001order our Santa Cruz County Board of Education regular board meeting. Um at this time we are going to um do our roll call, but I want to first welcome those individuals who are in person um those who are online and our families that are joining us um on the premises in our tech room. So thank you and welcome and I will ask for a roll call for attendance. Trustee A. Costa, >> Trustee Kyle >> here. >> Vice President Larson >> here. >> Trusty Roth >> here. >> Trusty Sanchez. >> Trusty Van Allen >> here. >> President Williams >> here. >> Student Trustee Guan Martinez. >> Student Trustee Amore >> here. >> You have quorum. >> Excellent. Thank you. And I just wanted to um make notice that our trustee Larson will be participating teleconference um
002at his stated location that was um presented on our packet. Thank you. All right. At this time, I'm going to do our land acknowledgement. Um the land on which we gather is an unseated territory of the Awas speaking UB tribe. The Mount Muten tribal band comprised of descendants of indigenous people taken to mission Santa Cruz and San Juan Batista during the Spanish colonization of the central coast is today working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma. At this time I think um Dr. Dr. Spa has an announcement regarding translation. >> Yes. Uh good evening. We'd like to let everybody know that live Spanish translation is available for tonight's meeting. And so if anybody needs interpretation services, we ask that they see Jessica Serna Casteda who is here in
003the tech center in the in the boardroom. Uh she'll provide you with a headset and interpretation kit. Dr. Sabal. Um, so at this time we're going to do uh the pledge of the legion. So if you can and are able, please stand and Dr. Sabal will lead us. >> Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you everyone. Um, we are going to do the approval of our agenda. And just as a uh reminder, since we do have a member that is a trustee that will be participating um at a stated location, uh all of our votes will be a roll call vote. Um so can I have an
004>> Okay, we have a motion. Second. >> All right, roll call, please. Student trustee Gian Martinez. >> Hi. >> Student trustee Omar. >> Hi. >> Trustee Kyle. >> Hi. >> Vice President Larson. >> Hi. >> Trusty Roth. >> Yes. >> Trusty Van Allen. >> Hi. >> President Williams. >> Yes. Thank you very much. Um, public comment. We're on item number five, public comment. This is the opportunity for the public to address the board regarding items not on the agenda. The board president, myself, will recognize any member of the audience who was not previously placed on the agenda and who would wish to speak on a matter directly related to school business. Each person will be given three minutes. Um, do we have any person online or in person? >> Yes, we do. President Williams, we
005have two requests online for public comment. The first is from Beina Leavitz. Vina, if you are here, we are promoting you to a panelist so that you can speak for three minutes. And if you unmute yourself, you can begin your public comment whenever you're ready. >> Forgive me. Okay. Good evening, President Williams. Board members and superintendent, my name is Bina Levitz and I'm the president of the Association of the California County Boards of Education. I want to begin by thanking you for being members of ACCBE. We are excited to report that we are 47 members strong. Now, your membership truly matters. It strengthens the collective voice of county boards across California and supports our shared work on behalf of students. ACCBE was created by and for county trustees, and its value comes when members are
006actively engaged. One way to engage is through our online and in-person trainings. Each month, we offer governance trainings and special topic sessions designed specifically for county trustees. Provides practical tools. Our trainings are timely, free to members, and recorded so you can watch them anytime. And if you crave in-person events, we are now we just hosted three regional in-person events. And in the fall, I'm excited to say that we are going to do an on-site visit to um participate and observe uh high-end career teched programs, potentially also in our court and community schools. If advocacy is your interest, there are opportunities to be involved in advocacy on our advocacy committee, to communicate with legislators, to suggest legislation, and I'm proud to say that ACCBE is sponsoring its first bill, Senate Bill 1082 around interd district transfers.
007ACCBE is also here as a resource. We can do one-on-one governance mentoring, customized board trainings. You can have access to our free trustee handbook, or just stay informed through our weekly newsletters. Our goal is to support you. Each member board appoints an ACCBE board rep, and I want to thank Trusty Sanchez for that. Board reps help share ACCB updates with your board and bring feedback to us so we can better respond to your needs and priorities. We would also value your participation in shaping our future. On June 13th, we have our strategic growth summit and we would love for someone from your board to participate. At the end of the day, ACCBE is a partnership. We want to ensure we are providing real value to your board and creating meaningful opportunities for county trustees to
008learn from one another, strengthen governance, and elevate county board across California. And again, thank you for being members. Thank you for your leadership, your partnership, and for being part of ACCBE. Have a great night. >> Wonderful. Thank you very much. I have had the honor to attend a few of the webinars, and we appreciate the the programs and the um webinars that you're providing. >> Do we have others? >> President Williams, apologies. The remaining public comment is for item 10.1. >> Okay. Thank you. We'll be sure to call on that. Make a note of that so I don't forget. Um, is there any other in person or online? Nope. Okay, great. Um, at this time we're on item six, student trustee reports, and we will first hear from uh, Vicente Martinez. >> Um, good afternoon.
009Thank you guys for having Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity being here again. This month has been really busy for me. I think the most exciting part of this month was um outdoor science school. I was able to be a cabin leader. It was a whole week and I I enjoyed it a lot. Um the kids they taught me they taught me things that I didn't really know and I'm older than them so that was interesting. And but the week following that it it took me like a whole week to get back into the into my routine. I do a lot in a week. So being away from all that took me a whole another week to get back into it because I'm busy and I have to respond to a lot of emails.
010But two days ago, I had my scholarship award night and it went pretty good. I got four scholarships. >> Um there I got like $15,000 and in total I think it's like 20 or $25,000. Oh, and I chose my school. Last time, last board meeting, I didn't choose my school, but I'm going to CSUB. um that I've been trying to do more things like in the in the um my school community for these last two week two weeks of school. Um excited but sad that I'm going to graduate. I think it's a routine for me to go to school now and it's going to feel weird not to go to school. have a three month um vacation and then go back to university. But it's going to feel different since university is different than high
011school. Um I plan on going to Washington DC in June. That's going to be exciting. Yeah, I'm trying to stay busy and catch up on everything. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, Trustee Martinez, and congratulations on Well, you got two more weeks left, but congratulations on your impending graduation and your your new journey to university. Congratulations. Um, okay, now we're going to hear from uh student trustee Moore. Um, last month I was very sad to not be able to make it, but I have been doing a lot of work in my college class, which is the EMT Academy, and that was the only night I was able to get a ride along, which is something we need to graduate. Uh, so I was doing that that night. Um, since then I've been doing
012a lot with like my personal education, but I've done some pretty cool things like outside of that, like with the community. Like I uh raised the flag here, the pride flag on Harvey Milk Day and I did a bit of a speech and I also won the Korea leadership awards which was pretty cool. Um, I am looking forward to doing more stuff in the future, but I would say that's kind of a overall picture of what I've been doing because it's been finals and I've been focusing on that a lot. >> Thank you for sharing and um I believe both student trustees will be here next month for our meeting. So we'll have an opportunity to say our congratulations and a few words. So thank you. Um at this time we're on item number seven,
013the cassette agenda. Um there any questions um concerns or anything? Motion in a second and then we'll do a roll call. >> Student trustee Gian Martinez. >> Student trustee Moore. >> Hi. >> Trustee Kyle. >> I. >> Vice President Larson. Vice President Larson. >> He's a thumbs up. >> Yes. Oh, sorry. Thank you. Um Trust Trusty Roth. Uh yes, but I was not in attendance for the minutes, so I abstain from that portion. >> Okay. Trustee Sanchez. >> Hi, >> Trusty Van Allen. >> President Williams. >> Hi. >> Good. >> Trusty Larson, could you do a quick sound check? Could you unmute and just uh >> one, two, three, four. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> All right, we're going to skip item eight. We do not have any deferred consent items. And on to correspondence.
014Do we have any correspondence that was not included in our board packet? >> You did receive one correspondence from Monica Nichols, which was added to your board packet earlier today. >> Okay. All right. Um we're going to move on to um item 10, our reports, discussions, and presentations. And I do believe we have a public comment on this section. Is that correct? >> Did you have >> um President Williams, we would we may hear the public comment after the um staff reports on this item if that works for you. >> Okay. Yes, it does. Absolutely. All right. So, we're going to go on to item 101, which is our 2026 educators and community partner of the year awards. And I will pass it on to Dr. Sabah at this time. Members of the board, it
015is a pleasure for me to be here. This is one of the evenings that we look forward to the most every year. This is the evening where we celebrate uh the uh and recognize extraordinary educators, support staff, and community partners who have made a lasting difference in the lives of students and families across our county. So the educator of the year awards honor individuals who embody the values of our school community through dedication, compassion, leadership, and a commitment to excellence. These honores represent the very best of Santa Cruz County education, inspiring those around them, and helping every learner thrive. Tonight's honores and I think it's going to be on this slide here. Tonight's honores are um will receive a plaque recognizing their outstanding service to Santa Cruz County and their names will be permanently engraved
016on the educators of the year perpetual plaque displayed in the foyer of the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, a lasting tribute to their impact and legacy. So we uh so please join us in celebrating these remarkable individuals and thanking them for the difference they make every single day. Now we've asked our honores to wait in the tech center because we can't fit all of those wonderful folks in this room and to bring them one at a time. And um and so we're going to be starting our celebration today with um with the teacher of the year. And this is I think for for many of us we can think of a specific person who inspired us a teacher who uh touched our lives in ways that um really maybe impacted our trajectory. And this
017is uh it's really an honor to celebrate our teachers who um touched the lives of so many children. I remember when I first came to the United States as a child, it was a teacher uh who helped me uh fit in. I was this this young kid who who uh didn't speak the language very well and felt quite alone. And it was a teacher that helped me helped create a sense of belonging for me to uh begin my my my time here in the United States. And so, um as folks come into the room, um I'd like to uh uh just share and I think we have every would please come on in and take a seat. Thank you so much for being here. Wonderful. So, we're going to begin our celebration tonight for the
018educator of the year with the teacher of the year who is Shireen Gdarzi. Now, Miss Gdarzi is a proud Watsonville native whose dedication to students and community has shaped generations of learners. Shireen attended the Pajar Valley Unified School District Schools, earned her master's degree in education from UC Santa Cruz, and returned home to give back to the very community that helped inspire her journey. Think, talk about staying local, man. For the past 25 years, all at Ha Hyde Elementary School, Shireen has created classrooms where students feel supported, challenged, and inspired to learn. Known for her creativity, strong connections with students, and a commitment to continuous growth, Shireen also uplifts fellow educators through leadership, mentorship, and service to her school community. I'd like to welcome uh Michael Bourbon, who's the assistant superintendent of educational services at
019the Paja Valley Unified School District, who got to work with with Shireen for for quite some time, and for him to share uh more about this well-deserved recognition. Please welcome Michael Berman. >> Good evening, members of the board and um Santa Cruz community. It's great to be here and especially to honor my friend um Shireen Gdari. Uh, taking us back 24 years ago, I got hired as a first grade teacher at Calabasas Elementary School and I had the opportunity to work with um, the county office and get a coach. Um, and the most important thing that that coach did with me is take me over to HADE to go see an expert teacher um, and get to observe that teacher. And the first thing I thought when I walked into the room is uh no
020way. She's way too young. Uh she's younger than me obviously and and the competitive juices started flowing. And I thought I thought there's no way this this teacher is an expert teacher. I want to be the expert teacher. Um but the minute I sat down and opened my notebook and filled it with page after page of notes, I was a floored. um her strategies, her tone uh w that she spoke to students with with the the command, the respect and the love allin one. Uh the the the way that she engaged her students and got them to talk, the the clear um understanding of each student's ZPD, that next level of learning for every single student was so apparent and has continued to be so apparent. And so I became immediately I became a better
021educator. Um, and then over the years, uh, we we we touched base. Um, I would always want to check in with her and be like, "Hey, what's that new strategy you got going?" You know, like because I wanted to improve. I constantly wanted to improve. Um, 10 years after that first meeting, I had the the privilege of being hired as the principal at HJ Hyde. And that summer, as I proceeded to get ready and and think about what the year is going to look like, the the biggest anxiety I had was like, how am I ever going to be an instructional leader there with folks like her? Um and and I had always thought like, oh, she was born with this. This is innate. Um but from the minute we started working together, she'd come
022into my office um you know, a couple days a week long after most teachers were gone and she'd ask me like, "Hey, what's my next move? What's my next area of growth?" And the challenge of her made me a better administrator. She pushed me to be like, "Oh, wow. She wants to she wants to reflect on this." And so I realized it's not it's not innate. It's hard work. It's dedication. It's reflection. It's working with her peers. Um and and so she has consistently pushed all of us to be better educators and be better for our students. Um so to to sum up, uh it was it was an honor to to have her as my model and mentor. It was an honor to be her peer. It was especially an honor to be her
023supervisor, but more than anything, it's been an honor to be her friend. So, thank you. So Shireen, you wouldn't mind joining and Michael maybe you could stay up here with me. We'd like to present this award to you. Um you are you epitomize excellence. You and you stand as as an advocate for students and you've touched the lives of so many so many children over the years. Thank you for your for everything you've done and congratulations. This is presented to you on on behalf of the county board of education and the county office of education. Thank you for being the county teacher of the year. >> So, we're going to take a a picture with the and we'd we'd love for the for the board to join us. Um, so first we're going to have
024one with our teacher of the year and the board and then we're going to invite all of all the people here who are are here to support our We'd like to invite former principles Aaron and Brooke to join us. Can you do one more? We're going to do one more with family and friends. So, anybody please, everybody that's here for for Shireen, please come on up for a picture. >> We duck down. Okay, everybody look right here. >> Thank you and congratulations. We'd like to encourage you to to go to the tech center to there's refreshments there waiting for you. Thank you. Thanks, Michael. Thank you so much for uh for joining us this evening, members of the board. Uh and now it's my pleasure to uh celebrate our our co-ounselor of the year, Cynthia
025Fernandez. Now, Cynthia uh is someone whose compassion, advocacy, and lived experience have made a lasting impact on students in alternative education. Since 2010, Cynthia has served as a counselor at at Kosanoa Career Prep High School and Ark Independent Studies, supporting students academically, socially, and emotionally as they work toward graduation and their future goals. As a former alternative education student herself, and a proud first generation college graduate, Cynthia brings empathy, understanding, and unwavering dedication to every student she serves. She is passionate about creating a school environment where students feel safe, supported, and encouraged to succeed. And her commitment to helping students see their potential shines through in all that she does. Please uh join me in welcoming uh Caresha Durham, ARC independent studies and AF teacher along with Mary Gaul, Forester, Les Forester, and Cheryl Williams,
026who was our 20 our 2017 counselor of the year to uh share more about Cynthia and the special recognition. Let's give them a round of applause, please. Want to speak in Spanish and English for some of Cynthia's family. Um Santa Cruz commen so I am a teacher at the longest running small school. I prefer small schools to alternative and we are the ark if you didn't know it was the oldest and the longest running small school. We started in 1970 in cafe pergalissi. Anco Fernandez. Esuchados. I've had the pleasure of working with Cynthia for the last 10 years and I'm really honored to call her a colleague and a friend. Cynthia is the kind of person that you just love working with and you notice because students and others at our school gravitate towards her
027and they really feel seen and heard and respected by her. Cynthia is Kuna. Espoarencia. Cynthia is kind of like a movie star at our school. She has a large fan club and I'm a member. I'm always looking to see and glancing in to get a few minutes with her. And normally there's a long line of people waiting outside her door just to bask in her presence. And Cynthia or Cynthia is much more than an academic high school counselor. She forms close relationships with her students and helps them believe in themselves again and empowers them. She's a trusted mentor and guide. Whenever I personally need to have a difficult conversation with a student and their family, I beg Cynthia to be there. She has wise insight and she can give she's not afraid to give honest,
028gritty, and lifechanging advice during those conferences. Cynthia tormenas. Libraros in Sencio. We live in a complex world and our local students benefit by having caring coaches like Cynthia who' help teens navigate the stormy waters of adolescence and find life goals. There are a lot of myths about small schools like Ark and Costaoa. Such one as students sit quietly all day just filling in workbooks. classes assistant classes in Cababrio certific Manosesque personal educ. Flores. Having taught in both programs of Ark and Costaoa, I can assure you that our small schools serve students with high motivation. Students who thrive in a smaller setting and many of our students take A throughG high school plus Cababrio College classes earn certificates and careers with through CTE while at the same time they are working almost full-time and helping care
