put up money, enter a JPA, do something, um contribute the land, and not actually get it back at the end of the term. We're doing none of those things. The developer is bringing roughly 60 million in financing to actually build the project and none of that is coming from us. Um our only role is owning the land and leasing it and getting the benefit of the priority workforce housing for our employees. Very little risk. Um so we uh think this is really exciting and important. Um recommend that the board authorize
272Dr. Maldonado to execute the related documents. And I don't know if our friend from Hesbarco is Wow. Okay. Well um we have somebody from Hezbar here. has the housing authority of Santa Barbara County that is again serving as the property manager and thank you for sticking with us. >> Maybe >> I think you're frozen. Maybe he's not with us. >> Have a check. >> Can you Can you hear me? >> Yeah. >> Yes. Can Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. >> My internet connection is not the best. >> Okay, perfect. >> So, we're here for questions. >> I think we had some Yeah. questions. >> Yes. >> Are there questions from board members? Celeste. Uh, Trusty Caffrey, you have a question. >> What's up? I'm Did you lose? >> There she is. >>
273Sorry. I think someone else may be speaking. Is Is that >> I think it was translation. >> Oh. Oh. Oh, that was translation. Oh, sorry. Okay. Yes. My question I've heard from um staff. How will housing be allocated among Santa Barbara Unified staff members? How do how is the decision made? >> Sure. Um uh the the short answer to the question is we will open up a waiting list and each applicant will uh submit an a an application and it will be date and timestamped. Um and so it will basically be a selection on a first come first serum serve basis. Um uh the the waiting list will be open to everyone but the school district employees will have first priority. So even if a even if members of the public um who are not
274uh employed by the school district um apply before school district employees do. They are a lower priority than school district employees. So um so that's the that's that's basically the order we will follow. >> Thank you. >> Trustee Escoto. >> Can you uh just speak a little bit about the necessity for us to lease back to own the land and then to do the ground lease portion to align with state law? >> Yes. Exactly. So, in order to be allowed to use this priority and have the workforce h um school district workforce housing, um it's a 2016 act. In order to take advantage of that, we have to own the land. Um and so that's why we're having it. We're leasing it and then we're getting it back. >> I I just want to comment
275that it's at a late hour. We've rushed through an explanation. I think it's important to um let the public, anyone that's watching this at a later date know that this is something that has been on our radar for some time. We have had um extensive coverage and and advice from legal counsel around negotiation issues and things like that. And it I just want to make sure it doesn't appear that this is a late night type of decision that hasn't been completely considered and and something that we're not just thrilled about um getting to. It's it's a a really landmark moment for us and I I appreciate uh having our our representative here late and just want to make sure we're um being perceived as acting in in the best faith possible here. >> Rightust. Yes.
276I can certainly vouch for you know the fact that this is what we wanted from the beginning is for um our employees to be able to have housing and um to prioritize them. so that we could have um employees that are not commuting that are, you know, able to live with their families here. Um and that it is, you know, the culmination of of something huge that we've worked on for years. Um I can't remember the exact year, but I know it was within the last eight years that I've been on the board. >> Yeah. >> Student trustee. I had a quick question about um and I get that there's we prioritize um district staff but within that are there different priorities for different levels of district staff or you know seniority anything like that?
277>> There's not but it um yeah there within district staff there's not and I don't know Bob if you want to >> Yeah that's right. Well, so for us, um we don't take into consideration um rank or um uh length of service with the uh with the district. It's it's strictly based on a time and date stamp. Um and we don't want to do anything that would uh violate fair housing law. And so so we won't distinguish um um you know any anything else just just in the order in which uh we receive applications. >> Just to clarify it's not beyond the order of receiving there is a standard of income that that needs to be met to be to qualify. Is that correct? >> Yes that's right. And there are units at different income
278levels. It's really expressed in terms of area median income. And so we have units as low as um 30% of area median income, which is extremely low. Um but we also have um some units available at upper income levels 60 and 80% area median income. So, so the applicants we receive will be slotted towards the income and bedroom size that is needed for the family. >> Okay, that's helpful. Thank you, Trusty Keffrey. And another question that we've gotten is what happens if you get a raise and you're no longer um within the original area uh income level. That's a great question and the answer is uh once they are initially income qualified um they are qualified for that unit and so regardless of how many times they're promoted or what their income level is they
279are still entitled to that specific unit. >> Yeah. Um, is it true that does the rent go up to match some level of to to match their increased income or is that not correct? >> Uh, so the the rents are established based on the initial um area median income level and and that's the rent they the the rents will be adjusted yearly based on cost of living um which is published by the state of California housing community development department. But um uh their increase in incomes um won't impact their rent. The only adjustment that'll be made is the annual increase for cost of living. I >> think that might be different than what we heard, but I'm sure Bob is right. >> Um yeah, and I'm I'm probably not expressing it. Um it's actually not