029for their younger siblings and helping their families pay rent. They I believe are more prepared and experienced for adulthood than most teens. Small schools helps personalize our education especially for neurode divergent students and we give a wide range of students the care and competence they need to flourish and start learning love learning again. And finally, Cynthia. As a student of Ark Independence, she was a graduate of Arc Independent Studies herself, and she's a shining example of how small schools are necessary in our community, and they're a perfect part of a journey with a wide re um array of choices to success. So, Cynthia Carranco, Fernandez, Ko, Graduada, the Arc Independent Studios I love you sister. You are very special. and Cynthia as excellent. tribute to the excellent education from her parents and from all our
030local teachers, especially small school mentors. We are so fortunate, Cynthia, that you stayed here in our community and now you're giving back to our community. Cynthia, on behalf of the county board of education and the county office of education, we'd like to present this award as counselor of the year for the county of Santa Cruz. Congratulations. >> Um, sorry, I'm a little nervous, but um, I'm truly honored to receive the counselor of the year award. I feel incredibly proud, not just for myself, but for the students and community that have shaped my journey throughout the years. As a proud Latina who grew up in Santa Cruz and attended Ark Alternative High School, it is especially meaningful to now work at Costanoa Career Prep High School and Arc Independent Studies, supporting students in the same community
031that helped shape me. It feels like a full circle moment, and I carry a deep sense of gratitude for that every day. Working in alternative education is more than a job to me. It is my passion. There is something very special about working with students in alternative in an alternative school setting. Every student has a story and it has been my privilege to support them, encourage them and celebrate their successes along the way. The students I work with inspire me every day and they are the reason I continue to do the work with so much heart. This award belongs to all the students that I have had the honor of working with over the years. I do this work with my whole heart and I feel truly blessed to be part of such a caring
032and supportive community at Bransy 40 small schools. Our BSSC staff is amazing and the support we give one another is what makes it so special. I also want to give a a special thank you to my colleagues, to my friends, and to my family who are here supporting me today and every day. Your encouragement and love mean so much to me and I am deeply grateful for all of you. We're going to ask the board to join us for a photo with our counselor of the year. We'd like to ask uh one more. >> We'd like to ask family and friends to please join us. And I see Superintendent Chris Monroe is here is also going to be joining us as well. Please uh everybody that's here for for Cynthia, please come on up for
033a photo. Sorry to interrupt everybody, but in looking around the room here, I think I go farther back with Cynthia than anybody else here because I I remember that smile when I worked as a teacher. Sorry if that was not too harmful of an experience having me as a classroom teacher at Shoreline Middle School, but evidently you did okay. The smile you see on that picture was a smile that we as a staff saw every day and saw in you the spark and the belief in you that you now see at the students in the students at Kosenoa Career Prep. So, it's a real honor to be here with you. Lots of cameras. All the photos. We'll pick the best one. >> Thank you. We invite you to uh to go back to the tech
034center for refreshments, please. >> Thank you. Thanks, Chris. So, we are so fortunate this year. Um, there were so many amazing nominations that we couldn't just pick one counselor. So, we actually have two counselors of the year uh this year. And our next co-ounselor of the year is Kayla Raymond. >> Yes. So Kayla is a um she's a dedicated advocate for student well-being whose work has touched the lives of countless young people across Santa Cruz County. Kayla has spent the past four years at San Lorenzo Middle School supporting students social and emotional growth with compassion, care, and unwavering encouragement. Her commitment to youth advocacy also includes her time serving students in our own Santa Cruz COE alternative education programs as a guidance counselor at Highlands Sebrite and Phoenix Academy. So she started with us as
035someone who grew up in San Lorenzo Valley and is now raising her own family there. Kayla's dedication is giving back to her community and is this shines through in everything she does. She is passionate about helping students build resilience and creating the support systems they need to thrive. I'd like to welcome uh uh Shauna Urbanick. I think that's how no urban sick Urban sorry about that. Uh principal of San Lorenzo Valley Middle School to share more about Kayla and this well-deserved recognition. Please give a round of applause for Shauna Urbanick. >> Sorry about the last. Sorry. Perfect one. Thank you. I am very proud to talk about Kayla Raymond. Um my first year ever being principal was Kayla's first year. So I'm very proud to have worked with her very closely the last four years
036and create a space at our school that students feel safe and protected and had huge growth in so many areas. And Kayla's been an integral part of that. She is a strong advocate for students. She works tirelessly and very closely with staff, students, families, and everyone in the community to support them in so many different ways. One of the things that I noticed she does all the time is keeps tabs on students on staff and will come and talk to appropriate parties to make sure everyone feels safe and protected. This is students in crisis. It's students with just regular middle school social drama that feel huge to them. It can be students who maybe have just feelings of anxiety or overwhelm and she touches base with them and asks permission to share with staff, teachers
037or people who can make it a little easier for the students. She includes families in all of the things that she can do to help provide resources and supports to them. She builds very strong relationships with everyone in our school community and it shows in all the ways that students come to appreciate her, staff come to appreciate her. She helps run our wellness center. So during brunch and lunch daily, it is open for students to have a quiet and safe space. Although often students play board games and does not stay very quiet for very long. Um all of our staff greatly appreciate the work that she does with us every single day. She's a strong part of our team and working with community partnerships. So she loops back pretty consistently with offerings from the COE
038to support our school and our students and families in a deeper way. We have appreciated her for her continuous efforts and the ways that she watches out for kids, the connections that she builds with everyone and the resources. And I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that students do not get lost at our school because Kayla makes sure to come back and consistently check on them, include us, even give me little nudges sometimes when my plate is very full to just say, "Hey, I just want to see if you have 30 seconds to check on this kid. I think they could really benefit." and I deeply appreciate that. It keeps me connected to the school. So, for all these tireless, endless things she does, we're deeply grateful to have her at her school and
039I could not be more proud to have her represent us as counselor of the year. So Kayla, if you wouldn't mind joining me on behalf of the county board of education and county office of education, we'd like to present this award to you as the Santa Cruz County Counselor of the Year. Congratulations. >> Um I am so honored and deeply touched to receive this award. um like the my counterpart, the co-conselor of the year, I grew up in the San Lorenzo Valley and I graduated from the middle school that I now work at that's a junior high. Um so it is just this full circle um support and I am it just means so much to be honored in this way. So I appreciate all of you too taking the time to making sure that
040we all get that thank you that we sometimes don't get to get. So thanks I'd like to invite the board up to take a picture with uh with our counselor of the year. All right. >> Okay. We have all friends and family. I see Superintendent Shermier is here as well. If you wouldn't mind come on coming up for a group picture, please. Everybody who's here for for Kayla, please come on up. >> Got it. >> Photoshop dragon laterbody right here. Stay right there. so much. So some of the unsung heroes often in our schools are our classified employees and they are absolutely heroes. They help to keep things moving uh forward. We often refer to them as the backbone of our of our schools and our educational system. And this year we have the honor
041of celebrating uh a wonderful classified employee of the year, Emily Tatro, who is someone whose compassion, dedication, and commitment to students and families help create a welcoming and supportive school community every day. As a student information manager at Lindscott Charter School, Emily has become a trusted and dependable presence for students, families, and staff alike. Drawing on her background in advocacy and community engagement, Emily works tirelessly to ensure students feel safe, supported, and encouraged while families while helping families connect with resources and guidance that they need. Her empathy, integrity, and collaborative spirit shine through in all that she does. And her impact on the Linskott community is deeply felt and greatly appreciated. And I got to see some of that when I visited Lindscott uh charter school recently. Please join me in welcoming Alysia Doolittle who
042is the administrative director and principal uh of Lindscott Charter School to share more about Emily and this well-deserved recognition. >> Good evening. Um it is my pleasure to have uh nominated Emily for classified employee of the year. Uh as Farah said our as Dr. SBA said our uh Emily is our student information manager, but that doesn't nearly capture everything that Emily does for us or our community. Uh if you've ever walked into our front office or our school, you already know exactly who Emily is. Uh she's the face of our school. She's the first person new families meet. Uh and she makes sure that that first impression uh is one of warmth, welcome, and belonging from that first minute. She is our number one nurse, our number one comforter, our number one uh puke cleaner.
043Sometimes um she does everything always. Her dedication goes far beyond the front office. When our families face hardship, Emily finds resources. And when families can't get to those resources, she just brings it to them. She brings students who can't get to school to school literally. Um she will pick them up from their front door and bring them uh on her own to school. Um when she need when we have families who can't get food um or anything else that they need, uh she'll load up her car and bring it to them without being asked on her own time. Uh for our most valuable or sorry vulnerable students, Emily is a true safe harbor. Kids who are struggling know that at any time during the day she they can walk into the front office and find
044Emily. She always listens without judgment. She always cares with big heart. And even if they've already been there 17 times during the day for an ice pack, it's always important. Emily is the reason a lot of those kids come to school every day. And that is not an exaggeration. Uh Emily's impact extends to us, our staff as well. Every single adult on our team relies on her consistency, her dependent dependability, and her calm. We're pretty sure she knows everything about every single one of us. Uh secrets included, and we're all perfectly fine with that. Uh Emily shows up for this for our school every single day with a uh fully and without reservation. And um we deeply appreciate her dedication and um are we're so proud of her and glad that um she's part of
045our team. We are better because of her. Emily, if you could join me. We'd like to present this award to you on behalf of the county board of education and the county office of education as our classified employee of the year for this for the county of Santa Cruz. Congratulations. >> So, we're going to ask uh Emily to join us over here for a photo with the board and then we'll have all a group picture with everybody else join us. We'd like to invite everybody uh who's here to Okay. Yeah, I think we're done. Thank you. All right. So, next we have we get to celebrate our administrator of the year. And this year we are celebrating Marina Maldonado. Let's give a round of applause. Yes. So Marina uh is a passionate educational leader whose
046dedication to students, staff, and families has made a lasting impact across the Paho Valley Unified School District. Since 2007, Marina has served in a variety of roles, always bringing creativity, collaboration, and a deep commitment to student success. As the academic coordinator at ASI Elementary School, Marina focuses on building systems that empower teachers and strengthen classroom learning. Her leadership is grounded in supporting educators as they grow, I've been a little technical. Sorry about that. as they grow in their craft and work toward positive outcomes for all students. From creating engaging classroom experiences as a teacher to advancing 21st century learning as a technology teacher on special assignment to helping launch an interchool sports league as an assistant principal. Marina's work has consistently reflected innovation, care, and community connection. Please join me in welcoming staff members from
047ASI Elementary to share more about Marina and this well-deserved recognition. Let's give them a round of applause, please. >> Okay, we are here as a messy staff to celebrate our amazing academic coordinator, Marina. So, first off, how do I tell you the slides? Do I say slide? Thank you. Next slide. Okay. So, first off, let's honor Marina by grounding ourselves in our outcomes. For the next five minutes, we will review 2023 2026 programs run by Marina to gauge effectiveness. We will review data to reflect on the statistically significant awesomeness of Marina. Next slide. Marina created a very complex master schedule for our site with very few errors or accidental overlaps like one. Next slide. Next, let's review some data about how Marina runs any meeting. As you can see, she knows how to run a
048meeting with maximum efficiency. We know not to be late, not because we're afraid to get in trouble, but because we will actually miss something important. Next slide. Next, Marina has a lot of patience for all of our questions. And in order to encourage us to reach within ourselves for the answers, she fine-tuned an already existing document. Next slide. The weekly bulletin. It has all the answers. Next slide. Marina reallocated our extra release time minutes to re to create a Wednesday art, science, and music class called Habitat Clubs. When teach when classroom teachers go to Wednesday professional learning communities, instead of having a regular sub, they have to write sub plans for their students go with one of these teachers to get crosscurricular classes grounded in speaking and listening standards. Next, 333 emails. There is no
049logistic stone left unturned. She might be clairvoyant. Even if she does miss something, she handles it with such grace and efficiency that people have wondered, does she pretend to mess up just so that us mere mortals don't feel bad? Next, she has embedded collaboration, peer observation, and self-reflection as an indelible part of a messy elementary staff culture. Work from PLC's three years ago is still flourishing and being refined. Hi. Um, well, over the years I've had so many great memories of Marina in the many ways she helps me all the time. One stands out in particular. It happened years ago. I was this teacher thinking, I'm dodging technology till the moment I retire. And then COVID hit and distance learning. I'm like, oh my goodness, Marina to the rescue. Marina, help me. help me figure
050this out. These are seven-year-olds. What am I going to do? I can't handle this Google Classroom thing. It's not working. And she's like, "Let me tell you about Seessaw." And she got me started and encouraged me and supported me. Thank you, Marina. >> Okay. Hi. I want to say that I am a better teacher because of Marina and her data meetings with me. Before I would just look at the data and move on in the curriculum. Now I adjust my teaching practices and I believe that our students are thriving and learning because of Marina. Okay, this table made by Marina of course shows how deeply she delves into data. She combed through multiple years of reading data about our fifth grade students who had plateaued to identify target students. She reallocated reading intervention time, gave
051trainings, and took on progress monitoring for these students, and they've made noticeable progress in their targeted goals. Um, Marina established K through five design and engineering sessions that take place throughout our school year. Her extensive knowledge and belief in me as an educator enabled me to teach these engaging sessions in our maker space to all of our children. Finally, she's just a really cool, caring person. Next slide. So, let's review our outcomes and see if we've reached them. I think we have. Next slide. As you know, Marina's position was cut as our district cut the AC positions. So, she will be leaving us next year and bringing her talents to a classroom of fourth graders at another school. My 19-year-old son had her as a fourth grade MSTI teacher, so I know as a colleague
052and a former parent just how lucky those kids are. Thank you to Marina from all of us. >> So, Marina Maldonado, I'd like to present this award to you on behalf of the county board of education and the county office of education. Thank you for being our administrator of the year for the county of Santa Cruz. Congratulations. >> Wow, that was something. Um, so just a few things I think. Um I am it's it's really a joy for me to get to work with these teachers and you can see that um yes they like to have fun but they're also so much of what they talked about was their practice and their teaching and looking at data and student work and collaborating and they operate at this amazingly high professional level. It's an honor and
053a pleasure for me to just get to interact with them every day and support the amazing things that they do with their kids. Um, a special thank you to my principal, Carlos Moran. I couldn't do any of the work that I do without his support. He creates the space for me to do it. He's been an amazing mentor for me. So, thank you to Carlos. And also just a quick thank you to my mom who appreci who supports me in all my endeavors um, however small or large they are. Thank you all very much. Happy to answer the door. So, we're going to ask the board to join us for a picture and then we're going to ask that everybody who's here to join as well. But in a moment, I didn't friends please join
054us. Wow. >> Yeah. Yeah. Look right here. Got it. Have a good night. So part of our tradition is also to celebrate organizations that we partner with and um and you know so much of the work that we do in the county office of education is as a result of those partnerships. Uh, and so we get to work with with maybe thousands of different organizations and and figure out ways to help us achieve our mission and to help the organization achieve their mission. Always thinking about the needs of our students and our community. And this year, our community partner of the year honore is Cababrio College, whose commitment to education, opportunity, and equity has transformed the lives of countless students across Santa Cruz County. So, so Cababrio um has uh has been serving students since
055uh its founding in 1959, creating vital pathways for academic achievement, career advancement, and lifelong learning. With campuses in Aptas and Watsonville and serving over 15,000 students enrolled each year, Cababrio continues to open doors for diverse learners through innovative programs, strong transfer pathways, and a deep commitment to student success. And there are several folks here from Cababrio College um who are joining us uh and we partner with so many of them in ways that um that really are there there too many to list. I am going to give you a few examples of some of the of the ways that we partner together just this year. But this uh this celebration really uh this honoring of Cababrio College really is something that um is so welld deserved. As a federally designated Hispanic serving institution, Cababrio's work
056reflects a steadfast dedication to equity, social justice, and empowering students to become thoughtful leaders and engaged members uh of our communities. Their partnership and impact across Santa Cruz County has tr has been truly invaluable. From dual enrollment in our uh in our locked facilities for students to building engaging STEM pathways for students to creating space for leadership and civic engagement, inspiring youth and older adults to pursue higher educational goals. It is always uh been a pleasure to partner with Cababrio College with their with their laser focus on equity and uplifting our community. I'm going to ask uh Dr. Marcia Russell, our associate superintendent of educational services to join me to share a little bit more about our partnership with Cababrio College. Let's give a round of applause. >> First, one of the things that you
057trustees have heard me say many times is one of the things I truly appreciate about my role as associate superintendent educational services at the county office of education. As I say, my role covers everything from birth to master's degrees, and it truly does. But when you actually start listing out all of the partnerships that we've had with Cababrio College, it also covers birth all the way up to college, career, and adulthood. So, um, I had the opportunity to follow the amazing presentation we just heard about data, but I'm going to give you a top 10 or 11 list at least, which is by no means exhaustive of that birth to or early childhood all the way up work that we have partnered with Cababrio with, and we're just really thrilled to have you as somebody
058who's partnered all the way through. So, first, um, the children's center and lab school with early childhood data leadership team. We have a countywide data leadership team and they have been just instrumental in helping us support that work to help us guide the transition from early childhood preschool into K12 schools. So that's been an initial step early on. We also have the high school to college math articulation. Several of you have been a part of that and we have greatly appreciated that um not only has articulation of courses and um collegegoing been integral to what we do but they have actually approached us about joining us in our countywide math init initiative attended several of the sessions so that they could see the kind of professional learning K12 educators were getting so that they could
059then bring that to the college level. We also have the civic summit which was one of those many wonderful events and some of these photos show those. We have the fourth grade college experience visits. So they graciously accept our fourth graders onto campus and make it a really engaging experience for students to really place college in their minds um at such an early age. We have the building alliances and indigenous education conference and that has been a true model from the state of actually bringing together higher education, K12, TK12 as well as our indigenous partners in building those relationships to ensure that we are meeting the model standards and the model curriculum for indigenous education in the state of California. And then we also have uh County College Dance Day which is another favorite event
060which incorporates the arts uh into what we do. Uh the Santa Cruz County College and Career Collaborative is a very longstanding partnership that we've had um started with some leadership at Cababrio coming over here and we meet regularly and that's really to build those K12 to college pathways to ensure that again we have very strong programs leading to that for all students. Uh we also have the K16 regional collaborative. So that is a very large program covering the region from Santa Cruz County all the way down to Ventura County. And that involves Cababrio as well as our other higher education partners as well as our county and districts in our county, Monterey County again all the way down to Ventura. And they've been integral partners in that. They are at every single session and really
061engaging with everyone to really build those pathways of college and career. We also have college and career family night that is really designed to help families also learn about the opportunities for them to be able to access not only resources uh funding for college but also to be able to learn about the opportunities at Cababrio. And then Latino Role Models Conference, you see a photo on the screen. That's a very long-standing partnership that we've had that's been held at Cababrio for many years. And then the K14 LGBTQ plus symposium we held last spring. Uh again, another wonderful partnership. That is a top 101 list. Ferris mentioned even more, but I have to say really that is by no means exhaustive. We just really appreciated all of the partnerships that we've had with Cababrio and you've
062been a tremendous partner. So, thank you. >> So, there are some amazing leaders here who are representing Cababrio College. Uh I'd like to welcome Adam Stickler who's uh our member of the board for for uh for Cababrio College. Also Annabelle Rodriguez who is dean of career education and workforce development. Dave Reynolds, dean of math, technology and sciences. Eddie Cervantes, dean of dual enrollment and and some additional components as well. Kristen Fabos, director of marketing and communication and uh and Chavaris Harris, VP of instruction. And I'd like to welcome to receive the award uh the uh president of Cababrio College, Dr. Jen Caps. Congratulations, Cababrio College. >> Thank you so much. >> Okay, sounds good. >> Wow. Well, so tall. Well, thank you so much and and obviously I'm accepting this on behalf of of this
063team here and a team of all of our wonderful faculty, staff, administrators, and students and community partners like yourself. So, really grateful to be here. Wanted to thank the county office of education for this honor. The county office has been such a valuable partner since the inception of the Santa Cruz County College and Career Collaborative or the S5C since its founding in 2011. In our greater, you know, other examples are greater opportunities for adult learning for adult learners or a goal program and many many others. Um, I probably have a top hundred list, but y'all have other things to get to today probably. Um, our systems have navigated challenges together over the past few years, including the COVID pandemic, the CZU fires, the storms, the floods, and recently the challenges thrown at us by the
064federal administration that have challenged our funding streams and the safety and security of our students. Along the way, the county office of education has set a wonderful example of leadership for our county. We are so so grateful to be named partner of the year and we're really looking forward to innovating together with the COE on K14 pathways and initiatives for years to come. So really really happy to accept this. Thank you so much. >> So Dr. Caps, on behalf of the county board of education and the county office of education, we'd like to present this award to you to Cabrio College as the organization of the year for the county of Santa Cruz. And could we get um Dr. Caps and and the deans and uh and vice president to to join Dr. Caps with
065the board for a picture? Be great. And Adam as well, please. Kristen, you too. Okay, everybody got three phones. Lord. Okay, back to regular programming. I'm sure this is by far one of our favorite times of the year where we get to acknowledge um classified staff and partners with the county office of education. And so um I know we have a lot to say and we'll give an opportunity to the board to kind of comment, but first I know we have a public comment um on 101. So we'll hear that first. >> We have a public comment request from Diego Montes. Diego, you are you should be able to speak whenever you're ready and you have three minutes. >> Hi, my name is Diego Montes and I am a and I'm a student at Lindscott
066Charter Schools and I want to say that I'm so proud of Emily that she got this award. by far one of our favorite comments too. Right. I want to open it up to um our board of trustees to see if they would like to say anything on our 101 items. And I'll start with Greg Larson since he's remote right now if he has any comments. Yay or nay. >> Thank you very much. Um you know I'll speak a little bit as a parent for the first and the last awardee. Um my son for a year was at the small schools the uh city schools independent schools program with Cynthia Fernandez as in the uh remote schooling program and just I'm so impressed when I toured the campus as a new board member and to just
067see the spirit that Cynthia no doubt contributed to to make for that campus. So as a parent and a board trustee, thank you. and then also for Cababrio. Both my children have been students at Cababrio and have relished the experience and realized it was appropriate for both of them as they're on very different paths and also just as a board member in particular to see the Cababrio's leadership and shared community participation with the K14 LGBTQ uh symposium supporting city schools on the Latino roles model conference. and your long-standing leadership on the career college collaborative which has benefited so many families and students throughout this county as well as my own. Thank you to all the awardees and I'm so sorry I can't be there tonight as my board members told me early in my service.
068This is always one of the highlight meetings to see the great work being done by so many throughout the county and sorry my family traveled kept me away tonight but it's great to enjoy it remotely. >> Thank you Trusty Larson. Is there anybody else that would like to do a brief comment or No, >> I'll just say I am overwhelmed by the amount of uh or the capacity of our administrators and our teachers in this county and really relish the all of the communications and cojoining that we do. in this county. So, I I thank our board and Ferris and and our family, but that we have such a broad I'll say plus one to that. And I also think that it's a these awards are really great because they highlight individuals that we would
069otherwise not know that are serving our county and our students so well. Um, so I'm appreciative just of the award, you know, process and an opportunity for parents and students and and um know co-workers and to feature people that they feel like the students. Um, thank you. Thank you again. Oh, yes. Um, I would like to say that I don't think we could have picked a better community partner. I personally have done a lot of uh classes at Cababrio College and I think it has been like probably one of the most beneficial parts of my education in my whole journey so far. It's been um really intriguing and challenging and uh I would say just the best school experience yet. >> Thank you for that firsthand experience. We appreciate that. All right. Um we are
070going to be moving on to item 10 two which is our Santa Cruz County Office of Education youth lead youthled leadership alliance presentations. And so at this time I'm going to um turn this over to Dr. Sabah Nikki and Andres. Thank you so much for the opportunity to uh welcome students and youth to join you this evening and tell you a little bit about what they've been working on all year. As you know, part of our mission as as a county office of education is to uplift student voice to celebrate uh our our amazing young people to help uh take down uh uh uh uh li any kinds of uh uh limits to their opportunities to be able to be successful. And with our youthled leadership alliance, we've been partnering with different organizations and also
071supporting our own uh student leadership groups across the county. And we are interfacing with some of the most amazing young people um we've ever been able to work with, including of course our student trustees and some of the youth you're going to be hearing from this evening. part of uh of our goal for each of the groups we interface with is to have a a culminating activity um uh for them to share some of the stories of of the things that they've been working on. And so we try to figure out how to be able to do that today in a compressed format because these young people could could tell you about amazing things they're working on for for quite some time and of course we don't have that that luxury in these meetings. And
072so we've invited them um to uh share with you a little bit about what they have been working on this year. And you're going to be hearing from a wide range of different groups and um activities that they've been a part of. And I'd like to welcome Andres Ortiz, our uh student leadership and engagement coordinator to tell you a little bit more and introduce our first group of students. Welcome Andreas. Uh thank you Superintendent Sabah, members of the board. Thank you so much for having us today and for making time to hear from these awesome students. Um I know uh members of the board you all are probably very familiar with our youthled leadership alliance but for the members of the public I just want to give a brief summary of what they are what
073they consist of and what they do. Um, so Yla or the Youthled Leadership Alliance is a network of eight different topically focused groups that practice advocacy, build leadership skills, and engage in community service throughout Santa Cruz County. Each year, these groups undertake an action project and that action project is organized, steered, and executed by the students with the help of their dedicated adult adviserss. Uh this project can take the shape of an event, a mural, um a public service announcement, a community garden, or a zen. All of these groups are open to any high school student within Santa Cruz County. and they include Hovven Sananos Latin Youth for Change, Youth Artist Taking Action, the Youth Poetry Collective, Youth for Environmental Action, the Queer Student Union, the Countywide Black Student Union, and of course, Youth Empowerment
074Through Technology and Innovation. Next, you will hear these amazing students talk about all of the hard work that they put into their groups this year and all the amazing things that they learned along the way. So without further ado, uh I would like to welcome up Hovvenos. >> Good evening everyone. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to be here today. My name is Alonso Garcia and this is my peer. >> Hi, I'm Ashley. Hi, I'm Ashley Lopez and we are youth leaders from Hovvenanos, a youth leadership program powered by United Way of Santa Cruz County and currently we are located in Watsonville and SoCal. Today we're excited to share some of the ways youth have been building leadership skills, promoting mental health and creating community connections across the county. Our work at Hovven Esano
075is focused on mental health awareness, youth voice, leadership development, and peer connection. Through our mission, youth gain skills and public speaking, advocacy, and community engagement while helping create supportive spaces where youth people feels heard and connected. Our goal is to reduce the stigma around mental health and continue building a healthier, stronger community for the youth. Next slide. Now we will share the impact by numbers. First we see that one in seven US age US youth ages we will experience a mental health disorder every year from ages 16 through seven no 6 through 17 sorry. The second impact by numbers shares that suicide is the second leading cause of death in ages 10 through 14 and 50% of all lifetime mental illness and that begins at by the age of 14 and% by the age of
07624. When we talk about mental health we are talking about real people, real families and real lives. These numbers remind us why we work why why this work matters so so deeply. This year, Hovvenos continues creating opportunities for youth wellness and community connection. >> Next slide, please. Hovvenanos also helped youth um strengthen leadership skills through countywide partnerships and youthled opportunities. JS hosted the second cultivating community fair with vigil. Over 25 countywide partners participated and over 200 community members joined the event. We also hosted our fourth annual cultivating hope youth mental health conference where 80 youth participated in wellness workshops and created hope for our futures. During spring break, eight hoes youth also became part of the first youth first youth cohort in Santa Cruz County to complete teen mental health first aid certification. Next slide,
077please. Um, youth leaders also had opportunities to share their voices through public speaking and community conversations. I with my peer Lordes Lopez participated in the CEO symposium this year. We also had the opportunity to be featured on the K squid community radio where we talked about mental health peer support and the importance of safe spaces for the youth. And lastly, through our work with youth participary action research projects, we explored community issues and learned how to use our voices to create change. As we continue growing, we hope to expand to more campuses and continue creating opportunities where feel youth where youth feel supported, connected, empowered, and accepted. Programs like covenantos help youth pe young youth build confidence, leadership skills, and stronger connections within their schools and communities. Thank you for your time and supporting the
078youth voice, mental health awareness, and leadership opportunities for the youth across the county. Do you guys have any questions for us? We go. There we go. to the trustees. I think um only wonderful presentation. I'm always so amazed by all of the students who come up and present because it's not an easy thing to do even if you have a piece of paper in front of you. So, thank you and thank you for your presentation. Is um is Honosanos is it just um centrally located somewhere or is it is it countywide? Are you do you meet South County, Santa Cruz? Yeah, we're located in Watsonville and SoCal, but we definitely want to expand to more schools so that they can also have access to our resource. >> Excellent. Thank you. Are there any other questions
079from the board? >> Love what you do. >> Thank you so much. Have a great >> All righty. So, our next group, um, unfortunately our student speaker Oh, thank you. Um, unfortunately, our student speaker for this next group fell ill this morning. Oh, look at that. All right. Um, so instead, I'm I'd like to welcome up our adult facilitator for this group, Latina Youth for Change. Uh, please welcome Liti Mosca Franuti. >> Hi everyone, my name is Litzy Mosca Franuti. I am the facilitator for Latina Youth for Change and I'll tell you a little bit about us today. Sorry, getting ahead. Um, before I start, I actually wanted to acknowledge that last year around this time we were known as Multilingual Youth Taking Action. While that mission still is a huge part to this group,
080we wanted to arrange a way for students to have a space, specifically Latina students, um, given all the social and political challenges that have arised this year, and have a space for them to talk about their culture, talk about their upbringing, and any stories that they'd like to share with the community. So, here is our new logo that um Alexa, one of our students this year, helped create. Every year we are able to participate in the 2026 uh world languages showcase. This is a showcase that happens every year, specifically this year at Harbor High. And we gather all schools throughout the county to help uh bring acknowledgement to the various languages and cultures that we share here in the area. It's such a beautiful time to have parents, board members, and educators um come together
081and show their culture and language. We also participated in the 2026 Watsonville Film Festival. I found it crucial to integrate some sort of art in our Latina Youth for Change group this year. The theme for this year was art as resistance. So, I wanted an ability to show Alexa, our student leader. Um, what resistance and activism looks like in the art field. So, Watsonville Film Festival was a great example for that. We saw various films from different organizers and students that engaged in uh gentrification and also addressed various uh discrimination and global issues. And finally, our community involvement um was z. We created uh different ways to get involved in community activism. Um, as you can see, it involved joining our leadership group, being a part of the world languages showcase, volunteering, and these were
082distributed all throughout our libraries and public schools and community boards. And that is all. Thank you for your time. Alrighty. And next, I'd like to welcome up uh three students from our youth artist taking action group. Um, come on up. Uh, hi. We are Youth Artists Taking Action or YATA. I'm Alexa, a freshman at PCS. And I'm Ash. I'm a senior at AHS. I'm Stella. I'm also a freshman at PCS. The goal this year was to create a film on the power of arts education. We had the opportunity to work with two teaching artists, Ausento, photographer and cinematographer, and Val McGaryen, animator and painter. We started by practicing figure drawing and then we learned the fundamentals of drawing animation as well as documentary interview techniques. We started filming interviews of students and educators across the
083county and we captured footage of students doing vis uh many different visual and performing arts. Throughout the process we came across challenges specifically combining all the elements into one cohesive film. We also discovered that the journey of making a film requires many steps. We started by interviewing more educators, but then realized we wanted to focus more on student voices. Uh here's a short clip of our film called Creative Impact. >> It's the one people always say that I'm such a colorful and loud expressive person. Oh, wait. Technical difficulties. Oh. Oh. Oh. Let's see if we can take this back. >> Yeah. >> Actually, could we um rewind to the previous slide? And then go ahead and push play. >> Perfect. People always say that I'm such a colorful and loud expressive person. And I feel