280cost of living. It's it's um so the area median income is established from year to year and and there's an adjustment to that because in some years um you know the it's sort of flat and there isn't much of an adjustment and other years the area median income rises but the rents are based on the area median income for Santa Barbara County. So that's where the rent adjustments come. So, it again, it doesn't matter if they're promoted and they're they receive substantial increases, they're still um their their rent is based on that initial certification and that classification. >> All right, Trusty Beal. So, it's my understanding that affordable housing in Santa Barbara, if your income starts to exceed what's considered the um you know, the median that that you are probably given time to find
281another living space because now you can potentially afford to, but you are not allowed to stay in that situation. So, we're trying to create affordable housing for our staff. So, it uh doesn't seem correct to me that if there's a big jump in income that they can continue to take advantage of a program where we may have teachers who have lower salaries who are looking to move into an affordable space. Um I believe there is a case where if the income level for the family exceeds something like 140% of area median income um there may be they could be asked to move but if but but there's a lot of latitude in the program. So, um, so we do have some some tenants in some of our other properties who started out initially at 50%
282AMI, finished schooling, and are now earning 100% of AMI or 120%, but they're still entitled to remain in the unit. So, we have to be very careful that we don't violate fair housing or the Internal Revenue Code for this. Um, so I believe there is a I'll call it the 140% rule. Um, but we don't see that very much in um in most of the tenants that we serve. So, it's it's pretty rare. Trusty Esco. >> Um, is there any, we won't hold anyone to this, but is there any timeline on groundbreaking and how long it'll take to develop this project? >> Yes, I think there's going to be a celebration. Is it July 22nd? Something like that. Um, and it's going to be exciting. Um, and then I think uh we know that they,
283you know, everybody wants to get this done as quickly as possible. So I think the estimate we got was maybe three years was a rough estimate. >> Um, you know, and and Red Tail is taking the um the lead on doing the buildout, but typically buildouts of this size take roughly speaking uh 18 months to 24 months. And then we will as as we get closer to completion of construction, probably eight or nine months prior, we will start communicating very actively with the school district and and educating um the school district employees on the opportunity and establish a wait list. Um so uh so that we can prepare for you know having someone in each one of the units when we receive certificate of occupancy. >> Thank you >> Trusty Keffrey. >> My last question
284um if an employee retires or or gets a different job what happens to their unit? Do they stay there? >> That's that's a great question. So, we are not able to evict someone who is retiring from the school district um uh or who leaves the school district employment. However, what we we what we can do is the housing authority um along with some of our affordable housing partners like Redtale are constantly developing new developments and we can encourage them to apply um at some other sites so that it frees up um a space for another active school district employee. But but again we cannot require them to leave. I what what I'm hearing is um processes around compliance with legal criteria from fair housing. I I'm I'm a bit concerned because this is a little
285out of line with where we were, but other than that, what we're hearing is is um compliance with uh with this kind of subsidized housing. >> Yes. Yes, that's correct. >> Are there other questions or comments from the board? >> The only comment I have is I better get an invite to the ribbon cutting when this thing opens. Someone here remember that. >> Someone's got to be here. All right, I'll make the motion. I'm in a motion to approve the purchase and sale agreement, ground lease, and related documents for the affordable workforce housing project on approximately 3.65 acres at San Marcos Road in San Simeon Drive off Hollister unincorporated Santa Barbara County. Uh, and to authorize the superintendent to execute the final documents, and any amendments, certificates, or ancillary instruments necessary to complete the transaction.
286I second. >> It's moved and seconded before votes. Um I just want to add one uh final comment and that's to say that um this has been a long time coming and it's probably impossible to give thank yous to all of the various people within the district and outside and legal counsel and housing authorities that have made this possible. This is a landmark kind of activity. So, um, kudos and and congratulations and thank you to all that have made that possible. Um, we have a student advisory vote. >> I, >> Trustee Esco, >> I. >> Trustee Beal, >> Trusty Munoz, >> I. >> Trusty Caffrey, >> I >> and I from Trusty Banning. >> Let's go. >> All right. So, that brings us to the consent agenda. Are there any requests to pull items from
287the consent agenda? >> Hearing none. Is there a motion? >> I'll move to approve the consent agenda. >> A second. >> I second. >> Moved and seconded. Um trustee student trustee advisory vote. >> I. >> Trusty Escobedo >> I. >> Trustee Beal >> I. >> Trusty Munoz >> I. >> Trusty Caffrey >> I. >> Trusty Banning I. Motion carries unanimously. That brings us to the end of the agenda. There are um uh coming events with promotions and graduations. Uh any discussion on future agenda items? Yes. I'd like to take us back to the um comment I made earlier where uh we would have Kaba come to the board and present or some sort of presentation that talks about um recommitting to our work on combating anti-blackness in our schools. >> Okay. >> And I just
288want to clarity that this will be scheduling in the future, not necessarily the next meeting. >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> All right. We are adjourned at >> Oh, wait. I have one more. I'm sorry. Oh, okay. >> Um, so my request is that we ask Mr. Teski to price out how much it would cost to reopen um campuses, playgrounds, and fields at our schools. And the reason behind this is basically um there is phil philanthropic interest in potentially supporting this type of initiative. Similar to LA USD, they have their community um parks initiative. So I'd like to ask the board to vote to ask Mr. Tedeski to pull together this information. >> Trusty Munoz. Yeah, I have concern that this wasn't on the agenda. >> This is a future agenda item. >> She's asking