084I'm that because of my art forms, not only through dancing, but through theater, through cheer and ASB. And I always am able to showcase who I am through these stuff. And I feel and I feel if somebody took away some part of that, I don't have a part of me there. >> It just I feel like like someone just took a part of me that like they just came to me, take a part of me took a part of me away and like I don't I I can't describe it because it would just like a part of me would be gone. >> Probably be really boring. Like I wouldn't have any way to show off to anybody. I think that's skill a skill that I've entertained for a long time and that I've become really
085good at. And I think if it were to be taken away, I really wouldn't be good at anything else or like I wouldn't be proud of myself. >> Art's such a big part of my life. I don't think I could imagine it without it. Like growing up, I wanted to be an artist and I still do. It's I think something a lot of people take for granted and I don't know. I I don't want it to disappear. Um, this fall we are excited to create a photography and mixed media project collaborating with local partners including the Museum of Art and History and Paharo Valley Arts. Thank you. All right. Um, so next I'd like to welcome up There we go. Um, the Rising Voices, our youth poetry collective, uh, led by our wonderful, uh, poet
086laurette Nancy Miller Gomez. And I welcome these two students to the podium. Hi everybody. I'm Naomi and I'm Ash. I'm Ash. Uh, and we are members of the Rising Voices Youth Poetry Collective, which is the newest group in the Youth the Leadership Alliance. This was our very first year and it was pretty awesome. The slides. So, in the fall, we had 10 local teaching poets lead an eight-week series of poetry workshops at 12 schools in our county. Throughout the year, we met weekly to talk about poetry and work on our own poems. We were invited to read poems on the radio and were featured on the cover of the good times. Then with the help of Nancy Miller Gomez, poet laurate of Santa Cruz County and Kay Burmener, we created a60page anthology representing 84 student
087poets from across the county. Um, this book, we're incredibly proud of this book. It was entirely designed and edited by us, the students, and you'll each be receiving a copy. We also planned poetry events so that students could read the poetry from the anthology at Kumba Jazz Center and also at the Watsonville Center for the Arts. 28 students came and shared their poems and we had more than 300 attendees. Two of us including me are now members of the Santa Cruz Youth Poet laurate cohort and one YBC member Vicky is the youth poet laurate of Santa Cruz County. I would like to share with you an excerpt from one of my poems. I just All right. This poem is called Solivagant. You can make many enemies in the woods. Promise me not to forget the
088apocalypse. Solivagant, come home to your cats and chai can be poured like the old days. Or some coffee, energy drink, or espresso. You never appreciated the options. Something else on your mind. Wise man, don't go home to the past. Remember the future issues of birth. Dig a hole and bury your awareness. I prefer the silent struggle to the loud. Fight my battle like the mercenary. Defend my city, Trojan horse. Just do whatever because you are Solivagen. At the end season, I am myself and you don't pay rent to occupy my brain. Some things stay still after the pain. Goodbye, Solivagant. Majesty is yours. Thank you. >> And we're also going to call up uh Sylvie Kaiser, who's also a member of the YPC, to read another poem. >> Hi everyone. Good to see you all
089again. Um this poem is entitled uh Everything I've Ever Loved Exclusions Apply. And it was actually written at a uh one of the YLA meetings where Nancy came to help us with the workshop for poems. My first cat and her sister Cookie in January. The house that was blue. The pool that was gray. The backyard that kissed the library. The land of stories. Alice in all her forms, but especially the movie. A name I can't say since this one embarrasses me now. Waking up breathing. Waking up on my 13th birthday and breathing. My cat now leaving me a rabbit leg chewed down to the bone except for the foot. My new good luck charm. Third grade. Everyone I've ever called a friend. Flowers, but especially the yellow roses. My parents buy every birthday. Turning 18.
090Laughing so hard I start crying. And for once I don't mind not breathing. My sister when she calls me and we can't hang up. The fact that I made it out alive myself. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um, yeah, that's this is our first year. We're already looking forward to next year and all the amazing opportunities. And we wanted to open up if there are any questions at all. I just want to say, wow, first year you have a book, incredible poems. Um, it's impressive what you all have done in just one year. So, we really look forward, at least I look forward to what you guys are going to bring next year. and um and hope to be able to attend, you know, one of your performances. And we are so honored. Oh
091my god. Thank you. Um Greg or any of the other trustes would like to say anything or have any questions? Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much. >> No, no, go ahead. Yeah. Um, green. >> Green. Okay. >> A natural transition. Um, given that Sylvie's a part of both groups, but here's Youth for Environmental Action. >> Hello everybody. My name is Leilani. This is my first year in Youth for Environmental Action. And this is our action plan for this year, the Trash Pact. Oh yeah. Um, we'll be presenting about the Trash Pact, our projects for this year, our environmental summit, and our next steps. Yeah. So again, I'm Sylvie. This is my fourth year and final year being on the leadership team for YA. And what I want
092to talk to you about is the trash pact, which is our annual project that began in 2025 following how students and administrators highlighted plastic pollution and a clean campus as their top concerns. So we took uh baseline waste audit data, which is the weighing and measuring of contents and waste bins to see how much of it is being sorted correctly. And we've been continuing waste monitoring and sorting throughout 2026 at seven different high schools and one middle school. So we've worked with the California Climate Action Corps fellows to do this and two of them are in the audience tonight. Um and it's been great working with them. What we're seeing consistently though is food waste being incorrectly sorted or compost is not available at certain locations and there's a lack of education around waste management
093as well as a lack of tri waste management which has says streams for trash, recycling and compost all in the same place. However, we did get food waste bins at three campus sites which is an improvement. Oh yeah, and here is a sample of what the waste audit data looks like. If you're interested, the blue text up there has links for all the sites that we did, as well as some photos um of what we're finding, which is a lot of uneaten food, which is a huge issue. Um this year, we hosted three community events for SECS, PBUSD, and SLV in which we invited local partners to table and discuss their projects and missions, and we offered volunteer opportunities to local students. Um we had games, a clothing swap, and presented on the trash packact.
094in our goals as a club. And a big theme of these community events is why food waste is such a big issue. Another thing we did this year was planting parties at Harbor High, Apptos High, and SLV. So, we cleared out some unloved areas on our campuses and replaced them with native plant gardens. So, we invited our staff, our students, some community partners to help us plant um these native plants. And this supports native pollinators and brings back these native plants into our area. Um, and it also helped our students feel more connected to the earth, which is one of our big goals. Um, we also presented to the health classes at Apttos High. So, every single freshman at Apas got to learn about how to sort and manage waste and also how climate change
095can affect mental health. Um, so one of the activities they got to do was a waste sorting relay where they got to compete with their classmates to see who could sort waste correctly the fastest. We also did a card game and gave them the opportunity to journal under the redwood trees we have on our campus. Um, super exciting this year too. On April 20th, we held our annual environmental summit in which we invited schools from across the county to learn about sustainability. We had local partners um tableabling sustainable and locally sourced food and environmentally themed games. Um RCCAC fellows panled to discuss how they got involved in climate careers. Celso Ortega shared about her mission to bring sustainable farming to schools. Um and students from each district broke into breakout groups and uh brainstormed ways
096to implement sustainability in their schools. And then we discussed as a whole group ideas to take bath with us to begin making the eco-friendly shift. And the event brought 250 people this year. Hi. Hi. I'm Mason. This is my second and last year in YEA and I'm here to share about the next steps. So, as you can see, we've built a lot of momentum and we really want to keep it going. In the future, we want to continue the trash pack and we want to see better waste management implemented along with more native plant gardens. What we need is administration to continue helping with promotion and outreach to schools or to students in schools. This could include schoolwide emails, flyers, and announcements. uh helping connect YA events to school calendars and other schoolwide events. Um
097we have had success with student volunteers for audits, planting parties, waste monitoring, and showing up to the summit. Uh some incentives that worked included uh rewarding kids with community service hours, uh giveaways of food and plants, etc., and using um the events as incentive to clear absences. Uh students are making change, and thank you so much for supporting that. Do you have any questions for yay? >> Um, I don't have a question, but I just have a comment. Um, I think it's genius to start teaching the freshmen when they come in, um, as an an entry thing because the longer you do it, the more it becomes a habit. And so congratulations on that and all the success that you've had so far and hopefully we can continue to support all of you and your
098efforts from high school, you know, middle school and and hopefully into elementary. But thank you. Are there any other questions or comments? Yes, please. >> Well, what you do is awesome. I just want to mention being at the environmental summit, it was just great to just sort of be told what to do by the students. >> Thank you for your leadership and your hard work. All right. Well, thank you very much. >> And our next uh student leadership group is our queer student union. Come on up. >> Go first. Hello, I am Everest Vasquez and I'm this is my last year in the Queer Student Union and I go by any pronouns, but they them is preferred. Um, hello, my name is Misha Weisman. I am a junior at PCS and I just joined this
099club maybe two months ago. I'm hoping to continue doing more work um next year. Um, and I use she her pronouns. So, if we want to go to the next slide, how do we do it? Green button. So, as a collect, as a collective, the QSU basically advocates for LGBTQ plus youth in all school sites across the county as well as for their as well as for their needs. And this is a general timeline of what we have done this year and the next slides will elaborate on it. Um so for this year we have had three main goals as an organization. The first is making sure to protect queer youth. So we did that through submitting public comment on federal bills targeting trans youth access to gender affirming care. Um, our second goal was
100advocating for LGBTQ rights, which involved meeting with state legislators in Sacramento to discuss ongoing legislation. Um, our third and final goal for this year was to create and share resources. So, we created a queer survival zen, um, which was based off of some data we had gotten um, on a survey last year. tell us a little bit about what what your main focus has been during your time um in the group um whether it be this year or last year or or both and how you see those those connecting. My main focus in QSU was was primarily after everything which had happened in this country to just ensure every LGBTQ plus student has has a safe space they can go to or just has the support they need in order to be efficient students. >>
101So that was us on KSQD or specifically Everest. I wasn't there. Um, getting to share that was just one small part of the entire thing that we had on KSQD. And in March, we also attended advocacy day with Equality California in Sacramento. And as somebody who did attend the event along with three other QSU members who we are we are presenting on the behalf of tonight, I can personally say that the event really showed me that I am able to make a difference through the QSU and being part of YLA even if even if my impact isn't necessarily massive. I was able to know that I w that I do have access to speaking with government representatives and sharing my voice with them. It also did make me realize that actively talking to people in
102power is a lot less intimidating than it may seem. So I would encourage everybody who wants to advocate for their community's rights. I would definitely recommend attending one of these events if possible. And then this was the design that we made. Everest is going to pass out. Hopefully there's enough if not people can share. Um okay, not Everest, but on behalf of Everest that they're being passed out. So, we created a queer survival z um the queer student union did that addresses some of the most pressing concerns facing LGBTQ plus youth in Santa Cruz County such as um slurs and bullying in schools. Um and we shared self-care strategies. We talked about how you could connect with supportive and affirming communities and how um queer youth could navigate online spaces in a conscious and intentional
103way. And the most important thing to remember is that these um zenes are not a solution, but they're a way for us to start to commit to create an impact that can hopefully lead to more change in the future. Um thank you. I have one last thing to say before we're done. Um, one problem that I noticed, not just in this club, but just in general, was that there's not much communication between different queer organizations at different schools. So, one of the goals that I was suggesting for the future of the queer student union was to try and create some sort of infrastructure to connect and have communication between clubs at different schools so that instead of having, you know, some people from certain clubs come and join the QSU and do work here and
104at the same time having kind of isolated clubs at individual schools do their own work, there could be more of a countywide connection. Um, and with that, is there any questions or comments that any of you have for us? >> First, thank you so much for the presentation. Your group does so much, you know, across our county and and this this is also very impressive. I think that um I don't know how this is distributed amongst the students in the county, but like tell us how we can get it to everybody. You know, I don't know if it means more fundraising or whatever, but this is impressive and I think it's really important to get the information out to students. And so, thank you for the work you do and for your passion and you
105know, it is scary talking to politicians. I'm sorry. It can be, but we're proud that you were able to go out and do that and advocate for yourself and for fellow students. Um, are there any comments or questions from rest of the board? Um, I believe um, Trusty Larson has one. >> Since I'm not there to receive the Zen, I was just wondering if it's available by link um, per chance. And before you answer, great presentation. I'm glad uh really like the idea of the cross campage linky crosscampus linkage to strengthen the collective and meeting the needs of all queer students throughout our community. >> Um so for in terms of getting out this resource of the zen to different students, we would love to have your help on that. That's actually been one of
106our issues so far. These are the only ones we've printed out. So whether that's having your help finding someplace to print it properly or even just using the printers here, that would be really helpful. And I don't know if there's community members who would be willing to go to different schools and give that to um just students, that would be great. Yeah, so far we've just created it. It's kind of in your hands now to get it out to all the people. Um in terms of uh a link to it, I'm sure there is one. I know that there is one. I don't know if it's in the chat. I don't know if somebody can do that. if we can have our advisor um help with that to try and put it somewhere so that
107people who aren't in person can get access to it. But I know that it exists >> right >> and I'd also like to say congratulations to ever as another awardee of the queer student leadership awards. Congratulations. >> Thank you so much. Although I would also like to add that as somebody who who is going to move on to college after this school year, I I would also definitely be appreciative of having more linkage between the the GSAs or whichever name the LGBTQ plus clubs across all the Santa Cruz County high schools choose to go by because I'm aware of the fact even though I'm not going to be there and present, I'm aware of the fact there are hundreds of students who could potentially benefit off of that linkage. >> Um, we have a comment,
108another comment. >> I just want to thank you um really deeply for what you're doing. Um these are actually kind of scary times and um given what's been coming at us from the national government and some forces in our country. Um that there's been progress in recent years, but there's now backlash and it is hurting people and I applaud you for standing up and just know that you have a lot of allies and you're not alone and a bunch of us stand with you. So thank you for what you're doing and hang in there. There are going to be hard times, but we're going to surpass. >> Thank you. >> Um and I will follow up with the board on getting the link to the to the Zen so you all can view that digitally
109as well. Um, next I'd like to welcome up uh two of our next year's uh leaders of the countywide black student union. Please give them a round of applause. >> Hey, how y'all doing? Uh my name is Pedro. I am the newly elected vice president of uh Santa Cruz High BSU. And this is >> Hi. Um I'm Annayia and I'm the president of BSU. And today we're going to be giving you guys a little presentation about like what we do uh some things that we have done and then what we're really just trying to accomplish about uh like in the future. Um well to start off where um well to start off we're a collection of black student unions from different schools across the county um meant to bring the community or the black community
110together since it's you know very limited here. Next. And then um right now um county BSU is um made up of three different independent BSUs, Santa Cruz High, SoCal, and PV. But um for next year, we're looking forward to adding schools like Apttos, Harbor, and like PCS. Um, our belief with the county BSU is that together we can accomplish things that no singular BSU can accomplish. Um, this belief of ours has driven us to chase opportunities to further help our students economically and academically, but also bring awareness to social causes. Without county BSU, not without um county BSU not a singular BSU, we could have achieved it by themselves. Next slide. Um, one of the things that we did this year was go to have a black college expo chip in Oakland. And this was
111meant for us to connect to HB H.B.CU, CSUs, and UC's. Um, this gave our students the opportunities to earn scholarships, connect with recruiters, and learn about many resources available to support black youth. Um, we also took a trip to the Black Panther Museum the same day and got to learn about things like programs and communities that um the Black Panthers created to support their communities then. >> All right. So, this was uh this was our uh re Bridges walk where we walked in celebration of Re Bridges who in 1960 became the first African-American child to enroll in an all-white school. Some of the schools that participated in this event were uh Paro Valley High School, SoCal High School, Santa Cruz High School and this year at Live Oak Elementary and this was really a significant
112point for county BSU just because the fact that for the first time in our four years doing this, we were able to get an elementary school doing this uh in in Live Oak Elementary School. Yeah. All right. So on the right you can see a picture of a resolution that we passed called eliminating the use uh of the nword and all hate speech. So essentially this was a a resolution that we passed that cracked down on the use of hate speech but more specifically the nword. We chose to pursue this just because like most of us have like have gone through hate speech. We have been called slurs, nicknames and all that. And then on the left you can see uh a picture of Reggie Stevens recording his narration for our PSA where he's talking
113about the differences in culture and the racism he went through when he moved as a teen teenager from Louisiana to Santa Cruz County. Um in this PSA, Reggie, like I said, discusses the racism he went through living in Santa Cruz as a black teenager and discusses how how he overcame that race and to succeed and eventually play in the NFL. Uh the PSA uh is scheduled to be finished sometime during the summer and we plan to start showing this to students Santa Cruz, not only Santa Cruz High, but in like like a lot of other schools in the county uh by the beginning of next school year. >> Um this happened earlier this week on Monday. We had our passing of the torch ceremony um for incoming for incoming students on the board. Um, this
114was meant to show the contin continuity of the legacy and that we're trying to build and pass down. All right. So, to finish the presentation off, uh, this Sunday, we're actually going to be hosting our our 27th annual black graduation. So, this black this this graduation is open to all black identifying students that live in Santa Cruz County. Uh, from Watsonville to all the way to Scots Valley. uh and everybody's welcome to to come and watch and and participate potentially. Uh this uh this graduation uh was made to celebrate the achievements of black students throughout the county and the memories and connections they have made throughout their time in county BSU. Uh that is it for our presentation. if you guys have any questions. >> First, thank you for your presentation um and the work
115that you're doing at the BC BSU across the county. Um and I have had the opportunity to attend your black the black graduation over the years and it's a wonderful celebration. So if you have the opportunity, please do go and celebrate our students. Um do you we have any other comments or questions from our board of trustees? I'm going to look for >> Nope. >> I would like to just share that the resolution that the students created is the resolution that this board approved. So thank you for your leadership in making that happen. >> Yes. >> Thank you. All right. And our last presentation, but certainly not least, is our youth empowerment through technology and innovation. Let's give them a round of applause. Hello everyone. We are Yeti or Youth Empowerment Through Technology and Innovation.
116And this year we're here to share about what information we gathered, what we're doing, and our plans are for next year. Hi. Is it on? Okay. Hi, I'm Joe McGinty. I'm a 12th grader at Delta High School. >> Hello, I'm Mason Gersonen. I'm 9th grader at San Lorenzo Valley High. I'm Razan Goanu, nth grader at St. Lens Valley High. >> I'm Stefan Goanu and I'm a ninth grader and also go to St. Lens Valley High. >> Hello, I'm Sterling Duncan. I'm a ninth grader who goes to Harbor High School. We had uh four year or four goals this year and uh the first one was to use the um MIT curriculum as our guide which is we used um we tested a pilot curriculum by MIT that discussed um what AI is and how to
117use it. After we finished the curriculum, u one of its the designers um presented to us about her work. Another thing we did was we made a countywide survey about AI to gather what students opinions on it are. Um and most of the students were very concerned about AI limiting critical thinking and its environmental um impacts. We will continue gathering the data next year as well. So our third of these four goals is to use that affformentioned survey to uh develop a kind of AI bill of rights for all the schools around the county. Uh it was also our fourth goal was to develop and recommend AI literacy curriculum and uh standards for students around the county to get you know to be able to prepare them for AI to come and AI now. >>
118Okay. some of our bonus items. We went to or we went to the AAW and we gave a panel to all of the uh attendees or I mean just people who wanted to come and watch and kind of inform them about like AI and what we do. Um on May 6th we went on a field trip up to like uh San Francisco like up north. We went to the Google and Common Sense Media um campuses and we were interviewed by both of which and then we also like made a few um recommendations on like a an AI literacy curriculum and we are working on possibly getting one of them published currently. And then also we have three students who go or who go to SLV and they were chosen because of their work with Yeti
119to join the SLV AI task force. So what we plan to do next with Yeti is well we applied to speak at an AI summit with MIT. So, we still have to hear back from them. And we also want to report back to MIT what we had. But the one thing that's interesting about us that MIT kind of found surprising is that we were the only county to actually use their curriculum as everyone else was actually a school district. And so now with that, we plan to move on and kind of oversee school districts within the county to bring in more data for MIT. And also on the SLVUSD task force, me, Mason, and Rosvon all presented and voice our opinions. And we also took some of the survey data that SLVUSD had to also
120use in our data for creating and creating guidelines for AI. >> Thank you. >> Does anybody have any questions before we leave? Um, once again, we're really impressed with presentations that are coming out of these youthled groups. It's amazing. One question, how long has Yeti been around and how many schools are um have a a like a team or a group? So, um I'm pretty sure that lots of us our first year, but um for example, yeah, uh us three have been on a um task force. Um I'm not sure if any other school has done that, but >> yeah. >> Um yeah, just to clarify, so this is Yeti's second year. Second year. Okay. >> Yes. Um last year was our inaugural year. Um and to my knowledge, I believe SLV is the only
121one that has a task force at this time. Um, and I'm looking at Stephanie. >> Is that true? Ah, I stand corrected. Scots Valley and PBUSD. >> Excellent. >> And Santa Cruz City Schools. Oh, so way more than I thought. I apologize. >> Um, yeah. >> Oh, that's amazing. I'm glad to hear that it's cross county. It's It's a lot. It's a great work that you guys are doing. You're doing a lot. like that's a lot of big, you know, um big goals, you know, and so we look forward to hearing the end of the next year, how far you've come, seeing your presentations and um in the work that you guys are doing. Um is there any other comments? Um is it Larson? Yes. Uh Lar Trusty Larson has a comment question. >> Question
122as before. It'd be great to see a copy of the Sentinel OpEd or a link to it. um or I can try to search for it myself that maybe uh Andreas could send that out to us. And great work and there's so much happening with technology in terms of encouraging and managing AI and technology in the classroom and as it moves to our glasses and eventually into our heads. I think those become challenging uh challenging situation. I think it's really incredible that you guys, at least your surveys show how conscientious you all are regarding critical thinking and how AI can be beneficial, but you know, we have to be careful and how much it it affects our environment. So, that's that's impressive. Um, again, I'll open it up if there's anybody else. >> President Williams,
123if I might add, um, one thing uh two things I wanted to add. One, certainly we will send the board the the news articles in addition to the op-ed. I wanted to highlight that one of this one of our Yeti students who's here tonight, Joe McGinty, has also been profiled by the Santa Cruz Sentinel because in addition to her work with Yeti, she was one of the students who contributed to an AI policy proposal that went before the state senate here in California and has been doing some amazing work on this. So, we will send you both of those. >> Thank you guys. Yeah. Um, we have a comment from student trustee. Um, despite my unfortunate initials, I am very much uh against AI I would say and I really appreciate you guys taking the
124initiative to kind of look through the impact and stuff like that. I think it would be really great for you guys to work with uh youth for environmental action just because um there is a major impact on the students and there's also a major impact on the environment when AI is used. All right. Well, thank you again for your presentation. Congratulations. And that concludes our Youthled Leadership Alliance presentation for this year. Thank you so much um for the time and thank you to all of our amazing students, our dedicated advisors um and and all the family and friends that came to support our students today. Another round of applause for them. Thank you. >> And thank you, Andreas, for being such an amazing coordinator with all of our studentled programs. Thank you. Thank you. >>
125My pleasure. >> Oh. Um, let's see here. Um, so I I hate to say the fun part is over. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Good business is starting. Stay. Stay please. Well, as um as our student le groups uh make their exit, we're going to prepare for item 103. Oh my goodness. Sorry about that. Item 103, our PCS annual diversity update and report. Yeah, we're going to give it just a minute, but just in preparation. >> I didn't know Okay, fun phase 2 10 or I should say 10.3 um Pacific Collegiic School annual diversity update and report and then I'm going to hand it over to Dr. Ferris Sabah for introductions. Yes, the fun continues and uh with now with uh Pacific Collegiia School, really an honor that this county board of education is the authorizer
126for this this wonderful charter school um in in Santa Cruz County. Um as part of of our kind of partnership and relationship uh there's a lot of aspects that uh where we work closely with PCS um and you also visit you have a subcommittee that recently visited the school. uh we uh also are are participating and and visiting and being a part of your uh of PCS's uh board meetings sometimes and and really doing everything we can to support this wonderful school continue to offer uh services and so um part of the uh what we do annually is that the Pacific Collegiate as you know comes uh to provide a presentation on a variety of topics on on the work that's being done and uh with a uh one aspect being on that annual update
127is on uh the diversity of the school and the efforts the school is undertaking to um ensure that the that the student population is representative of of the community from which they they they bring students. And so it's really uh been uh an a pleasure to work with Chris Guyer who's who's our head of school who has joined PCS this year. Um we also took uh uh Maria um >> Rayano >> Maria Rayano uh to join us here at the county office of education. um and um and really just uh continue this this strong partnership. So, welcome and thank you for for being here today. >> Thank you. Good evening everyone and and thank you to uh board members for having us here tonight. Um we really appreciate uh the opportunity to share more about
128uh Pacific Collegiate School and just some of the good work that's happening within the community. Uh my name is Rosa Garcia and I currently serve as the vice president of the PCS school board. Um, I'm also honored uh to be stepping into the role of board president uh next academic year. Um, so tonight I'm joined with uh by our uh new head of school, Christopher Guyire um as well as our amazing uh director of special education uh Jessica Alvarez and our current um board president Michael Kubo. So with that, I'm going to hand it over to Mike um so that he uh can get us started. Thank you, Rosa, and thank you, trustees, Dr. Sabah and staff, uh, the COE staff for your time tonight. Um, I'm Mike Kubo, current board president at PCS. I'm
129pleased to introduce our our new head of school, Christopher Guyire. After, uh, an extensive search, we uh, we were fortunate to find in Chris the qualities that we were looking for in our next leader. Clear and kind communication, a genuine commitment to equitable student outcomes, and deep experience in both Oh, sorry. Thank you. How do I do that? I >> Green button. >> Sorry. Um, maybe somebody might have >> Oh, okay. There it is. That's okay. Okay, there he is. Christopher. I introduced Christopher Guy. Sorry for that. >> Um, so we were fortunate enough to find in Chris the qualities that we were looking for in our next leader. clear and kind communication, a genuine commitment to equitable student outcomes, and deep experience in both school and district level administration. He has brought steady, grounded
130leadership to PCS, and his impact is already being felt across our school community. Right. There we go. Um, our mission and vision reflect a core commitment that an excellent college preparatory education should be accessible to every student who walks through our doors. We are actively working to remove structural barriers to educational access and success and to better reflect the racial and socioeconomic diversity of Santa Cruz County in our school community. The way we tell that stories to families, to prospective students, and to the broader public centers on what makes PCS unique, on celebrating student success, and on lifting up the exceptional work of our faculty and staff. To share some of those successes with you tonight, I'll turn it over to our director of special education, Jessica Alvarez. Green button. Yeah. Do you want me
131to >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Green button. There we go. Okay. Um, Jessica Alvarez, the director of special education. I've had the privilege of working at PCS for the last five years. Um, so what you're looking at is some demographic information regarding our student population. And on the left side, you'll see the current student enrollment by ethnicity and grade as of April 2026. And then on the right side, you'll see the student enrollment by ethnicity and academic year. So, one of the key points that I want to highlight here is the um data. What is the data telling us? The data is telling us that we're making steady progress towards ensuring that our program is accessible to all interested families. This is reflected in both our current student body and the increases in diversity over
132the past decade. The work still needs to get done though. We still need to get them the messaging out and we would like to see um more diversity within the numbers and population that we have represented up here as well. Next slide please. Um, so how is it that we retain the students that come through our doors? One of the ways that we're able to do that is by offering a variety of different student clubs and, um, different organizations. So, a couple things that we've highlighted here are the Black Student Union, um, BIPO Group, Queer Intersectional Alliance, AValante. Um, Adilante is a program that's focused on celebrating and educating members of the community about Latin American culture. Oh, so sorry. Can you guys hear me better now? I apologize for that. Um, one of the
133ways that we're able to cultivate um, student success and I feel like connection is by creating safe spaces for students. Having safe spaces if they're a part of a group and or activity that um, highlights an area of interest. And there's a lot of data that shows that a strong social connection and peer acceptance directly correlates to increased um rates of academic achievement which has also led to increased motivation, attendance, and student engagement. How are we able to do that? First and foremost, when kids walk into our doors, what we do is we greet them. When kids are coming in late, and you can attest to this, I'm never like, "Where were you?" What do I say? You're here. We're glad that you're here. Welcome. Um, another way that we're able to foster student success
134is by offering a number of supports. First, when it comes to um, academic advisement, we have three counselors that provide academic counseling to students in 7th and 8th, 9th and 10th, and then um, 10th through 12th. In addition to that, a college counselor, our college counselor provides amazingformational sessions for families. Let's say you're not sure where to start. She'll go through a thorough and comprehensive explanation as to what is the first step and she helps guide and educate students along the ways. I've been to a number of her presentations and I am always astounded by what I didn't know and the way that she presents information in a friendly and informative manner. In addition to that, social emotional counseling. Um we have a number of students that deal with um comparison to their peers wanting
135to um achieve the highest you know GPA possible and then also just grappling with what is it to be a student and um just a human in today's world and so we provide a lot of social and emotional counseling. I work in partnership with my assistant principal Raphael Ramirez in addition to our social and emotional counselor David Selenus. So we provide real intime coaching opportunities for kids. If you have a problem, how do you solve that problem? What are the communication skills that you need in order to be able to address that problem and move forward? Mental health services. I'm very happy to say that we're able to provide mental health services to our students 4 days a week. And um we've partnered with a local agency um formal and informal tutoring. So, we have
136a very dedicated staff that will oftent times come in before school, work during tutorial, and then also provide after school um tutoring. And one of the things that we've really encouraged students to do is to work past their fear of asking for help um for fear of the perception that um you know, they're not good enough or they're not that smart. And I always tell them, we have free tutoring services here. Please don't go out, you know, and pay someone else. Take advantage of your teacher, the person that's teaching you the curriculum and stuff. First step is showing them how to ask for help and taking advantage of those free resources. And then also our student success team. So regularly, every six to eight weeks, we look at our student data. We see how students
137are growing. We have regular meetings with parents to address the social, emotional, behavioral, and or academic needs that students are presenting. We work in collaboration so that the um parents and students really feel like this is a partnership. We're here to support you. And I always tell my students, I have one goal for you. That's to get you across the finish line, but to ensure that you have the skills and the strategies that you need to not only be successful here at PCS, but where wherever you choose to go. That's it. We really cleared the room, didn't we? >> It's It's not me, is it? Um, so once we get the word out and make our program um accessible to as many as we can, all interested families. Um, we will obviously want to make
138sure that students are are successful. So, um, our middle and high school students are consistently meeting or exceeding standards, um, at far greater levels than other area districts and certainly higher than the state. These are our, um, ELA and math um, performance overtime. Thank you. Um and then of course our AP um our board um has established um rigorous expectations for graduation, earning a diploma, but again it's providing the supports and resources to make sure that students are successful. Um and one of the requirements is that all students must complete at least five AP courses before they graduate. Um and students are encouraged, although not required to take the accompanying AP tests. And we're proud of the level of access and achievement by all of our students. High passage rates on AP tests, including those
139receiving additional support services, IEPs, 504s, and English learners. and our students are wellprepared for life after PCS um with post-secary options ranging from college for which we have a 100% acceptance rate um and technical and other career options. Our CCI indicator on the dashboard is 100%. So we're pretty proud of that. Then of course um good fiscal stewardship. Um so it begins with um sound budgets that prioritize services in the classroom um in partnership with our board and our finance committee. We consistently have clear audit results. Um we maximize our revenues from our LCFF other state federal grants and development. So about 10% of our budget comes from our development efforts. Um and one of the things we're playing with in the development side which I know is a little bit um unique in the
140charter world perhaps from more traditional um part of how we can offer such a rich and diverse program for foreign languages um all these AP classes is the support of our families and um it's been kind of an ask right and it's a little bit of a guess of if we had everybody participate it could be this amount we know historically how many do so it's a little of that. We're um for next year we're working on an what we're calling an equity matrix and this is something we've learned from a couple of other schools um particularly some over the hill in Oakland where um we want to engage more families. So it's less about how much you give more about do we have a lot of buyin from our community. Um so there's tiers