289for a vote to put it on the agenda. >> Yes, I'm asking for a future agenda item because I was told it will take work for Mr. Tedduski. I think it's an important initiative to open our campuses on the weekends and summertime for student and community use. And so, especially since there's philanthropic interest to to support this, the what we're missing is the cost piece. So that's why I'm asking the board to vote to have Mr. Teddeski bring this back. >> Dr. Maldinado, I'm I am interested in pursuing this. We've had this discussion before where we partnered with the city um and then it ended up falling through because budget cuts on all parts. Didn't we do this calculation on how much it would cost for opening our schools? >> Not to the extent that
290is being asked and uh I've asked uh Mr. Tedeski because there the calculations were only on staffing not on everything else that it it entails and that will be a big request for an report from fiscal staff as I hear her asking it. Basically, what I'm asking for is by school, the cost. Um, and the idea is that as opposed to in the past when we self- financed it and the city did to that what is happening in LA and other places is um that philanthropy helps subsidize opening campuses to the public. um com creating community parks essentially like 16 new community parks at a fraction of the cost. So that's why I'm asking for Mr. Tedeski to bring back this pricing information so we can um yeah explore this option. >> Yeah. I don't
291know is this something that we could vote on whether we should give that direction or not or you know I think at this late hour it's just something I don't know if we could either vote on it or discuss it at a future meeting. I I honestly I don't see it being >> I think the timing of it, you know, we're right about to launch into summer and um I I don't know. I'm just opposed to it. Period. >> So um I think this is a bigger question than it seems. >> I mean the idea of LA adding 16 community parks, it is a city that has maybe a dera parks. >> No, I'm saying we would add 16. I'm sorry. >> Right. And so the question is is do we need to do this?
292Are there selective schools that need to be needed to be opened in certain areas? So I think I would like to hear a proposal from the philanthropic party about what their expectations are, how much they're willing to cover and then we could look at the scope of the problem and we could consider it. But I I'm not comfortable having adding this work to the agenda when we're asking the finance committee to do things. were asking for the seventh period. We we do have a lot of things on the plate for this summer. And so I would like to know more about what they're actually proposing to finance and is it specific to certain parts of town or do we just open up all our schools all hours all the time? It just feels like it
293could be very expensive, very big. I I agree as well and I have always a concern when we're relying on philanthropic um costs for ongoing things that get get started and if the money stops suddenly the bad guy is the school district. So I I'm I'm I'm not interested at this point in talking about it. It's an issue that I think we need to to hear more about. Um but I think your approach from uh having a a proposal from a a potential funer or some further discussion rather than bringing it right to the board. >> I would. >> So I think procedurally sorry I'm sorry. >> Go ahead. >> Sorry. >> Procedurally Miss Caffrey is asking this board to vote on whether you're going to give this direction or not. I think procedurally you
294can say you're going to vote or you're not going to vote and then we move the topic forward or not. But I don't >> I think she's asking for it to be added to a future agenda item and so >> Oh, I I heard it differently and that's how and when we talked it was differently asked differently. So, can you clarify, Miss Caffrey, which one you're asking the board to do? >> Yeah, my question was could we get cost information about what it might cost to open up campuses, but if the board would like to speak about it more in depth, we could just add it as an agenda item if that's preferable. Um, yeah. So, I'm happy to make either motion, but it sounds to me that the board would like to hear from
295philanthropy first as opposed to I think the the issue is like how much would it cost, you know? Um, like could we have a ballpark even for two campuses instead of all of them would be less work. Like any information would be helpful. I think the only question that's able to be asked is are we going to agendaize the item or not? >> Yeah, that's what I was going to say. And that question actually can only be asked if there was first a request to uh President Banning and Dr. Maldonado to add it to the agenda and they denied that request then we can bring it back to the full board. And I did just want to note we should make sure in this portion of the agenda to not actually get into the discussion
296of the thing like so I I think there should just be the introduction of the request for a new item and then pretty quickly move to the vote and not get into the >> if this hasn't been if this hasn't been presented to us yet as a written request. Is it appropriate to do the vote? >> She did. >> Oh, she did. Okay. >> Yes, I did present it as a written request. I never got a denial, but I never got a response. Then basically what trust uh I'm sorry um superintendent Maldonado said I should bring it to the whole board. I emailed it to both um President Banning and Superintendent Maldonado. >> So then I think it would probably just move to a vote of whether you want to bring this as a future
297agenda item. >> Is there is there a timeline on when it has to come if we vote? >> Okay. Is there a motion? Oh, I guess she's made the motion. Is there a second? I I'm open to having the discussion, but I agree with Dr. Beiel's approach to it is having knowing if the money >> it matters though like I in terms of process rather than agendaizing it first. I would like to hear something about who's intending to partner with us and in what capacity. So, I'm not going to support it. >> So, there is no second. >> I'm not going to support it either. >> All right. The motion dies for lack of a second. And it's time to adjourn >> at 10:20 uh 1052.