141that um families can self- select based on their comfort level um at whatever range that is. We talk about what our goal is and how much we might need at each level, but really it's about um honoring whatever families are willing and able to give um as part of the contribution towards their child and all of our still children success. So, we're really looking forward to that and how that kind of shifts the conversation a little bit um at least in the development front. And then looking forward, it'll be a big year next year. Um so we'll be renewing our strategic diversity development plans. Um LCAP will be in year three of three. So we'll do our um updates on the current plan as we develop our goals for the next three-year plan. And then
142all of this is aimed on well focusing all these goals. So have there's a lot of goals right now. as I came in just to be clear um I'm you know reading a lot of docs and information and there's like like how does anybody track all these goals um but they did so Dr. the ratana to her credit did wonderful job tracking all of that um left all that in good hands a lot of information for me um but we'll be updating those um making sure that the goals are aligned right so that we're focused on the right things and how we serve students and um aiming for charter renewal from all of you um we are um middle performing so that makes us eligible for potentially eligible for a fiveyear hear renewal. So, and
143thank you for your time this evening and we welcome any comments or questions you may have. >> Thank you. It's good to see both of you again. >> Likewise. Thank you. >> We did have um our charter committee visit the school and we had a charter committee meeting. So, um, I know we've had a really solid conversation with Trusty Roth, myself, and Trustee Sanchez. Um, so before I give like comments or questions, I'm going to open it up to our other trustees who are not on the charter to ask any questions, comments, um, regarding the presentation numbers, etc. See, oh, I we'll go with um, Chusty Larson since he's remote right now. look forward to getting the presentation delivered to us as well. Thank you just in hard copy and thank you Mr. Dyer for
144your presentation and having the other board members and staff and leadership of the school present is is very helpful. Um, love the staff report that was provided in the packet and in particular given our historical focus on the equity aspects of not only your longlasting longstanding academic excellence and career prep but work but also the reflection of the broader community. I was pleased to see the reference in the staff report on page four and page 10 to external acknowledgement of your relative success nationally by the college board and by AP for the equity and access award. So was just encouraging to see that in the broader context you're being recognized for your work. With that I don't really have any questions. I've appreciated the openness of your campus and board for for trustee visits as
145you reside in the district I represent but serve a much population. So, thank you for that and look forward to the discussions over the next couple years. >> Thank you, Trusty Larson. And Oh, yeah. Go ahead. Do you have a question about um under the diversity umbrella, you have a very small proportion of African-American students and to the point where they can't be reported on in their testing their assessment results? So, I was just curious about how active is your black student union? >> It's active. I don't Do you want to answer that? I don't I don't >> currently um we have I want to say close to like nine to 10 um students that are participating in BSU and one of the things that I didn't highlight can you guys hear me that I
146I didn't highlight is that as leader of aante I'm very proud of the fact that I have leaders from all the other student groups within my um othere group. So I have the president of BSU. I have a representative from BIPOC um you know from QIA and then also from Jewish student union and then from FEMCO. And so my hope and desire is to bring people together to bring those leaders together so that we could help um create further alliances and strong political and like social bonds together. Um, one of the challenges that we have faced though is students with this current social climate not wanting to participate in affinity groups. What does it mean to be a hyphenated American? What does it mean to be socially active? What does it mean to be politically
147active? How do I identify with this identity group? How is it representing me? So having candid conversations as to what we can do to number one empower, educate, inform, and really let students know we want to create a safe space for you. This is why it's important from a historical perspective, but then also to help um you know increase and improve your experience here at PCS. What I always tell my students is you don't have to prove that you have a place at the table. Your seat is here. And I want to do what I want to do is I want to work with you and educate you so that you feel empowered to be able to be active and be a part of the conversation and or discussion. Yeah. Just just to add on
148to the question the BS how active they are. I'm not sure you actually I got she got the answer like how active you have eight to 10 members but >> who who is the like the teacher coordinator and are they doing things within their group because it's not it's not being black student union is not a political group it's >> yes and no um so we currently have two active members and we had um two adviserss I was kind of like a co-advisor because of the fact that we don't have um the person that typically um fostered um that group within that role. And um one of the things that we've done is different educational like workshops and activities to commemorate um very specific um you know like dates and or events, but I don't
149know right now how active they are with the other community organizations. I believe the group that was here before said that they're going to be working um in partnership with representatives from um PCS next year, but right now what we're really just seeing is a decline overall. So, how active are we? I think that we're as active as we can be within our small group environment. I don't know how we've been able though to um be a part of different community organizations and or events within the greater Santa Cruz County. So, did it answer your question? >> Okay. >> Say a little. It it was um establishing a new advisor was um something that was put on my radar pretty quickly upon arriving before students even started. So, I quickly knew there was a need
150for that. Um so, we identified a couple um of staff members that were willing to do it. So, that's been established. Um there's two young ladies who are the co-presidents. So, um I have periodic interactions with them particularly around issues um February in particular as we honor um Black History Month. So, um I mean they're as active as they want to be, the kids are members and where they reach out and where they need things or um want to um have their voice lifted by this school. They're perfectly comfortable either coming to see me. I'm in the hallways all the time. So, you know, I think it kind of eb and flows on their their interests and their workload, but you know, I think it's it's active. It's there. So, I don't know quite how
151to quantify that exactly. >> Well, welcome Dr. Nope. >> Mr. Mr. W doesn't matter to me. Um um the board I think knows that I'm I'm one of the people here who have um held PCS's feet to the fire on the representing the whole community and making that a positive goal and um I had great pleasure in watching Dr. Rayano make really good progress over the years that she served and um I look forward to that continuing and >> absolutely >> um the the you know it's I mean what I've said before with the quality of education that PCS provides if you're not actively working to be as diverse as the community that you're just reinforcing the status quo >> which is unacceptable. So, your mission, I think, is clear and I you're welcome here
152and all the other things that PCS does are widely respected and honored around the county and and as we know nationwide and um congratulations for joining us here. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. And I agree, we will continue to um grow and improve on that front. Um Stephen >> from my knowledge the way that students get enrolled in your school is a sort of lottery system. >> Um I am wondering if you guys have uh set spots for diversity groups for students to be able to join the school. >> Great question. Um and the answer is yes. So we have um more students more families are interested than we have spots. So, we do have a lottery um but there are um uh priorities within the lottery. So, students that represent um lowincome, foster, homeless,
153um English learners um would have priority. So, they actually could get in twice. So, we we hold spots first in a lottery. They would have priority. Then, it would be spots filled after that. >> Are those the only three groups that you have spots for? Um, primarily, yes. It's pretty broad. What I will say though is that um that only applies to seventh grade right now. And so um I'd like to um well I'd like to expand that. I don't see any reason why that shouldn't be applied to every grade level or at least nth grade. So seventh grade makes sense. It's our first class. Um high school we have um a peak entry there. So, I would think it would make sense that there'd be some priority in those areas as well. >> Yes,
154I think that would be good to like expand it throughout the grades. And I also think that there could be more um groups in there added for more diversity. >> And note, there is one more group. It's first-time collegegoer. >> Yes, thank you. My apologies. Uh is there also um I I think from our media I remember that there's also um uh spots held for um siblings as well as um teachers and faculty their their their children etc. So there are multiple tier categories before it does the broader correct. >> Correct. So there there are there's a couple of different areas. Um so one there's priority spots on the lottery, siblings, um children of families, um board members. It's one of the um ways we draw talent from the community and board members. Um but
155they're it's um not in their first year, right? So we make sure that they're coming, they're committed to the school, then it then their children could come. How that works broadly speaking. Um, and Trusty Larson. >> All right. Wanted to ask a clarification either from Mr. Guyire or Superintendent Dr. Sabah, which is the criteria that the PCS uses for its lotteryies for low-income English learners, um, first to college generations. Those have been tested and allowed so far. while explicit race or other demographic um criteria and lotteryies have generally not been allowed legally. Is that fair statement either? >> Yes, that's correct. We can't explicitly um provide priority or uh or discriminate uh based on race or ethnicity when it comes to process. We can also not um do it based on disability status as well.
156>> Yeah. And I will add that as someone that's been on the uh committee for the charter schools, I feel PCS has historically been very open to our suggestions and making changes to those uh preferences in the in the lottery to get have a more diverse student body given the uh while still obeying the law, right? And and what is being asked of >> um Okay. Um I Oh, go ahead, Jesse Roth. >> Hi. >> Um what happen each student takes five IP classes. They do not have to take the IP exams. >> Correct. >> What happens if they do not pass an IP class? Maybe that never happens, but >> well, two different things. So taking the AP class is separate from the AP test. So the score on the AP test doesn't necessarily
157influence their score in the class. So you could get an A in the class for the sake of argument and not pass the AP test. You still have an A in the class. You just haven't earned the credit for college or recognition that might go along with your AP test score. It's rare that a kid would get an A in the class and not pass the test, but for the sake of argument, that's a possibility. They're separate things. But we look at them um the data to see what does the success rate look like? How are students doing? And are our grades reflective of the knowledge and skills they've learned as demonstrated on the AP tests, which we have no control over. So, it's an external representation of the success of our program, the relative
158success. Well, would a student still be able to graduate from PCS having either not completed five classes or not pass >> um well you >> maybe it's never happened but just >> um you have to have passed you have you have to have passed five AP classes to graduate. So yes, if you separate from whatever AP test you've taken, you have to pass the classes to earn a diploma. I think that's that's to answer your question directly. >> And your graduation rate shows that the vast majority of them all >> pass. Well, and as I think as I mentioned earlier, I mean, it's a we have a moral and ethical obligation to ensure that the students we have can be successful in our program. So it doesn't do us any good to reach out and
159have you know fill all of our seats if the if the students can't be successful in the program. So and that's just that's not automatic. There's a lot of supports provide both academic and you know the sense of belonging, social, emotional, mental wellness, all those other things that um enrich the high school experience. >> Thank you. >> Sure. Of course. >> Um okay. Um thank you. It's like I said it's nice to see about the again um and information. Um regarding the report it's >> it seems very heavily on your success when the students are there and um our report is a diversity update. So I would really be interested in seeing more about what your goals are for increasing that diversity and where you currently stand in the current strategic plan for that. So,
160>> okay. >> Um, yeah, because there's there's no doubt that once the students get there, they're very successful and we're very proud for you for that all of that, but I'd like to see a little bit more about what your plan is and the strategy around the outreach. Um, you can't force students to apply, but like, you know, what does it look like when you the outreach um that sort of thing? >> Um, okay. Uh, let's see here. Um and then um looking at the numbers I know that there's the the J Matthews challenge and I think that the one the equity and the ENE that's based upon testing correct it's not necessarily the equity of the student body it's about the testing correct >> the the each of those has a different um algorithm
161for determining success looks like >> um part of this um was meant to build on the very detailed report that Dr. Retan Ratano provided last year. So, it was building updating some of the information provided there. >> Some of it is diverse like US News and Report has a lot of different um data points. I think that one might be testing >> and I I just kind of dug deep just because I'm a numbers person. So, um I noticed that, you know, after sifting through it, we're there's about 10 charter schools within California that are listed. um ECS is listed as having the lowest percentage of those that fall under sort of that l lunch category like um you know qualifying. Um so definitely interested in you know understanding what that strategy is for you
162know moving that number up from 10% to maybe even like the next I think the next school is like out of Fresno which is a much bigger >> county it's you know it's not apples to apples um but they definitely have a similar sort of demographics um so that's just my comment love to see more more about what those goals look like um and where you are with those. >> Sure. And I'll work with um with Dr. Russell as we develop those plans and Dr. Sabah and if there's appropriate ways to share our progress um I'm happy to do it of course. >> Excellent. Thank you very much. I'm going to give one last like you okay >> and I don't know if I can say it right so forgive me. Um 30% of is
163of the first what number one on your lottery list of people that could qualify first college whatever. Do you have do does that fill up? Do you accept all of them or do are there some that spill over into back into the regular lottery? >> Um, to my knowledge, they don't we don't um always use all of those fonts. So, any of those families that apply under that criteria get in. Um if we were fortunate enough to have situation where we had strong enough outreach then yes if they didn't get in under the first criteria then they would roll into the broader lottery so they would have two opportunities if I'm understanding your question. >> You you've got it. >> Okay. uh when you were establishing the lottery, uh I know that we questioned whether
164it should be hired more of the Santa Cruz community around you. Well, >> so that's why I'm asking if >> if if you come up against it where you have far more uh that are asking to come in, would there be maybe looking at that? >> Absolutely. So, our first goal would be um to I mean would be to utilize all of those spots. >> Um so, that would obviously be the first goal. That's what we would continue in our current diversity and strategic plan. Then if we were consistently doing that, we would evaluate, well then what do we need to revise to ensure that we're providing that access and absolutely the first thing we would talk about is should we increase the number of spots dedicated to those families without a doubt for unfortunately
165we haven't had that need just yet but I'm optimistic. I don't know that we've ever or I've ever heard kind of percentages how close you come to that 30%. >> It it fluctuates and I would say it it's only um it's only in seventh grade which is our first grade level. So it's that criteria is pretty specific there. Um I feel like we should expand it. Again there I don't not quite sure what the rationale is not to have it across all grades. Um, I feel pretty strongly that we should add that to high school for sure because we see an entry point um there and we want to make it accessible. So, that's that's in the plan the plan in my head for whatever that's worth, but >> um part of what I want
166to move forward. >> I'm sorry, I have one question. I'm sorry if you don't have the answer to this, but well, how big is your weight list today and how does it compare to this time? >> Uh, I don't know it off the top of my head. I can tell you what it was um about three weeks ago. So, we're um it's full with the exception of a little bit low in 11 grade and 12th has three or four, but that's pretty common because it's it's hard to enter um PCS as a senior. So, we kind of do an analysis. Um we're aiming for about 560 565 for next year, which would be strong. And we um as families make their decisions and even if they've accepted lottery spots and are changing their minds or
167families are moving or make other decisions, we're still drawing off um the weight list. And we'll do that through middle school, first month of school, high school, not quite that far because it gets hard to catch up. Um I can't remember the numbers off the top of my head. I can send those to you offline if you're if that's appropriate and you're interested, but I'll tell you we have we have strong interest. Um and it's, you know, we'll continue to draw on that until there's no one left or every seat is filled. >> Sure. >> Just more, >> we were talking a bit earlier about AP classes and how students need to do five. Correct. >> Um is that included for the students who join later on? Like say a senior joins, would they still
168have to do five AP classes? >> Um yes, but we do give credit if they take AP classes in other schools. Um, and depending on what the course is, there's some um, decisions made if there's um, comparable coursework, like if they were in um, a school that had an IB program for the sake of argument that we might see if there's some corresponding class that was taken that we could say would count towards that credit. When we're in a situation, then our our college counselor does a transcript analysis, sits down with the family, and talks about where they are and what would be needed. So the family can make informed decisions whether um coming to PCS and as a senior is the right choice and particularly want them to come to be successful. >> So
169that I guess just doesn't quite fit in my brain for the students that have so many years to get all of those five AP courses and then students that might have one year to get all five AP courses. I think >> you you would have to have taken um in most cases AP classes in whatever your previous high school was before coming to PCS. >> Okay. So it's like a criteria admission criteria. >> No, it's a graduation criteria. So you could come to PCS let if you had say one AP class it would be really hard to do four as a senior year. you would, I guess, finish high school, but you wouldn't earn a PCS diploma, which or high school diploma from PCS. Um, we work very hard to avoid that situation ever happening.
170It's not definitely not good for the kid and the family. Does that answer your question? >> Does answer my question. >> Okay. >> Um, I do believe we might have had a public comment. Do we still have that, >> President Williams? I believe that the commenter left. I don't Are they? Let me check if they're online. >> Apologies. >> Give them a hard time tomorrow. >> Oh, yeah. No, no, no. That's on us. I probably should have called on them sooner. My apologies. >> Good. Good kid. >> Her pronouns are she, her. >> She, her. >> Not online. Okay. All right. Um, closing out. I'll give one last. Right. Thank you so much for coming out and your presentation. Appreciate it. >> Thank you for having us. Right. Um, moving on to new business in
171action hour three. Here we go. Um, I'm going to hand it over to res uh well, we're going to do resolution 111 resolution 2623 ordering election requesting Dr. Sabah. Yes. Thank you so much, uh, President Williams. So, uh, as is required, uh, by law, the, um, county board of education is required to pass, um, this resolution to, um, provide, see if I can to, um, uh, order this this uh, orders a governing board to um, uh, for the elections for November 3rd, 2026. And um as you know we have four uh trustee seats that are uh open for four-year terms. So we have trustee one for area trustee area one for uh which is currently with trustee Roth uh trustee area 2 uh trustee area 4 and trustee area 7. And so, um, this resolution
172will, um, request that the county election office conduct the election and, uh, requesting consolidation, um, of the election and and specifies, um, this election order for these four trustee areas, uh, to take place. Um this resolution also establishes um the requirements which is that candidates must be registered voters residing in the trustee area um and also that they have a a candidate statement limited to 200 words um and um uh and no election will be held if there are insufficient nominees. >> Are there any questions, comments? Not. Can I get a motion? >> We have a question over here. >> Question. >> Who are the other like which other districts? Who's the trustee for those? Because or is it just Ros? >> No, it's um the ones that are listed there um area two Allen.
173>> I did not see that four Kyle and area seven Sanchez. >> Okay. Sorry. >> No worries. No worries. It's all good. Um we're happy to know that most will be returning. I I will not not my husband's saying why not. >> It's like trying to get rid of me, right? All right. Can I get a motion to pass this resolution? >> Right. Second. >> Right. And roll call. >> Student trustee Martinez. >> Student trustee Moore. >> Hi. >> Trustee A. Costa. >> Hi. >> Trustee Kyle. >> Hi. >> Vice President Larson. >> Thumbs up. Trusty Roth, >> yes. >> Trusty Sanchez, >> yes. >> Trusty Van Allen, >> hi. >> President Williams, >> yes. All right. Passes unanimously. Thank you. Um, resolution 2625 recognizing National Foster Care Month. And I'm going to pass this
174over to um Jesse Van Allen. >> Didn't we skip one? >> Oh, did we? I'm sorry. You are correct. My apologies. >> I skipped it up. um 112 2624 and that is Dr. Sabah. >> Yes. Uh so this uh this is a resolution designating um an uh authorizing representative for the state allocation board and I'm going to ask our um deputy superintendent interim deputy superintendent uh Becky Ulker to uh give us an overview of this one. >> Good evening everyone. Uh we are taking this to uh for resolution. It is basically assigning some representatives in the form of Dr. Ferris Saba and Michelle Kennedy to be our representatives for the state allocation board as well as OPSC which is the office. They have to do a lot of interaction a lot of signing authority and
175act as liaison with the other agencies. So as you know Michelle has been our internal manager. She's also been acting as a director of maintenance operations helping us with the construction projects over the next couple years. Resolution is they both have are designated. >> Thank you. Are there any questions, comments? Yes. Nope. All right. Can I get a motion? >> I'll second it and we'll do a roll call. Student trustee Gian Martinez absent. Student trustee Amore. >> Hi. >> Trustee A. Cost. Cost. Cost. Cost. Cost. Cost. Cost. Cost. Cost. Costa. >> Hi. >> Trustee Kyle. >> Hi. >> Vice President Larson. >> Vote. I >> trusty Roth. >> Yes. >> Trusty Sanchez. >> Yes. >> Trusty Van Allen. >> Hi. >> President Williams. >> Yes. >> And I am going to ask uh Becky to
176uh she is headed on her way to Sacramento and so she's going to hit the road. So, we're going to ask if she could uh be excused. >> I did also want to just share that um this a part of this uh this resolution also is how we access funding for new construction. And so, this is part of that process travels. >> Thanks, Becky. >> All right. Uh 113 resolution 2625. And I will give this over to Jesse Ben Allen. >> Thank you. Um this is a resolution recognizing National Foster Care Month and um foster um students, foster kids, our youth are a big part of our mission of care for local young people and um this recognizes the the month as as National Foster Care Month. I don't know if I need to motivate
177it much more than that. I think we all probably understand and um but happy to answer questions. >> I will motion And can we have a roll call, please? >> Student trustee guinez. Student trustee Moore. >> Hi. >> Trusty A. Costa. >> Hi. >> Trustee Kyle. >> Hi. >> Vice President Larson. >> Vote. I >> voting I. Trusty Roth. >> Yes. >> Trusty Sanchez. >> Yes. >> Trusty Van Allen. >> Hi. >> President Williams. >> Yes. Motion passes. Thank you everyone. 114 resolution 2626 trustee van Allellen. >> Thank you. This resolution recognizing uh recognizes Pride month and LGBTQIS to us um uh people students, families and staff and um I think our office or our board of education and the office of education have played a really crucial role in improving the atmosphere for LGBTQ
178etc. um students and families and um community members and um this was just continuing our involvement. Um looking forward to our continued the pride parade in a week and a half weeks. Um and um this spells it out. >> Questions, comments, motion? Any more? Second. >> I'll second. Oh, >> trusty Kyle. And a roll call, please. Student trustee guan Martinez. >> Hi. >> Student trustee Amore. >> Hi. >> Trusty A. Costa. >> Hi. >> Trustee Kyle. >> Hi. >> Vice President Larson. >> Voting. I >> trusty Roth. >> Yes. >> Trusty Sanchez. >> Yes. >> Trustee Van Allen. >> Hi. >> President Williams. >> Yes. Passes. Thank you everyone. Um item 115 resolution 2627. >> Trustes. This one recognizes Junth. And you know, there's a a history side of it that has to do with
179when some folks in Texas finally got the word that slavery had been abolished um way after it actually had been abolished. Um the other thing about it though is in black communities all over the country, this is an opportunity for community and for gathering together and for um both solidarity, but also just for fun and celebration. And it's one of the most fun events around the Monterey Bay. there are a few of them that are quite active and um always enjoyable. So, um I'm glad the our board is um joining and recognizing like to move it Allen second. Trusty Kyle and a roll call, please. >> Student trustee guan Martinez. >> Hi. >> Student trustee Amore. >> Hi. >> Trustee A Costa. >> Hi. >> Trustee Kyle. Hi, >> Vice President Larson. >> Voting I
180>> Trusty Roth. >> Yes. >> Trusty Sanchez. >> Yes. >> Trusty Van Allen. >> Hi. >> President Williams. >> Yes. Passes. Thank you everyone. Um 11. Um item 116 resolution 2628. And I will go ahead and review that one. Um it's a SOS for student achievement calling on the state of California to develop a coherent state focused plan for supporting local schools in closing the achievement gap. This one is um being um led I went to a webinar regarding this um this assembly bill package. It consists of four assembly bills that are jointly developed um to adopt a comprehensive state plan. Um, and it's ideal because it has a temporary solution, but also has bills that support the periodic measurement and then also for ongoing um a dashboard to show how we're doing. So, it's
181not just, hey, we're going to throw it at you guys and give it see if it lands and see if we do anything. So it is basically um being supported across um several um ac you know um county office of education and and boards and we will be if passed we will transmit this resolution to the California schoolboard association for the inclusion of a statewide advocacy effort for it. Um and so we'd like to join in efforts with our other county office and educators. There are any questions or comments? We will take a motion. All right. And a second. And can we have a roll call, please? >> Student trustee Gian Martinez. >> Hi. >> Student Trustee Amore. >> Trustee A Costa. >> Hi. >> Trustee Kyle. >> Hi. >> Vice President Larson, >> voting
182I. >> Trusty Roth, >> yes. >> Trusty Sanchez, >> yes. Trusty Van Allen. >> Hi. >> President Williams. >> Yes. Motion passes. Thank you everyone. Um our next item is 117 resolution 2629. And Dr. Sabal, would you like to present this one? >> Yes. Uh this is a um resolution opposing the expansion of immigration detention facilities and affirming safe access to public education. We have become aware that the um immigration enforcement uh an a facility uh to uh build an immigration enforcement location in um Santa Clara and by Gilroy has is in the plans as well as one in Dublin uh on the East Bay, the Bay Area. And um this board has taken a firm stance in support of our immigr our immigrant community and um and protecting the rights of of all of
183our students including families and students who um uh are are here without papers. And this uh resolution really reaffirms the rights of those students and stands against the idea of expanding resources, facilities uh that would be utilized to harm our community through immigration action. >> I will second. Have a roll call, please. >> Student trustee guan Martinez. >> Hi. >> Student trustee. >> Hi. >> Trustee A. Costa. Hi, >> Trusty Kyle. Vice President Larson. >> Voting I >> Trusty Roth. >> Yes. >> Trusty Sanchez. >> Yes. >> Trusty Van Allen. President Williams. >> Yes. >> Passes. And thank you everyone. Um we are moving to item number 12, our superintendence report. >> Yes. Thank you. Uh a few uh updates. Um, one of our campaigns this year, uh, is to help our families become aware
184of the Cal Kids program, which is a program that, uh, is established by the state to create college savings accounts. There are, we're aware that there's 24,000 students who have accounts in Santa Cruz County. Um um our Denise Pitman Rosas who is our family engagement coordinator working with Nikki Barara and and uh champions across the county have been working hard on bringing awareness uh to about Cal kids to help families claim those those uh accounts. Uh we started this year I believe with 14% and um in one year have raised it to 25.5%. This is um hundreds of thousands of dollars, not more, millions, maybe $2 million uh of uh students get have up to $1,500 in those accounts and they're able to utilize them for financial aid to go to college. And um we
185are now the third uh highest county in the state. and um and it's taken uh a lot of great work uh across the county and and led by by uh Denise. We're really excited about that. We're going to continue this this effort because we recognize that just knowing you have an account um increases your likelihood of going to college um uh three times by three times. and having that actual funding grow and having a place for for folks to uh be able to to save for college is something we know is going to is going to help uh propel students into this into higher education. Wanted to share of course our uh we launched a a new uh partnership with Cababrio College. We forgot to mention this one earlier today, but this is the certified
186nurse assisting program which we're launching in the fall. And um so this is a partnership that will make it virtually free for participating students to get their certified nursing assistants. This is a nine-week program. It's not a very highpaying job, but it is a stepping stone for healthcare. And so um so and the the demand is very high. There are 80 positions every year just in Santa Cruz County and and about 300 positions in in this in this region. We had over 140 people show up to our to our orientation session with for our first cohort of 15 slots. And so we recognize the demand is much higher than our ability to offer. So we're looking at offering at least three cohorts uh in the first year and uh but it's a it's a recognition
187of how important and how um healthcare um opport healthcare careers is really one of the areas that we want to focus on. Is there a stipen that come? >> So this is th No, there this is not a paid internship. We do have paid internships with our dental assisting program or students are able to get paid to be a part of the program that those are funded by denes in this in this case for Salupae. Uh we don't we don't have paid internships for this program at this point. Uh but in after nine weeks their their likelihood of being able to get a job um is is very high. And uh so for a lot of people this is this is a great starting place for their healthcare career opportunity and most uh most programs
188charge between three to $5,000 for this program. So the fact that it's free is is a big incentive. Um I just wanted to celebrate we hosted the queer prom at at Sequoa High School. really proud of of Ash being an awardee um at the queer queer youth leadership awards and and um the partnership with that the diversity center has been absolutely amazing. They are a wonderful organization to work with and and just seeing uh many of you were at the at the Kyla Awards and we're very excited about uh future plans of that partnership that we'll be sharing with you in the future. Uh we also hosted well one of the when you're there's a organ um Well, let me start over. So, there is a a subcommittee under the county superintendent called J-AC, even
189though that's the acronym, and we pronounce it J-AC, which is kind of incomprehensible, but that's this is the juvenile uh court and community uh programs, which is like basically our the alternative education programs across the state. And so, when you're selected to chair this committee, you have to you have to organize the conference. And so, Dr. uh Jen Eisen Gonzalez was selected uh or has been elected to be the the the chair and so we hosted this conference uh for over 500 people in San Francisco and we were responsible for organizing and it was paid for by the people who part go to the conference but it was all hands- on deck our team was did a wonderful job I got to be there and speak um and it was uh I've never seen for
190example a registration process so smooth the workshops, everything was done beautifully and and I think we put Santa Cruz on the map uh in terms of how to that our our little county can can do a world-class uh conference and this was all thanks to the great work from a lot of different departments here at the COE. Um we are start uh launching our student trustee academy starting on uh starting on June 16th. And so we have a flyer um that uh I'll click on here and and so we're inviting students to participate in the academy and uh which is really exciting and so we'll be giving you more information about that. Um also we have sent students to the international science and engineering fair and so there are some some great stories uh that
191uh the students came back with um uh it's uh Addi Addi Adi uh which is a student who participated actually won an award for um uh the uh help me out here Marca he won the patent and trademark American administration award which is you know this is a really big deal to get an award at the international level and um he is uh our staff member Sitha's son um and uh and so we sent four students um two that had the best in show at the science fair and two runner runners up and they had a magnificent experience uh and uh so just just really wonderful. Yes. Yes, it was the student with the firefighting robot. >> Yes. >> And so that's right. That's right. That particular award is earned for a project that is
192worthy of patent and trademark. >> So freaking impressive. >> And um Oh, there it is. Addie, it's it was right in front of me and I wasn't looking at it. So um some some important uh news updates for you. the our partnership with X Academy um our robotics program was a was we participated in in uh in the underwater mate um uh competition and and uh our students came in first place and are going to be going to the international competition and third place as well. So, first and third place were the um so uh really excited about that and um we're looking at uh expanding uh opportunities maybe to the middle school in robotics with X Academy. Um you've of course been hearing a lot about what's happening in PVSUSD that's been in the
193news and um we also uh wanted to share with you a link to information about state superintendent. Um, we also wanted to bring your attention to some u ongoing uh cyber security challenges that have been occurring and the importance for us to continue to work hard not only with u individuals to become aware of these cyber security threats but also of course when it comes on the on the tech the tech side of things which is ensuring that our servers and the software that we're utilizing is up to date. And uh we were excited that to uh that many of the the the uh educators of the year that were celebrated today were were also there was lots of coverage in the media thanks to Nick's efforts to get the word out and and uh
194lots of coverage there which real positive news celebrate our folks. So here is the Heesus robotics team that won first place um and is going on to the world championship and the Barry Botics uh team came in third place at the at the at the regional uh competition and um the world championships are going to be going uh we're going to be taking place in Canada. So, the students in in the red jumpsuits are going to be traveling to Canada uh and for that for the World Championships, and we're excited uh to see how they do over there. Um I'm not going to go through all these updates, but uh lots of exciting things happening in safety, including the um uh making sure that uh the threat assessment protocol trainings are taking place. We've also
195um um looking to implement a a new uh program to provide mental health services, changing what used to be the BOSA program into a um more therapeutic approach to supporting students um who are struggling and and having uh behavior challenges uh in school. Um, also we're um providing lots of great services uh for our special education students. We had a fun day that was a was a great success for for our special education students and their families and staff. Um we're looking at uh extended school year which is our summer program uh for those students and we're continuing to recruit uh for staff and um lots of great work also taking place with our student services team uh including our first two groups of students getting trained in teen mental health first aid which is
196something that can only occur when at least 10% of the adults at the school have been trained. And so we are getting to a place where we have enough adults at our our school campuses u because this is a multi-year effort um and uh Haley Newman who is is our trainer with Rishi and others that that support and so this is something that is u we're seeing a growth in the number of of adults and now students who have this training and uh some upcoming events uh this Sunday uh we would love for you to join us for our black grad celebration at uh London Nelson at 3:00. Uh we also have lots of graduations you've been hearing about and invited to. Uh the May Revise uh is u there's going to be a training
197by capital adviserss about the May revis. Uh generally lots of good news for education as you've been hearing although they are looking to hold back almost $4 billion um of funding that is um of concern to us. Santa Cruz Pride is is occurring June 7th. Um, we're also inviting board members to a meeting um on about the California math framework. And so all board members are are encouraged to learn about this and uh it's a uh I believe a dinner uh meeting um that uh I believe Marcia is organizing. Yes. Um, also on August 1st, we'll have Stuff the Bus uh with our United Way and and UPS and other partners and we will be celebrating our all staff kickoff. It's it's scary to be even thinking about another school year, but uh in August
1984th and we would love it if you could join us uh for that uh event. And that is it. I happy to take any questions. >> Thank you so much. >> Does anybody have any questions, comments, followup? Oh, all right. Good. All right. So, um >> I was gonna add all those dates mentioned as well as the student trustee academy dates are on the board calendar, the shared calendar I created. >> Thank you. Um and I appreciate um Venice. I made a a a request that when we have activities that are the that board is invited to if we can have it on our calendars because it what I was doing is copying and pasting and putting on my calendar. So, she's been so gracious enough to put them all on the calendar so we
199can see it whether or not you know we can go or not. I appreciate that. Thank you so much. >> And I would like to announce that this is V's Vines's last meeting for a little bit. Uh, she has some some >> She said that anyone. >> So, Verice is going to be taking uh some time uh uh as a new mom and so we're very excited for her and um I'm very concerned for us. Uh but uh Nick is going to be uh helping out and and of course we're also have we're going to have some some additional folks. It's going to take five people to to do what Verisa does, but we're very we're very excited for her and and uh and can't wait to to meet your baby. With that sober news,
200uh we're going to do the trusty reports and we'll start with um actually we'll start with uh Trusty Larson since you're remote and then we'll go on to Trusty Sanchez and go down the line. >> Steve Larson, >> can you hear me now? Sorry about that. Great. Um let's see. Busy month. I'll just mention the items that were most significant or that I didn't see other board members at. Um, attended the Pajaro Valley Union School District, CAC. Always interesting just to see what's happening throughout the county. I also serve on Santa Cruz City Schools personal tax oversight committee. Both of those were on April 22nd. was excited to go to the United Way United and Purpose volunteer recognition when COE's own Nick Kabara was one of the honores and so that was up at uh
201Mount Herman and so no uh rolling rolling trees or whatever it is redwood the tree camp >> we know where >> yeah in any case uh let's see moving on COE's ed tech for success I was just So impressed to see the CEO creating an accessible forum for technology for the technologists from throughout our county and beyond educational technologist to come learn about the new technologies being deployed for education. um wasn't able to volunteer at Queer Prom itself, but did go to the setup on that Saturday because that night my son was performing in his first shows up at Cababrio College and so had to go with the family for that, but was glad to help out on the queer prom setup. AEC planning is continuing a pace for the annual school boards conference in
202December. We had a planning committee meeting at the end of April on the 29th. Then on May 1st attended the think big school technology access program co-sponsored by COE the Wrigley building in Santa Cruz works where groups of students from about six high schools walked around getting exposed to new technology and entrepreneurship uh opportunities with the leaders themselves of those companies and nonprofits about how they got into their endeavors and were pursuing those vehicles to serve the community more broadly. And then of course a highlight for the last month was the Kyla Awards. Just what a great program and to have our own trustee Asha Moore being one of the featured honores was tremendous. I'll stop there. Madam President uh missed all of you guys last month. Uh was traveling for work so was not
203able to to attend fortunately. So I'll share what I couldn't share back then but I was able to attend. There was an event uh a woman of the year that was hosted by our assembly assembly member Gail Pellerin and it's just really good to be in a room where you get to celebrate celebrate people for their contributions that they've made to the local community and I feel like a lot of the work that has uh been done goes um and acknowledge so just having the opportunity to just acknowledge it bring it to I was very was very uh rewarding. Really enjoyed that. I also attended the SOS for student achievement uh that CSBA hosted uh virtually. That was a good um uh place to learn a little bit more about some of these regulations that
204CSBA is is is pushing for. And thankfully they're all moving along, right? G gaining traction. and we hope to that they all get passed either later this month or early early next month. And then uh charter committee earlier this week we we met uh as was discussed previously. We will um we sat down we talked a little bit about their their their performance, how they're doing. Um, we looked at at some of their uh numbers on the on the dashboard and then we also did a site visit. Was able to uh visit a couple of classrooms and just uh meet some of the the staff and just interact and just had a had a good time overall. And that's my report. >> Thank you Kyle. Um, I attended the Cal Kids Champions lunchon that Dr.
205Spa mentioned and that um I made a point of asking which schools in my territory were present in the room and introduced myself to them and of course um Harbor's not technically in my area but that's where my kids go. So, um I introduced myself to their new community coordinator and said, "I want to help kids claim. I've done it a couple times and it is just the most fun thing you can do. So the following Monday I was in the counseling office and Vicki had her roster and she had already finished all the seniors, the graduating seniors. So all of the eligible kids had already claimed their accounts but so we were working on juniors and she would just call we she just sent the slips out and I would like triage when they
206showed up and I would prep if they didn't have phones to scan and claim on the phone themselves. Um, then they waited for Vicki, but I would prep them and tell them everything and the look on these kids' faces when they find out because it's a 100% success rate. We already know that they get it based on the roster. So, I said, "If you're on my list, you have a you'll have a scholarship for after high school." And so, they'd be like, some of them would be like, "Huh? Where did that come from? Why what is this?" And then some would just be so excited. And um I'm like, "Make sure you go home and tell your parents." Yeah. So, that was just the highlight. And I don't think I'll have time to get out
207there again before the end of the school year, but I told her in the fall, just hit me up um because I will sign up for that any day. I also went to the COE staff appreciation lunch at um Jeene Cummings Park, which was a hoot. I'm gonna go every year. That was a fun scene. Um earlier that afternoon I was on the AACBE like President Williams was uh doing the webinar on COE budgets and I'd like to compliment the business office because there were no big like oh I didn't know that no ahas um so I felt like wow I've been very well prepared. Um but still it was good to attend and and make sure that I understood that what they were talking um let's see I served on the Harbor High scholarship
208committee which was also inspiring about who we're sending off into the world and then just attend >> well that's amazing I I love that you you went and participated. So when you do it next year let the rest of us know and we might be able to join you. We'll get more hands involved. >> Um, all right. Trusty. >> Oh, your microphone. Your microphone. >> Okay. I I just want to test her to see if she's still on it. Her final hours here. Um anyway, Scott Valley parcel v uh oversight committee did that and then the charter committee and I'll be missing all of the graduation all of the June stuff. Hopefully uh everything go all right with my husband but I'm going to my 60th and I really want to go and but we
209we shall see but it's back east. >> Will you put your decade of attending graduation so we'll give you this oneear path? >> Yes, >> Van Ellen you. Um well let's see. Uh I missed the Youth Leadership Awards because my teeth were at the up. I just bit something wrong with, you know, I'm getting fitted with new teeth. Not done yet. So I I was just petrified of going someplace where there I my mouth was not working that night. Um so I really sorry I missed that. Um, probably the highlight for me was the um, environmental summit which was a blast and um, Trusty Larson I think didn't mention but we both went there and helped them set up and take down and organize it and um, the depth of understanding and the enthusiasm and
210the commitment of students was just so impressive. So glad I went to that. Looking forward to black grad um, and pride coming up. Um, I I guess I want to say I'm really appreciating our board. Um, the people here are just really wonderful to be with and work with and I just I just that hit me tonight as I was listening to people talk about >> appreciate you too. >> We really do. I I I will I will do a plus one on that is that I think we have such an incredible board and I hate treating it but when people ask how is it, I said it's great. we have a great board. Like I don't know what to say. I don't know what you want to hear. Um um so my report um
211is I joined um and did the Live Oak School District Farm Lab benefit dinner and that was so impressive. I visited the field once um with inside education and um just the students and what they do and what they learn um from that experience is incredible. And it it sounds like they do it across students from across that district get to go and and you know harvest and learn about soil. And so it was just it was so much fun and impressive. Um of course a lot of the same things that a lot of our other trustees attended the rainbow flag raising the COE picnic um a couple of the committee meetings. Uh Quila is always fun and um inspiring and I and I love going to that. um outside of my district or within
212the district was a Marveist Elementary 60th anniversary event. My daughter went there, my husband went there um like decades ago. So that was really fun. Um in in an interesting um so we we went to that for a couple hours and with Dr. Sabah made his his appearance of course he's everywhere. Um and then attended a couple of uh webinars. Um, one was, um, building trustee excellence budgets with, um, trustee, um, Kyle. And I was, I was listening to it up until the point of going to the the picnic. I'm in people are walking by and they're trying to talk. I'm like, um, but it was I I still think that as much as we've been prepared by our our business team, it's always nice to have like those refreshers and it's like, oh, I
213mean, I think there was like maybe a moment like, oh, that's really interesting. I got to think about that. Um and then also the webinar um CSBA which was the SOS for um student achievement and that's what brought on that resolution. Um that was the primary reason for that is to explain um what they're doing with those assembly bills um etc. Um and I now am stalling because I'm waiting for Trusty Amore to come back in and and presenting. We wanted to say thank you. >> We're sticking this around. You um enjoy all of the time off and your new experience and we just appreciate you. All right. Um, so next on the agenda is Okay. Um, any ad hoc standing committee reports? >> Oh, nope. All right, we'll move on. Um, we have our
214item 15 is the schedule of meeting events. Our next meeting is June 18th, 5:30 right here, same channel. We want to thank the people that stuck around for our meeting, for our business meeting, all of you. Thank you so much. And with that, we will we got something. >> I was just going to add um for the schedule of meetings and upcoming events. Um I will be emailing you all as we did get IDT appeal request. Sorry, this plex. We did get IDT appeal requests. Um so just to confirm time for those. So, we'll have an intram meeting. >> We will be scheduling on June 25th, but I just want to email you all to get confirmation that 4:30 p.m. close session works. >> Okay. >> 25th. >> So, the second June meeting. >> We
215have two meetings in June. So, >> so just to send you official confirmation via email. >> All right. A thumbs up for Larson. Thank you very much for um I thought for sure you were gonna share like a really beautiful background you being in Hawaii and all but all right we'll take it. >> Oh and before we do close um our student trustee has some patience or what would you like to share? >> Yeah. Um, at Watson Ohio, there's a lot of like different businesses and people that bake really nice and so I bought I bought some cakes and some cookies for everyone from from one of the >> is very upset. >> Freeze mine. Freeze mine. >> Yeah. So, I bought some for everyone and I I give it to you guys right now.
216It's from a local baker in our school >> and like um when they made a video and they got like 700,000 views and they they went famous for making stuff. >> All right. Well, thank you so much. That's very nice. >> All right. Thank you. Well, with that, with further ado, we're going to adjourn. >> Thank you everyone. >> Thank you. Bye. >> Good night.